DAVID, our holy Psalmist, stands recorded both a King and a Prophet, both a Judge and a Preacher, both judging the Preachers, and preaching to the Judges. Hetelleth us Psal. xl. 9. I have preached righteousness, [...] in coetu magno, in the great Congregation, we read it; but Rab is qualitate, as well as quantitate magnum, as Shindler notes. The Se­ptuagint reads it [...], and [...] is of the same latitude too; [...] is Majesty, and [...] are Princes or Great ones. So that David's preaching in coetu magno is but in coetu magnatum: and in the great Con­gregation, that is, in the Congregation of great ones. Da­vid is his own best Comment, and test, that he did it; Psal. cxix. 46. I have preached righteousness before Kings: and his own best instance, when he did it, Psal. ii. Be wise, O ye Kings; and be ye instructed, ye Judges of the Earth.

But howsoever, here in the Text, the whole Psalm is Concio ad Magistratum, and may be truly called, for so it is, a Iudges Sermon. And if Marlorat calculate right, and if not, he erreth not with a few of the Learned. [Page 2]who tell us, Psalmum hunc singulari in usu fuisse apud Iudaeos, & ad hoc compositum, ut vel novis Iudicibus, vel singulis ad Iudicandum concessuris, praecineretur, ‘that this Psalm was in singular use among the Jewes, and pen'd to this end, to sing it before new Judges, or to every one when they came to sit upon the seat of judg­ment.’ And if thus, then I think I have pitched right, it is a fit vein, whence to fetch [...]ater for this solemnity; and I might quit my self well, if I took not the Verse, but the Psalm, not for my Text, but my Sermon, as to [...]; and make it my task, not so much to preach my repetition of David's Sermon. We find God often speak­ing to man, but here find man speaking to the Gods. And it's worth our observation, what's spoken, where Gods are the Auditory, and no lesse the Orator. David, it's true did both judge and preach, his typical relation to Jesus Christ, in whom there the sacred Monopoly of those Divine Offices, King, Prophet, and Priest, li­censed him for that double service; but now both precept and prescription divide them. The duty in the one by providence is mine, the dignity in the other (My Lords) by Patent is yours. Your Patent is written by David here, and sealed by him, who is the fountain of honour, Jesus Christ himself, Ioh. x. 34. with an [...], and the Scripture cannot be broken. your Commission being thus writ and sealed, I have a threefold Task. First, to break it open. Secondly, to read it. Thirdly, to give a s [...]ort charge. The first in the Nomina­tion. The second in the Explication. The third in the Application of the Text. To the first I addresse my self as to an easie work, soon done, in naming the Text, [Page 3]as the learned may find it, [...], or as the lowest may read it, I have said Ye are Gods.

The Text is but a small Cluster; but, if well prest, full of liquor; concise it is in sentence, but very com­prehensive in Sense; but four words in it, and yet four parts; every word standing as an entire member in the succeeding division.

• 1. The Judges Dignity, in the [...].
• 2. The Judges Commission, in the [...].
• 3. The validity and force of that Commission, in the [...].
• 4. The particular application to Time and Person, that every one may take their share both in the Dignity and Duty in the [...].

• 1. The Judges dignity, they are Gods.
• 2. The Judges Commission, they are said to be so.
• 3. The validity of that Commission, it's said by one that may say it.
• 4. This is applicable to all Magistrates and Judges, wholly their Place and Office are so; and as to all, so to you (My Lords) he hath said, Ye are Gods.

The Text being thus well spelled, if as well put to­gether, as it shapes out work for a Judge, so it stirreth up a Judge to his work, in laying before him this Do­ctrinal Consectary, which I intend, by the divine assi­stance, for the matter of my ensuing discourse.

That "Magistrates and Judges are not less then Gods, "and God himself hath said it.

Thus your Commission is broke open, and my first task discharged with ease. The second I am now come to, which is to read your Commission, and so distinctly, that all may hear and fear, and the reading of your Com­mission is the due understanding of the Text: and, that I may do it clearly, I must speak a word first of the Ani, secondly of the Amarti, thirdly of the Elohim.

First, for the Ani, I have said, who is this I in the Text, that saith You are Gods. That Question is apposite here, that is put Acts viii. 34. Doth the Prophet speak of him­self, or some other man? Doth David speak of himself, as if he said it, who was but a man, and may speak out of mi­staken thoughts, as Ahaz, who sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that smote him, 2 Chr. 28.3. Those would be low and imaginary Gods, which are of mans making. And here there may be as great a mistake, as in the men of Lystra, who said of the Apostles, who were but men, that Gods were come down in the likeness of men. The Magi­strates authority is weak enough, untill we know who this I is in the Text. Suppose, that it be David, that here saith, yet the authority will be strong enough, his inspi­ration for a Penman of Holy Scripture licenceth him to call them in spirit Gods, as it did to call Christ in spirit Lord, Mat. xxii. 48. The [...] of David the Apostle owns, and gives us a reason why we should do so, Acts ii. 30. He, being a Prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath, and seeing this before, he thus spake. David either speaks it out of Scripture, or it is Scripture be­cause he speaks it. Propheta eis in persona sacram Scriptu­ram [Page 5]docentis ait, Ego dixi, saith Cajetan: that is, He saith, Cajetan. in Lo [...]. com. I have said, in the person of one, who is dictating holy Writ. And Christ himself when he takes cognizance of it, John x. 34. brings it in with an [...]; Is it not written in your Law? Davids say, if it be his, must pass for their Law. But yet we are short in the Ani, it reacheth beyond a David; even to God himself: Potest hoc accipi in in Dei persona, saith Marlorat; Marlorat in loc. It may be ta­ken in the person of God himself. Propheta ducit Deum ipsum loquentem, saith Mollerus: Mollerus. The Prophet produceth God himself speaking thus, I have said. And so best an­swering to the words of Christ, John x. 34. If he called them Gods, to whom the Word of the Lord came. His word bespeaketh them Gods, whose word sanctifieth the Son, and sent him into the world; and if so, the Magistrates authority is undoubted; for Gods word must stand: thongh every man be a liar, yet God must be true, and his word shall stand, when mans shall fall. Let Tyrus, though a mighty Prince, say it, nay with the Emphasis of the Language, Ezek. xxviii. 9. [...] Numquid dicen­do dices, In saying thou shalt say. In saying he said it, that he was God, as if he would take no controll either from earth, or heaven; yet it did not stand, because God did not say it, there was the [...] too for Herod, the people cried and said, that Herod was God: said it so, as not to whisper him so in a corner, but as with drum and trumpet to proclaim him so by popular suffrage, and yet it did not stand, because God said it not, Acts xii. 22. But here in the Text this Ani I say it, and it shall stand, and the Scripture cannot be broken.

Secondly, The Amarti, I have said; it may be demand­ed, [Page 6]Hath the Magistrate, and Judges, onely the [...] of the Almighty for their Sanction? Titles of honour and digni­ties, especial executive powers, are not looked upon as valid, without hand and seal, as well as word: their Commission seems to be but slenderly fortified, that hath but his say for it. But its enough in this case. There needs no farther sanction of any thing under the Sun, then, ac­cording to the known language of Scripture, The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Jesus Christ hath no more for his regal power, which he universally exerciseth over the Church, or the whole world: and Supremacy is strongly enough vested in him by the [...] of his Father, Psal. ii. The Lord hath said, Thou art my Son, this day have I be­gotten thee. Consult the Linguists, and they will tell us, that [...], the Verb in the Text, signifies his cogitavit, his dixit, his jussit, his constituit; his purpose, his decla­ration, his precept, his institution: so that by his Word he as well constituteth, as declareth. It was so in his first Cre­ation, his dixit was his fecit, he spake the word and eve­ry thing was made. It is so also in the methods of his Go­vernment, he calls things that are not as if they were, and they are that thing they were not, it was so as to Jesus Christ. So David our Psalmist telleth us, Psalm ii. His [...] in one verse is his [...] in the next verse. In one ver. it is I have said; in the other constitui, I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion: which telleth us, that the Fathers saying was an authoritative constitution of the Son as King. And thus the Apostles [...] in 1 Cor. viii. 5. is his [...] in Rom. xiii. 1. His calling them Gods in one Text, is his ordaining them Powers in the other Text: as if he would tell us, that his calling is their valid [Page 7]and authoritative ordination. Hence is it, that [...] the Substantive signifies autoritas, and potestas, as well as ver­bum; authority and power, as well as word: as if power and authority was truly derived from the Fathers word. And [...] signifies Princeps, or Judex, to tell us, that there needeth not farther a corroborandum to a Judges power and authority, then this in the Text, I have said. Thus all is valid enough, both in the Ani, and in the Amarti.

Thirdly, but for the Magistrates Dignity in the Elohim: here we are more in the dark, then before in the other two; and it is not easie to apprehend, how Men should be Gods.

First, we know, that these Twins, God, and Man, are not born out of the same womb: these Notions of God and Man do deny ad invicem very vehemently in Scri­pture. God and not Man, saith God of himself, Hos. xi. 9. Man and not God, saith God of Tyrus, Ezek. xxviii. 9. Christ onely excepted, who by virtue of his Hypostatical Union was privileged for both.

Secondly, a Deity and Immortality are inseparable. 1 Tim. vi. 16. "who onely hath Immortality. It is his own elegant Paraphrase upon the name Jehovah, [...], Who was, is, and is to come. And God himself immortalizeth his own Being in that com­prehensive term of duration, I am: from eternity to e­ternity, he saith, I am, Exod. iii.

Thirdly, the Scripture speaketh but of one God. 1 Cor. viii. 4. no God but one, one Lord and one God to us, v. 6. And God himself bounds this Mount, lest any should dare to approach, and boldly invade a Deity, Isa. xlv. [Page 8]22. I am God, and beside me there is none; I am God, and there is none else. Yet behold the teeming womb of the Text, big with Paradoxes, more then Twins.

First, speaking to the Magistrates, who indeed are but men, he telleth them, that they are Gods, contrary to the first. Hereby favouring the Anthropomorphite.

Secondly, when he hath asserted them Gods, he doth with the same breath tell them, they shall die like men, contrary to the second. Herein falling into the Tents of the Theopaschite.

Thirdly, here are mentioned Gods in the Plural, and so ratified by the Apostle, Gods many, and Lords many, contrary to the third. Hereby reviving the exploded He­resie of the Polytheist.

Methinks, now I should seem to have the Judges Com­mission wrong end upwards; or, it to be like the hand­writing upon the wall in Daniel, written in foreign and strange Characters, so that the Wise-men could not read it; or, as Isa. xxix. 11. The vision is become like a book that is sealed, one saith Read: and that's my present task. But I may answer, I cannot, because its sealed. But a due understanding of the Elohim, I hope, will be as the clavis or key to the Characters, and a clear solution to this seem­ing Riddle.

We shall find, that in Scripture God hath many names. St. Jerome, and the Rabbines, summ them up to ten. But our task is not to find out how many he hath, but which of them are attributed to the Creature, and which not. To clear this we must know, That the Names of God are of two sorts; either such, as flow from his essence; or such, as flow from his influence; either from his incommunicable [Page 9]Being, or from his Communicable Attributes. Such, as flow from his Incommunicable Essence, or Being; as [...] Iehovah, Ehieh, Iah, Shaddai: are proper onely to God, and attributed to the Crea­tures never. Those Titles, by which God will be known, none else shall. Distinguishing Titles admit not of a Communication, lest all things should run into a parity betwixt the Creator and the Creature. This Name Iehovah, the Antient Jews, say is [...], Gods Proper Name, and he doth no less himself, when he saith Isa. xlii. 8. I am IEHOVAH, that is, My Name and my Glory will I not give to any other. The Learned observe, that this Name Iehovah hath many Grammatical Privileges: As not to admit of [...] Empha­ticum, nor any affix Pronouns, nor any constructive Forms, nor any Deolension. The Reason is given by Bux­torsse; Quia sui exhibet notitiam, nec alio signo opus ha­bet. It is so glorious a Name, that it carrieth its luster in its own face, that it need not as the Diamond from the foil, borrow any thing from such forrain helps. The Scripture calls it [...], Lev. xxiv. 11. that Name, by way of Emphasis; and God calls it himself Gloriosum & Terribile Nomen, Deut. xxviii. 58. My Glorious and Terrible Name. The Antient Jews, dwelling too much upon these hints, dandled up the Notion to too great a height of Superstition, and it came to be a­mongst them a Name (as our learned Gregory expres­seth it) of such immoderate reverence, that they ima­gined, that it was by that Name writ or engraven up­on Moses's Rod, that, as by an holy and divine Charm, he changed his Rod into a Serpent, divided the Sea, [Page 10]and commanded Water out of the Rock; and that by which Christ himself, having it engraven upon his foot, did heal the diseased, and dispossessed Devils. Upon these thoughts the Jewes were so far from attributing this Name to man, as they would not permit man to attribute it to God; but it must be [...] Sem hammphorash, or [...], an inexpressible Name, to be separated from mans discourse, and not to be named, but expounded by other letters: and if any person, but the High Priest; or he in any other place, but the Holy of Holies; or there in any other case, then the Benediction, should adventure to name this Name, it was death by their Law. But our present Case will not be cleared by shewing what was not, but what was, and is, and may be attributed to the Creature.

You must know therefore, that those names, which flow from Gods Communicable Attributes (of which there are many, one of which is this of Elohim) are given to others besides God himself; wherein he is pleased to communicate that Sovereignty and Power to the Creature, which is originally in himself, and herein doth as the Sun in the Firmament, reserve him­self to be the Fountain of Light and Heat, even then when he lendeth his Beams: for all those Names and Titles, that he lendeth to men, they are but the Irra­diations of Majestie, Power, and Authority upon them. But the next thing Considerable is to examine how these Titles and Names, particularly this of Elohim, is given to Man.

Amongst the various waies of coming to the know­ledge of God, mentioned in the Scriptures, this is one, [Page 11] per viam eminentiae, by way of eminence, that is, when we behold any excellency in the Creature, we trace it to God himself, and judge it eminently to be in him; and so we add the Name of God to that thing: as, the Cedars for their excellent height, because God is high, are called [...] the Cedars of God; the Lion, because of his strength, and because God is strong,Psal. lxxxx. 10. 2 Sam. xxiii. 20. is called [...], the Lion of God; Mountains; because of their inaccessible height, and unvanquishable strength, are called often the Mountains of God: and thus Princes, Magistrates, and Iudges, because of the greatnesse of their Place and Office, and excellency of their En­dowments, had this honour, to quarter their Escutche­ons with God himself. Upon this account Moses first in Deut. xxxiii. 1. and David himself after, both as Princes, and David as Prince and Prophet; each of them had this dignifying Title [...], the man of God: Nehem. xii. 24. But this ariseth not to satisfa­ction in our present Case, because here is not Elohim conjoyned, but Elohim singly: and the Judges not called Men of God; but they, being Men, are called Gods.

To satisfie this last and great scruple, we must know, that the Word and Name Elohim is attributed either properly or improperly in Scriptures. If properly, then its given to God himself. Thus saith an Antient Jew, Elohim est epitheton dominatoris aut judicis: & talis est vel universalis, dominium habens in mundum uni­versum; vel particularis, ut Iudex inter homines. ‘This Elohim is an Epithite or Name of Dominion and Judgement: and this either universal to one, that hath [Page 12]universal dominion over the whole World, or particu­lar, as a Judge amongst men.’ And thus it is given to God as the prime, sole, absolute, Moderator of Heaven and Earth, as one who is Judge himself, as Psal. l. 6. and Judge of all, Gen. xix. And this Name properly be­longs to him, or to any other, as Judge, passing Sen­tence and Execution. Upon which ground our Saviour Christ speaking to him as a Iudge, executing the seve­rest right upon his Son, cried not Iehovah, Iehovah, but Eli, Eli; or, as Mark hath it, Eloi, Eloi, Mark xv. 34. And, if we may take the received opinion of the Learned, when this word Elohim is given to God, there is a word of the Singular Number added to it, as Gen. i. 1. [...] Creavit Dii, ‘The Gods created the Heaven and the Earth: that hereby they might hold forth the Unity of Essence, and the Trinity of Persons’. Lombard in Part. 1. and Quest. 2. is very expresse in it, and Galatinus in lib. 2. De arcanis Catholicae veritatis, cap. 9. is much more elaborate in it: though the learned Buxtorf. in his Philolog. Theolog. Dissertation. De Nomi­nibus Dei, brings against it nine cogent Reasons, which I cannot now examine; because, at the best, this will not serve our turn, as not being to the case in hand: Clear it is, that Elohim is Gods Title; but we are to examine, how its given to the Creatures. We must therefore consider, that this word Elohim is used impro­perly in Scripture; and so it is used either [...], or [...], by an Irony, on by a Metaphor.

Ironically, and so it is attributed to the Idols, which either the Heathen, or the Israelites at any time ignorant­ly worshipped; as Iudg. xvii. 6. it's said of Micah, [Page 13] [...], he had a house of Gods, of Elohim, the right name of them was [...], as Psal. xcvi. 5. all their Elohim are Elilim, some think so called from [...], quasi non dii, because they are not Gods, but this is something too short, they may be something, though they be not Gods. I think rather from [...], and so the word [...] nihil, signifying nothing, coming up to the Apostles, [...], 1 Cor. viii. 4. An Idol is nothing in the world, and if by a reverential mistake Idolaters will have the Elilim turn'd into Elohim. God himself will by an Irony gratifie their desire, and call them Elohim too, but to shew that they are Gods, but of a spurious extract. The Rabbins make them to bear the note of Bastardy in their coat, and call them in con­tempt [...] in the feminine gender. But neither doth this relieve us in our present case.

Secondly, Elohim is attributed to the Creatures by a Metaphor, and so it is given either to Angels or Men. the Scripture ownes this distinction, [...] 1 Cor. viii. 5. called Gods in heaven and in earth: Those that are called Gods in heaven are the blessed Angels; and that they are so, I shall not trouble you with many Scriptures; only compare two which will put it beyond all doubt, Psal. viii. 5. David saith, Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him? thou hast made him little lower [...] then the Elohim. But let Paul be David's Commentator, and he will tell us, that he made him a little lower [...] then the Angels, Heb. 2.7. because they have a tutelary power vested in them over the Saints, being the Ministers of God for good, to them that shall be Heirs of Salvation, Heb. 1. ult. not so much [Page 14]out of Courtesie as Charge; for so he gives his Angels charge to keep them in their waies, as also to be the In­struments of his Vengeance upon his Enemies. They are called Gods, but yet this satisfies not; let us go but one step further, and it will bring us thither where we should be, and that is to the Apostles [...], the Gods that are upon earth; and thus by a Metaphor it is.

Secondly, attributed to Men; and so to Princes, Ma­gistrates, and Judges; thus they are called all over the Scriptures: In the Old Law it frequently occurreth to us; Exod. xxi. 6. If the Servant will not depart from his Master, he shall bring him [...] to read it well, to the Judges, though in the text it is to the Gods; and Exod. xxii. 9. If the Thief be not found, the Master of the House shall be brought (el-Haelohim) to the Judges; and 1 Sam. ii. 25. If one man sin against another [...] the Judge shall Judge him.

Rabbi Moses Ben. Majmon indeed (as if he intended to blunder the Magistrates Commission, that it might not be distinctly read) he asserts that this Name Elohim is properly attributed to man, and but improperly to God, whom A. Barbanel that Learned Jew, underta­keth, as well he may in this contest, save onely that he drives his shafts too far; and in avoiding Scylla he falleth into Charibdis, and striving to refel that Rabbin, who said that Elohim was properly attributed to the Magi­strate; he doth it by the other extream, and proves that Elohim is not either properly or improperly attri­buted to the Judges. And as for those Texts before ci­ted, Exod. xxi. 6. & Exod, xxii. 8, 9. where the man is [Page 15]to be brought we read before the Iudges. He likes not that, but thinks by an Ellipsis, some word being un­derstood, must be added to make up the sense, as in Exod. xxi. 6. his Master shall bring him: [...], he would read it ad Iudicium Dei, to the judgement of God, not of the Gods; so the Elohim to denote not Man, but God. And he is confirmed in it, not onely by the Septuagint, who reads it [...], be­fore the Tribunal of God; but also further by that Text, Deut. xix. 17. where he thinks there is the like expres­sion: and its said there they shall stand, [...], before the Lord; which he takes to be the same as if it had been said before, the Elohim: and he argues as he thinks very strongly, thus: Num enim hie quoque dice­mus, quod Sacerdotes & Indices Scriptura vocet Nomine Dei proprio tetragrammato. ‘Shall we think that the Scripture calls the Priests and Judges by that proper Name of God Iehovah: and if not by that, when they are said to stand before Iehovah; why in the other, when they are said to be brought before Elohim.’ And if this be truth, the Judges Commission may be laid aside, and we to seek in our Work, as to the Elohim in the Text.

Therefore I think I may answer that learned Jew thus, granting him his main end, that Elohim is not attributed to man properly. Yet all that he saith doth not refel this truth, that it is attributed to man improperly, and by a metaphor: as for that Text, Deut. xix. 17. where they are said to stand before Jehovah, it excludes not the Ma­gistrate, that Text includes them. They are said to stand before the Lord, and before the Judge, and when before [Page 16]the Judge, then before the Lord also, because the Judge­ment is his, Deu. i. 17. & he is with them in Judgement, 2 Ch. xix. 6. So that though God be Jehovah, yet the Magistrate may be Elohim; and though Jehovah cannot be given to man, yet Elohim may: let God have his Jehovah to himself, and man the Elohim. Or further, Psal. lxxxii. 1. where the Text saith, [...] Elohim judicabit in medio Elohim. So that here is an Elohim for God, and yet an Elohim for the Judges: God he is, and yet Gods they are. So we read it in our Translation, God judgeth a­mong the gods, so that God may have his proper and con­nate, and the Magistrate his derived and borrowed Elo­him. And for his Ellipsis that our Authour would have in those Texts, Exod. xxi. 6. & Exod. xxii. 8. it is nei­ther necessary, nor convenient: not necessary, because the Chaldee Paraphrast, the Interlineary, the Haebreo-Samaritan, the Arabick, the Syriack Versions all of them have coram Judicibus, ad Judicem, or ad Judices, as we read it before the Judges. Besides, its not convenient; for though it may be admitted in those two Texts before quoted, yet it will make us fall foul upon other Texts, where the Magistrates are called Gods, and where that supposed Ellipsis cannot be reduced to constructive sense; as in Exod. xxii. 28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods, nor speak evil of the Ruler of thy people, where there is a a manifest [...], one tearm to explain the other, Re­vile, and speak evil, one and the same: so the Gods, and the Ruler of thy people, both one; and there it is Elo­him, as in the Text. So in Psal. xxxii. 1. God judgeth a­mong the gods. The later, Elohim must be taken for the Magistrate, 1 Cor. viii. 4, 5, 6. Gods many, and [Page 17]Lords many, and that on the Earth which must be the Magistrate, and Ioh. x. 34. if he called them Gods, to whom the Word of the Lord came: where there is a manifest distinction betwixt the Lord, who sent his Word, and the Gods to whom that Word of the Lord came. So that I think we shall force this truth against all Cavil, that Magistrates are called Elohim, or Gods, in Scripture, according to that in the Apostle, There be many that are called Gods, which being thus cleared, will give life, and add much clearness to the Judges Com­mission.

Yet one thing more is here considerable, that, when its spoken of and to Magistrates, it is as here in the Plu­ral number, Elohim Gods. Some would have it because of the greatness of their office and place: and so accord­ing to the use and custome amongst us, who speak to Kings, and Princes, and Magistrates; and as they write Nos in the Plural number, its not onely as matter of State, but upon good ground; datur id honori ejus qui ita appellatur, quasi ob dignitatem instar multorum e [...]et, saith Crellins: as the people said unto David, Thou art worth ten thousand of us, 2 Sam. xviii. 3. or as others would. It is in the Plural number, because the Magi­strate is not single, and alone, in Judgement. Its the sword of the Lord, and the sword of Gideon; Judge­ment is his, and he is with you in Judgement, 2 Chr. xix. 6. And we stand before the Lord and the Judge; and therefore it must be Elohim; but there is something more in it. And I am of Mollerus his mind, who saith, Nunquam tribuitur uni absolutè Elohim, Mollerus in Psa. 45. qui simul adda­tur restrictio sive nota, ‘The name Elohim is never at­tributed [Page 18]to one single person, but there is some note of restriction; as Exod. iv. 16.’ God told Moses he should be to Aaron in stead of God, not Elohim absolute­ly and simply, as in the Text, but [...], for, or instead of a God. But when he speaks it as here, absolutely, that they are Gods, he means it not of any one singly, but of the whole body of Magistracy. And Magistrates teach­ing us, that it is not a personal, but official Dignity; its their Title, not ex dignitate humana, sed ex dignatione divina; "Not of Mans desert, but the Divine favour to conferre it. And Gods they are, Non natura, sed partici­patione; "Not by nature, but by participation, bor­rowing their borrowed Deity from a higher person after this long and narrow discovery, That the Magistrates are called Gods. The next thing that deserves our consi­deration is, Why they are called Gods? the resolution of which will help us yet farther in the reading the Judges Commission, and will be as the salt to the whole discourse, without which, the ambitious nature of man would tumify in the fond dreams of a Deity, the mistake is too easy to mans swelling apprehensions. This itch af­ter a Deity above us, lost us, and exposed us to the Di­vine, but tart Irony, The man is become like one of us, Gen. iii. 22. Tyrus, arrogantly assumed it, and Herod ambitiously accepted it. But to both their Ruines, if we may believe the Learned, this was the first piece of Ido­latry which crept into the world. So some read the Text, Gen. iv. last. [...]. Thus then did they begin to call men by the name of the Lord. And very great if not more then probabilities, that from the first, men did either assume a Deity to themselves, or others did as im­piously [Page 19]yield it. This deifying the Creature was the un­happy original of that sacrilegious practice of swearing by their Princes and Rulers, as by so many real Deities: as Horace of Augustus.

Who was very shy of accepting the Title of Dominus, or Lord at first, but at last could swallow that of God al­so. Neither was this of so late a descent as Horace, and Augustus. For good Joseph got a smack by dwelling in Egypt, when so frequently he swore by the life of Pharaoh. It is most impious flattery to court mortality into Gods Throne. And for man either to give, or take in this case. For the Samaritans to call Antiochus their God, though he acted more like a Devil; or as the Poet.

To look at the Emperour as Lord and God: for Meren­tius to demand those sacrifices which were prepared for the Gods, to be offered up to him as God, or for the peo­ple to intend to offer sacrifices to the Apostles, as so ma­ny Gods; though they rejected it with Why do you Sirs, since we are men of like passions with your selves?

My Lords, when I tell you, and that from the Lord, that you are Gods. I intend not to tell you that you can divide the Sea; Cause Jordan to stand up on heaps; The Sun to go backwards; Or the Moon to stand still, hereby to incourage you to lay claim to those unimitable foot­steps of his power, if I should, you would soon convince me: as Canutus once King in this Island,Cambden in his Re­mains. confuted his Sycophants that told him he was God, and could re­mand the aestuations of the Sea: He wrapt up his Cloak [Page 20]on an heap, laid it down upon the sand, and sitting upon it with his Scepter in his hand: Commanded the Sea; but it would not obey him. I must here say ei­ther with that good old Father:Tertullian. Imperatorem Deum non dicam quia vel mentiri nescio, vel eum deridere "non Audeo ‘I dare not call the Emperour a God, either because I dare not lie, or because I dare not deride and mock him: Or else I must apolo­gize with Iob xxxii. 22.’ I am not to give flattering Titles to Man, for then my Maker would soon reprove me: and the next words doth it effectually, Ye shall die like men.

And yet Gods you are, Identitate

• Potestatis
• Titulis
• Operis
• Finis

by an oneness of

• Power.
• Title.
• Work.
• End.

The Magi­strate is

• 1. Vested with
• 2. Dignified with
• 3. Imployed in
• 4. Directed unto

the same

• Power
• Titles
• Work
• End

with God himself.

In the prosecution of which particulars: I would lay down this Rule: That what is spoken in Scripture of the Supreme Magistrate, holds also true of those that are sent of him: and what is spoken of inferiour Magi­strates, holds more true eminently of the Supreme. Thus the Scripture joyns them together, 1 Tim. ii. 2. For Kings and for all that are in Authority; and 1 Pet. ii. [Page 21]13, 14. Whether to the King as supreme, or unto Gover­nours, as unto them that are sent by him: with the same subordination as all earthly power is into God him­self. Now to proceed

1. The Magistrate is vested with the same power that God himself is. Prejudge not the expression, until I clear it. The power in God and in the Magistrate is the same; God rules by his own power, and a Magistrate ruleth by Gods Power; so that in both, the Power is Divine; onely with this difference, in God the Power is Connate and Inherent, in a Magistrate but Deriva­tive: yet their Power, because their substitution is Di­vine, is of the same stamp and impression: They are Dei Vicarii, his Deputy Lieutenants; they are the Fin­gers of that Hand which ruleth the World. The Apostle is very expresse for it, Rom. xiii. 1. All powers that be, are of God, [...] and [...], of God, not onely as all other Creatures, that are the Works of his hands: So of him are all things; take in the [...] in the Text; and that will tell us they are of him, not onely as Men, but as Magistrates; not onely by Creation, but Insti­tution; by Supreme Ordination over men, they are not oney [...] and [...], but [...] too, in the stead of. As God told Moses he should be to Aaron, in stead of God. As Ministers beseech, Magistrates command, [...], in Christs stead. They must needs be Gods before us, that are the Representatives of God above us; in whose Transactions God himself is concern'd; as the Prince is in all the actions of his Minister of State; what they do in discharge of their duty, they do by him; and what they do, he is said to do: The Judgement is [Page 22]Gods, Deut. i. 17. and David is said upon this account to sit upon Gods Throne, 2 Chron. ix. 8. And Solomon, although he sat upon the Throne of his Father David, yet he is said to sit [...], super solium Iehovah, upon the Throne of Iehovah. They must be Gods, that sit upon Gods Throne: Hence all the injuries that are done to them, devolve upon God himself; Ye mur­mur not against us, but against God, Numb. xvi. 11. Hence God and the Magistrate are joyned together in the same Law of Obligation and Obedience. He that obeyeth not the Law of God, and the Law of the King, let judgement be executed upon him, Ezra vii. 26. The Commands of Magistrates carry in them a God-like So­veraignty, not onely over the bodies, but over the souls and consciences of men; not onely per concomi­tantiam, as the Schools speak, but where their Com­mands crosse and check not, the Law of God himself, either in the particular Commands, or in the general Rules: Of it St. Paul saith, Rom. xiii. 1. [...], Lepevery Soul be subject to the Higher Powers. Some will say, Soul there, is taken for the Person, or Whole Man, be it so; then it takes in the Soul as well as the Body: but the Apostle further explains himself; as his own Comment, Col, 3.22. where he reading a Lecture of subjection and obedience to inferiours, saith, Not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God, do it heartily, as unto the Lord; heartily, [...], he tells us there what he meant by [...], every soul be subject; that is, from the heart or soul; true it is, that none can bind the soul or con­science, but God himself; but then we must take in [Page 23]God in the Magistrate. When the Magistrate com­mands, it's not man in the Magistrate, but God in the Magistrate that obligeth: he hath Gods power, and because Gods power binds, a Magistrates doth also. So runs the Texts, Obey fearing God, and as to the Lord, and for the Lords sake, and let St. Paul be Doctor in Cathedra, and he will soon determine the Case, Rom. 13.5. [...], not for wrath meerly to secure the body from punishment, and to avoid mans displeasure; but for conscience sake, out of the sense of the divine ob­ligation: and what's the English of all this but this, That the Commands of Magistrates that are lawful by virtue of Gods power, with which the powers on Earth are vested, do bind the Conscience for Gods sake: Thus they are Gods, as acting by his Power.

2. Identitate tituli; They are dignified with the same Titles, as the result of an onenesse of Power, except be­fore excepted. We must give God leave to say to them, as Pharaoh to Ioseph; Onely in the Throne I will be greater then thou, Gen. xli. 40. He hath a Name and a Glory, which he gives to none other. But it's worth our observation, that all along in the Holy Writ, the same Titles that are given to God, are also given to the Magistrate; whereby they may be called Gods, to give you a taste of some of many.

1. To begin with that which is magnale Dei, that uncontrollable power; that absoluta potestas, by which he acteth, and is by reason of it said [...], Rom. 9.21. as the potter hath power over the clay. And his Sovereignty is such, that he hath [...], Times and [Page 24]Seasons in his own power, Acts i. 7. And David saith Psa. lxii. 2. Twice have I heard that power belongs to God. The Aethiopick Version and Vulgar Latine hath it, Pote­stas Dei est; insomuch, That God in Scripture is called Power, Mat. xxvi. 64. that voice that came from God in one Text, is said to come from the right hand of power. If God be called power, the Magistrate is no less. They are [...] too, all powers that be are of God, Rom. xiii. 1. Be subject to powers, and obey Magistrates, Tit. iii. 1. God in respect of absolute Dominion is called [...], that men may know the heavens rule, and Christ is [...], Prime of the Kings of the earth. And Magi­strates are [...], principalities, Tit. iii. 1. and [...], Rom. xiii. 3. Rulers. God by reason of his strength is called [...]. Magistrates are [...]. Thus we find it Acts xxiii. 26. [...], saith Claudius to Felix. God is called in holy Writ, [...], the only Po­tentate; the Magistrates no less, they are Potentates al­so. He hath put [...], Potentates from their seats, Luke i. 52. God in Scripture is called [...], the glory, not onely God of glory, but glory it self: as the Prophet, Jer. ii. 11. The nations change their God, but Israel change their glory. And that voice which came from God, is said to come [...], 2 Pef. i. 17. from the excellent glory. And Magistrates are so also, [...] Pet. 2.10. [...], blaspheming the glories. God is called [...], Primas, one who hath the primacy not onely in time, but order, and is as much as preheminence; as Christ is said to have, Col. i. 18. Magistrates so also, they are Primates, and [...], the chief of the people, Luke xix. 47. God is called [...], Lord; its [Page 25]his frequent Title, as supreme Moderatour: and they are called [...], 1 Cor. viii. 5. Lords many. God is cal­led Psal. xcii. 8. [...] the High One: they are called [...] the High Ones of the earth, Isa. x. 33. God is called [...], the Great One; and they are called [...], the Great Ones, Jer. v. 5. God is called [...], Medicus, a Physitian, to bind up wounds, and to give health and cure, Psal. cxlvii. 3. and the Magistrate is so called, Isa. iii. 7. a Healer, binding up the wounds of the body po­litick: as we see they come in their annual Circuits, Spring, and Fall, to give us physick. God is called [...], a Saviour all the Scripture over, that saves his people by the greatness of his power: and the Judges and Ru­lers were called [...], Saviours, Neh. ix. 27. God is the breath of our nostrils, because in him we live, and move: and he gives life and breath. And as Job xxxiii. 4. "The breath of the Almighty gives us life: and the Magistrate comes herein near God himself, in preserving a politick life. He is called the breath of our nostrils, Lam. iv. 20. The breath of our nostrils was taken in their pit. God in Scripture is called a Shield, Psal. lxxxiv. and Magistrates no less, Psal. xlvii. last, The shields of the earth belong unto God. God is called the Father, and Christ is called the everlasting Father, Isa. ix. 6. the Magistrate is no less amongst men, they are called nursing Fathers, Isa. xlix. 23. I will make Kings thy nursing Fathers. God is called a Shepherd, Psal. xxiii. 1. and Christ is called [...], the chief Shepherd: the Magistrates are cal­led Shepherds also, Isa. xliv. 28. Ezek. xxxiv. 23. David and Cyrus as Princes and Rulers are called Gods, and the peoples Shepherds: Gods, as instituted by him; [Page 26]and the people as set over them, by their tutelage to defend them as a flock. God is called in Scripture, the Foundation that bears up the world, and the pillars of it: and Christ is called a Foundation, and a Corner-stone: and Magistrates are called Foundations also, Mie. vi. 2. Hear the Lords controversie, ye strong Foundati­ons of the earth; and in the Text, All the Foundations of the earth are out of course, Psal. lxxxii. 5. And needs must they be Foundations, when in the next world he saith, They are Gods. But of this no more. But that re­ceived rule of Mollerus upon the Text,Wollerus. Hos vobis attri­bui titulos, ut propter muneris societatem nominis mecum gereretis communitatem, bringing in God himself speak­ing to the Magistrates. In this wise I have dignified you with all titles of Honour, that it may appear, because of the association of Office and Power, you bold a community of names and titles with my self, and so ye are Gods.

3. Identitate Operis, an oneness of work and imploy­ment. The Magistrate here may say as Christ: Hither­to my Father worketh, and I work. They are Chil­dren of the most High in the Text, and they do their Fa­thers work. God doth his own work, where he under­taketh to judge; for Judgement is his: and the Magi­strate doth Gods work in executing Judgement; Accur­sed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently, Jer. xlviii. 10. Propriè de Magistratibus & Judicibus dici­tur, saith à Lapid. Cornel. à Lapid. in loc. upon that Text. It is meant properly of Judges and Magistrates. The work of a Magistrate is Judgement and Justice, Ier. xxiii. 5. its spoken of Christ, its true; but as sitting upon the Throne of Da­vid, as a Prince, he shall execute Judgement and Ju­stice, [Page 27]And this is Gods work also, not onely in his own hands, but in theirs. The work in his own hands we find Deut. x. 18. He executeth Judgement. And this work in their hands we find Deut. xxxiii. 21. He execu­teth the justice of the Lord. When God by the Apostle saith, Rom. xii. 19. Avenge not, he meaneth, Non de Ju­diciis publicis, sed de Praejudiciis privatis. And when he saith Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it; he means either by his own hand immediately, or by his Vice-ge­rents: for Ʋltio Magistratus est Dei ultio, & quum re­pendit Magistratus, rependit & ipse Deus, Spanheus. in Rom. 12.19. saith Spanhe­mius. The revenge of a Judge is Gods revenge, and when the Magistrate repayeth, it is God that repayeth by him. So saith the Apostle Rom. xiii. 4. The Minister of God a revenger to execute wrath. Jehoshaphat set Judges over the people, [...] for the Judgement of the Lord. God as the Judge of the world hath his sword in his hand, and Christ as that man by whom God shall judge the world, hath his sword by his thigh, Psal. xlv. and the Magistrate because he bears a share in the works of Judgement also, [...], he beareth the sword. And its the sword of the Lord, and the sword of Gideon, Whatever acts of Judgement are mentioned in Scripture as to deliver the poor, and him that hath no help: to make the Widows heart to sing, to be eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame; to be a Father to the poor, to break the jawes of the wicked, to maintain right, to re­lieve the oppressed, to be encouragement to the good, and terrour to the bad, and to give every man accord­ing to his deeds, are mutually spoken of God and a Ma­gistrate in Scripture. A Magistrates seat is the habitati­on [Page 28]of Justice, Ier. xxxi. 23. and Judgement the habi­tation of his Throne, Psal. lxxxix. 14. Hence the Ma­gistrate is [...], Rom. xiii. 5. Minister of God, a ser­vant employed about his Masters Work. Are ye not a­fraid to speak against my servant, against Moses? The work is the same, and hence they are Gods.

4. Identitate finis, both directed to the same end. God is his own Center, and God is or should be a Ma­gistrates Center. Gods actions are all for himself, and all the actions of a Magistrates should be for God: Ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, is the Problem of Iehoshaphat to his Judges, 2 Chron. xix. 6. The Queen of Sheba could tell Solomon, that God had set him up King for the Lord his God, 2 Chron. ix. 8. And God saith to David as a Magistrate, [...], the Lord hath sought a man for himself, after his own heart. And David saith concerning Solomon, in Type pointing at the end of all Government, That his glorious Name may be magnified, and the Earth may be filled with his glory, Psal. lxxii. 19. that Solomon might be to Christ, as Christ to God; so a Magistrate to both; be their lively Effigies to perpetuate the memory of a God of Judge­ment: That in Solomon as a righteous Magistrate, his Name might continue for ever, verse 17. but it is in the Text [...], filiabitur nomen ejus, that as the Fa­ther liveth in his Son, the Son taking both Name and Thing from him; so the Magistrate might be to God; that God might live in them as in his own Children; they receiving both Name and Thing from him: which will lead us to the expresse [...] in the Text: which will in few words conclude the Judges Commission, and [Page 29]clear it as in the Text, I have said Ye are Gods, and Children of the Most High.

Thus My Lords I have been long in reading your Commission, because something obscure; but I hope I have done it so clearly, that no one can scruple one syllable of it; where I have discharg'd my second Task. There remains a Third, which is to give a short Charge from the Lord, who saith, You are Gods: For which I humbly beg your Honourable patience, and I shall leave you to God and your Work; and this in the Application of the Text.

I have said Ye are Gods. My Lords, This Text tells us so, and it tells you so, That You are Gods. As it tells so, it presents us with what we owe to you: As it telleth you so, it presents you with what you owe both to God and us.

1. It telleth us so, and herein we are taught what we one the Magistrate, viz. To owne his power, and to yield obedience for the Lords sake; notwithstand­ing that Inhibition of the Apostle, Owe no man any thing, Rom. xiii. 8. his meaning is, owe not so, as not to pay, he is his own Interpreter, Render to every man his dues, honour to whom honour. Obedience to Ma­gistrates is a debt that we must be always paying, and yet always owing. Goe unto Caesar the things that are Cae­sars. That dream of the degenerate Aesseans, who taught the people to own no Power or Ruler, but onely God himself; must not passe either for Tradition, or Do­ctrine with Christians; because it gives so clear a Check to the Apostle: Who saith, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, Rom. 13.1. They that cry no King [Page 30]but Caesar, denying God his Supremacy over man, and they that cry no King but Iesus, denying man his Supremacy under God, do both erre, not knowing the Scriptures, and the power of God. Unhappy Le­vellers, that would thus make plain those Mountains, that should bring forth Righteousness, and the Hills that should bring forth peace unto the people, Psal. lxxii. 3. That man that can scruple mans power under God, will in time scruple Gods power overman. To speak evil of Rulers is bad and forbidden, Exod. xxii. 28. but to speak evil of Dignities, and despise Dominion, and so to strike a blow at the root, is far worse, Iude viii. and is that spirit that the Apostle told us should actuate the last and the worst of time. Subjection is every where commanded, and therein Dominion and Rule is founded. It is a weak mistake, that because the Apostle saith [...], 1 Pet. 2.13. Obey every Ordinance of man; therefore Magi­stracy must be a humane Ordinance; and as it receives it rise, so it may be laid aside, according to mans plea­sure. A bad Comment upon so good a Text. The Apo­stle Paul being witnesse, Rom. xiii. 2. who saith it is [...], the Ordinance of God, and he that resists, resists the Ordinance of God. Particular Ordinances may be humane, but the Fundamental Ordinance, which gives life to the power, must be divine; or let Magistracy be Objectively, Subjectively, and Termina­tively Humane; yet Originally it must be Divine: Dominion and Soveraignty is part of the Image of God; whence Man in respect to his power over the Woman, is called the Image of God, 1 Cor. 11.7. And certainly none [Page 31]can impart the Image of God, but God himself; and the clearer we see the lines of Dominion and Power drawn over any Person, the nearer he comes to the Dei­ty. And it should be a Noli me tangere to all tongues and hands of violence, Touch not mine anointed. It is sto­ried that Phydias a Painter at Athens, did so curiously intermix the Picture of Minerva the Goddesse and his own together, that no one could deface the one, but they must deface the other; hereby expecting that the Picture of the Goddesse should be the dreadful Pro­tectrix of his Effigies. But sure we may be, that God hath so curiously enamel'd his Own and Mans Image together in a Magistrate, that none can deface the one, but they must deface the other; hereby expecting that his Image on a Magistrate, should be the Dreadful Protector of his Person and Power. Let no bold hand invade or usurp Christs Charter, which is to put down all Power, Authority, and Rule; as 1 Cor. xv. 24. for Christ himself is to do it: when all derivations must re­vert into their Original, and he will call in all his Com­missions, and Christ himself must surrender. That will be to make God All in All; but for man to preoccu­pate Christ in that work, will make God Nothing at all.

Those filthy dreamers the Apostle speaks of Iude viii. who despise Dominions, dreamers they are, and filthy ones; also they do but dream; because the Scripture cannot be broken. We read of two Rods the one of Moses, the other of Aaron. The Rod of Moses as a Prince, the Rod of Aaron as a Priest. The Rod of Moses as a Prince, swallowed up all the Rods of the [Page 32]Magitians, Exod. vii. 12. and the Rod of Aaron blossom'd and brought forth ripe Almonds, without Earth, Numb. xvii. 8. to shew that these two, Moses and Aaron; or as Zach. iii. and iv. Chapters, Zerubbabel and Joshua, Magistracy and Ministry are those two Sons of Oil, which as Zach. iv. 12. as two golden pipes, empty the Golden Oil out of themselves, and are [...], stand­ing Pillars, that shall stand before the Lord of the whole Earth. And men shall find it as easie to disanul the Law, that the God of Nature hath made be­twixt Day and Night, Summer and Winter, as to re­verse that Covenant that he hath made with David his servant as a Prince, and the Priests his Ministers, Ier. xxxiii. 20, 21. and thus they are dreamers. But they are filthy ones also, thus the Apostle calls them; they defile the flesh, Jude viii. and therefore despise domi­nion, that there might be no heir of restraint, to be a terrour to the evil; thus making provision for the lusts of the flesh; that as when no King in Israel, they may do every one what is good in his own eyes: thus they are filthy dreamers. And it would do well for men to con­sider that the Rod of Moses, when it was thrown upon the ground, was turn'd into a Serpent, Exod. iv. 3, 4. Let us take a survey of that Text, And hesaid, cast it on the ground, and it became a Serpent, and Moses sled from before it; and the Lord said put forth thine hand and take it by the tail, and he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a Rod in his hand. We have seen the lively Comment upon this Text. The Rod of our Mo­ses hath been thrown to the ground; our eys have seen it, and it then became a Serpent, and we have felt it; [Page 33]and our Moses himself fled from before it, and we la­mented it; but now God (through mercy) hath ina­bled him to take that Serpent by the tail; he hath caught it, and it became a Rod again, and a strong Rod to rule, and our souls rejoyce in it. But hence let all know, that Moses Rod cast upon the ground, will become a Serpent, and that will carry a severe sting in the tail of it, They that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation.

2. The second Application will run something more special to those that are concern'd in matters of Judge­ment this day, whether they be to stand before, or to sit upon the Seat of Judgement. And first to those that are to stand before it, either as Plaintisse, Defendant, Witnesses, Council, or Iury. I know the claims of Cu­stome, and the great Concerns in Judgement, call for a particular word to every one of these. I shall not be so prodigal of that little time I have left, as to expati­ate too much upon every Topick or Common Place; onely I shall make use of this one Director in the Text, unto them all successively, which may help them in the matters of Judgement, and it's this. He hath said they are Gods, act by his Power, are imployed in his Work, the Judgement is Gods, and God is with them in Judgement, 2 Chron. xix. 6. and God judgeth and standeth in the Congregation of the Gods, Psal. lxxxii. 1, 2. Therefore my advice to you all, in what relati­on soever you stand, as it's given to my hand, is this, Deut. xix. 17. [...]. As the Arabick version reads Sistent secoram Iehovah. Let them set themselves before the Lord. So speak, and so do, as before the [Page 34]Lord, and as 2 Chron. xix. 7. Let the fear of the Lord be upon you, take heed and do it.

1. To you who are Plaintiffs and Defendants, whom the Jewes call [...] Viri litis. I hope it is not ac­cording to the proper Idiom of the language, which in­tends the signification, that you will prove your selves litigious and contentious men, or men of contention. Yet you must know, that in all Law-contentions, there must be either an unjust complaint, or an unjust defence: and there lyes the contention; to you I speak, who have any Causes to be heard before the Gods this day: Know that it is before the Lord you bring your controversies. Let them then be worthy such an inspection, to whom it is iniquity and a grievance, to find men to be the raisers of strife and contention, Hab. i. 2. Indeed the ancient Jews have a saying, Cui est Judicium causa, ant lis accedat Ju­dicem; and its but the transcript of the divine rule, and that gives the true English of it, Deut. xix. 17. Both the men between whom the controversie is, shall stand before the Lord, and before the Judge. But then you must know, they must be neither the Apostles [...], nor the Prophets [...], neither the smallest matters, 1 Cor. vi. 2. nor unrighteous actions. Isa. x. 1. neither trivial nor unjust; we should not trouble Gods Tribunal with that which wants either weight or right, such are better com­pounded then carried, the one being against the Maje­sty, the other against the Justice of that righteous Judge who standeth amongst the Gods. Petty Suits are the scab, and unjust ones the leprosy of Judicature; we must not cut out work for the Judge that needs not, much less that which ought not. An ancient Complaint, or an un­just [Page 35]defence, are equally harsh in his eares who is a God of truth and equity. Carry therefore all thy Causes to the balance of the Sanctuary, and the Bar of thine own Conscience, before thou bringest them to Gods Tribu­nal, let them be thy Grand Jury, and if they return Igno­ramus, let them die. It is good advice that is given thee by the wisest of men, Eccles. viii. 3. Stand not in an evil matter, stir not by complaint, stand not in it by defence; do but ask thy soul this Question; Dare I commence this action before Gods dreadfull Tribunal, if not, what doth it here? If the pretended mother of the Child had thought that she should have had to do with a Solomon, a man of a large heart, she would have desisted from her querulous falsities. But know that a greater then Solomon is here. Let a Spirit of Love and Peace, com­pound and take up. Let every man be willing to yield to right, though against himself. Man is not the Crea­ture that God hath made to live in the fire, it is true of Humane, as it is said of Divine Laws, good if used law­fully, 1 Tim. i. 8. There is a Curse that attends them, that delight in War; it's true of the Wars at the Barre, as well as those of the Field. These are the [...] and the [...] which the Apostle speaks of, James iv. 1. Wars and Fightings which come of our lusts. Turn not our Re­phidim into Meribah, our pleasant Streams of Justice into the Waters of Strife; they will then be both Ma­rah 05 and Massah, bitter to us, and we shall tempt the Lord, and say, Is the Lord with us, yea or no. We need not doubt it, for his is the Judgement, and he is with you in Judgement.

2. The Witnesses may be directed here, and the [Page 36]Text speaks a word to you. Set you your selves before the Lord, before whom you speak, and who weighs both your spirits and your words; you stand before the Lord, and the Oath of the Lord is upon you: your Evidence is Cynosura Causae, and directs to Judgement, as the Chard doth the Mariners to his Port. Prevaricate not before the Lord, who can detect your falsity, and will revenge the injury: God before whom you speak, is a God of Truth, and you had need be men of Truth, that you may appeal to God and say, as 2 Cor. xi. 31. God knoweth I he not: he is a Witnesse to thy Testimony. It is a dreadful thing to tell a lie at the Barre, and call God to be a Witnesse to it. The Anti­ent Jewes have a Saying, which will sit us here [...], Qui vult mentiri amoveat testes suos, He that will tell a lie, must first remove his Witnesses. Tell not therefore a lie at the Barre, until thou beest sure, thou hast removed God himself from the Barre. Look to the form of thy Oath, it is very full and perti­nent. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The truth without equivocation, the whole truth without mutilation, nothing but the truth with­out addition. For the Jews will tell thee, Tres veritatem dixerunt & tamen perierunt, Serpens, Doeg, & Explo­ratores. Three told truth, and yet perished, the Serpent, Doeg and the Spies, that went to search out the Promised Land. The Serpent he told Eve that if they eat the fruit, God knew they should be as Gods, knowing good and evil; it was truth, but not without equivo­cation: they understood him of notional, but the De­vil meant it of experimental knowledge: and hence he [Page 37]is called a liar from the beginning, John viii. 44. Doeg told Saul that Ahimelech the Priest inquired of the Lord for David, gave him victuals, and the sword of Goliah the Philistine, 1 Sam. xxii. 9. And this was truth, but not the whole truth, had he told Saul that David told Ahi­melech that Saul sent him about some important business, he had saved the lives of many of the Priests of the Lord: and therefore Doeg is marked with the brand of a lying and deceitfull tongue, Psal. lii. 3, 4. The spies told the Israelites there were Gyants in the Land, and it was truth: but they did it with aggravation, and said it was not possible to overcome them, and possess the Land; and so they told more then the truth. They are herein said to bring [...] a lying report, or a slander up­on the Land, and they perished, Numb. xiv. 36, 37. What thou speakest before the Judge, thou speakest before God. Let not this Testimony come out of deceitfull lips, lest whilst the Judge cannot detect thee, God comes to charge thee, (as he did by Peter to Ananias) Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost, Acts v. Tremble to think that God may by some amazing Judgement tell thee and the world, thou lyest. The Jewish Adage tells thee, Qui loquitur lingua mala, perin­de est, ac si abnegaret Deum, & peccat & in coelum, & in terram, He that speaks with an evil-lying, or deceitful Tongue, is as if he denied God himself, and sins both a­gainst Heaven and Earth. Remember that command that chargeth thee not to bear false witness against thy neighbour. Let not fear, malice, hope of gain, draw a false Testimony from thee, to draw thee into a perniti­ous lye. Know that mendacii merces vilis est, the wages [Page 38]of a lye is very dishonourable, a false witness being one of those six things which God abhors, and he that telleth lyes is one of those that shall not escape, Prov. vi. 19. and xix. 5.

3. The Text speaks a word to you, Gentlemen, that are of the Counsel, you that are Magna Legis Oracula, the great Oracles of the Law, whom we consult, as of old, with whom, when, and how we should go to war. You are to the Judge in Civils, what John Baptist was to Christ in Spirituals, his fore-runner to prepare his way; and you do it well, if you make crooked things straight be­forehand. You may do it in your Counsel-giving, and in your Pleading at the Bar: and in both consider, that what you speak to man, you speak also before that God that knoweth well that the hand of Joab is in the cause, and can point out the very men that devise mischiefs, and give wicked Counsel in the City, Ezek. xi. 2. Your work is honourable, Christ stiles himself the Counsellour, and its the greatest trust that you are capable of, for you to give Counsel, and we to follow it in our greatest tempo­ral concerns. Therefore give it liquidly and faithfully, as before the Lord; liquidly and clearly, not as the Ora­cles of old, of whom it was said, Obscuris ambagibus re­sponsa dabant, gave their answers aenigmatically and darkly, that men knew not how to resolve them; give no uncertain sound to the battel, how shall men then prepare themselves to it. Give it faithfully also as God himself would, let every man see his cause through right perspectives, encourage no man to take up a bad cause, sound not a March when you should sound a Retreat, let not your Counsel be as Zedekiah's to Ahab, Go up to [Page 39]Ramoth-Gilead and prosper, when its Go up to Ramoth-Gilead and fall. Do not as the Oracles of Apollo [...]speaks, as Philip would have it; let the Counsel of peace come from you, and if possible, let your advice be the period of every Cause, the end of Counsel is not strife but cessation, 2 Sam. xx. 21. They asked Counsel at Abel, and so they ended the matter. Let us come to you as to the Oracles of God for truth and faithfulness. The Rabbinical Apophthegme is something tart, Cave tibi ab co. [...], Qui consulit tibi secundum viam suam, Beware of him that gives thee Counsel rather for his Commodity, then out of Conscience, then Absalom his Counsel will be given, every mans Cause will be right, and his adversaries wrong: and so a man shall seem just in his Cause, till his neighbour come and search him out, Prov. xviii. 17.

In your pleading at the Bar, Consider that the Advocate or Counsel, the Jewes called him [...] if from [...] dulcesce­re, to sweeten: then it tells you, you are by all your verbal ingredients to sweeten the Law, & not to turn it into gall and wormwood. But if from [...] eludere, or deludere, then it tells you by an Antiphrasis, that you are not per verborū aucupia & tendiculas, as Tully speaks, by cunning constru­ctions & Artifices, to rack the Law, & wreak the Innocent. You speak before that God that gives you in charge, Exod. xxiii. 1, 2. Put not thine hand to the wicked, nei­ther shalt thou speak in a Cause to wrest Judgement: not a word for a bad Cause, not a word against a good one; let neither the depth of an Achitophel, nor the flourishes of a Tertullus, neither Policy nor Oratory be employed against right and equity. Let not the Law which is the [Page 40]hedge of common interest appear to be made onely of thorns to prick and wound; nor the cloud of Justice, which should overshadow and relieve us. Be like that which pluit super eos laqueos is dissolved into snares to in­volve us. Raise no dust to darken a clear one, nor bring varnish to help the paint of a foul Cause. The woman which sits in the midst of the Epha, which is wicked­ness, Zach. v. 8, 9. having conceived and grown big, and now ready to bring forth; lend not your hand to deliver the monster, where your judgement and consciences conclude the cause bad. Let your tongues cleave to the roof of your mouths with St. Pauls resolve, 2 Cor. xiii. 8. I can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Your Barre contests are Status Causae, where, as in our bodies the Disease and Nature, so here Right and Injustice are striving for predominance; do but thus conclude, that you are pleading before Gods Tri­bunal; and then you will leave a bad cause to speak for its self.

4. The Text directs a word to the [...]ury, you are ve­sted with a sacred power, and your Oath is a sacred Bond. You are Judices facti, Judges of the fact, and im­mediately lead ad judicium Causae, to the judgement of the Cause. You are the persons to whom all persons con­cerned in judgement look; you are to look upon the Prisoner at the Bar, to you one directs his Complaint, and to you the other his Defence, to you the Witness directs his Evidence, and the Counsel their Plea; and the Judge for his Sentence looks to you, and God in judge­ment looks upon you; you had need look to your selves. Let God and the Countrey go together in your [Page 41]Verdict, in truth, righteousness, [...] your work to prepare an even way [...] your Sentence of the fact, to the Judg [...] [...] Law. Your Verdict is Crisis Causae [...] the Cause. Let not Justice have a b [...] indication in that Critical hour, when you go from the Bar to consult and return to give your Judgement; God is with you in both. Be not led aside by fear, favour, or feud; be not per­swaded, affrighted, or bribed into a false Verdict: let not God nor the Gods finde from you a lazy or idle Ver­dict, hudled up to save the labour of weighing the evi­dence and circumstances: nor a sordid and covetous Verdict to take the advantage of more Causes. Act by Conscience, not Contagion; by reason, not an im­plicite saith, Non quâ itur, sed quâ cundum, let Consci­ence speak before your Foreman. Let not errour in Judgement lye at your doors. The Talmudists have a saying for you, [...], Nè Ju­dices proximum tuum donee pertigeris ad locum ipsius. Judge not thy Brother until thou hast set thy self in his stead. Bring no other Verdict against him, then thou wouldst be willing he should bring against [...]ee, or thou bring against thy own soul. In a word, let all persons concerned in Judgement so speak, and so do, as they may not through inadvertency have cause to say, as Ja­cob did once, God is here, and I am not aware of it. The Text is your sufficient Caution, he stands among the Gods, the Judgement is his; and therefore they are cal­led Gods.

Lastly, the Text speaks by way of special application my Lords, to you; the Judge is called by the Ancient [Page 42]Jews [...], the Lord of Judgement, or the Judge of the Law. They shall stand before the Lord, before the Judge, Deut. xix. 17. your power is from him; your work tends to him; your persons represent him; you are Gods, and your Judgement is his; and this the Text tells you; and therein what you owe both to God and us; in which I shall not be your Magisterial Dictator, but your humble remembrancer. The Text telleth us, 1 Kings x. 19. that Solomon had a Throne that had six steps to it, and the Jews tell us further, that upon those six steps there were inscriptions, and upon every step a remembrancer, that he might have his duty both in his eyes and eares. That when the King ascended up the first, the Officer cried [...], Wrest not Judge­ment. When he went up the second, the Officer cried, [...], Respect not persons. When upon the third, he cried, [...], Take no bribes. And thus every step, until he came to sit down upon his Throne: that as in the Temple they had their Canticae graduum, Songs of degrees; so they had upon the Steps of the Throne Admonitions of degrees also. And this is no more then the Persian King was wont to have one to cry [...]. The English whereof I cannot give you in better terms, then in the words of Iehosha­phat to the Judges, 2 Chron. 29.6. Take heed what ye do, ye judge not for man, but for the Lord. Let the fear of God be upon you, take heed and do it. You are Gods, then I have these two things to lay before you.

1. Because you are Gods, let God be your end in Judgement, and his Glory the mark you aime at. His [Page 43]Glory is his own end, and his Glory should be your end. God makes all things for himself, and all powers that are of him should tend thither, as to their no­blest end, 2 Chron. 19.6. Ye judge not for man, but for the Lord; and David was King for the Lord his God, 2 Chron. ix. 8. Non quae sunt hominis sed quae sunt dei ju­dicatis. As Iehoshaphat told them, The matters of the Lord, as well as the Kings matters, 2 Chron. xix. 11. Power and Rule was not intended as a preservative of Humane onely, but chiefly of Divine Interest; not bounds onely to mans Injustice, but to his Impiety also: Not onely that men might not like fishes of the Sea, who have no Ruler, devour one another, Hab. i. 13, 14. but that they might not trespasse against the Lord; 2 Chron. xix. 10. The Apostle gives us the reason why prayers and supplications are to be made for Kings, and all in Authority, 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. that we might lead not onely [...], but also [...], not onely quiet and peaceable lives, but in all godliness and honesty; religione & sanctimonia morum, in all religion and holinesse of life; could you my Lords, so order it that we might sit under our own Vines and Figtrees in Peace, it would be very unequal for us, to be refreshed with the shadow of the Vine, and God to eat the sowre grapes of it; he might say of your Judge­ment, as he did of Israel fasting, Zach. vii. 5. Have ye at all judged for me, even for me, O House of Israel. The Magistrate is Custos utriusque tabulae, and in Gods order and method too, who saith the first is the great Command to be observed and preserved by man, God himself is most jealous for his own glory: So should a [Page 44]Magistrate, Non tantum pacis Custos & Armentarius, sed pietatis & Minister Dei, saith Melancthon. The Jews tell us that of the six Inscriptions that were upon the Steps to Solomons Throne, the three lowest con­cerned Justice towards man, and the three highest Re­ligion towards God; to let him know that when he sate in Judgement, Religion should be the nearest his heart, and first in his eye. Power and Rule should be as Ja­cob's Ladder, whereof as one end stood upon the Earth, the other end reached up to Heaven; and it's a good observation that one makes of Magistracy, that their motion should be as the motion of the Planets to the Primum Mobile. Philosophers tell us they are swist in the motion of the First Mover, and slow in their own. So they should see that a Nation be not carried down a torrent of violence; but more, that it be not carried down the torrent of wickednesse. Then I hope I may tell you that all that Atheistical contempt of Gods holy Worship, all those irreligious and horrid blasphemies, oaths, and cursings of those whose language is of Ash­dod, and their tongues swords and spears to God him­self, all that impious prophanation of the Lords Day; That Torrent of Belial, and Inundation of Debau­chery that comes in upon us as a Flood, and abounds in every corner, and well were it if it would content it self with corners; whereby not onely the power and heart, but the forme and face of Religion seems to be lost: Such as these, are Iniquities to be punished by the Iudges. David cries out in this case, It is time for the Lord to work, for men have made void thy Law, Psal. cxix. 126. and if it be time for God to work. I am sure [Page 45]it is no time for the Gods to sleep; to whom should we as the Lords Advocares fly, but to you who are the Gods, and so to judge for the Lord. Awake up to Judgement, that men may not say that God hath for­saken the Earth; because the Gods seem to do so. It's observable that David and Solomon when they were imployed in the Civil Affairs of the Kingdome, they are said to sit upon their own Throne, and upon the Throne of their Father; but when they looked higher, to reforme Religion, to promote Godlinesse, to make them forsake their strange Wives, as well as their strange Gods, then they are said to sit upon the Throne of the Lord, 2 Chron. ix. 8. 1 Chron. xxix. 23. The end of Magistracy is as Isa. i. 26. to purge away our drosse, and take away our Tinne, that we might be called the City of Righteousness; and to that end he gives Judges as at first, and Counsellors as at the be­ginning. His promise is to make our Officers peace, and our Exactors righteousnesse, Isa. lx. 17. that we might be a holy people, Isa. lxii. 12. then may we expect a bles­sing when we are the Mountain of Holinesse, as well as the Habitation of Iustice, Ier. xxxi. 23.

It is neither glory to God, nor honour to a Magistrate, when the people is Gomorrah, or they called the rulers of Sodom, as Isa. 1.10. My Lords, you bear the sword, and its the sword of the Lood. Act by his example, who alluding from the sword in his hand, to the sword in his mouth, saith, Gen. vi. 3. [...], Non erit tanquam gladius in vagina detentus, my spirit shall not be always as a sword in its sheath. Where God sets his face against, you must not hide your eyes from: where God stretch­eth [Page 46]out his arm, you must not have yours in your bo­some: where God draws his sword, you must not sheath it. Gods sword is drawn, and sharpened, and furbished against iniquity. Hold you it in your hand, that iniquity may be afraid; you bear it not in vain, but as the Mini­ster of God for good, a terrour to the evil, and let it ap­pear so. A Christian Magistrate should go as far as Gal­lio went, who told them when they complained of St. Paul, that if there was [...], Any wrong or wicked lewdness; wrong to man, or lewdness against God: it was then reason he should hear them, Acts xviii. 14. And David is their example, who said, he would as Pater patriae, early destroy all the wicked doers out of the Land, Psal. ci. 8. as the Wise-man saith, A King sitting upon his Throne of Judgement, scattereth away all evil with his eyes. Let it not be as it was said of Laish, Judg. xviii. 7. No Magistrate to put them to shame in any thing. The words are [...], no heir of re­straint. Power and rule should be as its prime end, a restraint to evil, the Law being made for the ungodly, 1 Tim. i. 9. and that restraint best acted, which is done by an heir of restraint, who hath right as well as might: the word signifies both possidens regnum, and haeres inter­dicti; a possession of the kingdome, and an heir of re­straint. We have, blessed be God, possidens regnum, one that now possesseth the kingdome: and as a greater mercy, haeres interdicti also, whose right it is. Let not the restraint be wanting. My Lords, it will lye at your doors for our haeres interdicti. Our Gracious Sovereign, out of his pious and princely care, hath publickly and passionately declared his Royal displeasure at, and dis­like [Page 47]of the prophaneness and debauchery which abounds in the Nation, and hath in Print charged us to stir up those that are in Authority to put forth this restraint, by execution of those good Laws in this case provided. I humbly therefore, being backed by the commands of God and Man, press this upon all that are in place and power, to give a curb to this growing wickedness. The well-temper'd Spring loseth its virtue and strength, if the lesser wheels and balance, that should regulate the motion be out of tune. Let Eli his Sentence caution you, 1 Sam. iii. 13. for the iniquity that he knoweth of: Qui non vetat, quum potest, jubet, He that restraineth not, commands, as Ministers contract the guilt of those sins they do not reprove: So Magistrates of those things they do not punish. They became vile, and thou restrainest them not. "I said thy house should continue before me, here is the Amarti in the Text, I have said. And though men and devils cannot disannull his word, yet God him­self can reverse it. But now be it far from me, Those that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

2. You are Gods; then let God be your Rule and Exemplar in Judgement, bee as he is, and do as he doth in Judgement. Baldaeus telleth us that there ought to be a double salt in a Magistrate, Sal Scientiae, and Conscien­tiae, the Salt of Science and Conscience: by the one he will know what to do, by the other he will do accord­ing to what he knoweth.

1. Sal Scientiae, the Salt of Knowledge; and that is either Juris, or Facti: Knowledge of the Law, or know­ledge of the Fact. First, for the knowledge of the Law. [Page 48]A Judge must be a man of knowledge; Provide able men, saith Jethro to Moses, Exod. xviii. 21. they must be Viri virtutis, Men of inward strength. As Apollos was said to be [...], mighty in the Scriptures, so must they be in the Law. God is stiled a God of Know­ledge, and by him all actions are weighed, 1 Sam. ii. 3. The knowledge of a Magistrate is his ballance wherein he doth librare Iustitiam, weigh forth Justice to others, it is his Standard and Rule whereby he mea­sureth the actions of men. But of this My Lords, when I speak before you, I may without flattery apologize with St. Paul to Agrippa, Acts xxvi 2. I think my self happy that I am to addresse my self to you, who are expert in the Laws and Customs of our Nation.

Secondly, for the Scientia facti, the knowledge of the fact, it is as necessary. When a Magistrate walks on in darknesse, he must stumble, and the foundations of the Earth will be out of course, Quum judicas cognosce, is the monition of a Heathen, When thou judgest know, what thou judgest. A Judge should be to the people instead of eys, God himself will know and see before he striketh, Gen. xviii. 21. I am come down to see whe­ther sins be according to their cry. Quanquam Deo a­perta, tamen non punit Audita sed visa. They were well known to God, so that not out of his own necessity, but for our Imitation he punisheth, not what he hear­eth, but what he seeth. Christ as Iudge, Isa. xi. 3. Not according to hearing of his ears, or sight of his own eyes, but with righteousnesse shall he judge. My Lords, your Sentence is Terminatio Causae, the termination and period of every Cause. One word from you in the Pro­phets [Page 49]phra [...], destroyeth a man and his house, even a man and his heritage; and therefore your Sentence had need be well grounded, the Judges Sentence must be the [...]sh [...]e of examination and deliberation. Let it be true, that he is to proceed secundum allegata & pro­bata, it must be examinata also; as God himself came to examine whether Sodom's cry was true; and Deut. xix. 18. If a false witnesse rise up against a man, to te­stifie against him that which is wrong, the Iudge shall make diligent inquisition: And Iob cleareth himself thus, The cause which I knew not I searched out, Iob xxix. 16. The Jews had a Saying to this purpose, In ostio caulae verba, sed intra septa ratio. Words may be in the door of the fold, but reason and understanding must be within the hedge. God himself doth librare Iustitiam, weigh his Justice. And Astraea you know, the Hieroglyphick of Iustice, as she hath a Sword in one hand, so she hath a pair of ballances in the other; to tell you that you must ponder and weigh before you strike. The Rabbins have an elegant Saying here, [...], Beatus est Iudex qui fermen­tat suvm judicium; drawn from the Israelites, who be­cause of their haste, could not stay to leaven their bread: the meaning of it is, That Iudge doth well, who is not hasty in Iudgement. Deliberation and Consulta­tion is the fermentation of Iudgement; not as David in haste gave Ziba Mephibosheth's Land, and at the best, bad them divide it. Mistake not the Hieroglyphicks of Iustice so, because Iustice was pictured blind, therefore a Iudge must put out his eies; he must be quick sighted in every thing, but what may tempt him to pervert Iustice.

2. There is required Sal Conscientia, the Salt of Conscience, that he may do according to what he knoweth; this telleth you that you must do Justice Effectually and do it Impartially.

First, Do it Effectually, God doth so, he is known by the Iudgement which he executeth, Psal. ix. 16. and so should you make it your businesse to execute true Ju­stice, as God prepares his Throne for Iudgement, Psal. ix. 7. Will God pervert Iustice, is an Interrogatory that he vehemently denieth, Iob. viii. 3. it's far from God, it should be far from a Magistrate, as one of the great­est Soloecismes that can be committed. Injustice in a Judge, leaves injustice at Gods Door, and shall not the Iudge of all the World do right? One foul Sentence is of more dangerous import then many foul examples; the one corrupts but the stream, but the other the foun­tain; as Prov. xxv. 26. Fons turbatus & vena corrupta, est justus cadens in suâ causâ coram adversario. ‘A trou­bled Fountain, is a just man falling in his cause be­fore the wicked.’ The Jews have a Saying, Qui per­vertit judicim perinde est, acsi perverteret jus Dei & depelleret pedes Majestatis ipsius. ‘For a Judge to per­vert Judgement, is to pervert Gods right, and to thrust away the feet of the Almighty: who walks in the paths of Judgement, hear Davids elegant Anthem, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, 2, 3.’ David the son of Iesse said, the man rai­sed up on high, the anointed of God, the sweet Psalmist of Israel said, the spirit of God spake, the God of Is­rael said, the Rock of Israel spake. "A large Prologue "to usher some matter of weight, it's but this, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. [Page 51]And Deut. xvi. 20. That which is altogether just, shalt thou follow, pure justice, [...], as your margents read it Iustice, Iustice, Shalt thou follow, the Ingemi­nation denotes the affection with which God speakes it; and the strictnesse with which you should execute it; hence Judges are called, Dan. iii. 2. [...], quasi, [...], quorum jus purum est, whose Judgement is or should be pure, and Christ as Judge sets you a pattern, Isa. xi. 5. Righteousnesse shall be the girdle of his loyns, and faithfulnesse the girdle of his reins.

Secondly, Do it impartially, God doth so, and re­spects no mans person in Judgement. The Jews tell us that [...], signifieth both Aures and Bilances, the ears and a ballance, upon this ground that a Judges ear should be as the tongue of a ballance, stand in aequili­brio, equal to both parts, till the weight in the scale make it incline to either side; Causa non persona, The Cause not the Person, should be a Judges Motto, hence the Athenians, the Egyptians and the Thebans pictured Justice blind, and without hands; their Judges being appointed to sit in the dark, that they might know no mans face but his cause. The Jews say, Qui aut amici aut inimici personam induit Iudicis exuit. "He that acts "either as a friend or as an enemy acts not like a Judge. He is not for fear as Pilate, nor for savour as Herod, nor for hatred, as Ahab, nor for hope as Felix, to passe any Sentence: Justice must run with an even course, with­out the weight of any ballancing interests, thus exe­cute true Judgement in the Gate, and do no unrighte­ousnesse in Judgement, and you will prove your selves Gods, and Children of the Most High. Hear not mine, but Davids Suasives to mind you:

1. He tells you v. 1. God standeth in the Congregati­on of the Gods. He is Inspector morum, your Dreadful Overseer, and is privy to your Sentences: Let not Judgement (in the Prophets phrase) be far off, when there stands a God of Judgement so near you. The Wise­man tells you, Eccles. 5.8. When there is a violent per­verting of Judgement and Justice in a City, a higher then the highest regardeth it; and Job xxxvi. 7. His eyes are with Kings upon the Throne: So with you upon the Seat of Judgement.

2. He tells you, you are foundations, v. 5. and upon you the whole fabrick leans, it is to you (as the people to Moses) that we come for Justice. If the foundations be out of course, the fabrick must fall; you will be our happinesse if you execute true Iudgement in the midst of us. The Iudges used to sit in the Gate, to shew us that Iustice and Iudgement is a stronger Palladium to the City, then all the tutelary gods; we may take the mea­sure of our peace and happinesse by the line of Iustice which you draw over us. Iustice is the pulse of the Body Politick, Hab. i. 4. [...], our Translation reads it, the Law fails, or is slacked, and Iudgement goeth not forth; but debilitata est lex, reads the inter­lineary; and the word [...] it relates to the pulse of a na­tural body. Cessabat motus vel pulsus cordis, saith Shind­ler, the motion or pulse of the heart is ceased, to try the health, we feel the pulse of the body; a weak or an intermitting pulse is a bad indication of a declining state.

3. He telleth you v. 6. you are Gods, and Children of the Most High [...], it is your Honour, and brings you the [Page 53]nearer to God, if you execute true Iudgement in the Gate. You will endear both God and man by it: Men you will: Absalom by but pretending to it, stole away the hearts of the people, 2 Sam. xv. 6. Job as a Prince and Iudge, put on Iudgement as a Robe and a Diadem, Iob. xxix. and the eye that saw him, witnessed his ho­nour, and the ear that heard him, blessed him, and waited for him as the latter rain, v. xi. 23. He that ru­ling over men is just, is as the morning when the Sun ariseth, a morning without clouds, as clear Sun shine after rain, 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. and you will take God, being herein as David after his own heart, he will delight in you, as you delight in Iustice and Iudgement; who will be ready to say, Ier. xxxi. 23. The Lord blesse thee, O ha­bitation of Iustice. The Rabinical Apothegme is to this purpose, Qui judicat veritatis judicium facit Majesta­tem divinam habitare super Israelem. He that executes true Iudgement, makes the Divine Majesty to dwel in Israel.

4. He telleth you, you must die like men. As the Ma­gistrate is the breath of our Nostrils, so his breath is in his Nostrils. As the Apostle telleth us, Heb. 7. There are many Priests who are not suffered to continue by reason of death; so there are [...], Many Lords that are not suffered to continue by reason of death; Christ alone is the Prince and Priest after the power of an endlesse life. It is an observation of the Learned Ve­rulam, That the summe of what may be said to a Magi­strate, lies in these two, Memento te esse hominem, and Memento te esse Deum. Remember thou art a God, and Remember thou art a Man: the one as Calcar, the o­ther [Page 54]as Fraenum, the one a Spur, the other a Bridle; a Spur to act like God, and a Bridle to keep them from acting like Man. My Lords, this clause of Davids Ser­mon tells you, that there will be a time when you must cease to judge us; execute therefore true judgement in the Gate, that when you come to lay aside those Scar­let Robes, and each of you to receive your W [...]t of Ease from the King of Kings, and to lie down in your ear­then Beds, the fruit of your righteousnesse may be peace.

5. He tells you v. 8. God will judge the Earth, and be Judge himself, Psal. l. 6. with a Selah for you, and us to mark, and after you cease to judge us, God must then judge you. Passe no Sentence therefore here, but what may abide the test, when every mans work shall be tried by sire: It was said of Nerva, that he com­forted himself in this. Se nihil fecisse quo minus imperio deposito privatus tutò vivere possit: ‘That he did no­thing during his Government, but his power being laid aside, he could live safely a private life.’ It is well for men in power, so to act, as that they may free­ly look man in the face; but it is a great deal better, so to act, as that they may be able with cheerfulnesse to look God in the face. The Jewes have a Saying, Quem admodum judicasti ad lancem Innocentiae, & imagine­tur sibi judex acsi gladius inter faemora, & ei gehenna aperta fuisset. "As thou hast judged by the ballance of "Innocency, so the Supreme Judge shall judge thee. Therefore let the Judge upon the Bench imagine to him­self, as if he had a Sword between his thighs, and as if Hell was open before him. So judge us here, whil'st [Page 55]we stand before you, that when you come to stand be­fore God, you may change your Judgement Seat, for Thrones, there to sit, and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Lastly, one word of application general to us all, and I have done. Magistrates are Gods, as representing him, and doing his work in judgement: Then God is Iudge himself, and he will judge the World, and there is a Iudgement to come, and these are but the Pro­logues to that dreadful Solemnity. And it cannot well be, that we being helped on, by such Monitors, should be unmindful of that day, these being so lively repre­sentatives of it; and least we should, these are our An­nual Remembrancers, all we who are but Spectators of others Iudgement, must be persons concerned in that upon our own accompts, where we all shall have our Last Trial, not for Temporal Inheritances, but for Eternity. The true Notion of Iudgement to come well considered, made Felix tremble when he sate upon the Iudgement Seat; much more will it have that effect upon us, when we come to stand before it. Can we hear of the coming of the Iudge, and not think of that, wherein it is said, He cometh to judge the World in Righteousnesse, riding his last Circuit upon his Cloudy Chariot, Psal. xcvi. 13. Can you behold the great Conflux of people from every Quarter to this Solemni­ty, and not think of that day, wherein he shall call to the heavens from above, and the earth beneath, to his judgement, Psal. l. 1, 4. Can yee behold the person of the Judge, and not think of that man by whom God hath appointed to judge the World, Acts xvii. 31. Can [Page 56]ye hear the Trumpet sound before the Judge, and not think of those formidable Heralds of that Day; when he shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and the Trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, 1 Thess. iv. Latter End. Can ye behold these (as the Poet calls it Ignita purpurea,) so here upon better reason these flaming Scarlet Robes with which the Iudge sits vested, and not think of those flaming Robes which that Iudge shall come cloa­thed with, when he shall come in flames to render venge­ance upon all ungodlinesse, 2 Thess. i. 8. Can ye behold the Iudge sit down upon his Seat to take cognisance of all Causes Criminal and Civil, and not behold as in a Vision, Christ sitting down upon his Seat, to take cog­nisance of all things done in the body whether good or evil, 2 Cor. v. 10. Can ye behold the Iustices of the Peace upon the Bench, as Iudicis Coassessores, Coas­sessors with the Iudge by joynt suffrage, ratifying the sense and proceedings at Law. And not think of those Coassessors with the Great Iudge, who shall judge the World, and sit upon Thrones, by joynt suffrage and as­sent, ratifying the proceedings of that Iudge, 1 Cor. vi. 2. Can ye behold the Gaol delivery, the prisoners con­ducted to the Bar by the Iaylor, and surrendred up to Iustice; and not think of that great Gaol Delivery, wherein Earth and Sea shall give up their dead, and small and great shall stand before God, Rev. xx. 12, 13. Can you see the Books opened, every mans Case stated, Inditements read, Witnesses produced, and circumstances proved, and all fit for Sentence; and not think of those Books which shall be opened, where­in [Page 57]all our actions are registred, and we all shall be judged out of those books, Rev. xx. at which time there will be imprisonment without Bail, Indictment with­out Ignoramus, Conviction without Plea, Sentence without Writ of Error, Execution without Reprieve, and Judgement without Mercy for all Sinners; all which though it be the least in mens thoughts, yet it shall cer­tainly come, and its prudence before-hand to set our selves before that Tribunal. And when we behold the guilty felons at the Bar, with pale face,, and akeing hearts, let us think every one of us, Iam mea res agi­tur, our part is now acting. And thus reason, Seeing we look for such things, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holinesse of conversation; and knowing the terrour of the Lord, let me persade you to passe the time of our sojourning here in fear. Homo timet Re­gem qui forte cras morietur ne puniat eum, & non timet à Rege vero in cujus potestate est anima nostra in hoc faeculo, & in venturo. Aben Ezra in Exod. xx. 3. We fear the Magistrate, who may die too morrow, least he should punish us; but fear not the great King, in whose hand our souls are in this life, and that which is to come. The Iews have left a good caution behind them. Haec tria consideres & non incides in manus transgressionis: Ʋnde venis, quo tendis & coram quo tibi ratio red­denda sit. Consider these these three things, and thou shalt not fall into hands of transgression: Whence thou comest, whither thou goest, and before whom thou must give an accompt. So speak and so do, as those that must be judged by the Royal Law, the strictest Rule, and stand at his Tribunal, who is the severest Iudge; [Page 58]that we may with freedome go to meet him in the air; not having the black stone of condemnation, and so to fall; but the white stone of Absolution, and so to stand in Judgement, and be for ever with the Lord.

And thou O Father, who hast appointed to judge the World by that Man Iesus Christ, and wilst con­vince the World of sin by thy Holy Spirit: Send down thy Spirit into our hearts, and so blesse these thy ser­vants who are now to judge in endowing them with a Spirit of Iudgement; that they may so execute the Iustice of the Lord in this their day, that they may not fear to stand before that Great Tribunal, in the Day of the Lord. And so blesse and direct us all in our passage through this Valley of Tears, that we living in thy fear, not to the will of the flesh, but to the will of God; we may all, when we come to meet at that Great Assize, be found blamelesse, and without spot at his appearing. And this we beg for the Sake and in the Name of Iesus Christ our dear Redeemer, to whom with thee, O Fa­ther, and the Holy Ghost, be all Glory and Honour, now and ever. Amen.