A sermon preached in Lent-assizes, holden for the county of Bucks, at Alesbury, March 8th 1671/2 being Ash-Wednesday by Ad. Littleton ... Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694. 1671 Approx. 68 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 20 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-11 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A48734 Wing L2570 ESTC R21353 12406203 ocm 12406203 61394 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A48734) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 61394) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 767:7) A sermon preached in Lent-assizes, holden for the county of Bucks, at Alesbury, March 8th 1671/2 being Ash-Wednesday by Ad. Littleton ... Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694. [7], 32 p. Printed by J. Macock for R. Davis of Oxon, London : 1671. Errata: prelim. p. [7]. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Bible. -- O.T. -- Samuel, 1st, VII, 15-16 -- Sermons. Lenten sermons. Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2004-02 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-03 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-07 Melanie Sanders Sampled and proofread 2004-07 Melanie Sanders Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Imprimatur . Guil. Wigan . R. in Ch. P. ac D no D no Humfr. Episc. Lond. Sacellan . June 26. 1671. A SERMON Preached in Lent-Assizes , Holden for the COVNTY of BVCKS , AT ALESBVRY . March 8 th 1670 / 1 being Ash-Wednesday . By AD. LITTLETON , D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty . LONDON , Printed by J. Macock , for R. Davis of Oxon. M DC LXXI . To my Honoured Friend , and Worthy Parishioner , Joseph Alston , the elder , Esq at Bradwell in the County of Bucks . Worthy Sir , IN compliance with your Desires , which , where there is Friendship , have the weight of Commands in them , ( though there wanted not Those neither from Mr. High-Sheriff your Son , ) I have at last ventured into the world that Discourse , at which , in the delivery of it , your domestick Grief having indisposed you for the Publick , you could not be present . It comes forth with this Advantage , if this be one ; that 't is somewhat larger by the Accession of many things , which time would not give leave then to Inlarge upon . If there be any further benefit or satisfaction may redound to the Reader from it , as it now appears , ( which I dare not hope for ) you have a particular Right to challenge the Acknowledgment : this Sermon having bin begotten under your roof , conceived and born within your walls , and so of Due belonging to you ; the Old Law both Sacred and Civil having ordered , that Children born in the House should be reckoned into the Master's Possession ; and it being the Vsual Course , which the Municipal Law it self prescribes , that poor Children and Wanderers be sent back to the place of their Birth to be provided for . Sir , Having given you some small account of my Obedience , I cannot but think my self obliged to acquit my self also in some measure upon the score of Gratitude . Thanks is the least Return can be made : there will be more ; the Prayers of our poor drooping Parish-Church , which you by your late seasonable Kindness have put Life into . For I need not assure you ( as one that are so well acquainted with the purport of Holy Writ , and studied in Gods promises , which are to None more Ample , then to the liberal and cheerful Giver ) that as Charity in general is the surest way of putting our Wealth out of the reach of Fortune : so particularly Bounties to Pious and Publick Uses have in several regards peculiar and large Retributions ascertained to them , both in our Temporal and Eternal concerns . If this Freedom of Mentioning , what you perhaps wish might have been Concealed , offend ; I must mind you , that such Actions as these , where the very Example many times is as useful as the Benefacture , though they are not to be done to that End , yet our Saviour says they must be done in that Manner , that men may see our good works and glorifie God. Sir , this sorry Inscription , whatever It is , begs your Acceptance , as a hearty , though a mean Testimony of those Respects , that are Due to you from Him , who is Sir , Your affectionate Servant in Christ our great Lord and Master , A. Littleton . Chelsey June 24. 1671. ERRATA . PAge 5. l. 30. way , r. may . p. 12. l. 15. Jeshurum , r. Jeshurun . p. 15. l. 11. ye , r. yea . p. 24. l. 24. so , r. said . 1 SAM . VII . 15.16 . And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life . And he went from year to year in Circuit to Beth-el , and Gilgal , and Mizpeh , and judged Israel in all those places . THE very Notion of Judging implies a Law : there being such a mutual connexion and relation betwixt the Judge and the Law , that they infer one another , and the denyal of one takes away the other also . No Law , no Judge : No Judge no Law. For how shall Samuel judge , if he have not a Rule laid before him , according to which judgment is to be made ? and that Rule is the Law. And on the other side , to what purpose serves the Law , if there be not some Person authorized , who may interpret that Law , and apply it to particular cases , and see it put in due and orderly execution ? and that Person is the Judge . If then there be a Judge , it follows that there is a Law also , by which as he is impowered , so he is to be directed . We have a Reverend Judge before us in the Text , on the Seat. It will be necessary then , in order to their acting , to open their Commission first ( as is usual ) and to shew the Law , by authority whereof Samuel and all his fellow-Judges are to Act. Law is as connatural to Man , as his Reason is . For what is Reason it self , but a Law and Rule of mens actions ? This is that , which constitutes and denominates us Men. For he that doth not govern himself according to the prescript of right Reason , lives not the life of Man ; and consequently doth both transgress the Law , and forfeit the Priviledge , of his Creation ; either by sensuality and lust degrading himself into Beast , or by envy and malice and spiritual wickedness transforming himself into Devil . Hence out of the source of Reason flows the Law of Nature , jus non scriptum , the unwritten Law , or rather , as the Apostle terms it , the Law written in every Mans heart : his conscience accusing , or excusing him , in every thing he does , according as he in his actions thwarts or complies with this Law. This is that the great Orator speaks of , Lex non posita , sed insita ; non imperata , sed innata : a Law not speaking to us from without ; but implanted in the mind of Man , and interwoven in his very constitution . To this Law belong all those Common Notions , by which we are taught to acknowledge the Existence of God , and to distinguish what is Honest , and Just , and Becoming the Nature of Man ( whether Alone or in Society ) and what is otherwise . And by this very Law we are instructed to order our behaviour , as Men , in a fair decorum , piously towards God , soberly towards our selves , and justly , and modestly , and charitably too towards other men ; for even charity it self is an act of justice ( so the Hebrew terms it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) at least the doing that to others , as the Royal Law bids us do , which were we in their condition , we would have done to our selves . To these Heads of Piety to God and Justice to Men , a learned Rubbin , in his discourse with the King of Cozar , reduces all the Laws of Nature ; grounding them upon those two places of Scripture , Deut. 10.12 . What does the Lord thy God require of thee , but to fear him , and to love him , and to serve him ? and Mic. 6.8 . What doth the Lord require of thee , O man , but to do justly , and to love mercy , and to walk humbly with thy God ? And the same Author further tells us , that these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Statuta Intellectualia ; ( so he calls them , as things which natural Reason , and humane Understanding of it self , without any prompting , judges fit to be observed ) I say these laws of Nature are necessarily pre-required , as preparatory exercises , to the knowledge and performance of the Divine Law ; as things , without which no Society can subsist ; insomuch that Rebels and Thieves , though they be unjust to others , yet are forced upon this principle to practice a kind of justice amongst themselves , that they may keep their party together upon fair and equitable terms . This is the Law of Nature then ; and truly would we live up to the direction of That , we should not need any other Law. But upon the fall of man Nature it self being universally ( as it was ) corrupted as well as weakned , and the Notions of Original Righteousness , through prevailing wickedness , which has increased all along proportionably with mankind it self , being in a manner wholly defaced and obliterated ; it was necessary , that Law should be recovered , and re-imprinted upon the memory of men , that even vulgar understandings should have their duties plainly laid out before them : and this to be done by Positive Laws ; which being founded , as near as might be , upon those of Nature , as being the productions of reason and convenience together , might accommodate general Rules to particular Instances , according to circumstances of time and place , and the exigencies of the state of things for the security of government , and the safety of the people to be governed . This God himself provided for in the Israelitish Common-wealth ; by prescribing them Rules not only for their Moral behaviour ; ( for these were of perpetual universal obligation to all mankind , and this was that Law written in the heart , before it was engraven upon stone ) but for their Civil affairs also , and even to the very Ceremonies in his publick worship . The first of these , namely , the Moral Law , as I said , obligeth all men whatsoever ; and no less , if not more , now , since Christ is come , then before : but as to the two latter , the Judicial and the Ceremonial Laws , God has left particular States and Churches to the liberty of their own determinations , so to order both Political and Ecclesiastical jurisdiction , as may be most expedient ; provided they command nothing contrary to that law , which he himself hath given us ; I mean , the Moral Law. To give two or three Instances . Theft is forbidden in the eighth precept , and by the Judicial Law was to be punished ( amongst the Jews ) only with a fourfold restitution of the thing stoln , in kind , or of the value of it . But in most Christian States , upon tryal or possibly mistrust , that that punishment would not prove a sufficient restraint ; the penalty is altered , and the Thief dies for it : nor is any allowed to claim the benefit of the Judicial Law , when he breaks the Moral , but is justly sentenced by the Law of his own Country ; that Law having been made only for the Jews , and every Nation now being to be governed by Laws of its own . Again , for the Church . The seventh day from the Creation , which is commanded in the fourth precept to be kept holy , was a thing ceremonial ; but the keeping of one day in seven or some such proportion of time , was perhaps a Moral duty . The Christian Church therefore has both laid aside the Ceremony , and preserved the Morality , by changing the day . On the other hand , the Worship of God is a duty the very Law of Nature requires of men in Society : Now for Forms and Habits , and the Ceremonies of Worship , ( since God cannot be woshipt otherwise , I mean , without some Form and Ceremony or other ) these are to be ordered by the Churches appointment ; and every Member of that Church ( I speak of a National Church ) is obliged , unless he can be sure such appointments are against Gods Law , to obey and comply with her Orders . But , what some say , that in Civil concerns indeed we are tied up to the Laws ; but in Church affairs we are left to our own choice and liberty ; is no more vain and frivolous , than 't is absurd and irrational . For a man may upon as good reason demand to fashion the Laws to his own mind , by which he means to Live ; as to shape his Religion to his own fancy and Interest : since he is alike accountable to the Government for both , and separations in Church may prove of as dangerous a consequence to the Publick , as divisions in State. For he that has made himself his own God , ( 't is an expression of a late Author against Atheism ) will by his good will be his own King too . And it may very well be suspected , that those who grumble at Church-Orders , would not , if they could help it , be very well satisfied with the Civil Laws neither , they both having their Rise from the same Authority . At this pass were things in Israel , when every man did that which was right in his own eyes , and then 't is said they did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. And so it was always , when there was no King in Israel ; Wherefore to prevent such disorders , and to deliver them from those distresses , their disorders brought upon them , God often raised them up Judges , the last whereof was Samuel here , a Priest and a Judge . And Samuel judged Israel &c. In which words consider we him , 1. In his station or Residence , as a Judge upon the Bench : he judged Israel all the days of his life ; and that at Ramah , where his house was , as it follows , v. 17. 2. In his Journey and Circuit , as a Justice in Eyre : he went from year to year in Circuit to Bethel and Gilgal , &c. Thus like the standing and moving foot of a pair of Compasses ; his fixed and setled judicature was at Ramah , and the occasional exercise of it from year to year at other places also . I. As to his constant Residence , wherein four things are to be taken notice of : 1. His Person ; Samuel . 2. His Office ; to judge Israel . 3. His Patent ; all the days of his Life . 4. His Seat , out of the next verse , Ramah . I. First for the character and qualification of the Person . Samuel was Prophet and Priest as well as Judge , Right Reverend in all his capacities , in all his functions : Nor was it any objection against him from the people , that he was a Church-man , and so unfit to serve his Country in a secular charge . Nor was it to him any scruple of Conscience within his own breast , that he intangled himself with civil affairs , or took upon him more imployments , than one man could well go thorough . 'T is true , he was devoted by his Mother in his long coats to the Churches service ; I have lent him , says she , to the Lord , as long as he lives , Chap. 1. vers . 28. and accordingly he after Eli's death succeeded him in the Priesthood . Again all Israel ( the Text tells us ) from Dan even to Bersheba knew , that Samuel was established to be a Prophet of the Lord , Chap. 3. vers . 20. And not only so ; a Prophet himself , but a trainer up of young Prophets , the President of a Colledge at Naioth in Ramah . Chap. 19. vers . 20. And here 't is said he judged Israel all the days of his life . These were three such imploys , as for the attendance they required , could not well be managed by one Person ; as for the consequence and high concernment of them , ought not in prudence , one would think , be intrusted with any one . Yet this consideration was so far , from either disadvantaging the publick , or disparaging any of those places , or discouraging the person that undertook them , that his Government brought great blessings to the People , and honour to himself , and glory to God. For such was his Sanctity and Wisdom , such his Ability of Judgment and Integrity of Life , such his Prudence and Conduct , such his constant Piety to God , and affectionate Zeal for publick good , such his Favour with God and his Reputation with the People ; that in all Israel no three men could have been met with , singly qualified for any one of those three Trusts , as he alone was for all three . Nor did it make a little for the Peace and Unity and good order of the Common-wealth , that the same Person was Supreme Governour , both in Church and State ; which else in some cases might clash , and give advantage to a factious people , one against the other . Nor it seems was this the first time , that both Powers thus met in one Person : For Eli , who was his immediate Predecessor in the Priesthood , had been Judge forty years before ; nor is it unlikely , that this civil Office might together with the sacred function be devolved upon him by succession , as he was Priest ; the Jewish Writers telling us , it was not unusual , that in later times the High Priest , if he were reputed a Wise and a Good man , was chosen into the Sanhedrim , and made the Nasi , which is as much as with us the Lord President of the Supreme Court ; and in former times we find in Scriptural Language that Cohen signified both Priest and Prince . Nor was it for nothing that at first , before Aarons Family was settled , the Priesthood went constantly along with the Primogeniture ; whereupon Esau is branded for profane , because he so slightly parted with his Birthright . Afterwards indeed Moses and Aaron , being Brothers , did by Divine appointment divide the Powers , the one managing the Sword , the other the Keys . Nor do we meet with any Instance , where they were joined again , till Eli and Samuel , who were Priests and Judges too : But as these , being Priests , had the Supremacy in State also ; so from David downwards , the Kings were Supreme-Moderators in the Church ; as appears by Davids and Solomons Institutions , and by the Reformations of Josiah , Hezekiah , and the like . And this , though it may not look altogether so pertinent to this time and place , has howsoever this useful remark , that the Civil Magistrate ought not to think himself unconcerned in the Interests of the Church , and that since Priests have formerly done the office of Judges , Judges on the other hand may think it to be some obligation upon them to take care , as opportunity shall offer , of the Priest : that so Church and State , whose Interests have sometimes so fairly met and kindly imbraced one the other , being lodged in one and the same bosome , may ever , though asunder and intrusted into different hands , yet lovingly agree , and be friendly and helpful one to the other . II. From the Person we come to treat of the Office , that he was the Judge of Israel : and of that 1. In its Nature . 2. In its Power . 3. In its Extent . 4. And lastly in its Rule . I. First for the nature of it ; as there can be no Judge without a Law , to authorize and direct him ; for without that it might be said to him , as it was to Moses , before he had his Commission ; Who made thee a Prince and a Judge over us ? and our Saviour himself , when addressed to for dividing the Inheritance , asks the same question , though otherwise in all points qualified for the office , Who made me a Judge ? so on the other hand , without a Judge , Law it self would be of no use : For how would Laws be executed , or publick order be preserved ? Wherefore as the God of nature has provided Laws , whereby men are to be governed , so he has not been wanting to invest some men , in all places and at all times , with authority , to secure those Laws , and to punish the violations of them . He himself is the supreme Judge . Next under him , in every mans own breast , his own Conscience , as Gods deputy , exercises soveraign Rule , calling him to the Bar , and arraigning him , and either acquitting or condemning him ; to which end that Faculty is furnished with a kind of Omniscience ( which no Judge from without has , that can but Judge Secundum allegata & probata ) she , I say , is conscious to all a mans thoughts as well as actions , alledges and proves all he has done or said , or so much as design'd ; and , as God himself will , not only sits upon a man as his Judge , but Stands out against him too , as a witness . But this inward Reflexive Judgment of the Soul of Man upon it self , this Home-Circuit is not enough to do the business of Society . In this our corrupt State , wicked men have partly found out ways to bribe , to corrupt and debauch , this Judge within them , partly have arrived to that impudence and insensibility in sinning , that they have hardned themselves against the sentence , as well as against the dictates of conscience , and in the pursuit of what pleaseth a vitious appetite , and a depraved will , neither regard the one nor the other , having by bold and frequent attempts upon conscience worn out all that Awe , which naturaly every man ows to himself . The case of the generality of men standing thus , it was necessary , that for external polity , whereby men are joyned together in society , God should depute other Judges , besides conscience , ( since it would have been so dangerous to have left men barely to that ) who might take care , nè quid Resp. detrimenti capiat , to prevent mischiefs that might befal community from disorderly persons , by restraining at least the outward actions of men , and bringing them to account for them . And this he has ever done . Let us a little trace it to the Original . This Judiciary power then was at the first founded by God in paternal authority ; the Father of the family having then jus vitae & necis , power of life and death , and of dispensing other punishments upon those of his own family , according to their demerits : as the examples of Abraham turning out his son Ishmael ; of Noah cursing Cham ; and of Judah sentencing his Daughter-in-law to be burnt , &c. do shew . One evident footstep of this parental power appears , even in the Judicial Law , in the Case of the Rebellious Son , who was to dye with his Father's hand upon him first : so that , even upon this account , every man , that comes into the world , is born under a natural subjection . Now when mankind was multiplyed , and men were to be united into larger societies and greater bodies ; then all the Families of the kindred were to be gathered and consolidated under some onè head , the Patriarch or chief Father of all the several Families . And this power by lineal descent fell to the Eldest Sons ; so that the first-born were , by prerogative of their birth , Kings and Priests ; unless there happen'd a forfeiture , as it was with Esau , and Reuben , who were therefore justly put by . Afterward when kindreds themselves , what with the propagation of their own Families , what with the commixtion of strangers , were so inlarged , that they became Nations ; then the government was intrusted with Kings , as Gods Vicegerents . For , though there be other Forms , which I shall not now dispute against , yet the Monarchical has this advantage at least over them all , that it was the first , and far the most antient of them all ; as the Historian Justin has observed , that principio rerum , at the beginning of the world , that is , when the world was first divided into Nations , it was governed by Kings . This among all other people ; but then God having a special care of his own people , did not at first set up Kingly Government amongst them , ( though afterwards upon their desire he did ) but to maintain the Theocracy , his own Government among them , did , upon occasion of great troubles or imminent dangers , raise them up Judges , who were tantamount to Kings . Nay Moses himself gives himself the very Title too ; Deut. 33.5 . where he says , that Moses was King in Jeshurum , when the heads of the People and the Tribes of Israel were gathered together . And thus Sufetes , which is the word for Judge with the Phaenicians and Carthaginians their descendents , as well as with the Hebrews , is used by Seneca and others , that speak of those people , for the Supreme Magistrate . 2. And such was Samuels power , here , as that of all the other Judges before him , differing from the Kingly rather in name then substance , as to the exercise of it . Some tell us , it was much-what like that of the ●ictators at Rome , in that they were raised only upon extraordinary occasions , and intrusted with an arbitrary power . 'T is true , as the occasion was extraordinary , so 't was fit their power too in some measure should be . But then these Judges of ours differed from them in this , that these had extraordinary assistances from God ; not to say , that these having taken upon them once the Government , some of them , as Eli , Samuel , &c. never laid it down again , nor returned back to their private condition , as they all did , but JulJus Caesar. By this power then they were instated in a supremaecy , and were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlimited , unaccountable and unappealable . They had the universal dispensation of Justice , an absolute right to make War and Peace , command of mens persons and fortunes , and power of Life and Death . And all other Magistrates and Officers derived their authority from them . It is the opinion of some , and those learned , that the great Council of Seventy , which Moses for his assistance set up by the advice of his Father-in-law Jethro , to help him in the tryal of lesser causes , usually called the Sanhedrim , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Jewish Parliament , continued down from Moses without any interruption till Herods time ; if so , then the Judge was chief over them . Besides there were lesser Courts too in each City , much like our Hundred-Court's , and Courts-Leet ; to judge of smaller matters ; who , as they received their authority from the Supreme Court , so might be appealed from to it . And all these inferiour Courts subordinate to the great Consistory , and that it self to the Judge . But I rather incline to GrotJus , who thinks that in these times all the bands of Government were losened amidst the popular licentiousness , when every one did what they list , and that there were no Courts at all kept to call them to account ; but that God raised these Judges on purpose , as well to recal the people to good order , as to deliver them from the oppression of their enemies : since the History makes it clearly out , that , at every vacancy or interval of Government , the people fell off a fresh into their former disorders , and those disorders brought new troubles upon them , which both occasioned the raising of a new Judge , to rescue them from one and t'other , from their sins , and from their foes . For so we find Judge Samuel in this very Chapter first call them together to Mizpeh for a Fast and Humiliation , before he venture them to Battel against the Philistines . However it were , these Judges had not their power from the people , though sometimes the peoples consent and desire too was not wanting ; but immediately from God himself . And so is it proportionably with all supreme Magistrates . For that Ascham's position is not true , that they receive their power by compact and agreement of the people ; this one argument amongst many , is enough to evince ; that no man in the world has power over his own Life ; and consequently cannot transfer that power to another , which he has not himself . Nor has the whole Community together that power , since the particular persons , which make up the Community , have no such power , and the whole cannot have more in it , then the parts had to contribute to it . The Judicatory power then is not derived from the people , but from God himself transmitted to the King as supreme , and from him to the Judges , as Ministers of Justice sent by him : the King being the fountain of Justice and the Soul and Life of the Law. 3. And this to the whole body and every part of it , in all its concerns ; which is the extent of this power . First over all persons : for so 't is said of Samuel , that he gathered all Israel to Mizpeh , and there judged them . The Church of Rome indeed priviledgeth her Priests from the civil judicature ; and there are Others , though seemingly of far different perswasion , that would fain have it believed , they are not concerned in Law , or consequently in government , upon that assertion of the Apostles , that the Law is not made for the righteous ; and in another place , where he speaks of meekness , temperance , &c. that against such there is no Law : and I agree to them , that if they do well , as the same Apostle says , Rom. 13. they need not fear ; but that upon this condition then , eâ Lege , if they observe the Law. For what says the Apostle elsewhere ? Do we then by faith , ( and I may say , do we then by our good works ) make void the Law ? yea rather we establish it , by performing what it commands . Further , Innocence it self may be impleaded , and so fall under the inquisition of the Law ; and 't is the evidence must fetch her off . The Law then is for clearing , and acquitting the guiltless , no less then for condemning criminals . As at a Goal-delivery , the Billa vera casts the Prisoner , the no-evidence of the fact sets him free . Again , as this judicial power is over all Persons , so 't is in all Causes , Temporal by the Judge , Spiritual by the Bishop , by each as the Kings Delegate . And Samuel acted in both these capacities here ; so that he had the people upon a double account obliged to him , for the punishment of crimes , and the decision of controversies in both Courts , Civil , and Ecclesiastical , according to the sentence in Deut. 17.12 . where having sent them to the Priest and the Judge , he tells them , that He that will do presumptuously , and will not harken to the Priest , or unto the Judge ; that does not stand to their award and submit to their judgment , even that man should dye . Of those who pretend submission to the Judge , but have not the same obedience for the Priest , and so would own but half a Samuel , we have spoken before , nor shall we need to repeat any thing here . 4. As , also we have at large in the very entrance of the discourse treated of the Rule , to wit , the Law ; according to which judgment is to be made ; so that we need not have much more to say . The Law then , by which the Judge is to be regulated , is in the first place , the Law of Nature , which indeed is no other then the Moral Law ; and to this all mankind stands obliged and accountable . Whence the Apostle tells us , that very Heathens , by the light of Nature , know the judgment of God , that they who do such things , i. e. such as are forbidden by the Law of Nature , are worthy of death . Let me only take notice by the way , that there are some , who acknowledge no such thing as a Law of Nature ; but that these things we call Laws , were invented upon emergent necessities or politick designs , and so are only ex instituto & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by institution and compact ; and so are impositions rather of the government , or but compositions at best , of the Subjects , with the government , then Laws . The Poets and some Ancient Philosophers too , who knew not the original of mankind , make a pleasant story of it , that men were used at first to fall out and quarrel about their Acorns , and other such provisions , Nature could furnish them with before the invention of Tillage ; and with fists first , and then with clubs , disputed their rights ; till at last the strongest , to be sure , got the better : but then he , that was strongest today , by ill hap , many times , meeting with one stronger then he the next , was forced to resign the booty of his last conquest . By this means being tired with these daily Frays , and grown weary of their Club-Law ; one wiser then the rest perswades them to quietness , and tells them , if they would agree and live civilly together , there would be enough for them all . Whereupon the major part of the weak ones out-voting the strong , who were but few , and would have been apt to fall out among themselves , and could not , if they had held together , made good their smaller party against a multitude in league ; they were all content ; and presently Articles were drawn up , and Laws made , and Rules of society consented to ; by which all mankind has , ever since , time out of mind been governed . Nor has a late ( I am sorry I cannot call him Christian Philosopher ) mended the matter , but made it much worse : who in his Leviathan sets down that for doctrine ; which with them past only for fancy , or at best but conjecture . According to this great Master of corrupt reason , every man is free , and has a natural right to every thing , he can make himself master of : only men for fear of disturbances , and out of care of self-preservation , combin'd into Societies , or else over-powerd by force , ( for here lies the Argument with him , that the longest sword creates the best Title ) gave up their Liberty , and quitting that right , they had by Nature to all things , submitted to unequal terms for peace sake ; chusing rather to sit down by the loss , and enjoy a little with quietness , then hazard their security by venturing at all . Hence sprang Propriety ; hence Rules of Government and Politick Constitutions , which are no longer valid , says that Author , then they have power to back and justifie them . But if it be so , that Fear and Force are the principles of Society , and the grounds of Subjection ; then what hinders , but , when a man can shake off that Force , or be rid of his own apprehension , he may return to his natural Freedom , and re-assume his antient Rights ? At this rate Wives , Monies , Estates , all properties are exposed as a prey to the bold ; and the Thief , if his design hit , has a better claim then the Owner ; and Rebellion , Murder , Rapes and Rapines , if attended with success , prove lawful actions ; and 't is miscarriage only makes them Crimes . And the main reason , that Author offers against these practices , is not because they are in themselves unlawful , but because they are to the designers unsafe . These are impious and dangerous Tenets . Alas ! if we hold together upon no better terms then these , where are we ? we lye hourly at the mercy of those , that dare be wicked : and what incouragement would this be to wickedness , if men were perswaded once , that , as they grow prosperous in villany , they cease to be wicked ? But I have shewed before , that there is no such natural Freedom , he talks of ; and that we are born Subjects ; and consequently , that natural Right he speaks of , is under restraints and limitations . 'T is true , God made Man a reasonable Creature , and Lord of the rest of the Creatures . But how ? not so , as that any one man should ingross the whole to himself , and exclude all others , his fellow-men , from a share in that dominion . That were not reasonable ( that where there is an equal right , there should not be an equal share ) and by cōnsequence not sutable to the nature of Man. For he that made Man reasonable , made him sociable too . He was to Marry , to beget Children , to maintain and govern a Family , to provide for those that belonged to him . His Children were to be obedient to him , to accept of his provisions , to use their own industry ; and , when they came to be Masters of Families themselves , to take the like care of them . Hence came Proprieties , hence Inheritances , hence Purchases , hence Trades , Callings , Professions , and other honest courses for getting a livelihood : Thus , we see , our first Parent bred up his Children , the one to be a Husbandman , the other to be a Shepherd ; Intimating , that every one is by Nature to live by his own labour , and not by invading anothers right . These are the great purposes of Society ; and all this agreeable to Nature , whose grand maxim 't is , To do as we would be done by . There is then a Meum & Tuum founded in Nature . There are such things , as Vertue , Honesty , Equity , Industry , Justice , and the like to be practised amongst men , even by the Law of Nature : and they are to be looked upon as Hostes Humani generis , Enemies to Society , Enemies to Nature , that would perswade the world to the contrary . But there are , I said , besides This of Nature , other Positive Laws , which oblige the external actions of men , and by which men are to be judged ; and those both Political and Ecclesiastical , in the making of which , particular Common-wealths and Churches are left by Divine Wisdom to their own Liberty : God himself having provided nothing in that kind for us ; only left us a Model of his own Government amongst his own people , in the Jewish State and Church ; to wit , the Judicial and Ceremonial Law. As to Church affairs , though those Ceremonies , being only Types and Shadows of Christ , had their end and completion at his coming , and so we are obliged against them ; yet , seeing God cannot be worshiped without some ceremony , 't is not to be imagined , that publick Authority should want power for the ordering of Externals in the worship of God. But as to matters of Politie , that frame of government , which God with his own hand set up , deserves our veneration sure ; and Calvin further acknowledges , that many of those Rules and Methods may by any Christian State be safely imitated , and fairly transcribed into practice . I shall not here start that question , which Sir Thomas Moor , once Chancellour of England , and the ornament of his country , in his Vtopia doth , why we punish Theft with death , and not as the Judicial Law prescribes ; because I have already answered it , and the late success has justified the severity . Only having spoken so much of the Law of Nature , let me add one word ( I beg the Lawyers pardon , if I speak in alieno foro ) concerning our Municipal or Common Law ; ( neither Law nor Prayer is ere a whit the worse , for being Common ) that there is not any Law extant , either in Books or Practice , which comes so near the Jus Naturale , as Ours does ; being a kind of unwritten Law , grounded upon Custom , and built up by long experience of its Vsefulness and Convenience , having been long before the Conquerours time , ( who only put it into a French dress and livery , as a cognizance of his conquest ) practised here , among the Saxons , and , as 't is more then probable , among the antient Britans too , whose Druids , as they were learned men , so were able Lawyers , yet would never commit any thing to writing . I have done with the Office : a word or two of his Patent and Residence . III. His Patent was signed for him durante vitâ , he was a Judge all the days of his life : nor was his Judiciary power extinguished or superseded by the super-induction of the Regal , as may appear by his giving Orders to Saul , and his calling him to account for his neglect , and his hewing Agag in Gilgal ; so that Saul one might think were till Samuels death only the General , administer belli , to execute the orders of War. Yet Saint Paul having said , that God had given the Jews Judges for about the space of 450 years , till Samuel the Prophet ; adds that then he gave them King Saul 40 years ; in which account he includes Samuels time too . Wherefore some thus explain it , all the days of his Life , from Eli's death , till Saul's being made King. One of the Rabbins asks how this could be , how he could be Judge all the days of his life ; and answers himself ( as that sort of people are full of fancy and confidence ) that Samuel while he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his mothers belly , was made a Judge , and chosen into the Sanhedrim . However he was the last of this Order of the Judges , and the power expired with him ; his Sons having been as faulty in State , as Eli's had been in the Church , as corrupt Judges , as they were scandalous Priests : wherefore as the lewdness of Hophni and Phineas turned old Eli's Family out of the Priesthood , so Samuel's Sons by their misdemeanours , outed themselves out of the Civil Government . IV. Lastly , His constant Residence was Ramah , a City of Benjamin , where his house was , and where his Father and Mother had dwelt before . Here he built an Altar for publick worship , which the Jewish Masters tell us , was lawful even for any private man to do at that time , when the Tabernacle at Shiloh was pulled down , and destroyed after the taking of the Ark. Once we read , that , when David came to him from Court , they went and dwelt together at Naioth , which was hard by ; I suppose , for more privacy in his College there . And here at last he laid his bones . Ramah was his Dwelling , his Retirement , his Seat of Justice , his Sepulchre . Hither , as long as he liv'd , all the people of Israel came up for Justice ; for it was a place of high situation , the name imports . For though there might be Inferiour Courts in other Cities , at least deputations elsewhere : yet here was the supreme Court of Appeals , which afterwards in David's time was translated to Jerusalem , Psal. 122. Thither the Tribes go up ; for there are the seats of Judgment , seats of the house of David . And now 't is time for me to leave Ramah , and set my face towards Bethel and Gilgal , and Mizpeh , where I must , having so little time left me , make but a short Circuit ; where first we shall take a vJew of the Places , and then consider the necessity and reasons of this Itinerant Justice . I. The Places , where Samuel kept his Assizes , were eminent and remarkable in story ; large Shire-Towns , yet at no great distance neither from one another , lying in as narrow a compass perhaps as this County , we are now in . Indeed whole Jewry was no large piece of ground , being , ( as I am told by one that undertakes to correct AdrichomJus ) no more then seventy miles long , where 't is longest , and but eighteen over in breadth ; yet very populous it was , because very fruitful . 1. Beth-el a City of Benjamin . Here Jacob saw the vision of the Ladder , gave it its name , the House of God , and set up a Pillar ; at his return was himself here named Israel , and built an Altar . Here the Ark of the Covenant was , before it was removed to Shiloh , and Phineas , Eleazar's son , stood before it . 2. Gilgal a City in the plains of Jericho , belonging to Ephraim . Here the children of Israel were circumcised , having neglected that Sacrament ever since their coming out of Egypt ; and therefore 't was called Gilgal , because the Lord that day rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off them . Here the twelve Stones after their passage over Jordan were pitched . Here Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord , because Saul had forborn the execution . 3. Mizpeh a City of Judah , in the valley , as we read Josh. 15. but in the 18. 't is reckoned among the Cities of Benjamin , with Ramah , and Bethel . 'T is likely it might stand in the confines of both Tribes . It was , I take it , Laban's heap of stones , which he and Jacob had raised , and called Mizpah ; that is , a Beacon or Watch-Tower , saying , the Lord watch between thee and me . Here was the Israelites constant Rendezvous . Here they encamped against the Ammonites , when Jephtha was their Leader . Here they all gathered together unto the Lord against the Benjamites . Here lastly at the 6 verse of this Chap. all Israel was by Samuel's order summoned to appear , and kept a Fast , and powr'd out water before the Lord , that is , tears of repentance , as GrotJus understands it ; and Samuel Judged them here , that is , punished them for their iniquities , and offered up a burnt-offering : and then miraculously the Philistines were discomfited . There were reasons then sufficient , both Politick and Religious , for Samuel to make , choice of these places , that were thus Innobled and Consecrated by such Famous and Sacred actions , for his seat of Justice ; whence the Lxx render it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in all these holy sanctified places . And that we may not pass them without some Observation , Our Reverend Judges , though they go not the same Stages with Samuel , they go upon the same Designs . They begin at Bethel , the Church , the house of God , where judgment uses , and ought to begin , there to enquire of the Lord. They proceed to Gilgal , to roll away the reproach of the Countries by punishing malefactors ; and to Mizpeh , to inquire into misdemeanours , and see what condition the Publick is in . For so they are styled in Law , Justitiarii deambulantes & perlustrantes , Justices that take a walk , and make a vJew of the Countries . And at this time I may say we are most properly met in Mizpeh , upon a day appointed by the Church for Humiliation , to pour out our water before the Lord , and to bewail our own sins , and the sins of the Nation , as the Israelites did first , and then Samuel judged them . II. As to the necessity of this Justice in Circuit , ( though Samuel's may be called an Episcopal Visitation too , he being the High-Priest ) It is , that Justice may like the Sun , the great Minister of Nature , Visit all places , and Influence all parts of the Nation with light , and heat , and vigour : it being as impossible the Commonwealth should subsist one day without Justice , as the lower world be maintained without the Sun. 'T is so here ; he rode Circuit from year to year ; but Josephus tells us , ( and I know not , whether the Hebrew may not well bear that interpretation ) that he did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , twice a year , as Ours do . The Causes of this perambulation I take to be four ; two in respect of the People , and two in respect of the Tryals . 1. For the People . 'T is for their Ease ; that they are not put to the trouble and charge of bringing up their causes to Ramah , to the higher Tribunal , the Kings Bench ; but have them tryed in propriis comitatibus . 2. It throws an Awe upon the Community , when they see justice brought home to their own doors . DarJus was wont to complain , his Empire was like a raw Bull-hide ; tread it down in one place , it would rise up in another : but where Justice is sent into all parts of the Land at the same time , and judgment is alike administred in every district , all is easily kept in order . Again as to the Causes to be tryed . 1. Some are such , as cannot handsomly be judged , but upon the place ; for the convenience of Witnesses , the circumstances of the Thing , and the judgment of the Voisinage : as 't is in the Court of Nisipriu's for matters of Fact. 2. Others admit not of delay ; as great and horrible offences , to be inquired into and punished , flagrante Crimine out of hand . Thus God himself came down to Babel , to Sodom and Gomorrha , as it were upon a Commission of Oyer and Terminer . And this expedition of Justice , and ousting of delays , is given as the main reason of Itinerant Justice ; ad celerem justitiam in eâ parte exhibendam . I come now to Application , and let not Me do 't neither , but let Samuel himself : yet not as a Judge to give the Charge here , but as a Prophet and a Priest , in humble manner to address himself . First to my Lord the Judge . You are now at Bethel , in the house of God ; may God direct you . The Judgment is His. Your Persons , your Functions are sacred : You your selves in Scripture Language are stiled Gods , Elohim . God standeth in the Congregation of the Gods. The Confidence , the Law reposes in you , is as great , as the Trust , she hath disposed to you : and That 's no less then the Lives and Fortunes of all her Subjects . De Fide & Officio Judicis non recipitur Quaestio , is one of her known Maxims . A Judge is viva Lex , a living Law ; and ought to be like the Law , Without Passion , Without Partiality . Next to you , the Worshipful , the Justices and Gentry of the Country ; who are intrusted with the Peace , and one way or other , what by Authority , what by Example , with the Concerns of the Government , that you would make it your business to encourage and cherish Moral Honesty and Truth in dealings among the People ; and to discover and defeat all knavish and false practices , which pervert the purposes of government , and cut the very Sinews and Ligaments of Society , ( which consists in a mutual confidence ) by bringing men into a general distrust and jealousie of one another . The Learned Jew , I spoke of before , in his Book , called Cozri , ingenuously confesses , that it was upon this , that God was so highly displeased with the Israelites , that they rested themselves upon their Religious Services , their Oblations and Sacrifices , and other parts and acts of Gods Worship ; whereas in the mean time they wholly neglected the Laws of Nature , and the Rules of Society : the neglect whereof does by inevitable consequence tend to the dissolution of the Communities of Men ; it being a vain pretence , any man makes to Religion and the Worship of God , who wilfully breaks those Obligations and Ties , by which he stands bound to God and Man , upon the very account of Nature . I wish this were well considered by Those , who make a great pudder about Religion ; and yet are not at all scrupulous of publick danger ; and I heartily pray , that common Honesty , and good Morality , that Truth and Justice , and a due Obedience to Authority , which are the best and only preservatives of Kingdom and Religion both , may more vigorously and constantly , more Conscientiously and Universally be practised amongst us . Till this be done , we have but small hopes of seeing either Church or State in a flourishing condition . To you the Worthy Counsellors and other Practisers of Law. You are all in your Spheres under our Reverend Samuels , Ministers of State too . Your Imployment is Publick , your Profession Noble . Shall I tell you the end of the Law ? I need not . I cannot do it better , then in the words of a Worthy Author of your own in a most excellent Preface he has to Chancellor Ellesmere before his Book of Reports . It is , he tells you , to Comfort such as are Grieved , to Counsel such as are Perplexed , to Relieve such as are Circumvented , to Prevent the Ruin of the Improvident , to Save the Innocent , to Support the Impotent , to Take the Prey out of the mouth of the Oppressor , to Protect the Orphan , the Widow and the Stranger . 'T is sad , when any Noble Faculty ( as yours is ) designed for the Good of Mankind , is made to serve the Practicioners private Advantage , more then the Benefit of Society . To you , the Plaintiffs and Parties concerned ; that you would study to be quiet , not to trouble Law with every trifle . I know the Apostle 1. Cor. vi . speaks of Heathen Judicatures , that he would not have Christians repair to for Justice . I know the Law in it self and its own purposes is good , and was appointed to determine controversies , and to put an end to differences : But 't is such Differences , as cannot be otherwise ended . To bring every small matter before the Judge , that might have been taken up at home , is to abuse Law and Gospel both , as being a great disturbance to Government , and as great a breach of Christian Charity . The Apostles reproof , I am afraid , may be applyed to too too many , in the 7th ver . of that Chap. There is utterly a fault among you , because you go to Law with one another . Why do you not rather take wrong ? Why do you not rather suffer your selves to be defrauded ? Nay you do wrong , and defraud , and that your brethren . There are some , it seems , who , as we use to say , will neither do right , nor take wrong . In the last place , to you , Witnesses , that you set the God of Truth before you , and assure your selves , that your souls will go along with your depositions . He that attests a falshood knowingly , wounds God in his dearest Attribute ; and where he does not know , he ought not to say . Especially you Jurors , remember you are sworn men . It must be a Verdict , a true saying upon your Oaths , you are to give in . It is a shame to consider , how cheap Oaths are grown amongst us ; how the reputation of English Faith and honesty is lost in this point . An Oath , the Author to the Hebrews says , is the end of all controversie . Justice cannot be effected , nor Government secured without it . There are two sorts of men peccant upon this account . Let me beg the favour of your patience , to speak a word with both of them . 1. Those that refuse to take Oaths at all . 2. Those that will take them hand overhead , and not care how nor what they swear . 1. There is a sort of men , that will not take Oaths . I have a charity for them , but I wish it be not upon this ground , because they have formerly broken their Oaths , or because they are resolved afore-hand not to keep them , that they will not take them now . Let me tell them , this stubborn refusal , if so , is in it self interpretative perjury ; for they are born-subjects , whether they swear or no. But we will suppose it is out of Conscience of an Oath , as 't is an Oath . They object that Christ and his Apostle James have expresly forbidden it ; Swear not at all , say they . Right : but examine the Context ; it stands thus . It hath been said by them of old time ; Thou shalt not forswear thy self . But I say unto you ; swear not at all . First then from the opposition , I ask them , whether Christ in this place has cancelled that Prohibition of forswearing ones self , or no : for so the opposition stands ; It has been said , thou shalt not forswear thy self . But I say , swear not at all . If they say he has ; there will follow this absurdity , that Christ , though he bids us not swear at all , yet he allows us to forswear our selves . But this prohibition without doubt stands good still ; for 't is brought in with the same form of words , as the 6 th and 7 th Commandments are , Ye have heard , that it was said by them of old time ; Thou shalt not kill ; Thou shalt not commit Adultery : and I hope , they will not say , Christ has repeal'd those commandments . If the prohibition then stand good , it follows that if a man must not forswear himself , he may lawfully swear ; for else how can he possibly forswear himself ? And it were a foolish , idle impertinent precept , which forbids a sin that 't is impossible for a man to commit ; to forbid perjury , and not allow an Oath . 2. From the particular instances , Swear not at all , neither by Heaven , nor by the Earth , nor by Jerusalem , nor by thy Head. It is evident , our Saviour meant only frivolous Oaths , by any of the Creatures , or by any other thing then God : and so Saint James enlarges it ; for leaving out Jerusalem , and ones head , he adds nor any other Oath , that is , as it must be understood , any other such Oath ; and this is further confirm'd by the reason given to each instance , which refers not to the act of swearing , as it should have done , had Christ intended , as they say : but to the nature of the thing sworn by . Not by Heaven , for it is Gods Throne ; not by the Earth , for it is his Foot-stool ; not by Jerusalem , for it is the City of the great King ; not by thy head , because thou canst not make one hair white or black . And so as Saint James , not by any other thing . qd . These , and the like , are all Gods Creatures , and therefore swearing being a Religious act , they are not to be sworn by . Now in that he forbids swearing by Heaven and Earth , &c. because Creatures ; can we therefore infer we may not upon just cause swear by God himself , the Creator ? Rather it follows that , seeing we are forbidden to swear by these things , because Creatures ; therefore we may , and must , when there is occasion , swear by God. 3. From our Saviours design . We must observe Christ's scope and purpose in all that 5. Chap. of Saint Mat. It was to clear and vindicate the Moral Law , from those abuses and corruptions , which the Pharisees false Glosses had put upon it . This appears by those other two . They held , so a man did not kill his brother , it was well enough ; he might be angry with him , he might call him Fool , and not be guilty of the breach of that command ; so he did not actually lye with a woman , he might look on her , and lust after her , without any offence . Our Saviour contrariwise condemns Murther in the Heart , and Adultery in the Eye . So here the Pharisees Tenet was , that so a man did not forswear himself , did not swear falsely , he might swear , as he pleased , and by what he pleased ; as idly as he would . Wherefore 't is only such idle , impertinent , unnecessary swearing that is here forbidden , as well as swearing false . 4. From the close or latter opposition ; Swear not at all ; But let your Communication be yea , yea ; nay , nay . 'T is plain that swearing is here forbidden , only in ordinary discourse , in our Communication , not upon extraordinary occasion before the Magistrate ; or in a place of Judicature , where an Oath is to be the end of strife . 5. Lastly , ( and I will leave it with them ) from Saint James himself ; Yea , Yea ; Nay , Nay . Where will they find that Christ himself and his Apostles , or any of the New Testament Saints used these forms of speech , so as they do even to a ridiculous superstition . What do you think of St. Paul , who in his Epistles , which are reckoned familiar discourses , where he is to vouch any weighty Truth , fears not to use such forms as these , Before God I lye not ; I protest by your rejoycing , and the like . Would he , do you think , had he been called into a Christian Court , solemnly to bear witness to the Truth , have scrupled an Oath ? would he have answered to an Interrogatory Yea or Nay ? No ; that was not the meaning . Saint James will tell them , what Christ meant . Swear not at all , says he , but let your Yea , be Yea , and your Nay , Nay . i. e. in your conversation be honest men , and stand to your word , in your dealings , in your assertions , in your promises ; let your word be your word , your yea , yea ; and your nay , nay ; and then you need not swear : your word will be taken without an Oath . For 't is commonly seen , that those find least credit , who bind all they say with Oaths ; and that those , who swear most , are least believed . And this brings us to Those , who make light of Oaths ; are very ready to take them , and more ready to break them . But such must know , that the violation of an Oath , is the highest violation of Conscience that can be ; and that God is Witness and Judge both ; and that 't is dangerous to call him to be Witness of a lye , who will be sure to be an Avenger of it ; and that though Perjury perhaps is got into that practice , that it has lost the Infamy , which does of right belong to it amongst men , yet it will not miss of divine Vengeance even in this life ; that 't is the boldest affront can be offered to Gods Omniscience , to his Veracity , to his Justice , to his Wisdom , to his Power , to intitle him to falshood , and cover it with his holy and blessed Name ; and that though they may elude a Humane Judicature , and escape in this life , yet in the next , when they appear , as we all must before the judgment seat of God , their injured consciences will stand out , and witness , and draw uplarge declarations against them to their eternal confusion , and condemnation . Now may God the righteous Judge of all the Earth , so direct you all , in what you go about , that you may have the Blessing , that the Country may have the Benefit , and that God himself may have the Glory . Amen . FINIS .