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 [Page 2] 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 [Page 3] 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: [Page 4] 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 [Page 5] 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 'tis 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, ('tis an expressi­on of a late Author against Atheism) will by his good [Page 6] 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 'tis 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.

[Page 7]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. 'Tis 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 'tis 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 [Page 8] 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, [Page 9] 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, [Page 10] 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 [Page 11] 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, [Page 12] 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. 'Tis true, as the occasion was extraordinary, so 'twas 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 [Page 13] 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 [Page 14] 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 'tis 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 [Page 15] 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 'tis 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 'tis 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 [Page 16] 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 [Page 17] 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 [Page 18] 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 'tis 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. 'Tis 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 [Page 19] 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 'tis, 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, 'tis not to be imagined, that publick Authority should want power for the ordering of Externals in the worship of [Page 20] 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 'tis 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 [Page 21] 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 [Page 22] 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 'tis 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 'tis 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.

[Page 23]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 'twas 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. 'tis reckoned among the Cities of Benjamin, with Ramah, and Bethel. 'Tis 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 [Page 24] 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. 'Tis 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.

[Page 25]1. For the People. 'Tis 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 'tis 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 [Page 26] 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 [Page 27] 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. 'Tis 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 [Page 28] 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 'tis 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.

• [Page 29]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 'tis 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 'tis 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 [Page 30] foolish, idle impertinent precept, which forbids a sin that 'tis 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 [Page 31] 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 'tis 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. 'Tis 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, [Page 32] 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 'tis 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 'tis 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 'tis 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.