Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A28565
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The justice of peace, his calling and qualifications by Edmund Bohun, Esq.
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Bohun, Edmund, 1645-1699.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing B3458; ESTC R18572
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84,020
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203
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self to reduce the Scales of Justice once sway'd down to an eqnal Ballance Wherefore it is the safest Course for a Judge that Nothing touching the proofs and merit of the cause be intimated before-hand untill both Parties be heard together Thus far this great Man who was once Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England And a Justice of the Peace is in much more danger of being prepossessed than a Judge because the Complaint is made at first immediately to him and he may afterwards be more easily approached yea and deceived too than a Judge as being not so well versed in affairs or prepared for the Execution of his Office by his Education and therefore should be the more Wary and Jealous of himself Sometimes the prejudice is of an Ancienter date than the Complaint depending and is sometimes the fault and at others the misfortune of the Party if he have given just cause for it by his former misdemeanors and ill Life then he can blame no body but himself and yet the Justice ought not to condemn him in his very thoughts till he is clearly proved Guilty for the Worst of Men may be Wronged and every man is supposed at first innocent and afterwards penitent till the contrary be shown not by surmises but by proof But alass we live in so False and Slanderous an Age that the Fame of very Good men is often blasted behind their backs and it is become a common practice for men to blacken their Reputation whose Persons or Estates they design to Ruine and for the most part more mischief is done the Party by these Under-hand Accusations which he can never answer then by all the direct proof And therefore the Justice of the Peace ought to suspect all informations that are from the purpose as Slanders and designed for no other purpose than to prepossess him with an ill opinion of the party What I have said will in some degree discover the Mischief of Prejudice but there is this further in it Reason is the Light and Eye of the Soul Now if the Eye be simple the Whole shall be full of Light but if it be darkened with prepossession how great is that Darkness Matth. 6. 23. and I may add how incurable how inexcusable too It is certain we shall all stand before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ and whatever Judgment we here pass upon Things and Persons shall be there reviewed and therefore it befits us to be very exactly careful that we do not draw upon us a just Condemnation from that most Righteous and All-seeing Judge by condemning our fellow-Servants thro Prejudice and Prepossession Wrongfully Nor let us ever think that we shall escape the censure of men for they will certainly at one time or other discover the Cheat and esteem us according as they find cause tho perhaps they will not dare freely to tell us their minds and if they never should yet our Consciences will Accuse us for it and God in his Providence will take care to punish us for it and that it may be in the same way we have offended So that he that can be secure in the midst of so many dangers and open his Ears and expose himself to every secret Whisper against a Man is a Person disposed for ruine and doth neither deserve the Advice or Pity of any Man Bribery and Prepossession do for the most part spring from others Favour and Hatred Favour and Hatred take their Rise from our selves and are as great hinderances to Equal and Impartial Justice as the other two there is no man so mean but he may by Accident or upon Design oblige his Betters and beget in them a good opinion of him and most men are naturally apt to do it before hand and all the little Arts of Flattery Obsequiousness and Courtship are on such occasions made use of and many a man hath been drawn in by them who would have abhorred a Bribe Nor can any man on the other side live so innocently as at all times to avoid the displeasure of his Neighbours and a Justice of Peace is as capable of resentment as other Men and in some degree more because Pride and great Expectations of Submission and Regard do naturally follow Power in all its degrees and Circumstances and the least opposition or defeatexasperates such more then ten times as much would another so that the Natural Consequence is that a man in Authority and Power will have many pretending Friends and if he be not the more careful as many real or suspected Foes and if his Love and his Hatred have any room left for their Activity in the Execution of his Office they will betray him to many Inconveniences and Acts of Injustice which he would otherwise have avoided Whereas Justice should in this respect be blind and not see the Parties but the Fact on one side and the Law on the other and then with discretion and impartiality without Favour or Affection Hatred or ill Will give to every Man according to his Works But in the State man is this is so difficult that if Reason and Religion be not called in to our Assistance it will not be done the man hath injured me and therefore another is false Logick but yet so powerful that it is almost impossible to see the Fallacy especially whilest a Man is under the Dominion of Anger and Hatred which are powerful Passions and the Argument is as weak the other way the man is an honest man and therefore would not do amiss or complain without good Cause Why he is a man still and subject to all the Infirmities of Flesh and Blood and therefore I ought not to surrender my self blind-fold to his Conduct but diligently search out the truth And indeed if men would entertain low and humble thoughts of themselves they would seldom be mistaken but if I think my Smile my Nod my kind Word or Look a mighty Obligation and make a Muster of my Friends by the List of my Flatterers and Admirers I shall soon have a large Roll but they will in Adversity appear to be what they are like false Musters in Peace appear in their Ranks and Files a full Body but in time of necessity and need be like the gleaning after the Vintage thin and of no use and every Act of Injustice I do will diminish the number of my Friends even of those for whose sakes I did it and increase the number and fury of my Enemies But on the other side Exact and Impartial Justice is venerable and lovely in the sight of God and Men and even those that suffer by it will when the smart is over love and revere the man that Administred it to them so the upright Impartial Magistrate shall in the end have fewer Enemies and more hearty Friends then the other If there were nothing but this to be said for it there were reason enough to banish all our Affections and Passions when we sit