our Dissenters Gain by all their Perjuries between 40 and 60 what are they the better for all those they have procured or abetted since is not the hand of God against them in all they undertake defeating all their Projects and Designs and making them every day more Odious than others For my part I do not fear that perjurious Projects will ever prevail or do any body any good but the Crime being spread so vastly I fear a National Judgment a Calamity that shall be as general as the Sin and then no man will be free from suffering the sad Effects of it thô those that have procured it will smart most by it and this is enough to oblige every good Man that loves his Countrey especially all Magistrates to stand in the gap and to prevent the further Growth of it as much as is possible by discountenancing it and punishing it too as occasion serve Some are of Opinion this Sin might be stopped by a severe Law against it but I am of another mind and I heartily believe more innocent than guilty Men would suffer by it if we had such a Law because these wicked Wretches make Parties to uphold one another and will lay things so well together that it is almost impossible to discover the Cheat and then as for Oaths to prove them that they never want whereas good Men are not so vigilant suspecting as little ill as they mean and so would be more exposed to the force of such a Law But as for Publick Officers especially Constables and such like I wish together with their Oaths they might be compelled to enter a Recognizance of the same Condition with their Oaths which if it were but of small value as X or XX lib. it would work much upon them and in a great measure put a stop to this Impiety for some that do not reverence an Oath wou'd yet fear to forfeit their Recognizance and in time Religion would return and take away the necessity of such double Obligations As for Private Concerns there is excellent provision made by a late Statute 29 Car. 2. Cap. 3. and the extending it to a few more particulars might be very useful and till this can be done Men must commit as little as is possible to Verbal Testimonies by taking all things they can in Writing 2. Another of the best and most effectual means that is left to stop this inundation of Perjury is for Magistrates to express a great detestation of it not only by their words as Occasion serve but by their Actions too by shewing themselves to be exceeding Careful not to do any thing that is contrary to their Oaths and sometimes giving that for a reason of it for that makes a greater impression upon the Minds of Men than any words without it because it is at once a Verbal and a Practical Declaration and their Authority will make it the more taken Notice of and regarded The Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance are so frequently Administred that I need not take any further notice of them here but that which more immediately concerns the Justices of the Peace is as followeth YE shall Swear that as Justice of the Peace in the County of C. in all Articles in the King's Commission to you directed you shall do Egal Right to the Poor and to the Rich after your Cunning Wit and Power and after the Laws and Customs of the Realm and Statutes thereof made and ye shall not be of Councel of any quarrel hanging before you and that ye shall hold your Sessions after the form of the Statutes thereof made And the Issues Fines and Amerciments that shall happen to be made and all Forfeitures which shall fall before you ye shall cause to be entered without any Concealment or imbefilling and truely send them to the King's Exchequer ye shall not let for Guift or other Cause but well and truly you shall do your Office of Justice of the Peace in that behalf And that you take nothing for your Office of Justice of the Peace to be done but of the King and Fees accustomed and Costs limited by the Statute And ye shall not direct nor cause to be directed any Warrant by you to be made to the Parties but ye shall direct to the Bailiffs of the said County or other the King's Officers or Ministers or other indifferent Persons to do Execution thereof So help you God You shall do Egal right the very way of Writing which word Egal instead of Equal shews this Oath is of great Antiquity and that it hath been very carefully Transcribed when there have been so much scruple made of changing a G. into a Q. according to the Latin and our present Authography and it would be a burning shame to us if we that are Sworn should be less careful of the Articles in it than the Clerks have been of the Letters And that ye shall hold your Sessions how they can Answer it to God or Man I know not who reside in any County or act as Justices of the Peace in it and yet never appear at any Sessions by the space of many years together without any lawful excuse or hindrance or those who come and take the King's Wages and before half the Business is done betake themselves to the Tavern leaving two or three to finish and conclude the Business so that if any Controversie arise it must be left to another time or ended as it can rather than as it ought it is true neither of these Disorders can be Punished by the Court but then it is because the Law supposeth that Men of that Quality will not need it but will religiously observe their Oath so that the fault is so much the greater because it cannot be Punished but by God only I shall not make any more Reflections on this Oath because this whole Discourse is but a kind of Commentary upon it and whatever I have omitted is taken notice of by Lambard and other Writers But the Care of a Magistrate ends not in himself but is to extend to Others and therefore he ought to take great heed that he minister none but Lawful and Necessary Oaths Secondly That if he find Men ignorant he give them good Advice and sharp Reproofs in case of the least failure By Lawful Oaths I mean such as the Laws and Customs of England will allow him to give and therefore before he take an Oath he ought to consider whether he have Power to do it for thô he hath a great yet he hath not an unlimited Power as is manifest by that Parenthesis which is so frequent in our Statutes which Oath the said Justices are by this Act Authorized to Administer which is repeated almost as often as a new Power is given them and for the most part in these very words And yet I doubt not but when good Reason requires where ever they may Hear and Determine they may do it upon Oath thô the Statute doth not
a City besieged without and divided within we must sooner or later fall a Prey to our Enemies without Remedy or Pity But if these great men were capable of Reason there would be no need of this and as they are not it is in vain to offer it and therefore I must Address my next request to the Judges and Ministers of State that they would sometimes enquire in to this and without regard to the Fortunes or Titles of men support and incourage the more useful if occasion so require against the more Potent I hope there will not be many occasions for this but there may for what followeth and therefore I will propose it in the words of the present Lord-Keeper in his Speech to Mr. Serjeant Sanders at the the time he was sworn Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench on Tuesday the 23d of January 1682. Pag. 8 9. The Age is degenerate and full of Faults Faults of Irreligion Morality Debauchery Quarrelling Falseness and Faction so full of Faults that it requires more then a man to censure them You will therefore consider that inferi our Magistrates and inferiour Jurisdictions are to take a great part of this labour off your hands in that regard you will upon all Occasions encourage and direct them to make them useful to you and not overthrow their Proceedings upon every slight Exception to drive People to begin their Process here at greater charge And when Justices of the Peace act candidly tho not with so much skill in the Law you will shew tenderness to them as Gentlemen that serve the King and the Publick for nothing and have not those Assistances of Council and Officers that are here It were it may be but reasonable that this tenderness should not only be shewed to their Proceedings but also to their Persons and Estates especially those of the meaner sort that so men may be the more easily indused to undertake the Publick Service as for instance in an easie excusing their Attendance at the Assizes when they have no particular business that doth require their presence there For seeing other Gentlemen of the like fortune who are not Justices of the Peace do seldom happen to be summoned above once in two years it seems a little hard to force these to come twice in one year merely to fill the Bench with unprofitable Spectators at so great a Charge to them tho I know also that much may be learned by such an Attendance and there is no fear but as many as can will take the opportunity of it but this being but my private opinion is submitted intirely to the Judgment of my Superiours and had not been mentioned but because the reason my Lord Chancellour gives seems to extend to it The Lord Chancellor Clarendon complains in the Letter I have so often mentioned That many persons who are in the Commission of the Peace neglect to be sworn And tells us His Majesty had given Order to his Attorney-General to proceed against them This hath been often since complained of by the Judges of Assice in their Circuits also but till the root of this mischief be cut it will never be otherwise as these things now stand no man that is in the Commission of the Peace can have this Dedimus Potestatem without he pay about four Pounds for it and it being an employment which can bring him nothing but expence and trouble it is no great wonder that men are not very willing to part with their Money for it and so many having stood a year or two and the Officers at last despairing to get any thing of them are either left out gratis or for a small matter So they that serve the King for nothing pay for it and the rest scape better cheap and on these Terms it is no wonder if there be frequent occasions for Complaints But this is not all worthy and good men who are fit to serve the King do thus avoid the service they that are no way qualified for it being more willing to part with their Money get into the imployment which they manage accordingly To prevent all which inconveniencies it were much more for his Majesties Service that the Dedimus Potestatem were freely sent down and the Officers rewarded for it out of the Exchequer But if this be not approved it were better the Money were paid by the Treasurer of the Division to which such new made Justices belongs and indeed seeing the Country will reap the greatest advantage by it it is most reasonable they should pay the Charge of the Enterance which may be done by a short Act of Parliament It would not be reasonable only to make the Enterance into this Honourable and Troublesome Imployment more easie but the execution too And to that purpose I will presume to offer a few more Considerations to my Superiours In many Cases there are so many and various Acts of Parliament that a man knows not which to proceed upon and they are sometimes contrary one to another Now if these were reduced into one and all the rest repealed it would much facilitate the execution of the Commission of the Peace For instance there are a great many several Acts of Parliament concerning the repair of the High-ways and they all are difficult to be executed in relation to the chief thing the Provision of Carriages that depending upon the determination of a Plough-Tilth which no body knows what it is and yet if it were never so well known that would not mend the matter much because considerable quantities of Land would never be brought into this so necessary Work what quantity soever were assigned to it and many rich men would do little or nothing and leave the burthen upon the poorer sort of men There have been two or three Temporary Acts of Parliament made since his Majesties Restauration 14 cap. 6. 22 cap. 12. to enable the Surveyers to repair the Ways by a Rate or Land-Tax but they are all expired Now if this course were settled forever for the Carriages and only the Cottagers tied to do so many days work all the other Acts of Parliament might be spared But it would not be amiss then to give the Justices of the Peace power to determine what should be paid by the Load for Sand Gravel and other materials taken out of private mens grounds or the wasts of other Mannors where there is a want within the respective Parishes without obliging them to fill up the places which is sometimes impossible for want of matter and always very chargeable The Statutes which concern the settlement and Provision for the Poor need a review too and some alteration and when this is done I recommend it to the consideration of wise men whether it would not be adviseable to give Power to the Grand-Juries and Justices of the Peace Assembled in their Assizes to make by-By-Laws with the Consent of the Judges and to repeal alter or change them as occasion
Means to prevent it Memory is a Natural Faculty of Great Use in all Humane Transactions but Especially in Government and that in the Lowest degrees of it For it is the duty of a Magistrate to Execute Laws not to make them and he is to have an Eye to the matter of Fact at the same time too now he that hath such a defect in that Faculty that he can neither remember the Law which is to Direct him nor the matter of Fact to which it is to be applied is certainly very unfit to be a judge and so in Proportion in all the intermediate degrees of it The Office of a Justice of the Peace is very diffused and comprehends in it a vast Number and Variety of things and it will consequently require a good Memory to tell presently whether any particular case be within his Jurisdiction or No. Mr. Lambard complained in his time and that is near a hundred years ago that there were Stacks of Statutes imposed upon them to take care of and the Number is now perhaps double to what it was then So that in this respect also it is Necessary that he who Undertakes this Office should be a Man of a good strong Memory If any man doubts the truth of this he will find upon trial that no humane Memory how great soever it be can perfectly comprehend all the particulars Exactly and that it will be Necessary to have frequent recourse to the Books Especially in Statute Cases without which many and great Errors must of Necessity be committed so that the Prudence of a Magistrate doth consist in a great degree in not Trusting too much to his Memory But then that shews a Necessity of having that useful Faculty to a good degree SECTION III. THere are three other Accidental qualifications which are of great use and would be considered A Competent Estate a good Reputation and a tolerable good Education and Learning The Justice of the Peace enters upon an imployment that will occasion him much loss of Time some Expence and many Enemies and after all will afford him little or nothing towards the bearing these inconveniences but a little unprofitable Honour attended with much envy and had therefore need before-hand be provided of a competent Estate at least to support him in that imployment or else he will suddainly repent what he indiscreetly undertook and it may be intail the Mischief upon his Family who will remember his honour with small complacency when they reflect upon his debts occasioned by it Nor will he and his Family be the only Sufferers the Country will and must bear a part in it too Men of small Estates are very often of Mean spirits and dare not do their Duties where they Expect opposition and have great and rich men to deal with and so betray Justice not for want of Skill or Honesty but of Courage to undertake and go thro with it Besides their Poverty will Expose them to great Temptations of Bribery and tho the profit that can come by it is very inconsiderable yet the mischief that will attend it is not so for the perverting Justice in the smallest instance is a great Dishonour and Damage to a Country and the meaner the cause the greater the infamy the Meaner the People are that are injured the greater the Clamour But of all men those that are much indebted are the least fit for that both the Creditor and his Friends must too often be gratified by the wretched man at the Expence of his Oath his Integrity his Honour and his Justice and all occasions must be sought for this too that the World may see how great a power the Rich Clown hath upon his Worship For these causes there was an Act of Parliament made some Ages since which is as followeth WHereas by Statutes made in the time of the Kings noble Progenitors it was Ordained That in every County of England Justices should be assigned of the most Worthy of the same Counties to keep the Peace and to do other things as in the same Statutes fully is Contained Which Statutes notwithstanding now of late in many Counties of England the greatest Number have beén Deputed and Assigned which before this were not wont to be whereof some be of small that is ill Behaviour by whom the People will not be governed nor ruled and some for their Necessity do great Extortion and Oppression upon the People whereof great inconveniences be likely to rise daily if the King thereof do not provide remedy The King willing against such inconveniences to provide remedy hath Ordained and Established by Authority aforesaid That no Justice of Peace within the Realm of England in any County shall be assigned or deputed if he have not Lands or Tenements to the Value of 20 l. by the year and if any be Ordained hereafter c. which have not Lands or Tenements to the Value aforesaid that he thereof shall give Knowledg to the Chancellor of England for the time being which shall put another sufficient in his place and if he give not the same knowledg as before within a Moneth after that he have notice of such Commission or if he sit or make any Warrant or Precept by force of such Commission he shall incur the penalty of 20 l. and nevertheless be put out of the Commission as before c. But this Act Extends not to Corporations and also Provided That if there be not sufficient persons having Lands and Tenements to the Value aforesaid Learned in the Law and of Good Governance within any such County That the Lord Chancellor of England for the time being shall have power to put other discreét Persons Learned in the Law in such Commissions tho they have not Lands or Tenements to the value aforesaid by his discretion The 18 H. 6. cap. 11. I have transcribed this Statute almost at large because it makes so lively a description of the inconveniences and takes so exact a care to prevent them and it is to be observed That xx l. by the Year at the making of this Statute was a Knights fee and that they would trust to Nothing but an Apparent Visible Estate for it must be in Lands or Tenements and yet was there not then the Hundredth part of that business committed to Justices then there is now and their Expences that were consequently much less and tho in case of Necessity some Lawyers of a less Estate were Admitted yet this was out of pure Necessity in those ignorant Times and then they were to be men of Good Governance that is of a Good Reputation for their Lives and Integrity and such men in those time might by their Professions be able to spend with men of good Estates But two inconveniences have arisen in our Times that were not in being then The first is That Men of great Estate do too commonly leave the Country and spend their times and Estates in London and other great Cities in perfect
sure of a fair Tryal before the Law take them away Our Poor are Carefully and kindly provided for in all urgent occasions We have Magistrates dispersed all over the Nation for our Security and for the rest our highest Courts are open four times in the Year where all men may have equal Right the Poor as well as the Rich and besides there come two of the Judges twice in every Year into every County that if any man hath cause for it he may complain and have Right done him We have four Sessions in every Year wherein the Justices of the Peace or a great part meet to determine what a few could not and by Appeals redress their Errors and there is not a Country Village but the King hath an Officer in it to Secure our Peace and Apprehend Malefactors Now a man would think such a Government as this should be beloved by all that knew and had Lived in it and so it would without question if it were not too strict for ill men who have designs upon their Neighbours Liberties and Fortunes tho they pretend the quite contrary And such Men are not fit to be trusted with any share of the Government in order to promote their wicked purposes The Next thing necessary in a Justice of the Peace is a Competent Knowledg of the Nature and Temper of the English People especially those under his Charge By the word People I mean only those the Justice of Peace is to govern for all that are above that degree are out of my Bounds and need not be Considered by me England being an Island and lying Exposed to perpetual Changes of Winds and Weather more than the Continent doth their Humours and Spirits are in perpetual Motion and this affects their Minds too and makes them very uncertain and very much given to Change if those that have the Conduct of them do not frequently inculcate the danger of it and severely punish those that give occasion to the beginnings of Commotions that so this fear may Counterballance this Natural inclination to Change 2. The English Blood is very easily Irritated and hard to be allayed whilest it is in its fury Especially if it be inflamed with Drink and Excess or exasperated with ill usage and Injustice And that is the true Reason why we need so many persons to Keep the Peaâ—e amongst them and so many Laws to Secure it and prevent Excess in Drinking and Idleness which is the Occasion of Quarrels and the Nurse of Poverty And the great Care of the Magistrate should be to Cure this First by preventing all Menaces or Threatnings by requiring Sureties of the Peace of them that use them Secondly All Grievous Slanders such as tend to the Ruine of mens Reputation and Livelihood by Securities of the Good Behaviour Thirdly All Excess by a Severe Execution of the Laws against Tipling and putting down those Alehouses that suffer Disorder and Excess Fourthly To be sure not to give them any occasion to complain of Injustice and Oppression by an Exact Care to Keep to the Rule of the Law which will Justifie him and keep them quiet for I have not observed but that they submit patiently to that Severity which the Law imposoth on them if they be once satisfied the Law is so 3. What William the Conqueror observed of the Normans is as true of the English If they be Governed Well and Severely they are Valiant and in great difficulties Excel all other men endeavouring to master their Enemies But if this be neglected they tear and destroy each others for they Love Rebellions and Seditions and are ready for all sorts of Mischief Let them therefore be restrain'd with severity and be forced by the Rein of Discipline to keep the Path of Justice for if this Wild Ass be suffer'd to go Unyoaked they and their Princes will be Overwhelmed with Poverty and Confusion This saith that Prince I have learned by much Experience 4. But then they must be Governed Well that is with Prudence and Justice as well as with Severity for it may be there is no Nation under Heaven so impatient of Injury and Wrong as the English and whatsoever is not precisely according to Law they will Esteem such and when occasion serve revenge it But neither can they bear too much Lenity and Mercy they grow insolent when they are Flattered and Courted and never regard those that seem to fear them The Advice therefore of the Conqueror is good and as fit for our Days as if it had been given but Yesterday 5. The English are not more Couragious in Visible and Apparent Dangers which they never fear than Timerous and Suspitious of every thing they hear the most incredible silly Story in the World frights them into Disorder and Confusion and without Examining the truth or possibility of the Report they rush into Action and follow them that pretend to Lead them out of those difficulties And of this we had abundant Experience in the late Times and have lately had enough again to remind us of it and herein the Care of the Magistrate should be to punish severely the Spreaders of Libels and false Reports and the Fomenters of False delusory fears and jealousies 6. The English are very Religious Naturally and in the Times of Popery almost ruined themselves by their Liberality to the Church and Monasteries but the folly of that being discovered at the Reformation they have since run to the other Extream and almost ruined the Church by tearing what they could from it and they are now as mad of running after every new Sort of Teacher that pretends to shew them an undiscovered Way to Heaven as they were of the Monks and Fryars before and this hath a mischievous Effect upon the State too and will Eternally endanger our ruine till it be redressed by a Constant and Severe Execution of our Laws against Conventicles of which I shall speak more when I come to Consider our Factions 7. In Antient Times the People were so addicted to the Nobility and fond of their Gentry that two or three discontented Noblemen made nothing to bring an Army into the Field and fight their Soveraign but the Wars betwixt the Houses of York and Lancaster having almost totally Ruined and Extinguished the Antient Power of the Nobility Henry the 7th by Politick Laws Henry the 8th by his Violence and Queen Elizabeth by her Severity against the Great Men and Condescentions to the Populacy have so turn'd the Tide the other Way that the People do now as much Slight and Undervalue them And to this the Factions in Religion have contributed very much for one of the first Principles these Lanthorn men teach their followers is to despise their Betters and suspect and speak Evil of their Superiors which Added to the Natural Envy all men have for them who live in a more splendid condition bids fair for the Extirpation of all our Gentry and Nobility if they do not regain the
requires because this Affair is so different in one place from what it is in another that it can hardly be brought under one general Rule and it seems but reason to intrust such and so many Gentlemen with a Power which is granted to almost every petty Corporation So likewise the Statute concerning Lands given to Charitable uses 39. Eliz. 6. might be made much more useful by Communicating that Power to any 4 Justices of the Peace without a Commission out of the Chancery and allowing an Appeal to the Sessions 1 with a Tryal by Jury And indeed all Lands given to Charitable uses would be better imployed if accounts were given to the Justices of the Peace which is already given in relation to those that are given to the repair of †13 14. c. 2. c. 6. § 14. High-ways and the Relief of * 22 23. c. 2. c. 20. ⧠11. Goals and Prisoners and there is the same reason for the rest There is one thing of which no care was ever taken that I know of and that is for Guardians for such Children as are neither so poor as to be a Charge presently to the Parish and yet have not such Estates as to be able to bear an Application to the Chancery for that Purpose many of which become at length a Charge to the Parish when what was left them is consumed Which might be prevented by giving the Quarter Sessions power to appoint them Guardians and take security of them for a good Account altering and changing them as occasion serves and compelling them to account and make payment without Suits of Law which such poor Orphans Estates will not bear There are too many other things to be brought into a Preface to so small a Discourse as this and therefore I will omit them but there is one I cannot pass over I could never yet learn any power that was given to the Justices of the Peace to Summon or Compel Witnesses to appear in the Sessions except it were against Felons Now it is most certain no Case can be ended without them and that very often they will not appear without Compulsion and so many a good Cause must and doth miscarry And this a thing as worthy of a short Act of Parliament as any other I know of if it were but to make the Remedy more Authentick There are many Passages in the present Lord-Keeper's Speech which I have quoted above that would have been of great use to me if I had been so happy as to have seen it before I had finished this Piece but there is one which I had much rather misplace here then omit it altogether Pag. the 6th A private man is praised for shewing Humility and Deference to others in his Conversation and passing by Indignities But a Judg and so proportionably a Magistrate must take greatness upon him he must consider he represents the Kings Person in his Seat of Justice he must therefore be very careful to preserve the Dignity that belongs to it He must have passions but not of a private man that may disturb his Judgment but he must assume Passion to set off his Severity when the greatness of the Crime requires it but it must be so as it may appear that his Judgment governs his Passion and directs it against the offence and not against the Person A Judg must be covetous but not as a private man for his own profit but he must be very solicitous for the Kings profit knowing that the Kings Revenue is like Animal Spirits without which the Government would not be able to perform its ordinary Motions All which excellent Rules the last not excepted do belong as well to Justices of the Peace as to the Judges seeing so much of the Kings Revenue is committed to their care and it is the worst sort of Treason that can be starve our King And now if my Reader thinks fit to go on and read the Book too let me conjure him to do it without Partiality or Prejudice and with a resolution to reform whatever he shall remark to be amiss in his own Person or Practice and when he hath so done I will ask him no favour let him think and speak what he pleases of me I care not how low I lie in his Esteem how impertinent or tedious unlearned or ignorant nay how confident or impudent I may seem to be so I may do him good and if nothing else will do even anger him into an Amendment And if he will consider seriously of it he must grant I can have no other end because I write neither for Money nor Preferment nor Glory nor any other worldly interest but merely for the publick good And if any man is pleased with this Tractate I only beg of him the favour of one hearty Prayer for me and mine and the good success of this Discourse that it may advance the Glory of God the Execution of Justice and Judgment and the Prosperity and Welfare of the best Church the best King and the best Civil Government in the whole World Living at a great distance these Errata's have been made which the Reader is desired to amend with his Pen and to Pardon the greater faults of the Author Errata Page 18. Line 7. dele then l. 9. for that r. then p. 31. l. 22. for easy r. rasy p. 32. for profit r. Prophet p. 48. l. 7. r. Ruined p. 61. Parag. 2. fine dele they find p. 102. l. 10. for have r. had p. 106. l. 10. for would r. will p. 110. l. 17. for has r. as P. 112. l. 18. for mean r. can p. 142. l. 7. for expect r. except p. 167. l. 19. for take r. give To the Making of a Good Justice of the Peace these Things are required 1. Natural Abilities A Competent Apprehension Judgment Memory 2. Civil Abilities A Competent Estate A Good Reputation A reasonable good Education and Learning 3. Religious Dispositions consisting in A due Veneration of God Love for his Service in himself and others A true Esteem of his Ministers An earnest Desire of the Salvation of all Under his Care and Charge 4. Moral Qualifications Prudence in all his Actions Patience Meekness Sobriety Chastity Industry Courage and Honesty in the Execution of his Duty And Humility 5. Politick Qualifications A competent Understanding of the Nature of our Government and Love to it Of the Nature of the English People Of the several Factions that we have amongst us and how 〈◊〉 govern them 6. Publick Qualifications A Great Love of Justice Impartiality in Executing it Aversion for those things that may hinder it Bribery Prejudice and Prepossession Favour and Hatred Covetousness Irregular Heats and Hopes Laziness 7. Knowledge in our Laws and Customs By Reading Observation and Practice Conversation and Discourse with knowing and Experienced Men. 8. Prudent Execution of our Laws by Observing a due Method according to Law 1. In calling the Parties 2. In hearing the
Idleness and Luxury The Other is That the Old English Industry is almost totally Extinguished and they that Live in the Country will not take that pains their Ancestors did either for themselves or their Country It is not at all likely that these two inconveniences will meet a Suddain or Certain Cure and therefore it were to be wished that men of Smaller Estates and greater Industry might be encouraged by some Honest and Convenient Privileges and Advantages to bear this burthen for the good of their Country without too much dammage to their own Families 2. After the Advantage of Wealth I place that of Reputation because as the World goes it will not be easily had without the Other And in this Case it is of great Use to the Justice of Peace and to the Government if he have a good Esteem amongst his Neighbours at his first setting out and he ought to be always Careful of it in all his Proceedings afterwards part of this may descend upon a man and part may be gained by himself with Gods blessing As the common People of England have always Lived under a Monarchy so they have been governed under their Prince by a Potent Nobility and a Flourishing Gentry and will certainly Envy and Repine at men of no descent when they come to be set over them but then if they be men of good Estates and Great Civility and Vertue this will soon wear off provided it be not kept up by the more Antient Gentry which seldom happens if they be not Slighted to prefer these New men But that infamy which springs from ill Actions is hardly ever to be worn out because every man that suffers tho never so justly by such a person will be sure to revive the memory of it so that it shall never be forgotten Besides men harden themselves against all Correction and look not so much upon their own deserts as the faults of their Governours and Consequently become worse for their Chastisement till at Last their Anger turn to Malice and that too is Advanced very frequently to a Contempt of the Supream Governour and ends in Tumults and Rebellion Anarchy and Confusion But let a man's Esteem be what it will when he sets out he must be as careful to preserve it by his Virtue to which Candor and Sincerity Temperance and Chastity and all those other Moral Qualifications which make a good man are of absolute Necessity and that not onely in relation to himself but to those he is to govern For he is sure none of his Vices shall be conceal'd all men will be prying into his most secret Retirements and will be as Curious to enform themselves of the smallest of his faults as they are negligent of the greatest they are guilty of themselves And this is not all they will from thence derive arguments to perswade themselves they may with impunity and safety transcribe the Copy and imitate those Vices they see in their Superiors and take it very ill if they find themselves at any time mistaken and if the truth might be spoken without offence I should ascribe much of the deluge of Impiety Debauchery Intemperance and other Disorders of Our Times to this as to its proper cause For how can a Justice of Peace send a man to the Stocks for Drunkenness when he is hardly well recovered of his last Debauch or punish a man for Prophane Swearing with forty Oaths in his mouth I could easily run this thro all the rest if it were fit to do it This too renders our Gentry Contemptible for the inferior people will ever Envy the splendor of their Wealth if they do not seem to deserve it by their Prudence and Virtue And this too weakens our Government by abating that Honour which is absolutely necessary for its preservation and gives too often the hearts and affections of men to those that have no right to them and who imploy that Advantage to the ruine of those that have In short if we are not resolved to ruine our Selves and our Families for ever and to become the most miserable and infamous of all men we must forthwith retrive the Antient English Bravery and win the hearts of the People by Justice Chastity Temperance Courage and Loyalty to a due Esteem of us And to this let us add a solid and conspicuous Piety which may shine forth in our Lives and Conversations with that Luster that none may be able to doubt or dispute the truth of it and this and nothing else will entail that Glory our Ancestors left us upon our Posterity and preserve the Monarchy that gave it to us from a Second ruine they that honour God shall be honoured and they that dishonour him shall be lightly regarded But however let all that are set up for Magistrates as Lights upon a hill be sure to set a good Example and if not for the sake of Virtue yet out of pure fear of Infamy avoid all those Vices which render them and their Offices Contemptible 3. It is not only fit the Justice of the Peace should be a man of a Competent Estate and a Good Reputation but of Learning and a Good Education too By Learning I do not understand the Utmost degree of it nor all those Parts neither that may be of great use to men of other Imployments but such a degree of Learning as may fit a Man for Civil Conversation and the dispatch of business and especially such Knowledg in the Laws and Customs of England as may preserve him from great and frequent Mistakes The Age we live in is full of Learning and the great Plenty of Books that come every day into the World have fallen so thick in all places that they have not escaped the Soft Hands of Ladies nor the Hard fists of Mechanicks and Trades-men and every man affects to seem well read in Books tho he hath not had the happiness to converse much with men and therefore if a Justice of Peace be not indifferently well qualified in this Point he will sometimes discover it and that will if it have no worse effect betray him to the Contempt of those who ought to honour and respect him for his Place But if he be ignorant of the Laws and Customs of England in that vast variety of business that belongs to him he will never be able to go thro with it but with great fear or hazard of Mistaking And being as subject to the force of the Laws as other men he will sometime or other meet with those who will revenge his Mistakes with worse then bad language and seek a reparation out of his Estate for the Errors of his Office No man is born a Scholar and therefore what ever Learning a Man hath must spring from Education and together with it for the most part Civility and good Behaviour is or ought to be delivered which takes off that Natural Roughness and Asperity which makes men unfitting to converse with others much
they may if they please believe this shall never happen again but if it doth they can thank no body but themselves and I am sure they can neither expect reasonably any Assistance from God nor Pity from Men if it should be otherwise because they might have prevented it if they would 3. That men that have no regard for God and his Service should shew no Esteem for the Priest is no great wonder the Consequence is unavoidable And as this proceeded at first from the Other So it may be a good Means to Cure the distemper to teach the People not only to Honour God and his Sanctuary but to Reverence his Priests and here the Magistrate may Contribute very much by his Example and Authority But then this Reverence is not due to all who call themselves Ministers there are too many that are crept in amongst us who are the Ministers of Satan Sowers of Sedition and Upholders of Schism the less the Magistrate reverences them the better it will be for him But there is one Sort of Kindness too commonly shewn to Clergy-men that I wish they would lay aside and that is their Inviting them to their Drinking-Meetings and almost forcing them when there to pledge all the Healths and go to the Bottom of the Glass too at every Round I cannot imagine where the Pleasure of this lies the Wine would be as easy the Company might be as brisk and the Frolick as pleasing if the Chaplain and Neighbour-Minister were Visiting the Sick or Studying to improve himself Nor can I think they pretend to please God Almighty by it whilest they render his Service contemptible and the Priesthood odious and infamous For my part I cannot believe this can proceed from any other than the Devil because it serves no bodies turn but his and the Enemies of Our Church and I have ever observed the Atheist and irreligious to be most guilty of it The best honour that can be shewn to a Clergy-man is to remember he is more immediately related to God and out of a due respect to his Character to curb those little irregularities which at another time a man might fall into and indeed nothing is more contrary to Virtue and Sobriety than the Attempting to Debauch them whose Presence should restrain us from Excesses and no Vice exposeth them more then Insobriety to the Contempt of the Rabble and other lewd Men and certainly God will accordingly severely reckon with those who thus dishonour him in his Ministers and beyond all other men with Magistrates if they be guilty of it The Turks have a sort of men who pretend to be descended from Mahomet and wear Green Turbans to distinguish them from the rest and if at any time they happen to offend any of the other Turks they approach these Children of their Profit with great respect and having first very reverently taken off the green Turban and laid it by they then bang the Man without Mercy or Discretion but we never hear they endeavour to draw them into any thing Contrary to their Law 4. The Ultimate End of all Religion is the attainment of the happiness of another Life and all that can be any way subservient to that end ought to be so used And for this end did God Almighty institute all humane Society and Government also and hath ever since preserved them from Ruin So that he Expects from every Person that is placed in any degree of Honour a more immediate Care and Concernment for the Salvation of their inferiors and he that doth best discharge his duty in this respect may Expect to meet the best Recompence from God here and hereafter Grotius hath proved this so well that I will not attempt to do it after him but refer the Reader for that to his Piece of the Power of Magistrates in Sacred Affairs and pursue the Conclusion of bringing it as much as may be into practice It is certain then nothing can be more acceptable to God Almighty than this and his Blessing is the best Reward any man can pretend to and the onely one which almost a Justice of the Peace can Expect and which is really worth his thoughts There is nothing in the Next place will so effectually lessen his Cares and his Troubles as this for if ever he can bring men to a true sense of this they will afterwards be easily governed and it will make his Office Acceptable and Delightful to them and his very Chastisements will be thought Kindnesses and be well resented But if men should prove unreasonable yet God would certainly undertake for him and protect him from their Violence and reward his Virtue too with the Euges of a Well done thou good and faithful Servant and he should thereby assure his own Salvation however Section the 4th HAving thus dispatched those Religious Qualifications I did propose to speak of I come in the Next place to speak of those Moral Indowments without which the other cannot well be Supposed to be the first of which I shall mention is a Prudent and Wife Administration of all his Affairs As Reason distinguisheth a Man from a Beast Prudence So this Prudence is it which Exalts one man above another and directs him not onely to what is just but to what is fit Justice teacheth a man to give every man his due and Prudence directs him to do it Seasonably and when and where to use Clemency or Severity as there is occasion for it And in Executing all Penal Laws this is of great and dayly use and makes those Laws a Blessing or a Plague to men and indeed he that always imploys the utmost of his Power will sometimes use the letter of the Law against the equity of it Prudence will also make his proceedings Safe and Regular so that he shall not fear to reflect upon what he hath done nor others to approach him when he is to do them when they know before-hand what they may Expect from him Prudence and due Care in him to Search every thing out that comes before him in the Course of Law will prevent his being deceived and the Cosequences of it his injuring others by that deception Next to Prudence I place Patience and Industry Patience without which he can never hope to attain his End he must not expect that either Party will at first frankly and ingenuously represent the truth of things to him one party will speak a little too much and another a little too little and by this and other Arts so disguise the thing that if he be not a man of more than Ordinary Patience and Industry to Search it out he will be in great danger of Doing great injustice Nor will the putting Parties always to their Oaths do it for many men have so little sense of them that it is almost all one to lie and forswear themselves but yet giving them time and cross-Examining them or putting them one from another the truth will
sometimes appear thro all their disguises and will well recompence the loss of a mans time if at last he be enabled thereby to do Justice and promote Truth and Honesty amongst men But on the Other Side the impatient man is at the End of his business before he is well entred into it and by making too much hast is the longer before he can end it a great man used to say Stay little and we shall have done the sooner and for the most part over-hasty Sentences come to a review by appeal or otherwise and then a man's folly is discovered in the face of the Country I would fain know of any man that sits in the Seat of Justice how he would take it to have a Case of his own hudled up by another man without due Examination of the thing and its Circumstances and so it may be meet with disappointment and disgrace where he did least Expect it and when he hath once thought Seriously of it let him do as he thinks sit But it is not a dull Patience without Active Industry Industry that will do the business he that storms and rages may sometimes hit upon the right Case and perhaps more frequently than he that neither takes Care to enform himself of the Law before-hand nor of the fact at the hearing but hears with as little care and unconcernment as if he had nothing to do with it such lazy men are totally unfit for government and should be laid aside as fast as they can be discovered or rather be prevented from ever coming into Authority But there is another Sort of Men that are as much too Active and endeavour to Search into things before the time and without any Necessity and this sometimes brings great Mischiefs upon them for which they are not much pityed Next to Industry Meekness Meekness and Humility deserve the Place tho some men seem to think the contrary and that no Virtues less become a Magistrate The Character of Moses was That he was the Meekest Man upon Earth yet no man ever knew better than he how to rescue himself and to preserve his Place from Contempt and no man ever had greater reason to carry it with a high hand who had God's Visible Presence always with him to Countenance him his Miraculous Power to Defend him his Infinite Wisdom to Direct him Rough and rude Language never did any man's business nor ever will they may be feared and hated more than other men who use it but that will as often hinder as help them And when it is once Known men will either not regard it or contrive how to make their Advantage of it by inflaming the Angry Indiscreet man to such a height that he shall do and say he knows not what or by Flattery and Assentation draw him to the quite Contrary Extreme So that if in the End he do Justice it shall be by Chance When a Man is Kindly and Civilly Treated it softens him into repentance and makes him ashamed of his offence and that disposeth him to Amendment and Honesty for time to come and he that so reforms but one man has done a greater work than he that Chastiseth many and what ever the Event be the Party goes away well Satisfied with the Justice and Candor of his Judge which may work upon him afterwards tho it do not at the present For my part I never understood wherein the greatness of calling a man Sirrah and Rogue at first sight lay It is full as easy to call him by his Name or Friend and give him an assurance that you are not his Enemy nor have any prejudice against him and then 't is ten to one if he do not deal ingenuously with you and tell you the truth at first and so save you the pains and hazard of searching it out and I have seen many men so wrought upon by it as to prevent the Justice and Condemn themselves willingly to suffer the Penalty of that Law they had imprudently broken if it run not too high But on the Other Side ill usage doth but harden men and make them ascribe what they suffer rather to the ill Nature and Disposition of the Magistrate than their own deserts Besides there is nothing that discovers a man's mean Extraction and ill breeding so much as ill Language and it is a foul disgrace to a Magistrate to seem to have ever kept Leud Mean Company where only rude Language is to be learnt The Sum of all is it can never do any good and will certainly do much hurt and therefore is most carefully to be avoided by every man that would preserve his Reputation and do good in his place and the rest are not worth the Instructing But yet neither is it fit to Countenance ill men in their Villany and Wickedness for that is to encourage instead of reforming and punishing them but then let the reproof be rational and grave such as may work more upon their reasons than fancies and to it add the Severity of the Law and make them feel you are in good earnest with them and this will make a man more feared and revered than Loud Words without it And to me it seems to be a double punishment first to Vent my Fury in bad Language and then to inflict the Punishment of the Law upon him Pride is yet a worse fault in a Magistrate than Passion Humility for some men are Naturally passionate but few men are Naturally proud and insolent and those who are so are of all others not fit for Magistracy One of the Worst effects of Pride is to render a man uncapable of Instruction and then be his abilities what they can be he must Needs fall into great Errors no man can carry all the Laws of England in his head and always truly apply them without mistaking And then if the man scorns the Informations of his Equals or Inferiors he must Answer for his Error as the Effect of his Will Whereas if he Humbly seeks and Meekly imbraceth better advice thô at last he mistakes he shall be pitied by God and Man and is sure to save his Reputation and the Comfort of having done the best he could to prevent the misfortune But a Magistrate is not only to regard the Law but the Fact and this the wisest of Men must learn from others who were present and took Notice of it And according to the Quality and Number of the Witnesses is the thing more or less to be believed And if a man will in his Price Suppose he knows this when indeed he doth not or believe he takes it right when he mistakes the Matter or the Witnesses and will not suffer them to reinform and direct him he must needs do great Injustice in the Conclusion tho he Mean it not And he must answer for it Soloman saith Only by Pride cometh Contention Prov. 13. 10. And so it ever is Pride makes a man more apt to
the two first but I hope by placing them in the Conclusion they will Leave the stronger impression on the Mind of the Reader Courage is so necessary a Qualification in Magistrates Courage that God himself never omits it in his Charges to them and there is good cause for it For they are sometimes to deal with Men Equal to themselves in all things and at others with their Superiors and as the Nature of Mankind stands may justly fear hard usage for doing but their Duty And yet we have another difficulty that will try the most daring we live in a factious Age and a Divided Nation and a Magistrate must sometimes disoblige not only single persons but great Bodies of Men united for the carrying on ill designs And we have before our Eyes instances of many great Families that have been ruine or impoverished within the Memory of Man for their Loyalty and Honesty and too many have Considered the same may happen again and this hath made the difficulty the greater by les'ning the Number of them that should have overcome it But yet would men consider Seriously of it this will never justify their Pusilanimity who have refused to serve the Publick or not performed their Duty out of Cowardise For God himself hath promised to stand by them and protect them in the discharge of their Duty Ye shall not Respect persons in judgment but you shall hear the Small as well as the Great you shall not be afraid of the face of Man for the judgment is Gods Deut. 1. 17. So he is pleased to own the Act and is bound to protect his own Minister and he may securely rely upon him that he will for he hath ingaged his Veracity for it whose Power no Faction how formidable soever can Master And yet if he should Suffer a man to be persecuted for doing his Duty Even that is no such dismal thing as is represented by fancy and delusion but this subject hath been so Excellently treated of by the Author of Jovian in his Conclusion that for brevity sake I will refer the Reader to it Of Evils the least is to be chosen and in the state things are we must submit our Selves and Families as Eternal Slaves to these Factions or defend the Government against them by a Couragious Execution of our Laws We have tryed their Mercy and Clemency and found Solomon's Observation true The tender Mercies of the Wicked are Cruel We have felt the Smart of being Loyal and if we were so treated for being obedient to the Laws of God and Man we may Expect as much Mercy in other instances as we please We have tried what could be done by fair Courses and Concessions and our Experience tells us nothing but an intire submission at discretion will satisfie these insolent Men and this hath inspired some Besieged Starved Places with a resolution to perish bravely but blessed be God we are not upon such terms yet with them But then this reproacheth our faint-hearted Gallants who dare not do their Duty whilest they have the Advantage Clearly on their Side The thing is indeed not only possible but easie for all Combinations against an Established Government besides the Providence of God have the United Forces of all good men against them they are lyable to many hazards have no Authority to Unite them are and ever will be distrustful each of other and faithless too as occasion serves and one Passion prevails upon another So that it is not Prudence which makes men timorous but want of Considering the Nature of things together with Infidelity Distrust of God and Cowardize and if any man will aspire to these Titles of Honour and tamely purchase them with Slavery and Beggery much good may his bargain do him and let no man envy his happiness And as to the rest let them pluck up their spirits and with the Rosolution of English Men and Christians bring under this Hydra this Many-headed Monster and they may be assured the Event will answer their Desires and will find that the strength of our Factions lies more in our want of Wit and Will to Suppress them than in their own Ability to defend themselves much less to bring under and ruine us But not only Combinations of Men but single persons have sometimes over-awed Magistrates and made them not dare to do their Duties and here the fault is so much the greater as the Temptation is less For why should a Justice of the Peace under the Protection of God and the Laws fear a Wealthy Clown or a Ruffling Gentleman Let him be but once sure what the Law and the Matter of Fact is and he need not fear any man But 't is a great disgrace to the Magistrate and a great dishonour to Justice to have the Laws take none but the poor helpless offenders whose very Innocence may be easily trodden under foot and the great and insolent Offenders escape without any Chastisement It were great reason rather to take the latter than the former and tends more to the terror of ill men It is true that sometimes these great and rich Malefactors do find means by their Wealth and Friends to trouble a Justice of the Peace on some other pretence but this doth not often happen God in his Providence preventing it and when it doth ought to be born as other Calamities which God sends for Causes best known to himself and which for the most part end very well for the Minister of Justice But on the Other Side when a man hath purchased their good will at the loss of his Reputation by denying Justice or doing injury he hath but rendred himself more obnoxious to their injuries by shewing his fear of them which makes them yet more insolent and he hath made God and good men his Enemies to boot So that he is then become really miserable and yet must Expect no bodies Pity or Assistance So that all things Considered it is better to trust God and rely on the Protection of the Laws and so to proceed to do our Duty without the least Consideration Whether the Party Complained of be a Poor man or a rich man but according to Gods Commandment and Our Oath to do equal Right to both which in all probability will be as safe and much more honourable and at last bring a man to peace according to that of the Psalmist Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the End of that Man is Peace Psal 37. v. 37. There is another Fault which is just the opposite to this and doth not so often happen yet sometimes may out of too much Pity and Compassion ill Placed and Worse Expressed and that is when more regard is taken to the Poverty than Innocence of a man contrary to the Command of God Thou shalt not Countenance a poor man in his Cause Exod. 23. 3. That is any further than there is Right and Reason for it I might perhaps not have mentioned this
Principles favourers of Popery and Papists 4. The Ministers of State are all represented to the People as French Pensioners and Papists in Masquerade What the meaning of this is my Lord Bacon shall tell you This is a sure Rule that if the Envy upon the Minister be great when the cause of it in him is small or if the Envy be General in a manner upon all the Ministers of an Estate the Envy tho hidden is truely upon the State it self Essay the 9th But then 't is not so easie to destroy them as it was before because 't is better known now 5. Scotland and Ireland are quiet and His Majesty hath good Guards in both of them to keep them so whereas his Father had none and tho there have been dreadful Complaints of them and divers Attempts in Scotland to destroy them by the Covenanting Whiggs yet it will not do there they are still and no body can help it 6. The Nation hath a strong Impression left of the Miseries of the Late War the Blood-shed Taxes and Tyranny they then groaned under and his Majesty cannot forget the Methods that were used to destroy his Father and Banish him and he will never give them leave to play over the Old Game and this was it which made the Late Conspiracy to Murther him so necessary 7. The House of Peers have no mind to be Voted down the second time and they stoutly oppose what ever tends that way and the Dissenting Lords have lost the Assistance they formerly had from the Popish Peers in that House and may protest and complain but could never carry one Vote since a manifest Argument how much the Puritan and Popish Faction stand in need of each other 8. The liberty of the Press was for several years lost but since that restraint ended we have not wanted Seditious Pamphlets to incite the People to another Rebellion which were written by some body for something and were bought up and read by vast Numbers of People who in all probability had no mighty Aversion for them The same Fears and Jealousies have been revived and buzzed industriously into the Heads of the People but there is a cerrain Act of Parliament that makes it dangerous to Traduce the King as they did his Father but what no body durst speak directly they can slily insinuate and avoid the danger of the Law at the same time and there are several other Acts of Parliament which have made the design of the Republicans difficult which I will omit Now I say considering all these Difficulties that were not before and that all that were before are still in being and that Men have naturally an Aversion for hempen Neck-laces I say considering these things any man that will may see there hath been as much done as could be towards the setting up another Common-wealth and more then the Gentlemen in 41 durst do till they have an Army to back them and if any man be disposed to believe these things come to pass by chance and without any design there is no reason why I should disturb the rest of the world by endeavouring any further to satisfie him which in all probability is impossible But there is one question behind still and that is What the Inferiour Magistrates and Justices of the Peace shall do to prevent this Faction from attaining what they aim at 1. To which I answer first take away the Cause and the Effect will follow the Puritan Principles and Factions gave Being to this and with them it will fail but as long as they subsit and are powerful the Common-wealth Party will be so too it is true that many forsake the Factious in other things but joyn with them in this but then they are false at the heart and have left the rest only because it was chargeable being of that Party and are to be treated accordingly and never to be trusted 2. The People are frequently to be told of the Miseries they endured during the Late Times of Anarchy and Confusion that the Memory of them may not be forgot in the next Generation and by what means the Nations became involved in them that they may not have the opportunity of Re-acting the Old Tragedy 3. The Government ought to be represented to the People as it is that they may know their own happiness and live obediently under it A good Man would not endeavour to subvert any Government that were Established tho it were none of the best because the Miseries that attend such Changes are greater for the most part then those that are pretended to be removed by them but for us to attempt to pull down one of the Ancientest and best Constituted Governments in the World under which England hath flourished so many Ages and to deliver our selves up into the hands of a Company of Ambitious Men to be treated we know not how and Governed we know not which way is perfect Madness 4. It is well observed in Tacitus Liberty and other Specious Things are pretended Nor did ever any man seek a Dominion over others and to enslave them but he made use of such pretences for it We have tryed these Men and by experience have found that they are meer Pretences and that there is no sweeter Liberty in the World then to live under a good Prince and God hath given us one to our hearts desire let us not be such Fools as to catch at such shadows as they offer to us and loose the real and solid good things we do enjoy 5. The Throne is established by Righteousness Prov. 16. 12. And ancient Histories afford us many instances of good Princes that have been ruined by the Injustice of their under Officers when the People have been inraged by them Now every Inferiour Magistrate may in this contribute much to the disappointing the wicked Designs of this Faction by doing Justice and cutting the Roots of all Discontents before they rise to Assault the Throne or spread to undermine it It is a common Complaint that we have excellent Laws but they are ill Executed I know the whole fault of all this ought not to be ascribed to the Magistrates but yet we are not such as we ought to be If any share of it lies at our Doors and if the Throne be made odious and consequently weak by our defaults we must expect to suffer first and to bear the blame of it hereafter our Oaths will keep us from joyning in a Rebellion and our Loyalty make us obnoxious to their Cruelty which as Tacitus saith is the greatest Crime amongst Rebels If therefore neither the Memory of what is past nor the sence of what is present our own nor others experience will prevail upon us to prevent the ill Effects we must in reason expect from the Conjunction of the Puritan and Common-wealth Factions United and Fermented by the Popish if we will still resolve to try whether our Saviour's Rule is true That a Kingdom divided within
There is another sort of Partiality that springs from things some Men have a kindness for some Vices or Factions and they love that in another which they cherish in themselves and so if any Complaint be made they wrest and bend the Laws to comply with their humours and interests and sometimes they stretch and sometimes they shrevil and shrink them up to nothing and this is direct Partiality the same Offence should have the same Punishment whoever commits it and every Offence that very punishment which the Laws have appointed and no other and if any difference is to be made let it spring from some Consideration in the Persons or Things and not from us punish a poor man according to his Offence and his Poverty and not according to your affections towards him but if you discover any such thing within you be sure to curb it at least to suspect it and punish your Friends according to Law and your Enemies something less if you must do it and so in relation to other things a man should be most severe against his own Vice to shew the World he is not desirous it should follow his example tho when all is done the best way of Correction is for a man to begin at himself and having formed his own Life according to Law and Reason then to try what he can do upon others I will in the next place consider those things that do most usually hinder and obstruct the Execution of Justice against which a Magistrate ought to arm himself with an habitual and invincible hatred and as often as occasion serve declare it to the World that men knowing his resolution beforehand may not dare to tempt him The first of which I reckon Bribery which is so frequent an Impediment of Justice that both the Laws of God and Man have taken frequent notice of it and severely threatned it and it accordingly is attended with great Infamy for the most part if it meets no other punishment and the greater in a Justice of the Peace because the Persons and things that come before him are of that small Consideration that he cannot in reason expect a Bribe in his whole Life that would tempt a man of any Generosity to do an ill thing What is half a dozen Chickens or a Couple of Capons to a Man of Worship and yet for such pityful prices have some men sold their reputations and laid themselves open to the scandal and derision of the World It was a sharp reflection that was made upon them in Parliament in the 44th year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when one said a Justice of Peace was a living Creature that for half a dozen of Chickens will dispence with a whole dozen of Penal-Statutes I believe as there was not then so there is not now many such pityful Animals Crept unto the Bench and advanced to that Honourable Imployment but then the less the number is the more easily the Commission might be purged of these Vermin who are a shame to the rest and a great vexation to all their inferiour Neighbours and a dishonour to the Government The ways by which Bribery is attempted are so various that it is impossible to enumerate them all sometimes the Wife the Children the Clerk are purchased under-hand to recommend the Case to the Justice and obtain a promise of him when he least thinks of it and so if the man be easie he is bribed and knows it not and in this Case the best way is for a Man by his Actions to demonstrate to the World that none of these have any power over him or can influence him this or that way and when men find themselves deceived they will give over those tricks and be ashamed they were ever guilty of using them Another Method is to offer their service as Labourers at small or no wages upon urgent occasions and then these days work are chalked up upon the Dorman or behind the Door and wo to the next man that gives the least offence to the Leather Breeches his Worship is obliged to give him a Cast of his Office too in his turn and he is hard hearted and ungrateful if he will not gratifie the Clown with a little Injustice and Perjury in exchange for his Labour Sometimes the Justice hath something to buy or sell and then the bargain is driven with respect to his place and what is lost is to be made up with Advantage out of the depending quarrel If the Justice of the Peace be a Practising Lawyer then he shall have a Fee for his Advice which he is bound to defend too into the Bargain be it right or wrong at the next Sessions or else he loseth his Client forever Sometimes general Promises are thrown out such as these It shall be never the worse or I will not be unthankful and the like which are like empty Caskes thrown out to entertain the Leviathan with In short to go about to enumerate them all is impossible And to prescribe any other Remedy against them then a ridgid and inflexible Honesty is to no purpose for this Winding Snake will creep up and steal upon a Man by such unforeseen ways that it will not be in his power to prevent its approaches tho he may easily and safely with St. Paul shake off the Viper into the fire if it fix upon his hand and then the Exposing those that attempt it to the World by telling the Story publickly will deter others from the like ill Courses and a better remedy can no man invent Prejudice and Prepossession have the same ill Effects with Bribery Prejudice and Prepossession And indeed Bribery aims at Nothing else but to forestall the Judgment and if that follow from any other cause the effect is the same it is all one to the Defendant if the Justice Sell or freely Surrender his Judgment to the Complainant if he find him disposed to Condemn him before he hath heard him credulous of what ever is objected but intractable and imperswasible on the other side So that Bribery and prejudice have this in common that they both blind the Eyes of the Wise and pervert the Words of the Righteous Deut. 16. 19. and of the two Bribery is the more Excusable perhaps because there is some temptation in it but the other sells his Reason for Nothing It is well observed by the Lord Bacon in his Advancement of Learning concerning Prejudice and Prepossession Book VIII Ch. 2. Parab 17. The first information in any Cause if it a little fix it self in the Mind of the Judge takes deep root and Wholly seasons and prepossesses it so as it can hardly be taken out unless some manifest falshood be found in the Matter of the Information or some cunning dealing in exhibiting and laying open the same For a bare and simple defence tho it be Just and more Weighty can hardly compensate the prejudice of the first information nor is of force in its
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
but of late much abused but then they are very often mistaken and if they be not what is Popular Praise but Words and they are nothing but Wind a cold Reward and as for their Love it is more fickle and unconstant than the Wind and less to be trusted to as they have found by sad experience in their distresses that have relied upon it and yet when all is done it is more often acquired by Justice and Truth than by a slavish Compliance and Flattery because they are naturally jealous of the extraordinary condescentions of their Superiors and look upon them as Designs The last hindrance of Justice I shall mention Lasiness is Lasiness or a dull Inactivity Men undertake the Publick Service without considering before-hand the difficulties that attend it and when they perceive it troublesome and laborious to go through with the Work and that they shall reap much ill Will Envy Reproach Hatred and Discontent for doing nothing but their Duties and no present Profit they sit down discouraged and like the weary Pilot commit the Boat to the Waves and the Winds and let her drive at Random Such men should consider that Perseverance to the end is that which God Crowns and that man is born to trouble as the Sparks fly upwards and that there is as many troubles at every mans heels as there is before him only if he goes on bravely and resolutely and conquer them that stand in his way the other shall never overtake him but if he yields he is sure to be crushed betwixt them and to be destroyed ingloriously and without pity Others look to nothing but the Credit Honour and Reputation they shall gain by it and if they can acquire the Title of Right Worshipful and have their Neighbours stand bare-headed to them they have their Designs Now this is such a pityful piece of Vanity and Folly that it were to be wished if there must be such that they might be as lazy as is possible that they may do the less mischief but then methinks the very fear of being thought such should rouse all that have but one Spark of true English Generosity and make them study their Duties diligently and then perform it industriously and thereby regain their Credits here and a more excellent Reward hereafter SECTION VII THe next thing requisite in a Justice of Peace is a competent knowledg of our Laws and Customes for by these he is to warrant his Proceedings and if in this part of my Discourse I happen to commit any Error I desire before-hand to bespeak the Readers Pardon for I never had the happiness and honour to be a Member of any of the Honourable Inns of Court My Reader then need not fear I will set him upon the Purchase or reading of all the Body of our Laws for tho it might be useful to a Justice of the Peace yet it is not of absolute necessity It is said of one of our States-men that his Learning was not great but useful and he did not know much but he practised what he knew diligently and this is an Excellent Character of a Justice of the Peace Much knowledg may puff a man up with a high Conceit of himself but when all is done Honesty and Industry are the Qualities that best befit a Magistrate The knowledg may be attained in a small time if a man will make it his business and there is three effectual means for it 1. Reading 2. Observation and Practice 3. Conversation and Discourse with Knowing and Experienced Men. Natural Sagacity and Reason may teach a Man many things but it is an ill thing to trust to it in point of Government the Commission of the Peace directs us to proceed Prout secundùm legem Consuetudinem Regni Nostri Angliae aut formam Ordinationum vel Statuorum Praedictorum fieri consuevit aut debuit that is as ought and hath been used to be done according to the Laws and Customes of England or the Form of the Ordinances and Statutes aforesaid and these are not to be known without some Study and Reading so that he that hath an Aversion for Books will never make a knowing Justice of the Peace tho he may stand as a Cypher to make the number greater Nor will he Act with any certainty or security to himself his business being to apply the Laws and not to make new ones and at one time or other he will meet with them who will make him sensible of his ignorance to his Cost if he commit any great Error and without doubt he will be Guilty of many It is a shame for an English Gentleman to be ignorant of our Laws tho he live never so privately they are the best part of our Inheritance the effects of our Ancestors Prudence the Charters of our Freedoms not from Subjection but Misery and Slavery under it they are at the same times the Monuments of the Favours of our Princes and strong Obligations to love and serve them and as occasion require to spend our Bloods and Estates in their Service for our Kings have not treated us like Vassals or Slaves but like their Children laid no grievous Burthens on us but such reasonable and just Commands as we either chose by our Representatives in Parliament or ought to have chosen for our own goods But certainly they do ill deserve this happiness who will take no pains to understand it when they might so easily do it being freed by their Estates from a necessity of Bodily Labour and furnished with Money to buy Books and leisure to read them which is too usually spent in Luxury with greater Expence and sometimes with the Ruines of their Lives and Fortunes besides for want of it they are the more subject to be wheadled into ill Practices against the State and exposed to the Craft and Rapacity of Lawyers who teach them the value of this knowledg by the price they pay for it But then Justices of the Peace are not only obliged as they are English-men and Gentlemen to this Study but as they have promised upon Oath to be Executors of the Laws and it betrayes a great stupidity of Mind or Irreligion to swear to do equal right to the Poor and to the Rich after their Cunning Wit and Power and after the Laws and Customes of the Realm and Statutes thereof made as the Form of the Oath is and then never concern themselves to know what those Laws and Customes are and to mind the Statutes of England no more then they do the Edicts of France And that which renders the thing the more inexcusable is the great pains and care many Learned Men have taken to make Collections of those things that are most necessary for the Justice of the Peace so that no man can want a Tutor if he have but a Will to learn and they are written too with that Variety of Method that they will fit any mans humour who is not given up to sloath
Way to enter into a Paper Book to be kept for that purpose first the Name of the Complainant and of the Party against whom the Complaint is brought and then the Complaint in as few words as is possible and then read them to the Complainant that if any Mistake hath been made in the Names or thing it may be rectified and then recite all this again in the Preface of the Warrant for I am utterly against all General Precepts except it be in some few Cases which seldom happen it being unreasonable to call a man to Answer to the knows not what when if the Case had been Expressed perhaps he could have produced Witnesses to have cleared his innocence and so have prevented further Charge and Trouble and Mr. Lambard gives another good reason for it viz. Because the King's Writs do always express the Cause of Complaint When the Warrant is once granted it is not fit to hold any further Discourse with the Complainant or afterwards till both Parties appear face to face to prevent Prejudice and Prepossession yet you shall have many such Complainants that will endeavour to get a Promise from the Justice of Peace beforehand that he will Determine the Case for their Advantage which is directly contrary to all Justice and Honesty Others are as earnest to have the Warrant retornable before the Justice that granted it and no others which should never be easily granted first because it includes in it a Tacit reproach of the rest as not Men of Ability or Honesty Secondly Because it defeats the intention of the Law which hath made them numerous that every man might have an impartial and and indifferent Judge and yet if there be good reason for it it may be done But then the Justice hath bound himself to be as kind to the other Party as he can possibly be because he hath deprived him of the favour he might have found from another Justice of the Peace When the Defendant appears read the Complaint to him and ask him what he saith to it and if he confess it then there will need no Proof if he deny it endeavour to find out the Truth as far as is possible without Oaths to avoid Perjury by cross Examining of all Parties and if the Truth can so be found out the pains is well spent but if it cannot Oaths must be given When the Matter of Fact is once stated then have recourse to the Statutes or Books as the Case requires and read them to the Parties that the Law may pass the Sentence for this instructs and satisfies all Parties and shews that you have done them no wrong and it is of great use too to the Justice of Peace and makes the Statutes and Books very familiar to him and gives him a good Assurance that he hath not done amiss Then Enter in the same Book the Appearance of the Parties the Evidence given and the Determination thereupon made as short as is possible and dismiss them Some may imagine that this Keeping of a Book is very troublesome but if they would try it they would find the contrary when the Art of making short Entries is once learned and yet if it were the Use would out-weigh the Labour For First It inables a Man to answer for his Actions many years after which were impossible without it Secondly It prevents forgetting his Business before it be ended which many do for want of it who bind Over men to the Sessions and forget the Business before they come and then can give no reason for it Thirdly It inables a Man sometimes to discover his own Errors by an after-reflexion on his own Actions and the Reasons of them Fourthly He may at any time shew what Sentence was pass'd in any Case by which I have seen new Quarrels that were arising prevented And if just upon a Sessions they be all read over he shall have a Prospect of all he hath done that Quarter which will be of great use I know many of these things are not of absolute Necessity but upon Trial I perswade my self they will appear so useful that no man will repent the Experiment especially no new Beginner who is concern'd to be more careful because he is more subject to Mistake The Statutes are so numerous and withal so variously Penned that it will be impossible to remember them exactly and so it will be necessary to Consult them frequently upon all Occasions and in order to the speedy finding them the Table I mentioned in the last Section will be of great use and the Justice who takes these Methods will find the Benefit of them so great in a small time that he will never leave them but the other and shorter ways are so uncertain and subject to Error that no man can avoid committing fatal Mistakes who follows them In this Part of our Business Two things are to be avoided Unnecessary Delays and Precipitated Hast There is very little difference betwixt denying and delaying Justice only the latter is less injurious for then the Party may go to another Justice or desist without much Expence of time which is of great value to Poor Men whereas the making them dance Attendance from time to time to no purpose may do them more Wrong than that of which the complain And an Over-hasty Determination of a thing before it be well understood is no less injurious and therefore carefully to be avoided I will Conclude this Section with a few Excellent Rules of the Lord Bacon's 1. Seek to make thy course Regular that Men may know beforehand what to Expect but be not Positive and Peremptory 2. Express thy self well when thou goest from thy Rule 3. Imbrace and invite Helps and Advices touching the Execution of thy Place and do not drive away such as bring thee Information as Medlers but accept of them in good part 4. Give easie access 2. Keep times appointed 3. Go through with that which is in hand 4. And interlace not Business but of Necessity I will only add this that what I have Written in this Section is intended only for the private Hearing in the Hall and no where else in the main and that it is offered to Consideration and not prescribed as of Necessity SECTION IX AS the Justice of Peace enters his Office with the taking Three several Oaths Of Oaths which are included in the Dedimus Potestatem viz. The Oath of Supremacy and of Allegiance and that belonging to his Office So he hath very frequent Occasions to Administer Oaths to others in the Execution of it and therefore it befits him to study well the Nature and Obligation of an Oath that he may Preserve himself and others as much as in him lyes from the Sin of Perjury It might therefore not seem impertinent to Discourse something of both of them in this place but that more Learned men than I have prevented me in it and it is impossible for Me to say any thing