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
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
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
Love of the People by Virtue and Extinguish these Factions by a severe and constant Execution of our Laws as I said before but however this they may be certain of the Enemies of the established Religion are their Irreconcileable and Sworn Enemies And this brings me to the third Thing necessary to be known viz. The several Factions we have amongst us and how to Govern them Which I reckon to be three the Popish the Puritan and the Common-wealth Party which is made up of Men of all Religions in pretence tho in the Bottom they may be suspected to have none Popery was once the Sole Religion of England Popery and altho they were well disposed to throw it off by the Exactions and Oppressions of the Court of Rome in the days of Henry the 2d and King John as appears by the Complaints made of them in the Reign of Richard the 2d and at other times in Parliament yet when Henry the 8th resolved to Extinguish the Pope's Supremacy by an Oath many stuck so heartily to it that they Suffered Death of whom Sir Thomas Moore was the Chief who had been Lord Chancellor of England and besides that Prince maintained the greatest part of the Popish Doctrine intire to his last breath Edward the 6th reformed the Doctrine too but he Lived not long and Queen Mary his Successor threw all things back again into their former state and reconciled her Self and the Nation to the Pope Queen Elizabeth on the other side fallowed the Example of her Brother and settled the Religion as now it stands but then these irregular Motions kept mens Minds in great Suspence so that they knew not what to think and some men had changed so often to Comply with their Princes that at last they were ashamed to change any more and so Continued Papists in Queen Elizabeths time tho they had been Protestants in the Reign of Edward the 6th Others imbraced the Protestant Religion then with a resolution to desert it again if the Times Changed but their Children became sincere and they died in that Profession when they never had any occasion to alter it with Safety And many thro Prejudice and Education and for Want of Means and Ability to Examine things Continued in the Popish Religion but yet the greatest part of the Nation took up an hearty Aversion for it out of a detestation of the Cruelty they had seen used in the Reigns of Henry the 8th and Queen Mary and of the Treacheries they had seen practised against Queen Elizabeth whom they infinitely Loved and Admired And indeed the Length and Prosperity of her Reign had in all Probability put an End to that Faction in England if two things had not kept up their hopes and revived it The first of which was their Expectation that Mary Queen of the Scots would have succeeded her in the Throne who was true to them and when this was Cut off by her death tho that was a long time after yet they still flattered themselves some other person of their Perswasion would inherit her Crown and put an end to their Sufferings And the truth is it is the Nature of Mankind to hope for Extraordinary assistances from God especially when they suffer for Religion and this is it that maketh it so difficult to Extirpate those Factions that are built upon that pretence The second thing that tended to uphold Popery in England was the Policy of Philip the 2d King of Spain who to revenge the Assistance the Queen lent his Subjects in Flanders then in a War with him built several Colledges at Doway and other places for such Priests and Jesuits as fled over to him out of England and endowed them with some small Revenues and these made it their business to draw over as many of the English Youth as they could especially of the Nobility and Gentry and there they bred them up in an invincible hatred of the Religion by Law Established and Others they sent over with Orders to preach up Popery as much as they durst and had it not been for this there had been very few Papists left at that Queens death who reigned 44 Years Tho King James were infinitely disobliged by this Faction at his first coming to the Crown by the Powder-Plot and so made Severer Laws against them than Queen Elizabeth did yet neither were they Carefully Executed in his or his Sons times yet this Faction sensibly decreased and a great part of those that remained were ruined by the War and the late Plot in this King's time hath proved very effectual to bring off many more from that Opinion so that by one means or other it is become one of the most despicable Factions in this Nation and if the Blow had been well followed might perhaps have been intirely ruined Had Queen Elizabeths Methods been well pursued by all her Successors they must in likelyhood have been Extinguished but there was an Odd sort of Policy taken up which was to Slacken the Execution of the Laws against them that they might be a Counter-ballance to the Puritan Faction which produced two great Evils First They were so far from lending us any Assistance against the Dissenters that their Priests encreased the Number of them by Preaching up their Opinions and Adding to them as appears by a small Pamphlet called Foxes and Firebrands which proved they were the Fathers of Extemporary Prayers in Publick assemblies And by several other such Stratagems which they imployed against us Secondly These Dissenters made it their great business to inculcate into the Heads of the Rabble an Opinion That all the Lenity that was used towards the Papists proceeded from a Love to Popery which both made more Puritanes than there would otherwise have been and made them better thought of by the Rabble so that instead of Diminishing or Weakning that Faction it encreased it and added reputation to it and the Papists made the same use of it and drew over some Weak and Unsteady Souls to joyn with them so that our Enemies encreased on both sides but especially the Dissenters and this was all we ever did or can get by that Extravagant piece of Policy Besides all this the People will ever entertain jealous thoughts and be discontented at all those that ever so little favour the Papists and so long as there is any Number of them amongst us besides all the disquiet they give us the Factious Dissenters will take hold of that pretence to do us a mischief as time and opportunity serve So I conclude it is the Interest and Duty of all Magistrates to put the Laws against them Constantly and Vigorously in Execution and especially those against sending their Children beyond Sea to be bred in the Seminaries and Jesuites Colledges where they learn more Malice and more Skill than they could do in England And because this is a work of time it is their Duty in the interim to shew the People two things First That
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
of the same mind and rectifies his mistakes before they become dangerous to him or to others But then it must be with Knowing Men for no man can communicate to another that which he hath not he may mislead him or confirm him in Error and so make his mistake more fatal but other good he can expect little from him except it be the diversion of his Chat. When the Person with whom we converse hath not only a Speculative but a Practical Knowledge too of any thing if he appear honest and disinterested we may rely the better on his Judgment and the little Stories which he will be able to tell of things well or ill done will strangely dwell upon the memory and fix things and at the same time rectifie the Judgment too It was well said by the Lord Bacon Set before thee the best Examples for imitation is a Globe of Precepts and for that end were Histories written that one Generation might learn from another and take Example what to follow and what to avoid and Discourse is of the same Nature thô not so perfect I may then justly detest their ill nature and folly who when they meet with Men of Knowledge and Experience and willing to Communicate both to them envy and traduce them and when they have nothing else to say think to make them Odious by saying They love to talk and are conceited of their own Knowledge or Abilities and are Proud men why if all this were true it is better to be Proud of Something than of Nothing and yet the last happens oftenest solid Knowledge will make a man humble when there is nothing so conceited as Ignorance and a communicative Man is better company than a close churlish Nature who values himself upon the Ignorance of others which shall never be rectified by him And it is usual for these men too to learn from them whom they thus traduce Secondly I may justly reprehend them who spend all their time in tittle tattle about their Currs and their Kites their Debaucheries and Recreations or which is worse in defaming their Neighbours but if any useful Discourse is begun that may tend to the Publick Good or to make them wiser or better are ill at ease till it be ended turn sick and are ready to surrender their over-charged Stomachs 'T is true the Age in which we live is learned but if this humour prevail a little more the next will not only be debauched but barbarous and ignorant SECTION VIII THe End of all that knowledge I have been discoursing of in the foregoing Section is for Practice for that makes it truly beneficial a Man had better be totally Ignorant of all Laws than to Study them to find ways to defeat them that so he may at once avoid the Directive and Coercive Power of them But the Great design of a Good Magistrate is a Prudent Execution of them by observing a due Method according to Law 1. In calling the Parties 2. In hearing them 3. In determining the Cause It is an old and a just Complaint that no Nation hath better Laws than this nor hardly any that executes them worse and yet we are possest with an Hydropical thirst after more the cause of which is that every man would be free himself and have another bound but of what use are the best Laws without severe Execution If we design nothing but ostentation in my Judgment the Book of Statutes is big enough all ready We are almost in the same condition with the Ancient Romans Nec vitia nostra nec remedia eorum ferre possumus we can neither bear our great and manifold Vices nor the Remedies of them And it was the Observation of a Wise man Corruptissima Repub. plurimae Leges that most Laws were made in the most corrupted States But then never was any People amended with Ink and Paper and Laws are no more till they be put in Execution It was good Advice which Tiberius gave the Senate that they should not teach the World by ineffectual Laws what Vices were too strong for their Authority for which he gives this reason That when Men had once prevailed against that Remedy too Neque metus ultra neq pudor est there was neither Fear nor Modesty left to amend them If we think much to Execute those we already have to what end should we desire more If we think it burthensome to Obey our old Laws why should we desire to encrease the weight except it be to shew by the breach of more how much we despise them But as in the making so in the executing of Laws there will be occasion to make use of much Prudence and Discretion to make a dextrous Application of the General Rule to the particular instance and to order the Business so too if it be possible that the Offender may be Reformed and not Ruined it is impossible to give any General Rule or Advice in this Case but it must be left to the discretion of the Magistrate Only the Saying of the last Lord Chancellor will ever be found true Happy is that Government where men Complain of the strict Execution of the Laws And if I might presume to give the Reason it should be this Severity prevents Offences whereas too much lenity encreaseth them and makes the Offender by Custom and Time incorrigible When a Complaint is brought before a Justice of the Peace his first care must be to consider diligently whether the Case be within his Jurisdiction for it is no unusual thing for mean People to complain to them in Cases in which they can afford them no Relief and it is much better to consider this at first than when it is too late for then a Man hath betrayed his ignorance and indiscretion if there happen nothing worse Some Men have a custom to extend their Power beyond the just bounds of it that they may have the more Business and others will not do what they might and ought either out of fear or ignorance or unwillingness to be Troubled neither of these are good It is unsafe and often injurious too to stretch the Jurisdiction beyond its due bounds And it is unjust on the other side to deny Men the Benefit of the Laws when it is in Our Power to Right them And therefore a Good Magistrate will avoid both the Extremes and neither give his Neighbours Trouble to no purpose nor spare his own Pains when he can serve his Country And herein he will soon find the great Benefit of his Care to inform himself Exactly of his Duty without which it will be very difficult to determine whether he hath a right to meddle or no and if he thinks he hath it will not be amiss at first especially and afterwards in all doubtful Cases to consult his Books and so go on or desist as he finds Cause And the Safety will sufficiently Compensate for the Trouble When he is resolv'd to grant a Warrant it is an excellent
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