afraid of the face of man ; for the judgment is God's : and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.' And so in Lev, xix. 15, 'Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.' The great man is not to be spared for his might, nor the poor man for his misery. 1 It is neither the great man's power, nor the poor man's meanness, that a judge is to mind in judgment. A judge, a justice, must never out of carnal pity cry out, Oh, he is a poor man ! nor yet out of base fear cry out. Oh, he is a great man 1 Their eyes are always to be upon causes, and not upon persons. The statues of the Theban judges were made without hands and without eyes, to inti- mate to us, that as judges and justices should have no hands to receive bribes, so they should have no eyes to see a friend from a foe, a brother from a stranger. 2 And it was the oath of the heathen judges, as the orator relates, ^Audiam accusatorem ei reum sine affectibits et person- arum respectione,' I will hear the plaintiff and defendant, with an equal mind, without affection and respect of persons. ^ In the twelfth novel* of Justinian, you may read of an oath imposed upon judges and justices, against inclining or addicting themselves to either party ; yea, they put themselves under a deep and bitter execration and curse in case of partiality, imploring God in such language as this, ' Let me have my part with Judas, and let the leprosy of Gehazi cleave to me, and the trembling of Cain 'come upon me, and whatsoever else may astonish and dismay a man, if I am partial in the administration of justice.' That was a famous act of justice that was performed by Canutus, king of Denmark, who, when one of the twelve thieves that he had condemned pleaded that he was of the royal blood, saith the king. It is reason some favour should be shewed to this person ; where- upon he commanded that he should be hanged on the highest gibbet: which was done accordingly. It was Cato's complaint of old, that those that robbed private men were clapped up and laid by the heels in cold irons : but, saith he, public thieves that wrong and rob the commonwealth, they sit in scarlet, with gold chains about their necks.5 And the Scythian philosopher hath long since complained, that laws were like spiders' webs, that would take flies but not wasps or hornets. His meaning was, that if poor mean men offended, they should be sure to be punished ; but great men that were the makers of laws, they might be breakers of the laws, and yet never smart for it. In all ages some or others have poured out sad complaints against partial justice. Pilate, that unjustly condemned Christ, was afterwards kicked off the bench by Caius^ the emperor, for partial justice, and
^ ' Bona est misericordia, sed non quum est contra judicium ' — Mercy is good, but not ■when it is contrary to judgment. — Augustine.
* The judges in Egypt were portrayed without hands and without eyes, to signify that they were not to take bribes, nor to accept men's persons. '* Cicero. — G.
* ' Novel,' from the title ' Novelltz Constitutiones,' or * Novells,' — viz., supplements to the original Code. — G.
* Cato, ap. Gell., lib. xi. cap. 18. The Eoman orator observed, that the force of justice is such, and so great, that even thieves and robbers, both by sea and land, who live upon injustice and rapine, yet cannot live upon their trade without some practice of it among themselves. ® ' Caius,' Caesar or Caligula. — G.
10 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
for grief and shame he became his own executioner. 0 sirs, God will one day kick such judges and justices, not only off the bench, but into hell, who make a trade of partial justice, except there be sound repent- ance on their sides, and pardoning grace on his, Ps. ix. 17, and xi. 5. Oh that all the judges and justices of the land would for ever remember, what the wisest prince that ever swayed a sceptre saith in Prov. xviii. 5, ' It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.' It is not good, that is, it is bad, it is very bad, yea, it is so exceeding bad, as that it can hardly be expressed or uttered, i It is so great a wickedness, it is so horrid and so hideous a wickedness, yea, it is so hellish a wickedness, as can hardly be imagined, as can rarely be declared. The poet in the Greek epigram taught the silver axe of justice that was carried before the Eoman magistrate to proclaim, ' If thou be an offender, let not the silver flatter thee ; if an innocent, let not the axe affright thee.' The Athenian judges judged in the night, when the faces of men could not be seen, that so they might be impartial in judgment. I have read of Zaleucus, that impartial law-giver and judge among the Locrians, how that he made a very severe law against adulterers — viz., that whosoever should be found guilty thereof should have both their eyes put out. Now it so fell out that his son proved the first offender. Forthwith sentence was pronounced, and execution ready to be done : whereupon the people earnestly entreated the judge, his father, that he would pardon the fact, who upon serious deliberation, put out one of his own eyes and one of his son's, and so shewed himself to be both a tender father and an upright and impartial judge at once.^ 0 sirs! it is your wisdom and work, yea, it is as much your glory as it is your duty, to be impartial in all your administrations of justice, and not to favour friends or relations, nor to fear the frowns of enemies, but to proceed impartially, according to the merits of the cause that is before you. But,
2. Secondly, As you must do justice impartially, so you must do justice speedily. Jer. xxi. 12, ' 0 house of David, thus saith the Lord; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.* After exa- mination, execution is to be done with expedition, Ezra vii. 16. When men cry out for justice, justice, you must not cry out eras, eras, to- morrow, to-morrow ; you must do justice in the morning. Noon-jus- tice and evening-justice is not so acceptable to God, nor so honourable to yourselves, nor so advantageous to others, as morning -justice is. You are called gods : and as in other things, so in this, you should be like to God, who is speedy and swift in the exercise of justice, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together. ^ To
^ By the figure Liptote, much is to be understood, when there is but little said. [Rather 'Litotes,' by which more is to be understood than is expressed. — G.]
= Aelian V. H. xiii. 24 ; Val. Max. V. 5, § 3.— G.