* Populus Romanus delegit Magiftra

What becomes of the Oaths that are upon them? In how many Instances do they notoriously break them? And if the Violation of a Private Truft is justly esteemed base and deteftable, how much higher Aggravations muft their Offences admit of, who break a Publick one, fo folemnly taken upon them? And certainly Perjury, that is of fo black a nature in it felf, is not a lefs Enormity, or lefs Infamous, in a Magiftrate, than it is in one of an inferior Order.

The Commiffion for a Justice of the Peace also fets forth, That he is to Conferve the Peace in fuch or fugh a County, and to keep, as well as caufe to be kept, all Ordinances and Statutes made for the Good of the Peace, and the Confervation thereof, and for the Quiet, Rule and Government of His Majesty's People, and in all and every the Articles thereof, ac cording to the Force, Form, and Effect thereof, to Chaftife and Punish all Perfons in the faid County offending against the Form of thefe Ordinances and Statutes, or any of them in the County.

It deferves our Obfervation, That as the
Roman Government, the † Lacedæmonian

tus, quafi Reipublicæ Villicos, in quibus fiqua præterea eft ars, facilè patitur, fin minus virtute eorum & innocentia contentus eft, Tullii Oratiò cum Plan.

+ Virtus in primis apud Lacedæmonios circa Magiftratus legendos femper fpectata, quod Politicum præceptum in quavis Republica fervari ex ufu effet, Nic. Cragius de Repub, Lacedæmoniorum, p. 82, 83.

and

* Inter præcipuos Athenienfium Magiftratus cen

fendi funt annui Novemviri. Oportebat in eorum vitam inquiri, antequam Magiftratum capefferent

Petitus de Legibus Atticis 236. Tantam honeftatis curam his Novemviris voluit effe Solon, ut fi quis Archon vino fe ingurgitaverit, capital ei fuerit ex hac lege. Τῷ ἄρχοντι μὲ μεθύων λή Jurabant in leges fe elle φθη πάνα Θ· ἔσω ή ζημία. obfervaturos Novemviri, Jurisjurandum Novemvi quod fi fecus fecero, aurorum. Leges obfervabo, ream ftatuam meam æqui ponderis pendam, Petitus de Legibus Atticis "Ages ouvron Series Αρχον]ες ομνύεσι δικαίως

and *Athenian Common-Wealths,
provided by their Laws against
ill Magiftrates, kept, when they
flourished, vicious Men out of
their Magiftracy, and entrusted
those with the Execution of their
Laws that would fhew fuch a
Behaviour to others as they ex-
pected from them. So our Go-
vernment hereby ftrictly re-
quires the Magiftrates to give
a good Example. 'Tis a mighty
force that Example hath; one
can hardly conceive any thing,
on the one hand, fo foolish and
unaccountable; and on the o-
ther, fo difficult and brave, as
that Men may not in a great
degree be led to by it. Good
Example hath often the advan-
tage of Humane Precept, of
Admonition, or Reproof, and fometimes of
the Exercise of publick Juftice, or private
Authority, which, befides that they are not
always practicable, have often too little In-
fluence upon the Mind; but Good Example
hath a great and fecret Charm to draw others
to Imitation. It attracts and affimilates by a
Power of which we cannot give a full Ac-
count, though by fhewing Virtue as it were
vifibly, it hath undeniably thereby a great
Advantage of other Methods of Inftruction;
D 4

او

190.

van Leas

&c. Herach. Pont. de Polis tiis Athenienfium.

thofe

irritant a

quæ oc

Segniusthofe things being allowed to make a much nimos di- deeper and longer Impreffion upon our Minds miffa per that are reprefented to us by our Eyes, than aures,quàm thofe that are admitted by our Ears. Preculis fub- cepts, though they are in the general not only jeta fide highly ufeful, but neceffary, are not always libus. clear, and when they are understood, the Efficacy of them, of Admonition, and Reproof, feems often to be more or less according to the Example of them that give them; fuch Perfons are lookt on as a Reproach to Religion, and unquestionably do often give bad Men a further Averfion and Prejudice to it, that do not practise themselves what they recommend in their Difcourfes. As the Chriftian Religion does therefore ftrictly oblige all its Profelytes to fhew a good Example, by a strict Obfervance of its Precepts ; fo it does more especially inculcate upon those whose particular Office it is to teach others their Duty, their endeavouring to perfuade them to it by their own good Example, as $ Tim 4. well as by their Doctrine, that they may thereby both fave themselves, and those that hear them; and when this is wanting, when Matt.23.3. they say, but do not, how exceedingly mifschievous the confequences of it are, highTà i ly deferves ferious Confideration. The Hea xou u then Moralifts could obferve the great Mif dax chief that was done the World by Merceκαι λέγεις, elenary Masters of Precept, by whom they gantly

ἐδαμῶν.

.

meant thofe that endeavoured to talk ele

t

gantly of juft things, but not to do them ;
and that it was not the Difcourfes, but the
good Examples; not the Schools, but the
Manners of Philofophers, that made their best
Difciples what they were, and fo much
celebrated. I know (says Plato) Socrates by
his good Works, more than by his
good Words and he makes it
a neceffary quality of a good
quality of a good
Orator, that he himself be Just
and Virtuous. † And accord-

;

Ανάγκη Η ρητορικὸν
To Singuor

Sixguov
βόλεθαι, δίκαια πρέπειν.
Gorg. fol. 460.

Joxoin ourê xeá

+ Ερομών δέ τινα αὐτὸν τί δοκοίη αυτῷ κρά τιςον ἀνδρὶ ἐπιτήδ' άμα D, amxeivalo Lwegian. πραξία, Stobæus, fol. 49.

ingly Socrates his Mafter being asked what he thought to be the best Instruction, anfwered, Eupraxie, or well-doing. Example hath indeed fuch a power, that Men are in a great degree too often fuch as thofe are with whom they converfe, as even the Proverbs of many Nations have obferved: So that he that gives a good Example, though he be but a private Perfon, does, in truth, a publick Service, and lays an Obligation upon the Age he lives in: But the good Examples of Governors and Magiftrates, (I need not add, of Minifters) hath a far greater force of Perfuafion; their Virtues are generally derived, by Imitation, into the Manners of the People. * How mi civitatis viri fuerint, talis civitas erit, Claudianus. Ut enim vitiis & fceleribus Magiftratuum infici folet & corrumpi tota Refpublica, ita corrigi & emendari. Γινώσκων ὅτι τὸ ἢ πόλεως ὅλως ο ὁμοι του Tois dex80, Ifocrates ad Nicoclem. Nec ignores totius civitatis mores ad exemplum Magiftratuum conformari,

fatal

* Quales

enim fum

fatal an Influence more especially must then the vicious Examples, which the corrupt Nature of Man does with fo much Eafe comply with, of Superiors, of Persons in Authority, whofe particular Province it is to look to the Execution of the Laws, have upon those below them? These Men carry not only those of their Neighbourhood, but a great part of the Counties they live in, after them; many of whom, 'tis very obvious, are apt to think it an Excufe, if not a Warrant, to tranfgrefs after their Example. The Commiffion of a Juftice of Peace does therefore with great reafon tell him, That he is to keep himself, as well as caufe to be kept, all the Ordinances and Statutes, &c. As his giving a good Example is a likely way to procure a due regard to his Office, to maintain his Authority, and, with the Exercife of it, to reform Others; fo, on the contrary, his giving a bad Example is as effectual a courfe to teach others to break the Laws, and to bring a Contempt upon his Office, and the Government it felf, as can eafily be thought of, I needed not to have been thus long upon this Head of Example, and particularly the malignant Influence of the bad Examples of Magistrates and great Men, if moft Ages did not abound with fuch unhappy Inftances; and if this Nation in particular had not felt fo much the fatal Effects of them, as may be

fome