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fome Excufe for my infifting on it. But to go on Befides the Mischief that is done by the vicious Examples of Magiftrates, With what Reason can we expect, that thofe that make no Conscience to break the Laws, should diligently and confcientiously Execute the Laws upon others? And fuppofing fuch Magistrates fhould fometimes, either out of a fear of the Inspection of the Government into their Behaviour, in the Reign of a Prince that is zea. lous in the Discouraging of Vice; or out of a defire of keeping up their Reputation with better Men, be fometimes inclined to punish fuch Offences in others, as they are themselves guilty of, confcioufnefs of their own Faults will, when they act upon no better and firmer Principles, deprive them of Courage, and be very apt, upon many Occafions, to draw them back from the Punishing of others; efpecially when the Offenders are either their Superiors or Equals; whereas the Law knows no refpect of Perfons, and they whofe Bufinefs it is to Execute it, must do it without Distinction or Partiality. Their Commiffion tells them, that they are to chastise and punish all Perfons in the faid County offending. And can any that confider this, That we live under a Chriftian Government, and that the Apoftle acquaints us, That the Magiftrate is the Minister of God for Good; That he beareth Rom.13.3. not the Sword in vain; Is a Revenger to exe- Ver. 4.

cute

cute Wrath upon him that does Evil; and that Chriftians fhou'd have a far greater Concern for the Honour of God, than for the Honour of their Prince, their own Reputation or Eftates, but think that the Laws that relate to Piety and Virtue are to be chiefly regarded by the Magiftrate, that his principal Care fhould be applied to the reftraining Men, even thofe of the highest Rank, from openly breaking thofe Laws, by a strict and impartial Execution of them, fince the Reasonableness of the Punishing of Men for the Violations of Religion feems to have been evident by the Light of Nature? It being, I think, a juft Obfervation, which I have fomewhere met with, of a Heathen Philofopher, That tho' Several Nations do appoint several Punishments for the Violation of Religion, yet it does not in any Country go wholly unpunished. No Mens Quality ought to shelter them from Punishment in this Cafe; Even Privilege of Parliament does not give those who are allowed it for the Service of their Country, the mischievous Liberty to trample upon the Laws of God and their Country, nor will excufe MagiStrates from acting according to their Oaths in these Matters. Charity and good Manners would forbid us, if fuch a Cafe had never been heard of, or was like to happen, to fuppofe that this Privilege fhould ever be pretended on fuch an Occafion by any one of

thofe

*

Receptumque omnium

pene Gentium, temporumque memoria, ut ad legum Jatarum obfervantiam invitarentur inferioris fortis homines, exemplo potendire cogebantur, & præfertum, qui primi eas cuftotim illi ipfi qui eas tulif

fent, Tit. Liv.3. Decad. lib.8. Magiftratus, Gubernatores, Regefque obediunt quoque ipfi legibus, id eft, rectæ

Si quid injungere inferiori velis, prius in te ac tuos

rationi, Diodorus Siculus.

thofe Bodies, who as they
* make Laws against Debauche-
ry and Prophaneness, ought like-
wife to endeavour, by their
own Exemplary Behaviour, to
promote Piety and good Man-
ners, to give Laws of Civility
to the rest of the Nation, and
to add, That if these things do
happen, good Magiftrates, 'tis to
be hoped, will act as become
them. And there is, I think,
no doubt but the bringing to
legal Punishment a Man of Ti-
tle or Authority, that makes use
of his Power or Intereft to be
more vicious, and to do greater
Mischief to the World than o-
thers, is a greater Service to Re-
ligion and our Country, and
more highly honourable among
Men, than the Punishing of a
private Perfon, perhaps than
many poor Creatures, who, as hath been
long obferved, generally fuffer the Extre-
mity of the Law for fuch Offences as their
Neceffities are a Temptation to them, tho'
not a Reason for them, to commit, when
great Men, that cheat whole Provinces,
and bid defiance to Sacred things, go
unpunished, if they are not rewarded.

recipias, neceffe eft, fi ipfe jus ftatueris, quo facilius omnes obedientes habeas, Val. Max. lib. 8. cap 6. Tit. 3. is, præfcripfifti & tibi; le Cum leges præfcripfifti aliges enim Imperator fert quas ipfe cuftodiat.

Præceptum falubre Pittaci fapientis apud Aufonium: Pareto legi quifque legem fanxeris.

If

* Si quis convictus furti effet apud Locrenfes, effo. diebantur ei oculi. Contigit autem ut Zaleuci filius

furti reus convitiaretur, cui quum Locrenfes poenam remitterent, non tulit id pater, fed fibi unum, filio alterum voluit erui ocu

lum.

henfum fecuri necare :

* If History can tell us of Hea thens that could do and fuffer fo much for the Maintenance of the Laws of their Country, fhall it be fuppofed that the Fear of difobliging a Man of Intereft, that hath a fwelling Title, one that is, I doubt, improperly called a Man of Honour, who affronts and contemns Religion, fhould keep Chriftian Magiftrates from Executing the Laws of their Country, that are made for the Support of Religion, and to which they are Sworn. And yet, as unworthy and unaccountable as fuch a Behaviour may appear to be, even by the Light of Nature, it were well, if for the Honour of Chriftian Magiftrates, nay, even of Humane Nature, that it

Legem quandam Tenediis tulit Tennes, quâ licebat, Adulterum depreQuum itaque filius ejus effet captus, interrogante regem qui coeperat, Quid ei faciendum? Refponde

bat, Lege utendum : quapropter & nummo ejus ab una parte fecuris excufa, ab altera facies viri & mulieris uno collo juncta.

+ Pudet hæc opprobria nobis, & dici potuiffe, & non potuiffe refelli.

could be denied, † that many, I am unwilling to fay most of the Magiftrates in the late Reigns, lived and died with their Commiffi ons, without putting any one of the Laws, that our more virtuous Ancestors had left us against Prophaneness and Debauchery, in Exe cution, which fome of the worthy Magistrates of this Reign, making a Confcience of Dif charging the Oaths they have taken, and the

Truft

Trust that is repofed in them, by their Perfonal Watchfulnfs and Diligence, as well as by their giving due Encouragement to those, who, without having Oaths to oblige them, or Rewards to encourage them, bring them Informations of the Breaches of those Laws which were grown almost obsolete and useless, have, to their great Honour, fo fuccessfully done, with fuch Oppofition and Difficulty; and not only with greater Clamour from hardned Offenders, but with more Reflection from too many others, than they might have met with if they had been breaking them in the most impudent manner, had been making Attempts to deftroy them. To prevent therefore, for the future, the Mischief that this Nation may otherwife fall under, as it hath done, by the Unfaithfulness of Magiftrates, it may deferve Confideration, whether it would not be highly advisable, that, as we are told, the Romans, for this reafon, ordered their Magiftrates to give an Account of their Diligence, for the Maintenance of the Laws, to their † Cenfors, a chief part of whofe Office it was, to look to a Reformation of Manners; vitam, tollere quoque omnia quæ probitati morum peftem & perniciem illatura videbantur, Refinus de Antiquitatibus Romanis, fol. 520. Cenfores mores populi regunto. Hæc detur cura Cenforibus, quandoqui dem eos in Republica femper volumus effe, Cicero de Legibus, fol. 340.

*

*

Cogunt eos qui Magi ftratu abierint, apud Cenfores edere & exprimere quid in Magiftratu geffe rint, Gothofredus de duodecim Tabularum Frag mentis, p. 66, 67.

+ Cenforum Officium erat defcribere facultates cujuflorum hominum mores & que Civis, obfervare fingu

and

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