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the Rich and the Poor in any Cafe depend. ing, upon private Quarrels, as well as publick Conteutions, either at common Law or in Equity! The Doctrine here advanc'd, will be both of vaft Advantage to a King, and of very great Service to his People. For being well-practis'd, it will certainly ingratiate the one into their fincereft Favour, Fidelity, Admiration, Obedience and Submiffion; as well as furely felicitate the other with his most willing Affections, ingaging Condefcentions, and obliging good Works of Mercy, or of Justice and Judgment. Both may be happy beyond Difpute; if the civil Minifters of State, or ecclefiaftical Advifers in Church-Matters, do but faithfully difcharge their Ducies of Integri ty, Difcretion and Prudence about their Prince; like true Peace-Makers, Politicians or Patriots. But, and if it ever happens otherwife, in any Refpect of Male- Adminiftration: the evil Counsellors, and the King Shall live, as the holy Scripture fays; live to glory in the Love of his beloved Subjects; to conquer all his Eenemies by the Power of their good Will, or the Strength of their Arms, as voluntary as valiant; and to triumph at laft in the bu mane Bleffings of divine Providence upon his fuccefsful Reign. If it is poffible to fuppofe there fhould be in the World any fuch wicked Mifcreants, fuch barbarous Favourites, fuch cruel Traytors at the Helm of any Government in a Christian Country; as to advise their easie Sovereigns, either to a National Oppreffion, by any fudden Maffacre, Murder and Executi on in cold Blood; or to a palpable Subversion of the fundamental Laws, both of God and Man, in fuppreffing the very Voice of humane

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Nature it felf, condemning their unheard-of Villanies: Why, then let them fuffer in their own Perfons, Lives and Eftates; either for deftroying thofe poor Wretches, or instead of thofe they defign'd to deftroy; let them undergo the ufual Fate of digging of Pits for o ther harmless People, the jufteft Punishment that can be inflicted, in the moft natural Poet's Opinion nec Lex eft juftior ulla,

Quam necis Artifices arte perire fuâ. There can be no jufter Law in the Universe, than for Affaffinators to perifh by their own. Attempts, or for Perfecutors to. be punifh'd by their own Projections.

HOWEVER yet, a good Minister of State or Church, mild, merciful and juft; fincere in his Duty, honeft in his Office, and faithful to his Truft: will be ever efteem'd not only a true loyal Patriot, but likewise a worthy Privy-Counsellor, as well as a noble Preferver of his native Country. He will never magnify his natural-born Prince with any finifter Defign of sticking a Feather in his Cap, only to have it the fooner pluckt out again, or taken off his Head with the Crown; nor flatter him, to leffen his Perfon, to diminifh his Glory, or to depofe his regal Power; nor put him upon any dangerous Affairs of trying Mafteries with a difoblig'd and diffatisfy'd People; or of ftretching his Prerogative by Acts of Partiality, Tyranny and Arbitrary Power. His better Counfels and wifer Perfuafions,' in Honour as well as Confcience, will always tend to the Security of his lawful Lord and rightful Mafter, as well as to the Satisfaction, Profperity or Prefervation of his Country men and Fellow-Creatures. But without any farther

Digreffion, or Defcant upon thefe political Niceties and tender Points of Juftice; Matters much above our Sphere or Design: I hope I may have Allowance yet to be thas far an unbiafs'd Obfervator, with a pardonable Indifferency, viz. That

I. INJUSTICE and Cruelty, in general, are fworn Brothers in Iniquity; Twins born about the fame Time, or not long after one another's Birth, to do Mifchief. That is the Excefs; and this, the Defect of the nobleft of National Virtues. As to the Firft, thofe Governours are unjust that punish no Offence; as to the Second, thofe are cruel that pardon none. Clemency abus'd, is as bad as too much Severity. They both hurt more than they heal. Take away the Drofs from the Silver, and the Metal is fine: remove the falfe, froward, evil Counsellor from the King's Prefence, and he is juft; his Throne fhall be establish'd in Juftice. A Judge too fevere, feems to carry a Gibbet already erected in his own Countenance, by his Paffion and Cruelty. Too little or too much Rigour are immoral Extremes, equally Vicious. Things profper moft, when a Sovereign neither bears the Sword in vain, on the one Hand; nor fuffers it to offer Violence, on the other, in Blood and Murder. Nevertheless, God has fet-up a Judgment-Seat in every Man's own Breaft, whereby to know whether he acts justly or unjustly in his peculiar Station fo that by the Light of natural Reason, or the common Knowledge of Good and Evil, all People must be forc'd to confefs themselves more or lefs culpable for their wicked Deeds, before the judicial Throne of this Deity. There can be no palliating our

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corrupt Dealings, gloffing-over our injurious Offences, nor glorying in our most profperous Iniquities, against the cleareft Evidence, Conviction and Condemnation of a betraying Conscience.

INJUSTICE then, in particular, is an unfruitful, ungrateful and unfociable Vice. It brings forth nothing but what is worthy of Woe; attended with the most lamentable Trouble and Confufion of Mind, in the Remembrance of our unjuft Actions. Heat of Paffion, Thirst of Blood, and Fury of Revenge, are its Concomitants. Shame, Sorrow, Danger, Diftruft and Terror are its Followers. There is no Excufe for its Malicioufoefs and Self-Disturbance; no Apology to be made for it among all the Philofophers. There is nothing. either profitable, praife-worthy or delectable in it; nothing neceflary, but Perturbation of Thought and a fevere After-Reckoning. Where is the Abfolution, or Complacency of Soul, when Confcience accufes us of the Sin? Which Way can we escape this diligent Watch; unless we could run away from our felves, to avoid the Punishment? Cicero fays, It is more unnatural and intolerable, to fee one Man increase his ill-gotten Riches, or accumulate his Wealth by the Ruin, Robbing and Defpoiling of another; than either Death, Poverty, Grief, Imprisonment,

Lofs of all Substance and Subfiftence in the World: For no Treafure can be fo prctious; no Poffeffion fo valuable as this fociable Virtue. Every one ought to have his Due, and his own given, as well as Cafar. The Tranf greffion of this divine Rule, in Respect of God, is the groffeft Impiety; in Regard of Man, the bafeft Denial of their Rights, Laws and

Privileges; the most fcandalous Destruction of all Duties, either of Honour and Honefty, Liberty and Property, or Peace and good Neighbourhood. Plato calls it a Corruption of the Soul, and a civil Sedition; which fets a Man at Variance with himself as well as others, like an inteftine War. What would become of the poor People, if this unjuft Sword was drawn in a Nation, and the Scabbard thrown away out of the Hand of tyrannical Princes; if Cruelty was authoriz'd by their own Practice as well as Power; and the Flood-Gate of all Mifery open'd, by the unruly License of any Dragooning Officers in Commiffion? They, like conquer'd Slaves, might wallow in Blood, and fink or fwim in the Deluge. Towns, Cities, Empires, Kingdoms and Monarchies, would all lie a-bleeding; and hardly efcape, either a total Submerfion in the Lake, or a final Diffolution of humane Society, and Subverfion of their flourishing Conftitutions in Being. Injuftice, to be brief, is the Deftroyer of the Good, and the Guardian of the Bad; an evil Angel fent among us crying for Vengeance! All violent Doings or damnable Vices, too many to mention here particularly, acknowledge their Rife to this troubled, muddy and merciless over-flowing Source of publick Calamity. But Perjury is the Capital of them all; the most compleat and comprehensive Villany. Like the Trojan Horfe, it carries an Army of treacherous Rebels, Traytors and Affaffinators in its Belly': It falfifies both with God and Man, to the great Horror as well as Deteftation of all good Faith; and often puts a whole Family or a Kingdom at once into Mourning. But the valiant Pericles got immor

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