This shows what an offence it is to God, 1. When those that are
entrusted with the administration of public justice, judges, juries,
witnesses, prosecutors, counsel, do either acquit the guilty or condemn
those that are not guilty, or in the least contribute to either; this
defeats the end of government, which is to protect the good and punish
the bad, Rom. xiii. 3, 4. It is equally provoking to God to justify the
wicked, though it be in pity and in favorem vitæ--to safe life, as to
condemn the just. 2. When any private persons plead for sin and
sinners, palliate and excuse wickedness, or argue against virtue and
piety, and so pervert the right ways of the Lord and confound the
eternal distinctions between good and evil.