Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	according_a	court_n	law_n	1,543	5	4.8094	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31024	Demetrius and the crafts-men a sermon preach'd at the Berkshire assizes held in Abingdon, August the 7th, 1683 / by William Baron ...	Baron, William, b. 1636.	1683 (1683)	Wing B894; ESTC R7334	13,488	28

just such a Stale is Conscience made to all the humoursom Capricio's of Faction and Folly every perverse Will every private Fancy and perticular Opinion every causeless Scruple slight Perswasion or groundless Fear is cry'd up for the Great Diana of Conscience and they that dare to contradict or oppose it must expect St. Paul's Fate here at Ephesus and provide to fight with Beasts in the shape of men Neither will time permit nor the subject oblige me exactly to state the case and therefore I shall only observe in general That Conscience in Spiritual in Religious Concerns is the same with Judgment in Temporal Affairs and consists in a sound and well grounded apprehension of things which too many persons having not patience to attend to or discretion to enquire after take up with every pious whimsey every strong delusion or prejudiciate opinion and obtrude them upon the world under this specious title of Conscience whereas alas they are but so many Distempers of the mind and those dangerous enough a kind of spiritual Spleen which as it seldom kills so is it rarely cur'd but continually renders the parties which it affects uneasie to themselves and all they converse with And therefore some have not improperly stil'd Conscience the Phanaticks Pope whilst the King and Triple Crown are contending for Supremacy That puts in against both and will be Supream in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil But the contrary is evident in that the same God who we grant erected a Tribunal in every mans breast and there set Conscience to be Judge hath erected other Tribunals of Justice to which Conscience it self is subjected Romans 13.5 Ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but for Conscience sake And if we cannot reconcile our obedience to our Parents to our Prince and Governors with what that dictates we sin against God whilst we obey our Conscience For the more clear deciding which controversy there is a third Tribunal in Heaven to which all Judges Conscience and all must give an account one day where those partial Decrees we have pass'd here in our own favour will be far from Authentick Records and when we think our Consciences should answer for us we must answer for our Consciences which 't is to be fear'd upon Tryal will prove the greatest offenders 4. Fourthly we consider'd here the regular course they ought to have taken which is by way of accusation or Indictment Let them implead one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Platonist God made the World not with hands but by Reason Council and Order having from all Eternity as the Schools very well conjecture prescrib'd himself a rule by which he would proceed in the Creation and Goverment of the Universe where every particular Being should have likewise a rule fix'd and be oblig'd to act according to the emanations of his Divine will Now all Goverments here below are or at leastwise ought to be so many transcripts of this original which is set us from above neither is it possible there should be any Communities of men or entercourse of Societies without a mutual obligation to observe such Rules of right and wrong good and evil as natural Conscience shall dictate or humane Reason judge to be expedient the Wisdom of all Nations having been measured by nothing so much as the excellency of their Laws and prudence of Administration where every Member of this great Body is considered according to the Circumstances it lies under the Office it performs and so far encouraged therein as to prosecute its Province its Duty with industry and satisfaction But when we are Partial on the One side or Mutinous on the Other 1 Cor. 12. When the eye shall say to the hand I have no need of thee or the Feet to the Head I want not your direction as St. Paul very elegantly applies it to the Spiritual so would it make such a Schism such a disorder in any Body politick as those wholsom preservatives those Laws I mean which were design'd for the continuance of its health are the first things thrown out of dores whilst so many buisy Empericks will be applying their new prescriptions that 't is ten times worse than death to fall under such hands yet that too is certain in the end although without the least assurance of a quiet Grave That the Ballance therefore may be kept even Justice holds the Scales all Controversies of meum tuum right and wrong are to be determin'd by persons not only unconcern'd in the Affair but of Parts of Abilities both Intellectual and Moral answerable to so great a Trust a clear understanding with an unbias'd integrity Thus the great Orator at Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demos●h in Core 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Plaintiff is to seek for redress from the Laws not his own Passions or Power which as it is one of the first Articles agreed upon in all humane Polity so duly observ'd neither God nor Caesar Prince nor People could be impos'd upon If therefore Demetrius and his Faction or any other such froward dispositions will stand out against that which is the Universal security of all mankind 't is but sit they should quit civil converse and voluntarily betake themselves to Nebuchadnezzar's fate although without doubt many Beasts there are which care not for such tempers herding amongst them especial if we consider 5. The fifth and last Observable from the Text where all pretences are cut off for their not proceeding according to this regular course in that 1 st there was no denial of Justice the Law was open neither 2 dly was there any delay of Justice there were Deputies ready 1. First there was no denial of Justice the Law was open as necessity is many times alledg'd without any just cause so when there is just cause indeed all other obligations cease To be sure it could not take place here for the Law was open that is 1. free and easie to all parties and all conditions every one might have access to the Courts of Judicature and expect redress according as the matter impleaded should require or 2 dly the Law was open that is clear and plain Haud ambagibus Implicita sed quae regulisaequi boni Suffulta rudibus pariter doctis patent without those obscure ambiguities and subtle niceties which make even the Laws themselves a share advance the interest of a profession to the more certain ruine of the injur'd Party whilst the whole current of Justice is perverted by the crafty evasions and endless cavils of covetous and contentious Spirits It is a severe reflection which Livy makes upon the Age he liv'd in in comparison with the primitive simplicity of their so-much-renowned Commonwealth Nondum haec negligentia Deum ve●erat nec interpretando sibi quisque jus jurandum leges aptas spciebat sed suos potius mores ad ea accommodabat When men had a true sense of a Deity and regarded the

urg'd by our Appron'd Orator Great was Diana but greater were her Shrines Religion might have some influence but Interest much more had they not by this Craft got their wealth so cold would have been their Zeal that her Altars might have frozen Innovations in Religion were indeed by the Gentiles themselves look'd upon as dangerous and the great Augustus his Favorite told him There were no persons he ought to be so severe upon as they that introduc'd a Worship contrary to the establish'd Laws which was the reason doubtless that Christianity met with so much opposition and notwithstanding its manifold superlative excellencies was so long before the Civil Power gave it countenance but whatsoever is done either upon this or any other account supposeth a due procedure a regular course of Justice without committing so Sacred a matter to the Arbitrage of the Rabble the Pious Whimsies not to say Religious Cheats of self designing men yet make the Observatton where you please even amongst the demurest Professors of our most holy Religion and all pretences of this kind will be found no better when it comes once under a popular Reformation 't is made a stalking horse to the vilest enterprizes where every man wears the Pharisees Vizzard proportions his Devotion to the Intreague he has on foot So far as it answers their Ambition satisfies their Avarice gratifies their Revenge promotes a Party or carries on a Design with Jehu none shall be more ready to express their Zeal altho' in so preposterous a mannar as half an eye may discover they that bawl lowdest on its behalf resolve to stifle it in the noise Fight for its defence till 't is smothered in the Blood they spill Thus I say it has been always found but more especially of late he that is of a Godly Party shall in spight of the deepest guilt be a Godlyman so meritorious a thing with some it is to be Factious that it assumes the place of Charity and covers a multitude of Sins in the mean while can we imagine any thing should more highly provoke the Majesty of Heaven then to see such Pearls trodden underfoot by Swine that Prayer which was design'd to open the Gates of Heaven should devour Widows Houses and all other his most Sacred Ordinances instead of purchasing an Eternal Inheritance be prostituted to the Lusts the Humours and Interests of Hypocrites Atheists and such like unreasonable men 3. Thirdly We are to consider their manner of redress which is here tacitly reflected upon both as unjust and dangerous 1 st Unjust That they who were a Party should presume to Judge give Sentence and be Executioners too themselves an Infallible sign of a bad Cause and worse intention by not appealing to the Law for right it was abundantly evident they design'd others no little wrong But then 2 dly this way of proceeding was not more unjust than dangerous for so it is declared at the 40 verse We are in danger to be call'd in question for this days uproar the Romans were a Wise and Generous but withall a Jealous Nation as they indulg'd their conquests with more liberty than could be many times expected so when it appear'd that people would not be contain'd within those just and reasonable bounds they knew well enough how to take up the Rains to tame the exorbitancy of such unmanageable Spirits And indeed not only they but any other Civilis'd Nation must look upon such proceedings as of dangerous consequence to strike at the very Foundation of Goverment and as far as in them lies bring all things back to a state of Nature or rather a Chaos of confusion Yet this principle so generally exploded by all sober Heathens we have found not only put in practice but also justifi'd by some Christian Libertines of our present Age who will assume to themselves a power of controlling any Goverment either in Church or State upon a two-fold account the one Temporal the other Spiritual The Right of the People and the Jurisdiction of Conscience two worthy Topicks as impertinent and false as they are popular But because of their Popularity it will be requisite to take notice of their impertinency And 1. First For the Right of the People it is a meer Chymaera without existence either in Reason or Policy any further than 't is included in those Laws and Constitutions which are accomodated to the welfare of the whole for when a Goverment is once fix'd and the many advantages thereby accrewing evidently appear 't is non-sense to think any one single or supposed inconvenience should un-hinge all again for as Grotius very well applies that of the De Ju Bel. Pa. Comedian Aut haec cum illis sunt habenda aut illa cum his mittenda sunt there is nothing perfect in this life and more especially in this case they that pretend to make things better have constantly alter'd them much for the worse whilst this very cheat of asserting the Peoples right hath been often experienc'd the most compendious way to make them Slaves and the deluded Asses found themselves in the end hardest ridden by these new Masters which flatter'd them with the best usage and greatest Freedom Tacit Ann. lib. 4. Thus the Judicious Historian observ'd Vt imperium evertant libertatem proferunt si perverterint libertatem ipsam aggredientur What dismal convulsions of state happen'd in the Roman Commonwealth when the people were ingag'd in the several Factions of the great ones and how was there more Bloud spilt in those unnatural Quarrels than in the Conquest of the whole known World And how much Treasure Strength and Freedom have not we lost since by the like Seditious infatuations and are not yet secure from putting on the same or a heavier Yoke for as in great Tempests the Sea doth not presently calm though the wind be down which raised the Storm So those Debaucheries upon the Spirits of men those unquiet and Factious Principles which our late times of Anarchy and Confusion introduc'd are still upon the Fret and were very lately bidding fair for so much popular breath as might raise a second Storm And till I can find one instance wherein the Peoples Right hath not been thus made use of to betray both them and the Government at once I must crave leave to rank all such pretended Patriots amongst that race of men whom Solomon forbids us Prov. 24.21 to meddle with because so much given to change But granting this that the Body the outward man as they term it may be restrain'd by the power of Laws and prudence of Magistrates yet still the Soul ought to be free Conscience must have no restraint which is our Christian Libertines 2. Second Plea the Jurisdiction of Conscience We find here at the 31 st verse amongst this Rabble of Ryoters some cry'd one thing some another for the Assembly was confus'd without knowing wherefore they came together or what they would be at and