Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A85880
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The trumpet in Sion, sounding a general alarm in the nation. By J.G.G.
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Gailhard, J. (Jean).
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1700
(1700)
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Wing G42A; ESTC R232835
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76,533
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150
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in their urgent occasions to relieve them upon hard and unreasonable terms as to lend Money upon great and unconscionable Interest or else refuse to do 't which is a Cruelty T is also a wresting by force Threatnings or Authority that which is not his due or more than it is as when an Officer doth exact more than he ought or than his Fees come to I am afraid we had of late and now have too many of these Unjust and Merciless Men But let them know that if the Law in a way of punishment takes no notice of their Crime at one time or other God if they continue and Repent not will visit them for it Another kind of Injustice is called Illegal without or against Law and this directly regards the Courts of Judicature I confess 't is sad that Law and Equity do not always agree and that sometimes a Just and Conscientious Judge who as in the Presence of God would discharge the Duty of his Place is not always free in a Cause to follow the Dictates of his own Judgment but must be drawn away with certain Formalities of the Law thô in his mind he be satisfied a Witness Swears Falsly yet he must Judge and Act according to Allegata Probata and not according to his own Judgment but this being not directly to our present purpose I omit and come to that which is The Courts of Judicature are the Seat of Justice the Oracles and Interpreters of the Laws which in the Administration of Justice are there Righted or Wronged Thô I speak not of Persons but of Things I gladly own that upon the Benches sit some Persons of known Abilities and Integrity yet that Profession is not free from Flaws it hath its Sins and grievous ones too is often a Remedy which proves worse than the Disease and for the Truth of this I appeal to those therein concern'd that are sincere and make Conscience of their ways therefore Abuses therein should be Reformed Things Regulated and those Springs when Corrupt Purged to delay Doing Justice to Deny and Pervert it makes many times the Law to be a Grievance and are Three abominable thô different Degrees of Injustice Long and tedious Proceedings at Law are Vexatious Chargeable and make one unnecessarily lose abundance of time Why should one put off till to Morrow that which he ought and can do to Day May be God will take away that Power and thy Life too 'T is an unhappy Inclination of some Men of Business out of a Humour Custom Pride Neglect Prejudice of some other corrupt Motive or Design to prolong time to do things which require Speed So that sometimes it would be better to have to deal with a Bashaw who before Men go out of his Sight will decide a difference and thô sometimes he doth one wrong yet on the other side he doth a Kindness with saying Charges Time and Trouble For what mean the Long Tedious and Chargeable Suits at Law which become endless to the ruin of Persons and Families and the Oppression of the Poor by the Rich who with strength of Money tire and disable them from holding out the Law say some is ever open to all that is for the Rich to Ruin the Poor thus the Remedy is turn'd into Poison which ever keeps things unsettled and at uncertainties and affords continual occasions for one to disquiet and wrong another and sometimes both are serv'd like the two that Quarrel'd about an Oyster they had found one saying he had seen it first the other that he had taken it up for he whom they referr'd the business to did open and eat up the Oister and gave each of them a Shell The Emperor (a) Instit l. 4. Tit. 16. de Paenâ temerè litigantium Justinian appointed punishment against those who went to Law without a just Cause To Deny Justice when due and sued for is another degree of Injustice We know a competent time to Examin and Inquire into the Matter must be allowed but after that one may well expect to see it done I cannot believe any Man in that station can so far forget himself as positively to say I will not do you Justice but not to do 't is by a side-Wind in effect the same Besides the unnecessary Trouble a Plaintiff's put to and made to lose his other Occasions bis dat qui citò dat is with me a good Rule soon to do Justice or a Kindness lays a double Obligation The Judge spoken of in the Parable did not tell the Widow You shall have no Justice from me only (b) Luke 18.4 he would not for a while at last he did nor for Justice sake but out of a Selfish Motive that is to be no longer troubled with her Importunities and in the place for this reason our Saviour calls him (c) v. 6. The unjust Judge After he had passed this Sentence upon himself That be feared not God nor regarded Man But to pervert Justice is the highest Degree of Injustice as is to Condemn the Just and Justifie the Wicked which (d) Prov. 17.15 Both are abomination to the Lord. Or to give one that which belongs to another this happeneth when out of the corruption of the Heart Judges through Bribery Favour or other perverse Motives suffer themselves to be byassed when once any one hath been noted for it he ought for ever to be branded with Infamy as being a Scandal to the Law and a Shame to the Bench the Injustices of Subordinate Judges cry loud for Vengeance to God the Supream Judge of all Would to God there was not so much cause as there is to Complain of it no Court either Ecclesiastical Politick or Civil is free from Abuses and Sins in relation to this last I must give a hint of another Abuse which is When Lawyers undertake for Money to Patronize any Cause whatsoever thô in their Judgment they be convinced it is bad Indeed in dubious Causes for a Fee they may make the best they can of it but to encourage Clients in a wrong way with telling they are in the Right is certainly a Sin for 't is to betray the Truth to engage them in an Ill Cause put them to unnecessary Charges and Trouble and make them run the hazard of being Cast and Losers at the end But a great piece of Injustice very common and Hurtful is among Tradesmen who make a great part of the Nation I do not say every one for some make Conscience of their ways but too many when you come into their Shop then out with their Lies 't is say they the best in the kind cost so much and the like to wheedle one to Buy which the Apostle hath forewarned of and forbidden when he saith (e) Ephes 4.25 Wherefore putting away lying speak every Man truth with his neighbour But the worst is that in such Shops and Houses are kept False Weights and False Measures contrary to what
Heresies of Socinianism which of late have been and still are too much abroad I know a late worthy Prelate and others to their immortal Praise have as it becomes them bestirred themselves for this Cause but in others there hath been a great Lukewarmness I say not to Write but to make use of the Authority which the Laws give them against such things Besides others in the (a) Anno 29. Caroli 2d in 1677. Act for taking away the Writ De haereticô comburendo 't is provided that nothing in that Act shall extend or be construed to take away or abridge the Jurisdiction of Pretestant Arch-Bishops or Bishops or any other Judges of Ecclesiastical Courts in Cases of Atheisme Blasphemy or Heresie and other damnable Doctrine and Opinions so that still they may prosecute the Of fenders This is still in Force and Unrepealed but certainly it hath not been made use of as it might and ought to have been I am afraid that those who in things of that nature have been so remiss would if they had by the late Act been allowed have been more severe about Formalities and Ceremonial things for thô Thanks be to God Persecution about indifferent things be ceased yet in many remains the persecuting Spirit and 't is often found that those who (b) Matth. 23.24 Swallow a Camel will strain at a Gnat. It is a great Mercy of God when he is pleased to raise up and send those who give Men warning of the Danger and of their Duty Such are the fore-runners of a Blessing as the Lord mentions it by a Prophet (c) Isai 62.6 I have set watchmen over thy walls O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night These are the faithful Servants which never grow remiss or weary but are continually doing their Work standing upon their Guards giving warning where there is any danger or approach of an Enemy and how great must the Guilt be of those who when the Enemy is at the Gate and the (d) Isaia 56.10 Wolves amidst the Flock are as unconcerned as Dumb dogs and Idol Shepherds then in such a case even those who are not Christ's Ministers by way of Office ought to speak out for which out of that same place of the Prophet they have God's Warrant ye that make mention of the name of the Lord keep not silence When the Watchman doth not give warning then any Member of the Society may give it for the Publick Good And upon this occasion this is my Warrant and the ground of this Acting of mine Another kind of Sins which the Nation abounds in is call'd Sins of Age for every part of Man's life hath some Sins which that Age doth particularly incline him to And First The Sins of Youth as are Rashness chiefly Lust and Pleasures (e) Zech. 11.17 of Sin which heat of Blood in that Age draws them into These David could not forget but Repented of (c) Psal 25.7 and Prayed to God to forget and forgive Remember not the sins of my youth Ambition is one of the proper Sins of Men of ripe years and Covetousness of Old Age 't is very strange to see Men the nearer they draw to the journey's end the more sollicitous to be to make provision for it and God knows how many unlawful ways are by Men made use of to attain to their ends The Nation is full of them and thô we cannot tell all the Works of Darkness subservient to their evil Designs there is enough of it known to grieve the Heart of all that love God and hate Sin There are also Sins of Relations as are between Husband and Wife how many daily miscarriages are there of one of those Relations against the other Want of Union want of Love full of Wranglings Divisions Quarrels hard Usage and Abuses by one put upon the other And no wonder for God's Blessing goeth not along with the breakers of so Sacred a Bond as is Marriage of God's own immediate Institution at the very beginning of the World There hath been a mutual Contract a reciprocal Agreement a solemn Promise in the Presence of God and in the face of the Church but is the Husband Faithful to his Wife Is the Wife True to the Husband Far from that in too many Families the Husband to maintain his Whore or to satisfie his Drunkenness or some other Lusts doth almost starve his Wife and Children and too often an ill Wife to please her Vanity and others more than her Husband instead of looking to her Family and doing her self and others some good misspends her precious time with standing idle before her Looking-Glass Dressing Patching like Jezebel Painting and sometimes in gaudy Cloaths Gaming Gossiping and the like pernicious courses doth often Beggar her Husband Thus (d) Isai 3.16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24. the Daughters of Zion were haughty and walked with stretched out necks and wanton eyes walking and mincing as they went and making a tinkling with their feet But what doth God say to all this Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion and the lord will discover their secret parts in that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments and their cauls and their round tire like the Moon the chains and the bracelets and the mufflers the bonnets and ornaments of the legs and the head bands and the tablets and the ear-rings and nose-jewels the changeable suits of apparel and the mantles and the pimples and the crisping pins the glasses and the fine linnen and the woods and the vails and it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink and instead of a girdle there shall be a rent and instead of a well set hair baldnesi and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth and burning instead of beauty Many of those vanities our present times do not want which they seem to have borrowed of them so we may expect the like punishment Some of these vanities continued in the days of the Apostles therefore they would Reform it and give the Sex the example of Holy Women in the Old times for saith he (e) 1 Pet. 3.5 6. after this manner in the old time the hold women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands and in the next verse he names what old time he meaneth namely of Abraham for he adds even as Sara obeyed Abraham calling him lord whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well and to instruct them well in this matter he tells first Negatively what this vain Apparel must not be whose adorning let it be not that outward one (f) v. 3. of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel Then Positively what kind it ought to be (g) v. 4. but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that