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	justice_n	law_n	1,616	5	4.3920	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29109	A sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and citizens of London, at St. Lawrence Jewry, on Saturday, September the 28th, 1700 at the election of the Lord Mayor, for the year ensuing / by Samvel Bradford ...	Bradford, Samuel, 1652-1731.	1700 (1700)	Wing B4122; ESTC R19662	14,119	30

Almighty and that the way to secure his favour is to have his Precepts observ'd he will not suffer any of those Laws to be openly violated which relate immediately to his Service and Honor any more then those which relate to Justice among men He cannot indeed change the Hearts of men but he can in a great measure restrain and regulate their Words and Actions and therefore will think himself obliged to see that no publick affront be offer'd to the Divine Majesty in word or deed without executing the Sentence which the Law passes upon the Offender In like manner a Magistrate who is a Man of Truth will make it his constant care to maintain Truth and Justice those great Bands of Human Society he will according to the Precept of Moses hear the cause between his brethren Deut. 1.16 1● and judge righteously between every man and his brother he will not respect persens in judgment but hear the small as well as the great and not be afraid of the face of man as considering that the judgment is God's He will not be biass'd by Flattery or Fear by Interest or Favor by Party or Faction but will ever be on that side on which Truth and Justice are to be found And lastly a Magistrate who hates Covetousness will not be drawn into any unworthy Action by the hope of Gain nor decline the doing a just or an handsome thing for fear of the Charge of it He will need no Gift to encourage him to do right much less will he accept of any to prevail with him to do wrong He will upon all occasions testifie his detestation of Corruption and Bribery that bane of Human Society that source of all manner of Unrighteousness so that no man of sense will dare to attempt him that way for fear of being not only disappointed but expos'd He will not for his own private advantage dispense his Favours or dispose of any Places of publick Trust to unfit unworthy men He will not think it sair to increase his own Estate by injuring the Publick so far from that that looking upon himself as design'd for a Publick Benefactor he will lay out his Time his Strength and his Estate if occasion be to the Publick Benefit he will be always ready to every good work whether of Piety Charity or true Generosity whereby God may be honour'd and the Society to which he is related may receive advantage He will rejoyce in an opportunity of being useful to his Country or City as much as the covetous man can do in increasing his private Estate In fine he will think himself abundantly recompens'd for all his pains and trouble and charge in the Execution of his Office if having serv'd his Generation faithfully in his place and kept a good Conscience in the discharge of his Duty he may leave a good Name behind him and die with the expectation of a future Reward And certainly where any number of such Men as these bear rule their City may well be call'd the City of Righteousness the faithful City All that now remains is in the third and last place to apply what has been said to our own Use with respect to the occasion of our present assembling and this I shall do in a few words I have with all sincerity and plainness laid before you in short the Character of good Magistrates and such as God in our Text promis'd as a Blessing to the City of Jerusalem probably meaning thereby as I before observ'd that there should be such Magistrates in the time of the Gospel I am sure the Precepts of the Gospel would make all Christian Magistrates such if duly attended to nay we have the concurrence of Reason as well as Revelation in this case For as you have heard it was the advice of Jethro a Prince and Priest of Midian not an Israelite that such should then be chosen which advice as he gave by the light of Natural Reason so it was approv'd and confirm'd by God and lest upon Record by Moses in Holy Writ as a standing Character of a good Magistrate and consequently it always was and will be so to the end of the World All therefore that we have to inferr is in these two Particulars First That those who have the right of Electing Magistrates or Investing them with their Authority should as near as may be choose Persons to whom this Character agrees So Moses and the People of Israel did the latter by electing and presenting such Men and the former by accepting them and conferring Authority upon them and these Magistrates are by our Text made Precedents for future Times I hope I need not urge this with many words It is the happiness of this City to be always furnish'd with a considerable number of Men to whom all the parts of this Character may be justy ascribed and 't is to be charitably presum'd that since it is your Custom upon such Occasions as these first to come to the House of God and make your Acknowledgments of him you also come with Minds dispos'd to follow the Directions of his Word Nor would I have what I have said applied meerly to the Business of this Day but more especially to those Elections by which you fill up the Vacancies of the Magistracy in this City Your particular Business on this Day is only to take One out of that Honorable Court to every Member of which you have already given a reasonable expectation of the Chief Magistracy by your first Electing them into that Body And I believe you will allow me to say without offence That nothing but a very great and weighty and plain Reason should at any time move you to break through that Order which is most regular and natural in such Cases And I cannot forbear wishing that for Order and Peace sake and the restoring of Love and Union among the Inhabitants of this City we might in this respect as well as in others have Judges again as at the first and Counsellors as at the beginning I mean Men chosen for their Abilities and their Virtues without any regard to those Parties which have been form'd and those Names of Distinction which have been invented of late years Suffer me therefore I beseech you seriously to admonish you that you would lay aside all Prejudice and Passion all Animosities and unreasonable Jealousies that you would exercise your Charity by forgetting all former Provocations and Resentments and that you would shew your Wisdom both by rectifying whatever has been amiss on any side for the time past and by resolving to joyn henceforward unanimously in promoting the Common Good I make no doubt to affirm what is certainly true both in Reason and by Experience That in Times of Division and Contention in any Society they are usually the best Men who are least engaged in any Party and as the Zealots of all Parties are seldom good Friends to the whole Body so they very often