Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	action_n	case_n	court_n	1,554	5	6.9960	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B02484	Hebdomada magna, or The great weeke of Christs passion. Handled by way of exposition upon the fourth article of the Apostles Creed: He suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, buried. / By John Crompe, Master of Arts of C.C.C. in Cambridge, and vicar of Thornham in Kent. First preached in his parish church, and now enlarged as here followes for more publike use.	Crompe, John.	1641 (1641)	Wing C7027B; ESTC R175851	123,646	146

of Sampson he lost his former unconquerable strength so that he might be held with cordes and bound with withes so when the sinne of Adam whereby he swarved from the will and deviated from the wayes of God came once upon the head of Christ Teneri potuit ligari His enemies had power to hold and binde him so that he may complaine as in the Prophet He hath hedged me about so that I cannot get out and he hath made my chayne heavy Lament 3.70 The false hands and the foule fingers of the first Adam were lift up after a theevish manner wrongfully to take and cause the mouth to taste of Gods forbidden fruit without the good leave and liking of him the lawfull owner which gave occasion to our second Adam willingly and readily to permit and suffer his holy and righteous hands to be bound as a Theefe that so he might make full satisfaction for that so foule transgression of the first and loosen the hands of him and his posterity in which by reason of the former offence they were fast tyed and bound before according to that of the Poet Adae primi vincla se quatiunt Adam novum cum nexus ambiunt That is The first Adams bands begin to loose When to the second they knit the noose c. Sed proh regem vinctum pro furum seelere What a thing is this nay what a strange thing to see the King bound for the Theeves offence strange indeed but that we are taught and told that the love of Christ does stranger things for the love of us then this and all that he might draw sinfull mankinde to the love of him againe as one saith Ligari voluit pro nobis ut nos sibi alligaret vinculis charitatis He would be bound for us that so he might binde us unto himselfe in the chaynes of charity yea as the holy Scripture saith In funiculis Adam traham eos in vinculis charitatis I drew them with the cordes of a man and in the bands of love Hosea 11.4 To draw then towards an end of this point Tu vinciris ut vinctos liberes Vincla mea tu fers in manibus Tuis rogo me liges funibus Since thou art bound the bond to free And that my chaynes are borne by thee With these thy cordes Lord tye thou me Yea knit not onely me but all thy whole Church so fast unto thy selfe in thy faith and feare and love unfeigned that neither height above nor depth beneath nor death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor any other creature as Saint Paul saith be able to make a separation or to dissolve the union And let these thy cords and chaynes so farre loosen the bands of mine and of all our sinnes as that they may never rise up against us to condemne us either in this world or that which is to come Yea so strengthen us with thy heavenly grace and powerfull assistance of thy holy Spirit that we doe not conspire with these thine enemies to binde thee againe our selves by resisting of thy gratious motions and most holy instincts or disobeying of thy will in any thing but enable us in all things to doe as we say when we pray as thou hast taught us Lord let thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Da quod jubes jube quid vis Enable us to performe and then command what thou wilt Draw us with these the everlasting chaynes and cords of thy love and then wee will runne after thee in the savour of these thy sweet oyntments and perfumes as thy Spouse professeth on our behalfe to doe Cant. 1.3 4. And once more let us pray in our mother tongue I meane our mothers the Churches language Thou O gratious Father whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble petitions and though we be tyed and bound with the chayne of our sinnes yet let the pitifulnesse of thy great mercy loose us by the meanes and merit of these bonds and chaynes and other the sufferings of our blessed Saviour and for the farther honour of him the said Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer Amen And this sufficeth to have beene spoken of the apprehension and binding of Christ as the first part and parcell of those corporall indignities which for our sakes He suffered under Pontius Pilate In the next place he is carried to the seate of Judgement and before an whole Bench and Court of Judges which are foure in number two spirituall and two temporall All wicked and very unjust as by the sequell of this discourse it will plainly and manifestly appeare especially the two spirituall ones Annas and Cai●phas which were so farre from upright Judges in this cause as that they were indeed most violent and partiall adversaries malitiously affected towards him that was here brought before them to bee judged according to the Law For who ever heard before that Judges did act the parts either of pleaders or accusers or went about to enquire for false witnesses and suborne them to come in against a prisoner at the Barre or one that stood before them to answer for his life as these Judges did For Saint Matthew and Saint Marke both tell us that aswell the chiefe Priests and Elders as the rest of the Counsell sought for false witnesses to put him to death Matth. 26.59 and Marke 14.55 whereby it appeares that they were very enemies unto him upon whose life they meant to sit as Judges which was a most wicked and unlawfull act in them and such as made Saint Chrysostome upon a like occasion to refuse to stand to Eccl. Hist lib. 8. c. 17. saying Se nolle temerarium aliquid subire manifestos inimicos ferre judices as Sozomen relates That he would not abide by any judgement or censure that should be given by his enemies And it is an ordinary and usuall practise in the Courts of Justice amongst our selves for a prisoner if he know or but suspect any of the Jury to be his enemies to challenge them and they shall be put by from passing upon his life or cause And in some cases if a man doubt of the integrity or uprightnesse of any Court whether Spirituall or Temporall he may remove his action and cry with Saint Paul Appello Caesarem I appeale unto Caesar or some higher Bench whereas our Saviour ye see here does none of these things but is content to let them take their course against him though his own innocency be never so eminent and evident and their injustice and iniquity never so great But indeed the truth is these were the supreamest Courts of that place and time in which his cause was to be tryed aswell Ecclesiasticall as Imperiall of Caesar as the Synagogue so that from these except to the Throne of Heaven there lay no appeale Now if this be not a great degree of suffering

Goe now thou proud and impatient man that art so suddenly moved at the least indignity and affront that is offered thee and canst not brooke nor beare a distastefull word nor put up the least and smallest offence without thy wrath and fury from thy friend or neighbour Inspice hoc vivum patientiae exemplum Looke upon this lively and lovely picture and patterne of patience and learne of him to be meeke and lowly in heart that so thou mayest finde rest unto thy soule as himselfe exhorteth thee Matth. 11.29 Consider the whole course and passage of his Passion from the first to the last from the beginning to the ending of it and you shall finde that he was not once Commotus in adversarios moved or stirred to the least choler against his adversaries but shewed all mildenesse and gentlenesse towards them that was possible both in his speech and looks his words and workes If ever we meane then to have a share and interest in his sufferings let us indeavour so neere as it is possible to conforme our selves unto them in meekenesse and patience and gentlenesse and lowlinesse of minde and all other christian vertues which he hath practised and performed before us For he is left unto us propter exemplaritatem virtutis for an example of patience that we should follow his steps saith Saint Peter 1 Pet. 2.21 And this sufficeth for this time John 18.24 Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the High Priest Annas idem quod affligens Boskier con de Pas AFter the injuries and indignities that our blessed Saviour suffered at the hands and in the house of Annas whose very name signifies Afflicting as a moderne Postiller hath well observed The History of the Gospell goes on and tels us how in the next place he was sent by the said Annas himselfe and carried bound to the catchpoles or officers unto Caiaphas the present high Priest for the same yeare where the Scribes and Elders were assembled and a Councell held which sought for false witnesses against him to put him to death Matth. 26.57 59. verses whereupon one in a compassionate and sympathizing manner cryes out Ad Tribunal duceris O Jesu Osari●● cui flectitur omne genu Thou O Jesus at whose gratious name all knees doe bow aswell of things in Heaven and Earth as under the Earth as Saint Paul saith Phil. 20.10 art contented to be made to bend and bow thy selfe at the Barre and before the tribunall of mortall and sinfull man Immo pudendum planè indignum saith another quod Judex decretus vivorum mortuorum jam judicandus trahatur ad sacrilega nequissimorum Judicum subsellia which is a shamefull and unworthy thing that he which is decreed by the Parliament and Court of Heaven to be the supreame Judge of quick and dead as the Scripture testifieth saying The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Sonne John 5.20 should yet be haled and dragg'd along by the violence and insolence of a raskall and scurrill multitude to the corrupt and sacrilegious Benches and places of torture rather judicature of most wicked and injurious Judges And yet thus our poore Saviour was contented to be served to be used and abused for our sakes yea he was carryed to the high Priest Cujus erat de lepra judicare To whom it belonged to judge and determine of the leprosie Deut. 17.8 Quia reputavimus eum quasi leprosum because the wicked doe esteeme no otherwise of him then as of one leprous and smitten of God as the Prophet foretold Esay 53.4 Nay false witnesses are also sought for to come in against him whereby under the colour of Law they might the more securely and without danger of uproare and tumult among the people seeme to have some just cause to take away his life As Jezabell dealt with Naboth so doe these painted wals with Christ Because he would not give his Vineyard to the oppressor Set saith she two men sonnes of Beliall before him which may beare witnesse against him as if he had blasphemed God and the King 3 Kings 21. So because Christ would not give his Fathers honour unto the Devill when he bade him fall downe and worship him false witnesses by his and his instruments instigation and procuring are sought for to slander and accuse him unjustly laying to his charge things that hee did not that hee knew not saith the Psalmist Psal 35.11 So that the mouth of the wicked and of the deceitfull are opened against him speaking against him with a lying tongue Psal 109.2 compassing him about with words of hatred and fighting against him without a cause as there followes verse 3. without a cause indeed For though I have redeemed them yet they have spoken lyes against me as himselfe complaineth by his Prophet of them and their ingratitude Hosea 7.13 But there was a seeming shew and pretext I must confesse of much sincerity and uprightnesse in their proceedings against him For here is a Councell solemnly called and met as you see and that of the greatest and gravest the learnedst and the wisest men amongst them as of high Priests Scribes Elders besides the spectators and by standers before whom it could not be thought or once imagined but that all things should be fairely and uprightly carried by such an Assembly so that as one saith Quis non bona sperasset ab hoc coetu multitudine reverentia tam illustri Who could expect any thing but good from this so famous and illustrious a convention and meeting aswell in multitude and populousnesse as reverence and shew of honesty Speciosa enim hic multa Seeing here were met together so many faire and specious pretexts of nothing else but sincere and upright dealings as a congregation and gathering together of the most renowned and famous men of the City a certaine forme of judicature after an orderly and solemne sort a production of severall witnesses and the like Sed larvata haec omnia All these are but masked and dissembling appearances a vizard only and no true face of justice seeing the text tells us that for all their faire shewes their intent was foule even to put him to death so that he had his doome before his day of hearing and his judgement before his tryall For Ante coitionem consulta decreta facta fata sunt omnia saith one All things were determined and decreed concerning him before ever they came together which is a peece of the greatest injustice and a knack of the lewdest and vilest knavery that either the Devill can invent or his instruments actuate when a man shall have his cause sentenced before it be heard and himselfe condemned before he be legally convict this is right devilry indeed And yet this is our Saviours case in this assembly witnesses against him are pretended to be sought but yet they must be false ones speaking as the Court and Councell would have them or

in him thus to fall into the hands not onely of his enemies but such as were unrighteous Judges also yea so many of them all foure such never an upright one amongst them and yet to have no other place to appeale unto judge yee If any should demaund of mee Plus vident oculi quàm oculus what is the reason that in our Courts of Justice there are usually so many deputed by the supreame authority to sit as Judges together I might reply with one that amongst divers this surely is none of the least Quod ubi pauci Judices sunt Machiav●l de R●pub Venet. l 1. cap. 7. facilè à paucis corrumpi in suam sententiam pertrahi queant That if a single man or two of them perchance should either for favour or friendship p●ece vel precio either by intreaty or reward bee drawne aside to the perverting of justice or not be ready and willing upon all occasions to right the cause of the innocent yet they should not all be such But that the one halfe of them might stand up for truth and equity against the others or if it should so fall out which God forbid that major pars should vincere meliorem The greater part should sometime oversway the better yet that one at the least should speake his conscience freely and plead the cause of the innocent boldly that so the injustice and unrighteousnesse of men might not altogether prevaile against the truth which is of God but that aequum bonum that which is right and good might take place and true judgement and justice bee seene to flourish in our Land For where all are such as in this case of Christ that there is never an honest or righteous man upon the Bench there righteousnesse it selfe is sure to be arraigned and innocency condemned Justice perverted and all Lawes be they never so sacred and religious violated and broken Now in our Saviours case I say besides that some of them had declared and manifested themselves to be his enemies why the others also aswell as they were wicked and unjust too there being not one of them ready patrocinare or to defend the cause of this innocent no nor to speake a word to purpose on his behalfe although he were the most righteous and harmlesse person that ever the world brought forth but he suffered some kinde of injury and indignity or other from them all every one of them apart as shall appeare unto you more plainly by that which followes and succeeds For howsoever Pilat made a shew indeed of pleading his cause against the Jewes for a time yet the catastrophe and close of all will make it manifest that he was as wicked and unjust in his degree and kind as any of the rest But let us take them in their order For Saint Iohn tels us that they led him away to Annas first who was father in law to Caiaphas which was high Priest the same yeare Iohn 18. ●3 So that howsoever the cognisance of the cause at this time belonged properly to Caiaphas as being the present high Priest yet the catchpoles and souldier that tooke and haled him along carryed him first to Annas non tanquam ad judicem sed ad hostem veluti praedam ostentantes In locum as Erasmus speaks not as to a Judge that had power to censure him but as to an adversary that had a desire to see him thus under arrest and in his enemies hands And therefore as bragging and vaunting of their prey and glorying in their conquest over him they carry him unto him who they knew would rejoice together with them and give them praise and thanks rather then the least discountenance for what they had done unto him And besides Annas as it is probably to be thought was of the conspiracy to take him being one of those that had hired Judas to betray him and procured the band of souldiers from the civill Magistrate to assist and helpe him in the action and imployment For three of the Evangelists viz. Matthew Marke and Luke doe all tell us That he went to the high Priests in the Plurall number and They not He appointed unto him thirty pieces of silver c. as Mat. 26.14.15 Now then There being more then one of these high Priests that had done thus Annas must needs be the second man because we reade not of any other about this time but onely of Annas and Caiaphas who by turnes as it should seeme had managed the high Priests office for some while together as appeares by the relation of Saint Luke who saith That Annas and Caiaphas were the high Priests when the word of God came unto John the Sonne of Zacharias and he began to preach in the wildernesse Luke 3.2 Now then if these were the men that had promised Judas his pay and it may be the souldiers some gratuity for their paynes why then they had reason to repayre unto them both to give an account of their imployment and undertaking and especially to Annas first as being the Elder man and one whose habitation was neerer then the other In locum as Saint Austine and some others doe imagine and conceive But whatsoever were the true cause it is evident and apparent by Saint Johns relation that to him he was first carried and brought Neither did he take himselfe to be so voyded and deprived of all jurisdiction but that he had power and durst presume to examine him and question with him For so is it said That the high Priest asked him of his Disciples and of his Doctrine John 18.19 which the ancients generally allow to be Annas though Calvin I must confesse In locum and many other Neoterickes thinke otherwise viz. That he was not questioned at all till he came into the common Councell And then that Caiaphas was he that did it Annas being present and sitting by as his assistant upon the bench or at the least that this question was not dem●nded him till then unto which hee gave that answer which occasioned a stander by to strike him For hereupon He the said Calvin takes occasion to observe the excessive rage and unrulinesse of these enemies of Christ together with the tyrannicall discipline that was exercised by these high Priests That while they seeme to sit as Judges Interea saeviunt ut truculentae belluae yet they are as savage as the most furious and fiercest beasts For in the midst of their Councell and Assembly where ought of all places to be exercised and shewne the greatest gravity and decorum in their proceedings a common officer or servant amongst them assumes so much license and liberty to himselfe as in the very time of examination and handling of the cause in the open face of the court and in sight of both the Judges to strike the prisoner even without any offence and that without any checke or reproofe from them againe for his so doing And