Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	power_n	soul_n	2,506	5	5.3976	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A18036	The conscionable Christian: or, The indeuour of Saint Paul, to haue and discharge a good conscience alwayes towards God, and men laid open and applyed in three sermons. Preached before the honourable judges of the circuit, at their seuerall assises, holden in Chard and Taunton, for the county of Somerset. 1620. By Richard Carpenter, Doctor of Diuinity, and pastor of Sherwell in Deuon.	Carpenter, Richard, 1575-1627.	1623 (1623)	STC 4681; ESTC S107676	65,416	130

in regard of the combate which is betwixt the flesh and the Spirit in the most Regenerate he did sometimes the euill hee would not and did not at other times the good hee would and so was vnwillingly defectiue through natures frailty and weaknesse but yee not wittingly offensiue through sins malignity and peruersenes For the power of a good consciēce preserued him so vpright that as a square Cube or homo quadratus he was the same which way soeuer he were turned to God or man to company or himselfe alone vpon all occasions and occurrences he held his owne and desired alwayes in all things to walke honestly Heb. 13. 18. Vse It is farre otherwise God knowes and experience shewes in too many now adayes which haue weake crazy consciences and as distempered braines their turbida lucida interualla their good and euill dayes who like Mercury amongst the Planets are of a variable constitution fast and loose strict in some things loose in other godly in one company and prophane in another vp and downe off and on in and out almost at euery turne who can indifferently brooke all companies and conuerse with all manner of persons If they be ruffians blasphemers drunkards they can play the good fellowes with them If they be good men which feare God they will discourse of poynts of Religion and adioyne themselues to their society as if there were good agreement betwixt light and darknesse righteousnesse and vnrighteousnesse God in the one and Belial in the other To speake to the present occasion In the cause and case of Titius their kinsman or rich friend and neighbour they can be precise and peremptorily forward by all meanes to promote it But in as good a suite and iust a cause of Sempronius a stranger or meane-stated-man they will bee retchlesse and remisse not caring how hee bee wronged in it I would to God the consciences of more then a good many of our Magistrates were not such but commonly such they are who though they professe and pretend that in places of Iudicature they will heare the suites of poore and rich with equall patience and attention examine and censure all controuersies indifferently without preiudice partiality and needlesse protraction yet when it comes to proofe they prooue farre otherwise and like in truth to a fishing rod which standeth straight when a Menow or Gogin or smal fish is taken but boweth and bendeth and the line sometimes breaketh too when a Peale or great fish is to be drawne vp So when the Law hath canuased and caught a poore man being persecuted by the rich then iust Iudgment proceedeth speedily but when the rich and mighty ones are haply taken in their ouer-takings and lawlesse dealings and brought within compasse of the Lawes censure then O cruell pity there is much yeelding bending bowing and sometimes breaking too to free them from the penalty and vigour of the Law c. Neither is this the fault only of some chiefe Magistrates and ministers of iudgement but the vsuall preuarication of many mercenary Lawyers Iurors witnesses and such like instruments of Iustice whose weake consciences at the command of gaine or greatnesse as at the view of Medusaes stupifying head either stretch as Chiuerell in the raine or shriuell vp as parchment against the fire and so giue way if not warrant to the works of iniustice whereby innocency is wronged good lawes are deluded godly men dis-heartened and God himselfe dishonoured And here I could open a mystery of iniquity and shew quibus apicibus appendicibus iuris innocens torquetur à causidico dum causa torquet nocentem that is with what quirkes and trickes the innocent party is by the Lawyer wrung and put to the worst notwithstanding the goodnes of his cause and the Law it selfe hath driuen his aduersary to the wall Yea I could iustly inueigh against the dreadfull licence of inferences amongst our English pleaders in cases criminall whereby it often comes to passe that vpon very nice poynts innocents haue bin condemned as Edward Earle of Warwick was in Henry the seuenths dayes and the Duke of Somerset in Henry the sixths c. Yea I could here exhibit a bill of wofull complaint in the name of many poore impotent innocent men and women First against those aduocates which with their Clyents great cost and their owne small conscience maintaine contentions because contentions maintaine them and by English delayes worse then Spanish Strapados Marnix protract their suits in Law till they bee non-suted of life Secondly against those Iurates and witnesses which without heed-taking to their hearts that they conceiue no malice to their hands that they receiue no bribes to their eares that they heare no false accusation to their eyes that they see no wrong to their feet that they be not swift to shead blood as if all these outward senses of the body and the inward powers of the soule too were wholly corrupted doe without care or conscience feare of God or reuerence of man giue either Prou. 19. 28. vniust verdict in the cause or false euidence against the persons of their brethren and neighbours euen as by their passions they are ouerswayed 1. Kin. 21. or ouerwaighed by the purse or by their friends intreated or by their fellowes in Exod. 23. 2. euill perswaded These are sores which had need to be lanced that in time they might bee cured But because your Honours haue proceeded in some degrees of roundnesse against these inormities as you meet with them in your Circuit resounding onely in your eares what the Smith did in the Lantsgraues when he thought him too mild Durescite durescite for immedicabile vulnus-Ense recidendum est ne pars syncera trahatur I here refraine from further agitation of them or exclamation against them in particular not ceasing yet to admonish in generall all such as finde themselues guilty of so corrupt dealings and cursed doings that they blot out of the booke of conscience their sinnes by repentance and by vnfained sorrow of humbled contrite hearts deprecate the iudgements due vnto them for the same and for the time to come beware of doing more harme to a man for a little pelfe then euer they can doe him good againe with all their policy or power Beware of cutting asunder the sinewes of the Common-wealth and of poysoning the pure breath it drawes by peruerting Iustice and abuse of the Lawes Take heede by the bloody end of Ahab and his seed that yee seeke 1. King 21. 20. not vnder colour of Law to rob your neighbour of his field and life For though Naboth thy neighbour be dead and cannot be reuenged of thee yet thy conscience the Lords Ambassadour will meet thee as Elias did Ahab and tell thee Thou hast sold thy selfe to worke wickednesse abominable and bring thee tidings of vengeance vnauoydable Be warned by the tragicall issue of Iudas his treason that either to Math. 27. 5. please

continuall recorder of all the actions of our life Wee may cast off our garments but not our conscience wee may often change place and separate our selues from men but when we are most solitary then shall we finde conscience most familiar with vs and alwayes vpon our secrets Falli potest fama conscientia Seneca nunquam her approofes or reproofes will neuer be wanting vnto vs. If we doe well shee will speake for vs and iustifie vs if euill without speedy repentance she will bee as forward to speake against vs and to accuse vs. Vse Let no man therefore sinne in hope to lye hid for want of euidence against him or lacke of witnesses for he carries a thousand witnesses in his bosome euen his owne conscience Conscientia mille testes which will surely testifie when the Lord cites it to answere euen of the most secret sinnes and Iob 24. 13 14. so testifie that it will also terrifie in such sort that all the men and creatures in the world shall not be able to comfort whereof wee see an example in Adam who immediately after he Gen. 3. had transgressed ran away and hid himselfe amongst the bushes though no man pursued him no Angell reproued him the Lord was not yet come vnto him yet his conscience for the fact accusing him all the pleasures of Paradise could not auaile to quiet him or doe him any good and the like wee may note in Balthazar Dan. 5. who though he had about him all the worldly comforts which the heart of man could desire yet because the conscience of his sacrilegious villany was against him nothing could remedy his griefe or mitigate the terrour of the hand-writing which hee saw on the wall but therewith extremely affrighted he forthwith miserably expired Vse 1 Let no man therefore I say presume to commit any wickednesse in hope to hide it for want of a witnesse sith that conscience is set in euery one of vs as a Register to giue testimony of all our actions with the tormenting testimony whereof as in doing euill wee ought to be iustly terrified Vse 2 So also with the comfortable testimony of the same wee ought in well-doing to bee sufficiently cheared and incouraged Wee need not hunt after eye-witnesses of our good workes conscience alone giueth sufficient testimony and approbation of them let vs be zealous and abundant in them and seeke to please and praise God by them and then with Saint Paul Let the witnesse 1. Cor. 4. 4. 2. Cor. 1. 12. of our owne conscience aboue all comfort and content vs in the middest of all slanders and vncharitable surmises which malicious men shall haue against vs. To conclude this poynt let vs in all our intents and actions studies and consultations as conscionable Christians looke vnto the Lord as the searcher of our hearts and the tryer and rewarder of our workes not discouraging our selues whatsoeuer men thinke or speake of vs and our doings so God and our conscience doe approoue them nor contenting our selues with mens approbations commendations when the testimony of Gods Word and our conscience is not for them and vs. To which purpose I remember * hee spake Secretary Cecill well who in his dayes was accounted a worthy speaker and in reply to some that vniustly maligned him spake thus praise-worthily I will rest henceforward in peace in the house of mine owne conscience and if I doe any good deeds it is no matter who know them if bad knowing them my selfe it is no matter from whom I hide them they will bee recorded before that Iudge from whose presence I cannot flee if all the world applaud me and hee accuse me their praise is in vaine Fame may help vs cōscience wil not it is an infallible witnes if speaking for vs it cheereth more then any cordiall if against vs it gnaweth tormenteth more then a corrosiue Secondly Conscience as Gods Deputy 2. Office Iudge Oyer and Determiner of all causes and cases in the Consistory of the soule passeth sentence either of approbation or condemnation on all our speeches and actions and that with such authority that by all the power and policy of the world it cannot bee reuoked or resisted Strong is the reasoning of conscience when it conuinceth Pagans by the light of nature but much more powerfull when it conuinceth Christians by the Word of God Wherfore as good S. Paul sets the sentence of his conscience 1. Cor. 4. 3. 2. Cor. 1. 12. which did iustifie him against the calumnies of al men whatsoeuer that did censure condemn him therin reioyceth and triumpheth in the midst of tribulation so the wicked and vngodly sit down confounded at the Iudgement of conscience condemning them and therewith are stricken dead at it were in the midst of their greatest iollity and exaltation as before by the examples of Adam and Balthasar hath in Dan. 5. part beene shewed and in the tragicall ends of Saul Achitophel Haman Herod Iudas and the Esth 7. like might more fully and fearefully be exemplified but I hasten c. Thirdly and lastly conscience as inferiour 3. Offic. onely to God and chiefe commander controller and executioner vnder him euen in this life executeth the sentence determinate of good or euill rendring ioy vnspeakeable to the righteous and obedient but shame and sorrow and terrour intolerable to the wicked and impenitent The truth of the former is cleerely euidenced in the holy conuersation of life and happy expiration in death of these faithfull seruants of God Iacob Ioseph Iob Iosias Hezekiah Gen. 49. 50. 2. Chr. 34. 2. King 20. 1. Sam. 12. 3. Luk. 2. 25. Samuel and good old Simeon with others of whom the sacred Scriptures make honourable mention as of such in whom righteousnesse and peace met so together mercy and truth so kissed each other that the remembrance of their well led life and the conscience of their godly desire and indeuour to walke inoffensiuely in holinesse and loue exceedingly solaced them and singularly supported them all their dayes making them confidently and couragiously to run on their Race with an holy kind of contempt beating backe the surges of all worldly wrongs and sorrowes Illisos fluctus rupes vt vasta refundit As a brazen wall doth darts or a mighty Rocke the billowes of the Sea Thus conscience on the godly executeth the sentence of vnspeakeable comfort in this life and maketh death it selfe welcome to them so that tanquam conuiuae satures mortis somno cedunt like full fed ghests they goe willingly to their rest in the bed of the graue of whom as Bernard speaketh Mors sine formidine expectatur Bernard cum dulcedine exoptatur cum deuotione excipitur But as for the vngodly and wicked a perpetuall non sic is threatned vnto them by their owne conscience and on them this ruthfull irreuocable sentence is passed Non est pax impijs There