Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	great_a	know_v	2,096	5	3.3529	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40880	The magistrates concern in Christ's kingdom a sermon preached at the assizes at Winchester, July 14, 1697 / by Roger Farbrother, Vicar of Holy-Rhoods in Southampton.	Farbrother, Roger.	1698 (1698)	Wing F421; ESTC R36415	15,012	37

Actions only the other of the Heart and Affections and differ as much in the Nature and Degree of their Sanctions Yet commanding the same thing and each in their way enforcing it they are mutually helpful one to another On the one part these Laws of our great Mediator were they universally observ'd would do in a manner all the Business that Humane Laws are intended to do The King then would need no Guards nor the People any Magna Charta there would be no Rebellion nor Oppression nor any Invasion of the Rights either of God or Man but Vertue would be every Man's Guide and every Man's Defence So that the Magistrate has no wrong done him by the setting up of this Kingdom but has great reason to propagate Christianity were it only for the sake of that Peace and good Order the proper end of his Function which it would produce So on the other part where Humane Laws are executed with that vigour which the naughtiness of the Times requires for the Laws are made for the lawless and disobedient so far as Vertue is encouraged and Vice supprest so far the Business of Christ's Kingdom is done also And altho there is more requir'd to make Men true Christians than the correcting of some visible Faults Yet it is somewhat even to have gone thus far the contagion of their ill example by which others might have been infected is remov'd and the Offender himself is brought to some thought and sobriety and some taste of morality which by the Grace of God he may fall in love with it may ripen in him in time to a full conversion and so he may become a sound Member of Christ's Kingdom who was scarce a tollerable one of the Common-wealth before Besides there are not a few amongst us that chuse to follow a Multitude and to live after the example of the greater number the great Bane of our Nation at this time where Vice and Atheism are like to carry it in the Poll and to vote Men out of their Religion and Morals and what they want in number they make up in noise and appearance which serves the turn as well God is Blasphem'd aloud his Authority contemn'd and his Word ridicul'd Lust is glory'd in Immorality made a Badge of Honour and others led away by the example Now if the Sword of Justice did smite these Scorners the simple that are so ready to follow them would beware and avoid those Paths which they saw discouraged by the best of Men and duly rewarded with Shame and Punishment To consider then 2ly How this may be done In order to which it is necessary in the first place that the Magistrate possess his Breast with a Love and awe of this great King and keep steddy to the Rules of Vertue and Religion himself the first will give him Zeal and the second Authority in this great Work His Love will make the concern his own and he will not desert nor be lukewarm in that cause which the Son of God died to promote it will make him to watch all opportunities of advancing the Honour and doing the pleasure of his great Lord. And his regular Life will procure him an esteem amongst all sorts of Men and make his endeavours the more effectual whilst the good love him and the evil cannot help it but they must reverence and fear him for Vice is always sneaking and cowardly shrinks and is out of countenance at the sight of goodness especially when it has the advantage of Eminence and Authority The Criminal stands condemn'd before his Sentence is past and at the Presence of such a Magistrate his Reason and Conscience are awaked and his vapid ingenuity restor'd to vigor he feels in himself the Force of Justice and the Folly of Offending Whereas if the Magistrate should be notoriously Wicked the Offender would blame not his Crimes but his Fortune which whilst the other sat upon the Bench brought him to the Bar where of right they ought both to have stood The Law is all Penalty and the Sentence receiv'd with regret when administer'd with a Wicked Hand 'T is hard to suffer from ones own Party this is ingrossing of Vice and looks like a personal Pique that he should punish the Offender that loves the Offence Solomon thought the good life of a Magistrate to be a constant exercise of Justice and a Satyr against Vice when he tells us Proverbs 28. That they that forsake the Law praise the wicked but such as keep the Law contend with them Supposing then that the Magistrate himself will keep the Law and give a good example in his own Person as knowing well that he himself must be judged by this King of Kings who accepteth not the Persons of Princes What is more expected of him is that he should be diligent just and impartial in the execution of his Office that he should answer his Character to be a terror to evil Works and that both in small and great Persons too whose example is more malignant with equal Zeal at least against Blasphemy and Profaneness the direct oppugners of Christ's Kingdom as against Murther and Theft the disturbers of the Publick Peace and Safety That he would mind that 't is the Cause of God that he is acting in and would do it no otherwise than he would have it to appear when he is giving his Accounts before that great King That he is set over Men that have Immortal Souls and an Eternal Interest to be secur'd to which a due execution of the Laws may contribute very much That he 's fallen into those times in which his diligence and courage are necessary where threatning Judgments call for Reformation where great Men as well as small want to be reformed and a more than ordinary deluge of Wickedness is to be stopped He should consider that where Providence gives a liberal Education and a great Estate 't is a Qualification and a Salary too for the discharge of some greater Duty and therefore in the fear of God he should wait upon that Office to which the Divine Providence and the Laws of the Land have call'd him studying the Laws and readily taking cognisance of all proper causes searching out the cause that he knew not and not waiting too long for formal Impeachment an obstruction of Justice which Solomon sharply reproves in his time Prov. 24. If thou sayest behold I knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy Soul doth not he know it and shall not he reward every Man according to his Works That where new Vices spring up in this prolifick Age those that have a hand in the making of our Laws would take care to provide against them I do not pretend to instruct the Magistrate in these known things but only to exhort him to a conscientious Practice of them by which besides the eminent Service he will do his Country he will promote the Interest of Christ's