Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	court_n	justice_n	law_n	3,065	5	4.7299	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89544	The reformed gentleman, or, The old English morals rescued from the immoralities of the present age shewing how inconsistent those pretended genteel accomplishments of [brace] swearing, drinking, [brace] whoring and Sabbath-breaking are with the true generosity of an English man : being vices not only contrary to the law of God and the constitutions of our government both ecclesiastical and civil, but such as cry loud for vengeance without a speedy reformation : to which is added a modest advice to ministers and civil magistrates, with an abridgement of the laws relating thereto, the King's proclamation and Queens letter to the justices of Middlesex, with their several orders thereupon / by A.M. of the Church of England.	A. M., of the Church of England.; Bouche, Peter Paul, b. ca. 1646.	1693 (1693)	Wing M6; ESTC R20084	100,071	189

Souls do who venture their Lives and Fortunes for their King and Country 'T is well known nothing Encourages and Enspirits them more than a dram or two of the Bottle The Life of a Soldier is in his Mornings draught Who is able to endure the hard Marches wet Trenches and the continual Fatigues of a Campaign that is not well warmed within What Man of a thousand would stand out a Field Battle who had not drank largely before For none fight stouter and stand longer the brunt of the Battle then the half-drunk Cavalier 18. To all which I Answer The third Objection Answered that if any Excess was warrantable it would be doubtless in this but Man that boundless headstrong Creature having passed the limits of Reason and Moderation knows not as I hinted before where nor when to stop Hence we perceive the mad Disorders and Mismanagements even of most disciplin'd Armies in an Engagement commonly to arise which perhaps at a general Rendezvous were as well ranged as the best but Drunkenness being the Preparative to the Battle put all out of Frame makes the Soldier giddy and hot spurs him to rash and mad Attempts and engages his Intoxicated Headpiece in such dangers which none but his Hair-brain'd self would run into In this Confusion Right and Left are both alike to your Leader and all such useful words of Command are of no Effect and helter skelter every Man is his own Officer From this disorder in the Camp was it that Benhadad and his Army of Syrians were defeated by a band of Young Israelites * Plutarch from this it was that the Gauls who Besieged the Roman Capitol were by Camillus put to the Sword And believe me 't is a sad Circumstance to die in such a Condition for let them harbour never such good hopes of being saved if they can but cry the Lord have mercy upon my Soul 't is too common the last breath they draw is with a G damme in their Mouths But admit the Wretches be Victors in the Field and become Masters of Bag and Baggage too yet in this hot Blood what Barbarities will they not commit What Outrages will they not offer They 'll put all to the Sword deflour Virgins abuse Widows depopulate Cities and burn down Palaces and the Officers Charge is no more regarded after than it was before the Victory That this is true which I here assert is Evident from those who have already been abroad and are here and there Quartered and Garison'd amongst us When the Liquor is in what Regard have they to Civil or Military to Canon or Common Law They abuse all they meet and if they can fasten upon none else like Savages in their drunken fits they fall foul upon each other But how degenerate is this Valour from the true Conduct and Valour ●hich a sober Consideration of the justness of their ●ause did formerly beget The ancient Fulminant ●egions which gained the Roman Generals so many ●onquests were of another Make and vanquished ●●eir Barbarian Enemies not by being Pot-Valiant ●ut by their Prayers which the being in a drunken ●audlin Humour is a very ill Circumstance to per●●rm 19. Thus have I done considering the Ends which ●re falsly assigned for Drinking to wind up all and ●raw towards a Conclusion Let ●●e Exhort all to the Necessary ●uty of Temperance A Dehortation to fly the Odious sin of Drunkenness drawn from the ill Effects thereof and Dis●ade them from the odious Sin ●f Drunkenness which can be ●one no better then by consi●ering the dismal Effects it produces The Princi●al of which will appear by considering First How ●ar it makes a Breach of that Duty we owe to God ●ur Neighbours and our selves Secondly How much ●e advance Satans Kingdom thereby Thirdly How ●navoidably we incur the falling into divers other Sins And Lastly the Woes against Intemperance mentioned and denounced in the plain and revealed Word of God 20. As to the first of these it has that dismal Effect to make us Guilty of breaking the whole Law The first ill Effect is the Breach of the whole Law Hence has one ingeniously observed that there was no reason for God to forbid it in any Particular precept of the Decalogue since in Effect it was the violation of both Tables For hereby first we offend G● the Father in the Extravagant 〈◊〉 and abuse of those Creatures 〈◊〉 has ordained to be received wi●● Moderation and Thanksgiving Drunkenness is the Violation of our Duty toward God We affront God t● Son by perverting the end for which he came in●● the World which was that the Grace of God reveal● by him in his Gospel might through him bring Salvatio● and appear unto all Men that denying all Vngodlines● and Wordly Lusts they might live Soberly as well a● Righteously and Godly in this World Tit. 2.11 1● We provoke God the Holy Ghost to forsake these o● Intemperate Bodies as filthy Habitations and t● seek out for more wholesome and cleanly Mansions 〈◊〉 we defile his Temple and Eject him by our Imp●●rities and quench his Motions by our Sensualities In a Word we injure the whole Trinity by walking contrary to those Rules of Temperance and Sobriety which are implanted in our Natures by the mere light of Reason or taught us by the written and revealed Word of God By defacing th●● Image of the Deity and putting out that Light o● a Reasonable Soul which the Divine Rays ha● kindled within us by transforming our Godlike Nature and Vpright Forms into the Shape and Deformities of Downright Brutes Drunkenness the breach of our Duty to our Neighbours Nor are we less Guilty of the Breach of our Duty to our Neighbours whether it relate to the Publick Good of Communities or the Private Welfare of Families Drunken Magistrates no Friends to the Publick to the Acts of Justice or those of Charity He cannot be look'd upon as a Friend to the Publick whether we consider him as a Magistrate or as a Subject thereof If a Magistrate what more common than to have the Laws perverted our Courts of Judicature turned Revengers of private Animosities and the like Hence is it that so many partial Hearings and praeter-judicious Proceedings have been not long since in our Courts of Justice whilst the intoxicated Gentleman of the Long Robe has taken upon him to give his Verdict from what he has heard of the Beginning and end of the Cause without any regard to the substance of the Pleading which he has fairly slept away Hence it is from Epicurean Ministers of Justice I mean that the Orphan the Poor and the Widow are put by their Right Hence it is that a Land mourns and the Publick Grievances of any Nation do arise This makes the Wise Man so pathetically to urge It is not for Kings O Lemuel it is not for Kings to drink Wine nor for Princes strong drink lest they drink and forget the Law and pervert

his own Friend to be sure for he not only exposes himself to the Penalties of Human Laws if his Rnavery should be found out but imprecates upon himself all the Punishments and Curses which God usually inflicts upon the Wretch even in this Life and which without Repentance will be his Portion in the next And how great those Judgments are is next to be considered The Second Motive from the Greatness of the punishment which is either Human or Divine 29. So far is the Profligate Criminal from escaping punishment that all the Laws both Human and Divine are ready to lay hold of him How strict our Constitutions are against this Impiety if any one will consult * 5 Eliz. Cap. 9. Made perpetual 29. Eliz. Cap. 5. those Statutes made and Provided in this case will be manifest The Heathen when willing to express a Religious Man would Title him only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Man of his Word And when they described a Wicked Man did think him fully delineated when they called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perjurious No milder a Brand does the Wretch receive from the Law according to our general Acceptation of the thing For besides Fines Imprisonments and the Pillory he has as Ignominious a Character as a Heretick or Infidel being as uncapable as them of bearing any Office of assisting at any honourable Court or giving his Evidence in any Cause 30. But admit he may escape undiscerned by Mortal Eyes Gods Judgments upon the Perjurious in this Life or if found out that he is so hardned in his Impiety that th●●asest stigma cannot shame him that Fines and Penalties that the Prison and Pillory cannot startle him to his Amendment yet I trust he is not so past Cure that the Judgments of the Lord cannot prevail upon him And herein God glorifies and signalizes his Justice in a Wonderful Manner He doth not will not hold them Guiltless that take his Name in Vain He pays them home in their own Coyn as the Common expression is even in this Life Instances of this truth there are enough even within the Compass of a short review and there is no need to run over any other Annals but our own Experience and knowledge for satisfaction in this point How many I will forbear mentioning particular Names have there been whom God's hand has smitten in a more immediate manner punishing the Offence in the very Moment of its Commission How many dreadful spectacles have there been of those whom Divine Vengeance has not hurried away but left according to their Wishes standing Monuments of his Justice to die by a fearful and lingring Disease by some plague or another which has consumed them as it were piece-meal How many others are there who carry in their own Breasts their Hell upon Earth And on those I cannot forbear bestowing a Melancholy thought or two and Commiserate their most miserable Condition Whatsoever the Heathens might relate of the Perjured's being visited by the Furies every fifth day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to that of Hesiod Whatever Poets feign of Prometheus Vultur or Ixions Wheel are even on this side the Stygian Lake verified with a Witness These poor Wretches are lashed with the Twinges of a self accusing Conscience whose strokes are more piercing then all the snaky Whips and pointed Scorpions are This Worm gnaws with a greater Appetite and makes a Deeper Impression in the Sinners Bosom then the Devouring Fowl could ever upon the others Bowels And the continual round of endless Despair leaves him in such a Labyrinth that every step he advances towards the Ridding himself out of it intricates him the more therein Nor does the punishment always terminate in the Person but his Posterity more or less feel the sad Effects of their Predecessors perfidiousness This is too Visible to need any farther Illustration saving from the Example of that Great Man who entailed a Curse to his Family for the non-performance of a Thing he had engaged himself by an Oath to have done He was I presume more a Christian then that we should doubt of his not repenting of the thing himself yet the Misfortunes of his Posterity loudly proclaim the Almighties Displeasure at that Offence 31. Thus far of the Miserie 's incident to the perjurious in this Life God's Judgments upon the Perjured in another Life but what will his Portion be in that Lake of Fire and Brimstone I am struck with horror at the very thoughts thereof Methinks I see him ranked there with the most Black Infernal Devils howling and shrieking through the very anguish of his Spirits There is he Convinced tho' too late of God's Justice towards such profane Wretches There he is Sensible how damnable a false Heart a double Tongue and unhallowed Lips are There he would wish those torments were but Notion and the Fire were but Painted and the flames but Visionary as he often has thought while on Earth but to his Cost he finds the Reality of them and will for ever acknowledge the Eternity of them too In that Prison that Dungeon of Everlasting misery he has a full view of the Black Kalendar of Criminals and sees the Catalogue of offences of which Profane Swearing and Cursing Blasphemy and Perjury are not the Last nor least not with Repenting but eternally despairing Eyes 32. And are not these thoughts terrible enough in all Conscience to melt down the most Adamantine Heart Can it be imagined that men are so flinty and Obdurate as that neither a Sense of their Guilt nor an Esteem they may have for their Reputation nor the fear of Human punishments much more of God's Temporal and Eternal Judgments can win upon them to repent of their Evil ways He is certainly possessed with a stupidity beyond that of Lethargy who can live and forswear himself with Hell Flames about his Ears notwithstanding the insupportable Wrath of a justly incensed and provoked Judge is ready to seize him and hale him before the Judgment Seat of that strict Tribunal who will leave no Sin unpunished tho' never so much palliated and glossed over with the thin Varnish of weak human Excuses and Evasions Repent then oh Man whosoever thou art and perjure thy self no more Let the time past suffice that thou hast broken thy Vows and Promises and for the future make thy Vows unto the Lord of an Amendment of thy Life and be sure to see them performed Of Drunkenness CHAP. II. The Origine of this Sin traced How and wherein 〈◊〉 Difficulty of exactly defining it consists Drunkenn● described by its Effects and the reasonableness such a Description considered in four Particula● The false Ends of Drinking Answered A Deb●tation drawn from the Effects of this Sin which 〈◊〉 1. The Breach of that Duty we owe to God our Neig●bour and our selves 2. The advancing Satans Kin●dom thereby 3. The cause of many other Sins A● 4. The making us Obnoxious to the Woes in Holy

of Spain and wonder at the notorious Courtezans of Paris But did we look Home we should see cause of greater Lamentation and our very Streets could give Parallel if not transcending Instances of Impudence and Debauchery which out-face the Light and out-dare both God's and Humane Laws Formerly All even Secret Acts of Impurity were condemned and the name of Whoremaster was the worst Reproach that could be affixed on any Man But now oh Prodigy the Brand is an Ensign of Honour and if you would Compliment or Flatter the Spark you can do it in no properer a phrase than by calling him a compleat Beau and Gallant of the Town 2. So generally spreading is this Vice that it cannot but make any sober Man's Heart to bleed that considers it But as General as it is so few are the Judgments of God upon the immediate Acts of this Sin that we cannot but be filled with Wonder and Amazement at the long-suffering Patience of that Immaculate undefiled Being But vile wretches that they are the very Motive for their forsaking do they make the chiefest Reason for their persevering in this Sin And the forbearing Mercy of God which should lead them to keeps them off from Repentance A sad Thought this that Men should persist in affronting and sinning against God purely because he is merciful but every Day and Hours experience witnesseth the truth hereof and renders it without Dispute 3. I had here designed to have inlarged upon the many pollutions of the Age we now live in but I foresee that many mischiefs may arise by too closely and pertinently handling this subject It is such a Sin that to speak against it in proper terms is by consequence to defend it and to explain the Nature of it in its proper Characters will require the making use of such Expressions as may sully the Reputation of a Modest discourse offend a pure and clean heart and perhaps be a means of promoting the Vice even while it is declaim'd against This is no Paradox in times wherein all Advice and Counsel to reform the Impure and Vnclean is too often thrown away For there are not wanting such Monsters in the World as wrest the very Scriptures to their own destruction and make the Sacred Oracles of God to preach up and plead for their Debaucheries No wonder then if they can thus pervert the Dictates of the Divine Spirit that they should catch at all opportunities of making even those discourses which are designed against them to speak at least implicitely in their behalf But Good God! To what a head will these Enormities grow And how necessarily must the Contagion still prevail since the wholesomest of Medicines are converted by the Infected into Poyson Some smart Satyr one would think might do a little good such a one as might lash the Wretch stark naked and put him upon the Rack in the midst of his Impurities but alass we find God's Judgments themselves tho' frequently sent down upon the Incorrigible yet lightly esteemed by the hardened World who make a mock of the Punishment as well as the Crime I shall therefore take what care I can not to make the debauched Worse and with all Prudence manage my discourse on this nice point so as I may not in the least give Encouragement to the Sin which I am so willing to decry I hope at least it may prove a Caution and a Sea-mark to the Unpolluted Soul to keep it from being polluted and ruined with the rest and if it accidentally prove a means of Reforming one debauched Person from the Error of his Ways I shall think my labour well bestow'd The Particulars of Vncleanness 4. But to proceed and particularize all the sorts of this Sin I shall wave speaking of the Vncleanness and will only content my self with shewing the Heinousness and the Mischiefs of the grosser Acts of Fornication Adultery Incest and Rape and with telling you that besides these there are other things which will fall under the Notion of Vncleanness as being the Preludes to the rest such as Lustful Views Obscene Discourse and Lascivious Contacts all which betray the unguarded Soul into its own Sin and Misery To unfold all the Intrigues which the Whoremonger and Adulterer use to accomplish their designs out-passes the Brains of a Matchiavel to dive into or apprehend But where their Pleasures end is too lamentable a Consideration for them to admit the thoughts of What running and going what Sweating and Labour do they undergo in order to bring about their Wickedness Strange indeed that they should take such pains to be miserable and be so industrious for their own Destruction whereas they think it much to spend a poor thought about their real and Eternal Happiness What Fornication and Adultery and all the other species of Vncleanness are is no such hard matter to define or describe to an Age so knowing in all the Black Arts of Wickedness They are too common in Practise to need much Demonstration in the Theory and therefore I shall think my self the less obliged to trouble my head about such unnecessary speculations 5. Suffice it then that I give you some short Account of those Miseries that attend the Vnclean Person both the Fornicator the Adulterer the Incestuous Person and the Ravisher which that they may be more plain I will lay down separately And Oh! would to God that others seeing the Misfortunes and Calamities of the Debauched would beware of being guilty of such Enormities lest those or worse Evils fall upon them 6. The Effects of Fornication in general And First to speak a word of the sad Effects of Fornication Little do any of you all consider what the end of those Transient Pleasures will prove Do you think the number of you will cloud you from the Wrath of God Can you Expect because you herd with the Multitude and so Over-power and Over-awe Human Laws that you shall escape the Sentence of the Righteous Judge No certainly tho' as yet we have no Express Statute to punish your Offences according to the Merits of them yet within and without on this side and on that you find Executioners enough of the Divine Wrath if you had but the Grace to lay it seriously to Heart You feel trouble your selves and behold daily Examples of the Afflictions of others under the same Guilt yet to a wonder are you Hardened that not the feeling of present can put you in mind of a future Misery 'T is not the hard Usage you may meet with here that will serve the Turn Bridewell a Carting and Whipping are but triffling praeludes of misery to what Follows The shedding Innocent blood as is too common in this Age requires something more at your hands and Tyburn must end that Infamous Life which knew not where nor when to put a stop to its Impurities Nor does the Partner of her pleasure come off Scot-free as he was concerned in the Getting so too frequently