Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	defendant_n	judgement_n	plaintiff_n	1,984	5	10.5099	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60632	A general summons from the authority of truth, unto all ecclesiastical courts and officers wherein they may see what truth objecteth against their practice and proceedings in cases of conscience / by William Smith.	Smith, William, d. 1673.	1668 (1668)	Wing S4304; ESTC R38258	21,636	28

for the Quakers you have never yet shewed any such cause upon your proceedings and therefore as to them your Excommunications are void and such falsly Imprisoned who suffer upon that account forasmuch as you have not at any time proved them offenders against God and his Truth which is the cause of Excommunication and they that tryed judged such cases in the true Spirit they proceeded to Excommunication upon such cases as were proved to be an offence against God and his Truth but they did not proceed to imprison any by the power of temporal Laws nor by their own power though such offences were proved against them as might bring them under Excommunication neither did they proceed against those that were without but if any that was called a Brother was a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner they were to put away from among them such wicked persons so mark they were amongst them against whom they proceeded to Excommunication and those that were without they left to be judged of the Lord 1 Cor. 5. For a man is first to be within before he be cast out and when he is within as to profession and then walketh not according to the Rule of Truth and will not receive Admonition to be reformed from his abuses then he is to be cast out as a wicked person So the Apostle did not say If any will not come to our Worship and hear our Service or will not have their Children Baptized or will not receive the holy Communion as now commonly used or be in Error in matters of Religion or Doctrine allowed in the Church or pay not their Tythes or Tenths that then they shall proceed to cast out such as wicked persons He did not lay these things down as a ground for such proceedings but he took notice of the wickedness which was an offence against God and his Truth and so laid down the most principal matters upon which they were to proceed for the casting out such offenders from amongst them and this was their Practice who judged in the true Spirit and cast out offenders by the power of the true Spirit But you cast out such as are not offenders in any such matters and count them unworthy of common dealing and society among men and cause them to be cast into prison by the Temporal Power and so you cast out sober and righteous and godly people whereas they cast out drunkards and fornicators and such as were in transgression but they did not Imprison them and you are doing both and that to a people who are neither drunkards nor fornicators no● any way offenders against God and his Truth but live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world and you have not any thing further against them but as to things pertaining to their Consciences of which you are not able to judge so that if you did not first make causes you could find none in the Quakers to give you any occasion to proceed in such a manner against them and besides they are not of you but are separated from you and those causes you make are in themselves so slender and weak as that they cannot any way bear the weight of such proceedings neither ought you to be judg● in the case forasmuch as the cause is your own and the Law of the Nation excludeth men from being Judges in their own Cause as supposing that men in their own Cause will eye their own Interest more than the common good and therefore it excludes them from trying or judging in that case and yet you go much further by taking upon your selves the whole matter as in these particulars 1. There is no Cause but what you make 2. There is no Evidence but your own Conclusions 3. There is not any to give Judgment or Sentence besides your selves Now every Cause is to be of that nature as the Law properly in it self will take hold upon by which it cometh under the power of the Law to be determined and every such Cause is to be proved by such Evidence as are not related to it and also to be determined by such Judge or Judges as are no way concerned in the matter and so all parties which may stand any way related unto the Cause either in Evidence or Judgment are excluded But your Proceedings are wholly left unto your selves and your own Interest is involved which makes you parties and what plea can be held against you in such a case to obtain right from you For it is to be understood that you have not made such Causes and gotten power to act in such proceedings as to give judgment against that which you have made or to determine the matter against your own Interest and so it may well and safely be concluded that you are resolved in the beginning how the matter shall end and not any plea though never so good and sound that will help the Defenddant in his Case And here you are beside the Law of the Nation again for every good and sound plea is to be admitted on the Defendants behalf in all Courts of trial and the Defendant is to have the benefit of his Plea so far as it will hold good against the Plantiff and hereby many Plantiffs are overturned in their Cause and all Judges standing equal in Judgement as to the Cause of both parties do suffer the matter so to be tried and proved before them as that they may from a good understanding do right unto the party grieved But you will not admit of any Plea though never so good and sound according to Scripture which is the chief plea on the Defendants part against you yet you will not admit of it to the Defendants benefit by doing him right accordingly but with confidence proceed to Excommunication if there be not Conformity given and so your proceedings are found to be against the Law of the Nation in these particulars 1. In destroying common Dealings and Society among men 2. In Excommunicating and Imprisoning without shewing sufficient cause 3. In being Judges in your own Cause 4. In not admitting the Defendants Plea And as these things are the very foundation or ground of your proceedings and being found to be against the Law it self so the Law doth not properly stand by you neither can you properly stand by the Law for the Law doth not properly stand by any thing that is against it but rather takes hold upon it to suppress it and if this were well minded you would not be admitted to sit in the highest seat of Judgment concerning Spiritual things Now you first cause People to be presented for not going to their Parish Church and then you proceed to Excommunicate and Exclude them and no Plea will be admitted by you in the Case And is the first an offence in your account and is not the latter of as high a nature Surely if there be an offence in the first it