Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	just_a	law_n	2,761	5	4.7834	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67833	Two assize sermons preached at Winchester the first Feb. 26, 1694, James Hunt of Popham, Esq. being sheriff of the county of Southampton : the second July 14, 1686, Charles Wither of Hall, Esq. being sheriff, &c. / by E. Young ...	Young, Edward, 1641 or 2-1705.	1695 (1695)	Wing Y70; ESTC R3087	24,328	64

to Judge in Effect besides him who pronounces the Last Sentence For as in a Clock though the Hand only indicates the Point of Time yet the Weight and Spring and every subordinate Wheel influences the Motion to that Point which the Hand does Indicate so in the Administration of Justice they that Inform and Testifie They that Inquire and Report they that Colour and Represent what is alledged do all judge in Effect i. e. They have all a necessary Influence upon the Issue and the Sentence of the Judge is no more than the Index of a Judgment which Remoter Agents do move and direct to To All therefore that either do or may Relate to Judgment The Words offer these two Propositions I. That the Judgment is for the Lord and II. That This Consideration is of great Importance to make Men act as they ought to do in that Affair Take heed c. I. The Judgment is for the Lord By Judgment I mean suitably to the Notion of the Text that Business which this Honourable Assembly is by and by proceeding upon viz. The Administration of Justice in all its Acts and Offices whether Punitive Coercive or Decisive Concerning which Judgment the Vulgar Opinion is that it is indeed the Great Civil Affair the Prime and most important Business of the Government And this Opinion is True but it is Short For my Text alledges that this Judgment is moreover a Religious Affair and the very Business of God Ye Judge for the Lord And the Truth of this Assertion I shall clear to you in these Four Positions Each of them bringing in a several Instance for the Proof of it viz. I. That the Power of Judgment is Gods Right II. That the Matter of Judgment is Gods Cause III. That the Issue of Judgment is Gods End and IV. That the Formal Judgment that is The Sentence of Judgment is Gods Sentence The first Position is this that the Power of Judgment is Gods Right None may doubt but that every Supreme Magistrate is vested with a proper Judicial Power which Power He may either Exercise Himself or else Delegate it to any Others whom he shall think Fit for the Exercise of it But this I assert That no Supreme Magistrate can pretend to the Right of this Judicial Power from any Human Title or manner of Acquisition It is a Prerogative above any Station or Character that One Man can advance Another unto And Every one that has it has it derived to him from God in as real a Sense as he can be said to derive it to any Inferiour and Deputed Minister or Judge Our Saviour has told us what we are to believe in this Matter from his Own Case Who upon the Insinuation of Pilat the Roman Judge that He was One who had Power either to Condemn or to Release him makes this Reply I know thou couldst have no power over me unless it were given thee from above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not from Rome but from Heaven from Cesar indeed Immediately but Fontally and Originally from God And so Sacred a thing is the Exercise of this Power that not only Princes themselves but even their Deputed Ministers of Justice are therefore honoured in the Scripture with the Style of Gods as sustaining Gods Person in Judgment and acting in His Right The Evidence that the Holy Scripture brings in to this Assertion is Abundant And He whose Curiosity seeks for Conviction of another kind let him Consider this Instance viz. The Magistrate Bears the Sword as S. Paul expresses it which is the Ensign of the Judicial Power and imports a Jurisdiction extending over Life and he Bears it not in vain says the same Apostle that is He has Right to use it But now let any one Consider by what possible Human Right the Magistrate can acquire a Jurisdiction that extends Over Life For no Man has this Right in Himself no Man has Power over his Own Life and How then can any confer it on Another I know any Man may forfeit his Life by his Crimes but when he has so done no Other Man can take that Forfeiture without Gods Claim And therefore after a Man has deserved to Die never so Justly it is not Lawful for him to Execute that Judgment upon himself Nor yet can he by his Own Act render it Lawful for any Other to execute It upon him And therefore the Magistrate which bears the Sword for that purpose and has the Only Right of Executing this Judgment is for that very Reason call'd by S. Paul in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Minister of God as Invested with Gods Authority and acting in His Right who as he is the only Author so therefore He is the only Lord of Life II. The Matter of Judgment is Gods Cause I call the Matter of Judgment such Matters and Cases as properly fall under Judicial Cognisance And they for the greatest part are such as are Intrinsically Moral involving Good or Evil in their Own Nature such as are all the Concerns of Truth Right Equity Mercy and all the Contrary Violations that proceed from Maiice Falshood or Unfaithfulness Now All these are properly Gods Cause For they were the Matters of His Law before they were of Man's and Human Laws in Respect of those are only the Transcripts of that which is Divine and Eternal And that is the Reason why the Just Determination of all such Cases which is the Executing of True and Righteous Judgment is said in the Holy Scripture to be the Direct and Proper Service of God and is required of Magistrates under that Notion And this is the Reason why the Heathens though they knew not the True God were yet interpreted to honour and serve the True God by the Offices of Justice and Judgment For so the Fathers doubt not to assert that God prospered even Idolatrous Nations for this Reason and particularly that the Romans extended their Empire to that height of glory by Gods blessing upon their Eminent Justice For as the Author of the Book of Wisdom argues on the other hand concerning Perjury in those Idolaters that when they swore falsly though it were by False Gods yet they were punished by the True because the sin was against Him Meaning that every Deviation from the Natural Law or the Dictates of our Consciences is a sin against that God that planted these Dictates in us in order to this that they should be our Law So likewise on the contrary so long as those Idolaters did observe these Natural Dictates and assert and maintain them in their Publick Judgments they pleased and served the True God though to them Unknown and were accordingly prospered and blessed by him for it It is no Doubt but that in Cases where the Matter under Determination appertains to Natural Right the Cause is Gods and an Equitable Determination of them is His Proper Service But we must allow that there are many Cases of Judicial Cognisance

whose Matters are not of Natural but only of Positive Right which happens as often as Laws are enacted about things that are in their Own Nature Indifferent Now it is certain these Matters do not Directly belong to Gods Cause and yet they do Consequentially Because Indifferent things do generally carry in them the Advantages and Encouragements of Necessary Things And whether they do or no God will have our Obedience approved in Indifferent Things as well as Necessary We conclude therefore that Moral Things which are most commonly the Matter of Human Laws are Gods Cause by Antecedent Relation and that Indifferent things when they once are made Matter of Human Laws do then become Gods Cause by Espousal And therefore it is that Both are charged upon the Consciences of Men by the Apostle and Both are to be observed for the sake of God Or in Case they are not observed the Animadversion upon those that do not observe them is no less than a Judgment executed in Gods Behalf III. The Issue of Judgment is Gods End The Political End of Judgment is the Maintenance of the Laws the securing of Rights the encouragement of Industry and the establishing of Peace in which consists that Political Happiness that Every Government aims at But God has a Greater End in it than All this and that is the making of Men Internally Good and Virtuous and laying in them the Foundation of a Future Happiness a Happiness that will last when all the Polities of the World are past off the Stage and expired So that we ought to look upon Judgment as a Part of Gods Providence whereby he governs the World to his most holy Purposes For as we all acknowledge that God has a Providence whereby he does govern the World so if we enquire into the Nature and End of that Providence we shall find it to be no other than a series of several Methods to make Men Good to which End this of Human Judgment is conducing in the most Eminent manner For no doubt but Judgment is the greatest possible External Bond of Human Virtue and the most effectual Check of disorderly Passions It guards Men from doing Ill by a Wholsome Fear and those that have done Ill it brings to Repentance by Suffering Insomuch that in the Scripture it is recommended as the great Disposition to Christianity and the great Preparatory to the salvation of God For the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the Coming of our Saviour and explaining as it were that future Message of John the Baptist Prepare ye the way of the Lord he does it in these Words Isaiah lvi 1. thus saith the Lord keep ye judgment and do justice for my salvation is near to come and my righteousness to be revealed And to the same sense is that Passage Psalm xcvii where after it has been said verse 1. The Lord reigneth the earth may be glad thereof it follows verse 2. justice and judgment are the establishment of his throne As if according to the Ordinary nature of Things God could not Reign where the Government did not assert him He may in Compassion hover over a People but he can never pitch his Tent and Dwell amongst them unless the Magistrate fix him a Throne by looking to that Point which S. Paul therefore calls the very End of Magistracy viz. To be a terrour to evil doers and a Praise to them that do well Thus God has put into the hands of the Magistrate not only a Godlike Power but likewise the Power of a Godlike Retaliation For as He makes them Govern so they may and who questions but that they ought to make Him Govern Reciprocally I know indeed that God has had a Church in the World and that the most glorious Church that ever was in the World without the Assistance of Magistrates But that was in an Age of Visible Miracles and at a time when the World and the Church stood notoriously distinguish'd and while those that were of the Church were kept so Humble by Persecution and Mortify'd by Poverty and Sober by the Daily Expectation of Death that they needed no Other Laws to restrain their Appetites But now that the World it self is come into the Church and Men can maintain their Temporal Hopes and Passions and their Christian Profession together it is impossible but that the Tares of Common Corruption should choak and wast the Good seed unless the Magistrate step in to weed and to pluck up and assist in the Cultivation of the Field IV. The Formal Judgment i. e. the Sentence of Judgment is Gods Sentence For says the Psalmist God is judge himself Psal. 1. 6. And though Delegated Powers act for him at present and pass the Sentence yet he Recognizes and Imputes that Sentence and takes it into his Own Account We are aware that God has appointed a Day in the which he will Judge the World in Righteousness And the Rule of Proceeding in that Day as the Holy Scripture avouches shall be this viz. Men shall Reap as they Sow and He that hath done Wrong shall receive for the Wrong that he hath done Now the very same being the Rule of all Human Judicature we ought to look upon every Judicial Sessions here to be no other than a Particular Dispatch of Business subordinate and preparatory to the Universal Judgment Thus when wrong is Recompensed by Human Judgment the Judgment of God is so far Prevented If indeed the Sentence it self happen to be Wrong and Injurious then in the Psalmist's Style The poor committeth himself to God that he may take the matter into his own hands Thus I say it happens should the Sentence of Judgment be in it self Wrong and Injurious But both the Law and Good Manners look upon this as the Supposition of an Impossible thing Turpe est Impossibile says the Rule of Law and therefore without farther supposing it I shall form This Conclusion viz. That Every Sentence of Human Judgment is Ingredient to the Retribution of the Great Day and that All that Men suffer here for their Crimes if they suffer it with a just sense of their Crimes shall then be imputed to such a Measure of their Purgation and All the Impunity that Guilt meets with here shall be reckon'd for in the Sentence that shall then be passed I say not that a Man may work out his Future Absolution by any satisfactions that he can make here to Publick Justice or that he cannot be Absolved in the Future without such satisfactions here paid Blessed be the Love of Christ whose Satisfactions are All-sufficient But this I say that since God has made True Repentance a necessary Condition without which none can lay hold on that Satisfaction which Christ has made and no Repentance is True that does not engage a Man to make what Satisfaction he is able himself both to Men by Compensation for Injuries and to God by Sorrow for Guilt And since Men left to their Own Discretion are