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

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89755	An additional discourse relating unto a treatise lately published by Capt. Robert Norwood, intituled. A pathway unto Englands perfect settlement. Many things therein are more fully opened, several doubts and objections answered; a brief account given of the ancient laws, customs, and constitutions of this nation, before and since the conquest, so called. With something concerning the Jewish civil constitutions. With a brief answer to Mr. John Spittlehouse, in his book bearing the title, the first addresses to his Excellencie, &c.	Norwood, Robert, Captain.; Norwood, Robert, Captain. Pathway unto England's perfect settlement; and its centre and foundation of rest and peace.	1653 (1653)	Wing N1379; Thomason E708_9; ESTC R207149	39,963	68

either of persons or of things because we know perfectly and fully understand according as it is written That in a just weight and measure is and doth consist the very life and being of all things We have the Law of our God so written and ingraven in our hearts that we cannot do otherwise we do in good earnest love our neighbour as our selves and we do truely honour our Fathers and we must and are commanded by the Lord our God so to do that the days may be long in the land which the Lord our God giveth us it is the onely Command with promise And we know this will and that nothing else without this can give us the enjoyment thereof in peace and rest as we could demonstrate to all the world and we do or at least desire and endeavour to worship the Lord our God with all our heart with all our minde with all our soul and with all our strength and to serve him all our days and him onely even him who brought us out of the land of Egypt and house of bondage And for this cause or for these reasons is the Command and Oath of our Fathers the Command and Oath of our God upon us who never did nor can nor will command or require any thing but that which is just and right true and good for us yea our own Oath manifold is upon us and we do know why for what cause and to what end we entred thereinto And we fear an Oath and it may not nor cannot be revoked for ever for it is just and right faithful and true We must and will God assisting walk within our due and true bounds and limits set ordained and appointed unto us by the Lord our God and by our fore-fathers in their Laws Ordinances Customs and Constitutions and in them for that we certainly know in the breaking of them we break and undo our selves and in them onely we do and can indeed walk safely and securely in peace tranquillity and rest of body and minde They are our strong Tower our invincible Castle and Fortress out of which we cannot be beaten and in which we do not fear any or all the things in heaven and earth Herein is herein will and shall be the joy and delight of our eyes yea and of our souls also and that all our days even in the commands of our God the Laws Ordinances Customs and Constitutions of our fore-fathers in which we will ever and always walk live and continue Our father David did so our fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob did so and from them we may not part nor depart we may not leave them nor forsake them lest we die nor turn either to the right hand or to the left to do either more or less then according thereunto but in all things in all times towards our selves and all men so much and so far as we are able will we walk perfectly upright like men like our selves as we are in or after the image and likeness of God And from henceforth let no man accuse charge reproach or condemn us for disorderly stubborn refractory gainsaying backsliding or rebellious children to God or our Fathers for haters despisers or contemners of our Neighbours for deceitful unkinde or unmerciful for enemies traytors or rebels for verily as you see we are obedient orderly true upright trusty faithful loving respectful worshippers honourers observers doers and performers of the Commands of our God and of our Fathers and hearty real lovers of our Neighbour earnestly praying faithfully and uprightly desiring and endeavouring their good even as our own I have in a very scattered confused manner which I pray excuse shewed you in some measure the footsteps of our Forefathers in part and but in part the way and path the good old way in which our Fathers walked and had peace That which hath enlarged it so much beyond my first intentions is the Reason shewn Grounds given and Foundation layd for men to see by and stand upon my other Treatise carrying much more in the womb of it if it be well weighed and considered in and by which my desire was chiefly to give a stop to the extravagancies exorbitancies and excesses of our present times unto those hastie inconsiderate violent hot and too too eager motions generally possessing and very greatly injuring most mens mindes which hath and doth cause many disorders and distempers in and amongst us all most men much over-shooting or over-running themselves their own desires and endeavours their own peace aims and ends as it is written Whilst seeking freedom and supposing themselves free they indeed become servants and slaves That golden apple of Unlimitedness which Kings and Armies yea Parliaments also are so much taken with and still desirous of that Witch that beautious taking Witch which stripes and strips beats bends and bows disrobes makes naked and unthrones us all I say My desire therein was to give a stop and stand unto these hastie hurrying slippery times and to consider what we are and where we are from what from whence or from whom we came that so like the Prodigal we may bethink our selves of our Fathers house and so begin to make our returns thither And if we finde our selves not Prodigals feeding upon husks with the swine I am very much mistaken And if it be not our work our onely work to return to him from whom and whence we came even to our fathers house my eyes extremely fail me for which you shall finde at large in that Treatise I could heartily wish it might be well looked into and seriously considered of it carries more in it then may perhaps at first be discerned May end and way also I hope therein is peace peace unto all reconciliation with all and a perfect uniting of us all I have in this spoken something more plainly and particularly as to the way and means in reference unto some things as also to our continuance and stablishment therein If it do appear and be found so I will hope all English-men for unto all I speak or desie to speak without exception will begin not onely to look towards it but to walk in it I have shewed you that Justness Rightness or Righteousness and it onely is and that it certainly is the very life and being of all things and that without it nothing possibly can be or exist that in and by the true knowledge of things we shall be able to give a true just and right estimate and valuation of things which being done and continued will keep a right just and true order and so a constant and setled peace which otherwise cannot possibly be I do profess my self enemy to no man or men thing or things whomsoever or whatsoever nor envie I any nor verily know I any cause why for I know not any that is or can be enemy unto me envie hate or hurt me for certainly there is nothing contrary unto me though many both men

the breach thereof ought to be attached secured tryed judged and punished according thereunto for so doing he having power therein or in such case and cases to raise the power force and strength of the County if need be each and every man in each and every County respectively being bound and obliged upon his command and require to aide and assist their respective Sheriffs therein also with the hazard of their lives against any to all who shall oppose the same without distinction of persons offices or places even against the King himself when the Nation had a King This was the onely very true ground and cause of our taking up Armes at first the General being but as high Sheriff of the nation to bring those who by force of arms kept themselves ●●om the judgement and execution of the Law when they had broken and violated the same the peoples liberties and freedoms therein and so the common or Commonwealths peace which every one so far and so much doth as he violates and breaks the laws thereof And I do confess that it was upon this ground and this ground onely that I took commission and accordingly ingaged A little farther You have had proved unto you that all the Kings of England were before their admittance into that office or place sworn duely and truely to observe keep and maintaine the Ordinances Customs and constitutions of our forefathers the ancient fundamental Laws of this Nation inviolate or the laws customs and constitutions of our ancestors as the old records call them I chuse rather to call them by the name of our fathers that because we are commanded by God to honor and obey our fathers They were also sworn to confirm all such other JUST Laws as the Commons or the people should chuse it's all all one but they must be JUST else was not the King bound to confirme them nor none else to keep or observe them but to loath derest discard cast and throw away such laws though made by the best of Parliaments if they be found dissonant against or contrary unto the antient fundamental laws principles customs and constitutions of this Commonwealth in and by which the very real and true freedome and liberty and so the peace and quiet of all every one therein is fully perfectly and intirely kept preserved and maintained even as Nature doth in the natural body that which is against contrary and destructive to the fundamental laws and principles thereof it loaths detests casts up and throws out because it is destructive to its peace and rest to its being and so the cause of death For which cause that no such thing or things might be made or done to the annoyance and disturbance of the peoples peace and being did all the antient Judges in the law as we call them attend the Parliament to advise them therein keep and preserve them therefrom So that it appears there ever was is and of necessity must be a rule measure or standard by and according unto which must all occasional statutes or by-laws as they are called proces and proceedings in or by Parliaments be exactly and perfectly made and done as there is or should be in and unto all things else It becometh not wise men and men in councel to run hand over head as we use to speak to do things and make laws at hap-hazard if they intend their observation and execution it is a shame to see what Ordinances and Acts of Parliament as they are called have been lately published few or none whereof will be found to hold weight and measure To think that Acts of Parliament must therefore be observed and performed and executed because they are Acts of Parliament is most ridiculous for Parliaments may make Acts by which they may make sale give seisin and possession of the people of the land and the land it self unto themselves and some forraign State were this to be observed done or executed think we because it is an Act of Parliament The Parliament declared otherwise of King Johns Act to the Pope when he sold the Kingdome unto him No all such Acts as is before said are void and null in themselves be they made by Parliaments or any other whomsoever as every unjust Act and thing whatsoever is and may not be observed except to be shunned and avoided performed or executed by any whomsoever This was the end I say of those knowing and experienced men in the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation attending there that so there might not be any cause or occasion of disorder or breach of peace which such Laws and proceedings have often occasioned which Rule or Standard is and of necessity must be JUST the just and true freedoms and liberties of the people which is undeniable by any to be as perfectly free as God and Nature hath made them and how free that is I have shewed you before or as an English King said he desired to make them and leave them as free as their owne thoughts Or thus that no man or men whomsoever may bear rule have any power or dominion over them or theirs without their owne consent election and choice to which the laws of God of Nature and of this Land agree beare witness command ordaine or appoint Or thus that nothing be done offered or attempted to be done but as we would should be done unto us Would any of us that any man should without against or contrary to our owne consent put impose or force a Master over us and upon us or if a Master That any should put impose or force a Servant upon us as aforesaid would we that any man or men whomsoever should take us up in the streets and carry us away it may be from our Wives and Children and compel us to fight besides against nay contrary to our minde and will I tell you it is a very great wickedness and a wickedness which God will severely judge So would we that any man or men whomsoever should without our consent take away our estate by or under any pretence whatever without our consents Every man in England will certainly say No and nothing is more contrary to the laws of England then thus doing nor any thing accounted a greater breach of the Peoples liberties and in truth it puts them in a worse condition then were Villains in the times villanage But to require absolute obedience without limitation wereharder much and more unreasonable and unjust then that contract tendered by Nahash that they should be protected by him on condition they would put out their right eyes He was content to leave them one to see withall absolute obedience leaves us neither but strips us quite of all and makes us beasts not men which we may not yeeld unto any no for the sake of any man or men whomsoever Let us a little consider the case of Villanage as it was once in this Land My Author hath it thus in his 14

proper true just and right way unto their certain proper true just and right ends and that therefore it was absolutely necessary to him who would rule and govern aright that he do certainly know the very certain intrinse nature property and quality of the thing or things to be ruled and governed otherwise he disturbs and disorders them turns away and turns aside the thing or things from him which he would rule and govern to his use and service and not onely so but also makes procures and causes them to be or become his hurt loss and detriment yea his deadly as we use to speak foe and enemy To which Treatise for more and more full satisfaction in these things I refer you This Soveraignty Rule Power and Dominion was so far as we can understand first assumed usurped and exercised by Nimrod that mighty hunter as the Scripture calls him he layd the first foundation and from him hath it continued successively more or less thorowout the whole world as may be easily seen to this day but it is even almost finished come to its determinate end He would be the God and Lord in and over all he it was that would build form shape and fashion all men according to his minde and mould whenas in truth the physiognomies shapes and forms of men are not more various and differing then are their Mindes and Spirits Wherein appears the manifold wonderful wisdom of God yet this wonderful variety in by and through the love of the same God who is one entire perfect unity the which love is light and the which light is life for the love is the life of God in which he onely lives and after or in respect to which onely he IS and is and can be truly said to be the everliving God are all and every variety gathered together firmly knit and tyed up in one entire Unity herein indeed lying being and consisting the glory and beauty of the whole Creation Unity in Variety and Variety againe in Unity else were it a nothing but a meer heap or lump and the bond O the bond the bond the bond which is Love We see it thus in the natural body there are several various and divers members and divers several various works and operations severally belonging unto each and every one of them every member being perfectly and absolutely distinct in it self distinct in its Office operation imployment and business yet through the Love being bound up tyed and knit together make but one entire Body each member serving other in its particular place and office in the Body according to the Laws and Ordinances thereof the Whole or the One being served of the Whole insomuch that the Whole and every part is presently sensible of the loss of any the least part We see it also in those things we call Contraries as in Fire and Water Air and Earth which I call Severals or Divers We see all mixed bodyes made up thereof and that into one most sweet Harmony and perfect Unity even of those contraries so called O the Love the wonderful power vertue and operation thereof though I chuse rather to call them Severals or Divers for in themselves in their true nature essenc eand being they will not be found so but the excess or the going forth or out from the Unity in desire and endeavour to be or have the Supremacy hence onely grows and arises the difference and the enmity as we may plainly see in fire and water the one cold and moist the other hot and dry yet each of them eagerly thirsting after freely and fully joyning and mixing with the other in one entire and perfect Unity as we see in every perfect generation where the desire and intensness of supremacy ceases the onely cause of all the enmities in the whole Creation and whose generations never were are or possibly can be perfect but crooked perverse impotent and feeble so that it is plain that which makes the difference and so causes and occasions the enmity is the excess or exorbitancy That then which must give and so keep maintain continue and secure a true and right order and so consequently strength peace and rest life and salvation must be the keeping of the Laws of God in nature whole entire and inviolate it must be the taking away keeping out and securing our selves in the point of Supremacy and Soveraignty or rather excesses and exorbitancies in that we call Rule and Government which is and of necessity must be of a just due right and true commixion composure or temparament and in truth that is truely the onely and alone Supream and Soveraign where when or in which all the Severals or Individuals do meet unite and concenter together in one no one or more part or parts whatsoever can in any proper and true sence be called or said to be the Soveraign or Supream but the Soveraignty and Supremacy lyes in the union and conjunction of all and every part into one which one is the Center the which Center is the onely Soveraign and Supream from whence onely each and every member had hath and can have their being life and motion and unto or into which they do again return remit and rest themselves in peace and quietness the secure entire safe and inviolate keeping whereof keeps supplyes and secures each and every part with life health and strength in their orderly right due just and true motions Gentlemen my end and onely end is peace safety security happiness and rest life and salvation unto all in and of this Nation my way also unto this end is peaceable therefore I propose not any new thing nor would I that any should so as to bring us unto it or that any new thing should be brought unto us which may conconstantly hath and necessarily doth cause an occasion many long great and hot contentions emulations strifes hatreds and wars and those not without the effusion of much blood but that each and every man of us may return into or unto our true proper certain and fixed Center unto our most sure firm and stable basis and foundation that we all be fully and wholly perfectly and compleatly brought under and restored unto the subjection and protection of the ancient known fundamental laws customs and constitutions of this English Nation the laws of our fore-Fathers and those onely and that those be wholly and intirely restored unto us with their due just and true administration and execution and that done and performed also by such men and means in such way and manner and such onely as of old even in the beginning hath been and was used accustomed allowed ordained and appointed by our fore-Fathers wherein and unto which onely and alone and unto the very true observance and keeping whereof I hold my self wholly bound and obliged and profess my self wholly and altogether subject In the Treatise before mentioned I shewed that light is the only true and certain Ruler

for a long time divers of them abhorred the very name of a King and when they had a King the Crown passed by Election and that Ambiorix one of their Kings acknowledged that he had or should have no more power over his people then they had over him Certainly they had their original from their rise being and beginning with the purest laws of nature in the first and purest times such is their excellency splendor and purity they giving unto every free-borne Englishman as much as God and nature that I may speak with reverence may or can give the same liberty safety priviledge and protection do they give unto all and every one living in England Gentlemen you have seen how that God hath in all things given unto man in the very law of his nature essence and being the whole and sole power rule dominion and government of and over himself perfectly entirely in and unto himself so that he hath and is and of necessity must have and be according to the Law of his Creation King Priest and Prophet in and of himself in reference to himself which as is said before none may assume usurp or-exercise over him nor may he suffer it from nor give it up unto any other whomsoever upon the greatest heaviest and sorest punishments that can be inflicted Hence it is the Laws of our forefathers and now our Laws by and through them have so wonderfully carefully exactly and strongly provided and fortified us in this case that it seems and appears to be their utmost and onely end to keep protect secure and maintain each and every one herein from all and every one that should offer or attempt any breach or violation thereof by assuming usurping and exercising any power right and authority thereunto and so break and violate the Law of mans nature and therein become a most grievous and great transgressor both against God and Man Hence it makes every mans house his Castle which may not by any man be entered without his consent except in one case and that extraordinary and that also in a known open and legal way after entrance damanded and the parties refusal Yet deny they not in any case whatsoever any man or men whomsoever to take receive use and enjoy the help aid or assistance of any man or men whomsoever himself judgeth necessary fit and convenient thereunto provided that he injure molest or trouble not his neighbour but that he in all things do as he would be done unto according to the Law and that he do not that unto another which he would not that another should do unto him which if he break and complaint thereof be made then or in such case onely doth or can the Law take cognizance the examination tryal and judgement in case he be found guilty being altogether by his Neighbours and those of his own chusing For every Officer and Minister of Justice whom or whatsoever by the Laws of this Nation are to be freely chosen by the Neighbourhood where they are to officiate and administer It tyeth no man to complain loth to finde any offender very pitiful and merciful to offenders as is to be seen in cases of life and death none may be judges therein who are exercised in any measure in the shedding of blood as Souldiers Chirurgeons Butchers and the like And if he have none such impanelled for his Jury yet may he if he see cause except against any other whom he may judge not his very true and real friends to the number of Five and thirty And indeed there will be found little or no use or need at all for any Laws but to keep preserve secure and protect Mankinde herein and from the violence and oppression thereof or of such men therefore were they in the beginning but few very few and those but short very short The care wisdom and providence of our forefathers lay as much that I say not more in securing the way and manner of attaching trying judging and executing those judgments from injury injustice violence and oppression in the several proces and proceedings they are to make therein as it did to secure the end and there is or should be in all things as much fear of losing and as much care of keeping the true right and just Way as of the End for the Way secures the End the keeping whereof attains the End the losing whereof loses or at least extremely endangers the End And the party accused if found an offender may suffer manifold much more in the way of his Attaching Trying Judging and Executing then in the Judgement and Execution it self and thereby is the Law extremely violated and much injustice done It is noted by Bede who observing how Religion was preached both to King and Counts omnibus Comitibus saith that there was a license granted for publike Preaching but when the King and divers great men were converted and baptized yet there was no force used to compel others to be of that Religion because saith he they were taught that Christs service must be voluntary and not forced And verily God himself who is the Creator Governour and Ruler of all things yet forceth he not nor compelleth he any thing no not unto the best good beyond its present light power and strength for so much and so far as any doth even so much and so far doth he very extremely wrong injure and oppress the same As suppose I finde a Lamb strayed from its pasture weak and almost starved for the want of it I pity it and would preserve it but should I now hurry and drive this Lamb beyond its strength I might destroy it before it come there Or suppose a dark-sighted man were to pass a deep water over or by mean of an extreme narrow bridge if I should now hurry and force him along and not give him time and leasure to finde the bridge or when he is upon it compel him faster then his sight and feet can finde the foundation I might endanger his drowning We may our selves and also cause others to make such haste as that we may endanger not onely the loss of our Way but our End also or if we do attain our End our haste may make us altogether unable to rest there Much less doth he force or compel any thing contrary unto above beyond or besides the law of its Nature nor requires he of any more then he hath given or in any other way or unto any other end then he hath appointed and hath made man himself judge thereof And verily had not God given and set up in and unto man a Law in and unto himself he could not charge accuse judge or condemn man for as the Scripture saith where there is no Law there is no Transgressdon and the Law written in Tables is no more nor no other then the Law of God in Nature by him set given and appointed in its Creation for God changeth not but is immutable in all