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
A95657	Pseudeleutheria. Or Lawlesse liberty. Set forth in a sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Major of London, &c. in Pauls, Aug. 16. 1646. / By Edvvard Terry, Minister of the Word, and pastor of the church at Great-Greenford in the country of Middlesex. Sept. 11. 1646. Imprimatur. John Downame.	Terry, Edward, 1590-1660.	1646 (1646)	Wing T781; Thomason E356_11; ESTC R201136	37,931	42

and an inferiority a command and a subjection a mastery and a Dominion in every order of men specially designed The body Politike is very fitly compared unto a naturall body which must not be all head or hand or foot but distinguished into superior and inferior parts for every member to doe its particular office The Heart or Soule sitting in the middest of the body as a King upon his Throne and according to the dictates of the heart the tongue speakes the eyes looke the feete move the hands stir c. Now a body Politike may most fitly be resembled to this Naturall body wherein there are parts as the Apostle speakes more and lesse honourable 1. Cor. 12. yet all tending to the mutuall decency service and succour of the fame body The Aegyptians made an Eie and a Scepter the Embleme by which they figured their government a Scepter for Jurisdiction and power an Eie for watchfulnesse and discretion And certainely a Kingdome without order and government is like the body of that fayned Giant Polyphemus without an eie or rather like a body without an head or which most fitly resembles it like that confused Chaos before the Creation where heighth and depth light and darkenesse were mingled together In the beginning therefore when heaven and earth were first made God established a superiority and rule in other creatures after their kinde and afterwards in man So Gen. 1. 16. God made two great lights the greater to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the starres also And one starre to differ from another in glory 1. Cor. 15. 41. And presently after when he had created man he invested him immediately with imperiall authority to subduethe earth and to rule in it v. 28. And to what other end is it called the host of Heaven Gen. 2. 1. but to shew how that Metaphor is taken from an Army where there must be superiority and subordination command and obedience without both which it cannot subsist For if the spirit and soule of obedience be taken away what can follow but Ataxie and Confusion Reason 2. Secondly there must be Government and Discipline for necessities sake to curbe and restraine all tumultuous and heady spirits all offensive and disordered persons whether in Church or Common-wealth The Lawes of God were first written in the fleshy tables of mans heart but sin did either blot or wear them out thence Then the wisedome of God thought fit to write them upon tables of stone that they might be lasting durable permanent But these Lawes of God thus written and commended and commanded unto man where slighted and neglected and forsaken by him and therefore Irenaus well observes in his first booke against heresies that therefore God appointed Kingdomes and men to rule in them because man forsaking God did wax feirce lawlesse masterlesse and being not sufficiently awed by the feare of the Lord God therefore put upon them the feare of man that fearing humane Lawes they should not devoure destroy consume one another as the fishes of the Sea and the beasts of the wildernesse and the fowles of the aire doe And for this reason there is an absolute necessity of Lawes to curbe and restraine and to keepe people under obedience for were it not for these our beds would not be suffered to lie under us our meate would be pulled out of our mouths our clothes would be torne off our backes rapine and violence would destroy us Vse Now for application this being so as it must needs be granted to be truth What just cause have all people who live under good Lawes to blesse God for them To one who asked the question why the City Sparta had no wals t was answered that the Citizens had good weapons in their hands unanimity in their hearts and to both these good Lawes to order them We want no weapons and these sad times have made almost every one amongst us a man of war And would to God that we had just cause to boast of unity and mutuall agreement amongst our selves But for good Lawes certainly we of this Nation have as great cause to be thankfull as any people under the Cope of Heaven ever had And oh that we had as just cause to prayse God for their due execution likewise But alas we have not Oh justice how faintly doest thou draw thy breath while thou sufferest so many desperate sinners and so many dangerous seducing Schismaticks to march boldly by thee and not bidst them stand Alas how doth the whole Land stinke of that beastly sin of drunkennesse that sin which robs a man of himselfe and leaves a beast in the skin of a man That sin which is like the serpent that stings two waies for it kills the body and slaies the soule too yet how doe those Tents of wickednesse those Thrones wherein Satan dwells those unnecessary tipling houses which so multiply Transgressors and transgressions amongst men increase amongst us How doe Pride and Luxury strive for the upper end of the table How doth the very breath of most desperate swearers and blasphemers even poyson the very aire of the Kingdome wherein we live And how doth the stone out of the Wall and the Beame in the Chamber cry out aloud against oppression And how hath the Error of Religion made many amongst us so wanton that they know not what to have nor what to hold Surely as the Prophet Isaiah complaines Isai. 24. 20. The transgression of the earth of this earth whereon we live lies heavy upon it And now O justice how doest thou degenerate from thy selfe while thou sufferest thy sword for want of drawing to rust or else for feare or for some other ●ie respects to be lock't up in the scabbard I am not come hither to declame against the administration of justice in this honorable City this City so renowned for exemplary government the world over though I must tell you that if I knew any just cause to invite me hereunto I should not spare But this I am sure of that there is an intollerable an unanswerable fault some where when so much wickednesse goes unpunished when so many errors schismes heresies some of which destroy as the rest doe blast the profession of Religion are suffered amongst us though we have lifted up our hands unto the most high God in a solemne League and Covenant to the contrarie Or if they meet with any rebuke from some it is but such a one as that too-too much indulgent Ely who brought up his sonnes to bring downe his house gave his sonnes 1 Sam. 2. 23. saying why doe you so or such things A strange thing in Ely to punish the Thefts Rapines Sacriledge Adulters Incests of his sonnes with why doe you so what was this but to shave that head which deserved to be cut off Doubtles as I find it excellently observed to my hand it is with sins in the soule as with humors in the body a

Father of all saith the Apostle Eph. 4. 5. 6. All in unity And God is the God of order not the Author of Confusion 1. Cor. 14. 33. The body of a Church or State is then strongest when the multitude of believers have but one heart and one soul amongst them all As he that observes the cariage of the Primitive Christians shall finde this word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which signifies one consent one heart one mind in the 4 first Chapters of the Acts often applied unto them Which unity in the truth of Religion is the firmest band twixt man and man {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the very knot and tie of all communion and consociation On the contrary as division of tongues in the eleventh of Genesis hindred the building up of Babel then so division of hearts hinders the setling and building up of the Church now And as Plankes and Timbers joyned together make a ship but disjoyned shipwracke and as connexion of stones and timber make an house dissipation a ruine so unity and agreement of Christians build up a Church as dissension puls it downe And as they say of Bees that when there is a stirre and strife amongst them it is a signe that their King is about to remove and leave the hive so strife schisme dissension in Religion to the hazard of it is a signe that God either hath or is about to leave a people One of the maine scandals the Iewes take from the carriage of Christians is their dissention and disagreeing one with another which they interpret to proceed from want of unity of truth in the foundation of Christian Religion by which they are startled and scared from the Gospel And some Papists have sayd of us and I would there were no truth in it what one Preacheth in the morning another contradicts after dinner and what peace and accord can there be in that house say they where the husband is a Calvinist the wife a Lutheran the servant an Oecolampadian c. And what settlement can we expect while one is a Brownist another an Anabaptist another an Antinomian another a Seeker and all these happily under one roofe another an Everything another a Nothing What can we looke for lesse then confusion as a most grave learned orthodox eminent man famous in his generation observed while we have Doctrine against Doctrine Prayers against Prayers Faith against Faith Religion against Religion the most fearfull consequences of which destructive waies were written in the murthers massacres tragedies wasts somtimes committed in France and both the Germanies and the reason the pretence of all that caused those their so great miseries only that which immediately before we named The Anabaptists in the upper Germany as Sleidan reports framed an imagination to themselves that by the will of God the Ancient Magistracy must be quite rooted out from the earth And said and happily they beleeved it too that they had speech with God who enjoyned them to kill all the wicked in the Land and to constitute a new World consisting only of the innocent What slaughter and havock this caused what profusion of bloud betwixt the Nobles and Commons Germany then felt and smarted for and Histories will relate to all Posterity The president whereof may make the World take heede how they be drawne by fanaticall spirits into these or the like desperate and damnable courses And if this hath been the fruite of such dangerous destroying waies let any one be judge that hath not lost his understanding whether it be fit for every Subject in a Realme for if it be granted to some it would be in justice to deny it unto others to be priviledged in his house to have a God to himselfe a Priest to himselfe a worship to himselfe as Micah had in Mount Ephraim and whether it be fit for people to preach and beleeve and obey and pray as themselves please But what may be done in this case may some one say The minds of private men are as free as Emperours every one is a King in his owne house as Telemachus said And nothing is so voluntary as Religion Yee may shift the bodies of men from place to place but yee cannot change their minds advice may doe more then threatning and faith commeth rather by perswasion then compulsion I answer first we must speake to the conscience by good Counsell by faire meanes by forcible-convincing arguments But if the eare of conscience be stopt up against us if perswasions prove unprofitable if exhortations convicting arguments carried on in love and mercy will not serve the turne we must then speake to the eare of the body to their Inheritance to their Liberty Let the body tell the conscience I am afflicted the Inheritance I am diminished Liberty I am restrained for thy sake I tell yee that these have been arguments which have done much good as Austin affirmes of the Donatists and Circum●ellions in Africa that being terrified by paines they began to enter into consideration with themselves whether they suffered for conscience or for obstinacy But it may be againe objected that some have not been bettered hereby he answers this objection Ideo negligenda est medicina quia nonnullorum est insanabilis pestilentia Shall we therefore reject physick because the sicknesse of some is incurable I confesse that a man should not suffer for a meere default in his understanding but if the fault be in his will it alters the case and without doubt a number even now among us mistake their will for their conscience which may easily be done for they lodge both in the same soule therfore they may be easily taken one for the other Now as the rectified good will of man must not be without fruit So the stubborne depraved will of man must not scape without punishment the voluntary default of a mans will being the just cause of all his suffering Clavis sapientiae frequens interrogatio questioning is the Key of knowledge he that never askes cannot attain to knowledge and he that ever askes shall never receive satisfaction When people are become such scepticks that they will question every thing and receive satisfaction in nothing doubt whether the Sun have light or the fire heate or the like doubts in other things which should not be questioned such must be regulated Tertullian is of the same minde with Austin that it is meet that Hereticks and Schismaticks too should be compelled to doe their duties if they will not be perswaded to doe them I say compelled if allurements and perswasions will not serve the turne they must not alwaies be entreated he that hath a Phrensie must be bound He that hath a Lethargy must be prickt up And they which strengthen themselves in error or schisme diffuse them amongst others to the prejudice of Church or State must be violently pul'd out of them Undoubtedly the sword was never appointed for Authority only to

weake dose doth but stir and anger and more dangerously disperse them not purge them out So that t is certenly a great violation of justice not to proportion the punishment to the offence To whip a man for murther or to punish the purse for Adultery or Incest to burne treason in the hand or to award the Stocks for Burglarie is to patronize evill instead of avenging it Of the two extremes rigor is more safe for the publique-weale because the over punishing of one offence keepes many from committing the same Elies sonnes did thus wickedly while they acted a part in Religion And are not there some amongst us who under specious pretences to advance persist in courses that undoubtedly in conclusion if God prevent it not will undermine roote out Religion from amongst us Religion I say then which nothing should be mor deare unto us yet this is knowne and suffered and if it receive any cheeck from some it it such a one as doth rather encourage then daunt offenders ubi nunc Lex Anglica dormis Oh yee Lawes of England what doe yee where are yee are yee asleepe I told you even now what great cause we of this Nation have to blesse God for good Lawes and suffer me to acquaint you in the next place how dearly in many respects a number in this Kingdome have missed these last few yeares while destruction hath been amongst us the benefits which otherwise might have been enjoyed by the execution of those good Lawes if their current had not been more or lesse obstructed I cannot deny but that while the sword of war is in a Land it cannot chuse but marvellously clash with the sword of justice and many things will be done and cannot be avoided while it continues under such a sad condition and in regard the sword hath beene in the hands of many of such ill principled hearts I speake not of all for there be many whom God hath stirred up personally to appeare in this his great worke who deserve all honour as well for their Piety as Valour but of some the very refuse and dregges of Mankinde in whom that old Proverbe is verified Armatis Divum nullus Pudor That they feare neither God nor Man as you may observe in their most debauched lives in doing what they please and in their Hellish language too whose mouths are full of cursing and bitternesse which they belch out setting their mouthes even against Heaven for they seldome take that Sacred dreadfull Name of GOD into their most desperate prophane lippes but when they blaspheme that Name which should not be once mentioned but with awfull Reverence or when they desire God to damne to refuse them Now by the way let me adde this that if God should ratifie that in heaven which they desire miserable wretches as they are against themselves on earth and say ex ore tuo from thine owne mouth will I now condemne thee Oh! how sadly miserable would their condition be Nemo miserius misero non miserante seipsum Who can be more miserable then those which will not be mercifull unto themselves Yet besides all these give me leave to speake it though it be a very sad a very horrible truth that divers things have beene done or if not very many in this Kingdome deserve to be punished for crying and complayning without just cause by some others of those who have most shamefully abused that trust reposed in them by our most deservedly honored Parliament that needed not that ought not that should not have been done Things which no language can excuse things which scarce any act of oppression in former times can parallell Very horrible things have beene committed in the Land pudet haec opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli The consideration whereof should put colour in our faces and cover us with shame if we be not past beyond a blush when wee consider that many griping evills might have been and have not beene prevented or because boldly acted have not beene most severely most exemplarily punished And therefore it is high time for us who are the Lords Remembrancers to speake by the pound and talent to reprove in words of weight for the gentle spirit of Eli is not sufficient to amend children that are past grace and therefore we must crie aloud speake out speake home speak all though we lived in times that would hamper us in those bands and cords in my Text for our plaine and impartiall dealing Now that things have beene so we may sit downe and sadly complaine but why they have beene so we need not much to wonder when we consider the next particular in this Text that Obs. 2. Rebellious spirits affect nothing so much as Lawlesse liberty to doe what they please without controll Rebellious spirits who are they Such as cast off subjection such as breake the yoke burst the bands as the Prophet speakes Ier. 5. 5. The yoke the bands which should restraine regulate order them and all because they affect nothing so much as Lawlesse liberty Lawlesse liberty and what is that When men doe what they please not what they should notwithstanding all restraint of Lawes and government to the contrary This too too much belov'd liberty without doubt is marvailously affected by the corrupt nature of man T is a sin of a very ancient growth for it tooke its first rise from the very first transgression In the garden of Eden amongst those many plants which God made some for ornament and some for use some for sight and some for sent and some for taste not farre from the goodliest trees of Life and Knowledge grew the bitter root of disobedience I call it so because the forbidden fruit grew on that tree of which our first Parents tooke and tasted though they were commanded not so much as to touch it Gen. 3. 3. The taste whereof did not only infect themselves thorowout but the corrupt nutriment thereof did also convert it selfe into the whole body of their succeeding linage Mee thinkes there is very much in that first story of Disobedience to illustrate this point when our first Parents in their estate of Holinesse who had power in them to Obey as well as Disobey and God had told them that of every tree in the garden they might freely eat the tree of Knowledge only forbidden Gen. 2. 16. 17. And though there was no comparison betwixt the Maker and the murtherer of Mankinde the Father of Truth and the father of lies betwixt a God and a divell and the one had forbidden but one tree and had fenced it as it were with a double hedge of a double death temporall eternall yet when the Serpent came to the woman with a meere contradiction to the voyce of God Ye shall not surely die Gen. 3. 4. how credulous and forward was shee to entertaine his suggestion Our first Parents tooke their fall by their owne wilfull Disobedience and we fell in