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	law_n	work_n	2,920	5	6.2264	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69567	The vindication of Slingsby Bethel Esq., one of the sheriffs of London and Middlesex against the several slanders cast upon him upon the occasion of his being proposed for one of the burgesses to serve in the late Parliament : for the burrough of Southwark.	Bethel, Slingsby, 1617-1697.	1681 (1681)	Wing B2078; ESTC R4874	14,038	12

the rest there being more to be pleaded for Acts of Charity than for profuseness My Contest is not with the Poor Prisoners to whom Bowels of Compassion ought to be shewn but with that Male-Administration that hath occasioned this Grievance The Lawyers say That a particular mischief ought rather to be born then a general and publick inconveniency admitted And as those Laws which provide for the Government of the Prisons have been much neglected by occasion of the Sheriffs taking upon themselves this Charge so I know not but the putting a stop to these Payments which are but voluntary may give a good occasion for enquiry into those Laws and to the restoring of them to a due execution which would be of greater advantage to the Poor Prisoners than any thing that is now done and would also encourage others to such Charitable Benevolencies and Legacies as have been formerly given for their better support and also prevent the loss of those charitable Donations which its said have happened by want of due care in the Execution of the said Laws As the Laws of the Land do provide that the Counties shall maintain their Prisoners so the Laws of this City both Antient and Modern do place the Government and Care of the Prisons in the Court of Aldermen and a Committee of the City to be Annually appointed by and out of the Common Councel as the best Expedient our Wise and Prudent Ancestors could find for preventing those inconveniencies under which the Poor Prisoners now groan And if by holding of my hand and by those Arguments I have given to excuse my sparingness in this and other matters I should prove so happy as to give an occasion for Retrieving of those good Laws which the Ancient Prudence of this City hath most plentifully Provided for preserving and promoting the good Estate of Her Citizens so as they may no longer lye Dormant amongst their Records but be put in due Execution I think neither Prisoner nor any Freeman will hereafter find any just cause to complain of me And in effecting so good a Work as the World would easily believe that I should have greater satisfaction in my self so I should not doubt in the end of my Year notwithstanding the great Cry that hath been made against me with so little reason to have more thanks from the greatest part of my fellow Citizens upon that account and that the Obligation would last longer with them then if I had according to late Example spent Eight or Nine thousand pound in the Year of my Shrievaltie But this is but a good wish that fell out occasionally in the Current of my Discourse a matter rather to be desired than effected by any thing that I can say or do it is not for me to think I can bear back the strong Torrent of Custome when the Laws of the City are not strong enough to do it If I shall by this essay be able in any measure to stem that Tyde of Reproach which runs upon me with that violence that it threatens to over-set and make Shipwrack of my Honour and Reputation which is the proper Design of this Paper I shall deem my self in no small measure Happy and Successful A good name is as precious Oyntment and as I ought to Value it so methinks I should now at length be able to prevail with the World to be so just as to consider what real grounds or reasons there may be for so great a Noise and Clamour and the better to enforce this Justice I shall lay before them the great example of the All-righteous Judge When the Cry of Sodom and Gomorrah was very great and their Sin very grievous calling for Vengeance from Heaven against the Unrighteous Inhabitants thereof he would not streight-way rain down Fire and Brimstone upon them but said I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the Cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know And we find that he gave Abraham leave to make the best Defence he could for them before the Judgment came The Sin of Sodom was very Great and Notorious and the Cry of it came up to Him that could not be deceived by false Reports therefore his Design in this was not to salve his own Justice but to give the credulous and ill-natured World which is apt to believe all the ill that is said rather than to examine the Truth of things this Great and Early Example as a most Sacred and Divine Rule to Govern themselves by in all cases of this Nature And if by what I have said and here offered I shall be able to prevail with a too censorious World to leave the Judgment Seat a little while and come down and see whether the Matters Charged against me be according to the Cry thereof that is come unto them or not before they give final Judgment I think in what I have here said I shall not have troubled my self nor them in vain FINIS