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	reason_n	see_v	3,316	5	3.1434	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62606	A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, February the 27th, 1690/1 by John Tillotson ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1691 (1691)	Wing T1243; ESTC R16849	14,709	37

Because proportionally to the voluntariness of our Errour will be the guilt of our practice pursuant to that Errour Indeed where our Errour is involuntary and morally invincible God will consider it and make allowance for it but where it is voluntary and occasioned by our own gross fault and neglect we are bound to consider and to rectifie our mistake For whatever we do contrary to the Law of God and our duty in vertue of that false persuasion we do it at our utmost peril and must be answerable to God for it notwithstanding we did it according to the dictate of our Conscience A Third Rule is this That in all doubts of Conscience we endeavour to be equal and impartial and do not lay all the weight of our doubts on one side when there is perhaps as much or greater reason of doubting on the other And consequently that we be as tractable and easie to receive satisfaction of our doubts in one kind as in another and be equally contented to have them over-ruled in cases that are equal I mean where our passions and interests are not concern'd as well as where they are And if we do not do this it is a sign that we are partial in our pretences of Conscience and that we do not aim meerly at the peace and satisfaction of our own minds but have some other interest and design For it is a very suspicious thing when mens doubts and scruples bear all on one side especially if it be on that side which is against charity and peace and obedience to Government whether Ecclesiastical or Civil In this case I think that a meer doubt and much more a scruple may nay ought in reason to be over-ruled by the command of Authority by the opinion and judgment of wise and good men and in consideration of the publique peace and of the unity and edification of the Church Not that a man is in any case to go against the clear persuasion and conviction of his own mind but when there is only a meer doubt concerning the lawfulness or unlawfulness of a thing it seems to me in that case very reasonable that a man should suffer a mere doubt or scruple to be over-rul'd by any of those weighty considerations which I mentioned before The Fourth Rule is That all pretences of Conscience are vehemently to be suspecled which are accompanied with turbulent passion and a furious zeal It is an hundred to one but such a man's Conscience is in the wrong It is an excellent saying of St. James Jam. 1.20 The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God that is the fierce passions of men are no proper instruments to promote Religion and to accomplish any thing that is good And therefore if any man be transported with a wild zeal and pretend conscience for his fury it is great odds but he is in an errour None are so likely to judge amiss as they whose minds are clouded and blinded by their passions Nubila mens est Boeth Haec ubi regnant And if men would carefully observe themselves they might almost certainly know when they act upon Reason and a true principle of Conscience A good Conscience is easie to it self and pleased with its own doings but when a man's passion and discontent are a weight upon his judgment and do as it were bear down his Conscience to a compliance no wonder if this puts a man's mind into a very unnatural and uneasie state There can hardly be a broader sign that a man is in the wrong than to rage and be confident Because this plainly shews that the man's Conscience is not setled upon clear reason but that he hath brought over his Conscience to his interest or to his humour and discontent And though such a man may be so far blinded by his passion as not to see what is right yet methinks he should feel himself to be in the wrong by his being so very hot and impatient Art thou sure thou art in the right thou art a happy man and hast reason to be pleased What cause then what need is there of being angry Hath a man Reason on his side What would he have more Why then does he fly out into Passion which as it gives no strength to a bad Argument so I could never yet see that it was any grace and advantage to a good one Of the great evil and the perpetual mistake of this furious kind of Zeal the Jews are a lively and a lamentable Example in their carriage towards our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles And more particularly St. Paul when he persecuted the Christians from a false and erroneous persuasion of his Conscience Hear how St Paul describes himself and his own doings whilst he was acted by an erroneous Conscience Acts 22.4 I persecuted says he this way unto the death binding and delivering into prison both men and women And in another Chapter I verily thought with my self Acts 26.9 that I ought to do many things against the Name of Jesus of Nazareth Here was his erroneous Conscience Let us next see what were the unhappy concomitants and effects of it ver 10 11 Which things says he I also did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints I shut up in prison and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them and punish'd them oft in every Synagogue and compell'd them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even to strange Cities When Conscience transports men with such a furious zeal and passion it is hardly ever in the right or if it should happen to be so they who are thus transported by their ungracious way of maintaining the truth and their ill management of a good cause have found out a cunning way to be in the wrong even when they are in the right Fifthly all pretences of Conscience are likewise to be suspected which are not accompanyed with modesty and humility and a teachable temper and disposition willing to learn and to be better inform'd A proud and conceited temper of mind is very likely to run into mistakes because pride and fullness of a mans self does keep out knowledge and obstructs all the passages by which wisdom and instruction should enter into men Besides that it provokes God to abandon men to their own follies and mistakes for God resisteth the proud but the meek will he guide in judgment and will give more grace and wisdom to the humble When men are once come to this to think themselves wiser than their Teachers and to despise and cast off their Guides no wonder if then they go astray Lastly Let us be sure to mind that which is our plain and unquestionable duty the great things of Religion wherein the life and substance of it doth consist and the things likewise which make for peace and whereby we may edify one another And let us not suffer our disputes about lesser matters to prejudice

A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT White-Hall February the 27th 1690 1. By JOHN TILLOTSON D. D. Dean of St. PAVL's And Clerk of the Closet to His Majesty Published by Her Maiesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pidgeons over-against the Royal Exchange and William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCI A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN ACTS xxiv 16. And herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men THese words are part of the Defense which St. Paul made for himself before Faelix the Roman Governour In which he first of all vindicates himself from the charge of Sedition ver 12 They neither found me in the Temple disputing with any man neither raising up the People neither in the Synagogue nor in the City that is they could not charge him with making any disturbance either in Church or State After this he makes a free and open profession of his Religion ver 14. But this I confess that after the way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets Here he declares the Scriptures to be the Rule of his Faith in opposition to the Oral Tradition of the Pharisees More particularly he asserts the Doctrine of the Resurrection which was a principal Article both of the Jewish and the Christian Religion ver 15 And I have hope also towards God that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and the unjust And having made this declaration of his Faith he gives an account of his Life in the words of the Text ver 16 And herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Herein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in this work do I employ myself or as others render it in the mean time whilst I am in this World or as others I think most probably for this cause and reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this reason because I believe a Resurrection therefore have I a conscientious care of my life and all the actions of it The Discourse I intend to make upon these words shall be comprized in these following Particulars I. Here is the extent of a good man's pious practise to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men II. Here is his constancy and perseverance in this course to have allways a conscience void of offence III. Here is his earnest care and endeavour to this purpose I exercise my self IV. Here is the Principle and immediate Guide of his actions which St. Paul here tells us was his Conscience V. I shall lay down some Rules and directions for the keeping of a good Conscience VI. Here is the great motive and encouragement to this which St. Paul tells us was the belief of a Resurrection and of a future State of Rewards and Punishments consequent upon it for this cause because I hope for a Resurrection both of the just and unjust I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men I shall speak but briefly to the three first of these Particulars that I may be larger in the rest I. Here is the extent of a good man's pious practice It hath regard to the whole compass of his Duty as it respects God and Man I exercise my self says St. Paul to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men And this distribution of our Duty under these two general heads is very frequent in Scripture The Decalogue refers our Duty to these two heads And accordingly our Saviour comprehends the whole Duty of Man in those two great Commandments the love of God and of our Neighbour Matth. 22.38 Vpon these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets that is all the Moral Precepts which are dispers'd up and down in the Law and the Prophets may be referr'd to these two general Heads II. Here is his constancy and perseverance in this course St. Paul says that he exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continually at all times in the whole course of his life We must not only make conscience of our ways by fits and starts but in the general course and tenour of our lives and actions without any baulks and intermissions There are some that will refrain from grosser Sins and be very strict at some Seasons as during the Time of a Solemn Repentance and for some days before they receive the Sacrament and perhaps for a little while after it And when these devout Seasons are over they let themselves loose again to their former lewd and vitious course But Religion should be a constant frame and temper of mind discovering it self in the habitual course of our lives and actions III. Here is likewise a very earnest care and endeavour to this purpose Herein do I exercise my self says St. Paul The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here render'd exercise is a word of a very intense signification and does denote that St. Paul applied himself to this business with all his care and might and that he made it his earnest study and endeavour And so must we we must take great care to understand our duty and to be rightly informed concerning good and evil that we may not mistake the nature of things and call good evil and evil good We must apply our minds in good earnest to be thoroughly instructed in all the parts of our Duty that so we may not be at a loss what to do when we are call'd to the practise of it And when we know our Duty we must be true and honest to our selves and very careful and conscientious in the discharge and performance of it I proceed in the IVth place to consider the Principle and immediate Guide of our actions which St. Paul here tells us was his Conscience I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence By which he does not only mean a resolution to follow the dictate and direction of his Conscience but likewise a due care to inform his Conscience aright that he might not in any thing transgress the Law of God and his Duty Conscience is the great Principle of moral actions and our Guide in matter of Sin and Duty It is not the Law and Rule of our actions that the Law of God only is but it is our immediate Guide and directour telling us what is the Law of God and our Duty But because Conscience is a word of a very large and various signification I shall endeavour very briefly to give you the true notion of it Now in common speech concerning Conscience every man is represented as having a kind of Court and Tribunal in his own brest where he tries himself and all his actions