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	think_v	2,515	5	3.9487	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67014	The great duty of love and faithfulness to our native country occasion'd by the coolness of some in its necessary defence, and the forwardness of others, in pushing on its ruine / deliver'd in a sermon at the Chappel of Popler, December 3, 1693, by Josiah Woodward ...	Woodward, Josiah, 1660-1712.	1694 (1694)	Wing W3518; ESTC R38760	16,712	33

as betray their own Nation are Murtherers of their own Parents and Brethren and Children and do in effect set Fire to their own Houses and Churches and where the madness is so extreme 't is no wonder if at last they murther themselves And such as any way contribute towards this take a proportionable share in this horrid Guilt Such as Embezzle the publick Stores do really rob every particular Person in the Nation who is interested therein and whose safety depends thereupon And these Publick Cheats are worse than Robbers on the High-way Again to be false in any publick Office or Authority in such a season as this is at once to betray not only the Interests of these Three Nations but of a Fourth Part of the World and whatever kindness any one shews to the Common Enemy and Invader is as such a real Injury to all Christendom tending to the universal Empire of France and the universal Ruin of other Nations an extream Guilt enough to cast any sensible Person into an Agony with the horror of it But perhaps som People are by private Respects and Opinions drawn into this Snare and so may think to ward off that imputation of Baseness and Treachery which is layd to their Charge by the Grand Senate of our Land and by the generality of men Their Pleas will properly fall under the consideration of my second Position and I think will appear to all considerate and equal Judges to fall before it which was 2. Pos That no personal and particular Respects can take off our natural and supernatural obligation of seeking the Good of our Church and Nation Now this is a Truth as evident as That the Whole is greater than its Part Or that a Million is more than a single Unite For even so must an universal Good of necessity be more regardable than a particular This our Reason cannot so much as question And if it were possible the duty of it would be more clear to a well inform'd Conscience than the truth of it to sound Reason For what Christian ever yet disputed whether the mad Humour of running * Known to our men in the East-Indies sometimes to their Cost Muck amongst the Indians be an execrable Barbarity or not Where a resolute Fellow whom they call a Muck madded by discontent does all he can to be the death of all mankind and usually begins the Tragedy in the Butchery of his own Family Now as to our Case tho' we do not act thus with our own hands yet if we deliberately assist those that will it comes all to the same End and we contract the same Guilt For in the Case of Murther all are principals But yet against this some Object 1. Obj. That they have sustained great Losses by some Alterations in the State which palls their friendship towards it and makes them have little Concern for it Ans To which I Answer that if that Alteration was necessary to preserve the whole Community every particular Person is so far from being a Loser by it that he hereby gains whatever he enjoys Perhaps he loses some part of his Estate or some place of profit But he enjoys his Life and Liberty and Spiritual Advantages and all these are given to him for a Prey And he has reason not only to be Content but thankfull Yea tho' he had lost his All in order to the publick Good and the Happiness of his Posterity 2. Obj. But others Clamour That the present Impositions and Taxes fall heavy tend to a general poverty and make a great Cause of discontent Ans I Answer They cannot move any good or prudent person to any impatience A good man will part with All rather than the Gospel as many Thousands have done in all the times of Persecution And a prudent man will think a part very profitably layd out to save the whole The present Taxes which are design'd to prosecute the War against the Common Enemy will appear to every considerate Person as necessary as a Levy to keep up the Sea-Banks To be sparing in a Case of such necessity is to be wanting and cruel to our selves and Posterity like the fatal parsimony of the wealthy Citizens of Constantinople who refused to lend their own Emperour a Thirtyeth part of that money which the Turkish Emperour took from them for a spoil bereaving the wealthyest of them of their Lives too to consummate the Tragedy 3. Obj. But we reap little advantage by all our Expences so that our Contributions seem to be exported for the support of Forreigners or mis-employ'd by private hands to their own advantage Ans We reap the manifest advantage of mantaining a brave Fleet at Sea and a Valiant Army on the Continent without which we should in one month be Ruin'd beyond possibility of reparation And all that 's done to Support our Allies tends to find the Enemy work on that side and keeps the War off from us But if in this Juncture there appear any amongst our selves so vile and proffligate as to embezzle or mis-imploy the publick Treasure they well deserve That every Person in the three Nations should throw a Stone at them for every one in this Case is an injured person But there remains yet a Plea which would make the betraying of our Country a matter of Conscience tho' sometimes pleaded by those who make Conscience of nothing However they argue thus 4. Obj. Tho' no mans private Interests can be ponderous enough to weigh down the Interests of three Kingdoms lying in the opposite Scale Yet may not our Allegiance sworn to a dispossessed Prince bind us to do all we can for him let what will follow upon it tho' it be withal granted that the said Abdicated Prince did industriously and openly endeavour the Fiat Justitia etsi ruat Coelum subversion of the Government and destruction of the Community Ans This is the Goliath-Argument and like him brings a Sword to cut off its own Head For fidelity to God and our Country was our duty before we Swore Allegiance to that Prince and could not be null'd by the Oath of Allegiance required in the English Gouernment Yea the very design of binding Subjects by Oath to the Supream Power is to make it more able to Defend not Destroy the common Good The fundamental End of all civil Government being to render the whole Political Body safe and happy And this is plainly affirmed by the Apostle Rom. 13. 4. The King is God's Minister to thee for Good that is in order to the Publick Advantage So then since the Laws of Nature are before and above all political Laws and we must be considered as men before we can fall under the notion of Subjects and since Preservation is the End of all Government and since the Laws and Government of England have ever conserved with the gratest Tenderness the Rights and Liberties of English Subjects What Reason or Religion can their be in the present Case