Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	lord_n	word_n	2,981	5	3.8029	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20472	A godly and learned sermon concerning the magistrates dutie and death preached at the court, and now published for the common good, by Francis Dyllingham bachelour in diuinitie. Magnum non est præesse, magnum est prodesse. It is no great thing to rule, it is a great thing to rule well. Magnum non est vivere, magnum est piè mori. It is no great thing to liue, it is a great thing to die well.	Dillingham, Francis, d. 1625.	1605 (1605)	STC 6885; ESTC S114254	10,327	30

A GODLY AND LEARNED SERMON CONCERNING THE MAGISTRATES dutie and death preached at the Court and now published for the common good by Francis Dyllingham bachelour in divinitie Magnum non est praesse magnum est prodesse It is no great thing to rule it is a great thing to rule well Magnum non est vivere magnum est piè mori It is no great thing to liue it is a great thing to die well HINC LVCEM ET POCVLA SACRA ALMA MATER CANTABRIGIA PRINTED BY IOHN LEGAT PRINter to the Vniversitie of Cambridge 1605. TO THE RIGHT worshipfull wise and vertuous Ladyes the Lady Anne Fleetwood and Elizabeth Luke grace and peace THe dayes and times beeing euill right worshipfull religious Ladyes require preaching they require also printing Preaching and printing so desperate is the case of many will not preuaile A great and maine cause of this deluge and flood of iniquitie is the negligence of Magistrates who will not adioyne the sword to defend the word The Lord in his rich mercie towardes vs hath sent forth many worthie Ministers who preach in season and out of season yet oathes abound the Lords Sabboths are prophaned And why so because these sinnes escape vnpunished Caput audaciae maxima illecebra peccandi est impunitatis spes The hope of impunity is an exceeding bayte vnto sinne Wherefore I nothing doubt but that if Magistrates would faithfully execute their office we should not haue such bold and presumptuous sinners as swarme amongst vs. Now that the Magistrate may execute his office according to Gods will he must knowe the same for which cause I thought good to publish this sermon that those which will learne may both knowe and practise And as in this sermon is set out the Magistrates duty so likewise in the same is set out the Magistrates death The consideration of which should mooue all Officers to doe their duties The Lord without all controuersie will call them one day to an account And what account can many Magisters make no doubt many can make an account of their debts accruing by vngodly vsury Others may count their bribes But how many can count and number the soules of men which haue reaped benefit by their gouerment magistrates haue no greater thing then this that they can punish sinners they haue no better thing then that they will Which if they would doe no doubt many sinners might be conuerted and brought vnto God Not to proceede any further in this point as I haue published this sermon which concerneth the Magistrates duty and his death so I haue dedicated the same to your Worshippes whose vertues shine like the starres If I should speake all things answerable to your vertues I might peraduenture seeme to some to flatter If I should conceale some things I might bee thought of others enuious as Hierome speaketh in the like case Wherefore to leaue this matter of cōmendatiō I humbly desire yee both to accept this my labour as an argument of my duty and harty affection which I beare to each of you the great fauours which I haue receaued at your hands I confesse deserue a greater worke But you are wise to know that in great things there are not alwaies good things but in good things there are alwaies great things Trusting then to the goodnes of the subiect matter which is Gods word I present this labour to your Worshippes The Lord of his infinite goodnesse graunt that the good course which yee haue begun yee may keepe fast vnto the end And in so doing as he hath highly aduanced you in this world so will he aduance you in the world to come Your worshippes euer bounden Francis Dillingham Psalme 82. v. 6 7. I haue said ye are Gods and ye are all children of the most high But ye shall die as common men and ye Princes shall fall like others THese words containe two parts the first is an Exaltation the second is an Humiliation The exaltation is in these words I haue said ye are Gods c. In which two things are to be considered first a proposition secondly the proofe of it The proposition is in these words Ye are all Gods c. The proofe taken a testimonio divino from Gods testimonie is in these words I haue said Touching the Humiliatiō two things are likewise to be considered first what this humiliation is to wit death secondly the māner of it l●ke vnto common men for so doth the Hebrew word signifie as it is plaine and euident out of the 49 Psal v. 2. Concerning the Humiliation Death must needes be a great humiliation vnto Princes For as Ecclesiasticus saith 41. cap. v. 1. O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liueth at rest in his possessions vnto the man that hath nothing to vexe him that hath prosperitie in all things yea vnto him that is able to receiue meate Therfore Adrian asking what death was receiued this answer namely that it was pavor divitum the terrour of rich men and it seemeth indeede so to be by Adrian his owne speach for he beeing readie to die vttered these wordes Animula vagula blandula non vt soles dabis io●os O my darling now thou shalt not iest and scoffe as thou wast wont to doe In death as Iob saith chap. 3. v. 19. there are small and great and the seruant is free from his master Hauing thus resolued this text of holy Scripture I am now to deliuer the doctrines that arise from the same Before I take this thing in hand this question may be mooued How Magistrates can be called the children of the high God seeing it may be truly averred that all of them doe not feare God all of them are not regenerate and borne of the holy Ghost To this question this answer is to be suted namely that the children of God are so called in a double respect First in respect of regeneration 1. Ioh. 3.1 and so magistrates are not here called the sonnes of the most high God Secondly in respect of honour and dutie and so they are here called the sonnes of the most High because God hath greatly aduanced them and so by dutie they are bound to feare him The word in the Hebrew phrase will beare this construction The sonnes of the high that is high As psal 29.1 The children of Gods that is Gods And Amos 9.7 The children of the Aethiopians that is the Aethiopians So speaketh Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of the Grecians that is the Grecians This question beeing thus assoiled I proceed to the doctrines Magistrates are called Gods not that men should imagine that omnis Deorum potestas est ad illos translata aut saltem cùm illis communicata Tullic all the power of God is conferred or at least wise communicated vnto them This was the pride of Alexander and Domitian who would be called Gods But they are so called to teach

therefore it is iust with God to dishonor them The Lord saith 1. Sam. 2.30 Them that honor me I will honor them they that despise me shal be despised Are not many ministers dissolute in their liues so that for their sakes others are contemned Propter pauc●s spreti sumus omnes for a few we are all contemned Secondly Ministers are poore 〈…〉 ●abet infoelix paupertas durius 〈…〉 ●●diculos homines facit pouertie 〈…〉 ●●●ng more wofull then this that 〈…〉 men ridiculous This to be a 〈◊〉 ●ause of the contempt of the Mini●●●●●●f God all men see with their eyes ●●●●gh they are singularly learned and ●●●e in them excellent gifts yet so blinde ●●e people that they regard not these things Riches and honour are highly respected but learning and pietie haue no reuerence Is it not wofull that Gods ministers should bee in want when as heathen men haue prouided for their Priests in great abundance as I might prooue out of histories Thirdly flatterie is a great cause why Ministers are contemned who is so base as a flatterer and most worthily for though a flatterer be in appearance a pearle yet in biting he is a viper and in killing ranke poison How many ministers now a daies sing placentia and sowe pillowes vnder mens armes for their gaine Fourthly ministers are contemned thorough ignorance for men knowing not the excellency of that calling how should they reuerence it Scientia neminem habet inimicum praeter ignorantem ignorant men are the onely enemies to knowledge Therefore not to be ouer long I say with Paul 1. Cor. 4.1 Let a man so thinke of vs as of the ministers of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God Fiftly ministers are contemned because they haue no authoritie in their hands onely they haue the bare and naked word of God If this were guarded with authoritie it would make men subiect themselues vnto Gods ministerie It seemeth strange to me that ministers should bee sheepheards and haue neither hooke nor dogge to keepe their sheepe But I leaue this to the wisdome of those that are in authoritie Sixtly ministers are contemned because of ridiculous sermons It is now a daies an odious thing to be no preacher and therefore many are so pulpit hungrie that they will steppe into the pulpit though very vnable to handle Gods word aright Which thing hath not a little disgraced ministers I wish these men would either amend or els as they are pulpit hungrie so they might bee fed with the pulpit Many other causes of contempt as the plentie of Gods word and the malice of Sathan might I haue recited and enlarged these that are named but I hasten to the second part of my text which is the Humiliation of magistrates Out of which we learne that magistrates are in great daunger of pride because the Lord after he hath exalted them immediatly setteth downe matter of humiliation This might be prooued by many examples as Nabuchadnetzar and Herod but I passe by them Philip as one reporteth would be put in minde of this that he was a man and therefore he would not come out of his chamber before one had cried thrise O Phillip thou art but a man By which example euery man may see that magistrates are very prone to forget thēselues A magistrate should remember 3 things which may abate his pride First that he ruleth men secondly that he ruleth them by lawes thirdly that he shall not rule long These three things well digested may abate the hautie spirit of many magistrates Now Gouernours are in daunger of pride first in respect of their birth and parentage They are nobly borne but basely proud as if parentage was not their ancestors good Our stocke and our Auncestors are not our owne but the things that we doe our selues they are our owne Why then are men puft vp with that is not their owne Secondly magistrates are in daunger of pride in respect of education for they are nicely brought vp without the precepts of humilitie and so must needes be haughtie For education is a speciall meanes to frame a mans manners nature is much so is education also Thirdly magistrates are in daunger of pride in respect of their wealth and their riches Diuitiae superbiores homines reddunt riches make men proud Charge rich men saith S. Paul that they be not high minded Fourthly magistrates are in daunger of pride in respect of flatterers The magistrate hath vsually three sorts of men about him the flatterer the slanderer and the craftie foxe The Philosopher mooueth a question whether a man needeth friends more in aduersitie then in prosperitie He determineth that friendes are more necessarie in aduersitie then in prosperitie and it is a truth in some respects yet in some respects friends are more necessarie in prosperitie then in aduersitie For true friends often admonish men in prosperitie that they be not haughtie which seeing magistrates want needes must they be in danger of pride This doctrine teacheth the magistrate two duties the one is praier the other vigilancie Concerning praier the magistrate must pray with Dauid Psal 36.11 that the foote of pride come not against him And how can that magistrate bee but proud that is not much in praier for praier teacheth him whence he hath receiued all things No maruell then though magistrates are so haughtie seeing they practise praier so little Concerning vigilancie the magistrate as he must pray against pride so must he watch against this sinne for pride creepeth euen into good actions It is like the Iuie which groweth vp with the tree and in the ende killeth it so pride groweth vp with good actions and at the length destroieth them And so I proceed to death which is the magistrates humiliation Xerxes as Herodotus reporteth beholding his armie thought himselfe happie but by and by he wept Then Artabanus asked him this question O king why doest thou such straunge things Xerxes answered It pittieth mee to thinke of the estate of these men for where shal any of thē be within this hundred yeares Loe into what passions the consideration of death bringeth kings And needs must death be a great humiliation to magistrates for they know that they shall not rule in the life to come as they doe in this life Hecuba saith It grieueth me to be a seruant amongst the dead seeing I was a Queene vpon earth Must it not needes then grieue magistrates to thinke that they shall be no better then other men ●n death yea to thinke that they may be damned howsoeuer they haue liued gloriously in this world Wherefore I desire all magistrates to remember three things first whence they came from the earth secondly whither they shall goe to the earth and before whome they shall giue an account before the great God of heauen and earth Let the magistrate imitate the mariner who that he may guide his ship sitteth in the hinder part thereof and not in the former part So should the magistrate looke to the hinder part of his life The godly man is like to the partridge whi●h is pe●secuted in her life but being dead shee is brought to great mens tables The wicked man is like vnto the hauke who in her life time sitteth vpon mens fists but being dead she is cast vpon the dunghill Omnia Caesar erat sed gloria Caes●ris ●sse Desiit tumulus vix erat o●t● pe●●●m Caesar was all in all and now is ●●t A tombe of 8. feete longe is all he hath got Now I will speake one word of the manner of magistrates death and so conclude They shall dye like ordinary men first in respect of the sudden death Rex Epi●otarum tegulà percussus de equo decidit the king of the Epirotians stricken with a tile fell from his horse Alphonsus king of Spayne in a iourney dyed vnder a tree Many such examples of sudden death might I recken vp Secondly they shall die like ordinarie men in respect of murther for they may be murthered as well as common men Ad generum Cereris sine caede sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges siccà morte tyranni Concerning magistrates few of them to graue do goe Without great misery and dreadfull woe Thirdly they shall die like vnto ordinary men in this respect because they may murder themselue as well as ordinary men doe Histories abound with examples of great men who haue offered violence vnto themselues Lastly they shall dye like vnto ordinarie men in respect of diseases for they are subiect to the same diseases that common men are Yea they are also subiect to the same terrours of conscience All which doe declare the truth of this text of Scripture The Lord of his infinite goodnes giue magistrates grace to liue the life of the righteous that they may dye the death of the righteous Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉