Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	according_a	conscience_n	law_n	1,864	5	5.1678	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93694	An answer to one part of the Lord Protector's speech: or, A vindication of the fifth monarchy-men, in reference to an accusation of evil charged upon them in his speech to the Parliament in the Painted Chamber, the 4 of September, 1654. / Published by John Spittlehouse, to the end all men may see the strong endeavours that have been used to obstruct the kingly interest of Jehovah the Lord Christ in the world, by blowing the bellows of a persecution against those that desire he should reign over all nations of the earth, by his holy, just, and perfect laws and ordinances recorded in the sacred Scriptures to that very end and purpose.	Spittlehouse, John.	1654 (1654)	Wing S5003; Thomason E813_19; ESTC R211046	21,496	28

magnifie the laws of Heathens and Antichristians above them is to admiration But I hope it will not be so for the future And hence it was that godly David complaineth of such persons saying How long will ye judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked Selah Psal 82. 2 c. Again saith he They know not neither do they understand they walk in darkness Again Solomon speaking to the whole pack of those Magistrates that contaminate the Laws of God in chap. 6. of his book titled Wisdom saith Hear O Kings and understand learn ye that are Judges of the earth give ear ye that rule the people and glory in the mult●tude of nations for power is given you from the Lord and soveraignty from the Highest who shall try your works and search your counsels Because being ministers of his kingdom ye have not judged aright nor kept the law nor walked after the counsel of God horribly and speedily will he come upon you for a sharp judgement shall be to them in high places For mercy shall pardon the MEANEST but MIGHTY MEN shall be MIGHTILY TORMENTED For he that is Lord over all shall fear no mans person neither shall he stand in awe of any mans Greatness for he hath made the small and great and careth for all alike BUT A SORE TRYAL SHALL COME UPON THE MIGHTY Unto you therefore O Kings saith he do I speak that ye may learn wisdom and not fall away For they that keep holiness holily shall be judged holy and they that have learned such things shall learn what to answer Wherefore set your affections upon my words desire them and ye shall be instructed And doubtless the refusal of such Instructions will be the cause of that HORRIBLE DAY upon the Kings of the earth and the Great Men and the Rich Men and the Chief Captains and the Mighty Men Rev. 6. 15. where they are said to hide themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains and to say to the Rocks and Mountains Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the face of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand And me thinks there is very much reason for such a judgment to fall upon them For are they any more then the Ministers of God as aforesaid as also in Rom. 13. 4. And is it possible they should be Gods ministers as they pretend whilst they make and execute their own vain Traditions and Inventions Surely no. And therefore seeing the Judicial Law is that which they are bound in duty and service to administer as they account themselves Gods ministers in reference to Civil affairs why ought not all Kings and Laws Psal 7. 10. Zeph. 2. 11. bow to it as the onely Rule of right judgement For as Mr. Aspinwal upon Dan. 7. well observeth The Laws of men do binde us to be subject to Authority for conscience sake either actively in doing what they command according to Christ or else in suffering And their Law is satisfied if we suffer the penalty to preserve our consciences undefiled But it is not so with the Law of God If God command we may not say We will suffer the punishment for conscience sake for there can be no conscience or pretence of conscience against any Law of God And therefore all humane laws ought to be slighted and contemned as fancies in comparison of the foresaid Royal law of Jehovah the Lord Christ Speech Though now by some mis-applied Resp To this clause let Mr. Owen speak for us in his Sermon upon All the rest were Babylonish and Antichristian Ezek. 17. 24. page 20 c. where speaking of mis-applying of things by the Potentates of the world he saith That from the corruption of the hearts of men squaring the works of God to their fleshly reasonings corrupt interests and principles they are bold with the wisdom of God and conclude Thus and thus things ought to be ordering their thoughts for the most part according to their corrupt and carnal advantages c. And this saith he makes them frame a way for God to proceed in which when he doth not how are they surprised Men take up Principles they will adhere unto wise principles forsooth yea and very righteous too all things whatsoever must be squared according to their principle and if any thing be wrought con●rary even by God himself how disappointed are they The most tremendous judgement of God in this world is I wish some one be not now in Pharoahs then Condition the hardning the hearts of men this seals them up for the most part for destruction c. As for instance look on Pharaoh of whom it is most signally spoken that God hardned his heart How did the Lord accomplish this Pharaoh sets himself upon as righteous Principles as ever any of the sons of men could do one is That it belongs to the chief Ruler of a Nation to s●e the profit and glory of the Nation c. Hence he conclude That if it be incumbent on him to see that the Realm receive no detriment he must not let the people go God confirms his heart in this Principle which was good in it self but abominable * When done in opposition to the fifth Monarchy when taken up against the mind and will of God and whence he and his perished in their Principles acting against the appearance of God c. Thus it is with many they fix on Principles good in general and in their season Old bounds must not be broken up Order must not be * Our known Laws must not be spoken against let them be never so contrary to the Law of God and of Christ. disturbed let God appear never so eminently so mightily they will keep up their Principles What is this but judicial hardness And this I say is one reason why the actings of God in such a day as this are so unsuted with the expectations of men they square his work to their interests and principles which it will not answer Now Reader compare the present work of Christ in the world with the present state of affairs in this Nation and then judge whether the Fifth Monarchy-men or their Accuser be the misappliers he speaketh of Whether the known laws of Jehovah the Lord Christ or the known laws of England be fittest for the fifth Monarchy or Government of the kingdom of Christ which he himself hath so long contested for or at least pretended for as his Declarations and Remonstrances do clearly evidence Speech Especially where every stone is turned to bring in Confusion this will be worth every Magistrates consideration Resp It were good it were known by whom or how every stone is so turned If by the Fifth Monarchy-men let either himself or any for him shew in what that we may make our defence thereunto and let us not be accused and condemned

PRESBYTERY is as neer of kin to Prelacy as Prelacy to Popery it ought as well to be abrogated root and branch as PRELACY being both DAUGHTERS to that MOTHER OF HARLOTS Rev. 17. 5. to that MYSTERY OF INIQUITY and ABOMINATION OF THE EARTH Yea doubtlesse it may confidently be affirmed that what Church soever doth yet retain the CONSTITUTION of the Church of Rome since its APOSTACY albeit never so much refined in other particulars as relinquishing its Ordination c. which the Presbyterians c. have not done is still to be esteemed as Babylonish and Antichristian And the like may also be said in point of Regulating the Civil Laws of Commonwealths derived from the Assirian or BABYLONISH MONARCHY erected by Nimrod Gen. 10. 9 10. which though the Magistrate should refine never so much yet it is but a REFINING OF BABEL for whilst there is any thing in them that may be termed HVMANE either in Civil or Ecclesiastical Laws that may be said to be added or detracted from the Law of God comprised in the Old and New Testament they by so doing bring themselves under the Curse of God Deut. 22. 26. Gal. 3. 10. Therefore we may safely assert that by how much the present Magistrates of this Commonwealth do judge themselves to be the members of the body of Christ or that the God of Heaven and Earth is their God or expect to have God dwell in them and walk in them or they to be his people they ought to come wholy out of the BABYLONISH and ANTICHRISTIAN ESTATE whether in reference to CIVIL or SPIRITVAL GOVERNMENT yea to bee such SEPARATISTS from them as not to touch them in the least but to pluck them up ROOT and BRANCH And so wholy conform themselves to the word of God for their SOLE RVLE and direction therein which if they will yet submit unto the Ap●stle averreth that the Lord Christ hath promised to receive them into his ●ingdom● and to be a Father unto them and that they shall be his children 2 Cor. 6. 27 28. But that this will not easily be assented unto by the present Powers of the world is cleerly made out unto us by another of his own created * Whose expressions will need no Interpreter Doctors viz. Mr. John Owen in his Sermon upon Heb. 12. 27. page 25. where he saith That that which doth and shall stick upon Potentates to their ruine is not so much their own or any other interest as the Dregs of the Papal Antichristian interests thrust into their Oaths and Obligations for I shall only propound some Queries no other end in the world BVT TO KEEP THE LORD JESVS OVT OF HIS THRONE And hereupon it was saith he in his Sermon upon Ezek. 17 24 page 12. that the late King had learned a saying from his Predecessors No Bishop no King supposing his MAIN INTEREST to lye in holding up PRELACY a mere INCROACACHMENT upon the INHERITANCE OF CHRIST Christ coming to take his OWN shakes the other in peeces Again saith he those who would have been our Oppressors Were not those the Presbyterian Priests c. in Scotland but that God hath crushed the Cockatrice in the shell and filled the pit with their dead bodies which they had digged for us they also had prepared a PROCRVSTES BED a heavy yoak a Beast that had it grown to perfection would have had HORNS and HOOFS And in maintaining this they think their GREAT INTEREST TO LYE And in holding this fast are they after all their Associations broken in peeces Again in page 21. of that Sermon What was the corrupted design of many in Scotland that they might set up a SON of Was it corrupt in them then not in your selves now TABEAL in England and THEMSELVES to be GREAT VNDER HIM and that they and their Partakers might IMPOSE on the residue of the Nations especially in the things of God Their great desire that things should be thus corrupts their minds to think that it ought to be so Hence AMBITION TO RVLE and to have all under their power even in conscience is quickly mistaken for zeal for the Kingdome of Christ inthroning of Tyranny is Loyalty and all according to Covenant As if men had sworn to be good to themselves and to be true to their own interest all their dayes which surely none need to be sworn to Thus mens minds and judgements are distempered by their lusts and interests which makes them frame a way for God to proceed in And this is the reason saith he page 25. of his Sermon Heb. 12. 27. that the Lord Jesus by his MIGHTY POWER at Wherein is it altered since that time his bringing in of his VNMOVABLE KINGDOM will shake the HEAVENS and the EARTH of the NATIONS even because in their * PRESENT CONSTITVTION they are DIRECTLY FRAMED to the INTEREST OF ANTICHRIST which by notable advantage at their FIRST MOVLDING and CONTRIVED INSINVATIONS ever since hath so riveted it self into the very FVNDAMENTALS of them that no digging or Mining without an EARTHQVAKE will cast up the FOVNDATION * What cal you them foundation stones stones thereof because as is their interest so is their acting the present powers of the Nations stands in DIRECT OPPOSITION to the bringing in of the KINGDOME OF CHRIST Again Page 27. of that Sermon Are not most Potentates tyed by OATH or OTHER COMPACT to maintain either the WHOLE or some part of the OLD TOWER under the Vid. Art 35. Government Reader compare these expressions with the late transactions name of RIGHT OF HOLY CHURCH Prelats and the like And can any expect that such as these should take up the DESPISED QUARREL OF THE SAINTS against that FLOURISHING QUEEN Doubtlesse NO SUCH FRUIT WILL GROW ON THESE TREES before they are THROUGHLY SHAKEN All carnal Interests will doubtlesse be shaken with that of Babylon Many of Gods people are not weaned from the things that are seen No sooner is one CARNAL FORM SHAKEN OUT but they are ready to CLEAVE TO ANOTHER Yea to warm themselves in the FEATHERED NESTS OF UNCLEAN * Is it not so at this day BIRDS All fl●shly Dominion within doors and all Civil Dominion that opposeth without doors shall be shaken Now these things are so glued also to mens earthly possessions the talons of the birds Who are those birds of prey unless the souldier pries● and lawyer of prey having firmly seized on them that THEY also must be shaken with them Reader consider these expressions of Mr. Owens seriously and then tell me whether he had not a good ghess of what we have seen since the preaching of these Sermons come to pass I presume Mr. Tho. Goodwin and himself c. little thought then that their own words should now have been brought in testimony against them But the heart of man is deceitful above all things Now that this shaking here spoken of is not to be taken in Mr. Owen's

upon jealousies and surmises or we know not what through subtilty and cunning suggestions which the Lord will one day call to an account Thus Reader hast thou seen the whole body of his Charge against the Fifth Monarchy-men vanish into nothing which doubtless will be the event of every weapon that is formed against Jesus Christ or those that are faithful to his interest Speech Thi● I say will be worthy of the Magistrates consideration Resp It will be so indeed and therefore it was worthy of a double remembrance For it is certain that all the present powers of the earth are now at the stake and therefore such of them as are self-ended men covetous proud c. had need to look about them for doubtless the STONE cut out without hands is growing into such a Mountain as will fill the whole earth and that even to the breaking in pieces and consuming all their Kingdoms whether they be Iron Clay Brass Silver or Gold yea so to break them in pieces as to make them like unto the chaff of the summer threshing-floor yea the winde of the wrath of the Almighty shall so carry them away as that there shall no place be found for them Dan. 2. Again the rest of the Magistrates that are not such if there be any ought also doubtless to consider seriously hereof as also to compare the present Laws of the Nation with the Laws of God For as Mr. Aspinwal saith If the laws of God contained in the holy Scriptures be well weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary it will appear to be the most safe and wholesome Government in the world For what can be imagined to be more safe then to have Saints and such as walk with God and God with them to administer judgement and justice according to those perfect laws And if the Laws be perfect and such as administer them be Saints by calling and have a promise of divine assistance how can it but be more safe then to embrace imperfect and undurable Laws such as some make and others null at pleasure according to the fancies and humours of those in present Power and Authority as daily experience teacheth as also to have such to execute those Laws as have not the like promise of divine assistance Besides the Experiences of many Ages do shew that the want of the laws of God and faithful Administrators hath hitherto been the ruine of all the States and Governments in those four Monarchies and will shortly be their eternal desolation Dan. 2. 44. and 7. 26. Again that saying of Moses Deut. 4. 5. is also well worthy their serious contemplation where speaking to the then-peculiar people of God touching the excellencie of the Law of God their King which he had received to administer unto them saith Behold I have taught you statutes and judgements even as the Lord my God commanded me that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it Keep therefore and do them for this is your w●●dom and your understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear those statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people For what Nation is there so great that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day I shall now conclude with Mr. Owen's expressions in p. 39. of his Sermon upon H●b 12. 27. O that it were the will of God to put an end to all that pretended holiness hypocritical humiliation self-interested Religion that have been among us whereby we have slattered God with our lips whilst our hearts have been far from him O that it might suffice that we have had in our Parliament and among our Ministers so much of the form and so little of the power of Godliness that we have called world Christ and lust Christ and self Christ working indeed for them when we pretended all for Christ O that in you might appear the Reality of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus which hath been so long pretended by others that sound righteousness not a Pharisaical rigid superstitious affectation nor a careless belief and comportment the issue of novel fancies might be found upon your spirits that we may be thought meet to rejoyce with the Lord in his kingdom Psal 107. 43. Whoso is wise will ponder these things and they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. FINIS