Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	court_n	king_n	plea_n	2,093	5	10.1113	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65556	The Protestant peace-maker, or, A seasonable persuasive to all serious Christians who call themselves Protestants that laying aside calumnies, and all exasperating disputes, they would pursue charity, peace, and union, as the only means (now left us) of safety and reformation of the publick manners : with a postscript, or notes on Mr. Baxter's and some others late writings for peace / by Edward, Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross in Ireland.	Wettenhall, Edward, 1636-1713.	1682 (1682)	Wing W1513; ESTC R38252	74,674	136

The Protestant Peace-Maker OR A SEASONABLE PERSUASIVE To all Serious CHRISTIANS Who call themselves PROTESTANTS That laying aside Calumnies and all exasperating Disputes they would pursue Charity Peace and Union As the only Means now left us of Safety and Reformation of the Publick Manners With a POSTSCRIPT or NOTES on Mr. Baxter's and some Others late Writings for Peace BY EDWARD Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross in Ireland London Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard 1682. An Advertisement THE Papers following came lately to my Hands and finding them contain many things very extraordinary and highly seasonable at this Juncture and writ with exceeding good and peaceable Design and with great Temper and no less sense of Piety I thought fit to make 'em Publick R. W. Febr. 14. 1681. ERRATA Pag. 24. line 22. for lightest read highest p. 98. l. r. r. all he l. 13. r. methodos p. 99. l. ult r. his Prayer p. 100. l. 22. dele it p. 107. l. 22. r. my consent l. 31. r have refused to do p. 110. l. 25. r. my Ministry l. 28. r. as these p. 111. l. 5 9. r. Celeusma l. 27. r. wildly out The Text. II SAM XV. 11. And with Absalom went Two hundred men out of Jerusalem that were called and they went in their simplicity and they knew not any thing IN the present state of things he that would design the greatest publick Service will perhaps upon due consideration scarce find any thing more worthy his fixing on than to endeavour to sweeten the Minds of men of one Faction towards those of another to take off and abate those bitter apprehensions and conceits those Heats and Furies with which they mutually stand enraged My purpose is at present to do what in an hours time I can thereto And that I may succeed therein the better I will desire that while I open my Text you will be pleased to suspend your Censures of any other design which you may imagine I have not to think I had in the choice thereof any Eye at the present Plot or any Great ones supposed to be concerned therein for by the sequel of my Discourse it will appear I had not I only intend to make such Observations upon the Text as shall most naturally conduce to the End I propounded The Words are a small passage in the History of Absalom's Conspiracy In Chap. 14 33. we find Absalom restored to the Kings favour and the first use he makes of it is with more security and facility to lay a wicked design against his Crown and Life First he endeavours to make himself considerable he Attracts the Peoples Eyes by a Princely Grandure and Retinue He prepared himself Chariots and Horses and Fifty men to run before him ver 1. and then their Hearts by crafty Insinuations He calumniates but with a seeming tenderness and modesty his Fathers Government condoles the Peoples Grievances shews a Zeal for their redress and all this with the most obliging Condescensions and the fairest Speeches imaginable He rises up early and stands by the way of the Gate where People past to the Court for Justice and if any came nigh him to do him obeysanee he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him And when any man that had a Controversie came to the King for Judgment see saith he thy matters are good and right but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee Oh! that I were Judge in the Land I would do you Justice From v. 2 to 6. In a word no Art by which he might fix Negligence or Male-administration on his Father or recommend himself as a sweet diligent and hopeful Prince is omitted And by this means had he stole the Hearts of the men of Israel After Forty years the Business is ripe and an Hyprocritical pretence of Religion gives it Birth Absalom said unto the King I pray thee let me go and pay my Vow which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron for thy Servant vowed a Vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria saying If the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem then will I serve the Lord ver 7 8. And having obtained and taken his leave at Court away he goes for Hebron But now not a word more of Religion for what have men of aspiring and Treasonable designs to do with it any further than the Pretence of it serves their Interest no Vow shall you hear of perform'd except perhaps by a Mental reservation his Vow were to do all that might be to take off the King The Crown was the God he served and to make his access thereto the King was to be the Sacrifice He therefore strengthens his Party all he can sends Spies throughout all the Tribes of Israel that they might be ready upon the first Voice of his being Proclaimed and at the same time sets forward himself And with Absalom went Two hundred Men out of Jerusalem that were called and they went in c. Now upon this last Verse it is that I am to make my Observations having nothing to do with nor any applications to make of any thing else in the story And they shall be only two of those upon the Character of these Two hundred of Absalom's Followers and upon their Cause the one of which namely their Character seems really good and the other was stark naught I observe then First Men of a right honest Intention may be easily drawn into the Society of the vilest Cause They went in their simplicity The Original is a little more emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They went in their Integrity Integrity is more than Simplicity They went only to bring the Heir apparent and the Kings Darling out of the Town or to accompany him to his Devotions and knew no more of the Design though in the mean while their Company gives encouragement and furtherance to one of the vilest Causes in the World the most ungrateful and unnatural Treason the Sun ever saw I add Secondly Such mens honest Intentions will not justifie their Engagements and Practices in the Society of a Wicked party These two Propositions I shall apply meerely towards the pacifying or allaying Religious Dissentions at least towards the uniting honest mens hearts and affections nor shall I meddle one word with the cross interests or fewds of State from which Good Lord deliver us First then Men of honest Intentions may be drawn into fellowship of very wicked Factions and sometimes more easily perhaps than others To assert this I shall only desire you to reflect on the Ordinary Methods of inveigling or drawing in men of Religion into Parties and together upon the Natural Infelicities of such mens Tempers The great Art of Religious bewitching men into Parties lies in the dextrous applicat on of fine Promises and Pretences By good words and fair Rom. xvi 18. Speeches these Artisans deceive the hearts of the simple or

this evil Lastly I must not conceal a third Mischief which our Divisions bring on the Church and that is a sad number of insufficient Pretenders and Intruders to the Ministry Amongst too many of the Factious whoever can but boldly pretend to Gifts and we know what pittiful reproaches of the Spirit of God some men are used to call so falls on exercising and if after some practice he gain a few ignorant Admirers these shall be his Followers otherwise perhaps styled his Converts and he may set up especially if such his Adherents choose him for their Pastour he may set up I say by the very Principles of divers of them without any other Ordination for a Minister of the Gospel This is up and down the Country a great Evil. But I am very far from saying all the Ministers amongst the Dissenters are such There are divers of them of Learning and good Conscience and possibly some of Legitimate Ordination However even these in the Point in hand we fear will find themselves to have acted prejudicially to the Interest of Holiness not only by conniving at and joyning with such insufficient Intruders into this Holy Office but also in not doing what they profess they can and what would have sufficed them and by this means in leaving their places to be filled sometimes with men much less serviceable to the Interest of Holiness than themselves who unhappily occasion many weak peoples following such Intruders and whose Admission as the Laws and Constitution of things stand the Governours of the Church cannot now hinder God be blessed there are few that I know or no Instances of this case hereabouts but too many elsewhere in our Israel Whose is the fault God will judge To conclude this Point Corruptions in Religion whether in Doctrine or Manners can never prevail much without corruption of the Holy Order Jerohoam could not effect the Alienation of the people from the Temple and true Worship of God meerly by his setting up his Golden Calves at Bethel till he had made of the Vilest sort of people Priests which were not of the sons of Levi persons no wise qualified for their Office of Priesthood by Education or Exercise 1 Kings XII 31. XIII 33. Let those who have been guilty of doing occasioning or contributing to the like evil look to it and lay it home to their hearts and Consciences The generality of such insufficients is a consequent of our Divisions and hereby Holiness has suffered and will suffer till such practice can be remedied which will never be effected till Union and Regularity may take place and operate Thus as to the Effects of Divisions upon the Church destructive to Holiness 3. The third Head proposed now only remains viz. the Consideration of the Effects of Faction prejudicial to Holiness on the spirits of private Christians and these I say it strangely vitiates I have already stated what I conceive genuinly meant by Holiness and according to the Account given in it signifies in a word an Habitual Complexion of all Christian Graces and Virtues Now let us look through the whole three Families or Tribes of Christian Duties towards God Men and Our selves and see how miserably peoples practice is corrupted under each Head by our Divisions I. I begin with Godliness but must admonish here as before none may expect I should touch on all particulars Time would fail Some enumeration of Points more obnoxious may suffice 1. The greatest corruption or adulteration of Religion and Godliness in the world is the misplacing it I mean mens taking up and holding to somewhat in stead of it which perhaps in their and some others judgment has some appearance and likeness of it or remote pretence to it but is very far from being it And if men shall not only do this themselves but teach others so to do and vent this false Godliness they are more dreadfully guilty of corrupting Religion and destroying Holiness according as he who should disperse as much false Money as he could were more a Criminal in adulterating the Kings Coin and abusing the Nation than he who fondly should please himself with the lustre of some few base pieces in his own private Cabinet Now I complain that the Divisions of the Church have brought men to place Godliness in points most distant from its nature nay some most contrary to it and not only to practice so themselves but to teach accordingly I shall assign only for the present a double instance First Some men mainly place Godliness in being of such or such a Church that is in other terms in being of this or that Sect or Party And the persons guilty herein are not meerly some weaker and ordinary people which yet some account the greatest part of Mankind but divers of a far different Grain at least as their Discourse and Conversation in other things bespeaks them How plausibly amongst men of tolerable judgment does the following Plea proceed Out of the True Church there is no Salvation And the True Church can be but one For there is One Body as one Spirit Ephes IV. 4. And we Believe One Catholick and Apostolick Church saith the Nicene Creed It therefore concerns a man in the first place in the Choice and Entrance upon his Religion to look hereto that he joyn himself to the true Church How few see the Snare which is here laid or are wary enough to extricate their perplexed minds by distinguishing that though the Catholick Church be but One yet Particular Churches may be and must be Many and of those many God forbid but we should think several to be true ones that is true Members of the one Catholick Church And 't is most likely she 's the worst which ingrosses to her self alone at least would ingross the Title of The True and Catholick In the mean while what a stir has this Question made in Divided Christendom Which is the true Church What are the Signs and Characters of it How many private Conferences publick Sermons voluminous Treatises taken up on this Subject And when men have from these Signs or Characters agreeing to such or such a Church in some tolerable measure satisfied themselves to their own apprehension and concluded such or such A True Church to which therefore they forthwith addict themselves is not this generally the next conclusion that the same is The True Church and presently this the final Result that Themselves and all in the Ark are safe by being in it Who sees not that this wile destructive flattery and delusion derives its Original from our Divisions Every divided Party look upon themselves as the Godlier and consequently quo id hoc the Holier by how much the purer Worship they conceive their Church to have and that they take for certain The truer the Church the Purer its Worship its Sacraments its Communion and in fine the surer its Members So that with the Multitude this passeth current Get into the true Church