Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	authority_n	law_n	power_n	2,872	5	4.6226	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61247	A sermon preached March 6, 1675, in the Cathedral Church of S. Peter in York, before the Right Honourable Sir Timothy Littleton, Kt., and Vere Bertie, Esquire, His Majesties judges of assize for the Northern Circuit by William Stainforth ...	Stainforth, William, d. 1713.	1676 (1676)	Wing S5172; ESTC R13542	11,886	38

conveyed unto them by the Light of natural Reason reckoned Justice amongst the fundamental Properties of the Divine Nature and Plato affirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That cannot be said in any kind or respect whatsoever to be unjust but so far as is possible to be most just And that this was the general belief amongst them may appear by that universal Custom of Attesting God by solemn Oaths whereby amongst other of his Attributes they particularly own'd that of his Justice and that he would certainly avenge all fraud and unrighteousness And what was thus dictated by the Light of Nature is fully confirmed unto us by Gods Revelations in his own Word wherein he has made such ample discoveries of his own Nature and of his Dealings with men that we must needs conclude that Justice is one of the moral perfections of the Divine Nature and that God may as soon cease to be as fail to be just Shall not the Judge of all the world Gen. 16. ●5 do right sayes Abraham Which Question is an emphatical Affirmation that he will do so And the Apostle St. Paul rejecteth all suspicions to the contrary with an Absit What shall we say then Is there unrighteousness Rom. 9. 14. with God God forbid And for this Reason Princes and Governours Magistrates and Judges who are Gods Vicegerents and Representatives and to whom he has intrusted the care and government of the People committed to their charge are said to Psal 82. 6. be Gods And Gods they are not so much in respect of the sacredness of their Character and greatness of their Power as in the due exercise of their Authority and regular Administration of Justice For when conscience is their Councellor and the Law their Rule and the publick Good their End when they defend the Innocent and punish the Criminal and distribute Justice without the mixtures of Passion and the corruptions of Partiality then do they shine with Divinity indeed and they resemble God not only in the participations of his Greatness but also in the likeness of his Integrity which adorns their Office and justifies their Titles more than all their Furrs and Robes and Ensigns of Honour Zeale for Justice and orderly execution of it is that which Deifie Magistrates exalts their Stations raiseth them above the common level of Mankind sets a glory and a lustre upon their persons makes them sit Objects of our Homage and Reverence and we may justly affirm of such that Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men But then on the other side when Magistrates imploy their Power to ends contrary to those for which it was given them and make use of Gods Authority in a way repugnant to his Will i. e. when they neglect the Works of Mercy and Justice they are no more Gods but Idols nay the worst sort of Idols which being made to represent do yet foully reproach the divine Power Idols did I say perhaps you 'll think them worse when I tell you that the Devil is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to invert the Order of things to change their natural respects and Relations to disgrace Vertue and countenance Vice to put shame upon Integrity and security upon Sin to punish the Innocent and favour the Guilty And then whom such Magistrates are like that are seduc'd by his Temptations and corrupted by his Example you 'll find no great difficulty in making a conjecture for it is impossible they should any way resemble God because Justice is essential to his Nature and can no more be separated from him than he can be divided from himself And must it not hence follow that Justice which is so essential to Gods Nature must be more acceptable to him than Sacrifice which depended meerly upon his Will Is not God best pleas'd with himself having all possible and conceivable Perfections and Excellencies within himself And must not he then in an especial manner be delighted with those Duties that are most like and agreeable to himself that bear the Impress of his own Nature the Character and Signature of his own Being and is not Justice of this sort does it not make us like God and partakers of the Divine Nature and doe not Magistrates who rule by his Authority acquire by it a more exalted kind of Divinity become Gods to the Publick Weale and subordinate Saviours to the whole Kingdom And this is sufficient to prove that to do Justice and Judgement is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice III. To do Justice and Judgement is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice is evident from the different ends of these two Duties For Sacrifice was not enjoyn'd for its own sake but Justice always was and is and ever will be First Sacrifice was not enjoyn'd for its own sake For 1. Sacrifices were ordained to be Types of the Sacrifice of Christ who was to be offered up in the Fulness of Time upon the Cross they were instituted to be Figures and Shadows silent Prophesies of the death of the Messiah and the vertue they had of expiating legal Guilt was a suitable Type of the infinite efficacy and meritoriousness of the Blood of the Son of God which was a sufficient Expiation of the Moral and Eternal Guilt of the Sins of all Mankind This is clear from several places of the New Testament and more especially from St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews 2. Sacrifices were enjoyned to be as a Guard and Security for other Duties to be as a Hedge and a Fence for the Moral Precepts and especially to defend the Jewes against Idolatry for the Jewes were an extreamly vain and carnal people and very prone to be in love with and to follow the superstitions and idolatrous practices of the Gentiles and therefore rather than God would suffer them to be enticed and drawn away with the Vanities of the Heathens he gratifies their childish humour by instituting a pompous way of Worship that was agreeable to their Infant-State and present weakness and commands them to offer Sacrifice to himself the true God lest otherwise through the example of the Gentiles they should have been tempted to have done it to Idols And accordingly Justin Martyr saith particularly of the Sacrifices That the end of them was to keep the Jewes from Idolatry and this also Trypho acknowledgeth though he was a Jew and one that vigorously asserted the Law and mightily gloried in it And Tertullian is of the same opinion concerning the end of their Institution for he saith Populum pronum Idololatriae Adv. Marcion l. 2. ejusmodi officiis Religioni suae voluit astringere And this shews that Sacrifices were not commanded for themselves and that the goodness of this Duty was not Natural and Intrinsecal but Relative and External and depended meerly upon the success that it had in promoting Duties of a higher Nature and especially in securing the Jewes against Idolatry But now Justice always was and is and

Authority of God's will for their practice are pleasing to him yet we must necessarily conclude that those Duties are most acceptable to God that are founded upon the strongest Reasons and that carry their Obligations not in their accidental respects and mutable Relations but in their own natural goodness and unalterable Equity and such is Justice and not Sacrifice IV. That Justice is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice is evident from the different effects of these two Duties Now the effect of Sacrifices was the expiation of legal Guilt for God who by his Positive Will had made Natural Pollutions accidental Diseases the touching of a dead Body c. criminal and penal ordain'd that the Guilt contracted by those wayes should be abolished by a Sacrifice and the Offerer thereby restor'd to his legal Innocency and Priviledges And though the Sacrifice both argued and expiated Guilt yet had it no efficacy to Atone God's anger for sins of a deeper Guilt and a profounder Malice such as were Idolatry Murder Adultery c. for for these no Sacrifices were appointed But we find it otherwise in the distribution of Justice An impartial Execution of that in Magistrates and Judges does not only put a stop to the growth and increase of sin which provokes Gods anger against a Nation but it also appeaseth the Wrath and disarms the Severity of God and prevents the coming down of his dreadful Judgements upon a people for the most famous sins already commited A famous instance of this Truth we have among the Israelites whom God had smitten with a most grievous Plague because they were guilty of two most grievous Sins viz. Whoredome and Idolatry and the Plague continued to devour till Justice was executed but as soon as Phinehes acted by an extraordinary Spirit and an extraordinary Zeal nail'd the Adulterous Couple to the Ground and made them publick Examples of Justice because they had been so of sin God Psal 106. 30. withdrew his hand and the Plague was stayed And as this shews that Justice is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifices so it may teach all Princes and Magistrates if they have any regard to the Publick Weale and Prosperity of the Nation to put on Justice as a Robe and Righteousness as a Diadem and to let all Offenders of what Rank or Quality soever they are either in respect of their Crimes or Persons feel the deserved smart of their Rods and the just severity of their Laws For as this is the End of their Commission and the Reason of their Institution so they shall not only do good to their own Souls by such a faithful discharge of their Duty but they shall also prove excellent Instruments of Happiness to the whole Kingdom by delivering it from those Judgements that either are already come or that are approaching St. Austin tells us that the mighty Success and long Prosperity of the Romans was a Reward given them by God for their eminent Justice Temperance and other Vertues and if we examine the Sacred Scriptures we shall find no such sure Foundations of publick Peace and Prosperity as the due administration of Justice and Judgement Solomon the wisest of Kings tells us That if the wicked be taken from before the Prov. 25. 5. King his Throne shall be established in Righteousness Prov. 29. 4. That the King by Judgement establisheth 29. 2. the Land That all the people rejoyce when the Righteous are in Authority 28. 2. And by a man of Understanding the State of a Land is prolonged And all this is true not only upon the account of the natural tendency of the thing but also of the Divine Favour and Benediction it being the ordinary and usual method of God's Providence to bless and prosper those Nations that have pious and upright Governours and to curse and punish those that have vitious and corrupt Rulers What Reason have we then to bless God that live under so Excellent a Government and so Just a Prince that rather than Justice should not be administred sends his Judges to our own homes that so Justice like the Sun the great Minister in Nature may visit all places and influence all parts of the Nation with Light Heat and Vigour It was Darius's complaint that his Empire was like a raw Bull-hide Tread it down in one place and it would rise up in another But God be praised this Kingdom is subject to no such inconvenience because Justice is sent into all parts of the Land at the same time and Judgement is alike administred in every County and by the Equality of the Distribution all is kept in an even frame order and composure And now what remains but as we ought to be thankful for so great a Mercy so we ought to pray to God to continue it to us and to beseech him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the only Ruler of Princes that all those who bear any part in the Rule and Government of these Nations may have their Hearts warm'd with Zeal for Justice and be ready upon all Occasions in despight of all Temptations to the contrary to use their Power and Authority for the punishment of Evil Doers and for the praise of them that Do Well Which God grant for Christ Jesus sake To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Might Majesty Dominion Praise and Thanksgiving now and for ever Amen FINIS Lately Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Amen-Corner THE Estate of the Empire Or an Abridgement of the Laws and Government of Germany Farther shewing what Condition the Empire was in when the Peace was concluded at Munster Also the several Fights Battels and Desolation of Cities during the War in that Empire And also of the Golden Bull. In Octavo The Sicilian Tyrant Or The Life and Death of AGATHOCLES With some Reflections on our Modern Usurpers Octavo The ROYAL MARTYR and the Dutiful Subject In two Sermons By Gilbert Burnet In Quarto The Generosity of Christian Love Delivered in a Sermon by William Gould Quarto The Witnesses to Christianity By Sy. Patrick D. D. Octavo Ductor Dubitantium Or Bishop Taylors Cases of Conscience The Fourth Edition Folio The Life and Death of K. CHARLES the First By R. Perenchief D. D. Octavo A Modest Plea for the Church of ENGLAND Octavo