Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	chief_a	judge_n	lord_n	8,512	5	4.2435	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48196	The dangerous rule, or, A sermon preached at Clonmel in the province of Munster in Ireland, upon Aug. 3, 1657 before the reverend judges for that circuit by S.L., Master in Arts, and lately fellow of C.C.C. in Oxon.	Ladyman, Samuel, 1625-1684.; J. E.	1658 (1658)	Wing L168; ESTC R2962	19,621	141

The Dangerous Rule OR A SERMON Preached at Clonmel in the Province of Munster in Ireland Upon Aug. 3. 1657. Before The Reverend Judges for that Circuit By S. L. Master in Arts and lately Fellow of C.C.C. in Oxon. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 London printed by J.C. for Tho. Newbery over against the Conduit in Corn-hill 1658. To the Right Honourable Richard Pepys Lord Chief Justice of the Upper Bench Counsellour of State in Ireland And John Bysse Esq Recorder of the City of Dublin Judges of Assize For the Province of Munster My Lords IN Obedience to your Lordships I do here present you with a Copy of that Discourse which was so lately preached before you I dare not quarrel with it now lest that should implicitely Question your Lordships Judgements and the Judgements of several other persons of Quality who have been pleas'd to approve of it Yet this I must say That I was so far from thinking it might become the Press as that in such an Auditory and upon so solemn an occcasion I judg'd it unworthy of the Pulpit But since your Lordships have thought otherwise because it scarce savours of good manners to contradict either your Thoughts or Commands I have thus submitted it to your Lordships Pleasures though I am not altogether insensible what sundry prejudices will attend it 'T is suited to a particular Season and therefore like musical notes harmonious in their due time and place but nothing less when dis-joyned from these nor dare I wish that it might again become fashionable since that were to imprecate publick mischiefs 'T will be distasted by some because it seems to derogate from the deserved worth of a good Conscience though its Author was so far from this that he could more gladly have pleaded against Laws without this Balance then against Conscience without their Conduct only men were leaning rather towards the later extreme and if he seems to bend a crooked Tree too much on the contrary hand his intent is no other but to make it straight in the close 'T will be censured by others for prefering Achitophel before David for advancing carnal Reason too highly too much slighting the assistance of Gods Spirit but this was as far from my thoughts as to speak of it had been besides my purpose That the Lord doth thus eminently help those who by prayer and faith wait upon him is a most comfortable and precious truth yet I humbly conceive that such assistance can be expected only in those Undertakings to which God calls men not to which they call themselves And then too in the diligent use not in the slothful supercilious neglect of lawful means for this lesson the Creator hath taught us by his own practice If Omnipotency design the restauration of a languishing Hezekiah Isa 38.21 Joh. 9.6 or his sight who was born blind a lump of figs clay spittle must be applied And as diseases in the natural body are not curable without Physick so neither those in the Politick without Laws Nor have I pleaded for what 's amiss in these 't is true I have compared them to the sweetest Musick and do I confess judge known Laws the beauty and harmony of a Commonwealth yet if this Harp be out of tune or want a string let some skilful ear and cautious hand be intrusted with its Reformation But to vote Laws redundant and unnecessary as too many have done to break these bands in sunder cast these silken Cords of Reason from us were to antidate Divine vengeance in one of its most terrible threatnings even with our own hands to stretch out upon these Nations the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness This Discourse is yet subject to a farther disadvantage 't wil fall no doubt into the hands of many whom obscurity or non-observation of our late Exorbitancys may render strangers to its just ground and plentiful occasion though this was not only the over-jealous surmises of some nor the discontented and secret mutterings of others but things visibly acting both in our Native Country and here Nor could the utmost care of our Honorable and pious Governors their Excellencies the Lord Deputy Ireton whose memory is still precious the Lord Deputy Fleetwood a person so eminently gracious that this Age hath scare parallel'd him the Lord Henry Cromwel whom God hath furnished with wisdom conduct even to admiration I say the utmost care of these and of those other worthies who were still drawing in the same yoke with them could not suddenly redress this for when once a Distemper hath seiz'd the blood vital Spirits the head may more easily condole then cure it And really we in this flegmatick climate grew strangely infected with that State-malady this following Sermon declares against some Persons of very considerable Quality were not asham'd to tell you that they expected are long to carry all the Law of England in their pockets Nor were these esteem'd such Lovers of Books as to make that Pocket-Companion very bulkish neither I cannot but smile and the Lord grant it may be with a thankful heart when I call to mind how neatly we were courted by the smooth and still voice of plausibility into a consent to our own ruine And that design goes on most dangerously which makes least noise for the screaking wheel is more interrupted then the silent But I must humbly crave your Lordships pardon for this tedious diversion from your more serious Employments and I shall here break it off the rather because 't is no less then a publick Injury That the weighty Vndertakings now recommended to your care may be manag'd in the fear of that God before whose more dreadful Tribunal your selves with the meanest of those whom you are now to sentence must ere long appear shall be his earnest request at the Throne of Grace who is From my Study in Clonmel August 5. 1657. Your Lordships most unworthy Servant Sam. Ladyman The EPISTLE to the READER Courteous Reader THis ensuing Discourse is adapted to the temper of the times smartly militates against the wildness of irregular Decisions and Determinations and was therefore deservedly courted to come forth and appear upon a publick Stage that so in it as in a Glass the World might behold the Monstrosity rugged deformity of Conscience when seated upon the Throne as Queen Regent whilst standing Laws are constrain'd to lie gasping under her Imperious Feet and are sullied unto the reproach of useless and absurd The declared Design is to make Conscience a Court of Chancery to mitigate the rigour of the Laws as if they were a Torrid zone under which there were no living The following Hints and Observations are in order to thy satisfaction 1 There are many in the World who appearing before the Bar of Conscience have gone away complaining that her little Finger hath lain heavier on them then the dreaded Loins of the Law None have been more miserably hampered

malos est crudelitas erga bonos when the Wicked are pardoned the Righteous are punished If any object Object That Mercy and Justice interwoven is that Robe which best becomes a Judge and that Magistrates being called gods ought to imitate the Lord in that even as in other Attributes We answer by granting the Allegation Answ but with this Difference That God hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy but they upon whom they ought for though it be his Glory to conceal a thing yet is it their honour to search out a matter Prov. 25.2 This is the first Use A Word of Exhortation Is our Doctrine a Truth Use 2. Then take heed of being again decoy'd into the least Approbation of these or the like Destructive Principles That Common-wealths may be governed without the known Laws That consciencious Men without the guidance and superintendency of these can steer a State Recollect what hath been alledg'd concerning the impossibility of this What though thou art thy self rais'd above that Oppression and Mischief which would ensue upon it yet remember thy poor Neighbours are not and thy Children may not be There are some who like that traitorous Underminer of his Father's Kingdom 2 Sam. 15. do stand in the Gate wishing that they were Judges in the Land and that Men might bring their Suits to them for they would do them Justice But know that there is much difference between Absolom on Foot and Absolom on Horseback he kisses in one posture but kills in the other He that 's courteous in the Stirrup is churlish in the Saddle The Hedghog is no sooner entertained in the Fox's Den but he sets up his prickles and tells his Host If he like it not he may leave him there Could the grand and primary Projectors of this reformed Model have accomplished their Ends though they seemed before to want Fingers yet would they then have found Claws 'T is dangerous tasting Poyson though wrapp'd up in Sugar And this Design of Extirpating Laws and Enthroning a pretended Conscience in their room was too loathsome to be otherwise swallowed too deformed to appear without a vail for if the Wolf will enter the fold with the Sheep's consent he must wear their Livery Do any object Object That this Discourse and Caution are both out of season My Answer is Answ That I could wish them more out of season then I fear they are for that Physician must love his Profit too well who is quarrelsome because his Neighhours are not sick Besides though God hath blown this Cloud from off Men's Understandings at present yet how soon its scattered parts may reunite and a second time over-spread us we do not know This is the second Use A Word of Caution Is the superintendency of Laws so requisite c. Use 3. Then let this encourage Magistrates both in their Work and in their Way In their Work For this Doctrine speaks it highly necessary We cannot live our Commonwealth cannot stand but without it sinks under its own unweildy Bulk And because to have no Rule and having one to want Knowledge how to use it is the same thing This Doctrine doth commend their Way too for our Magistrates are acquainted with this Rule they are vers'd in the known Laws of these Nations without which Justice would be defective even lame as well as blinde and Conscience but a feeble Reed shaken with the Winde of every passion Law is the Compass by which our Magistrates direct their Course and the want onely of this Pilot made David's Judgement so Oppressive his Sentence so Injurious This is the third Use A Word of Encouragement Is Conscience without Laws c. Use 4. Then let this humble the wisest and best of Men while our Doctrine displays before them their own Frailties Let them blush to see what poor contracted things they are how easily turn'd aside with every slanderous Breath how unable to judge even the smallest matters Nor may any object what some have said concerning Natures Law from which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or primary act of Conscience differs onely ratione that this Law is the clearest Light the best Guide for I have heard that already and that those who act according to its Dictates cannot erre for I have heard that too I have read these and other the like Encomiums of Nature Idem beatè vivere secundum Naturam ad illius Legem Exemplumque formari sapientia est But pray who was it that thus commended Nature but some conceited Stoick some purblind Heathens who had lost their eyes with doating so fondly upon so foul a Mistris Doth not Scripture teach us that Nature is bruitish blinde and dark Doth not Experience teach us that Conscience is turn'd and Ignis fatuus and leads us into the paths of Error 'T was once indeed a Star of the first Magnitude a bright and shining Taper But alas how is it now depraved how surrounded with smoak and blackness It receives its Light onely from an eclipsed Sun from a beclouded Intellect and that Moon which doth so will shine but feebly This is the fourth Use A Word of Humiliation If the Consciences of wise and good Men be so unsafe a Rule c. Then Use 5. 1. Hence we may learn what pitiful work would wicked Men and Fools have made what lamentable Stories would a little Experience have told of such How many Innocents must have groaned under the Pressure of their Ridiculous and Unjust Decrees If a Sentence so Unreasonable as this in our Text drop from David's Mouth what may we expect from Saul's Ziba so far prevail'd with the Former as to rob one Man of his Estate but Doeg so far with the Latter as to bereave some Hundreds of their Lives Fourscore and five of the Lord's Priests may dye their Ephods in their own Blood 1 Sam. 22. He chose the better part who desired rather to Live under the most cruel Tyrant that acted by a Declared Rule then under the best Prince without it And if the Holiest Men in these Nations without the Guidance of known Laws be uncapable of so great a Trust Then doubtless for the Consciences of Malicious Selfish Hypocrites to be made the Standards of Right and Wrong had been most sad and dangerous 2. Hence we may learn to look back with silent Admiration upon that desperate Rock we have escaped to review that Unavoidable Ruine which so lately threatned us with a thankful Astonishment 'T is not long since we saw some seated in the room of the Judge who neither knew the Laws nor pretended to act by them 'T is not long since Wise Men in a Distracted Posture stood gazing upon each other listning diligently what horrible Desolations their misguided Zeal would give Birth unto whose Grand Consultations were how to rase the Foundation of this Commonwealth and Extirpate its Laws Hath that Eye which neither slumbers nor sleeps prevented this Break forth into praises for so great so undeserved a Mercy 3. Hence we may learn To bless the Lord for that eminent Assistance and Direction he graciously vouchsafed his Servants lately assembled in Parliament To bless the Lord for giving them Courage and Resolution to assert the known Laws of these Nations the standing Rule by which they must be govern'd To bless the Lord for putting into their hands that Ariadne's Thread which hath been their Conduct to so hopeful a Settlement through the thick Darkness of former and late Confusions Yea To bless the Lord that out Supreme Magistrate is now a second time engaged by Oath to Manage his Great and Weighty Trust according to the Laws of this Commonwealth And that in so good a Measure God hath restored our Judges as at the first and our Counsellors as at the beginning FINIS