Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	chief_a	justice_n	king_n	19,021	5	3.9928	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07210	The nevv art of lying couered by Iesuites vnder the vaile of equiuocation, discouered and disproued by Henry Mason.	Mason, Henry, 1573?-1647.; Goad, Thomas, 1576-1638.; Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1624 (1624)	STC 17610; ESTC S112437	93,492	129

that is true this man in very deed doth neither lye nor forsweare Thus they speake and so must all they that will maintaine this Arte. For whereas Father Persons speaking of the Wife of Ananias saith that shee beeing lawfully demanded by S. Peter in a lawfull cause touching her owne vow and promise no clause of reseruation could saue her speech from lying he doth herein not only contradict himselfe as Lyers vsually doe but doth also thereby ouerthrow the very grounds of this fond Arte. For if a reseruation in the mind doe free the Equiuocator from lying because that beeing added to his words both together do make a true Proposition why should not a reseruation in this womans mind saue her speech from lying if it were such as being added to her words both together might yeeld a true meaning which according to the rules of this Arte it had beene easie for this woman to frame 4 That in any case in which Equiuocation may bee vsed a man may frame any reseruation whatsoeuer himselfe pleaseth so it be such as being added to the words doth make the whole compound to bee true Persons somtimes seemeth to require that the reseruatiō be conformable to the matter time and place not fained at randome as some fondly do imagine But he doth but mocke his Reader making shew of following the former Schoole-Doctors whose words these are when he hath no such meaning as they had in them For when he speaketh plainely and so as you may vnderstand his distinct meaning them his words are I doe truely and really meane that I am no Priest in the sense that I speake it which may be any that pleaseth me or that I list to frame to my selfe so as I may meane that I am no Priest such as I should be such as I desire to be such as is worthy of so great an office and sacred a function such as he ought to be that occupieth the place of God in gouerning of soules I am no Priest subiect to the demander or obliged to answere his demands or the like Thus and such like whatsoeuer he pleaseth he professeth may be his reseruations when he denyeth himselfe to be a Priest and what conformity these haue at least the most of them with the Circumstances I leaue to bee declared by the Patrons and Masters of this Arte. Sure I am if such large scope may be granted and yet the reseruation bee conformable to the matter c. and not fained at randome then it will be an easie matter to keepe within cōpasse and to obserue the wise rule of this graue Father But let Persons goe with his doubling and let vs heare what others say Sanchez alloweth any words if they yeeld a true sense By any addition reserued in the mind● of the speaker whatsoeuer that addition bee And Iacob 〈◊〉 Graffijs proposing a Case of one who being taken by theeues doth for feare promise them somwhat with an oath If saith he he doe imagine some other thing in his minde for example I promise to giue this or do that if the Iudgo shal compelme to it or if the skie shall fall or the like then he shal be cleare from sinne And Sanchez that a man may lawfully answere that he killed not Peter meaning another man of the same name or that he killed him not antequam nasceretur before hee was borne And Strange the Iesuite to show what strange and vnlimited liberty they doe take in the framing of this fancie affirme that he was in the company reseruing and intending secretly as added this word Not when hee was questioned before the Lord Chiefe Iustice of England and the Kings Attourney These reseruations and others not much better doe they allow and practise in the Arte of Equiuocating whereof there is frequent mention in their Bookes and Treatises of this argument By all which it appeareth that they approoue of any reseruatirn which a man can fancie if the case be such as they allow of and the clause such as may signifie a trueth 5. That this Equiuocation of theirs is lawfull not onely in ordinary speach but in oathes also This is plainely auouched by Father Persons and vpon this reason Because it is a most certaine principle as well in reason as in Diuinitie that what a man may truely say hee may truely also sweare And againe As all Diuines held saith hee that which may lawfully be said may also lawfully be sworne And to this doe agree others of this Crue who commonly handle this question of Equiuocation in their Treatises of Oathes and allow it as a thing very lawfull and of good vse 6. That this Arte was deuised and so by them is vsed that by it they may deceiue the vnderstanding of the hearer and make him beleeue an vntrueth when it may serue for their turne To this purpose those words of Father Persons sound Equiuocation must sometime be practised when no other euasion can be found for defence of innocencie iustice secrecy and other like vrgent occasions And speaking of some cases of inconuenience which hee would haue to bee auoided by Equiuocation he demandeth Hath God and Nature and Law of Iustice left no lawfull euasion in such cases And againe Wee delight not saith hee in this Arte or maner of euasion by Equiuocation By this it appeareth that Equiuocation to vse the Iesuites owne words is an Art of euasion which cannot bee vnderstood without a meaning and purpose to deceiue the hearers vnderstanding and to make him beleeue an vntrueth The same Doctor of this Arte goeth on and teacheth vs that this their Equiuocation is when any speach hath or may haue a double sense not by any double signification or composition of the words themselues but onely by some reseruation of minde in the speaker whereby his meaning is made different from that sense which the words that are vttered de beare or yeeld without that reseruation And by this is implyed that the purpose of this is to imprint one sense in the speaker which they acknowledge to bee false and to keepe within themselues another which they imagine to bee true Becanus also another Iesuite hauing first proposed the question An liceat vti Aequiuocatione Whether it may be lawful to vse Equiuocation he explaineth the point thus Whether it bee lawfull to deceiue and beguile others by Equiuocations In the prosecution of which question though he wrangle would gladly shift off from themselues the imputation of this equiuocating fraud yea and flatly denieth it yet by explaining the questiō in such sort he acknowledgeth that their meaning who defend it is to beguile and deceiue men And in like sort Tolet saith It is sometimes lawfull to vse Equiuocation and to deceiue the hearer And therefore when Father Persons saith that his intention is not to deceiue in this mentall proposition but to defend himselfe

may bee a lawfull vse of equiuocall speeches in euery of these kinds if they be not extended too farre or mis-applyed to a wrong cause For to speake more particularly it is granted 1. That we may lawfully vse words which may indifferently be taken in diuers acceptions and meanings as they are then vsed And this is plaine partly because the Scriptures are full of such speeches and partly because our common conuersation and life cannot bee without them 2. It is not vnlawfull when some case of further good doth require it to vse these ambiguous speeches in the lesse knowne and common signification and in āother meaning then it is likely the hearers wil vnderstand them for the present For so when our Lord said Lazarus our friend sleepeth He meant that he was dead which was the lesse common and knowne signification and therefore the Disciples according to the more vsuall meaning vnderstood him of naturall sleepe And he did this for good purpose and for the profit of the hearers that they might heereby learne either that death in generall is to Gods children but as a sleepe by which they are refreshed and made the more liuely or that this death of Lazarus was rather to bee called asleepe then a death because hee was so speedily raised from it againe 3 It is not vnlawfull if there be iust cause for concealing of a trueth to vse an ambiguous speach in any of these kindes that thereby we may hide some thing from the hearers which they should not know This assertion hath not so direct proofe from Scripture as the others haue yet it is not without all proofe from the Scriptures neither For there wee finde that a man may lawfully vtter one trueth thereby to hide another trueth from the hearer As for example God appointed Samuel to goe to Bethleem and anoint one of Iesses sonnes to bee King and when Samuel obiected How can I goe If Saul heare it hee will kill mee The Lord said Take an heifer with thee and say I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And so Samuel did as it followeth in the same Chapter and by this he cōcealed his purpose of anointing a new King which was the speciall intent of his going to that place And if it be lawfull and warranted by Gods own appointment to vtter one trueth for the concealing of another then in reason I thinke it cannot iustly be condemned for vnlawfull if a man vpon iust occasion doe vse an ambiguous speech in a true sense thereby to hide from the hearer something which hee should not knowe For if in so doing any thing bee faulty it must be as I take it the one of the two either because an ambiguous speach is vsed in another meaning then it is likely the hearer will take it and that to be lawfull is prooued in the former assertion or because this true sense in the ambiguous speach is vttered to conceale another thing from the hearer and that to be lawfull is cleare by this example of Samuel And therfore I thinke the conclusion may hence be inferred that it is not vnlawfull if there be iust cause for concealing of a trueth to vse an ambiguous speach that thereby we may conceale some other thing which is not fit to be vttered And hereto agree our learned diuines also For one speaking of Equiuocatiō as it cōsisteth in the ambiguitie of words vttered addeth That this kind of Equiuocation especially in ordinary speach no man doubteth but that it may lawfully be vsed And this Equiuocation may haue his due place for concealing of Counfe●s and hiding of secrets And againe speaking to his aduersary Knowe saith he that those concealements whether of Confessions or Counsels whereof you speake where they doe consist of ambiguities in the words wee dislike not onely if they be couered with a lie that wee doe wholly condemne And another learned writer in our Church speaking of one that magnified the vse of Equiuocation adioineth If by the name of Equiuocation he vnderstand a plaine and sober concealing and couering of secret counsels which in this miserable life is oft times necessary I am of his opinion too This is the opinion and iudgement of our learned men concerning the vse of Logicall Equiuocation and herein we agree with them of the Church of Rome or if there bee any difference among the learned of both sides in these cases already mentioned as perhaps about some circumstances in the vse of those ambiguous speaches there may be it is nothing to the present Question in hand which is not concerning any of the kindes of these Logicall Equiuocations which consist in the ambiguous acception and meaning of the words vttered And therefore when the Equiuocaters of our time doe labor to confirme their Arte by the authorized vse of such speaches as are ambiguous by reason of the diuers meanings which the words may receiue they misse the marke beate the ayre and spend their labour to no purpose And this being briefly noted concerning the true and Logicall Equiuocation I come now to the improper and Iesuiticall And that what it is I will set downe in their owne words who professe to bee Patrons of it Father Persons then a man very laborious in the polishing of this Arte defineth it thus Equiuocation or Amphibologie in this our Controuersie is nothing else but when a speach is partly vttered in words and partly reserued in mind by which reseruation the sense of the proposition may be diuers And again mentall Equiuocation saith he is when any speach hath or may haue a double sense not by any double signification or composition of the words themselues but onely by some reseruation of minde in the speaker whereby his meaning is made different from the sense which the words that are vttered doe beare or yeeld without that reseruation And Sanchez giuing a Rule concerning the words vsed in this their Equiuocation saith A man may without telling of a lye vse those words although they be not ambiguous by their signification and doe not make a true sense either by themselues or by reason of the circumstano●s then occurring but doe onely make a true sense by some addition kept in the speakers minde whatsoeuer that addition bee Thus they By which descriptions it appeareth that Iesuiticall Equiuocation is a mixt proposition as Persons also diuers times calleth it part whereof is vttered in words and so taken it hath one sense and another part of it is reserued and vnderstood in the speakers minde which being added to the words spoken maketh another sense as for example A Seminarie or a Iesuite-Priest being asked by a Magistrate Are you a Priest He answereth I am no Priest vnderstanding and reseruing in his minde this clause So as I am bound to tell you or any other which himselfe pleaseth to like purpose here say they is but one mixt proposit●● part whereof is vttered