Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	esq_n	honourable_a	thomas_n	11,004	5	9.8448	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27462	A sermon preached at the assizes held at Leicester, July xxii. MDCLXXVI before the Right Honourable Sir Edward Atkins Lord Chief Baron, and Sir Christopher Milton, Baron of the Exchequer / by the Honourable George Berkeley ...	Berkeley, George, 1651 or 2-1694.; Atkyns, Edward, Sir, 1630-1698.; Milton, Christopher, Sir, 1615-1693.	1686 (1686)	Wing B1970; ESTC R8808	9,310	30

Imprimatur Io. Battely Rmo D no D no Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuar à Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedib Lambeth Sept. 8. 1686. A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES HELD AT LEICESTER JULY xxii MDCLXXXVI Before the Right Honourable Sir EDWARD ATKINS Lord Chief Baron and Sir CHRISTOPHER MILTON Baron of the Exchequer By the Honourable GEORGE BERKELEY A.M. Published at the Request of Thomas Wilson Esq High Sheriff of the County of Leicester LONDON Printed by I. Macock for R. Royston Book-seller to his most Sacred Majesty 1686. A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES Held at LEICESTER Iuly xxii 1686. MATTH vii 12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets OUR Saviour upon the close of his Sermon upon the Mount doth in this Chapter forbid an affectation of Censure and Forwardness in Judging our Neighbour cautions us against the Prophanation and Prostitution of Holy things exhorts us unto Prayer with that persuasive inducement of God's Benignity and Goodness compared with the tenderness of an earthly Parent shewing us the disproportion of created and uncreated Goodness to strengthen the Argument à fortiori After which he descends to this Principle of Common Equity Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you c. In which Words we may consider these following Propositions as directly contained or implied therein I. That all men by a natural Principle which flows immediately from the very frame of their Natures are inclined to wish well to themselves II. That every particular mans happiness doth so much depend upon the general and common good of Society that it cannot be separate therefrom III. A General Rule of Natural Justice and Common Equity to be observed by all men in Society and Converse with one another viz. That whatsoever we would that men should do unto us we should do even so unto them IV. Lastly The Divine Authority and Sanction of this Precept For this is the Law and the Prophets I. I begin with the first of these viz. That all men by a natural Principle which flows immediately from the very frame of their Natures are inclined to wish well to themselves That every man hunts after his own felicity and is at all times a Well-wisher to his own good however he mistaketh the thing or the way to that good is a Maxim so evident and clear that no man in his sound wits can call it into question it is derived from the very necessity of our Natures men cannot do otherwise if they would It is the very fundamental Law of our Being and the very first Principle that God hath put into us In other Creatures it is called Instinct which God hath implanted in their Natures as a power necessary for their support and preservation We can as soon stifle or annihilate our very Beings as deprive our selves of this motion and desire after happiness which if we could take away would destroy our Constitution as men and quite unhinge the frame of our Natures As we cannot but directly feel our own passions by a quick and immediate perception so we applaud or else condole our selves as the motions of Pleasure or Pain do affect us according unto that Scheme of Good and Evil which we have framed in our minds For unless the mind be alienated through Phrenzy or other distemper of Body 't is not to be conceived that we should not seek and pursue after as good a condition as we can possibly be in in our desires and wishes at least if not in our practice and endeavour But this is a Point so very plain that I shall no longer insist thereon but proceed to the next Particular viz. II. That every particular man's happiness doth so much depend upon the general and common Good of Society that it cannot be separate therefrom As God hath given us no desire or natural inclination without sufficient power also of putting the same in execution so in nothing more hath he put us into a capacity of pursuing our truest interest in this World than by the constant exercise of Sociable Duties and the good Offices of common Life and Conversation This is apparent in the general Order of Providence The lowest Creatures that partake of life are sorted and combined together for their Common Good In Bees we have a resemblance of Rule and Polity Birds and Beasts accompany each other and joyn in the respective Offices of their kind and contribute their mutual Aid unless of the most savage and wild Natures And though we excel other Animals in a reasonable Soul to study Nature and the Authour of it and to pursue the ways of Happiness yet this is so far from promoting solitude and a life unsociable that it rather excites our inclinations and desires to a combination with one another under good and profitable Laws of Community For no man hath that sufficiency in himself as not to want the assistance of others no Creatures not the Angels themselves are absolutely perfect and completely independent much less can any Mortal be sufficient of himself without external Aid and foreign Supplies Therefore since God hath appointed a Communion and Fellowship in other Creatures inferior to Man how much more in us who are Members of his Church Militant on Earth that we may be the same in his Church Triumphant in Heaven Now as our happiness under God is fundamentally seated in Society to which many Vertues have an immediate respect and relative application so he that will be happy in a well-disciplin'd and civilized Community must observe the Laws of it which are modell'd for the benefit of each particular Member with a due regard unto the publick without which Proviso in tract of time the Establishment would fall and the Community be dissolved And thus I have briefly shewn the necessity of Society in general as we are rational and discoursive Creatures I come now in the next place to consider III. The General Rule of Natural Justice and Common Equity to be observed by all men in Society and Converse with one another express'd in my Text That whatsoever we would that men should do unto us we should do even so unto them As we are push'd on to the love of our selves by a forcible and controuling Instinct of Nature so God hath made this the Foundation of Justice and Charity the Rule and Measure of Domestick and Political Duties He that watcheth and observeth the motion of his own mind the inward frame of his own heart can tell his behaviour to himself and the various tendency of his passions towards whatever doth really or is but supposed to concern him As every man is tender of himself so he also desireth and expecteth that other people should have regard unto him should beware of incroaching upon his Person or invading his Interest Now if a man find these inclinations and propensions in himself he should consider the same likewise in