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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nation_n	law_n	nature_n	positive_a	2,085	5	11.0131	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29107	A sermon preach'd at the Church of St. Mary le Bow to the Societies for the Reformation of Manners, Octob. 4, 1697 / by Samuel Bradford.	Bradford, Samuel, 1652-1731.; Societies for the Reformation of Manners.	1697 (1697)	Wing B4120; ESTC R25294	18,745	56

of their Countrey was proposed as the Rule by which their whole proceeding in this case should be guided And let it be done according to the Law The Law of Moses was to the Jews both the Law of God and the Municipal Law of their Countrey too God was their King and gave them their Laws immediately from Heaven and therefore 't was fit they should have recourse to these whenever they set upon a Publick Reformation As to other Nations which are not so immediately under a Divine Legissation there are first the Laws of God given to Mankind in the very frame of their Nature and resulting from the Reason of Things which oblige all the Children of Men as being publish'd to all and whereever God hath given any positive Laws over and above those to whom they are publish'd are equally obliged by them also And in all other cases the Municipal Laws of each Countrey so far as they do not contradict the Divine are to be a Rule to all Ranks and Orders of men therein especially with respect to all their actions of Publick Concernment and Importance For they are made by an Authority deriv'd from God as all lawful humane Power is and they are the very Bonds and Ligaments of Society which at first unite and afterwards hold men in one Body they are plainly the Conditions upon which any Countrey or Kingdom agree and oblige themselves to act And therefore nothing can be more imprudent or dangerous to a Community than either to make Laws that are not fit to be executed or not to see to the Execution of those that are made As to our own Country thanks be to God we live under the Direction of wife and wholesome Laws and particularly those Laws of our Countrey which you endeavour to have executed are such as are undoubtedly agreeable to the Laws of God As for instance Do the Laws of our Realm strictly forbid and punish all prophane Swearing and Cursing Does not the Law of Moses and of Christ nay of Nature it self do the same Do the Laws of our Countrey appoint a certain Day for the publick solemn Worship of Almighty God God by Moses did the same to the Jews and our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles have by their Example obliged us Christians to the like practice and this also very agreeably to the Light of Nature and the Dictates of right Reason Do the Laws of this Kingdom restrain the exorbitances of an intemperate and unclean Life inflicting Penalties upon those that either abuse themselves or corrupt others in these matters No man who reads the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament or consults the Dictates of his own Conscience can be ignorant that this is agreeable to the Will of God discover'd both by Nature and Revelation Now I would fain know why we who are so jealous with respect to the Honour of our Laws in all other cases should not be at least equally so in the cases I have now mention'd Are those Laws only fit to lie dormant which were design'd directly for the maintaining and promoting Piety and Virtue among us Is it fit to exact those Penalties which our Laws inflict where one man injures another in his Estate or his Reputation But not where our Maker is openly affronted and injured by his Creatures Is it fit to put those Laws in Execution which are made for the Safety or the Honour of our Prince And not those also which are made for the Honour and the Interest of him who is King of kings and Lord of lords In a word Can we with a good Conscience look on and see no regard had to those Laws of our Countrey which if duly observ'd would have a special Tendency to promote the spiritual good of our Brethren as well as their temporal and to preserve the good order the peace and the safety of the whole Body There can I am well assur'd be no reply made in this case All therefore that I shall add upon this Head is to put you in mind of what I know you have already among your Directions and Rules viz. That whatsoever you do in this whole matter be as our Text expresses it done according to the law that you never in the least exceed its bounds and measures but on the other hand that you allow for every reasonable and equitable consideration ever inclining rather to the side of Charity and Mercy than of rigid Justice But to proceed 4. This Work of Reformation was reckon'd to be the more especial Charge and Business of those who presided and govern'd both in Church and State Arise for this matter belongeth unto thee speaking to Ezra who as he was a Priest of God and a Scribe of his Law so he came also with a Special Commission from the Persian Monarch As to the Priests of God and the Scribes of his Law there can be no doubt made The Law is given to them in especial Charge and they are to make it their constant endeavour to instruct the People in it and by all means to persuade and excite to a faithful Obedience to it And as to Governors or Magistrates in the State both Reason and Scripture assure us That rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil that they are the ministers of God to us for good that if we do that which is evil we may be afraid of them because they bear not the sword in vain but are the ministers of God revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evil Rom. 13.3 4. And again That our Governors whether Supreme or Subordinate are sent by God for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well 1 Pet. 2.13 14. For which reason they are sometimes called Gods because they are God's Vicegerents having an Authority derived from the Great Lord and Governor of all Their great Business therefore is to promote the Honour of him whose Authority they are invested with and whose Image they bear together with the welfare and happiness of the People whom they govern keeping all in good Order so that under them their Subjects may lead not only quiet and peaceable Lives but in all Godliness and Honesty also which Ends cannot be attain'd without making and executing such Laws as may preserve and promote Piety and Virtue the Fear of God together with Justice and Sobriety among Men. And as the Nature and Design of their Office require all this of them so they are under a special Obligation to the doing of it by the Oath of God with which they have bound themselves which cannot sure be intended to engage them to the Observance and Execution of all the Laws of their Country with an exception only of those in which the Honour of God and the Welfare of their Country are most nearly and deeply interested Thanks be to God there are many Magistrates among us particularly in this City who seem to have a good sense

which they were so extremely prone and this he did by many express Laws to that purpose among which this was one Deut. 7.3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son This was judg'd so necessary for that People that such Marriages were not only utterly unlawful to be made by them but were null if they were made as appears by the History of this matter both in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah And if God who is the Supreme Lord and Governor of the World saw it fit to give a such a Law there can be no dispute concerning their Duty to comply with it However this being only a Pofitive not a Moral Law it is obligatory to no other People but to those to whom it was given although perhaps it may not misbecome any Nation whatsoever professing true Religion to forbid Marriage with Idolaters by a Law of their own for fear of the ill Consequences of it As in one instance namely that of our Princes our Law makers have now thought fit to do after a long and dangerous Experience we have had of the Evils that attend such Alliances But that by the way It may suffice to our present purpose that the Jews had been guilty of a notorious Transgression of the Divine Law given to them and therefore were obliged to reform themselves in that particular But to come to the Words themselves as they may concern us as well as the Jews Now therefore c. You may observe in them these Six Particulars 1. That in the Case of publick and prevailing Transgression it was thought fit for the Israelites to associate and combine together to engage themselves and one another to endeavour a Reformation of the Manners of their Country Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God that is let us solemnly oblige our selves and one another as one Body thus to do 2. That they were influenc'd to do thus and directed in their doing it by those who had the Knowledge of God's Law a Reverence for his Authority and a Fear of his Power and Justice According to the counsel of my Lord that is of Ezra who was a Scribe of the Law of God and perfectly instructed in it and of those that tremble at the Commandment of God that is let us do thus according to the Advice thou hast already intimated to us by thy Humiliation Confession and Prayer with the concurrence of all such as have join'd with thee in humbling themselves and begging the Favour of God as being sensible of his Displeasure and fearing the effects of it 3. That the Law of God and of their Country was propos'd as the Rule by which their whole proceeding in this Case should be guided Let it be done according to the Law that is let the Law of God given by Moses be our Rule 4. That this Work of Reformation was reckon'd to be the more especial Charge and Business of those who presided and govern'd both in Church and State Arise for this matter belongeth unto thee as if he had said Thou art both qualified and commission'd to direct and command us in this business as having the Skill and the Authority both of a Priest and Magistrate 5. That the People also in their respective Stations and according to their several Capacities were resolv'd to assist and encourage their Governors in whatsoever Attempts they should make to this purpose We also will be with thee be of good courage He might well promise this for himself and seeing the behaviour of so great a Multitude he might reasonably presume the same for them that each of them would afford his assistance to Ezra in so good so laudable and so necessary an Undertaking 6. That open confessing publick Iniquities and Supplicating for the Mercy of God and for Grace to amend what was amiss was not thought sufficient to excuse either the Priests or the Magistrates or the People from doing their parts towards the obtaining what they desir'd Arise be of good courage and do it that is Having now kneel'd before God and offer'd up thy Supplications Arise stand up and do what farther becomes thee and let neither the Number nor the Considerableness of any Transgressors among us discourage thee thou wilt not want the Assistance either of God or Man The Time allotted for such a Discourse as this will not permit me to enlarge upon any of these Observations yet forasmuch as I think them all apposite to our present Design I shall endeavour briefly to illustrate each of them and as I go along apply them to the Purpose of this Assembly 1. It is observable That in the case of publick and prevailing Transgression it was thought fit for the Israelites to Associate and Combine together to engage themselves and one another to endeavour a Reformation of the Manners of their Country Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God There had been an open violation of an express Law of God of which several of all Ranks among them had been guilty Now in opposition to these 't is said That a very great congregation assembled unto Ezra out of Israel and Shechaniah speaking both for himself and them persuades to the entring into a solemn Obligation to amend what had been amiss among them And the like we find in other Instances in the Holy Scriptures Thus when there had been a general defection from the Law of God immediately after it was given to Moses by the Peoples making and worshipping the Golden Calf Moses after he had severely rebuked Aaron for complying with the Peoples folly stood in the gate of the camp and said Who is on the Lord's side let him come unto me upon which 't is said that all the sons of Levi gather'd themselves unto him Exod. 32.26 'T is true the way in which they proceeded against the Transgressors is not to be imitated by us such Methods being proper for that People as are not for all others But the Levites joining together as one Body to do what God and Moses should direct them towards the suppressing the Idolatry which had so suddenly and so generally prevail'd was what very well became them and deserves our imitation I might again instance in what was done in the Reign of King Josiah 2 Kings 22.8 Upon the High Priest's finding the Book of the Law and sending it to the King he found by perusing it that the Nation had notoriously transgrest the Precepts given therein and were thereby exposed to the just displeasure of Almighty God upon which Chap. 23.1 2 3. He immediately sent and gathered unto him all the Elders of Judah and of Jerusalem and he went up into the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him and the Priests and the Prophets and all the people both small and great and he read in their