Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	call_v	law_n	moral_a	2,598	5	9.2562	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15704	Of the conscience A discourse wherein is playnely declared, the vnspeakeable ioye, and comfort of a good conscience, and the intollerable griefe and discomfort of an euill conscience. Made by Iohn Woolton, minister of the Gospell. Anno. 1576.	Woolton, John, 1535?-1594.	1576 (1576)	STC 25978; ESTC S106318	42,432	110

Caesar deliberating with himselfe whether hée shoulde take Armoure agaynste his natiue country Conscience aunswereth that hée ought not to doe it Reason Superiour confirmeth it because it is contrary to Godlynesse and to the law of nature being in it selfe vile and vnhonest Reason Inferioure alloweth the same because it is in y world a thing infantous and reprochful and therwithall very perillous Out of these Sinterisis or Iudgement inferreth that it is abhominable by no meanes to be attempted In lyke maner miagine Popilius delyberating with himselfe whether he might execute Antonies commaūndement murder Cicero Conscience telleth that he ought not to murder Cicero by any meanes Reason Superior sayth that he shall be noted of great ingratitude if he murder that man who sometime defended him in a matter of lyfe and death procured his delyuerance Reason Inferior addeth that he shal procure common hatred mallice of all good men if he murder a man that hath most notably preserued the liberty of his country wherof Sinteresis or Iudgement gathereth that Ingratitude as a most odious detestable thing is to be auoyded And thus you sée all the partes of a Sillogisme which they call practick wherin reason probable examine morall actions by the law of Nature by principles deryued out of the same I call Principles those Notices or knowledge which are planted graued in our minds by good sentences cōmon knowne vnto al men wherevnto we without gainesaying doe wyllingly and naturally assent Such are these Thankes are to be yeelded to those which deserue them Euerie man ought to haue his owne Wee ought to imitate no man. And these principles which apperteyne to our duetie and vocation in a cyuill lyfe are named practicke their naturall habite Sinterisis But those Theorick principles which properly belong to contemplation knowledge they terme the Intelligence of principles as for example The whole is greater then a part Of nothing can nothing be made such lyke I thought it requisite to interlace this short admonition of the termes or wordes which wryters in these cases vse whereof many curious questions are of many moued which may be the better discerned these things knowne for my part I thinke the first diuision to be most commodious and playne for knowledge and vnderstanding sake otherwise most certayne it is that these thinges differ not in mans minde if you respect their substance and essence being in déede mingled confused one with another onely for instruction sake they are seperate in thought and cogination For the heauenly Philosopher S. Paule nameth the whole Sillogisme whereof I haue spoken before mans conscience It is euidence by the premisses that the quality of Conscience varieth according to the condition of mens factes For in mē that feare and loue GOD there is a good Conscience whiche procéedeth of vertues and sincere deliberations and déedes bringing vnto man an incredible ioye pleasure of thinges well done And an euell Conscience in wicked and euell persons which by reason of vile and abhomiuable facts of shame and discredite receiued doth fret knaw the minde with great vntollerable greefes and fraunces Wherein it is to be no●ed that Conscience taketh not these differences of the facultye Iudicatiue which is a naturall gifte therefore to be nombred among good things and is sometime named the lighte of the minde sometime the naturall 〈…〉 time the instruction of Reason But the Conscience taketh such qualities of these thrée thinges Of the facte paste of the present affection of the hart and of the euēr folowing For if the minde be throughly perswaded of his Innocency it reioyceth and cherisheth good hope and is called a good Conscience the difynition whereof is as foloweth A good Conscience is ā ioyfull remembraunce of our former life well paste and spente hauing a sure hope and expectation of some happy euent Or thus a good Conscience is a gladsome motion of the harte conioyned with a perfite knowledge of a fact well done where it is called not Science but Conscience Which good Conscience is aswell the cause of chearefulnesse in the face and countinaunce being but an outward token of the inward affection as also the breder and conseruer of the solace and ioye in the minde conceaued of good factes and happy euents For better declaration hereof I will examine certayne cases particulerly And for examples sake let vs looke vppon these rich men of the world hauing at their own will abundantly thinges necessary to a swéete and pleasaunt life and therefore are generally almoste reputed blessed and happy If a man with more insight examin their estate he shall not finde any men eyther more miserable or more trembling fearing Gods wrath and vengeaunce then they if at any time they happen to call an accompt of them selues by what meanes they haue heaped these thinges together I doe not nowe speake of such as haue gotten riches and increased their substance without any mans iniurie if any such be for in déede such byrdes are rarely séene But I note those that wythout respect of right or wrong doe onely or chiefely séeke for gaine neglecting in the meane season those things which principally doe adorne and bewtifie man Whiles such men doe recorde their couen and frawde in gathering gayne what agonies and passions of minde what gna wings and woundes of Conscience doe they abide wherwith they bring as it were scourged and whi●te doe susteyne inwardly vnspeakeable misery in their externall shewe of felicitie On the other side they that with honest and lawful meane growe to be ritche and haue vsed no cellusion nor hurtful guile in their trade of lyfe must néedes inwardly reioyce and giue endelesse praise and thankes to the almightie for his goodnesse mercie towarde them Moreouer those meli that excell in bewtie strength health or other giftes of the body must néedes be sayde to haue rereceyued great benfites of God but those that abuse their bewtie to vnchaste loue their strength to hurt their neighbor their health to filthie and vnlawfull pleasures what miseries and sorrowes shall they afterwarde susteyne We maye iudge the fame of Nobilitie of power of glorie of honor and such lyke For if onely vertuo be the true and perfite Nobilitie as the Poet sayeth Then surely they may not rightly be called Noble that onely descend of a famous house and haue gotten Armes and Nobilitie by their renowmed Auncestors that is with other mens vertues or else as often it happeneth by our notorious Pyraries robbres or murders but those onely that with their owne worthye and excellent deeds haue aduaunced themselues or being sprong of Noble parentage by imitation doe withall their endeuour study to resemble them from whence they came Such the as are Noble in déede doe conceiue of their excellent and worthy déedes towarde their countrie an vnspeakable ioy in their Conscience whereas the Noble vnnoble with

this worck of the lawe is the discelning betweene thinges honest and vnhonest Secondly he sayth the they shew it For in mainteyning of Religion they acknowledge that there is a God to be worshipped and in that they punish crimes and heynous offences they professe themselues defendors of honesty and Iustice Thirdly he maketh metion of the inward testimony of the conscience Fourthly he ●howeth what manner of Testes the Conscience is euen by ●uident Arguments accusing or exeusing out of the which this definitio is deduced The Conscience is a certaine naturall intelligence of the law ingrafted in the minde or power vnderstanding whereby we allow good actions and disalow euill actions Which iudgement planted in the internall man by God breedeth in the execution of vertue a quietnesse and reste of minde and in vice a wonderfull veration of the same punishing and afflicting the man guilty but there are thrée thinges in the minde which are to be obserued for the better vnderstanding of this matter The firste is the vnderstanding whiche they call contemplaty●e busied alwayes in the study and searching out of thinges and this is that better part of the minde which alway as the Philosophers saye aspireth to the beste In this they place Syn●res● which is the kéeper and conseruer of notices or vnderstandinges which are bredde with vs by nature examining what is and what is not expedient And therefore it is fayde that she ministreth propositions to reasons and argumentes which are called Sillogismes practical Such propisition are these that follow honest thinges are to bee done vnhonest thinges are not to be done Out of which two groundes or principles infinite singuler propositions are deriued seruing in arguments or as I called them Sillogismes practicall And it is so called for that it examineth and inquireth a reason out of the law of nature of the quality of all humaine accions In the second place of the minde is Intelligence practicall which consisteth in accion And therin is the Conscience properly placed for that of the difference of Accions she putteth down and as it were deliuereth the lesse proposition or assumtion in the Sillogisme or Argument in this wise Sinterisis or Vnderstanding minisereth this proposition in Hector Honest thinges are to be done Then Conscience apprehendeth this assumtion To defend a mans countrie and to die therefore is honest Agayne Sinterisis or Vnderstanding deliuereth this proposition in Oedipus Fil●hy and detostable deedes are to be eschewed Then the Conscience assumeth But Inceste with my mother and paricide are moste detestable deedes And so vnderstanding and Conscience reasoneth in all other accions Thirdly in the minde there is Iudgement pronouncing of all accions whether they be worthy of prayse or disprayse And as she serued in generality in the Maior or first proposition so as a witty Iudge shee descendeth vnto the special case in the conclusion and geueth sentence For examples sake Intelligence contemplat●ue in Hector deliuereth this proposition Honest deedes are praise worthy Thē the Conscience subsumeth To defend my countrie and to dye in defence of it is an honest dede lastly iudgment geueth sentence Therfore to defend my country and to die in defence of it is prayse worthy Agayne Intelligence deliuereth this proposition to Oedipus Moste vile and filthy actes deserue moste greucuse punishmentes Conscience addeth Inceste with my Mother and paricide are most vile and filthy actes Finally Iudgement geueth sentence Therefore inceste with my Mother and paricide deserue most greeuous punishmentes The former argument bredde in Hectors brest vnspeakeable courage in so much that he vtterly contemned death For Polidamas did aduise him not to goe out among the Erecians that day because the fliyng of Birdes did portend some heauy euent Hector aunswered stoutely whether the byrdes flye on the right hande towarde the East or on the left hande towarde the Weste I am resolued to obey great Iupiter his counsayle meaning that valyant mocion of his minde to be Iupiters counsayle whereby he was excyted to doe uoble and valyant deedes Neyther coulde supersticious obseruacion of tymes withholde him from doing his duetie especially in the common perill of his naturall countrye Contrariwise the latter Sillogisme kyndled such tormenting burning fyres that through impaciencie inwarde griefe for wickednesse by him committed he rent out his owne eyes Oedipus verily was a Noble fellowe and king of the Thebanes who albeit he contenmed Tiresias the Prophet casting in his teethe incestious mariage yet in the end he was so cōuerted with one testimonie of his owne conscience that he confessed himselfe guyltie and a cast away not worthie to beholde any longer the light of Heauen and euen so Iocasta hys mother with an halter strangled hir selfe There are infinite such examples of Syllogismes or argumentes practicall in holy scripture Ezechias knoweth that there is but one true God whoe onely is to be called vpon and worshipped which thing Synteresis or Intelligence telleth him out of the first cōmaundement Then Conscience aduoucheth the same last of all iudgement concludeth in this maner The true lyuing God euē the God of Israell is only to be worshiped But Idolatrie maintayneth manye Gods euen in despite of the lyuing God therefore Idolatrie is to be abolished Ezechias armed wyth thys iudgement of Conscience cutteth downe the Groues taketh downe the brasen Serpent ouerthroweth Idols and abolisheth Idolatry and committeth the euent to god And sayth For these are no Gods but woode and stone euen the worke of mens hande And in lyke maner Dauid stayeth his hande from slaying of Saule euen offered vnto hym in the Caue bicause he knoweth that he is Gods annoynted and a magistrate by his ordinance reasoning thus with himselfe No violence is to bee vsed towarde Gods magistrate But Saule is Gods magistrate therfore I must doe him no violence Examples also are worthy consideration as Regulus led euē wtth ciuill honesty kéepeth promise made vnto his enimy reasoning thus with himselfe There is nothing more seemely for a noble hart then to consider the end of his accions and his owne honesty But to keepe my oath made vnto my ennemie is the end of my accions and apperteineth to my honestie therefore I will keepe my oth made vnto my ennemie euen in the perrill of my life Such like examples are in deliberations counsayles and examples in all histories of the actes and deedes of mortall men I am not ignoraunt that some handle this matter otherwise deuiding Reason into two partes The Superiour and the inferioure Reason And that would haue that light of mans minde prescribing thinges deuine and eternall to be the higher Reason and that which is busied about temporall and profitable thinges to be the inferiour Moreouer some there be also that affirme that the Conscience putteth downe the Minor proposition and cōclusion And touching the diuision of Reason they vse such examples as follow Imagin