Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	law_n	nature_n	positive_a	3,197	5	10.6866	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39285	A sermon preach'd before the King and Queen, upon the second Sunday in Advent, being the fifth of December, 1686 by the Reverend Father Dom. Philip Ellis ...	Ellis, Philip, 1652-1726.	1686 (1686)	Wing E599; ESTC R40479	13,887	36

to demolish the dead Diis non detrahes Principi populi tui non maledices Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor speak evil of the Ruler of thy People Exod. 22.28 Speak not evil one of another James 4.11 In cogitatione tuâ Regi nè detrahas Debase not the King in thy very thoughts Eccl. 10.20 Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak evil of my Servant Num. 12.8 Thirdly All acceptation of persons whether in deciding differences between Man and Man or in conferring real Honours places of Trust and Preferment in the Common-wealth is a violation of Distributive Justice which obliges the Magistrate if not to proportion the reward to the Merit at least to place the Reward with the Merit nor to accept persons but upon account of a greater desert either of Service or Capacity In all other cases that decision of St. James falls heavy upon Men in publick Employments Si personas accipitis peccatum operamini If you have respect to persons James 2.9 you commit sin being convicted by the Law as Transgressours of it But what Law is there which binds a Man to the choice of those who are to serve under him or in whom he pleases to repose a confidence First The Law of Nature which is nothing but the in born Rudiments of Justice prompting us to give every one what in right and equity belongs to him reddere vnicuique quod suum est Merit and Retribution are Relatives Merit therefore is a Right which Equity is bound to acknowledge and what Equity acknowledges Justice is bound to pay Publick service and suffering for the Publick are of equal weight they ballance each other when Justice holds the Scale they deserve an equal Reward but he that suffers for Justice-sake weighs down Both. Innocence is the Palm-tree which naturally grows under the weight and by consequence ought to rise so much the higher as it was more depressed Secondly The Law of God as well declaring as acting Deut. 1.16 nulla erit distantia personarum there shall be no distinction of Persons say the Pandects of Heaven neither at the Bar nor at the Board nor upon the account of Religion much less of ungrounded Suspition John 7.24 Nolite judicare secundum faciem saies our Blessed Saviour judge not according to the face which some men set upon things or persons No nor according to the opinion of the Greater number who are swayed by a contrary Interest saies the Eternal Justice Exod. 23.2 in judicio non acquiesces plurimorum sententiae nec accipies cujusquam personam ut à vero devies in Judgment i. e. in assigning rewards as well as otherwise do not acquiesce to the opinion even of the most nor accept the person of any Body whatsoever so far as to depart from what is right in thy own judgment as if he had said If you do exclude persons whom you think deserving in your own judgement either upon appearances or the erring opinion even of the most you will depart from Justice Now the New Law raising every positive Commandment of the Old to a greater perfection more is required in this kind of the Christian Magistrate than of the other who acts meerly by the Law of Nature and Dictamen of Reason or the brighter yet imperfect and glimmering Light of the Mosaical Wherefore St. James 2.1 seriously admonishes us to have a care That we do not hold the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ together with respect of persons in personarum acceptione nolite possidere fidem Domini nostri Jesu Cbristi implying that such a proceeding is contrary to the Oeconomy and Justice and by consequence is a Prevarication of the Faith we profess And the reason of this is evident for every person who confers imployments or has dependences acts either ex officio as the supream Magistrate a man upon his own Estate a Master in his Family or else by Commission as subordinate Officers If he act ex officio Justice and his Duty to the Publick Weal oblige him to delegate his Power to such as his own Judgement and Conscience represent to him as the most faithful and ablest Ministers For as he is obliged to carry the Reputation of his Country and the Publick Good not to any determinate degree but as high as his utmost Prudence and Endeavours can reach so is he bound in Justice to make use of those Instruments which are best proportioned to that End and where there is equal Capacity or but little inferior a more approved Honesty and Tenderness of Conscience ought to take place If the person act only by Commission his Power is less but his Duty is as great in this kind as far as his Power extends and he is bound in Justice to put the Places which are in his Gift not into such Hands as will give most for them which is Extortion upon the Publick or are nearest related to him which is another sort of Bribery that of Affection or will more espouse and advance his Interest which is but the Farming out an Office but into such as will be most Honest and Careful and Circumspect For though the best Man is not always the best Qualified for Employment yet Vertue is the better Title where the Capacity is sufficient because a Vicious Man can hardly be Just for he wants the Divine Assistance and bottoms his Honesty only upon Moral Virtue which does very seldom bear up its Name in practice and when it does generally the Temptation of Dishonesty is overcome meerly by a sense of Honour a doubtful case where a man is to conquer one Passion by another Wherefore the Holy Fathers and Divines I think of all Religions within the Pale of Christianity and I might take the Jew and the Gentile the Rabbi and the Philosopher into the number All Divines and Moralists I say unanimously agree that such as employ men who are corrupt in their judgments exacting upon the Poor taking Bribes or diverting the Publick Stock c. are obliged to Restitution and to repair their Faults if the Offendors do not do it themselves which indeed is possible but not reasonably to be expected 4ly But there is another sort of Justice which we call Legal and touches not only men in Employments but reaches all who are capable of serving the Publick and from whose service they are bound in Justice not to withdraw themselves bound not only to have their Loyns girt and be found in a readiness when they are called but even in their several respective stations to promote the Publick Good and prefer it to the Private whether Reputation or Interest For as every one is a part of the Civil Society and enjoys the Blessings and Protection of it so every one has a Special Duty incumbent on him to procure and promote the good of that Society For the good of the Part is ordered to the Whole and the good of the Whole communicates it self to