Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A66607
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A sermon preached before the judge at the assizes held at Nottingham, on the 19th of July, 1689 by W. Wilson ...
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Wilson, W., Rector of St. Peter's Church in Nottingham.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing W2957; ESTC R8299
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16,299
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32
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Unrighteousness This would be the sad state that the want of Justice and Mercy would reduce Societies to and God by creating Man a Sociable Creature would have done infinitely worse for him than if he had only made him an Inhabitant of a Wilderness That Appetite which he design'd for the great Blessing and Ornament of his Nature would have proved his Curse and the unhappy occasion of more Misery than all that the Beasts of the Field are subject to Neither could any thing remedy this Evil but the restoring of Justice and Mercy to the World. For 2. 'T is not possible the World when disorder'd should settle again without them 'T is only these Vertues can make Society desirable and the habitation of a Neighbour beneficial to us In all the Distempers of the Body-Natural the Cure is wrought by removing the Cause and till that be done the Body will languish in spight of the Physician or the Strength of Cordials And unless the same course be taken in the Distempers of Civil-Bodies 't is not to be expected to see them return to their former strong and vigorous State. They will continue sickly and weak so long as those ill Humours do overburthen it which are not to be discharged but by doing Justice shewing Mercy and walking humbly with our God. For by a sincere Piety the Wisdom of God is engaged to preside over and direct those Counsels which without it must of necessity be confused and distracted and Divine Providence without which Mischief comes upon Mischief Rumour upon Rumour and Men seek Peace but find none as the Prophet Ezekiel speaks returns to the helm that it hath forsaken and safely conducts so penitent a People out of the Intricacies and Mazes they were lost in And by Justice and Mercy Mens Minds are freed from those Jealousies and Distrusts that the contrary Vices do occasion By being just Mens Minds are set at ease from those Apprehensions that fill them with Anguish and Convulsions and by shewing Mercy we feel the benefits of Society and that it is good for us that we were fitted for it For when we have nothing to fear but a great deal to hope for from our being united into civil Communities then Friendship and Charity do so strongly cement them that it is not in the Power of Men or Devils to shake or endanger them It is observable that the usual Method of those who project the ruine of a State is by straitning and limiting the publick Justice to create Parties and by destroying Humanity and Mercy to heighten Animosities And the only way to heal a distemper'd State is to remove those Mounds and Works that have thrown Injustice with too much weight and severity upon one side while the other has seem'd to be tolerated to do mischief and to put on those Bowels of Mercy and Compassion which will blunt the edg of the keenest Rage and reconcile the most divided Spirits For then will our Peace be as a River when Righteousness does run down as the Waves of the Sea and Mercy and Truth do meet together And as these Vertues are of so great advantage to the World So V. God has taken care to recommend them to our practice by shewing us what is good He has shewed us what is good as by our reasonable Nature he has fitted us for Society which as long as Justice and Mercy do flourish will afford us mighty helps and advantages for the promoting our Affairs In this he has advanced our Nature above the Condition of those wild and savage Creatures that howl in Wildernesses and creep into holes and caves of the Earth In this he has done us so much good that 't is but little more that he has done for the Angels those glorious Inhabitants of the City of the living God. And since God has shewed us this good is it not highly reasonable that we should live up to the Primitive intention of our Creatour and take care of those great advantages that he has put into our Hands Is it not fit that we should consult our own Interest and make as much of that Good that God has shewn us as possibly we may In this then God does recommend Justice and Mercy to our Practice as he has planted such an Appetite in us as can no ways be satisfied without them But blessed be his Name he has furnished us with another Motive as in the late wonderful and unexpected Revolution he has to a Miracle shewed us what is good For he has revived our Laws which began visibly to languish and faint under the dreadful weight of a dispencing Power and has preserved our Religion that requires us to do Justice to shew Mercy and to walk humbly with our God from the overflowings of Superstition and Idolatry and our Constitution from the secret Underminings and open Attempts of an Arbitrary Despotick Government He has taken the Crafty in their own Counsels and turned those that had the reputation of the greatest States-Men backwards He I say when all places were full of Fears and dismal Apprehensions and all Faces gather'd blackness for the dread of those Evils that were ready to break in upon us when Justice was made a dead weight to link and oppress those that durst be true and faithful to the Interests of their Country and the Mercies of Men were cruel when the Will of a Prince that had unhappily given himself up to the conduct of Priests and Jesuits was the sole Director of the Bench and Judgments were given without any Rule or Measure but the Interests of a Party who depended more upon Oppression and Violence for the carrying on their Designs than either the goodness of their Cause or the strength of their Arguments He I say when our Religion our laws and Liberties all the dear Concernments both of this Life and that which is to come were doom'd to perpetual bondage under Popery and Arbitrary Power was pleas'd to raise us up a Deliverer who hath done great things for us for which we and Generations after us have cause to rejoyce and to bless the Lord. Had any Man told us some Months before God wrought this great Deliverance for us that he had seen our Affliction and heard our Cry and would come down to deliver us in so easy and cheap a way as that which we have seen would not his Words have seem'd to us as the first notice of Christ's Resurrection did to his Disciples like idle Tales But tho we were like them that dream when the Lord turned our Captivity yet we ought not to be so still when we reap the Fruits and enjoy the Benefits of so great a Blessing No God has shewed us what is good he has put us under an easy and truly English Government a Government that knows no Rule but our Laws nor no other End but the Peace and Prosperity of our Country the Safeguard and Protection of our Persons the Preservation of our
Rights and Liberties and above all the Encouragement of Vertue and the upholding the Protestant Interest and what now does the Lord our God require of us but to do Justice to love Meroy and to walk humbly with our God This is that Return that he expects from us for so great a Blessing that Return that in gratitude we are obliged to make and which will fully compleat our Deliverance For then will our Enemies despair of ever seeing their Designs upon us compassed when they see our Distractions healed our Animosities laid and the Hearts of English-Men united by Love and Friendship Then will their Malice find no matter to work upon nor no Party whose discontents shall furnish them with means to engage them in designs against the Interests of their Religion and their Country Then we need no more fear the Arts of Jesuites nor the Power of France For nothing can destroy England but its being crumbled into Parties and nothing will contribute more to the removing all Discontents and the extirpating that Bitterness which has of late so much shook the Foundations of our Peace as that Justice Mercy and humble walking with God that will make God a Friend to Man and every Man as a God to his Neighbour For who is he that will harm us if we be followers of that which is good Who is it that we need to fear if from the sense of the good that God has shown us we learn to walk more humbly with him and by a more serious regard to Piety engage him to be our Guardian and Protector Nay who will dare to attempt upon our Peace if they see that we dwell under the Shadow of the Almighty and see us as wise to countermine their designs by acts of Justice Mercy and Humanity as they are to prosecute them by first sowing Divisions and then exasperating them by leavening Mens Souls with a Spirit of Oppression and Violence Inhumanity and Cruelty They could never have put us into so much dread had not our own unhappy Heats prepared them Parties who for wreaking a little Spight easily as they were complemented closed in with the advantage of being countenanced at Court And there is nothing that for the future will so perfectly remove our Fears as that Justice and Mercy that will unite our Interests and reconcile our Hearts For how is it possible there should be Heats and Animosities among Men when no Man has any cause of Apprehensions from another How shall any Man converse with Disguise or Jealousy when he knows of none that will do him harm So long as Justice is the governing Principle among Men Superiours need not fear any ill from their Inferiours because this Vertue will incline them to give them all Honour and Reverence that is their due Nor need Inferiours have any dread of the Power of those above them because this Vertue joined with Mercy will dispose them to use it for their Defence And no Man need to have a Guard upon himself for fear of any Person he converses with because every Man will be kind and good-natured Then will our Seats of Judicature be reverenced And since it is impossible but such Differences will arise among the most honest and just Persons as can no otherwise be determined but in a Court of Judicature then no Man will be afraid of submitting his Cause to the Judgment of a Court when both Witnesses and Jurors do fear an Oath and give their Testimonies and their Verdicts according to Truth and Righteousness And O that in this our Day in which God by having shewn us what is good does seem to put us upon the trial whether we will do our selves good and in which from the Example of a pious and good Prince we have all the Encouragements that a People can desire to Piety Justice and Charity we would study to know these things that make so much for our Peace and happiness For the obtaining of which great Blessing may it please the God of Mercy and Love to give us the Grace and Wisdom to apply our Minds to know the import and advantage of those great Vertues of Piety Justice and Mercy which for the good he has shown us he requires of us for the Sake of his beloved Son and our gracious Mediatour and Redeemer To whom with thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen FINIS