Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	esq_n	sir_n	thomas_n	5,210	5	9.2863	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67236	Of Christian magistracy A sermon preach'd in the Cathedral-Church of St. Peter in York, at the assizes held there, July the 26th, 1697. Before the right honourable Mr. Justice Nevill and Baron Turton. By Christopher Wyvill, D.D. and Dean of Ripon.	Wyvill, Christopher, 1651?-1711.	1697 (1697)	Wing W3786A; ESTC R222179	17,177	31

Of Christian Magistracy A SERMON Preach'd in the Cathedral-Church OF St. PETER in YORK AT The ASSIZES Held There July the 26 th 1697. Before the Right Honourable Mr. Justice Nevill and Baron Turton By CHRISTOPHER WYVILL D. D. And Dean of Ripon LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill and F. Hildyard Bookseller in York 1697. TO THOMAS PVLLEINE Esq HIGH-SHERIFF OF THE County of YORK SIR YOV have been pleased to set too great a Value upon my serving You at the last Assizes by thinking my Sermon fit to be made Publick in so Critical and Judicious an Age as this is However in complyance with Your Request I have suffer'd it to appear in Print and do Dedicate it to You not only because I Composed it for Your Service to whom therefore in right it doth belong but because I Respect and Honour You for that You are a true Lover of Your Country of the Church of England and of His Present Majesties Happy Government The real Good and Prosperity of all which is aim'd at and intended in the ensuing Discourse and is most heartily pray'd for and shall upon all Occasions be sincerely endeavoured after to the utmost of his Power by him who is Your most Obedient And Most Humble Servant Chris. Wyvill Of Christian Magistracy 1 COR. vj. 1 2 3. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world And if the world shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters Know ye not that we shall judge angels how much more things that pertain to this life THAT which is the great Blessing and Happiness as well as the main stay and support of any Nation or Society of Men next under Gods Providence and Protection is the right Administration of its Civil Government whereby the Publick Safety is provided for every Mans Rights and Priviledges are secured to him and wholesome Laws put in execution for the good of the whole Community Which great Blessing there have been some who would deprive all Christian Societies of who under the specious pretence of Christian Liberty have taught that Christians were under no obligation to any Humane Ordinance that Courts of Judicature are not necessary in a Christian State that the Christian Religion hath abrogated the Authority of Civil Powers and that the Office of a Judge or Civil Magistrate is inconsistent with the Profession of a Christian. These were the wild Fancies of the Gnosticks in the times of the Apostles and of the Anabaptists and other Sectaries in this latter Age. Thus by pulling down Magistracy they would erect a Babel of Confusion and by making way for Liberty introduce Licentiousness and Disorder For the confutation of which fond Conceits besides many other passages that might be produced out of the Holy Scriptures this Chapter of my Text may be sufficient Wherein although St. Paul doth indeed blame the Christians of the Church of Corinth for impleading one another at the Bar of Heathen Judges yet he allows them to do so before Judges that professed the Christian Faith and for that purpose would have them constitute and appoint fit and proper Persons amongst themselves of their own Religion to be Judges of their Law-suits who should hear their Causes and determine their Controversies and to whose decretory Sentence they were to submit Which Permission we may be sure he would not have granted unto them if to be a Christian and to be a Judge were incompatible or if it were unlawful for Chirstians to make use of or to apply themselves unto a Christian Court of Judicature For dare any of you saith he i. e. will any of you having a matter against another i. e. against another Christian go to law i. e. implead or accuse one another before the unjust that is before Heathens or Unbelievers as they are called in the 6th Verse and not before the saints i. e. before Christian Judges For by the word Saints we must in this place understand no more than Believers or Professors of the Gospel that is Christians Of whom he saith Do ye not know that the saints i. e. Christians shall judge the world i. e. all wicked Men And if the world shall be judged by you are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters Know you not that we i. e. that we Christians shall judge angels i. e. the Apostate Spirits how much more things that pertain to this life These Interrogatives do imply so many strong Affirmatives As if he should have said You ought not to go to Law before Heathen Judges but rather before Christians You know very well that you shall one day judge these Infidels and Unbelievers and all wicked Men and therefore surely you are fit to judge in matters of less moment you are not unworthy of smaller Judicatures You cannot be ignorant that you shall judge even Angels and therefore you are now much more worthy of Inferiour Seats of Judgment to judge of matters which pertain to this Life He attributes you see a sort of a Judicature to the Saints hereafter and therefore would have them to be Judges now He adviseth them to set out those amongst them who should try their Causes so as that they need not go to Heathen Courts Wherefore saith he in the Verse immediately following my Text if ye have judgment of things pertaining to this life that is if ye have any secular Controversies set them to judge who are least esteem'd in the church v. 4. Which Expression may perhaps at first sight or at first hearing seem very strange and unreasonble For what Would he have the Judgment-seats fill'd with Persons who were the least esteemed in the Church When St. Paul advised them to set up Judges amongst themselves to hear and determine their Causes would he have them to be the refuse and scum of the People When the Office of a Judge requires the greatest Wisdom Knowledge and Experience which gains him Esteem and Reputation and Honour in the World would he have such to be Judges amongst them who are destitute of those Qualities that must make them fit for so high a Calling as those who are least esteemed in the Chruch must be presumed to be No surely this could not be the meaning or intention of the Apostle We must not conceive that he spoke this by way of Precept commanding them to set the weakest and the simplest of their Brethren to judge betwixt one Christian and another but it must be supposed that he spoke this only by way of comparison that they had better do so than implead one another at the Bar of Infidel Judges But what if we should make another construction of the words different indeed from the common interpretation but more agreeable to St. Pauls meaning and to the Original Greek What if by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we should understand