Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	witness_n	witness_v	wrath_n	17	3	7.3393	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07769	A vvoorke concerning the trewnesse of the Christian religion, written in French: against atheists, Epicures, Paynims, Iewes, Mahumetists, and other infidels. By Philip of Mornay Lord of Plessie Marlie. Begunne to be translated into English by Sir Philip Sidney Knight, and at his request finished by Arthur Golding; De la verité de la religion chrestienne. English	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; Sidney, Philip, Sir, 1554-1586.; Golding, Arthur, 1536-1606.	1587 (1587)	STC 18149; ESTC S112896	639,044	678

owne indytement and willingly beare witnesse against himselfe by his owne voluntarie confession Surely that man is straungly infected with vyce it is witnessed sufficiently by the Histories of all ages which in effect are nothing els but registers of the continuall Manslaughters Whoredomes Guyles Rauishments and Warres And when I say Warres I thinke that in that worde I comprehend all the mischief that can be imagined And that these vyces were not created in mans nature but are crept into it it appeareth sufficiently by the bookes of the Ceremonies of al Nations all whose Church-seruices are nothing but Sacrifices that is to say open protestations both euening and morning that we haue offended God and ought to bee sacrifized and slayne for our offences according to our desarts in stead of the sillie Beastes that are offered vnto him for vs. Had man bene created with vyce in him he should haue had no conscience of sinne nor repentance for it For repentance presupposeth a fault and conscience misgiueth the insewing of punishment for the same And there can be neither fault nor punishment in that which is done according to creation but onely in and for our turning away from creation Now the Churchseruice and Ceremonies of all Nations doe witnesse vnto vs a certeyne forthinking and remorce of sinne against God And so they witnesse altogether a forefeeling of his wrath which cannot bee kindled against nature which he himselfe created but against the faultinesse and vnkindlynesse that are in nature Also what els are the great number of Lawes among vs but authenticall Registers of our corruption And what are the manifold Commentaries written vppon them but a very corruption of the Lawes themselues And what doe they witnesse vnto vs but as the multitude of Phisitions doth in a Citie namely the multitudes of our diseases that is to wit the sores and botches whereto our Soules are subiect euen to the marring and poysoning of the very playsters themselues Againe what doe the punishments bewray which we haue ordeyned for our selues but that wee chastise in vs not that which GOD hath made or wrought in vs but that which wee our selues haue vndone or vnwrought nor the nature it selfe but the disfiguring of nature But yet when we consider that among all Nations that Lawmaker is beléeued and followed by and by which sayth Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steale thou shalt not beare false witnesse whereas great perswasion is required in all other lawes which are not so naturall It must néedes be concluded that the Consciences of all men are perswaded of themselues that the same is sinne and that sinne deserueth punishment that is to wit that sinne is in nature but not nature it selfe But to omit the holy Scripture which is nothing els but a Lookingglasse to shewe vs our spots and blemishes what are all the Schooles of the Philosophers but instructions of the Soule And what els is Philosophie it selfe but an arte of healing the Soule whereof the first precept is this so greatly renowmed one know thy selfe Aristotle in his Moralles sheweth that the affections must be ruled by reason and our mynd bee brought from the extremes into the meanes and from iarring into right tune Which is a token that our mynd is out of tune euen of it owne accord seeing that it néedeth so many precepts to set it in tune agayne And yet is not Aristotle so presumptuous as to say that euer he brought it to passe in his owne mynd Theophrast his Disciple was woont to say that the Soule payd wel for her dwelling in the bodie considering how much it suffered at the bodies hand And what els was this but an acknowledgement of the debate betwéene the bodie and the mynd But as sayth Plutarke he should rather haue sayd that the bodie hath good cause to complayne of the turmoyles which so irksome and troublesome a guest procureth vnto him Plato who went afore them sawe more cléerly than both of them He condemneth euerywhere the companie and fellowship of the body with the soule and yet he condemneth not the workmanship of God But he teacheth vs that the Soule is now in this bodie as in a prison or rather as in a Caue or a graue And that is because he perceiued euidently that contrarie to the order of nature the Soule is subiect to the bodie notwithstanding that naturally it should and can commaund it The same Plato sayth further that the Soule créepeth bacely vpon these lower things and that it is tyed to the matter of the bodie the cause whereof he affirmeth to be that she hath broken her wings which she had afore His meaning then is that the soule of her owne nature is winged and flyeth vpward that is to say is of a heauēly diuine nature which wings she hath lost by meanes of some fall But to get out of these bonds and to recouer her wings the remedie that Plato giueth her is to aduaunce her selfe towards God and to the things that concerne the mynd By the remedie we may coniecture what he tooke the disease to be namely that our Soule hauing bin aduaunced by God to a notable dignitie the which it might haue kept still by sticking vnto God fell to gazing at her gay feathers till she fell headlong into these transitorie things among the which she créepeth now like a sillie woorme reteyning nothing as now of her birdlike nature saue onely a rowsing of her feathers and a vayne flapping of her wings Now he sayth that he learned all this of a secret Oracle the which he had in great reuerence And of ●●●cueth in this doctrine of the originall of our corruption wee haue to marke the same poynt which wee haue noted in some other things afore namely that the néerer wee come to the first world the more cléere and manifest we finde the matter Empedocles and Pythagoras taught that the Soules which had offended God w●● condemned and banished into bodies here belowe And Phil●●●aus the Pythagorian addeth that they receyued that opinion from the Diuines and Prophets of old tyme. Their meaning is that the body which ought to be the house of the soule is by Gods iust iudgemēt turned into a prison to it and that which was giuen it for an instrument is become Manicles and Stocks So then there is both a fault and the punishment and the fault must néedes procéede from one first man euen in the iudgement of those men of olde tyme which acknowledged the Creation of the world Also those auncient fathers seeme to haue heard what prouoked the first man to sinne For Homer speaketh of a Goddesse whom he calleth Até that is to say Waste Losse or Destruction which troubled heauen and therefore was cast downe to the earth where she hath euer since troubled Mankynd And herevpon Euripides calleth the Féendes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Falne from Heauen And the

persecuted the Christians a fresh contrarie to the custome of the Romanes insomuch that Nero made them to be put to the slaughter as if they had bin the authors of the burning of Rome which he himself had caused to be set on fire And we reade that in the same time the Senate made certeyne decrées whereby many thousands of Christians infected with the Iewish superstition for so did they terme them bycause they had their originall from the Iewes were banished into dyuers Iles. Which thing the Senate would not haue done considering their ordinary maner of proceeding in caces of Religion if the hastie increase of that spirituall kingdome had not put them in feare And within a whyle after we see how all the Emperours were amazed at this flocking of people togither vnto thē for counsel how to extinguish that doctrine and how fires were kindled ageinst them on all sides and yet how Nations neuerthelesse were shaken at the voice of the Apostles and the verie Courts of Princes with their Legions of Souldyers were made to inclyne vnto Christ. Sufficient witnesses whereof be the Lawes of that age wherein it was inacted that the Swoordgirdle of a Souldyer should not bee worne of any Christian that they should not beare any office or haue any charge in the Court and such other And Vlpian the Lawyer did himself write fower bookes ageinst the christians And truely we reade that a greate many gaue ouer their charges rather than thei would forsake the Christen fayth Moreouer in the tyme of Marcus Aurelius there was a Legion that was called the Legion of Malta which was altogither of Christians of which Legion hee witnesseth in a certeine Epistle of his that being vpon a time brought to vtter distresse by the Marcomanes this Legion obtayned by prayer beth Thunder from Heauen ageinst the enemie and Rayne wherewith to refresh the whole army whereupon that Legion was afterward called the Thunderer And therefore saieth Tertullian in his Apologie If as many of vs as be Christians should get vs away into some corner of the world ye would woonder to see how feaw people ye should haue remayning to you ye should be fayne to seeke other Cities to commaund or rather you to flee away out of hand and too hyde yourselues for yee should haue mo enemyes than Citizens left ye We haue filled now whole Cities Ilands and Castles Counselles Palaces and Courtes Trybes Legions and Armyes What warre were we not able inough to vndertake if we listed And what is it that we might not bring to passe dying so manfully and so willingly as wee do Nay the Lawe of our warre teacheth vs to dye and not to kill Now what kingdome euer had so greate increase in so short tyme But which is a greater matter what a thing is it to vanquish by yeelding to be furthered by retyring and to conquer by dying We reade of the Emperour Tiberius that vppon a letter written to him from Pilate reporting the miracles of Iesus his giltlesse death and his rysing agein from the dead he preferred a bill to the Senate with his assent vnto it to haue had them proclayme Iesus to bee God and that the Senate refused it because they themselues were not the authors thereof but that Tyberius abode still in his opinion And therevpon Tertullian sayth Goe looke vpon your Registers and the Acts of your Senate Also Vespasian the scourge of the Iewes forbare the Christians and Traiane moderate the persecution vpon the report of their innocencie made vnto him by Plinie Marcus Aurelius hauing felt the helpe of their prayers did the like Likewise did Antonine but to another end namely because that as he himselfe writeth in an epistle of his persecution did stablish the Church of the Christians To bee short Alexander the sonne of Mammea did in his Chappell worship Iesus surnamed Christ of whom also he tooke his Poesie and therefore the Antiochians called him the Archpriest of Syria And it is reported that for Christs sake the Emperour Adrian builded many Temples without Images Finally the good Emperours of Rome Vespasian Adrian Traiane Antonine the méeke and such others had Christ in estimation and allowed of the Christians But how farre Surely as to acknowledge in their hearts that they were good and honest men and that Iesus had more in him than was of Man But yet for all this If they be accused say these good Emperours let them bee punished if not let them not be sought This is a good proofe and allowance of their innocencie but surely it is but a slender reléefe for them Contrarywise the wicked Emperours Nero Domitian Valerian Commodus Maximine Decius and such others condemned them and by their condemning of them did iustifie them For what did they euer allowe but euill But what maner of condemning is this Kill all burne all yea whole Cities haue no respect of sex of age or of qualitie Scarcely had the Christians any breathingtime but a new counterbuffe came vpon thē againe they were no sooner from the torture but they must too it againe And yet God did so rule all things by his prouidence to the intent the whole glorie in this misterie should redound to himself that the mield dealing of the good Emperours did in déede iustifie the trueth but yet durst they not aduaunce or further it whereas on the contrary part the malice of the other sort condemned it and persecuted it to the vttermost but yet could they not destroye it To be short in fewe yéeres there passed ten horrible persecutions vppon that poore Church and yet in the end the Emperours themselues submitted themselues to the Crosse of Christ and their Empyres sought their welfare there Therefore we may alwaies come back to this poynt That he yea only he which first created the world of nothing when there was not yet any thing to withstand him is able to recouer the world from Sathan and to subdue it to himself without the helpe of any thing euen by instruments repugnant to him and in despight of the whole world bending itself ageinst him But what will ye say if he subdue not onely men but also their Gods not only the world but also the Souereynes of the world I meane the Diuels which at that time held the world vnder their tyrannie Let vs reade the Histories of the Greekes Romanes that were afore the comming of Christ and what shall wee find in them but the Myracles and Oracles of Diuels What els haue Varro Cicero Titus Liuius and such others among the Romanes or Herodotus Diodorus Pausanias and the residewe among the Greekes On the contrarie part we see that euen euer since Christ was borne and preached the world hath chaunged his hewe Iesus was borne vnder the Emperour Augustus and see here what Apollo answereth vnto him An Hebrew Child which daunteth with his powre The blessed