Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	disposition_n	example_n	great_a	25	3	2.0923	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52534	Campania fœlix, or, A discourse of the benefits and improvements of husbandry containing directions for all manner of tillage, pasturage, and plantation : as also for the making of cyder and perry : with some considerations upon I. Justices of the peace and inferior officers, II. On inns and alehouses, III. On servants and labourers, IV. On the poor : to which are added two essays : I. Of a country-house, II. Of the fuel of London / by Tim. Nourse, gent.	Nourse, Timothy, d. 1699.	1700 (1700)	Wing N1416; ESTC R30752	181,404	370

very poor and consumptive State From which sort of Poverty good Lord deliver us And so I have done with the Poor of what Kind and Denomination soever Let us now come in the last place to consider such Inferior Officers or Magistrates upon whose Management the Affairs of the Country do much depend CHAP. XV. Of Justices of the Peace with other Inferiour Officers THE Office of a Justice of the Peace as it is Ancient so is it very Reputable They who bare this Office being appointed by the King to be Censores Morum in some respect and by reason of their great Number and Quality as likewise of there Employments they be allow'd to have a very considerable Influence upon the Affairs of a Kingdom Disorders of whatsoever kind as Riots Frays Profanation of the Lords-day Swearing Drunkenness Frauds in Dealing Purloinings Hedge-breakings Destruction of Game unlawful Meeting of Conventicles all unlawful Gaming Vagabonds Petty Factions as also greater Offences against the Crown as Treason Murderers Thefts Burglaries with infinite other Enormities fall under their Cognizance but more especially are they bound by Duty to have a strict regard to the Three foregoing Particulars viz. Ale-houses Masters Servants and the Poor So that in matters of smaller Moment they have the final Decision and of all Criminal Causes whatsoever which shall happen within these respective Limits they have the first Examination and by them such Offences are remitted to a further Tryal Now Country Gentlemen are lookt upon to be the fittest Instruments for Executing this Trust and that upon these two Accounts First In regard of their Estates For being or at least as they ought to be Gentlemen of Fortune they are not apt to be Corrupted as other Officers whose Fortunes and Livelihood depends upon the Profit of their Office In the next place living in the Neighbourhood they are more Competent Judges of Persons and Offences and more easie to be Recours'd to for Remedies of all Disorders then others who are strangers and at greater distance But notwithstanding the good and laudable Intention of the Government there are to be found daily too too many of undue-Qualifications entrusted with the Execution of this important Charge some there are indeed very Beneficial to the Country and an Ornament to their Office but whilst others are defective the Reformation of Manners makes but small advance But however stands the Case 't is certain that none ought to be deputed to this Trust but such as are duly Qualified as to these Particulars 1st A Competency of Knowledge 2dly Integrity of Life 3dly Courage and Resolution and 4thly Prudence or a Command over his own Passions The first Qualification necessary in a Magistrate is Competency of Understanding or Knowledge of the Laws Statutes and Customs of the Nation in which he lives I do not think it Necessary he should be as Learned as Tiberian Cujac or Sir Edward Coke that he should be able to penetrate all the difficult Cases which may arise betwixt Man and Man whether in these Publick or private Relations with all the Niceties which a Scrupulous and subtle Brain can start or invent so on the other hand it might reasonably be expected that he should be one of something a better Culture than to be able only to Spell his Name in a scrawling Character long Coats may become some sorts of Creatures well enough but to see them in long Robes or the Habiliments of Magistracy tho' it may move the serious Spectators sometimes to merriment and laughter yet it cannot choose but touch him with a secret dislike The next Qualification requisite in a Magistate is Integrity of Life and Manners And this indeed is something more Commendable than the former For Knaves there are and too many of them who have a sufficient Stock of Understanding or rather of Learning but to be a good Man as it clears his Reputation from all Imputation and Craft so it delivers him from the opprobrious Character of a Fool. A Fool 't is true may sometimes commit an honest Act as a good Man may a Fault by Inadvertancy and Mistake but he who is truly Honest and Conscientious proposes well in all his designs without Hypocrisie and private reserve and seldom trips or makes a blunder the Example of a Magistrate is certainly of much more force then his Orders For by the one he Excites and Invites by the other he drives and Compells which implies something of Reluctancy on his part who is Commanded And since Men naturally are more prone to Vice they cannot but post onwards with a full Career when they are assisted with the Wings of Authority For who can be ever brought to have a Detestation of Drunkenness and of mispending his Time when he has the Authentick Examples of Justices of the Peace before his Eyes not only inviting them to Drinking and making such Excess to be very Genteel and Orthodox but Patronizing perhaps the very Houses themselves as the Soul and Centre of their Mirth and Refreshment and the best Support possibly of their Interest And here I cannot but make a Cursory Remark upon what occur'd at the Time I was making these Reflections in the Neighbourhood where I live It is of a Justice of the Peace of some Figure and Popularity whom it pleas'd God in the Time of his Sickness to touch with a deep Sense of his former Wickedness and of the Mischief he had done to others by his vicious Example insomuch that h● sent his Circular Letters to be read publickly on Sundays in the Neighbouring Churches in which Confessionary Letters he most Conscientiously owns his former Riotous Course of Living in Swearing Drinking Lasciviousness c. as likewise the Glory he took in drawing others to Intemperance and seeing them wallow in their own Bestiality All which he heartily bewails and seriously exhorts his Friends and Acquaintance to take Example by him humbly craving their Prayers to Almighty God on his behalf desiring furthermore that in case it should please God to restore him to Life and he should relapse into his former wicked Courses that such his Publick Recantation or Consession should be urg'd against him to his perpetual Reproach and Infamy Which Pious Disposition of his as it ought in Christian Charity to be look'd upon as proceeding from God's extraordinary Mercy to him in filling him with true Sorrow and Repentance so there is great Hopes likewise that notwithstanding the horrid Corruptions of the Age the Example of such a contrite Penitent may have a good Influence upon many of those whom this Gentleman 's former Conversation had corrupted and poisoned Nor should I have been so particular in mentioning these Passages had not the Gentleman himself desir'd to make his Confession and Sorrow as Publick as possible for the Good and Benefit of others as well as for the Ease of his own Soul which God ●● may hope in Charity had Mercy of There is another sort of Corruption to which Men in