Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	absence_n	absent_a	continue_v	29	3	6.2121	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19802	True and Christian friendshippe With all the braunches, members, parts, and circumstances thereof, Godly and learnedly described. Written first in Latine by that excellent and learned man, Lambertus Danæus, and now turned into English. Together also with a right excellent inuectiue of the same author, against the wicked exercise of diceplay, and other prophane gaming.; Tractatus de amicitia Christiana. English	Daneau, Lambert, ca. 1530-1595?; Newton, Thomas, 1542?-1607.	1586 (1586)	STC 6230; ESTC S114067	45,848	120

which burneth alike in the breastes of either partie Neither yet doth friendship ceasse or vtterly perish through absence growing vpon iust and reasonable causes as we may see in Dauid and Ionathan whose friendship cōtinued and lasted still the one notwithstanding being absent from the other for such deepe rooted goodwill and such ardent affection can not be easely quenched Therefore Friendship being first well and surely grounded betweene persons present continueth still euen betweene them being absent and the further they be asunder the greater commonly is the longing desire of either partie to other and the more vehemently doth their enflamed myndes encrease But if this absence and discontinuaunce be long deferred protracted or delayed or if this Friendship were not at the beginning well and throughly settled and grounded then truely such is the fickle condition and inconstancie of the worlde now adaies it is wont commonly either to slyde quite away and take his leaue or at least to waxe cold and not to haue such great heates and desires as before For Aristotle saith and that very truely Silence and absence dissolueth many friendships What is therefore this true and Christian Friendship whereof wee now speake Many men doe bring many reasons whereby they goe about if not altogether and plainly to explicate and at large to displaye yet at least wise to depaynt and somewhat to shadow out the force and nature thereof Some therfore define it with too large circumstaunces and some againe hemme it in within too narrowe a compasse For they which say that Friendship is a consent of mindes in all causes and all matters whatsoeuer doe not well aduise themselues what they say for that they doe stretch the force of Friendshippe further then they ought to doe For there may bee many things wherein two men or moe doe not alwaies agree together in one but be of diuers and sundrie opinions As namely they may at some tymes agree together to doe some good thing and oftentymes againe they may consult together to do some things naughtie and wicked So that in such a case this consent of mindes in them ought rather to be termed a secrete compact a whispering assemblie or a close conference rather then true and stedfast Friendship For they that so define Friendship that they make it to be a consent of goodmē among themselues touching their priuate affayres and dealings onely doe make of Friendshippe as it were a kinde of Merchandize But wee doe thinke that Friendship may very well be thus defined if wee say that it is a Pact or Couenaunt made betweene two persons God himselfe beeing called to witnesse wherein they faithfully promise th' one to th' other mutually to loue cherish and entierly to conserue protect maintaine and defend one the others person estate and goods so farre foorth as it may lawfully bee done without breach of God his lawe or dishonour to his worde Which definition being particularly examined shal the better appeare and be found to carie in it the more certaintie and trueth Hierome in his 5. Epistle doth thus define it Friendshippe is a mutuall loue engraffed in the mynde and a strong linking of the harts together chast sincere and without emulation And first it is called a Pact or Couenant because in Friendshippe this seemeth to be a thing thereunto singularlie and peculiarlie appropriate that there is alwaies betweene faithfull vowed Louers a certaine bargaine or agreement solemnely made So did Ionathan and Dauid agree and consent betwene themselues making a Couenaunt betweene them and that not only once but many times renewed and repeated For as loue and charitie doth generally commaūd and will euery one of vs to bee knit together in a most firme consent of myndes and agreement of iudgements so specially namely in true Friendship it is among Friends most chiefly required that their faithfull hearts and true affections may not bee smoothered in secrecie or kept vnknowne but be apparaunted made open and manifested For such is the force and efficacie of this loue and affection which knitteth and linketh them together that it will not in any wise bee hidd but will breake foorth into open shewe Wherby it commeth to passe that the one vttereth and testifieth to the other what affection raigneth in him and what desire he hath to bee loued againe of the other whom he so ardently fauoureth Among other kindes of men the mutuall goodwill that one beareth to an other may many tymes be kept secrete and vnuttered But betweene Friends it can not in any case so be Therefore they doe vse this testification of their mutual affection and will as it were the liuely voyce of both their hearts and the firmer bond and strōger Buttresse for perpetuitie and continuaunce Now the name of God is vsed and in this case called to witnesse because he is the true Author and very Fountaine of al firme faithfull and stedfast Friendship without whom no maner of Friendship can be good godlie or commēdable For a higher greater mightier or surer witnesse pledge or token of their inward minde and will then God himself is can they haue none and therefore doe they reuerently in this behalf and for this purpose call him as Witnesse to their Cōscience and protestatiō And what better witnesse of their professed promise can they bring then God himselfe Whose name or authoritie can they vse that can and wil more seuerely and sharply punish their breach and contempt then he For their desire and wishe is that the couenant pact league promise vowe protestation agreeement and consent so betweene them mutually made and enterchaungeablie receiued and taken should not be for a tyme but for euer not momentanie but perpetuall not fleeting and fading but permanent and stable For this intent therefore I say doe they vse and enterpose the name of God building their matters vpon him who is the strongest and surest foundation And thus doe we reade that Ionathan and Dauid knit their Friendship made their couenaunt before the Lord. It is further also written of the same Ionathan that he gaue vnto Dauid as a pledge bonde or pawne of their newe begon Friendshippe not onely the solemne cyting of the name of God but also other visible giftes and outward testifications to wit his Robe Girdle Sword Bowe and such other garments and furniture as at that tyme he had for such heartie curtesies maketh men not onely the mindfuller but also more religious keepers and obseruers of their promise and couenant It is said in the definition to be betweene two because neuer or very seldome is firme and fast Friendship among moe then twaine And therefore for the preseruing of it stable stedfast and vnuiolated there must not a third be taken into this knot of true Friendshippe Now whereas it is written of Dionysius King of Sicile that he earnestly requested to be taken into the perfect bond of sincere amitie together with Damon Pythias it

that wee can reade of but haue flatly directly and plainly prostigated reproued and condemned this kinde of Deuelish Game But let vs heare some of the reasons of these graue and godly Fathers which caused them so sharplie and so worthilie to inueigh against this odious Play that the stiffest wilfullest obstinatest defenders of the same may thereby at length learne to holde their peace and to be ashamed of themselues And least any man should thinke vs to bee in this poynt more precise and Stoicall then needes or to speake so much against it as we doe without iust cause or reason there is a little Booke of Nicolas de Lyra a man accoūpted the learnedest in his tyme touching the same entituled Praeceptorium wherin he alledgeth nine speciall reasons gathered and collected out of diuers Wryters why this Dyceplay among Christians ought not in any wise to be suffered Out of whom and also out of other Writers besides wee here haue culled and selected the chiefest and most special which may fully suffice to perswade al those that be godlie minded and not wilfully wedded to their owne foolish opinions how entierly and effectually wee ought to abhorre this kinde of lewde and Deuelish exercise The ix Chapter That Dyceplay is directly condemned and reprooued by manifest textes of the sacred Scriptures FIrst there be some that thinke and very well truely that this maner of Playe is directly against the Law of God contained in the third Commaundement of the Decalogue Wherein wee are preciselie commaunded not to take the name of the Lord God in vaine And thereupon they gather that in Lotte casting in which kinde doubtlesse Dyceplaye is contained wee ought not in any wise for maintenaunce of our peeuish pleasures to vse vaine and ydle matters in steede of graue and godlie exercises for that therein we doe after a sorte make a mock of Gods prouidence and rashly abuse the greatest testimonies and effects thereof such as Lotterie is By this meanes therefore they holde opinion that the power and Maiestie of God is prophaned and taken in vaine For thus are we taught both by the examples of holy men and by the very Commaundements of God himselfe that we should not vse these Lottes wherein there resteth a singular argument and token of Gods diuine prouidence as before was sayde in vaine trifeling or phantasticall matter but rather then and at such tyme onely when as there falleth out some matter of great moment and waightie importaunce wherein God himself as an extraordinarie moderatour Ruler and Vmpier must interpose his doome strike the stroake and decide the case least otherwise if wee rashlie and lightlie cast out Lottes wee seeme not onely to goe about to tempt God but also wickedly to offer some notable iniurie and villanous dishonour vnto his extraornarie power and prouidence In deede for the electing of Magistrates diuiding of Goodes partition of Landes among Coheires or in making a choyse of Pastors in the Church there maye bee cause sometyme to vse Lottes because in these oftentymes the voyce and consent of GOD is more necessarie thē of men and also for that there appeareth many tymes therein an extraordinarie meanes of Gods will and pleasure is a good way also to ende al quarrels and to auoyde all corruption of voyces But in sporting toyes and friuolous causes as though we would make God seruaunt to our vanities and pastimes to vse Lots they hold it vtterly vnlawfull Now there is no man will denye but that Dyce is one of the chiefe kinds of Lot casting And therfore therby if not in plaine tearmes yet necessarilie and inclusiuelie by waye of manifest circumstaunce the name and Maiestie of God is by Dyceplaye expressely prophaned and blasphemouslie dishonored Secondly they say this kinde of Play is reproueable for that it is vsed and instituted contrarie to the true nature and end of Patyme For seeing that the ende and scope of Play is or should be either to exercise the industrie of the mynde or els to cherish and reuiue the strength and powers of the bodie truely Dyceplay is most farre from either of them both For therein wee neither exercise the Bodie as wee doe in Wrestling or Running yea wee many tymes therein doe not so much as stirre or mooue our Bodie nor any part of the same excepting our hands and fingers but rather sit still gaping and staying for the chaunce of the Dyce sitting in the meane while like idle Drones playing al the day and giuing our selues to no maner of actiuitie in the worlde in so much that many tymes for a iust reward of this our loytering occupation we are paied home with the grieuous payne of the Gowtes and other Ioynt diseases And as for industrie of the mynde who can say that Dyceplayers doe vse or increase any at all seeing that in this play there is no maner of exercise for the witte at all but all the hope of victory and winning dependeth vpon Chaunce in so much that the Winner many tymes is driuen to wonder how hee wanne and for the winning of any hande or stake afterward cannot in certaintie any thing at al assure himselfe And thus also it commeth to passe that he which goeth away a looser doth not so much meruaile as chafe and fret that he hath lost seeing that he could not perceiue in that conquest and victorie made on him any maner of industrie or ouerreaching wit in the Winner And therfore they sit the longer and playe thereat the eigerlier for that they cannot see any probable reason nor yeeld any sufficient cause either of their winning or of their loosing Whereupon they cannot moderate and satisfie themselues herein but the more they play and the longer they continue thereat the greedier they are and the willinger to hold out for that in this wretched and slouthfull idlenes they perceiue neither their bodies wearied nor their mindes exercised and occupied Thirdly they alledge the Lawes of the Magistrate which forbiddeth these Playes as offensiue and wicked A lawe therefore being once enacted and made against it this Play cannot bee vsed nor defended without offence And notable is that saying of the Apostle and for this present purpose very fit to be applyed If meate saieth he be a cause to offēd my brother I will eate no flesh while the world standeth that I may not offend my Brother Now seeing it is a great de●le easier for vs to refraine these trifeling toyes then to abstaine from flesh which is a thing so commodious and necessarie for the sustentation of our bodies in this life who needeth to doubt but that these paltring vanities are much more to be renounced and forborne for feare of offending our Brethren For there is no kinde of pleasure which we ought so much to esteeme as therby and for the same to giue offence vnto our Brother Furthermore although wee altogether forbeare and for euer abstaine from this kinde of Play