Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	action_n	good_a	sin_n	1,408	5	4.8951	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59652	Moral vertues baptized Christian, or, The necessity of morality among Christians by William Shelton, M.A., late fellow of Jesus Colledge in Cambridge, and now vicar of Bursted Magna in Essex.	Shelton, William, d. 1699.	1667 (1667)	Wing S3099; ESTC R37384	107,365	208

return'd with the spoils of War The feast of a good Conscience and the triumphs of a Vertuous Soul may be less pompous as to outward shew but what they have less of the fashion of Agrippa and Bernice they are the more like the Kings Daughter all glorious ●● 45. within The war that the Spirit manageth against the Flesh hath the same design with other wars to procure peace which when it ●● attain'd we Englishmen especially cannot but be sensible how desirable it is We are at the same time unthankful to God undutiful to our Prince and unnatural to our selves if we do not rejoyce that we live in peace There is no kind of peace that is without its kind of joy so is the peace within our own minds when we have bri●led and restrain'd our irregular and exorbitant passions when we have quell'd our lustful inclinations and have either in whole or in part by the blessing of God upon vertuous endeavours Isa 48. and 57. attain'd that peace which God himself twic● saith doth not belong to wicked men when Temperance and Justice and other like habits are so firmly rooted in us that we find none or no great reluctancy of the Flesh in the exercise of them then behold how the soul enjoys it self how glad it is to find things in due order the inferiour faculties subordinate to the superiour and they to their supreme Lord the Father of Spirits Go now and see if a righteous and just man doth not rejoyce to consider that temptations of Covetousness hath not made him unjust go and ask of those men whom you observe to be most sober and upright in their conversations they will tell you that they thank God they have a peace within them that passeth all P●il 4. understanding They will say that Meekness and Charity c. are lovely things to be embraced for their own sakes They rejoyce to think that their souls are delivered from their enthralling lusts and disturbing passions If I should say that Vertue doth this perfectly for us I should my self incurre the censure which I before past upon the Stoicks who have boasted of a perfection that they could not attain Truely the Spirits of just men are not yet in this life made perfect In many things we James 3. offend all Yet this is truth though we are not in this state compleatly holy so as to be sinless and therefore our happiness and comfort is incompleat yet so far as we do arise towards a perfection of Vertue we do thereby get the conquest of our lusts and passions and the more they are subdued the greater freedom and pleasure we gain to our selves and for this reason there is a pleasure and joy in Vertuous Action● which is the second proof Sect. 6 There is a pleasure in Vertue for whereas wickedness and vice doth bring men first or last to repent this is the property of Vertuous actions that the farther a man proceeds in them he is the more confirm'd that they are becoming and fitting things The more Vertuous any man is he doth the less repent that he did ever begin to be Vertuous What Simonides said of silence I have often repented Plutarch ●e Garrulitate that I have spoken but never that I held my peace That says the Vertu us man I have have often repented that I have been no more Vertuous that I have fail'd so often in my Duty but where I have attain'd in any measure to any degrees of it I am glad and did never repent of what I have done There may be some who for want of skill and proficiency in the School of Vertue may repent of their good deeds but what though they do Is it an Argument that there is no pleasure in Learning because a Dunce throws away his Book and wishes he had never gone to School Was St. Paul ever the worse because the love of this world tempted ● Tim. 4. Demas to forsake him Doth it signifie much to the disparagement of Christian Religion because Julian prov'd an Apostate Now this is the case some men have ventur'd upon Vertue out of an opinion that it was an easie thing and when they find the difficulties of it vice is not easily mastered nor passions easily subdued then they fall back again and before they were throughly redeemed from a vain conversation they again make their bargain with the Devil and sell themselves to work wickedness But what shall we say of these men even this they are to Vertue as the many Antichrists are to Christian Religion and of them may Vertuous men say They 1 Joh. 2. went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us They are not Vertues menial servants they are but retainers and hangers on they do but pretend to some Vertuous actions some good things they may do but they do not Benè out of a love to Vertue They may have a procatarctick but they have no proegumenal cause they may be outwardly drawn to the exercise of Vertue but not from an inward principle of goodness Now Vertue is not to stand or fall according to the opinions of these men Sect. 7 But now take a man that hath in good earnest set himself to be an honest and righteous man and that hath made conscience of doing the duties that the Word of God and his own conscience have made appear to be his duties and whatever fears and grumblings he might find within himself when he first began yet as he goes on he is the more confirm'd in his way the more he sees into the mystery of Vertue he admires it the more and chuses it the rather and a man by accustoming himself to it will grow more acquainted with the pleasure of it and will daily see less cause to repent of his choice The rule that Plutarch applies to Temperance will be found true of all sorts of Vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De sanita●e tuend● Chuse that manner of life that is best and custonie will make it pleasant This Argument hath somewhat of experience in it for a man to disparage that of which he hath no knowledge he talks for want of wit and he must get into the company of his fellow-fools to be believed Come to those who have experience what Vertue is and they find the deeper the sweeter The more Vertue the less Repentance and the less Repentance the more Joy for he that chuseth a course of life of which he sees no cause to repent he must needs good himself in it and rejoyce to think he hath made a happy choice He tastes the sweetness of it and then because Contra gustum non est disputandum No man can be disputed out of his senses nor perswaded that that is not sweet which he

Conscience is such as we may daily invite our selves to Nemine contradicente if it please God to allow us the rejoycing testimony of our own consciences it is not all the world can make us melancholy and therefore holy men are most merry when they are alone but so are not drunkards and swearers c. And it is of ordinary observation that many men cannot abide to be alone especially not in the dark they are glad of any company And I believe were it not for this that men do not know how to spend their time alone to their own comfort and satisfaction Taverns and Ale-houses would not be so full as generally they are it is no sign a man lives merrily because his boon company makes him so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch p. 100. John 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we judge of men according to outward appearance we shall not judge righteous judgment There are many are counted happy but their hearts know their own bitterness Now this pleasure that men are fain to go out of doors for to get it where they can to buy it by penniworths and small parcels must needs be little and inconsiderable in comparison of that which vertuous men have in a full stock within their own Souls Besides it may be added the more our pleasure comes from without it is the more uncertain for the same causes that give it may withhold it if they either withdraw or prove miserable Comforters Or if all second causes should conspire together to make a man prosperous in his wickedness yet it is but a forc'd mirth not natural and therefore not constant yea all the noise these pleasures make cannot drown nor still the clamor of a guilty conscience but all this while in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful Prov. 14. And it is evident that so it is because the more men retire from the world their pleasure abates the more they are alone the more dejected and sorrowful they are There may be an objection against this concerning one sort of men and it is the observation of the Poet of covetous men who seem to be never so well pleased as when they are alone meditating on their wealth Populus me sibilet at mihi plaudo Horace Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplor in Arcâ I don't regard what people say Let them laugh on and flout me At home I 'm merrier then they I have all my bags about me It is hard to find an answer in the next words of the same Poet but Plautus doth it fully in his Euclio Nunc ibo ut visam estne ita Aurum ut condidi Aulular Quod me sollicitat plurimis miserum modis I hid my Money in a cunning hole And yet I can't but be afraid 't is stole I 'm glad I 'm rich yet have a thousand fears Vexations griefs disquietments and cares And if the solicitudes and perplexities of covetous men be set against their pleasures they have little to boast more then other men And even these men depend upon others for their comfort for it is in the power of any body that hath to deal with them to vex or disquiet them either by disappointing of them or by making them afraid they shall be disappointed CHAP. VII Sect. 1 THat which is a foundation to this Reason is by it self another Wickedness and vice is in its own nature disturbing and troublesome It is so far from producing any considerable comfort that it is properly the cause of trouble and discomfort Vice doth rob and deprive men of that which it pretends to bring them as Juglers perswade silly people they can make money when at the same time they pick their pockets such juglings and hypocrisies are there in sin there is a shew of pleasure and assemblance of mirth but it is a deceitful and a destructive play such a play as was between Abner and Joabs men Abner said to Joab let the young men now arise and play before us and Joab said let them arise but what was their sport They caught every one his fellow by 2 Sam. 2. the head and thrust his sword into his fellows side so they fell down together Or such sport as Sampson Judg. 16. made the Philistines Call for Sampson that he may make us sport they did not know what would follow he pull'd down the house upon the Lords and all the People and crusht them to pieces Many are the woes and sorrows that men bring upon their own heads by indulging themselves in sin which when they feel they believe though before they would not Two waies sin is troublesome formally and efficiently Sect. 2 Formally In as much as forma dat esse distingui beings are distinguished by their forms therefore the properties of beings do arise from those forms whatever kind of things those forms be thus is vice formally the cause of trouble because it is a property inseparably annexed to it or indeed more then a property Sin is the sickness of the soul as it is the property of sickness to be troublesome to the body so is sin to the soul and it cannot otherwise be especially in the irregularities of passions Anger and Revenge and Malice and Envy and Ambition and Pride and such like exorbitances as these they are grievous afflictions to those that are over-born with them The impetuous workings of these affections are like the ragings of the Sea The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast forth mire and dirt and therefore no wonder that it follows Isa 5. 7. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked How can that Nation be at peace that nourishes an intestine War so is it here there is an 1 Pet. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch De virt vitio p. 101. Army of lusts that wars against our souls Our passions in their nature are disquieting vexatious So could a Philosopher challenge vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where is the sweetness and pleasure of wickedness it is neither without cares nor grief neither doth it satisfie and content nor doth it remove trouble nor produce ease No verily as the same word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie both sin and the punishment of it so doth the thing answer the name Vertue is not more its own reward then Vice is its own punishment and torment The sollicitudes and fears of Covetousness and Ambition the heats and turbulencies of Anger the impatiencies of Revenge the frettings and pinings of Envy and generally the dissatisfiedness of every Lust what are all these but plentiful demonstrations that sin and sorrow are so interwoven together that they cannot be parted unless all be unravelled by Repentance which yet is likewise an Argument to the purpose for though Repentance be safe if it be sincere yet it is a troublesome work As it is the property of a Wave