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 will_n 1,601 5 6.4879 4 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A65793 A manuali [sic] of divine considerations delivered and concluded by ... Thomas White ; translated out of the original Latine copie. White, Thomas, 1593-1676. 1655 (1655) Wing W1833; ESTC R10112 54,484 214

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

to give an account for every mischief arising out of his Act whether it be by a relaxation of government or by scandall given to others or by offending Superiours or by those punishments which of themselves or by accident are derived upon him Nor doubt but on the contrary side as great as these miseries are so great nay far greater are those goods which are reserved for those that do observe the Laws and prescripts of their Superiours Conclude to esteem no law nor command of thy Superiour as of light moment but with thy whole heart with a ready and chearfull will embrace and observe even what shall seem hardest to thee 12. Meditation Of Obedience to Superiours 1. Consider how it is from thy Governours and Superiours that thou dost possess thy own in peace justice and commodity proportionable to thy state that thou canst provide and be helpfull to thy self and if such be thy condition that being nothing solicitous of food rayment or other necessaries thou attendest onely to what shall be for thy souls and bodies encrease and delight 2. Consider moreover that thy Governours are already perfect no having any need of thee who also if they would live and attend onely to themselves others would provide for them That they be such to whom thou canst bring no great good nor profit nor do any great mischief In the mean time they omitting the care of their own are solicitous for thee for thee they labour it is thee that they esteem as one of their children nor have any thing more in their intention then to make thee better then themselves 3. Again consider that they are wise men of greater age skill and experience and know more what belongs unto their cha●ge then thou dost and have many helps to find that out which thou wantest That the rewards of their labours which they expect in this world are late and light nor comparable to their labours and if they were great since they proceed not from thee they do no wayes diminish thy debt That the account which they are to give unto God is heavy since they must not onely answer for themselves but for thee also and thy actions That the punishments are severe which are threatned against those that do ill and that in this life also there is not a more perillous action then the government of men Conclude to have a reverend and gratefull mind alwayes towards them not to judge of their actions rashly but to embrace or at least patiently endure them as proceeding for the most part out of their love towards thee Lastly to endeavour thy self that thou mayest be such that they shall have no cause to deal with thee and govern thee o the wise then with love and good will If any thing that is sharp or not so vertuous as should be proceeds from them to remember that to suffer some discommodities among many profits is not considerable That if they do otherwise then well we must pardon them as men but we must be indebted to them for whatsoever is well done as to friends 13. Meditation Of Liberalitie and Gratitude 1. COnsider that it is a greater happiness as our Lord himself witnesseth to give then to receive therefore it is the part of a noble mind if it be compelled through the necessity of humane condition to receive any thing of another to be carefull to restore it perfectly back again but if he cannot yet to acknowledge it ingenuously and to publish it abroad 2. Gratitude also for a benefit received doth intice and draw forth a second if the benefactour bears a noble heart but with him that is base it satisfies and stifles clamorous complaints 3. Again there is not a reproach more odious then that of a benefit received with ingratitude from whence it proceeds that according to the imperiall constitution a curtesie done might be revoked if ingratitude were proved 4. Moreover God among other causes by which goods are to be acquired hath placed the prayers of the poor that as it were out of the nature of the thing he would blesse those for whose prosperity the poor make supplication to him Therefore he that receives a benefit with obligation or hopes of prayers to be offered for the benefactour is absolutely bound to pray for him and if he doth it not the mischiefs which shall happen to the benefactour will be imputed to him Conclude gifts are prudently to be asked and accepted to wit when necessity compelleth thee when they are received they are to be acknowledged and commended and if there be any thing wherein thou canst profit thy benefactour it is to be done with diligence This is the condition of benefits that if thou hast done any thou shouldest esteem them as little but if thou hast received them esteem them as great Last of all when you can return nothing else endeavour in your prayers to God to obtain all good for those that have conferred any benefit upon you do it fervently and earnestly and in the first place take care thy prayers may be such as shall be to God acceptable 14. Meditation Of Rash Iudgement 1. COnsider how a judgement is called rash when without sufficient ground thou condemnest another of a crime which to do first of all is unjust as well because thou dost occasion a prejudiciall conceit and hurtest the fame of thy neighbour in thy self as also that by reason of such judgement thou art ready to treat him as a guilty person if occasion offered it self 2. It is also an act of imprudence because it determines of a thing that is hid without any sufficient argument and a token of a corrupt affection concerning the same crime for men who are innocent esteem others as harmless also but those that are guilty think all men like themselves 3. It is also more often false then true for it is a thing manifest that the seeds of vertue are so fixed in mans nature that for the most part they cannot be rooted forth Whence it was that when as Elaas thought himself alone there were seven thousand besides So in Ninive also there were 100000. of innocent persons Nay for the most part all men in a cause that importeth not their own interests do embrace vertue 4. Lastly whosoever it is that sins he is the bondman of God and it belongs not to us to judge of him but unto God and therefore when as we judge another mans slave we make our selves obnoxicus to Gods judgements Conclude to suspend thy judgement in a matter that is uncertain and to i● c●●e to think the best of every one For every one is presumed to be good untill the contrary be manifest although because thou knowest not whether he be good or bad to expose thy self that he may do thee a mischief be no part of wisedome but for every thing else to be ready to do good to hear and to speak well of him 15. Meditation Of Detraction 1. COnsider
those objects which in passion he coveteth or hateth drives him along how and which way he pleaseth Lastly Passion is no other thing then a portion of folly 3. Adde the mischiefs of the sin into which it drives us the loss of spirituall goods and the falling into the punishments which are known by revelation Conclude with all thy strength and thy whole endeavour to watch that thou mayest understand unto what passions and desires thou art subject that thou mayest reprove and represse at the first their force and motions that incessantly thou mayest fear and search all thy works with Lanthorns before thou doest them and whiles thou art doing them being sure that so far as thou shalt profit in this exercise so far thou mayest be secure of thy actions and of a life without blame 26. Meditation Of humble submission to the Divine Providence 1. COnsider that whereas God is good and constituted the Universe of good things it is consequent that all things good are knit together and do mutually usher in one the other and have their causes certain and rightly ordered But evils do fall in as it were by accident without any determinate causes and without order Therefore is it necessary that to whatsoever good although temporall as honours power riches pleasure the passage must be more efficacious and secure by Vertue then by Vices but unto evill the tract is full of thorns and there is no constant methode neither to temporall goods can any high-way be made by doing ill 2. Adde whereas those things are onely properly our deeds which one designes to do by knowledge foresight and resolution and that the meanest action of a man cannot be totally ordered by him because no man hath any perfect knowledge in every circumstance concurring to the action as it is manifest to him that considers it we must therefore depend upon God in all and every act and circumstance And therefore how foolish is it to think to govern kingdoms and to bring unto perfection great affairs without the Patronage of God or contrary to his pleasure Conclude not to be confident of any action before thou dost see it finished and brought to perfection because there are many things in it whereof thou never did it consider nor yet to glory in it when it is done for all that which is thy share in it had never brought it to perfection Neither must thou presume of any vertue whatsoever or grow insolent over others because those are not sufficient to do the work which are the end of them from whence it comes to passe that we perceive the actions of the weakest counsell reach oftentimes and attain the conclusion when those that are most cunningly proposed do fail of the purpose Nor must we run astray to obtain any effect by sin nor believe that any mischief can be atchieved by force of wit Neither must thou be exceedingly solicitous of such things as are far off nor hinder another mans good although a far off thou conceivest he may be prejudiciall unto thee 27. Meditation Of Prayer 1. COnsider that whereas the soul hath two movers the sense and the understanding whereof the sense is ever open and moved by her objects and by frequent stroaks draws the understanding to he opinions and the will to her affections it is clear that except the understanding draws away her self by Meditation to the contrary verities and the will by prayer to pious and right affections from sensitive impressions it cannot be avoided but that becoming carnall and worldly we should be quite estranged from the true goods of the soul 2. Again seeing God through the necessity of his goodnesse affects nothing more then to communicate his gifts and we are not otherwise capable of them but by our understanding and will rightly disposed which is done by Meditation and Prayer and that by them we are capable of all good whatsoever know certainly that there is nothing in Gods Treasure which by force of Prayer may not be drawn forth and applied to thee 3. Lastly since Meditation and Prayer is nothing else but an illumination of the understanding concerning the most eminent and clear verities and most of all necessary and a fitting of the will to the greatest goods most of all to be desired and exceeding naturall it followeth that nothing can be found more sweet nothing more delightfull nor any thing to which thou mayest more con andy adhere then to these two Conclude the exercise of Prayer ought to be dayly most diligent most necessary to be esteemed and practiced as a thing more excellent then any other businesse But that thou oughtest to esteem for Prayer all that which hath the fruit of Prayer to wit the ascertaining of the understanding and the preparation of the will in things concerning thy salvation 28. Meditation Of Humilitie and Reverence to God 1. COnsider how thy soul by the benefit of Sciences gathers into her self the wholestock of being by infinite chains of an infinite number of consequences and how those things which are contrary in themselves are not onely in the soul together but also agreeing so that one thing cannot be separated from another 2. Weigh therefore if that there should meet together in a center into one entity not by collection of parts but simplicity of substance all that not onely of this Universe whereof so little is comprehended by us but whatsoever possibility and fruitfulnesse of being is poured forth through spaces not to be imagined by us of Eternity Immensity and sublimity by an indissoluble verity of essences so that also every one should remain singular and indivisible notwithstanding in the simplicity of the highest formality weigh I say if thou canst of what sort hownoble and high that being should be how by an originall necessity of being it is the principle and fountain of all how it is a superabundant stock of fulness of good for the injoying whereof all things subsist And when thou canst ascend no further cal him God 3. Adde that he is the All of all things that thou and thine proceed from him are sustained by him and preserved from falling into nothing Conclude with what amazement with what terrour thou oughtest to be taken and strucken with the view of his greatness and the lightning of his glory with what profound humility abjection and plunging of thy self into the abyss of thy own nothing it behoveth thee to present thy self before his divine eyes thou an invisible Atome drept from his works who themselves as great as they are seem infinitely less then nothing being compared to their Creatour 2. How much is it fit thou shouldst not endure that any thing should be compared with him or be vouchsased any honour at all when he is mentioned And with what immense gratitude art thou bound to restore and offer up thy self and thine which were originally his and belonging to his service more justly then any slave to his lord or he that