Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	authority_n	great_a	king_n	1,863	5	3.5392	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07733	The cleansing of the leper discoursed, and opened, first, in certaine lectures within the cathedrall church of Saint Paul, in London; vpon occasion of that great visitation of the plague, in the yeare of our Lord, 1603. And now thought meet to be published, for our present instruction and comfort; as being fitted both to this time of pestilence, and of famine amongst vs. By Henry Morley, Bachelour of Diuinitie.	Morley, Henry, d. 1616.	1609 (1609)	STC 18115; ESTC S112895	120,818	318

vnderstanding and performance whereof we are to remember and call to minde an olde but yet a necessarie and a trewe distinction of scandalles with the different natures and qualities of sundrie distinct persons whom these scandals do concerne The first kinde of scandall is called by the Schoolemen scandalum actiuum an actiue scandall Scandalum malae rei exemplum aedificans ad delictum Tert. de Virg. velandis Scandalum ost dictum vel factum minus rectum praebens alteri occasionem ruinae Thom. 2. 2. quaest 43. art 1. or an offence giuen which is nothing else as Tertullian sayes but an euill example that maketh others to offende and to sinne by it or as Aquinas the great Schooleman dooth define it it is a word not rightly spoken or a thing not rightly done giuing others occasion to fall thereby or if it doth not preuaile so farre yet at the least it doth greatly offend grieue the mind of a godly and a zealous man The other is scandalum passiuum a passiue scandall or an offence not giuen but taken when as a thing being good or at the least not euill in it selfe yet notwithstanding a person not well disposed falleth into sin by it or at the least is offended and grieued For the former we ought to haue an especiall care that we giue no offence vnto anie according to the Apostles direction 1. Cor. 10. 1. Cor. 32 Giue no offence neither to the Iewes nor to the Grecians nor to the Church of God because the actiue scandall is most properly said to be the cause of sin and therefore hath a most fearefull woe against the authours of it Mat. 18. Woe vnto the world because of offences Necessarie it is that offences come but woe be vnto the man by whom the offence commeth Mat. 16 Of this kind was the offence that Peter gaue vnto Christ when as he went about to disswade him from his blessed passion the soueraigne salue and medicine to heale all our diseases withall which made him to reprooue and rebuke him so sharply as he did Get thee behinde me Sathan thou art an offence vnto me And such also is the offence of manie men now who do greatly offend and hurt others by such scandales as they giue vnto them The which doe commonly proceede from two especiall causes either from som hereticall doctrine erronious opinion which they doe disseminate and sowe in the hearts and minds of such as are ignorant and vnstable beeing not altogether setled nor rooted in the truth or else from an euill example of a wicked and vngodly conuersation whereby they infect and poison the soules of others drawing thē on by their euill example to the like excesse of wickednesse Of the first sort are not only our Iesuits and popish recusants and the rest of that rabble who lie lurking secretly in corners like foxes in their holes or like Lions in their dennes teaching most impious blasphemous doctrine and disswading subiects from their loyalty and allegeance vnto their Soueraigne but also diuers Schismatickes the seeds-men of sedition and dissension in our Church 2. Tim. 3 who creepe priuily into houses and hold priuate conuenticles seducing and mis-leading them with strange fancies and idle conceits withdrawing them frō performance of that dewty and obedience which they ought to yeeld vnto the Church Of the other sort are all sorts of persons whatsoeuer that giue anie kinde of scandall by the sinnes and offences which they commit whether it bee whoredom or drunkenness swearing and blaspheming fraude and oppression or any other sin whatsoeuer wherby they cause others to cōmit the like or at the least do greatly grieue vexe their righteous soules as the wicked Sodomites vexed the righteous soule of that iust man Lot 2. Pet. 2.7 by their vncleane conuersation but especially rich and mighty men that are in high place and authoritie and are more eminent then others who by their euill example and wicked practises doe cause a great manie to sinne as Ieroboam did 1. King 12 by setting vp his golden calues because that men of lower ranke are readie to imitate without any dew examination the dealings and practises of those that are of higher degree thinking that they may lawefully doe whatsoeuer they see them to doe like as wee see in the heauens where the heauenlie bodies which are contayned within the first sphere are mooued according to the motion of the first moouer Our Sauiour Christ saith Mat. 6.22 that the light of the bodie is the eye and if the eye be single the whole bodie will be light and if the eye be wicked the whole bodie wil be darke so surely if great men be good others will learne to be good also but if they be euill others will learne to bee euill by them for wheresoeuer there is darknesse vpon the mountaines there is darknesse vpon the vallies also 1. King 12 If Ieroboam makes golden calues the people will quickly fall to idolatrie and worship them Dan. 3.7 If Nabuchadnezzar sets vp a golden image all the people will forthwith at the sound of the trumpet and other instruments of musicke fall downe and worship it Iudg. 16.30 Sampson cannot pull downe the house vpon himself but many thousands of the people will be slaine with it Therfore for the conclusion of both let all sorts of persons take heede how they giue any offence either by erronious doctrine and wicked perswasions or by an euill example of a lewde life because as Saint Austen saies August de Temp. ser 104. So many as a man shall edifie by a good example for so many hee shall receiue a reward of a blessed life and contrariwise so many as he shall hurt by example of an euill life hee shall giue an account vnto God and receiue a iust recompence and a punishment of a wretched and a damnable life this being a sinne that is not permanent and residing in a mans person onely but transient and passing from our selues vnto others like vnto a leprosie that infecteth others with the contagion of it that as our sauiour Christ sayth of the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 23 who deuoured widdowes houses vnder a colour of long prayer that they should receiue the greater damnation so the like also may be said of these men that doe not onely sinne themselues but also cause others to sin that they shall receiue a double damnation one for the sin which they committed in themselues the other for the sins which they caused others to commit So as Arrius and Iulian and all such miscreants and monsters shall not only be punished for their owne impieties and blasphemies but also for the impietie and wickednesse wherewith they haue caused others to blaspheme the holy name of God Now for the second kinde of scandall Scandalum Pharisaeorū pusillorum which is the passiue scandall or the offence taken not giuen that is to be