Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	good_a	great_a	1,387	5	2.5396	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00619	Resolues, diuine, morall, politicall b Owin Felltham; Resolves	Felltham, Owen, 1602?-1668.	1623 (1623)	STC 10755; ESTC S101827	61,382	350

primary cause of a great deale of the good they atchieue So wee cannot but grant that while here his memory weares out his glory in a better world augments daily either by his good presidents his pious institutions his charitable deeds or his godly works each of which with Gods blessing are able to kindle some heat in the cold zeale of posteritie Examples are the best and most lasting lectures vertue the best example Happie man that hath done these things in sincerity Time shall not outliue his worth He liues truely after death whose pious actions are his pillars of remembrāce though his flesh moulders to drosse in the graue yet is his happinesse in a perpetuall growth no day but addes some graines to his heape of glory Good workes are seedes that after sowing returne vs a continuall haruest A man liues more renowned by some glorious deedes then euer did that Carian by his Mausolean monument On the contrary what a wofull course hath he runne that hath liued lewdly and dyes without repentance his example infects others and they spread it abroad to more like a man that dyes on the plague he leaues the infection to a whole Citie So that euen the sinnes of thousands hee must giue an account for What can we thinke of such as haue been the inuentors of vnlawfull games and callings that are now in vse sure they haue much to answere for that thus haue occasioned so much ill yea better had it beene they had not beene at all then being to be loaden with the sinnes of so many Miserable man that when thy owne burthen is insupportable thou yet causest others to adde to thy weight as if thou would'st be sure desperately to make thy rising irrecouerable are the waters of thy own sinnes so low that thou must haue streames from euery place to runne into thy Ocean Who can without a showre of teares thinke on thy deplorable state or without mourning meditate thy sad condition Oh! Let me so liue as my life may be beneficiall not hurtfull to other Let my glory increase when my life is done I am sure satietie in heauen is not capable of either complaint or discontent but as for spoyling others by my owne confusion sinne I should think death a faire preuention I loue not that life which makes death eternall I haue sin enough of my owne to sigh and sorrow and mourne for I need not make others mine by my owne bad actions A little of this is too too much yea he hath enough that hath none hee hath too much that hath any at all XXV Hee deserues not commendation that for beeing commēded growes proud euery good thing a good man speakes of mee shall like the blast of a trumpet in warre incite and incourage me to a closer pursuit of more nobler vertue not like Bucephalus trappings blow mee vp in a higher conceit of ouerprizing my owne weaknes So while some speake well let my deeds exceed their tougue I had rather men should see more thē they expect then looke for more then they shall find XXVI When a man hath the proiect of a course in his mind 't is good wisedome to resolue of secrecy till the time his intent bee fulfilled neither can hee but be foolish that brags much either of what he will doe or of what hee shall haue For if what hee speakes of falls not out accordingly then will the world mocke him with derision and scorne and oftentimes his liberall tongue may be occasion of some ones sodain intercepting his aime divulged intentions seldome proceed well multitudes make a iarre in businesses their opinions or Councels either distract Iudgement or diuert resolution But howsoeuer if what wee boasted of commeth to passe yet shall we be reputed vain-glorious boasters vnwise Bragges lift vp expectation so high that shee ouerthinkes the birth and many times the childe which indeed is faire wee thinke not so because wee were possest with hopes of finding it rare Secrecy is a necessary part of policie things vntold are yet vndone then to say nothing there is not a lesse labour I obserue the Fig-tree whose fruit is most pleasant bloomes not at all whereas the Sallow that hath glorious palmes is continually found Barren I would first be so wise as to bee my owne Councellor next so secret as to bee my owne Councell-keeper XXVII Some men read Authors as our Gentlemen vse flowers onely for delight and smell to please their fancy and refine their tongue Others like the Bee extract onely the hony the wholesome precepts and this alone they beare away leauing the rest as little worth of small value In reading I will care for both though for the last most the one serues to instruct the mind the other fits her to tell what she hath learned pitty it is they should be deuided he that hath worth in him and cannot expresse it is a chest keeping a rich Iewell and the key lost Concealing goodnesse is vice vertue is better by being cōmunicated A good stile with wholesome matter is a faire woman with a vertuous soule which attracts the eyes of all The good man thinkes chastly and loues her beauty for her vertue which hee still thinks more faire for dwelling in so faire an outside The vicious man hath lustfull thoughts and he would for her beauty faine destroy her vertue but comming to sollicite his purpose findes such diuine lectures from her Angels tongue and those deliuer'd with so sweet a pleasing modesty that he thinks vertue is dissecting her soule to him to rauish man with a beauty which he dream'd not of So hee could now curse himselfe for desiring that lewdly which he hath learn'd since onely to admire and reuerence Thus he goes away better that came with an intent to bee worse Quaint phrases on a good subiect are baits to make an ill man vertuous how many vile men seeking these haue found themselues Conuertites I may refine my speech without harme but I will endeuour more to reforme my life 'T is a good grace both of Oratory or the Pen to speake or write proper but that is the best work where the Graces and the Muses meet XXVIII Wee see in the Moone a threefold condition her Wane her Increase her Full all which I liuely see resembled in a Christian three causes working them Sinne Repentance Faith Sinne vvhich after the act vvhen he once considers it makes him like the Moone in her Wane or state of Decrement obscuring and diminishing that glorious light of the spirit vvhich vvhilome shined so brightly in him nay sometimes as the Moone in her latest state of Diminution hee seemes quite gone resting for a time like a man in a trance like a tree in Winter or as fire buried in concealing Embers vvithout either sence or shew of either light or heat But then comes Repentance and casts water in his face bedewes him vvith teares rubbes vp his benummed soule that there is to bee seene

burne his linnen because 't is foule they may both returne to their former purity and then to hate is sinfull But as for my friend I will loue both his person and his qualities his qualities first and for them his person Yet in neither will I so hate as to bee a foe to goodnesse nor so loue as to foster Iniquity 'T is a question which is the worst of the two to bee vices friend or vertues enemie LXXIV Next God the good man is the onely friend for when all other slinke out of the way hee onely is a secure harbour for a shipwrackt soule to ride in If he be vpright that be falne in distresse he then relieues him as a brother as a member If lewd yet necessity induceth a commiseration and seeing the glorious Impresse of the Almighties image in him hee can not but for his Fathers sake affect him If hee be poore of God's making by the vnauoidable designement of a supreme prouidence nature incites a reliefe For he knowes not how soone a like lot may fall in his owne ground The same sunne saw Iob both rich and poore to a Prouerbe If his owne ill courses haue brought his decay hee is not so obdurate and flinty but that hee can afford him a hand of compassion to strengthen him a little in the midd'st of disasters hoping that his charitie may either worke his returne or stay him from speedy ruine If he be ill he is a Magistrate to correct and reclaime him if good he is a father to vphold and loue him if rich he reades him a lecture of moderation and discreet disposure tels him not possession but vse diuitiates a man more truely if poore he sets him to Schoole with Paul there to learne Content is plenty tel's how that Pagan Cynick could laugh at riches when he call'd them nothing but fortunes vomit if wise hee is his delight and solace euen the Granar where he leaues his load and lockes his store if ignorant hee instructs him with the Oracles of God dictitates sentences vnto him speakes all tanquam ex tripode Euery way I finde him so beneficiall that the pious vvill not liue but with him and the badde man cannot liue without him Who had salu'd the offending Israelites had not Moses stood vp for to intercede it shall more ioy mee to liue with Christians then men LXXV The hard-hearted man hath misery almost in perfection and there is none more wretched then a man with a conscience feared Other sinners march in the high-way to ruine but hee as hee goes builds a wall at his backe that hee cannot retire to the tent Neither Mercies nor Iudgements winne him at all Not mercies those his pride makes him thinke but his due and while they are but common ones they passe away with his cōmon thoughts Benefits seldome sinke deepe in obdurate minds 't is the soft nature that is soonest taken with a courtesie Not Iudgements for either he reuerberates them back before they pierce as a wal of steele doth a blunt-headed arrow or if they doe perhaps find entrance like the Elephant with the convulsion of his nerues his bodies contraction hee casts out the shaft that sticks within him so still he rests vnmollified for all this raine and haile Warnings to peruerse dispositions are the meanes to make them worse Those plagues and wonders that would haue melted a milder soule only reduced Pharaoh's to a more hard and desperate temper Strange that hee should locke out of his own good with so strong a key so sure a Ward when euery vice that defiles the minde findes both ready and free welcome If I liue in sinne God's first call is mercy I had better goe willingly then be led by constraint 't is fit hee should know the smart of torture that nothing will cause to confesse but the Racke if I finde God whips mee with any sensible stroke I will search the cause then seeke the cure such blowes are the physicke of a bleeding soule but neglected my sinne will be more and my punishment 't is in vaine to bee stubborne with God hee that can crush vs to nothing can turne vs to any thing let mee rather returne speedily and preuent Iudgements then stay obstinately and pull downe more as 't is a happy feare which preuents the offence and the rod so that is a miserable valour which is bold to dare the Almighty LXXVI Some mens Censures are like the blasts of Rammes Hornes before the walles of Iericho all the strength of a mans vertue they lay leuell at one vtterance when all their ground is onely a conceited fancie without any certaine basis to build on What religious minde will not vvith amazement shudder at the peremptorie conclusions where they haue set their period Wondring Man that knowes so little should yet so speake as if he were priuy to all I confesse a man may roue by the outward lineaments what common inclinations rule within yet that Philosopher did more wisely that seeing a faire face with a tongue silent bade him speake that he might see him For the cheeke may be dimpled with a pleasing smile while the heart throbs with vndiscerned dolors and as a cleere face shewes not alwayes a sound body no more is an ingenuous look alwayes the ensigne of a minde vertuous I wil onely walke in Christ's path and learne by their fruits to know them where I want experience charitie bids mee thinke the best and leaue what I know not to the Searcher of heart's Mistakes Suspect and Enuie often iniure a cleere fame there is least danger in a charitable construction In part hee s guilty of the wrong that 's done Which doth beleeue those false reports that runne I will neither beleeue all I heare nor speake all I beleeue A mans good name is like a milke-white ball that will infinitely gather soyle in tossing The act of Alexander in this cause merits an eternall memory that hauing read a Letter with his Fauorite Hephaestion wherein his mother calumniated Antipater tooke his Signet from his finger and appressed his lips with it Coniuring as it were the strict silence of anothers disgrace Oh Alexander this very action was enough to make thee famous who should not in this admire and imitate thee A desire to disgrace another cannot spring from a good roote Malice and basenesse euer dwell with calumnie I will iudge well of euery man whom his owne bad life speakes not ill of if he be bad I 'le hope well what know I show his end may prosper I had better labour to amend him to himselfe then by publishing his vices make him odious to others If hee be good and belongs to God how can I chuse but offend much when I speake ill of a child that is indeared to such a fathers affection God loues his owne tenderly and whosoeuer offers a disgrace to them shall be sure to pay for 't either by teares or torment LXXVII There are