Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	best_a	good_a	great_a	1,494	5	2.3396	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45665	A farewell to popery, in a letter to Dr. Nicholas, vice-chancellor of Oxford, and warden of New-College, from W. H., M. D., lately Fellow of the same college shewing, the true motives that with-drew him to the romish religion, and the reasons of his return to the Church of England : concluding with some short reflections concerning the great duty of charity.	Harris, Walter, 1647-1732.	1679 (1679)	Wing H884; ESTC R9627	22,580	44

Protestant And this Zeal made me extraordinary desirous of Travelling abroad that I might the betten see the Church in its Glory as well as in its truer colours France was the place I soon fixt in and I am very glad I did so because I conceive the Gallican Church to be the best Trincipled in Government c the most moderate of any that are Roman-Catholick Jansenius an exemplary good Man has there a great many followers who stoutly maintain the cause of Virtue and good Life against the powerful contrivances of the Jesuits and their Faction As for the speculative points in difference between those that are called Jansenists and the Jesuits I never concerned my self about them only I observed the Jansenists to be Men heartily disposed to reform peoples lives to the antient discipline of the Church and who thought nothing too much to work a real Conversion of the soul to God in a virtuous good life whereas I ever conceived the Jesuits to be the most subtle slie undermining Generation that ever I saw I don't know what 's the matter but whenever I saw of Jesuite me-thought I perceived another sort of Man-kind different from the rest they had a more Intriguing Countenance than others whether it were their Habit that conduced to work in me this opinion or what it was I can't imagine but so it was that I often exprest my self to that purpose even among R. Catholicks In those years I spent at Paris I must confess I had no scruples in Religion but went on and did as my Neighbours did in those matters wholly bending my mind to Improvement in Physick with all the industry and application I was capable The Roman Religion has the greatest Charm of any thing in Nature 't will soon cause a more than Stoical insensibility upon the Conscience and though it were never so squeamish troublesome or scrupulous before 't will now turn proof against all future doubts and never suspect it self in the least let things be in themselves never so Ridiculous or Vnreasonable This I have nearly observed both in my self and others and there 's very good reason for it For when men have wholly shut the eyes of their understanding and leave themselves to be conducted by others they repose an absolute Confidence in they go on boldly and blindly and consider no further whether they are in the r●ght or wrong way to Heaven And again if we consider the propensity of Mans Nature to impose upon others when they have an absolute indisputable Power we may fairly presume that these Vncontroulable Guides will be apt to lead where their own Interest draws them And indeed the Roman Church has always had so constant diligent an Eye upon their own beloved secular Interest that they have made the whole Christian Religion in every particular almost as subservient as the Wit of Man can invent to this great End their Diana above all others Now we should certainly suspect the judgment and advice of any private Person in the management of an affair if we perceived this temper to prevail and why may we not with the same reason suspect it in so great though publick a concern May not a knot of People of the same Gang the same Interest and Measures met in in a General Council have the same Consideration for their own advantage as we always observe in lesser Communities or Societies If every Member of these larger Assemblies were of this or that Opinion before they met that is to say of such as dear Interest guided them we can expect no more from their conferring Notes together but a Confirmation of what they held were resolved to hold before Now de facto that the Church of Rome has notoriously steered their determinations in Councils according to this Principle may be seen with half an eye by any Intelligent person who shall either weigh the Controversies in debate between them and Protestants or consider the History and Passages of former times Man's Infallibility was very ingeniously contrived to supersede all such disquisitions but God be thanked no Barbarous Inquisition does here hinder us from a free exercise of our Reason nor stupid voluntary blindness disenable us from discerning Light from Darkness If it may be good Logick to make an Induction of a general Temper from that of Particulars our English Priests will serve to give us a very good instance of their worldly Inclinations I have heard one of themselves one of the best Priests and best Men I had the fortune to meet among them and no less than Dr. of Divinity seriously tell me he had frequently observ'd that he never in all his life knew a Religious Man who was once become a Missioner hither and had here exchang'd his Religious into a Secular Life but he fell so much in love with it that he thought it Death and Misery to return again to his Monastery 'T was my fortune to Dine with one good Father Jesuite the day before he was bound for St. Omers by Command of his Superiors and poor Man it pitied me to see him look so ghastly as if he wanted a Physician both for Soul and Body the World the Flesh c. it seems had got too great a dominion over his Spiritual Intentions that he had when he made his Rash Vows I have known some of them as Critical in their Crevat-string and Perimigg and examine themselves by the Glass with as much care as a Fop that 's lately arriv'd from France who 's grown so vain by his Travels as to think all the Ladies in love with him Particularly one Man I can't but take notice of he is no less than an English Dr. of the Sorbon he was a very hopeful ingenious Man while he liv'd in his Monastery at Paris but being lately sent to breath fresh secular air I met him several times in the Streets and other places and he was so great an Admirer of his Sword and Periwigg and turn'd so true a Sr. Fopling that I could hardly know him again a stranger Metamorphosis is seldom found in Ovid. Now when such people as these so Spiritually disposed are summon'd to meet in a general Council there 's mighty hopes of an Accommodation and Christian management in Doctrins which relate to temporal interest And now I am speaking concerning 'em I shall venture to give you my opinion as to their Learning and Capacity I did expect indeed to have met with Men as Vniversally Learned as they would fancy themselves Catholick but really they seem to me to be generally a very illiterate and weak people Illiterate I mean as to any true solid Learning the knowledge of History Mathematicks or Nature So ignorant they are in those substantical knowledges that I seldom met with any one of 'em who so much as pretended to things of that nature But we must except the Jesuits whose general Learning and most politick Arts have renderd them more considerable to the See of

duty and consider it as it concerns our actions Charity in the distributive sense as it relates to our actions and practice is so inculcated by the Law of Nature and common Genius of Man-kind that unless one puts off all Humanity to receive the Wolf and Tygar 't will be extream hard not to have some fellow-feeling of the deplorable wants and miseries of our Fellow-creatures Those who are Stewards of large and ample Fortunes will have long accounts to make at the great day But Oh what a ravishing sight will it then be to see the Hungry we have Fed and the Naked we have Cloathed What a multitude of Sins will they stand between and cover for then 't will be enquired not what Learning we had gain'd what Cobwebs we had spun or what nice speculations we had made but what good we have perform'd and how we employ'd our hands and hearts not our wits and fancy If the Jewish Law was but a Type of Christian Discipline and our Saviour came not to abrogate the Moral-Law but to fulfil and raise it higher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how much then ought we to exceed the Jews in acts of Charity and yet 't is to be feared we come too short of what their duty prompted them to Besides their Annual Tithes to the Church they gave another Tithing to the Poor every third year by Gods own appointment Deut. xxvi 12 13. and this comes to the same reckoning as an Annual 30th which whether Christians Charity doth reach to or exceed as far as it should I leave to every Mans Conscience seriously to consider For except our Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very same word that in many places of Scripture does necessarily signifie Legal Alms-giving except I say our Righteousness does exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now if we consider but the Peace and Serenity of Mind the Heaven upon Earth that is gained from a consciousness of having done some real good to others it would be a thing eligible if there were no further motive But again If we will but examine our own Interest I mean not only our Eternal Interest which would certainly move us if we were but effectually persuaded of it but also our dearly beloved Temporal Interest the truest way of multiplying our riches and best improvement of our Estates we should readily comply with this Duty in all respects What says the Prophet Malachi ch iii. v. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the Store-house that there may be meat in mine house and prove me herewith saith the Lord of Hasts if I will not open you the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it and see again Prov. iii. 10. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty And the Scriptures are full of passages to this purpose inviting us all manner of ways to try the goodness of God which he pleases to offer us in this life upon one only condition if we will but believe his promises to us And this puts me in mind of an excellent story I have read in a good Author concerning a Jew who when he had perused several of those places which promise abundance of Temporal blessings to Charitable persons resolved to try whether God would be as good as his word and spared no occasion of profuse Charity until he had reduced himself to one single piece the whole remain of all his former riches Now was he come to the Crisis of tryal a Crisis able to shake even a Christian courage and it did shake his indeed though he had proceeded boldly hitherto without any fear or distrust He began then to murmur and repine and blamed his Credulity for what he had so rashly he thought done and in this pensive heart-breaking mood he spied two men a quarelling and fighting Notwithstanding his own afflictions he presently interposed and demanded the cause of their so great difference They answered that going along there they had found a stone which both laid claim to but could not agree which was the first discoverer so that if he would bestow somthing for it they told him it should be his He gave them all he had his one remaining piece and so they went well contented with it He presently repairs to a Jeweller to know the value of his purchase and was informed that it was the best Jewel which belonged to the High-Priests Breast-plate and that if he would carry it to the right owner he need not doubt of a sufficient recompence He goes to the High-Priest acquaints him with what he had found and the accidental occasion that brought him to such a Treasure The Man of God roundly gave him first a box of the Ear for distrusting Providence and then dismissed him with a reward answerable to the occasion From that fortunate day he thrived in such measure and received the full satisfaction of all his former wishes that notwithstanding the Charitable continuance of his former good intentions he soon grew to be one of the richest men in all Judea God never forsakes those that will trust in him He will try them indeed whether they are in earnest and how far they will venture to trust in him but be assured he never leaves man in his extremities unless he leaves his God first And I have observed several instances of people that have been brought to the very brink of ruin and despair who have been strangely and suddenly advanced to the amazement of all their acquaintance by the immediate hand of Almighty God And if all good people in affliction do not find the same 't is their duty to resign themselves up to the wise but unaccountable ways of Providence Now notwithstanding all that has been said if any man will be so Vncharitable as to think the Current of the Times of late and not my own inclination and real judgment induced me to write these things I must be contented to remain unhappy in his opinion for no other Arguments can persuade him to alter I am very well satisfied that every man who thinks at all of Religion has a natural affection for some one Religion above others as he has for some particular Person but if upon sober thoughts and familiar Conversation he finds the Lady he dotes too much upon to be either a Strumpet or wretchedly Painted or Proud and Cruel especially if all these together he is not to be blamed if he recalls his extravagant passion and settles it rationally upon a pure and unspotted a mild and innocent and deservedly amiable object There 's great variety of tempers in Men and these different tempers make Men naturally incline to as great variety in Religions Some take to the sowre and morose others are led with an artificial shew and with this most Men are apt to be insnar'd till they find out the Cheat some are taken with licentious encouragements and others the fewest of all with an honest naked truth Now if among these various attractions an innocent well-meaning Man happens to be a while deluded there 's no such real wonder but God's Grace and Providence which over-looks Man-kind and watches incessantly for the good of us all is not like to pass by long those who are in no worse circumstance than that How do we know but that these many different Religions are most agreeable to the great end of the Creation When we cannot possibly see two faces alike no nor any two things exactly so in all respects must we fondly desire that all Nations in the World should be of one and the same Opinion God says Heresies shall come and no doubt remain too that the Faithful may the better be tried and for that reason I should rather suspect Italy and Spain where are no Dissenters to try their Faith than think that blind forc'd Vnity makes so much for ' em Christian Gospel-liberty cannot avoid Dissenters the Enemy will sow his Tares but the Inquisition gags the mouths of all who presume to examine any whys or wherefores One thing I shall adjoyn and so conclude When first I return'd to Church God be thanked I can truly say I never did any thing with more peace and assurance of mind or with more inward comfort to my soul than that time at Church which really to me is a most comfortable reflection as oft as it occurs Now may Virtue and Charity encrease among us all and may the World grow more and more sensible of the future and present benefit of a just peaceable and well-disposed Life Sir I am Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant W. H.