Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	know_v	soul_n	2,162	5	5.1925	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28635	A guide to eternity extracted out of the writings of the Holy Fathers and ancient philosophers / written originally in Latine by John Bona ; and now done into English by Roger L'Estrange, Esq.; Manductio ad coelum. English	Bona, Giovanni, 1609-1674.; L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.	1680 (1680)	Wing B3545; ESTC R23243	85,374	202

one to the Mind than the other is to the Body He that lives in Hope has not one moment of quiet so long as the Will wants the thing it hopes for II. We should never cast an eye upon any thing either without us or about us but with this Consideration It is all transitory and frail How strangely do we forget our selves Are we not born Mortal And this day nay this very hour what assurance have we of it Do we not live upon Trust and is not Death at the very heel of us It is by Gods Power and Mercy that we live and have a Being From him we have received all and when he calls to him it is that we are to render all without repining He 's an ungrateful Debtor that speaks ill of his Creditor There is not any thing under Heaven that we ought to hope for And Heaven it self is the only warrantable Subject of our Hope III. Despair proceeds from a sluggish Abjection of Mind too great an Apprehension of Difficulties a criminal Distrust of our selves and a Defect both of Resolution and Industry This weakness may be overcome by suggesting Encouragements drawn from the Examples of those that have extricated themselves out of greater Straits Let us begin then and press forward for God will assist our Endeavours and all Difficulties will be made easie to us so soon as we shall have relinquish'd the false Opinions that have misled us There is not any thing befalls us but what was allotted us from Eternity and it is either tolerable or otherwise If it may be born we are not to despair but to endure it If not it will make a quick end both of it self and of us too and we are not to despair there neither If we cannot endure it 't is short if we can 't is light It is in our own power to make many things tolerable by balancing them with the benefit and convenience that attends them Affliction is the occasion of Virtue CHAP. XVII Of Fear The Vanity of it and how to master it Rashness to be avoided and something more of Anger I. I Have known many people without any visible or so much as probable danger run raving up and down as if they were stark mad upon the bare Apprehension of some Imaginary Mischief to befal them The Torment they endure is unspeakable what betwixt the Impression of a present and the Apprehension of a mischief to come There are many Misfortunes which we create and have a Being only in the Imagination There are others which threaten us indeed but a far off and they 'll come soon enough of themselves without being drawn on before their time There are some so weak as to govern themselves by Dreams and idle Phansies without any reasonable ground of Conjecture at all and to be startled at every foolish Rumor A word mistaken is enough to break their sleep and the Apprehension of a Great Mans Displeasure puts them directly out of their Wits not so much for the Displeasure it self as for the Consequences of it But these are vain Thoughts and the vainer the more Troublesome For Truth has its Measure and Limits but Imagination is boundless And the main Difference I find betwixt the Sufferance of a Misfortune and the Expectation of it is this The Grief for what hath befaln us will over but the fear of what may befal us hath no end II. He that would deliver himself from the Tyranny of Fear let him take for granted that what he fears will come to pass and then enter into a Computation upon the whole matter Upon this Deliberation he will certainly find that the things he fears are nothing so terrible in themselves as in the false Opinion of them 'T is a hard case for a man to be banished or laid in Irons 'T is a terrible pain to be burnt alive And yet we have many instances not only of Christians but Infidels also that have Despised and Triumphed over all this and more indeed than this amounts to Stephen suffered death with a quiet Constancy of mind and pray'd for his Persecutors Laurence rejoyces upon the Gridiron and braves the Tyrant The Virgin Appollonia leaps into the Fire Anaxarchus is chearful in the Morter under the very stroak of the Hammer Socrates takes off his Cup of Poyson as if it had been a Frolick and drinks the Health to Critias What is there now so terrible in the Faggot or the Gibbet or in the train of Executioners and Officers of Justice that attend it under this Pomp and Formality which serves only to fright Fools there lies Death That which so many thousands of Men Women and Children have not only Welcom'd but Courted Set aside the noise the hurry and the disguise in these Cases and let every thing appear in its own shape we shall find there is nothing terrible in the matter but the mere Apprehension of it And that it fares with us great Boys as it does with little ones our very Nurses and our Play-fellows if they be but drest up with a white Sheet or a Vizard are enough to put us out of our Senses Nay and we are the sillier Children of the two for we are struck with a Panique Terrour not only at the Counterfeit of a Reality but the very Counterfeit of a Counterfeit torments us III. Bring it now from a particular to a common Cause and let every man say to himself I have a frail and mortal Body liable to distempers sickness and in the conclusion to death it self All this I have known from a Child and the many ill Accidents that threaten me What have I now to fear Bodily sickness My Soul will be the better for 't Poverty My Life will be the safer and the sweeter for 't Loss of Fortune Why then farewel all the Cares and Dangers that accompany it Loss of Credit If I suffer deservedly I shall detest the Cause but approve the Justice If wrongfully my Conscience will be my Comforter Shall I fear a Repulse or a Disappointment there never was any man but wanted something or other that he desired Banishment I 'll Travel and Banish my self Loss of my Eyes It will deliver me from many Temptations What if men speak evil of me It is but what they are us'd to do and what I deserve Shall I fear Death It is the very condition I came into the World upon Well! But to dye in a strange Country All Countries are alike to him that has no abiding-place here But for a man to die before his time As if a man should complain of having his Shackles knock't off and being discharged of a Prison before his time We are not to look upon Death or Banishment as causes of Mourning as Punishments but only as Tributes of Mortality It is a senseless thing to fear what we cannot shun IV. Let us take heed of being over-confident and venturing at things beyond our strength for no man is more

our Appetites for a moment that we may be happy for ever V. If a man upon his Death-bed were asked his opinion of his past Life and what he thought of Riches Dignities and Worldly Delights you should hear him tell you quite another tale than he did in his health for at that hour men consider what they say and speak what they think Now although this Wisdom comes with the latest for him that is upon his exit It may yet be of great benefit to us if we will but learn from other peoples miscarriages to correct or to prevent our own Who but a mad man when he may put to Sea in fair weather will linger for a storm or defer all care of himself till the last extremity when he may save all at present without any hazzard Caution comes too late when a man is under water and so does Prudence too in the Grave Those great and holy men that have utterly renounced this World and all that 's in it for the love of a better have made it the study of their whole lives to understand how to live and how to die And so hard a Lesson have they found it unto flesh and blood that many of them at their last breath have not stuck to confess their ignorance But we forsooth account it time enough in all conscience to betake our selves to that which is good when in truth we are fit for nothing at all and to begin our lives at an age to which few people have prolonged theirs A prodigious folly certainly for a man to begin at the wrong end VI. Monstrous heedlesness to believe all this and yet to live on as we do What is Time but the passing of a shadow Life but a point or less if possible How small a distance is there betwixt the Cradle and the Tomb Try if you can make the Sun stand still but one day one hour one moment No no it will not be Time is inexorable and will hold on its course till it has brought all created Nature to destruction And yet so besotted a Blindness possesses us that we prefer this wretched instant before a glorious Eternity In the case of our frail and perishable bodies we lay out for necessaries and provisions and spare for no pains to procure them But in that of our immortal Souls we behave our selves as if they were none of our concern Let the Body be out of order and there is nothing so troublesome but we can readily undergo to remove it but in the distempers of the Soul we are not only neglectful but insensible When was it ever said to us Save your selves by Sea or you are lost and we protracted it Take off this Potion 't is bitter but 't is wholsome and we refused it It is less than this that God prescribes to us for our eternal good and we give no heed to it If we happen to have a Law Suit what a bustle we make with our Solicitors and Breviates feeing of Council and tampering with Judges to carry on the Cause But in the great tryal of our Souls at the day of Judgment which is at hand and where Heaven or Hell is the question There is no care taken but we live on laughing and fooling till we lose our selves beyond all Redemption for want of Preparation Let us therefore betake our selves to our wits and put our affairs in order as if we were every moment to be called to a reckoning This is true Philosophy to separate Soul and Body by wisdom before they come to be parted by necessity VII The thing we are principally to intend whether busie or idle in labour or at rest is this to deliver our selves out of the power of Time and Casualties by the anticipation of Eternity which places us in a state of Tranquillity that is steady and invariable The Glutton in the Gospel is still begging the relief but of one drop of water to cool his Tongue and condemned so to beg it to perpetuity without obtaining it Eternity is an everlasting instant not to be thought upon or mentioned without horror It is a restless Wheel it is a continued and endless and a still commencing beginning The serious thought of it is as Wormwood in our cups of pleasure It strikes us with astonishment and sadness it tames our rebellious spirits and raises up the slothful Voluptuary to the love of Vertue it facilitates all difficulties sweetens all our afflictions and makes our misfortunes seem not only short but easie It is not in the power of man to express or conceive this boundless Eternity Were the whole Universe fill'd with numeral Figures and as many Years nay Ages taken from Eternity as there would be found Unites in the whole sum Eternity would be still the same without any diminution He that considers the pains of Hell as they are to be ever beginning and yet never at an end must have a heart of Flint not to trouble and repent at the thought of it CHAP. IV. Of Gluttony the Evils of it and the Remedies And to know when we have subdued it I. THE first Vice we are properly to encounter is Gluttony This is the Sin that brought Death into the World and ministers matter in a great measure to the rest It was the Eating of the Forbidden Fruit that ruin'd the whole Race of Mankind even before they had a Being And it is still the weak side where the Devil lays his most dangerous temptations From hence proceeds dulness of spirit sloth weariness of every thing scurrility babling debauchery heaviness of mind and the dissolution of all Vertues prodigality beggery a long train of Diseases and Death it self in the conclusion This is it that swells our Bills of Mortality for vicious humours contracted from excess in meats and drinks are the food of almost all Diseases Other accidents may attempt and threaten us but this cuts us off Gluttony kills more than the Sword II. Oh the infamy of being a slave to a mans Belly a wretched carkass with an insatiable appetite Our bodies are none of the largest and yet in greediness the vastest and the most voracious of living Creatures come not near us One Wood we see maintains a great many Elephants and a Pasture of a few Acres a great many Bulls But for us one World is hardly sufficient The Air the Seas and the Forrests must be all rifled to please our Palates He that looks into the Offices of a luxurious Palace and sees the Troops of Servants sweating and hurrying up and down the massacre of Beasts Flesh and Fowl and every thing a float in the richest Wine some to order the Plate and cover the Table others to serve up the Meat so many to marshal the Dishes others again to carve and every man ready at his part He that sees I say the magnificence and variety of these Entertainments cannot but wonder at so horrible a profusion for the Guts of one Family Not that

Tribulation Never was any wise man Impatient II. He that never experimented ill Fortune has the more to fear Physicians tell us that there may be too good a habit of Body and that nothing is more dangerous than a Plethory So at Sea a dead calm is commonly the fore-runner of a Storm If we lie under the lash of cross Accidents we are not to reckon upon it as a Cruelty or a Persecution but a contest Without a skirmish there can be no victory and without a victory no triumph Now if Christ himself was to suffer and so to enter into his Glory shall we pretend to go scot-free and be made partakers of what another has purchased Gratis He that thinks to go to Heaven any other way does most miserably deceive himself To do good and to suffer ill is the Sacramental Oath of a Christian. To come now to the signs of a perfected Patience He that has attained that point bears whatsoever befalls him without reluctation he does not murmur under the rod nor return evil for evil He loves his Enemies and prays for those that persecute him He sees the hand of God in his Afflictions and either says nothing at all or appeals only to Heaven for relief with a submission to suffer whatsoever the Almighty shall see fit to lay upon him with joy and thanksgiving To conclude It is a high degree of Patience to bear with the imperfections of a weak Brother III. In the loss of worldly goods it is no small comfort to consider the frail and uncertain condition of them Whatsoever we possess whatsoever we love is Naturally Fugitive It is with us indeed but it is not properly ours And we are not to fool our selves into a passion for an imaginary stability we our selves are not firm to any thing neither can we expect that any thing should be so to us Vertue only excepted which Immortalizes even our Mortality all other things carry their death along with them Let us therefore keep a distance betwixt our Possessions and our selves For when they come to mingle and incorporate he that takes our Estate takes heart and all A good man cannot be properly said to lose any thing for whatsoever can be taken from him is no part of himself but an Accessary or circumstance that whether it stays or goes he esteems himself neither the richer nor the poorer for What a deal of pudder we make what outcries and lamentations for the loss of a sum of money the death of a Child the firing of a House but we can part with our Modesty our Honesty our Constancy and never so much as change colour for 't And yet here we lose a substantial good and what ' our own too whereas in the other case we lose neither He that grieves for such a loss deserves no better If it were not for an inordinate love we should not accompt that we had lost any thing What are outward things to the inward man or what correspondence betwixt Wisdom and Money IV. It would do very well in whatsoever we go about to take in all the Adjuncts that attend it for there are many circumstances that for want of foresight and precaution may come to trouble us I call my servant it may be he 's out of the way or does not do as I would have him I 'm to make a visit who knows but the man may lock himself up or shut the door against me and refuse to be seen Suppose this before hand and all 's well It is the wambling of a Nauseous mind the Ladies disease to stand pittering because forsooth I could not be admitted as well as such an one I could not get so much as one word with him I was even crowded down to the lower end of the Table c. He that is not affected with this takes no notice at all of it and he that does not understand it to be mere matter of course is a very great stranger certainly to the affairs of Humane life If we can amend it let us if not let us bear it We are apt to exclaim against the Malice the Wickedness the Impudence of the Age we live in And we do very well in it if we can but reform the World and drive before us all the Fools and Knaves out of it But if this will not be we had even as good say nothing It is no new thing for people to go on in their own way Why do we not rather turn the Blame upon our selves for expecting any better The World was never otherwise nor ever will be but faults there must be as long as there are men V. He that labours under any Affliction should consider not so much what he suffers as what he has done and what he now takes for a severity will be then found to be a mercy And that it is laid upon him by Almighty God for his good that is to say that God chastises him to humble him try him harden him and bring him to himself They that take their fill of pleasure in this World are commonly reserved for torments in the next He that wallows in Abundance and Plenty who knows how he would behave himself in a condition of Want and Penury or with what constancy any man would abide ●he Rage and Odium of the people that has grown old in the enjoyments of popular Honour and Applause we are forward enough to offer Consolation and give good Counsel to others in distress Why do we not rather apply to our own discontents and turn the advice upon our selves In the case of the Body we can part with a limb to a Surgeon and give him thanks too and a reward for his pains Affliction is Gods remedy and no less necessary to the Soul than burning or starving is to the body And yet here we are apt to mutter and repine and to mistake that for a loss or a misery which both in the intention and in the effect is a cure If Poverty Sickness and whatsoever else we call evil might but be supposed to enter into an Expostulation and should ask us Gentlemen what 's your quarrel to us what hurt have we done you have we taken away any of your Prudence Iustice Fortitude or any thing else that was good and you could call your own may you not live as merrily with us as without us we must lay our fingers upon our mouths and answer only in Silence The matter duly weighed we take good for evil and evil for good And the greatest of our misfortunes is our impatience VI. In another Bodies case one may dissemble a Resolution and Constancy of mind but hardly in our own We are to weep with those that weep but though our Tears be in common it does not follow that the cause of them must be so too We are as much as in us lies to comfort and succour the afflicted If any man does us an injury let us consider that Every thing