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	life_n	soul_n	5,160	5	5.5664	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09974	Maister Bezaes houshold prayers translated out of French into English.	Bèze, Théodore de, 1519-1605.	1603 (1603)	STC 2023.7; ESTC S1181	53,574	372

after follow them into heauen whereby I shall therefore bee the rather mooued to giue thee thankes for the time that thy goodnesse hath giuen mee to enioy their presence to the comfort of my life and not as it were by a certaine kinde of ingratitude towards both thee and them mourne for their ioy and felicitie In all other forrowes and griefes that should lesse trouble vs giue me grace my Lord that I be not mooued to bitternesse or anger but that with a quiet minde I may beare al and tread vnder feete the thornes of my life as being assured in the end to finde both the costs and reward To the same end also touch my heart earnestly with the feeling of thy benefits namely of those which thou hast liberally granted vs for the necessities of this life lest as an ingrateful wretch I should forget them after the maner of carnall men that are neuer content with thy benefites but doe enioy them without any acknowledgement and which is more are ready to complain if they haue not all their vanities at a wish yea which is worst of all when they haue often eaten at the table of thy Sonne doe lift vp their heele against him wherein they are worse then beasts that doe acknowledge those that feede and dresse them and doe humble themselues in their presence O most mightie GOD deliuer mee from the counsell of these wicked ones and hypocrites and let mee not sit vpon the seate of these scorners with whom godlinesse is folly and the equitie of thy law but a sporte But whether I walke or stand stil whether I do or suffer grant O Lord that I may alwaies walke as in thy presence to the glory of thy holy name and that my soule may take counsaile and be satisfied in thy righteousnesse whilst in all patience I waite for my deliuerance from all paine and the perfection of my felicity at my departure from this carnall habitation when according to thy promise I shall be receiued into thy kingdome in the company of the Angels Saints there to behold thy glory eternally So be it The seuenteenth Praier For the good vsage of mans life Thus sayeth the Lord let not the wiseman boast of his wisedome neither the strong man of his strength neither the rich man of his riches but let him that boasteth doe it because hee hath vnderstanding and knoweth me that I am the Lorde who shewe mercie iudgement and iustice vpon the earth Ieremie 9. O Lord great wonderfull in thy works thou in thy wisedome hast made and ordained them all wherevpon the heauens without speaking do declare thy glory and the earth is full of thy riches But especially vppon man hast thou powred forth thy most aboundaunt treasures in that thou hast created him to thy likenesse excellent in all good things and established him the possesser of the world Lord of all other creatures the mirror of thy wisedome the beames of thy light the pattern of thy goodnes and the most noble instrument of the sanctification of thy name therfore hast thou endued man with an immortal spirit capable of reason to the end I say that in beholding here beneath the exquisite workes of thy handes and vsing them without interruption hee might knowe loue feare and honour thee as his father and benefactor Yea cleaue vnto thee for euer vsing his lif according to the principall end thereof True it is that by originall sinne wee are all fallen from the most singular qualities necessarie for the holding of our right course to so great felicitie Yet haue we not so put them off as to rest altogether naked for all that is re-established in vs and in a farre better condition by thy grace in our Lord Iesus Christ who cloatheth vs anewe with the newe man in a quickening spirite and furnisheth vs with his light to the end that in the serious meditation of thy visible workes in the right vse of the benefites which wee taste therin we might apprehend the celestial inuisible things and acknowledge thee the authour and persection of all that is That is how the heauens appearing to our eyes and the greatnesse and the beautie and the motions therof in so many sorts so wel ordered so profitable do make vs with our inteligence to penetrate euen vnto thee the admirable creator of all things and in the excellencie of the same to meditate vpon the height and depth of thy excellency to the end to sing vnto thee Psalms of thanksgiuing and in the selfe same to finde rest and comforte for our souls Also wheras the sunne lighteth and warmeth vs the day reioyceth vs the aire quikneth vs the earth feedeth vs the water moysteth vs and the night ministers to vs rest from our labours and which is more O Father of all the world whereas thou maintainest orders and gouernments that thou pullest down the prowd and exaltest the humble that thou extendest thy punishments vppon the earth and the inhabitants thereof that thou visitest them with mercy exercising thy iudgements vpon small families as well as vpon great Monarchies according as there is nothing in nature that taketh place more or lesse in respect of thy infinite glory surely in all these things O inuisible GOD thou makest thy selfe to bee seene and giuest vs cause to sing to thy name with a most excellent inducement to passe ouer our life soberly But if wee turne vnto our selues to consider our owne nature especially the faculties of the soule and the reason thereof which directeth the body and giueth diuerse vertues to all the senses and that we represent to our selues the admirable coniunction of the immortall essence with the mortall Indeed ruminating these workes of thy hands and vnable to comprehend the causes and secrets of the same wee yeeld our selues ouercome that we may preach forth the victory of thy soueraigne wisedome and say with the Prophet Thy knowledge is too maruelous for vs and so high that we cannot approch thereto But if proceeding beyond this Booke of Nature wee come to reade in the Booke of the Lambe slaine for our ransome and to see and meditate vpon the husbandrie of thy sheepefold and the aboundance of celestiall blessings in the same O Lord what height and depth of wisedome of charitie of mercy of iustice is in the same O the greatnesse of ioy and peace to the illuminate hearts that can penetrate into all these diuine mysteries when we come to thy church to learne thy law to heare the gospel to worship and call vpon thee and to sound forth thy praise wee are as it were in the sanctuary of thy kingdome and before thy face among the Angels to contemplate and celebrate thy glory Also when wee doe communicate in the sacred signes of thy couenant we see wee touch we taste with our eyes with our hands with the pallat of our soules the water of washing regeneration and the bread of life the foode

bread of affliction doeth nourish and strengthen the faithfull soule that the cup of bitternesse is therunto a sweet and wholesome drinke and all tribulation a spirituall medecine to purge it from the leauen of sinne and so to forme euery true Christian to godlinesse and holinesse of life For indeede the sundry temptations thy Children do endure are not properly a punishment for sinne but profitable corrections of thy hand to make the triall of their faith to redound to their commendation profit that their hope may encrease in the expectation of the beatitude to come that their loue may kindle through the Fatherly care that thou takest of them in holding them vnder the bridle of thy discipline and that they may bee the more pricked forward to pray vnto thee feruently and more and more to reuerence thy power But principally that they comfort themselues in this lesson of the Apostle that the easie afflictions of thine which doe but euen passe ouer them do bring forth an eternall weight of most excellent glorie True it is that by the miseries of this world the outward man declineth but on the other side the inwarde man reneweth himselfe with grace in the goods of the soule so long vntill by degree hee be accomplished and obtaine his perfection So that if our bodies doe languish our soules doe quicken if wee sustaine losse of terrestiall things thou O Lord dost present vnto vs thy Kingdome of heauen and if this affliction befall that any man put vs to death he doth but hasten our passage to the true eternall and blessed being I beseech thee therefore O mercifull Father to giue mee grace to acknowledge and well to taste so many sweete and profitable fruits as these thy Fatherly corrections doe bring with them constantly meditating that the eyes of those that looke vnto thee in a christian hope doe neuer faile that their expectation hath not confounded them that the number of thy consolations haue surmounted their sorrowes and that the end of thy visitation hath alwayes beene profitable and happy vnto them For thou delightest in mercy and thy compassion is vppon all those that call vpon thee in their distresse Let therefore the inuocation of thy name be vnto me a strong tower to defend me against all feare and temptation as being assured that hauing reposed my confidence in thy grace which is purchased for mee in Christ I shall in my necessitie find thy fauorable hand by thy vertue to ouercome all the enemies of my peace But especially graunt O Lord that I may attaine to this reason of true wisedome alwayes to bee content with thy will the soueraigne and iust cause of all things namely in that it pleaseth thee that the liuery of thy houshold should consist in carying their crosse after thy son to the end that I should neuer but be seasoned to drinke the wholesome myrrhe which purgeth the soule from the lusts of the flesh and replenisheth the same with the desires of eternall life Also that I learn in whatsoeuer my estate cherefully to submit my selfe to the conduct of thy prouidence as beeing wel assured that whatsoeuer I suffer all the crosses of my life shal be vnto me so many blessings helpes from thee my Father to make me goe the right way into thy kingdome and increase vnto me the price of glory in the same For it is very true that euery one shall freely receiue his reward according to the burthen that hee hath borne here below Amen The sixteenth Prayer For obtaining the Vertue of Patience Al things written are for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might haue hope patient in tribulation perseuering in praier Rom. 4. 12. O GOD of pacience and of all consolation the iust dispencer both of calamities and benefits and that all to one end euermore happie to those whom thou louest in thy eternall sonne our Lord Iesus Christ as there is nothing in thy worde but serueth to our learning and to the guiding of our temporall life as a meanes to obtaine the possession of heauenly ioyes so doeth it principally insist in this to lift vp our heartes to an earnest meditation and firme expectation of eternall life standing vs in steede in regard of the same among the thorns of this worlde to the attaining of a constant patience and therein confirming vs by holie consolations to the ende that hauing doone thy will O Lorde we may reape thy promise This vertue therefore is the firme piller of our hope and which teacheth vs not to loue the things of the earth as any felicity but constantlie to looke vp into heauen where our peace and ioy dooth remaine But because the effect of so holy a resolution doeth far surmount our owne forces I beseech thee my God to graunt me this true patience of the faithfull which is so necessary for me namely with a meek and moderate heart to beare all aduersitie also that I may learn to humble the pride of my nature which otherwise is excessiue and not to be tamed that so I may acknowledge and knowe howe to contemne the vanitie of the flesh his reasoning which together with the lusts therof is with sweete and delicate thinges nourished vnto death and that contrariwise I may affectionate and strengthen my selfe with goodlie meditations of the spirit which sustaine themselues with hard and sharpe things to a holie and heauenly life That going forwarde I may reioyce and take comfort in these sacred oracles That affliction in the house of the righteous is a secret mercie which thou giuest him as prosperitie with the wicked is a hidden indignation of thy countenance That the present sorrow of thy Children is vnto them the watch of some future ioy at hand and that at all aduentures the last of their most painefull dayes is the first of their eternall rest in the second life If therfore I beare any sicknesse or other miserie in my flesh let it bee borne with patience as knowing very wel that the reward of sinne is death and the sorrows and distemperatures of the bodie are the heraults and necessary fore-runners euen acceptable to all true faithfull people because they call and dispose them to departe from labour to rest from a mortall estate to immortalitie of life If I haue but fewe of these goods and vaine honors of the world that doe so vex worldly men I doe liue in the greater content not subiect to their enuie but taking comfort in the true and only goods of the soule wherof O Lord thou art the liberall giuer as also of grace to those that are thine because thou art their Father O Lorde our Redeemer if I loose some of my friends euen of those that are very neere me yet can I take it peaceably because their felicitie is hastened in that they departe in Christ and that I can loose neither thee nor the consolation of thy spirit for that I shal soon