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
A43620	The good old cause, or, The divine captain characteriz'd in a sermon (not preach'd, nor needful to be preach'd, in any place so properly as in a camp) by Edm. Hickeringill ...	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1692 (1692)	Wing H1807; ESTC R7616	21,900	38

sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed Blood and from avenging my self with mine own hand This Duelling is so unsouldier-like that the brave Romans who conquer'd the World yet abominated all private Duels and if they would shew their good Courage and play the men they did it against the common Enemy of their People and the Cities of their God Who more valiant than Julius Caesar or Cato What could be more cutting and reviling Language than that which Cato gave Caesar and even in the Senate-house and yet this never produc'd a Challenge What cares a Rich man if a foolish Fellow call him a Bankrupt and that no body will trust him He smiles and resolves he will not run on Trust. What cares a valiant man if a prating Fellow calls him Coward He smiles and resolves that the other will find him no Coward if he makes trial No greater sign of a Bankrupt than to bring his Action for the words No greater sign of a Coward than to send a Challenge for the words which if a man answer he ventures his Body and Soul his Life and Estate and if he kill he makes work for the Hangman and if he be kill'd he makes work for the Devil But 3dly There is yet behind a worse Slaughter-man than either of the former and all for want of a good Cause and that is your Religious Rogue that fights couragiously and plays the man Plays the man said I No no he plays the Devil for God's sake Of these our Blessed Saviour prophesies when they kill you they think they do God good service Such was the Zealots among the Jews that murther'd the Samaritans because they differ'd from them in Religion the Samaritans owning only the five Books of Moses viz. The Law but not the Prophets but the Jews did believe both to be canonical There 's no more reason that one man should kill another because he differs from him in Religion than because he differs from him in Stature Feature and Complexion Thus Mahomet preach'd with his Alcoran in one hand and his Sword in the other Take your choice take his Faith or feel the keenness of his Sword Thus have I heard that a most Christian Prince makes Converts with Troops of Dragoons Thus the Spaniards in America drove Shoals of poor naked Indians to the Rivers utrum horum take their choice either therein to be baptized or drowned A sad Choice and a worse Cure to knock out mens Brains because they are blind and cannot see so well as we the abstruse Mysteries of Religion St. John says If a man say he loves God and hates his Brother and Killing is the extremity of Hatred he is a Lyar and a Murderer Of these Religious Villains I 'le say as Jacob of his two murthering Sons Simeon and Levi Instruments of Cruelty are in their habitations Gen. 49.5 6. Oh my Soul come not into their secret unto their Assemblies mine Honour be not thou united Blessed be God may the Papists in England Scotland and Ireland say that the Principles of our Holy Protestant Religion teaches us better things Blessed be God may we say that the Principles of our holy Religion teaches us better things Let the Jesuites fight like mad as they cant it ad propagandum fidem let their Council of Constance decree That no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks let them break Truces Leagues and Covenants cemented with Oaths and Sacraments let their Superstition like Paracelsus's Daemon be conjur'd and confin'd to the Pommel of their Swords whilst we know not how to draw our Swords except in that good Cause in defence of our People and the Cities of our God This is such an additional cause of Valour that where a man's Stars make but an awkward Souldier this good Cause will cause a Coward to be of good courage and make an effeminate man to play the man 2. 2dly A second cause of additional Valour is a good Conscience or a good Life and Conversation Virtue and true Valour are so near a kin that they have but one Name in several Languages to express them both Therefore many an Army that has a good Cause of War has been ruin'd by Debauchery and the want of a virtuous and good Discipline Can a man be faithful to his Prince that is treacherous to his God and his own Soul Can a man be a Saviour to his Nation that wishes himself damn'd at every word Can he be valiant that fears to dye And must not all men fear to dye that live in open defiance to the God of Heaven and therefore most unfit to dye lest he be damn'd according to his daily Prayers Will not such a one tremble when he comes near the mouth of a Canon and a Broadside and like Belthazzar knock his Knees together in dread of that fatal Doom he trembling saw but knew not how to prevent The prophaneness of these Debauchees does debauch their Courage tho' they be naturally of a good Courage well may they then think they shall sink and be damn'd they have so often wish'd it in cold Blood Nor can the greatest practise of Atheism prove any Fence against this Fear when Death stares him in the face This Fool as the Psalmist calls him may say in his Heart that is Wish in his Heart that there is no God and perhaps may say so too in his drunken Rant and drunken company but let him come to the Gates or Approaches of Death and he cannot chuse but dread that Judge against whom like the Giants of old he has waged War and bid Defiance all his Life-time And it is observable that the Psalmist says the Fool hath said in his heart there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies God the Judge The Fool could be content there should be a Jehovah a merciful God but wishes as Thieves in Goal do that there should never be an Aelohim or Judge of Assize and both of them for one and the same reason too Obj. A good Conscience may some say and a sober Life and Conversation are good very good things but he that is without Sin let him cast the first stone at my Debauchee Ans It 's one thing to sin thro' human frailty and a vastly-different thing to sin voluntarily presumptuously and with an high hand Num 15 20 such Sinners by the old Law were punish'd with Death without Mercy A man that is a very good Subject may sometimes break some of the King's Laws through Ignorance or Infirmity but will this justifie a Rebel that lives in open defiance of his Prince and bids him Battel It is these Rebels to Heaven that seem to follow the counsel of that wicked Woman to curse God and dye that never pray but to be damn'd and live in open Hostility to the God of Heaven that

Tho' an Host of men encamp against me my Heart shall not fear Saith he They compassed me about like Bees Psal 118. but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them Yet there are three sorts of Fighters at this day that play the men in a bad Cause which I cannot dismiss without a severe Repremand from this Text as 1. First Souldiers of Fortune such as was these 33000 Syrians that ran away and fled before Joab v. 13. they were Hackney-souldiers hired as Hackney-horses for such a Journey such an Expedition Here 's your Money These Souldiers of Fortune that fight without examining the cause and march with the first Chapman are the basest of Butchers for other Butchers get a greasie living by killing Beasts but Souldiers of Fortune live by killing men and are meer Cannibals and Men-eaters who like the Bravo's in Spain and Portugal have no other Trade or Profession but Hackney Butchers of Men any Men without any other cause than that of the Switzers they kill any body for the l'Argent What will ye give me saith Judas and I will betray and be guilty of Innocent Blood What will ye give me a day and I will kill ravish burn and murder saith the Souldier of Fortune And all this without any remorse custom of Sin hardens his callous Heart and makes him pittiless and without any Bowels of Humanity as if he had a Commission from Heaven as Peter had in another case Arise Peter kill and eat Of these St. James speaks from whence come Wars and sighting among you meaning the Factions of Judas Galiloeus Jam. 4 1 2. and also the other Jews then in war against the Samaritans and fought bloodily for the Money-business come they not hence even from your Lusts of Avarice and Ambition ye fight and war ye kill and desire to have that ye may consume it upon your Lusts For a Souldier of Fortune usually consumes in Debauchery what he gets by this inhuman Butchery Thus this Devil incarnate like his Father the Devil goes about like a roaring Lion from Country to Country seeking whom he may devour A Prince that has a good Cause may notwithstanding make use of these Man-slayers or Slaughter-men as Clyents sometimes see their Advocates not so much to be for them as that they be not hired against them though these Fellows are seldome either faithful or truly valiant for he that will sell his Soul or his Life for Money will not fear for Money to betray and sell his Prince But since they are kept like Cocks of the Game that are good for nothing in Nature but to fight these Forlorns will serve for a Forlorn and to blunt the Enemy's Swords for if they will not fight they are good for nothing but like the Locusts of Aegypt to eat up every green thing If these be Cowards they must be punisht as all Cowards are in a well-disciplin'd Army with present Death For plow they cannot work they will not fight they dare not for they are alwaies unsit to dye and therefore must be afraid to dye This Locust like other Locusts is one of the Plagues of Mankind good for nothing whilst it lives but Mischiefs and therefore though unfit to dye yet unfit to live These are the men that nourish and foment Wars in Europe War is their Trade their Commodity and can you blame them if they make the utmost penny they can of their Trade and Profession But as bad as this Caterpillar is I have another in the 2. Second place to expose that always fights in a bad Cause and therefore is worse if worse can be than a Souldier of Fortune for this Man-slayer fights as seldom as is possible since he does not love fighting but as lazy men love Work they must starve without it he fights to eat and if he could eat without fighting it would be the camest Brute alive But in the next place I must shew you a Hector that loves fighting and killing in a bad Cause as he loves his Life nay more than his Life or his Salvation I mean the Duelist that thinks himself a tall fellow if he has killed his Man though thereby guilty of a double Murther 1st of his Adversary 2dly of himself So unhappy is this Man of Blood if he dies in his Blood and breathes Revenge to his last Breath then it is a fearful thing to think of his fatal Doom and if he kills his Adversary 't is Odds but he is hang'd especially if all King's have such a Conscience as K. Charles I. that never would pardon a Murtherer saying The Almighty God has enacted that He that sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be●shed And who am I that should pretend a Prerogative to dispense with the Laws of the King of Kings Obj. But may some say would you have a Gentleman whose Honour is dearer to him than his Life put up an Affront especially since the neglect of demanding Satisfaction that 's the word is not interpreted Conscience but Cowardice and invites a second Affront and happy the Coward that can but come near so tame a thing that he may safely kick it Ans To which I answer That I knew not which is better Death or Life they are indifferent things and only good or bad as they are circumstantiated a man of Honour will either live in Honour or dye in Honour But by Honour I mean not that Puff or Blast or Vapour which has no affinity with Reason Honesty and a good Conscience a truly valiant man is a truly virtuous man and a truly honourable man a truly honest man but he can neither be a good man nor a brave man that is not a rational man Now I am content to give my man of Honour a Dispensation to answer any Challenge so that he retain his Reason and his Honesty But 1st Is it reasonable and equal that a Gentleman of a vigorous Health and a plentiful Estate for his Heirs and Heirs for his Estate should venture his Life against a Beggarly Hector that perhaps is weary of his Life thro' Poverty and Diseases the loathsom consequences of his Lust and would be beholden to that charitable Hand that would cut the rotten Thread of his Life rather than suffer it miserably and gradually to rot in pieces But 2dly What answers all other Challenges a Duel can never be fought with Honesty because it is point-blank a Defiance and Breach of the Laws of God and the King And therefore let no man pretend to any point of Honour that is inconsistent with his Allegiance to God and the King the only Fountain and Measure of Honour And if Hotspur dislike this my Decision as too sage and cold yet in his softer minutes he will thank me as fiery David did his Cooler Abigail when he was upon the Road in all haste to kill Nabal that Churl saying to her 1 Sam. 25.32 33. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which