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	nature_n	part_n	3,516	5	4.5867	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35416	An elegant and learned discourse of the light of nature, with several other treatises Nathanael Culverwel ...	Culverwel, Nathanael, d. 1651?; Dillingham, William, 1617?-1689.	1652 (1652)	Wing C7569; ESTC R13398	340,382	446

is understood of the God of Nature they were words of truth and loyalty but if they meant them as certainly they did of that strength which was for the present communicated to them they were but the interpreters of their own weaknesse and vanity Yet 't is no wonder to hear any of the Heathen Rhetoricating in the praise of Nature it may seem a more tolerable piece of gratitude in them to amplifie and extoll this gift of their Creatour 't is no wonder if such a one admire a Candle that ne're saw a nobler light But for such as are surrounded and crown'd with Evangelical beams for men that live under Gospel-Sun-shine for them to promise themselves and others that they may be saved by the light of a candle a Stoick an Academick a Peripatetick shall enter into heaven before these Yet I finde that in the very beginning of the fifth Century Pelagius an high Traitor against the Majesty of Heaven scattered this dangerous and venomovs Error endeavouring to set the Crown upon Natures head and to place the creature in the throne of God and grace The learned Vossius in his Historia Pelagiana a book full fraught with sacred Antiquity gives us this brief representation of him that he was humani arbitrii decomptor Divinae Gratiae contemptor a trimmer of Nature and an affronter of grace His body was the very type of his soul for he wanted an eye he was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sure he wanted a spiritual eye to discern the things of God He was a Scot by Nation a Monk by profession a man exemplary in Morals and not contemptible for learning for though Hierom vilifie him in respect of both yet Chrysostom gives him a sufficient Commendamus and Augustine himself will set his hand to it that learned adversary of his full of grace and truth the very hammer that broke his flinty and rebellious Errour in pieces If you would see the rise and progresse and variations of this Errour how it began to blush and put on more modesty in Semipelagianisme how afterwards it cover'd its nakednesse with some Popish fig-leaves how at length it refin'd it self and drest it self more handsomely in Arminianisme you may consult with the forementioned Author who kept a relique of his Pelagian History in his own breast whilest it left upon him an Arminian tincture This spreading Errour leaven'd the great lump and generality of the world as the profound Bradwardin sighs and complains Totus penè mundus post Pelagium abiit in errorem for all men are born Pelagians Nature is predominant in them it has took possession of them and will not easily subordinate it self to a superior principle Yet Nature has not such a fountain of perfection in it self but that it may very well draw from another this Heathenish principle after all its advancements and improvements after all its whitenings and purifyings it must stand but afar off in Atrio Gentium it cannot enter into the Temple off God much lesse into the Sanctum Sanctorum it cannot pierce within the veile The ennoblement of intellectuals the spotlesse integrity of Morals sweetnesse of dispositions and the candor of Nature they are all deservedly amiable in the eye of the world The Candle of Socrates and the candle of Plato the Lamp of Epictetus they did all shine before men and shine more then some that would fain be call'd Christians Nature makes a very fine show and a goodly glittering in the eye of the world but this Candle cannot appear in the presence of a Sun all the paintings and varnishings of Nature they please and enamour the eyes of men but they melt away at the presence of God The Lamp of a Moralist may waste it self in doing good to others and yet at length may go out in a snuffe and be cast into utter darknesse The harmonious composing of natural faculties the tuning of those spheres will never make up an heaven fit for a soul to dwell in Yet notwithstanding whatsoever is lovely in narure is acceptable even to God himself for 't is a print of himself and he does proportion some temporal rewards unto it the justice of an Aristides the good laws of a Solon or a Lycurgus the formal devotion of a Numa Pompilius the prudence of a Cato the courage of a Scipio the moderation of a Fabius the publitk spirit of a Cicero they had all some rewards scattered among them Nor is there any doubt but that some of the Heathen pleased God better then others Surely Socrates was more lovely in his eyes then Aristophanes Augustus pleased him better then Tiberius Cicero was more acceptable to him then Catiline for there were more remainders of his image in the one then in the other the one was of purer and nobler influence then the other Minùs malus respectu pejoris est bonus the one shall have more mitigations of punishment then the other Socrates shall taste a milder cup of wrath when as Aristophanes shall drink up the dregs of fury if divine justice whip Cicero with rods 't will whip Catiline with Scorpions An easier and more gentle worm shall feed upon Augustus a more fierce and cruel one shall prey upon Tiberius if justice put Cato into a prison 't will put Cethegus into a dungeon Nor is this a small advantage that comes by the excellencies improvements of Nature that if God shall please to beautifie and adorne such an one with supernatural principles and if he think good to drop grace into such a soul 't will be more serviceable and instrumental to God then others Religion cannot desire to shine with a greater glosse and lustre it cannot desire to ride among men in greater pomp and solemnity in a more triumphant Chariot then in a soul of vast intellectuals of Virgin and undeflowered morals of calme and composed affections of pleasant and ingenuous dispositions When the strength of Nature and the power of godlinesse unite and concentricate their forces they make up the finest and purest complexion the soundest and bravest constitution like a sparkling and vigorous soul quickening and informing a beautiful body Yet this must be thought upon that the different improvement even of Naturals springs only from grace For Essentials and Specificals which are meer Nature they are equal in all but whatsoever singular or additional perfection is annext to such a one flows only from the distingushing goodnesse of an higher cause that Socrates was any better then Aristophanes was not nature but a kinde of common gift and grace of the Spirit of God for there are the same seminal principles in all Augustus Tiberius were hew'n out of the same rock there are in Cicero the seeds of a Catiline and when the one brings forth more kindely and generous the other more wilde and corrupted fruit 't is accordingly as the countenance and favourable aspect of heaven is pleased to give the increase for as the Philosophers

superscription of any opinion to look any opinion in the face The great and noble Verulam much complains and not without too much cause of those sad obstructions in learning which arose upon the extreme doting upon some Authors which were indeed men of rare accomplishments of singular worth and excellency and yet but men though by a strange kinde of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great part of the world would have worshipt as gods The Canonizing of some profane Authors and esteeming all other as Apocryphal hath blasted many buds of knowledge it has quencht many sparks and beams of light which otherwise would have guilded the world with an Orient and unspotted lustre Farre be it from me to drop one word that should tend to the staining and eclipsing of that just glory that is due to the immortal name of Aristotle There are those that are envious and ungrateful enough let them do it if they please yet this I shall say and it shall be without any injury to him that to set him up as a Pope in Philosophy as a visible head of the truth militant to give him a negative voice to give him an arbitrary power to quote his texts as Scripture to look upon his works as the irreversible decrees of Learning as if he had seal'd up the Canon so that whoe're addes to him or takes one word from him must be struck with a present Anathema to condemn all for Hereticks that oppose him for Schismaticks that depart from him for Apostates that deny him what 's all this but to forget that he was but the Candle of the Lord and to adore him as a Sun in the firmament that was set to rule the day of knovvledge 't is to make him an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the causa prima the first mover of Learning or at least ' t vvas to make him such an Intellectus agens as Averroes vvould have that must enforme and quicken all that come after him Could that modest Philosopher have foreseen and prophesied that the vvorld vvould thus flatter him t is to be fear'd that he vvould have throvvn his vvorks also his legible self into Euripus rather then they should have occasioned such excessive Idolatry and partiality yet 't is no fault of his if the vvorld vvould over-admire him for that vvhich first inhanc't the price and esteem of Aristotle vvas that rich veine of reason that ran along and interlin'd most of his vvorks Let this therefore and this only commend him still for this is of indelible and perpetual duration yet if these blinde admirers of him could have follovved him fully and entirely they might have learnt of him a braver liberty and independency of spirit for he scorned to enslave and captivate his thoughts to the judgement of any vvhatsoever for though he did not deal violently and dis-ingenuously vvith the vvorks of his predecessors as some affirme yet he dealt freely vvith them and vvas not over-indulgent to them He came like a Refiner amongst them he purged avvay their drosse he boyl'd avvay their froth and scum he gathered a quintessence out of their rude and elementary principles Hovv impartially did he deal vvith his Master Plato and not favour him in any of his Errors and his vvords are ansvverable to his practises you may hear him vvhat he saith and professes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have a reverent esteeme of Antiquity is but fitting and equal but to stand in awe of it is base and unworthy Potestas senatoria is very honourable and beneficial but dictatoria potestas is not to be allowed in the Common-wealth of Learning yet such hath been the intolerable tyranny and oppression of the Roman faction as that they have enjoyn'd and engaged as many as they could to serve and torture their wits for the maintaining of whatever such a one as pleaseth them shall please to say for they care not how prejudicial or detrimental they prove to Learning so that they may but train up their schollars in an implicit faith in a blinde obedience in a slavish acknowledgement of some infallible judge of controversies and may shut up and imprison the generality of people in a dark and benighted condition not so much as allowing them the light of their own Candle this Lamp of the Lord that ought to shine in them That great advancer of Learning whom I commended before takes notice that by such unhappy means as these the more noble and liberal sciences have made no progresse proportionable to that which more inferiour and mechanical Arts have done for in these latter ingenia multorum in unum coëunt whereas in the former ingenia multorum sub uno succubuerunt What brave improvements have been made in architecture in manufactures in printing in the Pyxis nautica For here 's no limiting and restraining men to Antiquity no chaining them to old Authors no regulating them to I know not what prescribed formes and Canons no such strange voices as these You must not build better then your predecessors have done you must not print fairer then the first Tullies Offices that ere was printed 'T is not lookt upon as a transgression and a piaculum if they should chance to be a little more accurate then they were that went before them But in speculatives in meere Mathematicks which one would think were farre enough from any breach of faith or manners yet here if a Galilaeus should but present the world with a handful of new demonstrations though never so warily and submissively if he shall but frame and contrive a glasse for the discovery of some more lights all the reward he must expect from Rome is to rot in an Inquisition for such unlicenced inventions for such venturous undertakings The same strain of cruelty hath marcht more vehemently and impetuously in sacred and religious matters for here Babylon hath heated her furnace seven times hotter whilest under the pompous name of a Catholique Church under the glittering pretences of Antiquity and Authority they have as much as they could put out all the Lamps of the Lord. And that Bestian Empire hath transform'd all its Subjects into sensitive and irrational creatures A noble Author of our own tells us in his book De Veritate that he for his part takes them for the Catholique Church that are constant and faithful to first principles that common notions are the bottome and foundation upon which the Church is built Excuse our diffidence here great Sir the Church 't is built upon a surer and higher Rock upon a more Adamantine and precious foundation yet thus much is acceptable and undeniable that whoe're they are that by any practices or customes or traditions or tenents shall stop the passage of first principles and the sound reason that flowes from them they are in this farther from a Church then the Indians or the Americans whilst they are not only Antichristian but unnatural And of the two the Church hath more security in resting