Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	effect_n	natural_a	nature_n	4,625	5	5.6875	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48479	The liberty of human nature, discuss'd, stated, and limited, in a sermon preached by J. Lambe.	Lambe, John, 1648 or 9-1708.	1684 (1684)	Wing L218; ESTC R32872	12,909	42

or unclean you will therefore inslave your selves to the Appetites of the Belly So foolish are you that in those very actions wherein you think you assert your Liberty you really destroy it you sacrifice your Reason to those Rebellious Tyrannous Desires which of right are subject and might have been kept in due Obedience All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any As if he had said If you would preserve your Liberty you must preserve the Authority of your Understanding and entirely submit your Opinions Appetites and Actions thereunto Since you are endowed with such a Principle you must resolve that all things shall be indifferent to you till they have passed the scrutiny of your Judgment that your Will and Affections shall always wait the Resolution of your Reason Thus having given you a short Account of the occasion of the Words it is not necessary to insist any farther upon their particular respect and application to the Case of the Corinthians but I shall consider them independent of the Text as a noble Resolution of St. Paul or as an universal Rule of Wisdom to all Men in the Government of their Lives I will not be brought c. The Terms of the Problem are easily understood and require but little Explication I have a power in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Judging Chusing and Acting according to right Reason Propositions of Truth Objects of Desire and Methods of Practice are infinite and innumerable and about these the Reason and Judgment of Man is exercised and he has such an absolute power over his own Opinion and Practice that he is not determined by any Fate Necessity or irresistible Cause without himself but by certain innate Principles rational Powers and the Divine Assistance he is enabled to judge of Truth and Goodness and only so far obliged to chuse and act as shall appear conductive to his Happiness or agreeable to his Reason And having thus explained the Principle the Sense of the Apostles Resolution or practical Comment thereupon is evident I will not be brought under the power of any thing I will so use this Liberty of Judging and Chusing for my self that my Opinion Will and Actions shall always remain as they naturally are the servants of my Understanding I will not be deluded by false Appearances to believe Absurdities to love what is hateful or do what is evil The words being thus explained may be resolved into this easy Proposition viz. That to preserve the Authority of our Reason and the Liberty of our Will from the Vsurpations of Prejudice sensual Appetites and Passions is the Wisdom and Felicity of a Man I will not be brought under the power of any thing The Text may seem at the first view to countenance Republican Principles and Opinions but we shall find upon a more exact inspection that it was never design'd by the Apostle to serve the Interest of Faction or Sedition to dissolve or loosen Government or subject the Laws of Princes to the Reason and Judgment of the People This is so perverse so malicious an Explication of the Words that those who make it cannot themselves believe it because it is so direct a Contradiction to those positive Declarations and express Precepts of exactest Loyalty which we find in St. Pauls Epistles And I humbly hope ill sounding Words will not offend when the design of using them is to direct them to their proper places to right Objects and deliver them from those gross Abuses which have been super-induc'd upon them It is true for fear of Misconstruction I might have excepted the Laws of God and our Country as Sacred Things about which generally speaking we have no Deliberation Liberty or Election and therefore fall not under the Consideration of the Proposition or the Rule of the Apostle which only respect such things as are wholly in our Power And yet there would still have been sufficient Scope for the exercise of our Reason Discretion and Choice For the Laws of Princes chiefly Respect the Publick Interest or the Government of the external Actions of Men as they are Members of the Commonwealth but all Opinions of indifferent Nature all ingenious Speculation Philosophy Wisdom Moral Habits inward Affections together with almost the whole Oeconomy of Private Life are left to the discretion of every man And most of the Laws of God are general only the great Lines and Heads of Duties but the application of Particulars the Proportion of one thing to another the Relation Affections and Circumstances of Duties are left to the decision of Human Reason This I might have done but it is wholly needless to make such Limitation or Exception for the Proposition is universally true viz. That to preserve the Authority of our Reason and the Liberty of our Will from the Vsurpations of Prejudice sensual Appetites and Passions is the Wisdom and Felicity of a Man Indeed one of the very first and most obvious Principles of Right Reason is the most intire Resignation of our selves to be govern'd by the Laws of God and our Country And no Man that does not basely desert his Reason and depart from this incomparable Rule of the Apostle can ever wilfully Sin against God or Rebel against his Prince This premised I shall now proceed to consider the truth of the Proposition with Respect to things Intellectual Moral Civil and Religious and show that in all these which comprehend whatsoever the Judgment of Man is conversant about to preserve the Authority of our Reason and the Liberty of our Will from the Vsurpation of Prejudice and the Briberies of Interest sensual Appetites and Passions is the Wisdom and Felicity of a Man And first With Respect to things intellectual or in the Study of useful Knowledge and the Government of our Opinon Every perfect Man is born with inherent Topicks of right Reason with a sufficient System of natural Logick his Mind is impress'd with Standing Principles and eternal Verities to direct him in the search of Truth and furnished with rational Powers of comparing one thing with another of judging Effects by Causes and drawing innumerable and certain Inferences from those undoubted Premises This then is the Liberty and Glory of Human Nature that it is indifferent and free to every doubtful Opinion and disputable Proposition that those who have sufficient opportunity of improving their Faculties are enabled to judge for themselves and not obliged to assent without sufficient Reason that there is no force upon their Minds from within or without themselves but as the sensitive Faculties do freely judge of Sweet and Bitter or the qualities of their proper Objects by the Test of Sense so the Rational conclude of True and False of Good and Evil by such demonstrations as the Nature of the thing requires It is therefore the highest point of Wisdom in the world to defend this Liberty of Reasoning this Jewel of inestimable Value from the