Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	good_a	see_v	2,875	5	3.5208	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55473	A sovereign balson to cure the languishing diseases of this corrupt age By C. Pora a well-wisher to all persons.	Pora, Charles.	1678 (1678)	Wing P2966A; ESTC R233075	195,614	671

All which when Saint Anselm reflected upon he could not refrain from saying O my Soul when I consider and ponder well how much you are indebted to the Eternal God I blush at my former negligence in not performing my duty and great Obligation Tell me O Lord which way I am to turn my self and what I can do that will be acceptable to your Divine Majesty You have made and created me by your love therefore I owe you all and all that I am You have redeemed me in Love by your Sacred Death and Passion out of the perpetual slavery of Satan therefore I owe you all and all that I am You have promised me such eternal comforts and reward after my decease therefore I owe you all and all that I am In one word you did give your self wholly to me and for me therefore I owe you all and all that I am O Lord what satisfaction can Man give what recompence can he make for so many benefits already received and still to be received from your Hands and of your Bounty Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi said the Prophet David on the like occasion Psalm 115. 3. What shall I render to our Lord for all the good things that he hath rendered to me As if he had said I am full of confusion I am asham'd and troubled in mind what to do considering that he hath not only given and bestowed many great benefits upon me and mankind but hath also rendred good for evil mercy for ingratitude forgiveness for our sins and transgressions And we most unthankful have rendred to him evil for good for which cause reflecting upon what the truly penitent Sinner King David said in this case I resolve with all my heart and Soul to say the same with him Calicem Salutaris accipiam nomen Domini invocabo said he ubi supra v. 4. I will take the Chalice of Salvation say I and will invocate the name of our Lord that is to say Seeing that I am not able to render any thing worthy of Gods Favours to me I will do what I can I will gratefully acknowledge and accept his great benefits especially the sacred Cup of Christ which he was pleased to bless for the Salvation of Mankind and to drink of himself I will praise him and call upon his Holy Name SECTION VI. How to cure the pernicious Disease of Self-love Sect. 1. By with-drawing our love from all Corporal Objects 2. By humbling and undervaluing our selves 3. By overcoming our selves and sensual appetites Sect. 1. By with-drawing our love from all Corporal Objects To cure and totally to extirpate the pernicious disease of Self-love I must confess is no easie task it requires hard labour to overcome that inordinate Passion being a Vice so inveterate that nothing is more rooted in our hearts and so connatural that nothing is more pleasing to corrupt and unmortified nature so that to compass this end we must strive to our utmost and level all our actions intentions and wills so purely at Gods Honour and Pleasure as that we make him the only end we aim at and the sole object of our love for which purpose we cannot do better than to follow the example and counsel of the Seraphical Father Saint Francis saying daily in imitation of him Deus meus omnia Deus meus omnia O my sweet Jesus O my sweet Lord Thou art my God and all In the first place therefore great care is to be taken and exact diligence used for to with-draw our affections from all eternal objects whatsoever and to place and fix the same totally upon God for otherwise we run great hazard to fall short of our aim and that of the Evangelist will be found true in our selves Qui amat patrem aut matrem plus quam me non est ne dignus Matth. 10. v. 37. He that loveth Father and Mother more than God is not worthy of God that is deserves not to be accounted nor shall ever be accounted Gods true lover What love is more lawful or more recommended by God unto us than the love of Children to their Parents Wherefore seeing that even this kind of love to wit the love of Children to Parents and vice versa the love of Parents to Children c. can be no just excuse why we should not love God as we ought seeing that even this love when it is opposite to the love of God is forbidden us and we are commanded to cast it off there can be no reason to doubt but that all other loves of less nearness and concernment of less piety and vertue of less obligation in like occasion are likewise forbidden us and that we are commanded to with-draw our hearts from them and to give our selves wholly to the love of God above all things not to love any creature so much as we love God nor to be hindred by it from doing service The Evangelist Saint Luke seems to be yet more strict that we say not rigorous in the matter not only exacting to the full the accomplishment of what the Evangelist Saint Matthew mentions to wit that we should not love our Parents more than God or above and before God but requiring also that we should even hate our Parents if need requires it for Gods sake and renounce all affection love and Duty to them rather than to offend God or to forsake the least part of the love and Duty we owe to him for so we read Luc. 14. v. 26. Si quis venit ad me non odit patrem matrem c. adhuc autem animam suam non potest meus esse discipulus If any man cometh to me and hates not his Father Mother c. yea and his own life besides he cannot be my disciple It may seem an hard sentence but the meaning is easie This we are to do rather than hate God we must hate our Parents rather than do any thing which he will judge and esteem an hating of him we must renounce and cast off all love and duty to our Parents rather than to renounce or cast off our love and duty to God This expression therefore of the Evangelist obliges us to leap over all stumbling blocks that are laid in our way to hinder us in our going about Gods service We must renounce and reject whatsoever is most dear unto us yea our own selves and all the desires affections and inclinations of our Hearts how specious how morally good pious and honest soever they seem to be if they stand in our way and stop us from the supream love of God Fie upon all friendships must we say fie upon all affections that are attended with such mischiefs and do lead us into such dangers and fie upon all distracting and disquieting designs of the world which bend our imaginations wholly to the things unprofitable and impertinent thereby disturbing and separating us from the love of God

Process and Sui●● at Law what by private quarrels contentions animosities what throug● hatred envy and ill-will what by slanders detraction and defamation what by fraud and deceit what by rapine and violence what by murthers poysoning and other evil practises he is incessantly molesting and doing him prejudice sad experiences whereof appear every day i● the world not to speak of more publick mischiefs and calamities which happen and are originally hatch'd by Self-love of which in due place But for private wrong and injury done to our Neighbour through Self-love that one example which is mentioned in the third Book of Kings Chap 21. v. 7 8 9 c. may well serve instead of many It is that of Achab and Jezabel wickedly plotting and procuring the death of Just Naboth for no other reason but because he would not part with the In●eritance of his Fathers for to make Achab a garden of pleasure What ●orrid mischiefs were caused by the ●elf-love of David in the matter of Bathsabee and Vrias first defiling ●he Wife and then commanding the ●eath of the Husband as we read Reg. Ch. 11. In fine all other murthers slaughers and violences of that nature ●hich are daily committed do they ●roceed have they any other spring ●r root than the inordinateness of his passion of Self-love All con●entions in Courts of Justice all ●leadings and debates in Parliament ●hey have no other original ground ●ut Self-love All the Wars that are ●etwixt Kings and Princes and which are the great and almost per●etual plague and scourge of Chri●endome whence come they but ●●om Self-love The same is to be ●id of all Domestick contentions ●nd discords their original source is Self-love so that in a word we may safely conclude of this vice that it is the common Fountain even of all the evils in the world that are committed against our Neighbour Neither need I to spend time any further to particularize or prove as it were by retail this most certain truth it being so evident in the gross beside to mention or go thorough with all particulars that might be alledged in proof would be a work of no end a mans whole life might be imployed therein And truly which of those two Philosophers I should wish to be revived whether Democritus that laught at all things or Heraclitus that wept for all things I cannot easily resolve The World affords matter enough for the exercise of both humours But till we can mend things that are amiss by over-much vexing at them I think 't is best to make as light as we can of the evils we cannot help or hinder With as equal therefore and unmov'd affections as I can I look upon the various proceedings of men and observe ●he vanities and follies of those who ●re wholly addicted to pleasures and of those who with like eagerness pursue their profits and interests of gain and see how vehemently and ●niversally the Spirit of Self-love agitates and works in them all how ●estless they are to put their proper will and sensuality in execution and ●ow solicitous till they have obtain'd ●heir desire which may be obtain'd ●ut can never satisfie their wills may be fulfilled but their minds are ●ever the more at rest Seneca lib. 1. de Tranquilitate ●itae takes part with Democritus ●nd maintains that he had more rea●●n to laugh at the state of the ●orld or humane affairs consider●●g the great vanity and folly that is ● them than Heraclitus had to de●ore them with his tears and the ●●ief reason he gives for his Opinion is that as there is no ground or cause in reason to cry to be sad angry or any way troubled in our selves at any thing that a Fool or a Mad-man says or does seeing they are people out of their wits as we say void of common sense reason and understanding so there is no reason that Heraclitus or any other of his complexion should cry weep mourn or lament in any passionate sort the evils which he sees in the world seeing they are but the actings for the most part of mad tha● is of perverse and obstinate people playing their pranks and doing contrary to all reason There is no grea● cause to lament one that goes to the Gallows sporting and dancing as ●● he were going to a Feast such ● man deserves to be less regarded ●ven for his vain joy and unseasonable alacrity in seeming so little t● consider or lay to heart the sad condition of his approaching end ●● the same manner when we see m● go wilfully and with delectation to ●ternal miseries only because they will satisfie their Self-loves and ●njoy their Self-wills and sensual ●leasures to the full hearing no admonition and receiving no instruction to the contrary why should we pity them I say why should we pity them ●ot being ignorant that all good Christians who apprehend and re●ect better upon their unhappiness ●ut of a spirit of more perfect chari●y will not fail to pity them and ●o have a great compassion for their ●ad and deplorable estate and for ●he imminent danger they are going ●o precipitate themselves into for all ●ternity But I mean they give no ●ause of themselves to be pittied I ●o willingly say Alas for them ●las that for a short momentary ●leasure they will thus choose to suf●er eternal torments as Job says of ●hem chap. 21. v. 13. Ducunt in bo●is dies suos in puncto ad inferna descendunt They spend their dayes in wealth the worldlings chief and only God and in a moment go down to Hell Verily at a dear rate they buy their Pleasure and the fruition of their Self-Loves Had Dives mention'd in the Gospel Luc. 16. 19 c. well considered the Exchange he was to make after death for the Pleasures he enjoyed in this life I cannot doubt but he would have bettered his ways and prevented the hearing of that hard sentence from the mouth of Abraham his Father Ibid. v. 25. Recordari fili qui● recepisti bona in vita tua nunc autem cruciaris Remember Son that in thy life time thou receivedst good things but now thy life of pleasure is ended and thou art come into torments But alas I say again when we begin to speak of the torments which damned Souls endure to these Self-ended People and worldly Self-lovers we seem to them as if we told them stories to fright Children they are too old and wise to believe us ●hat which Christ did teach and preach they reject for fables and untruth Alas for them there is no Faith for them nor any other true Christian Vertue Self-love domineers Self-love bears all the sway Self-love is all in all with them Unhappy men at so great a peril to pursue that which at length will certainly deceive every one of them and reward their pains and pursuits with perpetual sorrows Ah! would to God they would open their eyes a little and that his grace might unblind their understandings