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	sin_n	7,176	5	5.3331	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09678	The praise of the gout, or, The gouts apologie A paradox, both pleasant and profitable. Written first in the Latine tongue, by that famous and noble gentleman Bilibaldus Pirckheimerus councellor vnto two emperours, Maximilian the first, and Charles the fift: and now Englished by William Est, Master of Arts.; Apologia seu podagrae laus. English	Pirckheimer, Willibald, 1470-1530.; Est, William, 1546 or 7-1625.	1617 (1617)	STC 19947; ESTC S114730	29,358	44

reason enfeeble truth vanquish whatsoeuer sinister opinion malicious censure and false cauillation they shall forge against mee Truth for a time may be oppressed God so disposing for our punishment or tryall but finally suppressed it cannot be Truth is stronger then all falshood it is temporis filia the daughter of time and will at length preuaile Truth is simplex et nuda sed efficax et magna simple and naked but powerfull and strong splendet cum obscuratur vincit cùm opprimitur it shineth when it is darkned and ouercommeth when it is oppressed It was well said of that Father that Truth hath a double effect it is dulcis amara sweet and bitter quando dulcis est parcit quando amara curat when it is sweet it spareth when it is bitter it cureth And as wisely Aristotle Eos qui errant ad pauca respicere They that do erre haue an insight but into few things but that wee bee not deceiued euery circumstance which concerneth any matter is diligently to bee looked into and considered which if it be I doubt not but truth shall be of more validitie with you then the malice enuie and taunts of all men For I trust plainely to vnfold that all the blame and euils how many and how great soeuer which light vpon my aduersaries are not so much to bee ascribed vnto mee as to their owne licenciousnesse and vices Secondly That these euils if they be euils are not so grieuous but farre more tolerable then either they will or imagine And thirdly that I am the cause of much good and do bring many and great commodities vnto men Bee you not therefore O Iudges bee you not I say perturbed in mind or carried away with passions but quietly as you haue begun heare me I pray you with patience For if I proue not plainely what I haue promised it lieth in your power to condemne mee so shall you acquit your selues of all partiality and blame and for my part if I bee conuicted I will contentedly vndergoe whatsoeuer punishment you shall inflict vpon me But if I make good all that I haue spoken I desire that you will not so much respect me as be mindfull of your place and office that I may receiue such vpright sentence as the equity of my cause by law and right requireth But before I addresse my selfe to dissolue my aduersaries obiections I thinke it fit to answere first to euill report and rumor of the people For if thou be good will my enemies say and the cause of so much good vnto men what then is the cause that all men so egerly hate detest and abhorre thee For though Fame doth very often yet is it not wont alwaies to erre especially beeing so inueterate and euery where so frequent in the world And I againe would aske these iolly fellowes mine accusers Why doe Children hate their Schoole-masters though neuer so wise and learned Why doe wicked men contemne good Lawes Is it not because the Schoole-master laboureth to furnish the minds of his Schollers with good Arts and discipline that they may hereafter become the better men And Lawes are a bridle to curbe the insolencie of badde men to restraine them within the limits of their duty that they dare not commit what villanie they would Epictetus was wont to say Aegrisernator est medieus iniuriam passi lex The Physicion is a preseruer of the sick and the refuge for the wronged is the Law Except the Lawes as Anacharsis once said may bee compared to the Spiders webbe which catch and insnare onely the little weake flies when the great Drones and strong ones break the net and escape a thing much to bee lamented But to returne from whence I haue digressed it followeth not that the Schoole-master should be euill because hee is hated of Children neither that the Lawes should be blamed and reiected because they are abhord of lewd Luskes and vaine Varlets euen the worst kind of men but wee must hold that children want iudgement and do censure of Discipline and good Institution as they whose Palate is corrupt and infected with a feuer are wont to doe of their meat and drinke and vicious men polluted with all filthinesse wish that there were no Lawes that there might bee no hinderance to with-hold them from running boldly in their execrable and desperate courses Hee is not therefore to be reputed euill which of a multitude but he that is iustly and that of good men condemned neither is he presently to be counted a good man who by many voices is extolled but he that deserueth praise from the mouth of honest and wise men And the witnesse of Conscience is more comfortable then the vulgar breath but herein I rest satisfied with this saying of the Reuerend Seneca Malè de me loquuntur sed mal● mouerer si de me Marcus Cato si Lalius sapiens si duo Scipienes ista loquerentur nunc malis displicere laudari est They speake euill of me but they are euill men if Marcus Cato Wise Lalius the two Scipt●●s should speake this of me I should be moued but to be dispraised of the wicked is a praise to a man For seeing the number of wicked men doth euery where exceed none by their iudgement shall be good for they will commend none but such as are like themselues but so far off should wise men be from accounting the iudgement of the insulse vulgar sort to be of any moment that in their estimate they should bee of the best men of whom the multitude speake worst and traduce most as contrariwise they the vilest men and of basest esteeme for the most part whom popular applause extolleth to the clouds as the wise Plato rightly iudged Whoso pleaseth euery humor is worthy suspition yea though he maketh a faire shew of Vertue Let mine aduersaries therefore cease to obiect vnto mee these frantick rumors and rather blame themselues which are the cause of such paine and torments to themselues as worthily they suffer For they so liue nay they so drinke they so plunge themselues in riot and wallow in deliciousnesse that they draw compell and hasten mee to come into their company and to dwell with them euen against my will For seldome come I of mine owne accord but most commonly by constraint as enforced I attend vpon them If then I were the plague of man-kind as they would haue it I should not afflict certaine men but all without difference but so farre am I from hurting all men that I willingly decline from many for I take no pleasure in those hard rough rusticke agresticke kind of people which neuer are at rest but alwaies exercise their bodie with hard labours are euer moyling and toyling which seldome or neuer giue themselues to pleasure which endure hunger which are content with a slender diet the Water often quencheth their thirst haue bad cloathing and worse lodging fare hard

follow the truth and with how many cares and anxieties are men pearced in procuring the things pertaining to this mortall body and vse of this fraile life I speak not of superfluous things but of things very necessarie though as the Poet sayth minimis rebus contenta quiescit Natnra in vitium si non dilapsa repugnat Mans nature with a little thing contented doth remaine Except it headlong falne to vice it doth repugne againe And what is aboue necessaries may be called the sicknesses or maladies of the minde as pleasures opinions feares perturbations desires loue hatred c. which seldome or neuer permitteth the minde to be at rest like the violent force of fire which causeth the water alwaies to boile vp till it be remoued For what I pray you stirreth vp warres brawles murthers seditions rapines iniuries but the flesh and the desire of hauing which is neuer satisfied For wee see now a dayes mony is able to atchiue all things And all this the loue of this fraile body compelleth vs to doe which is the cause that while we pamper vp the body our thoughts are farre estranged from any care taking of the Soule and our mindes distracted from prouiding for the life to come for our senses are like vnto violent horses which without the reines of reason runne away violently with the chariot but the soule like a waggoner holdeth the bridle and therfore as horses without a guide so the flesh without reason and rule of the minde runneth hastily to its owne ruine what a slauery is it then to serue our owne appetite I remember a lesson which I learned long agoe of a learned Preacher That in choosing a Master euery man will shun three sorts of men his enemie his fellow his seruant Hee that serueth the Diuell serueth his greatest enemy he serueth his fellow who serueth the lust of the flesh he serueth his seruant who serueth the world it is a base seruice to serue the world for that is to become a slaue to our seruant it is an vncertaine seruice to serue the flesh for it is so fraile weake and sickly that he may looke euery day to be turned out of dores and which is worst of all it is least contented when it is most serued but to serue the diuell is the vnthriftiest seruice of all for the wages hee payeth is eternall death Wherefore wise men are wont to sequester themselues as farre as they may from the commerce of the bodie and worldly affairs to the end that the mind may the more freely bee lifted vp to the contemplation of heauenly things and the more a man is auerted from the bodie the more hee is conuerted to heauenly meditations hee abstaineth from fleshly desires he subdueth his pleasures he little esteemeth honors riches nobilitie fame and whatsoeuer the world holdeth most precious he feareth not ignominie pouertie affliction nor death it selfe and all things which are contrarie to the flesh that hee most desireth And wise men are wont to measure their life not by the number of yeeres but by the time they haue liued well I haue read of one Similus who hauing spent the greatest part of his life in the troublesome employments of the weale publick and being now old retired himselfe into a Farme hee had in the Countrie and gaue himselfe to prayer and contemplation and when hee dyed commanded this Epitaph to be set vpon his Tombe Hic iacet Similus cuius at as multorum a●●orum fuit ipse duntaxat septem annos vixerit Here lyeth Similus whose age was of many yeeres but he liued only seuen But whoso serueth his bodily sences besides that hee must needs depart from the path of vertue he shall neuer obtaine what he desireth for being deceiued with the false shewes of goodnes he loseth the substance for to catch the shadow and as the body tooke beginning from the earth so the soule had her originall from heauen as one saith not vnfitly Immortall soule from heauen God gaue But bodie fraile from earth we haue The body as a seruant should be subiected vnto the command of the soule the one is heauenly and immortall the other common to vs with the brute beasts Nothing therfore is more excellent then the soule nothing more diuine it as farre excelleth the body as the master doth his seruant as the liuing doth the dead and as the body maketh earthy things its full scope and marke whereat it only aymeth so the minde erecteth it selfe to heauenly things as to the proper end for which it was created Yee see here O Iudges how much more noble the Soule is then the bodie But now will I addresse my selfe to shew what a passing excultrix and adorner I am of the minde and how much I garnish the celestiall Soule whiles I extinguish the vices of the bodie albeit I doe not alwaies hurt the bodie but am wont commonly to profit it also for I attenuate superfluous fatnesse I drie vp humours which redound through intemperance and consume them lest they should encrease to a huge greatnesse and bring no small danger to the whole bodie Againe as Physicians affirme I also prolong the life for except I did depell and driue down to the feet and ioints that noxious and pernicious matter it would doubtlesse assault the braine heart liuer and stomake and soone extinguish the vitall spirits But to omit those things which pertaine to the body let vs proceed to mens vices and infirmities which I aboue others am very expert to cure so that in this Art I yeeld to none whether Philosopher or Diuine for I am not only an impediment and curbe to my seruants that they runne not headlong in wickednesse but also the vices which through custome are become inueterate I extirpate and expell and cause that they shall not sinne vnpunished and scot-free which if I did not they would neuer desist from their wickednesse but stil adde sinne vnto sinne euill vnto euill til sinne forsake them Now first for this Monster pride which is puppis ac prora the very head and taile of all euill I must a little insist vpon this as I learned of a Preacher Gregory sayth he maketh 4. kinds of proud men 1. The arrogant proud 2. The presumptuous proud 3. The boasting proud 4. The despising proud person The first attributeth euery good thing in himselfe to himselfe and not vnto God The second will confesse God to be the giuer of all graces but vpon their owne merit The third boast of their vertues which indeede they haue not The fourth affecteth a kinde of singularity and puritie in that he hath or supposeth to haue Vitia catera in peccatis superbia etiam in benefactis timenda when other sinnes dye secret pride gets strength in vs ex remedijs generat morbos euen vertue is the matter of this vice though all sinnes are in the diuell secundum reatum in respect of the guilt yet only