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	work_n	6,191	5	6.9192	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61733	The life and gests of S. Thomas Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford, and some time before L. Chancellor of England extracted out of the authentique records of his canonization as to the maine part, anonymus, Matt. Paris, Capgrave, Harpsfeld, and others / collected by R.S., S.I.	Strange, Richard, 1611-1682.	1674 (1674)	Wing S5810; ESTC R14349	107,722	368

is mortifyd and the mortifyd humble humility by self contempt making way for mortification and mortification aduancing humility No man that is a self louer will sett vpon mortification vnles it be to destroy selfe loue and who aymes at that besydes the humble selfe denyer The aduantages of this vertue in order to sanctity as it makes one truly master of himselfe and all his passions appetites inclinations c. are very great for it is this vnruly and mutinous populace which giues vs all our disturbances and conflicts betwixt the spiritt and the flesh while these seruants will needs be masters and domineer ouer and against reason putting all into a combustion The Royall Prophett Psal 31. 9. bids vs bind fast theyr cheeks in bridle and bitt and this bitt or curb is mortification they must eyther be hamperd thus or there is no ruling them They are like fire and water good seruants but ill masters giue them an inch and they 'l take an ell but keep them short close to theyr task with in theyr bounds and they 'l doe you good seruice Our B. Saint in his light and experience found all this true and therfore resolu'd to keep a strict hand and watchfull eye ouer them and all theyr motions ready to suppress any insurrections in this kind And by internall mortification which is much the nobler he preseru'd his mind in such a peacefull calme that one could scarse discouer any commotion to the contrary in so much that he might seem to liue in a Region aboue flesh and blood where neyther winds nor tempests haue access And this is a thing fecible enough to the Seruant of God if he make it his busynes and take it to hart grace willingly seconding such endeauours and our Saint profited so much in this Kind that considering the equall tenour of his Conuersation one might say he eyther neuer had passions which is impossible in such a liuelynes of nature or else kept them in a perfect subjection to reason and vertue which is no more then truth To this interiour Mortification he ioynd exteriour as much facilitating the former and rendring the flesh duely subordinate to the Spiritt a thing necessary for those who ayme at a perfect conquest ouer them selues and this he practisd in a triple kind First by hayr cloath and other austerityes to which he accustomd himselfe many yeares and euen at his death not contenting himselfe with the incident sufferances of so long a journey he was found with a hayr shyrt next his body and that of the rougher size 2. by watching and subtraction of sleep euen necessary stinting himselfe to a very short pittance which was much felt by those about him as cutting theyrs too short also yett he made this a dayly custome spending the remnant of the night in prayer and reading of H. Scripture or other such like pious exercises 3. by a wonderfull abstemiousnes and sobriety of dyett the propper food of Sanctity and refection of vertuous soules by which they gather more strength and vigour then by the choysest dayntyes Experience teaches too truly what an enemy gluttony and fullfeeding is to deuotion how it indisposes the mind while it ouercharges the body and makes it think more on the fleshpotts of Aegypt then the manna of Angells A refection is necessary for the recruit of our decaying forces a repletion which rather oppresses then refreshes neuer he must content himselfe with necessaryes and euen retrench them a little who will auoyd superfluityes this was the prayer of the Wiseman and must be Tantum victui meo tribue necessaria Prou. 30 8 ours S. THOMAS knew well all the aduantages of a sober abstinence and therfore his dyett was so spare that his familiars did wonder how it could giue a competent sustenance to maintaine life and this vsually And thus much Bishopp Richard deposd in his Process vpon oath asseuering with all that his abstinence was such that one might truly say his whole life was a continuall fast He made but one meale the day and that with these short Commons not for want of an appetite but to curb and mortify it for being askd that question by the sayd his successour who then sate next him he confess'd ingenuously that his stomack seru'd him for much more and taking a good piece of a loafe in his hand sayd he could eat all that and with gust To this rigour of quantity he added another of quality if he tasted of any curious or costly dish that was all then made it be carryd eyther to the sick or poore his ordinary fare was of the homelyer sort such as would satisfy nature not please the pallat and his drink suitable to witt small beare He seldome drunk wine vnles in a very small quantity or much temperd with water he neuer willingly drunk betwixt meales and when the quality of the persons was such that it requird such a ciuility from him he vsd pretty sleights and artifices to euade it by seeming to drink when he scarse touchd the Cupp In his younger dayes and better health he was wont to fast good Friday and all the Eues of our B. Lady with bread and water but afterwards when his stock of strenght would not beare that rigour by the prescript of his Physitian he was for bid that and appoynted to take a little broth In Confirmation of this his temperance a pretty passage is related by the aforesayd Bishop Richard who then was present A Kinsman of our Saint and his Companion for 20. yeares and vppwards William of Albenack sitting once at table with him when all had done and it was taking away S. THOMAS espy'd him still eating some bread with which a little surprizd he sayd merrily to him Old man what art thou doing I am eating quoth he and why now replyd the Saint Because sayd the other I find an appetite What sayd S. THOMAS and are you wont to eat as long as you find an appetite yes I profess sayd William and all do so that I know All do so sayd the Saint in a chiding tone Marry God forbid I can assure you in very truth that for 30. yeares till this day I haue not rise from table with a less appetite then when I sate downe But this latter part he wisperd in his eare forbidding him to speak of it while he liu'd and another story much to the same purpose stands vpon authentique record and both are a great testimoniall of his abstemiousnes and sobriety XXIII CHAPTER His discharge of duty towards God and his Neighbour HIs humility and abstemiousnes fitted and disposd him rightly towards this discharge the former by withdrawing him from self-loue the latter from wordly and these are the great obstructers of the loue of God and cause of our slacknes in his seruice it being certainly certaine that no body can serue two Maisters This Religious discharge is the work of our whole life and consequently of greatest concerne

implying both parts of Christian duty to decline from euill and doe good and doe good not how euer but after a good manner and as beseems such a Majesty for God loues not slubberd seruices but wil haue them done as well with the hart as hand and tongue or else they 'l find a cold acceptance By a due complyance in this Kind we shew our loue to him and this complyance in our Spirituall functions is calld Deuotion which is esteemd greater or less as our performance is more feruorous or remiss Deuotion is an effect of loue and an issue of diuine grace which if not sourc'd from these two is not esteemd genuine and currant but to want of its graines of weight and this may be counterfeyted as well as other vertues The subject of his deuotion or his spirituall exercises relating immediately to Alm. God were chiefly Prayer the H. Sacrifice of Masse his Canonicall Houres or diuine Office and in the discharge of these he was not onely sayth the Record deuout but most deuout performing them with a most profound attention and Reuerence Prayer is calld an Incense and this inconse he was I may say continually offering according to the aduise of S. Paule sine Thess 5. 17. intermissione orate be allwayes praying not onely as each good work in the opinion of S. Basil is a good prayer but also by a more neer interiour and familiar Conuersation with Alm God by the powers of our soule employing them not onely in a Consideration of his attributes but an vnion of will And what could a pious hart nursd vpp in its baptismall grace and consequently the throne and Aultar of the H. Ghost Sacrifice to so diuine a guest besydes prayers and prayses the former to begg new blessings the latter in thanks giuing for them receiu'd To attend the more freely to this was the chiefe reason why he cutt his sleep so short and rise by night that he might watch and pray and offer early a morning oblation to God and his Saints in an odour of sweetness killing as the Royall Prophet did in the feruor of his prayer all Psal 100. 8. the sinners of the earth He knew that in a spirituall life no great matter could be atchieu'd or aduance made without this and therfore he made it his dayly bread and was much more frequently feeding his soule with it then his body with Corporall deeming it the life which was to animate all his actions We treated in the 12. Chapter of his Retyrement and vnion with God and this vnion was chiefly effected by Prayer and intimates a frequent and constant practise of the same euen to an intimate familiarity whose result it is Euen before he was Bishop he was particularly noted for his singular Reuerence and Deuotion in reciting Diuine office which argues a true feeling of Spiritt and the presence of Alm. God in which his exteriour Composure of body and attention of mind was such that it was of great edification to the beholders Thus he begunn thus he perseuerd vntill the end fullfilling exactly what our H. Mother the Church requires of vs for a due discharge of that great function and it were to be wishd all those to whome this obligation is incumbent were imitatours of the same He was most exact in the administration of the Sacraments and performance of Ecclesiasticall Ceremonyes so mixing piety with a Majestick grauity that both the one and other begott a Reuerentiall esteem towards those Sacred Rytes in them that were present But aboue all he was most singularly deuoted to the H. Sacrifice of Masse heer his deuotion seemd to triumph and he at the Aultar to be in his Center so full was his hart fraught with pious affections with such a spiritt of humility and Contrition did he approach it such an ample testimony heeroff did he giue by his abundance of teares that one would haue thought he had rather sayth the Record actually be held the bloody Sacrifice it selfe and his Lord and Sauiour therin immolated then an vnbloody and Mysticall representation of the same an argument both of his liuely fayth and ardent charity To indulge the more to these pious affections he gaue heer ample scope to his deuotion much beyond the ordinary stint of halfe an houre letting his soule feed at leasure on these sweet Mysteryes and Alm. God did so concurr that he was frequently alienated from his senses and as it were in a rapture so that it was necessary for the seruer who deposd this vpon oath to cough and make a noyse to bring him to himselfe and make an end of his Mass and this sayth the same happend frequently while he liu'd at Rouen from the feast of S. Peter ad Vincula till the feast of S. Michael next ensuing To shew how acceptable this his piety in the H. Sacrifice and other spirituall deuoyrs was to Alm. God it pleasd his diuine Majesty to grace him particularly at the same with a fauour which all that were present attributed to Miracle and as such it was approu'd by the Lords Commissioners and those that beheld it On the feast of Pentecost or Whitsunday he was inuited by Edmund Earle of Cornwall a great admirer of his Sanctity to Celebrate the feast and say Mass at his Castle of Wallingford and it happend in the second or third yeare of his Pontificate While he was preparing and disposing himselfe therto by singing the Hymne „ Veni Creator Spiritus vpon the entonement of the first verse a flock of byrds in the sight and hearing of all with Musicall notes and beating theyr wings against the Chappell windowes seemd to applaud the Saint while he sung and he hauing ended they retyrd while the Quire prosecuted what he had enton'd till the end of the strophe But he entoning the first verse of the second they returnd againe and while he sung both with voyce and wing they accompanyd him and applauded as before and soe strophe after strophe till the hymne was ended This seemd a great Nouelty to the sayd Earle and all that beheld it which were many and to satisfy themselues the better they went out of the Chappell abroad and had a full sight of them judging them to be about 40. and beheld them Coming and going as before nor could interprett such an vnusuall thing neuer obseru'd before nor after otherwise then as orderd by God to wittnes the sanctity of our Saint and the acceptablenes of the great work he was about Then it was that the Earle in the hearing of all Bishop Richard then Chancellour of Hereford being present made that expression cited in the end of the 18. Chapter of his singular Confidence in the prayers and patronage of S. THOMAS no less then in those of our great Apostle S. Austin The liuely fayth and high esteem he had of the dignity of this diuine Sacrifice as it made him recollect all his powers and attention for its better performance so it