Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	great_a	people_n	3,792	5	4.4298	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23740	The government of the tongue by the author of The whole duty of man, &c.	Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.; Fell, John, 1625-1686.; Sterne, Richard, 1596?-1683.; Pakington, Dorothy Coventry, Lady, d. 1679.; Henchman, Humphrey, 1592-1675.	1667 (1667)	Wing A1138; ESTC R4579	90,866	244

Ages all Ranks all Professions this is the constant entertainment And I doubt he that at night shall duly recollect the Occurences of the day shall very rarely be able to say he has spent it without hearing or speaking perhaps both somwhat of this kind Nay even those who restrain themselves other liberties are often apt to indulge to this many who are so just to their Neighbors property that as Abraham once said Gen. 14.23 they would not take from him even from a thred to a shoe latchet are yet so inconsiderate of his Fame as to find themselves discourse at the expence of that tho infinitly a greater injury then the robbing of his Coffer which shews what false mesures we are apt to take of things and evinces that many of those who have not only in general abjur'd the world in their Baptism but do in many instances seem to themselves as well as others to have gain'd a superiority over it do yet in this undiscernibly yield it the greatest Ensign of Soveraignty by permitting it to set the standards and estimates of things and taking its customary Prescriptions for Laws For what besides this unhappy servility to Custom can possibly reconcile men that own Christianity to a practice so widely distant from it 'T is true those that profess themselves men of this world who design only their portion in this life may take it up as somtimes conducing at least seemingly to their end but for those who propose higher hopes to themselves and know that Charity is one of the main props to those hopes how foolishly do they undermine themselves when they thus act against their Principles and that upon no other Autority but that of popular usage I know men are apt to excuse themselves upon their indignation against vice and think that their zeal must as well acquit them for this violation of the second Table as it once did Moses for the breaking both Exod. 32.19 But to such I may answer in Christs words Luke 9.55 Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of Meekness and Charity are the Evangelical Graces which will most recommend and assimilate us to him who was meek and lowly in heart But after all this pretext of Zeal I fear it is but a cheat we put on our selves the elder Brothers raiment only to disguise the Supplanter Gen. 27. Let men truly ransack their own breasts and I doubt the best will find there is somthing of vanity that lies at the bottom if it be not the positive sort mention'd before of designing to illustrate my self by others blemishes yet at least the negative that I am unwilling to incur the contemt incident to those who scruple at small sins Besides I observe perhaps that 't is the common entertainment of the World to defame their Neighbors and if I strike not in upon the Theme I shall have nothing to render me acceptable company perhaps I shall be reproched as morose or dull and my silence shall be construed to proceed not from the abundance of my Charity but the defect of my Wit 20. BUT sure they that can thus argue do hereby give a more demonstrative proof of that defect He whose Wit is so precarious that it must depend only upon the folly or vice of another had best give over all pretence to it He that has nothing of his own growth to set before his Guests had better make no invitations then break down his Neighbors Inclosure and feast them upon his plunder Besides how pitiful an attestation of Wit is it to be able to make a disgraceful relation of another No scolding Woman but may set up such Trophies and they that can value a man upon such an account may prefer the Scarabes who feed upon dung and are remark'd by no other property before the Bee that sucks Flowers and returns Hony 31. BUT in the next place admit this restraint should certainly expose one to that reproch methinks this should be no news to those who know the condition of Christianity is to take up the Cross and sure it cannot weigh lighter then in this instance What am I the worse if a vain Talkative Person think me too reserv'd Or if he whose frolic levity is his disease call me dull because I vapor not out all my spirits into froth Socrates when inform'd of some gating Speeches one had used of him behind his back made only this facetious reply Let him beat me too when I am absent And he that gets not such an indifference to all the idle censures of men will be disturb'd in all his Civil Transactions as well as his Christian it being scarce possible to do any thing but there will be descants made on it And if a man will regard those winds he must as Solomon saies never sow Eccl. 11.4 He must suspend even the necessary actions of common life if he will not venture them to the being mis-judged by others 32. BUT there is yet a farther consideration in this matter for he that upon such a despicable motive will violate his duty in one particular lets Satan get a main point of him and can with no good Logic deny to do it in others Detraction is not the only sin in fashion Profaneness and Obscenity and all sorts of Luxury are so too and threaten no less reproch to those who scruple at them Upon the same grounds therefore that he discards his Charity to his Neighbor he may also his Piety his Modesty his Temperance and almost all other Virtues And to speak the truth there is not a more fertile womb of sin then this dread of all mens reproch Other corruptions must be gratified with cost and industry but in this the Devil hath no farther trouble then to laugh men out of their souls So prolific a vice therefore had need be weeded out of mens hearts for if it be allowed the least corner if it be indulged too in this one instance 't will quickly spread it self farther 33. YET after all this fear of reproch is a mere fallacy started to disguise a more real cause of fear for the greatest danger of reproch does indeed lie on that other side Common estimation puts an ill Character upon pragmatic medling people For tho the inquisitiveness and curiosity of the hearer may somtimes render such discourses grateful enough to him yet it leaves in him no good impressions of the speaker This is well observ'd by the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 19.8 9. Whether it be to friend or foe talk not of other mens lives and if thou canst without offence revele them not for he heard and observ'd thee and when time cometh he will hate thee In a word all considering Persons will be ever upon their guard in such company as fore-seeing that they will talk no less freely of them then they do of others before them Nor can the commonness of the guilt obviate the censure there being nothing more frequent then for men to

Hath a nation changed their Gods which yet are no gods but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit Jer. 2.11 This madness is now the inclosure the peculiarity of those who by their names institutions should be Christians as if that natural Aphorism that when things are at a height they must fall again had place here also and our being of the most excellent most elevated Religion were but the preparative to our being of none 3. 'T IS indeed deplorable to see how the Professors of no God begin to vie numbers with all the differing perswasions in Religion so that Atheism seems to be the gulph that finally swallows up all our sects It has struck on a sudden into such a reputation that it scorns any longer to sculk but owns it self more publicly then most men dare do the contrary 'T is set down in the seat of the scorner since it cannot argue resolves to laugh all Piety out of countenance and having seized the mint nothing shall pass for wit that hath not its stamp and with it there is no metal of so base an alloy but shall go current Every the dullest creature that can but stoutly disclaim his Maker has by it sufficiently secured its title to Ingenuity and such mesures being once established no wonder at its sholes of proselytes when it gives on the one hand licence to all sensual inordinaces permits them to be as much beasts as they will or can and yet tells them on the other that they are the more men for it Sure 't is not strange that a hook thus doubly baited should catch many Either of those allurements single we see has force enough The charms of sensuality are so fascinating that even those who believe another world and the severe revenges that will there attend their Luxuries yet chuse to take them in present with all the dismal reversions And then sure it cannot but be very good news to such a one to be told that that after-reckoning is but a false alarm and his great willingness to have it true will easily incline him to believe it is so And doubtless were Atheism traced up to its first causes this would be found the most operative 't is so convenient for a man that will have no God to controul or restrain him to have none to punish him neither that that utility passes into argument and he will rather put a cheat upon his understanding by concluding there is no future account then leave such a sting in his plesures as the remembrance of it must needs prove This seems to be the original and first rise of this impiety it being impossible for any man that sees the whole nay but the smallest part of the Universe to doubt of a first and supreme Being until from the consciousness of his provocations it becomes his interest there should be none 4. THIS is indeed considering the depravation of the world a pretty fast tenure for Atheism to hold by yet it has of late twisted its cord and got that other string to its bow we before mentioned It s bold monopolizing of wit and reason compels as the other invited men This we may indeed call the Devils press by which he hath filled up his Troops men are afraid for being reproached for silly and irrational in giving themselves up to a blind belief of what they do not see And this bugbear frights them from their religion resolving they will be no fools for Christs sake 1 Cor. 4.13 I dare appeal to the breasts of many in this age whether this have not bin one of the most prevalent temtations with them to espouse the tenet and tho perhaps they at first took it up only in their own defence for fear of being thought fools yet that fear soon converts into ambition of being thought Wits They do not satisfie themselves with deserting their Religion unless they revile it also remembring how themselves were laught out of it they essay to do the like by others Yea so zealous propugners are they of their negative Creed that they are importunately diligent to instruct men in it and in all the little sophistries and colours for defending it so that he that would mesure the Opinions by their industry and the remissness of Believers would certainly think that the great interest of Eternity lay wholly on their side Yet I take not this for any argument of the confidence of this perswasion but the contrary for we know they are not the secure but the desperate undertakings wherein men are most desirous of partners and there is somwhat of horror in an uncouth way which makes men unwilling to travel it alone 5. THE truth is tho these men speak big and prescribe as positively to their pupils as if they had some counter revelation to confute those of Moses and Christ yet were their secret thoughts laid open there would scarce be found the like assurance there I will not say to what reprobate sense some particular persons may have provoked God to deliver them but in the generality I believe one may affirm that there is seldom an infidelity so sanguine as to exclude all fears Their most bold Thesis That there is no God no Judgment no Hell is often met with an inward tremulous Hypothesis What if there be I dare in this remit me to themselves and challenge not their consciences who profess to have none but their natural Ingenuity to say whether they have not somtimes such damps and shiverings within them If they shall say that these are but the reliques of prepossession and education which their reason soon dissipates Let me then ask them farther whether they would not give a considerable sum to be infallibly ascertained there were no such thing now no sensible man would give a farthing to be secured from a thing which his reason tells him is impossible therefore if they would give any thing as I dare say they themselves cannot deny that they would 't is a tacite demonstration that they are not so sure as they pretend to be 6. I might here join issue upon the whole and press them with the unreasonableness the disingenuousness of embracing a Profession to which their own hearts have an inward reluctance nay the imprudence of governing their lives by that position which for ought they know may be nay they actually fear is false and if it be must inevitably immerse them in endless ruin But I must remember my design limits me only to the faults of the Tongue and therefore I must not follow this chase beyond those bounds I shall only extend it to my proper subject that of Atheistical talk wherein they make as mad an adventure as in any other of their enormous practices nay perhaps in some respects a worse 7. IN the first place 't is to be considered that if there be a God he as well as men may be provoked by our words as well as deeds

he that divulges an unknown conceled fault stands accountable for all the consequences that flow from that divulging but whether accountable as for guilt must be determin'd by the particular circumstances of the cause So that here we must admit of an exception for tho every discovery of anothers fault be in the strict natural sense of the word a Detraction yet it will not alwaies be the sin of Detraction because in some instances there may some higher obligation intervene and supersede that we ow to the fame of our neighbor and in those cases it may not only be lawful but necessary to expose him 4. Now all such cases I conceive may summarily be reduced to two heads Justice and Charity First as to Justice that we know is a Fundamental Vertue and he that shall violate that to abound in another is as absurd as he that undermines the foundation to raise the walls We are not to steal to give alms and God himself has declared that he hates robbery for a Burnt-offering so that no pretence either of Charity or Piety can absolve us from the duty we ow to Justice Now it may often fall out that by conceling one mans fault I may be injurious to another nay to a whole community and then I assume the guilt I concele and by the Laws both of God and Man am judged an accessory 5. AND as Justice to others enforces so somtimes Justice to a mans self allows the publishing of a fault when a considerable Interest either of Fame or Fortune cannot otherwise be rescued But to make loud outcries of injury when they tend nothing to the repress of it is a liberty rather assumed by rage and impatience then authorized by Justice Nay often in that case the complainer is the most injurious person for he inflicts more then he suffers and in lieu of some trivial right of his which is invaded he assaults the other in a nearer interest by wounding him in his good Name but if the cause be considerable and the manner regular there lies sure no obligation upon any man to wrong himself to indulge to another 6. NEITHER does Charity retrench this liberty for tho it be one act of Charity to concele another mans faults yet somtimes it may be inconsistent with some more important Charity which I owe to a third person or perhaps to a multitude as in those cases wherein public benefit is concern'd If this were not allowable no History could lawfully be written since if true it cannot but recount the faults of many no evidence could be brought in against a Malefactor and indeed all Discipline would be subverted which would be so great a mischief that Charity obliges to prevent it what Defamation soever fall upon the guilty by it For in such instances 't is a true rule That Mercy to the evil proves cruelty to the innocent And as in a competition of mischiefs we are to chuse the least so of two goods the greatest and the more extensive is the most eligible 7. Nay even that Charity which reflects upon my self may also somtimes supersede that to my Neighbor the rule obliging me to love him as not better then my self I need not sure silently assent to my own unjust Defamation for fear of proving another a false accuser nor suffer my self to be made a begger to concele another mans being a Thief T is true in a great inequality of interests Charity ●hose Character it is Not to seek her own 1 Cor. 13.5 will promt me to prefer a greater concern of my Neighbors before a slight one of my own but in equal circumstances I am sure at liberty to be kind first to my self If I will recede even from that I may but that is then to be accounted among the Heroic flights of Charity nor her binding and indispensible Laws 8. HAVING now set the boundaries the excepted cases as all instances within them will be legitimated so all without them will by the known rule of Exceptions be precluded and fall under that general duty we owe to our Neighbor of tendring his credit an Obligation so universally infringed that 't is not imaginable the breach should alwaies happen within the excepted cases When 't is remembred how unactive the Principles of Justice and Charity are now grown in the World we must certainly impute such incessant Effects to some more vigorous Causes of which it may not be amiss to point out some of the most obvious and leave every man to examine which of them he finds most operative in himself 9. IN the first place I may reckon Pride a humor which as it is alwaies mounting so it will make use of any foot-stool towards its rise A man who affects an extraordinary splendor of Reputation is glad to find any foils to set him off and therefore will let no fault nor folly of anothers enjoy the shade but brings it into the open light that by that comparison his own Excellences may appear the brighter I dare appeal to the breast of any proud man whether he do not upon such occasions delight to make some Pharisaical reflections on himself whether he be not apt to say I am not like other men or as this Publican Luke 18. tho probably he leave out the God I thank thee Now he that cherishes such resentments as these in himself will doubtless be willing to propagate them to other men and to that end render the blemishes of others as visible as he can But this betraies a degenerous spirit which from a consciousness that he wants solid worth on which to bottom a reputation is fain to found it on the ruines of other mens The true Diamond sparkles even in the Sun-shine 't is but a glow-worm virtue that ows its lustre to the darkness about it 10. ANOTHER promter to Detraction is Envy which sometimes is particular sometimes general He that has a pique to another would have him as hateful to all man-kind as he is to him and therefore as he grieves and repines at any thing that may advance his estimation so he exults and triumphs when any thing occurs which may depress it and is usually very industrious to improve the opportunity nay has a strange sagacity it hunting it out No vultur does more quickly scent a carcass then an envious person does those dead flies which corrupt his Neighbors ointment Ecclesiast 10.1 the vapor whereof his h●●e like a strong wind scatters and disperses far and near Nor needs he any great crime to practice on every little infirmity or passion look'd on thro his Optics appears a mountainous guilt He can improve the least speck or freckle into a Leprosy which shall overspread the whole man and a cloud no bigger then a mans hand like that of Elisha 1 Kings 18.44 may in an instant with the help of prejudice grow to the utter darkning of the brightest reputation and fill the whole Horizon with tempest and horror Somtimes this