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	think_v	4,338	5	3.9369	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38645	Essayes upon several subjects not unworthy consideration in these times communicated by letters to private friends and at their request to the publick.		1651 (1651)	Wing E3303; ESTC R214416	20,887	42

deserve a better censure then the truth which others utter in proud and contemptuous language At least let us avoid all names of faction especially that odious name of Heretick which seems to declare an open war to those wee fixe that brand upon and alarums all their force to retort that dart upon the face of those that first cast it Thus pursuing the truth in love wee shall more easily convince the gainsayers then by all the anathema's and fulminations that are usually darted out upon them and if we cannot be so happy as hereby to convince the Papists and other declared enemies of our Church and State we shall at least by this our union prevent their designes and obtain that peace which we have so long expected and is most earnestly desired by SIR Your ESSAY V. SIR IT is no unusuall thing for those to complain of the times of whom the times have most just occasion to complain We cry out against those distempers which wee our selves have caus'd and doe much wonder that the times are so bad when we see men daily grow worse If this present age had brought forth no new monsters of iniquity of which it is too frutfull the acting over anew the transgressions of the former though under better names but many times in a worse manner might justly cause us to apprehend that the dregs of that cup of vengeance which hath already been poured out upon us are yet behind Amongst other synptoms of future calamity there is none seems to pretend more disaster then that emulation and hatred which yet reigns amongst all parties whilst many account their private envy part of the publick good and think they never prosecute Gods cause better then when they persecute each other So full are most of themselves that they are empty of all charity to others and think they never approach God neerer then when they keep their Brethren at the greatest distance Many are like him that would measure all his guests by himself and if they exceeded in stature would cut them shorter if they were lesse would stretch them upon the Tenters We are no lesse tyrannicall to mens opinions then he was to their persons wee arreign them all at the bar of our own judgments and passe a finall condemnation upon them according to the bare verdict of our own fancies Al is terra incognita that lies beyond the line of our discovery and whoever lives not in all points as we doe must bee accounted no lesse then a Barbarian If others vertues seem to outshine ours we endeavour by all means to obscure them and if their candle burns dimmer wee are not content till wee have quite put out their light What the Heathens were wont to say heretofore of the Christians See how they love each other most that passe for Christians may now more truly say of many of the Heathens in comparison of themselves How sweet is revenge to some mens taste how ingenuously wicked are they appearing then well-affected even when they are most malicious and thinking their particular condition too mean to repay their private grudges adventure to put them upon the publike score The diseases of this kind that reign among us wee may rather suspect to have been caused then ever hope to bee cured by the receipts of Machiavel his Divide impera as if the Kingdoms of this world were to be maintained as the Devill doth his by strife and division seems to weigh more in our practise then that of our Lord and Master which he makes the badge of his Disciples to love one another If we desire then truly to approve our selves to be Christians and we should be very angry at any that would censure us for other let us devest our selves of malice and detraction and put on the garment of charity which will cover the nakednesse of our former actions and make us comely in the eys of God and man What can we see in our selves that we should so much admire or in others that we should so much blame the best of men if we look upon the worst of their actions will appear something menstruous and the worst of men for ought we know are not so bad but they are stil capable of Gods grace and may be better by our loving assistance Where the Spirit of God reigns there is love and peace he descends in the shape of the Dove not of the Vulture and where his grace dwells it is most diffusive if it be not like that stone which converts all to gold we may be assured nothing shal bee defiled by its touch True Religion makes men more charitable not more censorious it confines not the free grace of God to any particular persons or factions nor endeavours to impale that Spirit in any one orbe or circuit that blowes where it listeth If we are commanded to love our enemies I know not any that we are permitted to hate And certainly love is the most noble revenge we can take even of our enemies By retaliation of wrongs we can but be their equalls in this we are stil their superiours and may hope not only to conquer but to indear them to us at last Nor is there any way so safe as this we have the security of heaven engaged for our protection and if we can but bring our spirits to this temper may bee assured that Gods angels wil pitch their tents about us And thus passing an Act of oblivion in our own brests for all the injuries we have received from others and overcoming of evil with good we shall make both our selves and others much better and with our own peace procure at least as much as in us lies the generall peace of the nation the establishment whereof he most zealously affects that is Sir Your ESSAY VI SIR IF custome did not pass for a law the lawes against many abused customes would more easily passe Those errors which can plead prescription are hardly reformed nor must we think a short time sufficient to remove the vices which have continued for many ages I doe not so much wonder at those who contend for the observation of Christmasse as we commonly call it and other usuall Festivalls as at their quicknesse that would blow them away with one breath Nature never introduceth the form but shee first prepares the matter If the minds of men were sufficiently molded for better impressions it would bee more easy to take away the old leaven but wee must expect to have that done by degrees when it shall please God by the gentle breathings of his Spirit to blow away that animosity and bitternesse which yet reigns in mens minds When the Athenian Law-giver was asked whether hee had given them the best laws he answered the best of those they were capable of And it was objected to Cato himself that he did many times more hurt then good by speaking in the Senate as if he had been rather in an imaginary Platonick

may contemn it 't is only a punishment to them that apprehend it so and desire to be reconciled the concomitants or consequence thereof as depriving men of their civill interest or liberty upon it is meerly Politick Nor is it conceived to bee of that necessity or use but in some cases it may and ought to be forborn We may aswell be too severe as too remiss and by pleading too much for the exactness of discipline endanger the doctrine of the Church If by our meekness we cannot gain those that are contrary minded we ought with patience to endure them with fervency to pray for them till it shall please God either to reform or remove them Which we shal the more easily be perswaded to if we consider that many are saints in Gods Kalendar that are not so in ours many fall into enormous sins that are as angry with themselves for it as we can be whose vertues though we observe nothing but their imperfections doe much preponderate their vices and it may be our graces too What though the tares grow in Christs field and impure vessels be seen in his Temple let us endeavour to 〈◊〉 our selves as pure as silver refined and to 〈◊〉 as the wheat which hee will gather into his Gar●e● All things are pure to the pure a pious conscience is not polluted by the impiety of others nor are the holy mysteries defiled because wicked men approach them with unwashen hands Hee that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself not mee Thus wee see the Pastors office in all its parts is onely Ministeriall it contains nothing of Magisteriall power or force it governs only by serving and commands by perswading All the Jurisdiction it can claim is in the hearts and spirits of men by that Word which is powerfull and mighty through God for the breaking down of the strong holds of sin only and for the bringing into captivity every proud and rebellious thought And whilst Ministers shall make it their only duty to divide the Word aright without seeking to divide the power any longer with the Magistrate the people wil more easily learn their duty and respect to both and that threefold cord of mutuall love betwixt the Christian Magistrate Minister and people will be better twisted and a due Harmony amongst all the parts and members both of Church and State sweetly preserved Which God Almighty grant ESSAY II. SIR SInce you are pleased to command my opinion concerning the lawfulnesse of entring into the present Engagement and how far I have satisfied my self therein I shall presume to impart to you my thoughts with all freedome I must confesse I have endeavoured as I doubt not you have done the best I could to inform my self from what I could recover in print upon this subject but what I have yet met with seems to contain so much of prejudice and pre-engagement otherwise that I am almost resolved to seek no further resolution thence being loth in the least manner to subject my conscience to the passion or interest of others And first I cannot but sadly reflect upon the condition of the times wherein we live when the foundations are thus removed who knows what he may righteously doe But since God hath reserved us for these times wee cannot do better then to inform our judgments so as to prepare our minds to passe through them with the greatest content to our selves and advantage to others that we can and to take heed lest avoiding the plausible complyance of most in application to the present powers let their commands be what they will wee bee not too passionate on the other hand in forestalling our judgments from that impartiall deliberate debate we ought to make within our selves in things of such consequence We are not in the place of God to dispose of the events of affairs and since things are fallen out so contrary to our expectation and possibly endeavours too wee ought to consider rather what may concern us in this present juncture of affairs then what may seem to be required of us as to former relations which possibly upon due examination may seem expired At the beginning of our troubles we know what appeals were made by King and Parliament both to God and the People and the sword being laid hold on to decide the controversie many good men were at a stand what to doe who certainly if they had been left to themselves being not convinced of the necessity the Parliament then had to defend themselves by force would have desired what many now doe to have sate still but the dispute grew so high that all of considerable interests were involved with the one party or the other and the principles of government being divided amongst themselves for so they appeared to all unlesse to such as would have or endeavoured to make the Monarchy absolute every man seemed let loose to follow that side which he conceived to be most just And when it was expected the Kings party having lost all their force but little of their affections to maintain their cause that an accommodation should be made with the King we know what was first attempted against the Army who whether they might think their service too great to bee requited by the Parliament I know not sure I am the Parliament then seemed more willing to be rid of their Benefactors then to acknowledge the great benefit they had done them and in a short time the jealousies grew so high and the apprehensions of the Army so strong that the end of their disbanding was to bee the beginning of their ruine and with them as they imagined if not of the greatest yet of the best part of the Nation and possibly of those too who were the forwardest to effect it that they resolved to make use of that power God had put into their hands and that the present necessity wherein they and their friends were involved did call upon them to join themselves with those of the Parliament whom they accounted truest to their trust though the major part opposed them that they might thereby hinder the conjunction intended with the King consequently with his party which was laid hold on by many in hope thereby to make way for their own honour and preferment and the ruin of the Army and their Abetters This consideration seemed then so important that to preserve the form and being of the Common-wealth there was need of stronger physick then the usuall formalities observed in other cases would admit and that if the Elements did change their place to avoid vacuity which would cause a destruction in nature they thought the Laws of civill affairs might admit of some dispensation and though the attempting what they did might seem to crosse some particular constitutions yet 't was hoped it would bee lookt upon by all indifferent wise men as corresponding to the generall and ultimate end of all forms and constitutions of