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	king_n	lord_n	4,716	5	3.8323	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49471	A sermon preached before the King at White-Hall, March 18, 1665/6 by ... B. Lord Bishop of Lincoln.	Laney, Benjamin, 1591-1675.	1666 (1666)	Wing L349; ESTC R6221	15,643	38

A SERMON Preached before the KING At White-Hall March 18. 1665 6. By the Right Reverend Father in God B. Lord Bishop of Lincoln Published by His Majesties Special Command C R London Printed for Timothy Garthwait 1666. 1 Thess 4. Ver. II. And to do your own business THE whole Verse whereof these words are a part is an Exhortation to the study of Two Lessons One for Quiet the other for Business That ye study to be quiet and to do your own business Of the former the last time I had the honor to be called to this Service we treated particularly and it was a point well worthy our care and study But the Lesson we are now to learn seems not much to deserve or need it I have not I confess sought far for a Text but took that which came next to hand Nor doth the Text put you to seek far what you are to do It is but your own business In both respects it may be thought unfit for this Audience which is not of that quality to be entertained with no better Provision than what comes next to hand and especially if that should prove plain and homely as this is To do our own business and as it follows To work with our own hands This is but a kind of Mechanical Doctrine and what should that do here in Court Not to leave my self and the Text under this prejudice That I sought no farther for it was not of easiness or neglect but Choice Because I found it not only in conjunction and company with the excellent Study of Quiet to which any kind of retainer at large might deserve respect but also Because I saw it set by the Apostle in a place of near and intimate relation a Principle and Foundation to it The next way to be quiet abroad is to be busie at home And though it be but plain Doctrine 't is never the worse for that use for Foundations are best when plainest It is noted as a cause why men make little proficiency in Arts and Sciences that the Principles and Elements are not so well studied as they should be And the reason why they fall under that neglect is Because none of the great things which the Art it self promises are seen in the Principles at first And therefore Quintilian that the Schollars of his Art might not be discouraged with the meanness of his First Elements tells them that Latent Fundamenta conspiciuntur aedificia there is little to be seen in the Foundation that lies hid under ground all the beauty and luster is in the Superstruction This doing our own business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a practical principle whereupon depends much of the business of our whole lives and so hath the fate of other foundations to be little seen and regarded It lies low under ground and we overlook it as a thing not worthy any mans thought or care But to give it the due we must not look upon what it is in Sight but what it is in vertue a Principle and Foundation whereupon is built that which is the desire of all good men the publike peace and quiet of the Church and Kingdom And then we may allow it to be good Doctrine which hath so good a Use It is a good tree that brings forth good fruit But then you will say It must be in season too Now the wise man tells us There is a time for war as well as a time for peace Eccles 3.9 And can it then be seasonable again and again thus to importune the study of such things as make for peace at a time when we are all and have cause to be in preparation for war Indeed if it were such a peace as would weaken the hands of any in the pursuit of that Just Necessary and Royal Expedition it were a most unseasonable Solecism But we must know As there is a War that makes for Peace so there is a Peace that makes for War Unity among our selves binds us close together we are the stronger for it Vis unita fortior in divisions and discord strength is distracted and scattered Dum singuli pugnant omnes vincuntur Domestick Peace then though it comes not out of the Artillery is good Amunition for Warr And it falls in well too with the express Letter and Doctrine of the Text It is our own business As it is the proper business of a King to protect His Subjects from the Insolencies and Injuries of proud insulting Neighbours so it is the business of every good Subject too to assist Him in it with their Lives and Fortunes Whether therefore we seek for Peace at home or have cause of War abroad the duty of the Text is for us We are doing our own business But though it be a good Foundation to build on every way yet except the Lord build the house their labour is but lost that build Let us therefore before we go farther in the work go to him for a blessing upon it c. That ye study to do your own business I Take in the word study being forc'd by the necessary construction of Grammar and Reason For an object without an act imports nothing to do our own business may be as well a fault as a duty but if study be taken in the sense is certain and perfect it is that wherein we shall do well to imploy our study As we are to study to be quiet so we are to study also to do our own business The words will bear two senses as there are two sorts of offenders about business nihil agentes and aliud agentes And in the words of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the idle that work not at all and the busie-bodies 2 Thes 3.11 so we translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Text will reach them both for either it sets every one awork to find himself some business or it restrains and confines him to that which is his own The former against Idleness is a good lesson that to awaken the lazy sluggard out of his dead sleep for they are as St. Paul speaks of his idle wanton widows dead while they live 1 Tim. 5.6 There is no more life in an idle man then in an Idol-god that hath eyes and see not ears and hear not but the other sense seems to agree better with the scope of the place and will afford work enough for this time the Apostle seems to have observed some among them too much busied in matters that brought trouble and disquiet to themselves and others for remedie whereof he enjoins them to look to their own business But how their own For it may be a fault and a great one too so to do our own business as not to regard what becomes of others that if our own turns be serv'd and we get no matter who loses This is deservedly forbidden by our Apostle himself to the Philippians chap. 2. ver 4.