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	know_v	think_v	3,328	5	3.8263	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20858	The considerations of Drexelius upon eternitie translated by Ralph Winterton ...; De aeternitate considerationes. English. 1636	Drexel, Jeremias, 1581-1638.; Winterton, Ralph, 1600-1636.	1636 (1636)	STC 7236; ESTC S784	128,073	396

sinne in his very bosome Sudden deaths are very common and ordinary amongst us How many have we heard of that went to bed well over night for ought any man could tell and were found dead in the morning I will not say carried away out of their beds and cast into Hell-fire whether it be so or no God knows Have we not seen and known some that have been suddenly struck fallen sick and died in the space of an houre Within an houre yea lesse then an houre sound and sick quick and dead And yet do we rash and foolish men procrastinate it from day to day that is nothing from yeare to yeare do we deferre our Repentance and the amendment of our lives and death mean time unexpected seiseth upon us and delivers us up unto Eternitie Saint Augustine correcting in himself such lingring and dangerous delay such lentitude and backwardnesse of minde and will to repent said thus I felt and found how I was held intangled and I ●ttered such lamentable complaints as these Quamdiu quamdiu Cras ● Cras quare non hac hora finis turpitudinis meae How long shall I deferre and still cry Tomorrow Tomorrow Why do I not now begin even this very present houre why do I not break off my sinfull course and begin to live better Thus I spake and fell a weeping for very contrition of heart Antonie the Great as Sain Hierom witnesseth when he used exhortations to the people to stirre them up to godlinesse and vertue was wont to wish them alwayes to keep in minde and often meditate upon that saying of the Apostle Sol non occidat super iracundia● vestram Let not the Sunne go down upon your wrath And this prohibition he did not restrain to wrath onely but made it generall Let not the Sunne go down upon your wrath hatred malice envie lust or any other sinne lest it depart from you as a witnesse again you John Patriarch of Alexandri had a certain controversie with on Nicetas a chief man of that city The matter was to be tryed at law John was for the poore Nicetas for his money But for peace sake there was a private meeting and hearing appointed to see if they could come to some composition and agreement They met they fell to words they were hot at it a great deal of choler and stomack was shown on both parts neither would yeeld a jot neither would depart an inch from his right A great conflict there was between them many houres spent to little purpose they were further off from agreement at length then before for neither would yeeld to conditions propounded by either well it grew late they departed more offended and displeased one with another then before and so left the suit pendent Nicetas thought it a hard case to part with his money and the Patriarch seemed to be in the right and to stand out in the cause of God and the poore But yet when Nicetas was gone the good Bishop weighed the matter better with himself and condemned himself for his pertinacie and though he was in a good cause and knew it also yet said Can I think that God will be well pleased with this implacable wrath and wilfull stubbornnes●e The night draws on And shall I suffer the sunne to go down upon my wrath That is impious and not according to the counsell of the Apostle So the good Prelate could not be at rest till he had sent unto Nicetas For he out of hand sent messengers of good esteem and gave them this charge that they should say no more to him but onely this Domine Sol ad occas●m est that is Sir The sunne is going down Upon the hearing of which message there was such a sudden alteration wrought in Nicetas that his high stomac● came down presently he began to melt his eyes did stand fu● swoln with tears and he ha● much ado to keep them in Ou● of doores he ran presently after the messengers for he made haste to speak with the Patriarch an● coming to him in humble manner saluted him thus Holy Father I will be ruled by you in this or in any other matter Whereupon the Patriarch made him very welcome So they embraced each other very lovingly and became good friends Great surely was the vertue and speedie was the operation of these few words The sunne is going down For presently upon the hearing thereof a peace was concluded betwixt them which was sought for before with multitude of words but could not be effected So do thou whosoever thou art that knowest thy self guilty of any grievous sinne if not before towards the evening at least call to minde those operative words The Sunne is going down For what knowest thou whether thou shalt rise again with the Sunne or no And if thou diest in the night without Repentance it is a question in which Eternitie thou shalt have thy part whether of the blessed or of the cursed Wherefore do what thou hast to do quickly The Sunne is going down But have a care it go not down upon thy lust or luxurie envie or blasphemie detraction or theft or upon any other grievous sinne unrepented of Good God! what a thing is this If there be but a stain in a garment a spot in the face a blot in a cap we presently use some means to take it out or wash it off Are these such eye-sores to us and yet are we so blinde within that we cannot see our manifold corruptions and pollutions or do we see and suffer them can we suffer them and not be troubled at them are we troubled and yet seek no means to expiate and purge them out When we are polluted at any time with the stain of sinne we should labour presently to take it out The sooner it is done the better and the easier it is Therefore saith Saint Ambrose We ought to be carefull to repent but that is not all Our repentance must be also speedy for fear lest the heavenly husbandman in the Gospell that planted a figge-tree in his vineyard come and seek for fruit and finding none say unto the dresser of his vineyard Cut it down If the sentence be once past there is no avoiding the fatall blow Down it must If therefore we finde our selves once wounded with sinne let us look for help in time The brute beasts which have no understanding will teach us so much providence The Harts of Candie or Creet assoon as they are struck runne presently to their Dictamnum or Dittanie The swallows to cure the blindnesse of their young ones eyes flie to fetch their Chelidonium or Celandine The Dog when he is sick makes haste to his Grasse to give him a vomit The Toad fighting with the Spider assoon as she feels her self begin to swell crawls to her Plantain and so is recovered These by a naturall instinct know their own proper medicines and upon all occasions presently make recourse unto them But we

were so called for not sleeping because they were never all at once to sleep but still to be exercised in their course night and day in singing praises unto God These Acoemets were divided after this manner into three companies so that when the first company had made an end of singing divine praises the second should begin and when the second had made an end the third should begin By means of this godly institution the citie had in some sort heaven within it self alwayes sounding with the praise of God or at lest a type or representation of the Eternitie in heaven where God shall be praised for all Eternitie with great delight and cheerfulnesse and without all wearinesse Therefore hath the Psalmist good cause to crie out Blessed are they which dwell in thy House they will still be praising thee Then shall all the blessed say as Peter did upon the mountain It is good for us to be here For as S. Bernard speaketh Eternitie is true riches without measure but he addes this withall It is not found unlesse it be sought with perseverance But how shall we so seek that we may obtain it Heare what the good Father saith By povertie by meeknesse and by teares there is renewed in the soul the stamp and image of Eternitie which comprehendeth all times First povertie is the way to Eternitie Blessed are the poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of heaven Where poore men are despised and forsaken there is the heart and the money locked up together in the chest Where money is expended according to the rules of Avarice there is no affect or love of povertie there is no desire or love of Eternitie Secondly meeknesse By meeknesse we make our selves secure of things present and have an assurance of things to come Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth If any man ask What shall we say of him that is void of meeknesse and patience that can scarce at any time speak a milde word What gains he by his implacable impatience What doth it profit him to rage and fret with indignation to make outcries and tumults to shew his will to do mischief though he cannot effect what he would or to conclude to salute no man civilly as if he were an enemie to all humanitie and affabilitie What shall we say of such a man If there be any such he is sure to suffer losse of goods or good name or both for the riches which he hath he possesseth not but keeps them like a dog whose propertie is to bark at a man to flie upon him and to bite him As for his good name if he have any he shall not augment it by the title of impatience and as for heaven he loseth that before he hath taken possession of it Thirdly Teares For by weeping and mourning we redeem the time past we recover what we prodigally spent by sinning But this mourning and sorrow must not last for an houre onely or for a day for this is nothing else but to do as he did who at his mothers death put on mourning clothes forced for the present a few teares and so went along after the beare and left her not till he saw her buried but the same day or the next day after wiped away all teares from his eyes changed his weeping into laughing cast off his mourning clothes and put on colours This is not to mourn in good earnest to make an end of mourning so suddenly But this we do alas too often To day we make publike confession of our sinnes to God and heare absolution we repent us of our sinnes and receive the holy communion and within a day after we sinne again with delight and without fear and oftentimes more grievously then before We detest for the present the wicked course of our life past and we return again to the same passe We forswear the sinnes which we formerly committed and again the same day we commit the same So with the same tongue we proclaim Christ innocent and crucifie him afresh as if we were the t●ue brothers of Pontius Pilate who with one and the same mouth did both absolve him and condemne him confessing that he found no cause of death in him and yet adjudging him to be crucified We are very fickle and inconstant but in nothing more constant then in the repetition of a vicious course of life Alas alas we carrie too much of the Moon that is inconstancie in our breast Sometimes we are so zealous and so holy that we will not admit of a cheerfull countenance for fear lest it should hinder our sanctitie and devotion we look demurely casting our eyes down to the ground and knit the brows as being angry with our selves when we finde in our selves the least remissenesse or coldnesse in holy duties But this sanctitie and devotion doth never continue long After a while we begin to hate even pietie it self and the stream being turned we turn again to our former riot and intemperance and we are as ready to dissolve the knot of friendship made betwixt God and us as at the first we were unwilling to have it knit At length Pietie attended with sorrow and repentance presents her self again unto us and puts to flight lasciviousnesse untill the time comes that we begin to repent us of our repentance So we seldome continue long in any honest and godly course for it seems unto us too laborious and at every light beck we row down the stream of our former uncleannesse Such is the inconstancie of our life that it presents unto our mindes all sorts of pleasures and vices We make an outward shew of adoring vertue but in heart and minde we fall down and worship vice a most laborious kinde of service This is not the way unto Eternitie unlesse it be of punishment and torments which shall have no end Let us single out one Christian man of many and such a one especially as is most addicted to his pleasure let us carrie him along with us to the mouth of a furnace red hot and flaming and then let us begin to question him after this manner How much pleasure wouldst thou ask to continue burning in this furnace for one day He will answer to this undoubtedly I would not be tormented in these flames for one day to gain the whole world and all the pleasures in the world But let us propound another condition unto him What reward wouldst thou ask to endure this fire onely for half a day Propound what reward you will there is nothing so delicate so precious so deare unto me which I would be willing to buy at so deare a price as these torments But to trie once more What reward and pleasure wouldst thou ask to go into this furnace and to stay there but one houre His answer certainly will be this Let the most covetous and impudent man in the world ask what he can that is not to