Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	see_v	time_n	5,907	5	3.3926	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12787	Three proper, and wittie, familiar letters: lately passed betvveene tvvo vniuersitie men: touching the earthquake in Aprill last, and our English refourmed versifying With the preface of a wellwiller to them both.	Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599.; Harvey, Gabriel, 1550?-1631. aut	1580 (1580)	STC 23095; ESTC S111268	38,417	65

all these secondarie inferiour thinges the foure Elementes all sensible and vnsensible reasonable and vnreasonable Creatures the whole worlde and what soeuer is contayned in the Compas of the worlde being the workmanship of his owne hands and as they call them Natura naturata euer pliable and flexible Instrumentes at his Commaundement to put in execution such Effectes either ordinarie or extraordinarie as shall séeme most requisite to his eternall Prouidence and now in these latter dayes very seldome or in manner neuer worketh any thing so myraculously and extraordinarily but it may sensibly appeare he vseth the seruice and Ministerie of his Creatures in the atchóeuing thereof I denie not but Earthquakes as well as many other fearefull Accidentes in the same Number are terrible signes and as it were certaine manacing forerunners and forewarners of the great latter day and therefore out of controuersie the more reuerendly to be considered vppon and I acknowledge considering the Euentes and sequeles according to the collectiō and discourse of mans Reason they haue séemed to Prognosticate and threaten to this and that Citie vtter ruyne and destruction to such a Country a generall plague and pestilence to an other place the death of some mightie Potentate or great Prince to some other Realme or Kingdome some cruell imminent warres and sundry the like dreadfull and particular Incidentes as is notoriously euident by many olde and newe very famous and notable Histories to that effect Which of all other the auncient Romaines long before the Natiuitie of Christ did most religiously or rather superstitiously obserue not without a number of solemne Ceremonies and Hollydayes for the nonce euer after any Earthquake making full account of some such great rufull casualtie or other as otherwhyles fell out in very déede and namely as I remember the yeare Ante bellum Sociale which was one of the lamentablest and myserablest warres that Italy euer sawe and Plinie or I knowe not well who hath such a saying Roma nunquam tremuit vt non futurus aliquis portenderetur insignis Euentus But yet notwithstanding dare not I aforehand presume thus farre or arrogate so much vnto my selfe as to determine precisely and peremptorily of this or euery the like singular Earthquake to be necessarily and vndoubtedly a sup●rnaturall and immediate fatall Action of God for this or that singular intent when as I am sure there may be a sufficient Naturall eyther necessarie or contingent Cause in the very Earth it selfe and there is no question but the selfe same Operation in Genere or in specie may at one tyme procéeding of one Cause and referred to one End be preternaturall or supernaturall at another tyme procéeding of an other or the same Cause and referred to an other End but Ordinarie and Naturall To make shorte I cannot sée and would gladly learne howe a man on Earth should be of so great authoritie and so familiar acquaintance with God in Heauen vnlesse haply for the nonce he hath lately intertained some few choice singular ones of his priuie Counsell as to be able in such specialties without any iustifyable certificate or warrant to reueale hys incomprehensible mysteries and definitiuely to giue ●entence of his Maiesties secret and inscrutable purposes As if they had a key for all the lockes in Heauen or as if it were as cleare and resolute a case as the Eclipse of the Sunne that darkened all the Earth or at the least all the Earth in those Countries at Christes Passion happening altogether prodigiously and Metaphysically in Plenilunio not according to the perpetuall course of Nature in Nouilunio in so much that Dionisius Areopagita or some other graunde Philosopher vpon the suddayne contemplation thereof is reported in a certaine Patheticall Ecstasie to haue cryed out Aut rerum Natura patitur aut Mundi machina destruetur as my minde giueth me some of the simpler and vnskilfuller sort will goe nye to doe vpon the present sight and agony of this Earthquake Marry the Errour I graunt is the more tollerable though perhappes it be otherwhiles and why not euen nowe a very presumptuous Errour in déede standing only vpon these two weake and deceitfull groundes Credulitie and Ignoraunce if so be inwardly not onely in Externall shewe after an Hypocriticall and Pharisaicall manner it certainly doo vs good for our reformation and amendment and séeme to preach● vnto vs Paenitentiam agite as in some respect euery suche straunge and rare Accident may séeme how Ordinarie and Naturall so euer the Cause shall appeare otherwise to the best learned especially as the Earthquake shall be knowne to endure a longer or a shorter Tyme or to be more or lesse generall in more or fewer places Which two differences touching the quantitie of Tyme and Place after I had a little more fully prosecuted alledging certaine particuler Examples thereof howe in some places huge Castels in some Townes in some great and mightie Cities in some Shires and Seigniories and Prouinces in some whole Countryes and Regions haue béen perillously mooued and shaken therewith in one place a long time together in an other place not so long or at seuerall and parted times in another very short as● God be thanked here euen nowe and finally by the way shewing a thirde and most notable difference of all as well for the present or imminent terrour and daunger as otherwise by the sundry species and formes which Aristotle Plinie and other Meteorologicians haue set downe of Experience as they haue heard or read or séen the earth to quake to sturre and hoyse vp Houses Walles Towers Castelles Churches Minsters whole Townes whole Cities whole Prouinces without farther harme to ruinate and ouerthrowe and destroy some to yawne and gape and open lyke a graue and cons●quently to swallow vp and deuour other and sometime also to drinke vp whole riuers and mightie bigge running waters withall or to chaunge and alter their common woonted course some other way to sinke and fall downewardes to cast out and vomitte vp either huge vaste heapes as it were Mountaines of Earth or large Ilandes in the mayne Sea neuer remembred or séen before or great ouer flowing waters and fountaynes or hotte scalding sulphurous lakes or burning sparkles and flames of fire to make a horrible hissing gnashing ratling or some like woonderfull straunge noyse which all Effectes are credibly reported and constantly auouched of our most famous best allowed Philosophers a fewe such particularities and distinctions compendiously and familiarly coursed ouer The good Gentleman gaue me hartily as appeared very great thankes and tolde me plainly he neuer either read or heard halfe so much of Earthquakes before confessing withall that he yéelded resolutely to my opinion that an Earthquake might as well be supposed a Naturall Motion of the Earth as a preternaturall or supernaturall ominous worke of God and that he thought it hard and almost impossible for any man either by Philosophie or Diuinitie euermore to determine flatly the very

certaintie either way Which also in conclusion was the verdit and finall resolution of the greater and sager part of the Gentlemen present namely of an auncient learned common Lawyer that had béen Graduate and fellow of a Colledge in Cambridge in Quéene Mari●s dayes Who tooke vpon him to knit vp the matter as he said determine the controuersie with the authoritie of all the naturall Philosophers old or newe Heathen or Christian Catholique or Protestant that euer he read or heard tell of Th●re Physickes quoth he are in euery mans hands they are olde enoug● to speake for them selues and wée are young enough to turne our Bookes They that haue Eyes and Tongues let them sée and reade But what say you nowe quoth I to the staying and quieting of the Earthe béeing once a moouing May it not séeme a more myraculous woorke and greater woonderment that it shoulde so suddainely staye againe being mooued than that it shoulde so suddainely mooue beyng quiet and still Mooue or turne or shake me a thing in lyke order be it neuer so small and lesse than a pynnes Head in comparison of the great mightie circuite of the Earth and sée if you shall not haue much more a doo to staye it presently béeing once sturred than to stu●re it at the very first Whereat the Gentleman smyling and looking merrily on the Gentlewoomen héere is a schoole poynt quoth he that by your leaues I beléeue will poase the better scholler of you both But is it not more than tyme thynke ye wée were at Supper And if you be a hungered Maister H. you shall thanke no body but your selfe that haue holden vs so long with your profounde and clerkly discourses whereas our manner is to suppe at the least a long howre before this tyme. Beyng set and newe occasion of spéeche ministered our Supper put the Earthquake in manner out of our myndes or at the least wise out of our Tongues sauing that the Gentlewoomen nowe and then pleasauntly tyhyhing betweene them selues especially Mystresse Inquisitiua whose minde did still runne of the drinking and Néesing of the Earth repeated here and there a broken péece of that which had béen already sayde before Supper With déepe iudgement no doubt and to maruellous great purpose I warrant you a●ter the manner of woomen Philosophers and Diuines And this summarily in Effect was our yesternyghtes graue Meteorologicall Conference touching our Earthquake here in the Country which being in so many neighbour Townes and Uillages about vs as I heare say of this morning maketh me presuppose the like was wyth you also at London and elsewhere farther ●f And then forsoothe must I desire Maister Immerito to send me within a wéeke or two some odde fresh paulting thréehalfepennie Pamphlet for newes or some Balductum Tragicall Ballet in Ryme and without Reason setting out the right myserable and most wo●ull estate of the wicked and damnable worlde at these perillous dayes after the deuisers best manner or whatsoeuer else shall first take some of your braue London Eldertons in the Head In earnest I could wishe some learned and well aduized Uniuersitie man woulde vndertake the matter and bestow some paynes in déede vppon so famous and materiall an argument The generall Nature of Earthquakes by definition and the speciall diuersitie of them by diuision beyng perfectly knowen a thing soone done and a complete Induction of many credible and autenticall both olde and newe diuine and prophane Gréeke Lattine and other Examples with discretion and iudgement compyled and compared togither being considerately and exactly made a thing not so easily done much no doubt myght be alledged too or fro to terrifie or pacifie vs more or lesse If it appeare by generall Experience and the foresayde Historicall Induction of particulars that Earthquakes sine omni exceptione are ominous and significatiue Effectes as they saye of Comets and carrie euer some Tragicall and horrible matter with or after them as eyther destruction of Townes and Cities or decay of some mightie Prince or some particular or generall plague warre or the lyke vt supra whatsoeuer the Materiall or Formall cause be Natural or supernaturall howbeit for myne owne part I am resolued as wel for the one as for the other that these two I speake of both Matter and Fourme are rather Naturall in both than otherwise it concerneth vs vpon the vewe of so Effectuall and substaunciall euidence to conceiue seriously and reuerently of the other two Causes the first supreme Efficient whose Omnipotent Maiestie hath nature self and all naturall Creatures at commaundement and the last finall which we are to iudge of as aduisedly and prouidently as possibly we can by the consideration comparison of Circumstances the tyme when the place where the qualities and dispositions of the persons amongst whom such and such an Ominous token is giuen Least happily through ouer great credulitie and rashnesse we mistake Non causam pro causa and sophistically be entrapped Elencho Finiū Truely I suppose he had néede be an excellent Philosopher a reasonable good Historian a learned Diuine a wise discrete man and generally such a one as our Doctor Still Doctor Byng are in Cambridge that shoulde shew himselfe accordingly in this argument and to the iudgement and contentation of the wisest perfourme it exactly My selfe remember nothing to the contrarie either in Philosophie or in Histories or in Diuinitie either why I may not safely lawfully subscribe to the iudgement of the noble Italian Philosopher and most famous learned Gentleman whilest he liued Lord of Mirandola and Erle of Concordia Counte Ioannes Franciscus Picus in my opinion very considerately and partly Philosophically partly Theologically set downe in the sixt Chapter of his sixt Booke against Cogging deceitfull Astrologers and Southsayers De rerum Praenotione pro veritate Relligionis contra Superstitiosas vanitates In which Chapter if happely you haue not read it already you shall finde m●ny but specially these thrée notable places most effectuall and directly pertinent to the very purpose The first more vniuersal● Naturae opere fieri non potest vt Ostentis vt Monstris magni illi seu dextri seu sinistri euentus portendantur ab aliqua pendeant proxima causa quae futura etiam proferat Impostura Daemonum vt id fiat videri potest Sed plaeraque non monstrosa non prodigiosa per se●e pro monstri● tamen portentis haberi possunt solent à quibusdam quibus Rerum Natura non satis comperta est causarum enim ignoratio noua in re Admirationem parit Propter quam philosophari homines capisse in exordys primae philosophiae scribit Aristoteles Wherein those two seuerall points Impostura Daemonum and Ignoratio causaerum are no doubt maruellous probable and moste worthy bothe presentlye to bée noted nowe and more fully to be discussed hereafter appearing vnto me the verie right principall Causes of so manye erroneous opinions and fantasticall