Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	natural_a	nature_n	power_n	3,458	5	5.3714	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01185	The vvisedome of the ancients, written in Latine by the Right Honourable Sir Francis Bacon Knight, Baron of Verulam, and Lord Chancelor or England. Done into English by Sir Arthur Gorges Knight; De sapientia veterum. English	Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626.; Gorges, Arthur, Sir, 1557?-1625.	1619 (1619)	STC 1130; ESTC S100339	47,646	172

that hee came of an Egge which was laid by Nox and that on Chaos hee begot the Gods and all things els There are fower things attributed vnto him perpetuall infancy blindnes nakednes and an Archery There was also another Loue which was the yongest of the Gods and he they say was the Sonne of Venus On this also they bestowe the attributes of the elder Loue as in some sort well applie vnto him This Fable tends and lookes to the Cradle of Nature Loue seeming to bee the appetite or desire of the first matter or to speake more plaine the naturall motion of the Atome which is that ancient and onely power that formes and fashions all things out of Matter of which there is no Parent that is to say no cause seeing euery cause is as a parent to its effect Of this power or vertue there can bee no cause in Nature as for God we alwaies except him for nothing was before it and therefore no efficient cause of it Neither was there any thing better knowen to nature and therefore neither Genus nor Forme Wherefore whatsoeuer it is positiue it is and but inexpressible Moreouer if the manner and proceeding of it were to be conceiued yet could it not bee by any cause seeing that next vnto God it is the cause of causes it selfe onely without any cause And perchance there is no likely hood that the manner of it may bee conteined or comprehended within the narrow compasse of humane search Not without reason therefore is it fained to come of an Egge which was layed by Nox Certenly the diuine Philosopher grants so much Eccl. 3. 11. Cuncta fecit tempestatibus suis pulchra mundum tradidit disputationibus eorum it a tamen vt non inueniat homo opus quod operatus est Deus a principio ad finem That is he hath made euery thing beautifull in their seasons also he hath set the world in their meditations yet cannot man find out the worke that God hath wrought from the beginning euen to the end For the principall law of Nature or power of this desire created by God in these parcels of things for concurring and meeting together from whose repetitions and multiplications all variety of creatures proceeded and were composed may dazzle the eies of mens vnderstandings and comprehended it can hardly bee The Greeke Philosophers are obserued to be very acute and diligent in searching out the materiall principles of things but in the beginnings of motion wherein consists all the efficacy of operation they are negligent and weake and in this that wee handle they seeme to be altogether blind and stammering for the opinion of the Peripatetickes concerning the appetite of Matter caused by Priuation is in a manner nothing els but words which rather sound then signifie any realty And those that referre it vnto God doe very well but then they leape vp they ascend not by degrees for doubtles there is one chiefe lawe subordinate to God in which all naturall things concurre and meete the same that in the fore-cited Scripture is demonstrated in these words Opus quod operatus est Deus a principio vsque ad finem the worke that God hath wrought from the beginning euen to the ende But Democritus which entred more deepely into the consideration of this point after he had conceaued an Atome with some small dimension and forme he attributed vnto it one onely desire or first motion simply or absolutely and another comparatiuely or in respect for hee thought that all things did properly tend to the center of the world whereof those bodies which were more materiall descended with swifter motion and those that had lesse matter did on the contrary tend vpward But this meditation was very shallow conteyning lesse then was expedient for neither the turning of the celestiall bodies in a round nor shutting and opening of things may seeme to be reduced or applied to this beginning And as for that opinion of Epicurus concerning the casuall declination and agitation of the Atome it is but a meere toy and a plaine euidence that he was ignorant of that point It is therefore more apparent then wee could wish that this Cupid or Loue remaines as yet clouded vnder the shades of Night Now as concerning his attributes Hee is elegantly described with perpetuall infancie desire to some indiuiduall nature so that the generall disposition comes from Venus the more exact sympathy from Cupid the one deriued from causes more neere the other from beginnings more remote and fatall and as it were from the elder Cupid of whom euery exquisite sympathie doth depend 18 DIOMEDES or Zeale DIomedes flourishing with great fame and glory in the Troian warres and in high fauour with Pallas was by her instigated beeing indeed forwarder then he should haue bene not to forbeare Venus a iote if he encountred with her in fight which very boldly hee performed wounding her in the right arme This presumptuous fact hee caried cleare for a while and being honored and renowned for his many heroicke deeds at last returned into his owne countrey where finding himselfe hard besteed with domesticke troubles fled into Italy betaking himselfe to the protection of Forreiners where in the beginning he was fortunate and royally entertained by King Daunus with sumptuous gifts raising many statues in honour of him throughout his dominions But vpon the very first calamity that hapned vnto this nation whereunto he was fled for succor King Daunus enters into a conceipt with himselfe that he had entertained a wicked guest into his family and a man odious to the Gods and an impugner of their Diuinity that had dared with his sword to assault and wound that Goddesse whom in their religion they held it sacrilege so much as to touch Therfore that he might expiat his countreyes guilt nothing respecting the duties of hospitality when the bonds of Religion tyed him with a more reuerend regarde suddenly slew Diomedes commanding withall time in their senses and memories 19. DAEDALVS or Mechanique MEchanicall wisedome and industry and in it vnlawfull science peruerted to wrong ends is shadowed by the Ancients vnder the person of Daedalus a man ingenious but execrable This Daedalus for murthering his fellow seruant that emulated him being bannished was kindly interteined during his exile in many cities and Princes Courts for indeed he was the raiser and builder of many goodly structures as well in honour of the Gods as for the beautie and magnificence of cities and other publick places but for his works of mischeefe he is most notorious It is he which framed that engine which Pasiphae vsed to satisfie her lust in companying with a bull so that by this his wretched industrie and pernicious deuice that Monster Minotaur the destruction of so many hopefull youthes tooke his accursed and infamous beginning and studying to couer and increase one mischeife with another for the security preseruation of this Monster hee inuented and built a Labyrinth a