Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	work_n	worker_n	world_n	17	3	3.7634	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A24063	An account of the Oriental philosophy shewing the wisdom of some renowned men of the East and particularly the profound wisdom of Hai Ebn Yokdan, both in natural and divine things, which he attained without all converse with men, (while he lived in an island a solitary life, remote from all men from his infancy, till he arrived at such perfection) / writ originally in Arabick by Abi Jaaphar, Ebn Tophail ; and out of the Arabick translated into Latine by Edward Pocok ... and now faithfully out of his Latine, translated into English.; Risālat Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān. English	Ibn Ṭufayl, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Malik, d. 1185.; Pococke, Edward, 1604-1691.	1674 (1674)	Wing A150; ESTC R7120	74,340	126

more absolute more beautiful more excellent and more lasting and that there was no proportion betwixt these things which are in him and the things which are in others Neither ceased he to observe all the attributes of perfection and he saw that they all belonged to him and proceeded from him and that we was worthy of them above any other to whom they should be ascribed Also he searched out all the attributes of defects and he saw him to be free of them and separate from them and how could he not be free of them For what other motion is there of defect but meer privation or what dependeth therefrom And how can he have any fellowship or mixture with privation who is a simple beeing of a necessary existence in himself which giveth existence to every existent thing and besides whom there is no existence For he is the Existence he is the Absolution he is the Perfection he is the Beauty he is the Splendor he is the Power he is the Knowledge and he he and all things perish beside him Thus far his knowledge had brought him about the end of the fifth septenary from his birth that is in the space of five and thirty years and the consideration of this Agent was so fixed in his mind that it hindered him to think upon other things beside him and he did forget that contemplation of the natural existence of things wherein he was and he ceased to enquire into them untill he came to that that his sight could not fall upon any thing but presently he beheld in it some prints of the operation of this Agent so that presently he turned his thoughts to the worker passing by the work so that his study was exceedingly fixed upon him and his heart was wholly abstracted from the inferiour sensible world being wholly addicted to the superiour intellectual world And when he had attained the knowledge of this supreme Beeing and permanent Existence of whose existence there is no cause but that is the cause of the existence of all things he would know by what means this knowledge came unto him and by what faculty he did apprehend this existent therefore he searched into all his senses which are the hearing the seeing the smelling the tasting and toutching and he saw that all these apprehended nothing but the body or what is in the body for the hearing apprehendeth sounds and these arise from the agitation of the air by the collision of bodies the sight apprehendeth colours the smell odors the tast savours and the toutch apprehendeth temperatures and hardness and softness roughness and smoothness so also the phantasie apprehendeth nothing but as it hath length breadth and depth but these things which are apprehended are all the adjuncts of a body and these senses apprehend no other thing because they are faculties diffused through bodies and divisible according to their divisions so they apprehend nothing but the body subject to division for this faculty seing it is diffused through a divisible body it is necessary that when it apprehendeth any thing it be divided according to its divisions therefore every faculty belonging to the body or incite in the body can apprehend nothing but a body or what is in a body But now it was clear that this Beeing of necessar existence is free from all bodily adjuncts in any respect and therefore that there is no way of apprehending the same but by something which is not a body not a faculty inherent in the body nor any way depending from bodies neither in a body nor without a body nor joyned to a body nor separate from a body And now it was manifest to him that he had apprehended it by its essence and that he had a firm knowledge thereof and thence it was manifest to him that his own essence by which he did apprehend that was somewhat incorporeal to which no bodily adjuncts agreed and whatever corporeity he apprehended from his outward or exterior part was not the true reason of his own essence but the true reason of his own essence was that by which he did apprehend that absolute necessary existent Beeing Therefore when he knew that his essence was not this bodily thing which he apprehended with his senses and which the skin encompassed his body seemed somewhat altogether contemptible unto him and he addicted himself wholly to the contemplating that noble essence by which he did apprehend that noble and necessary existent Beeing and by his essence he did consider that noble Beeing whether it could perish or be corrupted and evanish or were of perpetual duration but he saw corruption and dissolution to be of the adjuncts of bodies and to come to passe by putting off one form and putting on another as when Water becometh Air and when Air becometh Water and when Herbs become Earth or Ashes and when the Earth is turned into Plants for this is the notion of corruption But that there can be no corruption supposed of that which is not a body nor hath need of a body to its subsistence but is wholly separated from bodily things And when he was sure that his essence could not be corrupted he would know what the condition of it was to be when it should cast off the body and be separated therefrom but now he knew that it did nto cast it off untill it was no longer an instrument fit for it therefore considering all his apprehensive faculties he saw that every one of them sometime was in power sometime in act as e. g. when the eye winks or turneth it self from a visible object it is in power apprehensive but that is apprehensive in power which doth not now apprehend but can afterwards apprehend but when it openeth it self and turneth it self to a visible object it becometh apprehensive in act but by that which is called apprehending in act is signified that which now apprehendeth and every one of these faculties may be one time in power another time in act and if any of these faculties never apprehend in act as long as it is only apprehensive in power it doth not desire to apprehend any particular thing because as yet it hath no knowledge of it as in him who is born blind but if it once apprehend in act and be afterwards apprehensive in power so long as it remaineth in power it desireth to apprehend in act because it knoweth that apprehensible object and is intent on it and leaneth towards it as when one hath at any time enjoyed his sight and then becometh blind for he doth not cease to desire visible objects and how much the more perfect splendid and fair that is which is apprehended its desire shall be still the greater and the grief shall be the greater for the want of it therefore his grief who is deprived of the sight which he had after he hath seen is greater then his grief who is deprived of the smelling because these things which the sight apprehendeth are

taken away and the wotery form departed from that body when actions flowed therefrom which were proper to arise from another form and that another form did arise which was not in it before and actions flowed therefrom the nature of which was not to proceed therefrom while it was endued with the former But he knew that it was necessary that every thing which is newly produced needeth a producer and from this contemplation some universal and distinst impression was made in his mind of the effector of that form Then he directed his speculation further unto these forms the knowledge of which he had first attained presenting them one after another And he saw that they all existed of the new and necessarily stood in need of an effector Then he considered the essences of the forms and he saw them to be nothing else then such a disposition of the body from which these actions flow e. g. in water which when it is vehemently heated it is disposed to move upwards and is made fit thereunto and that disposition is its form for there is nothing here but a body and somethings flowing therefrom which are perceived by the sense which formerly did not exist as the qualities and motion and the effector which produced them after they did not exist But the aptitude of the body to other motions more then to others is its disposition and form and the same appeared unto him of all other forms Also it was manifest to him that the actions which flowed from them did not really belong to them but to the effector who by those actions produced those attributes which are ascribed unto them and that notion which appeared unto him is that which is spoken by the messenger of God I am his hearing by which he heareth and his seeing by which be seeth and in the text of the Alcoran Cap. Al. Anphal You have not killed them but God hath killed them and thou hast not cast them down but God hath cast them down But when he came to the knowledge of this Effector or Efficient Cause which appeard to him generally and indistinctly a vehement desire siezed on him to know the same distinctly But because he had not withdrawn himself as yet from the sensible world he began to seek after this voluntary Agent among the sensible things nor yet did he know whether it was one or many therefore he considered all bodies present to wit these to which formerly his thoughts were fixed continually and he saw that all of them were sometime generated and sometime corrupted and if he saw any of them not wholly corrupted he saw parts of them corrupted e. g. as to water and earth he saw the parts of both corrupted by the fire and also he saw the air so corrupted with the greatness of the cold that from thence snow came to be generated and that again from that came water and also as to other bodies present he saw none of them which did not exist of the new and needed not a voluntary Agent therefore he rejected all these things and turned his thoughts unto the heavenly bodies Thus far by his contemplation he had advanced about the end of the fourth septenary of his age that is in the space of 28. years Now he knew that the Heavens and all the Stars therein were bodies extended according to the three dimensions of longitude latitude and profundity and that none of them wanted this property and whatever wanted not this property was a body therefore that they were all bodies Then he considered with himself if they were infinitly extended and did proceed unto a perpetual longitude latitude and profundity without end or if they had periods and were confined with limits where they ended so that there could be no further extension but here he was a little astonished then by the force of his apprehension and sagacity of understanding he saw that an infinite body was an absurd thing and impossible and a notion which could not be understood and this sentence was confirmed unto him by many arguments which occurred and that he so reasoned with himself Surely this heavenly body is finite from that part which is nearest unto me and obvious to my sense This is without all doubt because I perceive it with the sight but also from that other part which is opposed to this part of which this doubt in me hath arisen I know that it is impossible to be infinitly extended For I conceive two lines beginning from this part which hath an end which in the profundity of the body according to its extension should go forth infinitly then if I should suppone that from the one of these two lines a great part is cut off on that side whose extremity is finite and then take that of it which rmaineth and let the extremity of it wherein the off-cutting is made be applyed unto the extremity of that line which hath nothing cut off from it and let that line which hath somewhat cut off it be made parallel to that line from which nothing is cut off the understanding going alone with them unto that part which is said to be infinite and thou shalt either find two lines infinitly extended so that none of them is shorter then another and so that line from which somewhat is cut off shall be equal to the other from which nothing is cut off which is absurd Or if it do not go forth continually with it but be broke off of its progress on this side and cease to be co-extended with it then it shall be finite and when that part shall be returned unto it which was formerly cut off which was finite the whole shall be finite then it shall not be shorter then that other line from which nothing is cut off nor shall exceed it therefore it shall be equal unto it but this is flnite therefore that also shall be finite and therefore the body in which such lines are designed is finite for every body in which these lines can be designed is finite but in every body these lines can be designed therefore if we determine an infinite body we determine that which is absurd and impossible And when by his excellent ingine which he had stirred up to excogitate such an argument he was certain that the body of the Heavens was finite he would know of what form it was and how it was bounded with the ambient surfaces and first having contemplated the Sun and the Moon and the other Stars he saw that they all had their rising from the East and their setting in the West and that these which passed through by the Vertical Point described the greater Circle but these which declined from the Vertical Point North-ward or South-ward he saw that they described a lesser Circle in it and that the Circle of every one as it was more remote from the Vertical Point towards any of the parts was less then the Circle that was more near

it is the efficient cause of the world no doubt it hath power over the world and knoweth it Shall not he know who hath created for he is most high in knowledge and knoweth all things He saw also that if he believed the eternity of the World and that it ever was as now it is and that no privation went before that necessarily it should follow that motion was from eternity without any period as to its beginning seing no rest went before whence to take its beginning but every motion necessarily requireth some mover and that mover shall either be some power diffused in some body to wit in the body of the thing moved or in some other body without it or some power that is not diffused in any body nor spread forth therein But now every power diffused in any body and dispersed through the same is also divided by the division thereof and is doubled by its doubling e. g. as heaviness in a stone which moveth it downwards if the stone be divided into two parts also the heaviness shall be divided and if another part equal thereunto be added also another part of heaviness shall be added unto it and if it could be that the stone could grow infinite also this heaviness should grow infinite and if the stone should come to a certain measure of greatness and should there remain also the heaviness should come to a certain period and should there remain But now it is demonstrated that every body is necessarily finite and therefore every power inherent or insisted in a body is also finite But if we can find some power which produceth some infinit effect that shall be a power which is not in a body but we find that the Heavens are moved with a perpetual motion which hath no period nor cessation if we affirm that it is eternal without beginning therefore it necessarily followeth that the power which moveth it is neither in that body nor in any other body without it and therefore that it is something abstract from bodies and which can be described by no bodily adjuncts But it was manifest to him from his former contemplation of the generable and corruptible World that the true reason of the existence of every body is in respect of its form which is its disposition to various motions but that its existence which it hath in respect of the matter is very small and which can hardly be conceived and therefore the existence of the whole World is in respect of its disposition to the motion of this Mover which is free from all matter and all bodily adjuncts abstracted from every thing which the sense can apprehend or unto which imagination can find out any way And seing he is the Effector of the motions of the Heavens although differing in kind so that they are free from all difference innovation as of themselves and cessation without doubt he hath power over them and hath the knowledge of them And in this manner his speculation reached unto the same Butt which it reached unto in the first manner not in this respect was it hurtful unto him that he doubted whether the World was anciently or newly when on both parts the existence of an incorporeal Effector was manifest to him and which was joyned to no body nor separate from any and which was neither within any body nor without it for conjunction and separation to be within or without are all the adjuncts of bodies whereof he is free And seing the matter of every body needeth some form whereas it cannot subsist but there by nor really exist without it but that the form hath no existence really but from this voluntary Agent it was clear unto him that all things existent did need this Agent for their existence and that none of them had existence but by his help and therefore that that was the cause of them and they were the effect or work thereof whether they be new by a privation going before their existence or whether they have no beginning in respect of time nor that any privation went before them for in both states they were the effect and needed an efficient from which they depend as to their essence so that they can neither remain if it remain not nor exist if it exist not nor could be from eternity if it were not from eternity but that it needeth not them but is free from them And how should it be otherwise for it is demonstrated that his power and vertue is infinite but that all bodies and whatever adhereth unto them or any way dependeth from them are finite and terminated and therefore the whole world and whatever is in it whether it be the Heavens or the Earth or the Stars and whatever is among them either above or below is his work and creation and are posterior thereunto in nature although they were not in time as if thou takest any body in thy hand and then movest thy hand that body necessarily shall move consequentially at the motion of thy hand with a motion which is posterior in nature unto the motion of the hand although not in time but that both begin together So this whole world is effected and created by this Efficient without time whose commandment is when he would have a thing done that he say to it Be thou and it is And when he saw all things existent to be his work he considered them again having a respect unto the power of the Efficient and with an admiration of so rare a workmanship so exact wisdom and profound knowledge and of a few things of them which did exist much more of many these prints of wisdom and marvels of workmanship were conspicuous to him by which he was affected with great admiration and he was sure that all these things flowed not but from a voluntary agent which was of highest perfection yea above all perfection to whom the weight of an Atome could not be unknown whether in the Heavens or in the Earth nor any thing lesser or greater then it Then he considered all the kinds of living creatures how he had given to every one of them the sabrick of the body and then taught it to use the same For if he had not taught the living creature to use these members he had given it to find out the advantages unto which it was appointed it should perceive no benefit thereby but be burdened therewith Hence therefore he knew that he was the most bountiful and most merciful of all Then when among the things that did exist he observed any thing which had ought of form or beauty or perfection or power or whatever excellency it had in the kind of excellency he considered it with himself and he knew it proceeded from the influence of that voluntary agent of excellent glory and from his existence and by his operation therefore he knew that to be the greater because it was therein by nature and that it was more perfect