Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bring_v	great_a	king_n	3,018	5	3.5536	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12087	Vindiciæ senectutis, or, A plea for old-age which is senis cujusdam Cygnea cantio. And the severall points on parts of it, are laid downe at the end of the follovving introduction. By T.S. D.D.	Sheafe, Thomas, ca. 1559-1639.; Gouge, William, 1578-1653.	1639 (1639)	STC 22391.8; ESTC S114120	74,342	246

of great joy and a multitude of the heavenly host joyned with him in a joyfull praising of God Glory be to God on high c. then Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seene thy Salvation After againe when Iohn Baptist had prepared the way and wone Disciples to Christ how rejoyced they at the sight of the Lamb of God Andrew to his brother Simon we have found the Messias and Philip to Nathaniel we have found him of whom Moses and the Prophets did write Both Iohn and Christ himselfe for the increase of their joy that heard them made this the summe of their preaching Repent for the Kingdome of God is at hand yet to bring it now home to our purpose all this was but the Kingdome of grace and if when that was at hand there was cause of so great joy as indeed there was then how much greater cause is there when the Kingdome of GLORIE is at hand and even come unto us how great joy and happinesse must there needs bee The truth is every mans death is suiting to his life if he be blessed in his life he is more so in his death which followes a good life In a word if thou shrink and draw back at the thought of thy death which is a common infirmity Tantam habet vim carnis animae dulce consortium of so great force in the sweet society betweene the body and the soule in case it be thus with thee it is because death comes not into thy frequent cogitations because thou diest not daily because thou receivest not the sentence of death in thy selfe Mortem effice familiarem saith Seneca ut si ita sors tulerit possis illi obviam ire be well acquainted with death that when he comes thou maist meet him as a friend and entertaine him with joy Facilè contemnit omnia qui semper cogitat se esse moriturum saith S. Ierom hee that continually thinkes of death easily tramples upon whatsoever may dismay him Or it is for that thou hast not yet learned of Saint Chrysostome Offeramus Deo promunere quod pro debito tenemur reddere be free in offering up thy selfe to God as a gift which wee are bound to yeeld to him as a debt Or because thy life hath beene vitious Mala mors putanda non est saith Saint Austin quam bona vita preces sit that death may not be counted evill which is foregon by a good life Thou art loth to die wherefore thou hast lived ill and so art unprepared for death know that the reason of this want of preparation is because thou art not throughly perswaded and resolved that thou shalt die nor dost truly beleeve it hap'ly thou canst say from a generall swimming thought of death that we are all mortall or the like but a firme and constant beleefe of it is farre from thee for otherwise thou wouldest live in continuall expectation of thy dissolution and prepare thy selfe for that day that houre knowing that then instantly thou art brought to judgement If newes be brought to a City that the enemie is comming against it and ready to besiege it shall we thinke they beleeve it when they make no preparation for defence Quotidiè morimur quotidie mutamur tamen aeternos nos esse credimus saith Saint Ierom we die daily and every day are we changed and yet we dreame of eternity even here in this life Or hap'ly the reason of thy feare of death is thou art fast glued to thy earthly portion thy riches thy pleasures thy honours thy friends Shake hand at least in contentment with these and all will bee well forsake them now while thou livest and then thou canst not in regard of them thinke death thine enemie or that it takes either thee from them or them from thee if thou have thy treasure in Heaven there thy heart will be and from thy heart and treasure thou wilt not be contentedly but wilt love and embrace the messenger and guide which conducts thee to them namely thy death But will some man say how can there bee happinesse in that which all men yea all the other creatures doe shunne for they all naturally desire to preserve their estate of being what they are and by all meanes avoid their being dissolved I answer first Death and dissolution is two waies to be considered either simply as it is an abolishing of a present estate or as it is a passage to a future better condition as it is the former naturally it is abhor'd but as it tends to perfection it is both in it selfe desirable and by the creatures desired and longed for before it comes and when it presents it selfe right welcome and embraced so was it by th' Apostle Phil. 1. 23 he desired to depart or as some translate it to be dissolved Why not in respect of death it selfe but because by this death he should passe to a better life he should live with Christ hee should bee deliver'd from his claiey house as that word dissolved imports or dismissed as Beza reads it and our newest translation that is set free from imprisonment in the body and from the miseries of this life and hence it is that the Apostle there professes that he shall gaine by death ver 21. he shall gaine Christ by it enjoy him fully and with him glory even the crowne which he aspires unto 2 Tim. 4. hence it is also that death is longed for and earnestly groned after as 2 Cor. 5. neither is this true which hath beene said onely of the faithfull among men but of the other creatures also with earnest expectation they grone and travaile in paine for the day of their renovation Rom. 8. 19 22. So then it is plaine that death though it be not simply and in it selfe good and desirable yet for that which commeth of it it is And this may be further manifested by similitudes with which the same Apostle doth furnish us First in the place afore-named 2 Cor. 5. 1. the body our earthly mansion is compared to a tabercacle a weake and moveable house or dwelling our heavenly habitation to a firme building not made with hands but eternall in the heavens and 1 Cor. 15. our interred bodies are likened to the seed which is cast into the ground and is there corrupted and dies I will apply these comparisons to our present purpose True indeed an old weake decayed house is not in this happy that it is taken downe better to be in that meane estate in which it was before then not at all to be but herein consists the happinesse of its demolishment that thereby it becomes a new faire building farre more glorious in it selfe and more profitable for use then before So againe the seed is not in that happy that it is corrupted and rotted in the earth but that corruptio unius is

which is counted as loathsome as death it selfe There is a Treatise of OLD-AGE of old time written by the purest Latinist that ever spake or wrote for the elegancy of stile for the solid matter of that Treatise and for many other ornaments wherewith it is decked it hath ever beene highly accounted of and learned in most Grammar schooles yet as farre as divine learning excells humane as farre as a judicious Divine may goe before a learned Philosopher so farre is this Treatise here tendred to thee to be preferred before that If the Oratour said truely of his Treatise The making of this Booke was so delight some to me as it did not onely remove all the troubles of OLD-AGE but also made it easy and pleasing much more truely and justly may the Author of this Treatise say the like of his A Preachers frequent and serious meditating and ruminating on that which hee is to preach to others doth oft very much affect him before hee utter it in uttering of it and ever after How much more when hee sets his after thoughts upon it and more accuratly revieweth it for the view of all that desire to have their meditations helped about this excellent subject OLD-AGE For my part I heartily thanke God that I came to such a thorow view thereof as I have had and withall as David blessed God and Abigaile in the same cause I heartily thanke the Author my Ancient good Tutor to whom for all the good I received in Kings College Cambridge under God I owe all the praise this Author I heartily thanke for vouchsafing to communicate to his unworthy Pupill these his labours So well I approoved this Treatise in my judgement such profit sweetnesse and comfort I have found and felt in reading it over againe and againe as I could not but doe my best to bring it forth to that publick view which now it is brought to Now I bow my knees to the Ancient of daies that as hitherto he hath done he would yet longer and longer continue to preserve the two good Old-Men the Author of this Treatise and his Friend to whom he hath dedicated it to be mirrours of such an OLD-AGE as in this Treatise is set out that in and by their example and patterne what is here written of OLD-AGE may be verified and ratified WILLIAM GOUGE The Author to the Reader Generous Reader I Doe willingly give thee an account both of my first thoughts and intentions and also of my proceedings in the ensuing discourse Thus conceive of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy selfe is said to be a voice from heaven and ever hath it beene held for an high and necessary point of wisdome as contrarie-wise nothing comes neerer to a ben●…mmed sottish and Nabal-like disposition then ignorance in this case Know you not your owne selves saith the Apostle Many there are that with great labour no lesse expence and extreame hazard of their lives travell into the remo●…e parts of the world onely out of a desire to know them and yet know little of their owne countrey others that search curiously into the pollicie of forraigne kingdomes ignorant the meane while of the state of that in which they are natives Some againe are busie priers into their neighbours houses and affaires never taking notice how it stands with their owne at home all with shame enough i●… that they are lesse carefull of what more neerely concernes them A mans proper and neerest home of all is himselfe The consideration hereof caused me to looke backe to the sundry passages of my life past and to fixe mine eye on my present condition being now farre gone in yeares and in this Meditation I fell upon a serious thought of my Old-Age as what the discomforts of it are that so I might addresse my selfe to seeke after the true remedy what good I may find in it for comfort to countervaile the evils it brings and lastly what opportunities it may afford me for my present and future happinesse Having as I thought found something by this enquirie I was willing my pen should helpe my memory and so my paper was my storer for it Thinke not I doe it out of that itching humour Scire tuum nihil est c. No being conscious to my selfe of my emptinesse I have ever in privatest places of my abode said with the Poet Hae latebrae dulces Take this rather for the true cause of my suffering the discourse to come abroad To impart to others what we have thought of and laboured in for ourselves is especially when it passes not immediatly from the partiall hand of the Author but hath approbation from others more judicious a thing usuall not discommended no not in these scripturient times and in my opinion it sorts well with society for Bonum est natura s●…a diffusivum usu quo communius eo melius Every good thing is naturally communicative and in use the more common the better and more profitable If any shall thinke the subject of which I have made choice to be but meane and unworthy of my so many lines in writing and his so much paines in reading I would offer to his consideration these three things First touching the contempt of this age how great and common a sin it is Secondly what need men in yeares may have in respect of some bodily defects of inward comforts as of a staffe to support them that so they may passe on to the end of their race with patience And lastly whether it will be lost labour timely to minde young men of the evills which not prevented will dogg them to the age towads which they securely passe along and which is to such as one termes it non intellecta senectus Sure I am it i●… now no lesse needfull then it was in Salomons time to re●…rove them for their rejoyeing in their youth c. and to forewarne them of their account as Eccles. 11. also to counsell them even in the daies of their youth to remember their Creator Eccles. 12. Let no man thinke that this Treatise is onely for OLD-MEN chiefely it looks towards them yet every age once come to yeeres of discretion may hap'ly by it be put in minde of some thing or other that will concerne it for the present and if GOD blesse them with long-life the benefit of it may be the greater We may say of it as the Poet doth in another case Aequè neglectum pueris senibusque nocebit And so gentle Reader thou hast my reasons such as they are for my undertaking this taske If thou dislike them not then reade on The Introduction to the whole Discourse AN Old-Man though but meanely learned may treat of OLD-AGE out of some experience feelingly and in that respect may be the more fit to discourse of this subject Onwhich I do not find that many have lighted among Divines very few Some Heathen Writers