Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	day_n	holy_a	sabbath_n	1,515	5	10.0460	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70554	Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathanael Mather, who ... changed earth for heaven, Oct. 17. 1688 whereto are added some discourses on the true nature, the great reward, and the best season of such a walk with God as he left a pattern of.	Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.; Mather, Samuel, 1651-1728.	1689 (1689)	Wing M1097A; ESTC R20873	63,808	161

them who cannot plead so O that every young Man would remember that saying in Prov. 1. 10. My Son if sinners entice thee consent thou not walk not thou in the way of them and remember that saying in Prov. 13. 20. He that walketh with the wise shall be wise but a Companion of fools shall be destroyed What shall I say more In fine Remember young Man that on thy Death-bed thou wilt gnash thy Teeth at the sight of such Companions thy groan will then be O gather not my soul with sinners and one of them in thy Chamber would then be thy Torment there Well then save your selves from this untoward Generation 2. Abandon the Sin of Sabbath-breaking that you may Remember your Creator It is the Command of God in Exod. 20. 8. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy Men are like to Remember God himself if they remember this day of the Lord as they ought to do If you look through the World you shall see that Mens Religion is as their Sabbath is The Sabbath is the Engine by which by the Bible true Remembrance of God is kept alive It is the Description which the Lord gives of all good Men in Isa 56. 4. They that keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me Young Men this is the Day to which all other days may say Thou art worth Ten thousand of us Of this Day it shall evermore be said O thou Day that is highly favoured the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among the Dayes and cursed is he that despises thee Young Persons are apt on this day to be vain in their Thoughts and Words and Idle in their whole Behaviour But labour thou to spend this Day as a market-Market-day for thy Soul spend it in Holy Duties and in those things that may prove both a Cause and a Sign of thy Rest among the People of God for ever Do according to that in Isa 58. 13. Call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord and honourable Do not abuse this high Day of God as the Prophet said unto Gehazi Is this a Time to receive Money so let me say Is this a time to be making of Bargains or to be ordering of Journeys Much more Is this a time for Rioting and Drunkenness for Chambering and Wantonness or for such things as are never seasonable No 't is not such a Time To the young People that make it such a Time I would say as in Neh. 13. 18. You bring Wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath Such Persons are the meer Achans of the Land they live in Finally There are many other sins of Youth especially that sin of Vncleanness which we must avoid and forsake if we would Remember God Let no Young Man allow himself in those cursed things RULE III. Let us Remember the virtuous Example of them that have been good betimes especially the Holy Pattern of the Holy Jesus It is said in Heb. 13. 7. Remember them whose Faith is to be followed So it may be urged Remember them whose Youth is to be followed If we remember them we shall remember God. There have been young Persons that have had the Grace of Forty at the Age of Twenty in them Sometimes a young Man has given up himself to God by a Covenant never to be forgotten A young Man has maintain'd a course of daily supplication and besides often had his extraordinary Dayes of Prayer and Praise a young Man has upheld a course of daily Meditation and besides accustomed himself to read the Scripture with such Attention as to fetch a Note and a Wish out of every Verse before him such an one I have lately follow'd unto the Grave Many more such Instances of Early Piety perhaps a Young Man here and there may afford unto us O now Go thou and do likewise But above all the Lord Jesus Christ calls for our Imitation It is said of Him in Psal 110. 3. Thou hast the Dew of thy Youth In his Youth it self a Dew of Grace was to be seen upon him in his Youth he fulfilled the whole will of God in his Youth he was always about his Fathers business He now says to Young Men what he says to All Men in Joh. 13. 15. I have given you an Example that you should do as I have done O then study Christ Jesus observe Christ Jesus follow Christ Jesus ask What was the Behaviour of Christ Jesus in his Youth and Be as he was in the World. RULE IV. Let us remember the profitable Instruction of them that wish well unto us There is a twofold Instruction which young Persons among us are made partakers of There is Pastoral Instruction and there is Parental Instruction under which you sit Regard this Instruction lest you mourn at last and say How have I hated Instruction and not obeyed the voice of my Teachers You enjoy Pastoral Instrnction O despise it not You have with Sermon after Sermon been publickly and solemnly called upon to Remember God. Besides this I have personally treated with some scores of you about your Eternal Welfare and I hope I may live to visit every one of you for this end earnestly and urgently beseeching of you to be Reconciled unto God. It was of old enjoyned in Deut. 31. 12. Gather the People together Men and Women and Children that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord Behold the Children as well as the Adult have been advised here to Remember the Lord. What is now the effect of it I will for once wax bold with you and say as Dying Bolton said unto his Children Children let any of you meet me at the day of Judgment in a Christless unregenerate estate if you dare I will testifie against you I say again I will testifie against you before the Lord Jesus if you do You enjoy Paternal Instruction too O refuse it not Does not thy Father or thy Master or thy Mother charge thee to Remember God Did they never charge thee to read the Word and seek the Face of God and to make Conscience of thy Wayes Then My Son hear the Instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother What befell the Sons of Eli those Sons of Belial in 1 Sam. 2. 25. They hearkened not to the Voice of their Father because the Lord would slay them Art thou a young Person counselled by a good Parent to Remember the Lord The Lord will slay thee yea The Lord will Damn thee if thou dost not Hearken thereunto Thus are we to Remember God And O who among you are more than almost perswaded hereunto Let a few Considerations more add weight unto those that have also bespoke it of you CONSIDER I. The God of Heaven has Commanded you to Remember him you have this Command in a shadow under the Law of old It was required in Exod. 22. 29. Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of the ripe fruits unto me The Lord

a Leaf of Grass in the Field which might not make an Observer to be sensible of the Lord. He apprehended that the idle Minutes of our Lives were many more than a short liver should allow That the very Filings of Gold and of Time were exceeding precious and that there were little fragments of hours intervening between our more stated businesses wherein Thoughts of God might be no less pleasant than frequent with us The Elegant and Excellent Meditations of Sir William Waller had particularly affected him unto a commendable Emulation of them and hence he did attempt to make even the more common and more trivial occurrents of humane Life the occasions of Great Thoughts within him He would with the Chymistry of Occasional Reflections Distill sublime Spirits from earthly Bodies and from the view of mean things fill his nobly imployed Mind with Lessons and Prayers which only the Father of Spirits was a Witness to Some of these his Occasional Reflections I find in his private Papers and one or two for a taste I will bespeak the Reader 's acceptance of Jan. 8. A. M. Being about to rise I felt the cold in a manner extraordinary which inclin'd me to seek more warmth in my Bed before I rose but so extream was the cold that this was not feasible Wherefore I resolved to dress my self without any more ado and so going to the Fire in my Cloaths I soon became warm enough Turn this O my Soul into an useful Meditation There is a necessity of my rising out of my Bed the Bed of Security which I am under the power of and to live unto Christ and to walk in the Light. In order hereunto I must put on my poor Soul the Garments which are to be had from the Lord Jesus To awaken me out of my sleep and my security I am to set before me the Sun the Gospel of the Sun of righteousness doth inlighten my Mind and tell me that I was before muffled up in darkness and that if I continued therein I should starve and perish I am also taught That when Men are convinced of their miserable condition they will rather endeavour to Ease and comfort and cherish themselves by something in themselves than put on the spiritual Garments which the Lord Jesus Christ has provided for them An Evil to be by me avoided Again another time Upon Water taken from the Fire I saw a lukewarmness quickly seize like the frame of Spirit which many Pretenders to Religion have after a glorious and affectionate Profession of it Of this sort were some among the Laodiceans of old which is exceedingly displeasing to the Lord Jesus Christ Whence it is that he saith I will spew thee out of my mouth Let me endeavour to beware of this hateful and odious frame of Spirit and let the contrary thereto be my desire my endeavour Once more Among some Gentlemen that were sitting in a Room illuminated with a Candle one beginning to read unto us there was another Candle brought unto him for his assistance in it Which afforded me such a Meditation as this That those who are to be Teachers of others have need of as much light again as ordinary Christians have They if any need a double Portion of the Gifts that are in other Men and the helps of Knowledge that other Persons have they much more should be furnish'd withal It was not because they had better Eyes than him whose Office it was to Read that they needed but one Candle when he had two provided for him but the Work incumbent on him and expected from him was the occasion of it But I design little more than a Confirmation with an Illustration of my History for which a touch or two upon every Article will serve I am now to add That this Young Man had a Principal regard unto the Scriptures for the Subjects of his Meditations and he was very expensive of his Thoughts on the Book of God. He was daily digging in the sacred Mines and with delight he fetched thence Riches better than those of both the India's and he could say O how I love thy Law it is my Meditation every day Even in the time of his mortal Sickness he was very angry at himself if he had not heard a Portion of the Bible read unto him from day to day Once when he was near his End a good part of a day having pass'd before he had enjoyed his Meal of Scripture he said unto his Sister with some impatience Alas what an ungodly life do I lead pray come and read my Bible to me and read me the forty ninth Psalm Indeed he read the Scripture not cursorily but very deliberately and considerately and as an effect of his doing so he could give such an account of the Difficulties in it as the most not only of Christians but of Divines too would judge an Attainment extraordinary Not long before he dyed he had read over all the large and great Annotations on the Bible lately published by Mr. Pool and some other Non-conformist Ministers but having dispatched those two noble Folios he said unto one that was intimate with him Thus have I read the Bible but I have now learnt a better way And that way was this He would oblige himself in reading to fetch a Note and a Prayer out of every Verse in all the Bible to dwell upon every verse until it had afforded at least one Observation and one Ejaculation to him He imagined that an incredible deal both of Truth and Grace would in this way make its impression upon his Mind besides what Exercise of Wit it must have call'd for and so most certainly it would have done but before he had made much Progress in it the Chariots of God fetcht him away to that place in which a Jesus is a Bible to the there perfect Spirits of the Righteous Such a thinking Person was he and yet after so many kind of Thoughts in the day he could not rest a Night quietly unless he compos'd himself for sleeping by thinking a little more He knew that no better a Man than one of the Moral Heathens propounded a Nocturnal Self-Examination as a part and cause of no little Wisdom and that much more a sober Christian should endeavour to maintain a good understanding of himself by such Nightly Recollections Wherefore before the Slumbers of the Evening this Young Man would put three General Questions to himself with divers particular ones that were subordinate thereunto The Questions were Question 1. What has God's Mercy to me been this day Here he considered what favours God had newly smil'd upon his inward or his outward man withal Question 2. What has my Carriage to God been this day Here he considered what frames and words and works and what snares and sins he had newly been concerned with Question 3. If I dye this night is my Immortal Spirit safe Of this he judged by his Closure wit● God as his best