Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	death_n	great_a	weep_v	1,440	5	10.0569	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29703	The privie key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse on that subject with the resolution of several considerable questions : the main objections also against closet-prayer are here answered ... with twenty special lessons ... that we are to learn by that severe rod, the pestilence that now rageth in the midst of us / by Thomas Brooks.	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1665 (1665)	Wing B4961; ESTC R24146	207,234	605

had need be alwayes in an actual readiness to die No man shall die the sooner but much the easier and the better for preparing to die And therefore let us alwayes have our loins girt and our lamps burning As death leaves us so Judgment will find us and there fore we have very great cause to secure our interest in Christ a changed nature and a pardon in our bosomes that so we might have nothing to do but to die Except we prepare to die all other preparations will do us no good In a word Death is a change a great change 't is the the last change till the resurrection 't is lasting yea an everlasting change for it puts a man into an eternall condition of happiness or misery 't is an universal change all persons must pass under this flaming Sword That Statute Law Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return will Gen. 3. 18. sooner or later take hold on all mortals and therefore it highly concerns us to prepare for death And thus I have shewn you these Lessons that you are to learn by the Rod. The Lord grant that your souls may fall under those fresh those choice those full and those constant influences and communications of his holy Spirit as may enable you to take out those twenty Lessons that I have laid open before you I confess the Epistle is large but do but consider your own conditions and the present dispensations under which we are cast then I suppose you will not call it by the name of a tedious Epistle Dear Friends the following discourse on Closet-prayer I heartily recommend to your serious perusal I have many reasons to hope that when you have once read it over you will be more in love with Closet-prayer than ever that you will set a higher price upon Closet-prayer than ever that you will make a better and fuller improvement of Closet-prayer than ever yet you have done Consider what I say in my Epistle to the Reader labour so to manage this little Treatise that now I put into your hands that God may be glorified your own souls edified comfored encouraged in the wayes of the Lord and that you may be my Crown and joy in the great day of our Lord Jesus So 1 Thes 2. 19 20. wishing that the good will of him that dwelt in the bush may abide upon you and yours for ever I take leave and rest Dear Friends Your souls servant in our Dear Lord Jesus THOMAS BROOKS TO THE READER Christian Reader THe Epistle Dedicatory being occasionally so large I shall do little more than give thee the grounds and reasons of sending forth this little piece into the World especially in such a day as this is Now my reasons are these First Because God by his present dispensations calls more loudly for Closet-prayer now than he hath done in those last twenty years that are now past over our heads See more of this in the 16. Argument for Closet-prayer pag. 103 to p. 108. Secondly Because I have several reasons to fear that many Christians do not clearly nor fully understand the necessity excellency and usefulness of this subject and that many O that I could not say any live in too great a neglect of this indispensible duty and that more than a few for want of light erre in the very practice of it Thirdly For the refreshing support and encouragement of all those Churches of Christ that walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost c. especially that particular Church to whom I stand related Fourthly To preserve and keep up the power of Religion and Godliness both in mens houses hearts and lives The power of Religion and Godliness lives thrives or dies as Closet-prayer lives thrives or dies Godliness never rises to a higher pitch than when men keep closest to their Closets c. Fifthly Because Closet-prayer is a most sovereign Remedy a most precious Antidote of Gods own prescribing against the Plague that now rageth in the midst of us 1 Kings 8. 37 38 39 c. Sixthly Because every man is that really which he is secretly Never tell me how handsomly how neatly how bravely this or that man acts his part before others but tell me if thou canst how he acts his part before God in his Closet for the man is that certainly that he is secretly There are many that sweat upon the stage that are key-cold in their Closets Seventhly Though many worthies have done worthily upon all other parts of prayer yet there are none either of a former or later date that have fallen under my eye that have written any Treatise on this Subject I have not a little wondred that so many eminent Writers should pass over this great and princely duty of Closet-prayer either with a few brief touches or else in a very great silence If several Bodies of Divinity are consulted you will find that all they say clearly and distinctly as to Closet-prayer may be brought into a very narrow compass if not into a nut-shell I have also enquired of several old Disciples whether among all the thousand Sermons that they have heard in their dayes that ever they have heard one Sermon on Closet-prayer and they have answered No. I have also enquired of them whether ever they had read any Treatise on that Subject and they have answered No. And truly this hath been no small encouragement to me to make an offer of my mite and if this small attempt of mine shall be so blest as to provoke others that have better heads and hearts and hands than any I have to do Christ and his people more service in the handling of this choice point in a more copious way than what I have been able to reach unto I shall therein rejoyce Eighthly and lastly That favour that good acceptance and fair quarter that my other poor labours have found not onely in this Nation but in other Countryes also hath put me upon putting pen to paper once more and I hope that the good will of him that dwelt in the bush will rest upon this as it hath to the glory of free grace rested upon my former endeavers I could add other reasons but let these suffice Good Reader when thou art in thy Closet pray hard for a poor weak worthless worm that I may be found faithful and fruitful to the death that so at last I may receive a Crown of Life So wishing thee all happiness both in this lower and in that upper World I rest Thine in our Dear Lord Jesus THOMAS BROOKS Books printed and are to be sold by John Hancock at the first shop in Popes-head-Alley next to Cornhill NIne Books lately published by Mr. Thomas Brooks late Preacher of the Gospel at St. Margarets New Fish-street 1 Precious Remedies against Satans Devices Or Salve for Believers and Unbelievers sores being a Companion for those that are in Christ or

and his prevailing by praying Prayers and tears are not only very pleasing to God but also very prevalent with God And thus you see that this great instance of Jacob speaks out aloud the prevalency of private prayer See another instance of this in David Psal 6. 6 8 9. I am weary groanings all the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my tears These are all excessive figurative speeches to set forth the greatness of his sorrow and the multitude of his tears David in his retirement makes the place of his sin viz. his Bed to be the place of his repentance David sins privately upon his bed and David mourns privately upon his bed Every place which we have polluted by sin we should sanctifie and water with our tears Vers 8. Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping As blood hath a voice and as the rod hath a voice so tears have a voice tears have tongues and tears can speak There is no noise to that that tears in secret make in the ears of God A prudent indulgent Father can better pick out the wants and necessities of his Children by their secret tears than by their loud complaints by their weeping than by their words and do you think that God can't do as much Tears are not alwayes Mutes Cry aloud saith one not with thy tongue but with thy eyes Lam. 2. 18. not with thy words but with thy tears for that is the prayer that maketh the most forcible entry into the ears of the great God of Heaven Penitent tears are undeniable Ambassadors that never return from the Throne of Grace without a gracious answer Tears are a kind of silent prayers which though they say nothing yet they obtain pardon and though they plead not a mans cause yet they obtain mercy at the hands of God As you see in that great instance of Peter who though he said nothing that we read of yet weeping bitterly he obtained mercy Mat. 26. 75. I have read of Augustine who coming as a Visitant to the house of a sick man he saw the room full of friends and kindred who were all silent yet all weeping the Wife sobbing the Children sighing the Kinsfolk lamenting all mourning whereupon Augustine uttered this short ejaculatory Prayer Lord What prayer dost thou hear if not these Vers 9. The Lord hath heard my supplication the Lord will receive my prayer God sometimes answers his people before they pray Isa 65. 24. And it shall come to passe that before they call I will answer And sometimes while they are praying so it follows in the same verse And while they are yet speaking I will hear So Isa 30. 19. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it he will answer thee And sometimes after they have prayed as the experiences of all Christians can testifie Sometimes God neither hears nor receives a prayer and this is the common case and lot of the wicked Prov. 1. 28. Job 27. 9. Isa 1. 15. Sometimes God hears the prayers of his people but doth not presently answer them as in that case of Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7 8 9. And sometimes God both hears and receives the prayers of his people as here he did Davids Now in this instance of David as in a glasse you may run and read the prevalency of private prayer and of secret tears You may take another instance of this in Jonah Jonah 2. 1 2 3 5 7 10. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and said I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of Hell cried I and thou heardest my voice For thou had'st cast me into the deep into the midst of the seas and the floods compassed me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me The waters compassed me about even to the soul the depth closed me round about the weeds were wrapt about my head When my soul fainted within me I remembred the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee into thy holy Temple And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land When Jonah was all alone and in the midst of many dangers and deaths when he was in the Whales belly yea in the belly of Hell so called because horrid and hideous deep and dismal yet then private prayer fetches him from thence Let a mans dangers be never so many nor never so great yet secret prayer hath a certain omnipotency in it that wil deliver him out of them all In multiplied afflictions private prayer is most prevalent with God In the very midst of drowning secret prayer will keep both head and heart above water Upon Jonahs private prayer God sends forth his Mandamus and the Fish serves Jonah for a ship to sail safe to shore When the case is even desperate yet then private prayer can do much with God Private prayer is of that power that it can open the doors of Leviathan as you see in this great instance which yet is reckoned as a thing not feasible Job 41. 14. Another instance of the prevalency of private prayer you have in that 2 Kings 4. 32 33 34 35. And when Elisha was come into the house behold the child was dead and laid upon his bed He went in therefore and shut the door upon them twain and prayer unto the Lord. Privacy is a good help to fervency in prayer And he went up and lay upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands and he stretched himself upon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warm Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro and went up and stretched himself upon him and the child neesed seven times and the child opened his eyes Oh the power the prevalency the omnipotency of private prayer that raises the dead to Life And the same effect had the private prayer of Elijah in raising the widows Son of Zarephath to life 1 Kings 17. 18 ult The great prevalency of Moses his Private prayers you may read in the following Scriptures Num. 11. 1 2. And when the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the Camp And the people cried unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched Moses by private prayer rules and over-rules with God he was so potent with God in private prayer that he could have what he would of God So Num. 21. 7 8 9. Psal 106. 23. Exo. 32. 9 10 11 12 13 14. Exo. 14. 15 16 17. The same you may see in Nehemiah Neh. 1. 11. compared with Neh. 2. 4 5