Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	great_a	know_v	5,049	5	3.5427	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29676	Apples of gold for young men and vvomen, and a crown of glory for old men and women. Or, The happiness of being good betimes, and the honour of being an old disciple Clearly and fully discovered, and closely, and faithfully applyed. Also the young mans objections answered, and the old mans doubts resolved. By Thomas Brooks preacher of the gospel at Margarets new Fishstreet-hill.	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1657 (1657)	Wing B4922A; ESTC R214145	141,163	402

your time the offers of Grace your precious souls and eternity c. surely you cannot surely you dare not if you do but in good earnest ponder upon the shortness of mans life It is recorded of Philip King of Macedon that he gave a pension to one to come to him every day at dinner and to cry to him memento te esse mortalem Remember thou art but mortal Ah! Young men and old had need bee often put in mind of their mortality they are too apt to forget that day yea to put farre from them the thoughts of that day I have read of three that could not endure to hear that bitter word death mentioned in their ears and surely this age is full of such monsters And as the life of man is very short so it is very uncertain now well now sick alive this hour and dead the next Death doth not always give warning before hand sometimes hee gives the mortal blow suddenly hee comes behind with his dart and strikes a man at the heart before hee saith have I found thee O my enemy Eutichus fell down dead suddenly Act. 20.19 Death suddenly arested Davids Sons and Jobs Sons Petrach telleth of one who being invited to dinner the next day enswered Ego a multis annis crastinum non habui I have not had a morrow for this many years Augustus dyed in a complement Galba with a sentence Vespasian with a jest Zeuxes dyed laughing at the picture of an old woman which hee drew with his own hand Sophocles was choaked with the stone in a Grape D●odorus the Logician dyed for shame that hee could not answer a joculary question propounded at the Table by Stilpo Joannes Measius preaching upon the raising of the woman of Naims sonne from the dead within three houres after dyed himself Ah! Young men and women have you not cause great cause to bee good betimes for death is sudden in his approaches nothing more sure than death and nothing more uncertain than life therefore know the Lord betimes turn from your sinnes betimes lay hold on the Lord and make peace with him betimes that you may never say as Caesar Borgias said when hee was sick to death when I lived said hee I provided for every thing but death now I must dye and am unprovided to dye c. The Eleventh Reason Why young persons should bee really good betimes and that is because t is ten to one nay a hundred to ten if ever they are converted if they are not converted when they are young God usually begins with such betimes Hos 11.1 When Israel was a child then I loved him c. that hee hath had thoughts of love and mercy towards from everlasting the instances cited to prove the Doctrin confirms this argument and if you look abroad in the world you shall hardly finde one Saint among a thousand but dates his conversion from the time of his youth 'T was the young ones that got through the wilderness into Canaan If the Tree do not bud and blossome and bring forth fruit in the Spring Numb 26.64 it is commonly dead all the year after An Hebrew Doctor observes that of those six hundred thousand that went out of Egypt there were but two persons that entered Canaan if in the spring and morning of your daies you do not bring forth fruit to God it is a hundred to one that ever you bring forth fruit to him when the evil dayes of old age shall overtake you wherein you shall say you have no pleasure For as the Son of Syrach observes if thou hast gathered nothing in thy youth Eccles 25.5 what canst thou finde in thy age t is rare very rare that God sows and reaps in old age usually God sows the seed of grace in youth it yeelds the harvest of joy in age Though true repentance be never too late yet late repentance is seldome true Millions are now in Hell who have pleased themselves with the thoughts of after repentance The Lord hath made a promise to late repentance but where hath he made a promise of late repentance yea what can bee more just and equal Pro. 1.24 32. that such should seek and not finde who might have found but would not seek and that hee should shut his ears against their late prayers who have stopt their ears against his early calls The Ancient warriours would not accept an old man into their army as being unfit for service and dost thou think that God will accept of thy dry bones when Satan hath suckt out all the marrow What Lord what Master will take such into their service who have all their dayes served their enemies and will God will God The Circassians a kinde of Mongrel Christians are said to divide their life betwixt sin and devotion Breerw Enqui dedicating their youth to rapine and their old age to repentance if this bee thy case I would not bee in thy case for ten thousand worlds I have read of a certain great man Beda hath this story that was admonished in his sickness to repent who answered that hee would not repent yet for if hee should recover his companions would laugh at him but growing sicker and sicker his friends pressed him again to repent but then hee told them that it were too late Quia jam judicatus sum condemnatus for now said hee I am judged and condemned The twelfth and last Reason why young men should bee really good betimes and that is because else they will never attain to the honour of being old disciples It is a very great honour to bee an old Disciple Now this honour none reach to but such as are converted betimes but such as turn to the Lord in the spring and morning of their youth It is no honour for an old man to bee in coats What more ridiculous than puer contum annorum a child of an hundred years old nor for an old man to bee a babe in grace An A. B. C. old man is a sad and shameful sight O but it is a mighty honour to a man when hee is old that hee can date his conversion from the morning of his youth Now that it is an honour to bee an old Disciple I shall prove by an induction of particulars As It is an honour to bee an old Disciple First All men will honour an old Disciple A Crown is a very glorious thing but there are but few of them Prov. 16.31 The hoary head is a Crown of glory if it bee found in the way of Righteousness God requires that the aged should bee honoured Levit. 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man the old man here is by some expounded the wise man and fear thy God I am the Lord. Hoariness is only honourable when found in a way of Righteousness a white head accompanied with a holy heart makes a man

a dream can you seriously consider of this young men and not begin to bee good betimes surely you cannot Sirs if the whole earth whereupon wee tread were turned into a lump of gold it were not able to purchase one minute of time Oh the regreetings of the damned for mis-spending precious time Who is there among us that knows how to value time and prize a day at a due rate Sen. Epist Oh what would they not give to bee free and to injoy the means of grace one hour Ah with what attention with what intention with what trembling and melting of heart with what hungring and thirsting would they hear the Word Time saith Bernard were a good commodity in hell and the traffick of it most gainful where for one day a man would give ten thousand worlds if he had them young men can you in good earnest beleeve this and not begin to be good betimes Ah! young men and women as you love your precious immortal souls A heathen said hee lived no day without a line that is he did something remarkable every day as you would escape hell and come to heaven as you would bee happy in life and blessed in death and glorious after death don't spend any more of your precious time in drinking and drabing in carding dicing and dancing don't trifle away your time don't swear away your time don't whore away your time don't lye away your time but beginne to bee good betimes because Time is a Talent that God will reckon with you for Ah! young men and women you may reckon upon years many years yet to come when possibly you have not so many hours to make ready your accompts it may bee this night you may have a summons and then if your time bee done and your work to be begunne in what a sad case will you bee will you not wish that you had never been born Seneca was wont to jeer the Jews for their ill husbandry in that they lost one day in seven meaning their Sabbath O that it were not too true of the most of professors both young and old that they loose not onely one day in seven but several days in seven Sirs Time let slip cannot bee recal'd the foolish Virgins found it so and Saul found it so and Herod found it so Mat. 25.5 Judg. 3.23 Heb. 3.17 18 19. and Nero found it so the Israelites found it so yea and Jacob and Josiah and David though good men yet they found it so to their cost The Egyptians draw the picture of Time with three heads the first of a greedy Wolf gaping for time past because it hath ravenously devoured the memory of so many things past recalling The Second of a crowned Lyon roaring for time present because it hath the principallity of all actions for which it calls loud The Third of a deceitfull Dogg fawning for time to come because it feeds some men with many flattering hopes to their eternal undoing Ah! young men and women as you would give up your accounts at last with joy concerning this Talent of time with which God hath trusted you begin to be good betimes c. The fifth Reason Why young men should bee really good betimes and that is because they will have the greater comfort and joy when they come to bee old Seneca though a Heathen could say beleeve me true joy is no light thing the 71 Psalm 5. 17 18. compapared Thou art my hope O Lord God thou art my trust from my youth O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto I have declared thy wondrous works Now also when I am old and gray headed O God forsake mee not untill I have shewed thy strength unto this Generation and thy power unto every one that is to come Polycarpus could say when old thus many years have I served my Master Christ and hitherto hath hee dealt well with mee if early converts live to bee old no joy to their joy their joy will bee the greatest joy a joy like to the joy of harvest Isa 9.3 a joy like to their joy that divide the spoil their joy will bee the soundest joy the weightiest joy the holiest joy the purest joy the strongest joy and the most lasting joy the carnal joy of the wicked the glistering golden joy of the world-ling and the flashing joy of the hypocrite is but as the crackling of thorns under a pot to the joy and comfort of such who when old can say with good Obadiah that they feared the Lord from their youth If when you are young your eyes shall bee full of tears for Sinne when you are old your hearts shall bee full of joys Such shal have the best wine at last Oh! that young men would beginne to bee good betimes that so they may have the greater harvest of joy when they come to be old c. t is sad to be sowing your seed when you should be reaping your harvest t is best to gather in the summer of youth against the winter of old age The Sixth Reason Why young men should bee really good betimes and that is because an eternity of felicity and glory hangs upon those few moments that are allotted to them it was a good question the young man propoposed Luk. 10.25 what shall I do to inherit eternal life I know I shall bee eternally happy or eternally miserable eternally blest or eternally cur'st eternally sav'd or eternally damn'd c. O what shall I do to inherit eternal life my cares my fears Aeteruitas est semper et immutabile esse The old Romans were our that thought Eternity dwelt in Statues and in Marble monuments my troubles are all about eternity no time can reach eternity no age can extend to eternity no tongue can express eternity Eternity is that unum perpetuum hodie one perpetual day which shall never have end what shall I do what shall I not do that I may bee happy to all eternity I am now young and in the flower of my days but who knows what a day may bring forth the greatest weight hangs upon the smallest wyers an eternity depends upon those few hours I am to breath in this world O what cause have I therefore to bee good betimes to know God betimes to beleeve betimes to repent betimes to get my peace made and my pardon seal'd betimes to get my nature changed my conscience purged and my interest in Christ cleared betimes before eternity overtakes mee before my glass bee out my Sun set my race run least the dark night of eternity should overtake mee and I made miserable for ever I have read of one Myrogenes who when great gifts were sent unto him hee sent them all back again saying I onely desire this one thing at your Masters hand to pray for mee that I may be saved for eternity O that all young men and women who make earth their heaven Luk. 15.19 20 pleasures

shall cease from breathing on earth and therefore young men as you would bee high in heaven as you would have a great reward a full reward a massie weighty Crown O labour to be good betimes labour to get acquaintance with the Lord and an interest in the Lord in the spring and morning of your days The seventh Motive or consideration to provoke and incite you to bee good betimes is to consider that the Lord is very much affected and taken with your seeking of him and following after him in the spring and morning of your youth Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying I remember thee Jer. 2.2 the kindness of thy Youth the love of thine esspousals when thou wentest after mee in the wildernesse in a land that was not sown Ah! how kindly how sweetly did the Lord take this at their hands that they followed him in their youth while their bones were full of marrow while they were strong and fit for service while nature was fresh lively and vigorous In the Law God called for the first of all things Exod. 23.19 hee required not only the first fruits but the very first of the first The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God God is the first being the first good and therefore deserves the first of the first and the best of the best T is truely said of God that he is Omnia su per omnia the first and the best is not too good for him who is goodness it self God in that of Leviticus 2.14 is so passionately set upon having the first of the first that he will not stay till the green ears of Corn be ripe but will have the green ears of corn dryed in the fire least he should loose his longing As many young women and sickly children cannot stay till the fruit be ripe but must have it while it is green even so saith God my heart my desires are so vehemently set upon the first fruits the first things that I cannot stay I cannot satisfie my self without them and what would God teach us by all this but to serve him with the first-fruits of our age the prim-rose of our child-hood the morning of our youth God hath given you of the best do not put him off with the worst with the worst of your time the worst of your days the worst of your strength least he swear in his wrath that you shall never enter into his rest The eighth Motive or Consideration to provoke you to bee good betimes to seek and serve the Lord in the morning of your youth is Early Converts will never have cause to say as that despairing Pope said the Cross could do him no good because he had so often sold it away to consider that this may bee a special means to prevent many black temptations and an encouragement to withstand all temptations that you may meet with from a tempting Devil and a tempting World an early turning to the Lord will prevent many temptations to despair many temptations to neglect the means openly to despise the means secretly many temptations about the being of God the goodnesse faithfulnesse truth and justice of God temptations to despair temptations to lay violent hands on a mans self temptations to question all that God hath said and that Christ hath suffered arises many times from mens delaying and putting off of God to the last all which with many others are prevented by a mans seeking and serving of the Lord in the spring and morning of his youth It is reported of the Harts of Scythia that they teach their young ones to leap from bank to bank from rock to rock from one turfe to another by leaping before them by which means when they are hunted no beast of prey can ever take them so when persons exercise themselves in godliness when they are young when they leap from one measure of holiness to another when they are in the morning of their days Satan that mighty hunter after souls may pursue them with his temptations Heb. 11 Gen. 39 Dan. 31. ult but hee shall not overtake them he shall not prevail over them As you see in Moses Joseph Daniel and the three children these knew the Lord and gave up themselves to the Lord in the prime and Prime-rose of their Youth and these were all temptation-proof Satan and the World pursued them but could not overtake them when the Devill and the World had done their worst the young mens bows abode in strength Gen. 49.23 24 and their hands to resist were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob Ego non sum ego said that young convert when tempted I am not the man that I was Luther tells of a young Virgin that used to resist all temptations with this Christianus sum I am a Christian Early Converts may say when tempted as hee tell mee not Satan what I have been but what I am and will bee or as hee in the like case whatsoever I was Bernard Beza I am now in Christ a new creature and that is it which troubleth thee or as hee Augustin Such as thou art now I was once but such as I am now thou wilt never be said Diogenes to a base fellow that told him he had once been a forger of money the more desperate my disease was the more I admire the Physitian Yea thou mayest yet strain it a peg higher and say the greater my sins were the greater is my honor As the Devils which once Mary Magdalen had are mentioned for her glory when Pyrrhus tempted Fabritius the first day with an Elephant so huge and monstrous a beast as before hee had not seen the next day with money and promises of honour hee answered I fear not thy force I am too wise for thy fraud Ah! Young men Young men as you would be free from the saddest and darkest temptations and as you would be armed against all temptations O labour as for life to be good betimes seek and serve the Lord in the morning of your Youth no way like this for the preventing earthquakes heart-quakes stormy days and winter nights c. The ninth Motive or Consideration to stir up young men to be good betimes to seek and serve the Lord in the spring and morning of their youth is to consider the worth and excellency of souls A soul is a spiritual immortal substance Luk. 23.43 Mat. 10.28 Act. 7. ult it is capable of the knowledge of God it is capable of union with God of communion with God Phil. 1.23 and of a blessed and happy fruition of God Christ left his fathers bosome for the good of souls Heb. 2.13 14 15 16 he assumed mans nature for the salvatition of mans soul Christ prayed for souls he sweat for souls he wept for souls hee bled for souls Isa 63.3 4 he hung on