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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	see_v	time_n	5,907	5	3.3926	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42552	The mount of holy meditation: or a treatise shewing the nature and kinds of meditation the subject matter and ends of it; the necessity of meditation; together with the excellency and usefulnesse thereof. By William Gearing minister of the gospel at Lymington in the county of Southampton.	Gearing, William.	1662 (1662)	Wing G436B; ESTC R222671	88,628	217

with meditation they must meditate on that which is good and meditate upon truth Psal 2.1 lest they imagine a vain thing or meditate on heresie whereto all men by nature are prone which spreadeth it self so far 2 Tim. 2.17 and eateth a● doth a Gangreen 4. Meditation is an exercise that well becometh young men who are strong and vigorous Non sufficit operandi molestia nisi etiam accedat meditandi cogitandi considerandi ac deliberandi industria Musculus they are commanded to remember their Creatour in the dayes of their youth Eccles 12.1 In the morning of thy youth sow thy seed Eccles 11.6 And it may be observed that the wise man saith not in the years of thy youth but in the dayes of thy youth that is to cut off all occasions of delay Some idle headed Mathematician might have made an Almanack of it dividing it into four quarters allotting the first to idlenesse the second to wantonnesse the third to covetousnesse and the last if any to piety devotion and meditation but Solomon by requiring us to remember our Creatour in the dayes of our youth cuts off these idle divisions requiring the young man to spend the flower of his age in meditating on God Exod. 22.29 Exod. 24.19 L●v. 23.10 Under the Law the first-born and the first fruits were to be sanctified to the Lord they must offer a sheaf of the first fruits not an handfull of the gleanings let us not think if we offer the flower of our youth to the Devil God will be contented with the bran of our old age he that is Alpha and Omega will have the beginning of our age and the stren●th of our affections and meditations devoted to himself Every man should likewise be carefull that his children may be so brought up as they may be fit to present unto the Lord betimes as Samuel was whom his mother offered to the Lord very young and who ministred before the Lord in his side-coats 1 Sam. 1.28 They which plant do it in the spring time youth is the spring time of ou● age the fittest for holy meditation and as a new earthen Pot retaineth th● sent of that whereof it first took a tast● so the mind being seasoned with piou● meditations in youth Quò semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diù will ever kee● the savour thereof though for wan● of experience the daughter of time a young man cannot attain to tha● height of wisdome in act whereunto those of riper years are grown ye● notwithstanding if he daily meditat● on God and his Word he will every day adde some augmentation fo● now is he for vigour of mind and ability of body fittest to take pains and ablest to endure labour and study whereby wisdome is attained and increased by practice Wherewithall shal● a young man cleanse his way and b● brought to yeeld obedience to the Law o● God but by taking heed thereto according to the Word Psal 119.9 5. Meditation is an exercise for ol● men as well as young As for holy meditations wherewith the soul is ravished and transported above th● cloudes they require not grea● bodily strength but on the contrar● when the good old man cannot without great pain stir hand or foot and lies bed-red he comforteth and cheareth u● his spirit with divine meditations fitting to his age Mons Goulart Viell and while debaucht and wicked wretches confound themselves in sinfull delights and carnall pleasures he is privately conversant with God gives great attention to him inwardly speaking unto him as one well observeth what though a holy man for age hath lost his bodily sight yet then may the eyes of his soul be opened to behold the wonderfull mysteries of heavenly knowledge the soul can then penetrate and enquire into things that be divine when the eye of the body is shut and seeth nothing with this Anthony the Hermit Sozom. l. 3 c. 14 said to Didymus the blind man of Alexandria a very devout and holy person and of singular learning as Sozomen reports of him Thou oughtst not friend Didymus to hold it grievous to have lost thy sight which Mice Linxes and other bruit beasts have very quick and piercing but rather to be glad and judge thy condition happy that thou hast eyes like the eyes of the holy Angels by whose help thou beholdest the Lord and dost perfectly see and discern the causes of his works What is the cause of the impatience and waywardnesse of many old men but this that they have forgotten those many and great favours which God hath bestowed upon them having mercifully drawn them out of their mothers belly tenderly brought them up protected them from infinite dangers upon the meditation whereof they will have great cause to praise God at all times as David exhorteth them by his example in the 34 71 and 1 18 Psalms Sect. 2. That meditation is constantly to be practised Now as meditation is to be practised by persons of all ranks and ages whatsoever so we are to be constant in it it is the character of a godly man that he meditateth in the Law o● God and exerciseth himself therein da● and night Psal 1.2 which must b● understood either literally and naturally for the presence and absence o● the Sun in our Hemisphere as Gen 1.16 or else morally for the time of prosperity and adversity as 2 Kings 7.19 Luke 2.11 in youth and age in all estates and conditions of this life as before hath been noted this duty ought every one to practise day by day without intermission no time so well spent as that Quocunque Deum nòn cogitaver is pura te tempus illud perdid sse Cassiodor in Psalm what time soever thou hast spent not thinking of God or godlinesse think that time but lost saith Cassiodorus this meditation so it be of good matters is an exceeding good companion it is as Tully said of friendship nunquam intempestiva nunquam otiosa never untimely never out of season or troublesome if we accustome our selves to it we may say as Scipio that we are nunquàm minùs otiosi quàm cùm otiosi nec minùs soli quàm cùm soli never lesse idle than when free from businesse and never lesse solitary than when we are alone and by our selves but this caveat at must alwayes be remembred viz. that we meditate on good matters as David speaks Quod animo insculptum est nisi cum vitâ eripi nòn potest Gass Severus Psal 45.1 for if by continuall meditation we make a deep impression of evil things on our minds we may say as Cassius Severus that what is printed on the mind is not easily extinguisht while life lasteth and therefore when his Books were burnt by the command of the Senate he is reported to have said Nùnc restat ut ipse comburerer qui ipsos edidici Now it remaineth that I also be burnt who have learnt them by

likewise did much affect Luther viz. that in doubts of predestination we should begin from the wounds of Christ that is from the sense of God's love to us in Christ therefore the warming of the brains in study without the warming the heart by meditation is but a dead and cold speculation serious meditation puts lively colours upon common truths which operate strongly upon the heart to make it better Chap. 8. Of the subject of Meditation Sect. 1. Of medita●ion on the works of God I now proceed to discusse the subject-matter of meditation first subject ●editation works of 〈◊〉 and here I am launching into a great Ocean but like the dogs of Nilus I shall but lick and away The first subject of meditation is God's works of Creation a fit matter for our serious meditations I remember the dayes of old saith David I meditate on all thy works I muse on the work of thy hands Psal 145.5 He looketh up to the Heavens and considereth the work of God's fingers meditating on all those works that were visible to the eye of man ●al 102.25 Psal 8.3 called elsewhere the work of his hands Isa 48.13 My hand hath laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand hath spanned the Heavens it is for that they are of such excellency as if they had been his handywork indeed which yet were made by his word only as Moses and St John do declare Gen. 1.6 Joh. 1.3 That great advancer of learning hath an excellent passage suitable hereunto Sr Francis B●con's advanc●ment of lear●ing l. 1. p. 27 It is to be observed saith he that for any thing which appeareth in the History of the Creation the confused masse and matter of Heaven and earth was made in a moment and the order and disposition of that Chaos or mass was the work of six dayes such a note of difference it pleased God to put upon the works of power and the works of wisdome wherewith concurreth that in the former it is not set down that God said Let there be Heaven and earth as it is set down of the works following but actually that God made Heaven and earth the one carrying the stile of a Manufaction the other of a Law Decree or Councell It is not enough that we barely look on the works of God but we must meditate upon them for if we do no more than see them the Oxe the Bull and the Horse do as much as we If we see nothing in the Heavens Dearing Heb. Lect. 5. c. 1. vers 10. saith a grave Divine but that they are lightsome and above our reach the Horse and Mule see this as well as we if we see nothing in the earth but a place to walk in or to take our rest upon it the beasts and fouls see this as well as we if we see nothing in our gorgeous apparell but the pride of a goodly colour the Peacock seeth that in his feathers if in all our refreshment from the creatures we know nothing but the pleasure and sweetnesse of our sense the Swine hath as great a share herein as we if hearing seeing smelling tasting feeling be all the comfort we can find in the works of God the dumb creatures have these senses more exquisite than we and we have turned the hearts of men into the hearts of beasts who with wisdome and reason can do nothing ● Isidor ●usiot l. 2. ●st 135. and the words of the Prophet are fulfilled in us Man being in honour understandeth not and is like the beasts that perish Psal 49.20 therefore the sight of God's works must affect us more than so else shall we be but as the beasts and follow them Now you are to meditate how God brought forth all his works in the space of six dayes before he finisht them he did not create the world all at once but took time for the Creation of it to teach us to take speciall time duely and orderly to consider and meditate on the works of God if he that could have made the Heavens and the earth the Sun Moon and Stars and all creatures in a moment yet it pleased him to take time for the creating of them this should teach us to select some space of time for the meditation of them we must not think it enough to look upon them at one view but to passe from part to part from one creature to another and in every creature to admire the workmanship power wisdome and goodnesse of the Creatour as we are taught Psal 92.4 5. Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works and I will triumph in the works of thy hands O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep a bruitish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this which Psalm as the Title tells us was a meditation penned for the Sabbath day therefore I say God would spend six dayes about the Creation of the world whereas he might have done it in an instant and in a moment of time to the end that we might the better meditate upon it from point to point for which purpose he presently ordained the Sabbath Thus Job Job 36.24 tells us that we must not idly behold the work ●upellex or●ata hominem ●guit mun●us Deum ●inut Faelix ●ctav but must magnifie the workman Remember that thou magnifie his work which men behold this we will do coming into the Shop of an excellent Artizan The eternall power and Godhead is seen by the things that are made but most of us have great cause to be ashamed that we have spent so little time in meditating on the works of God yea who can truly say he hath spent so much time in meditating on God's works as God spent in making them how few are there that have set apart so much time ever since they were born as if it were all laid together will make up six dayes one entire week what a shame is it for man whom God made on purpose to view his works ●ria sunt ge●era meditati●num unum ● creaturis ●num in Scri●turis unum ●n moribus ●rimum surgit ex admiratione secundum ex lectione ●ertium ex circumspectione Hug. medit and by them to glorifie him not to spend so much time in meditating upon them as God spent in making of them therefore we have great cause to become more carefull and studious readers of this great Book of nature for time to come There is a threefold Book into which a Christian is to make inspection The Book of nature or of the creatures The Book of the Scriptures The Book of conscience The Book of the creatures hath a powerfull conviction meditate upon it and observe God's power or thou art an Atheist The Book of the Scriptures hath a power of conversion meditate on it and learn the will of God out of it so to serve him or thou art an hypocrite The Book of