Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	holy_a	young_a	youth_n	24	3	7.9606	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41017	Thrēnoikos the house of mourning furnished with directions for the hour of death ... delivered in LIII sermons preached at the funerals of divers faithfull servants of Christ / by Daniel Featly, Martin Day, John Preston, Ri. Houldsworth, Richard Sibbs, Thomas Taylor, doctors in divinity, Thomas Fuller and other reverend divines.	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1660 (1660)	Wing F595; ESTC R30449	896,768	624

know this there is the cooling-card that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment In the words we will consider two parts First what young men do Secondly the Medicine of God to heal young men of their default That that young men do is this They give over themselves to an inordinate carnal Joy This Joy is set out from the time of it the dayes of their youth From the cause of it their hearts chear them From the kinds of it they walk in the wayes of their hearts and after the sight of their eyes Secondly the Medicine with which Solomon would heal young men of this inordinate carr●…al Joy is this Know saith he that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment that is it is a most divine and infallible truth that every one should know and acknowledg that whatsoever sins they commit in their youth without repentance they must undergo the dreadful Judgment of God because of them Thus as briefly as I can I have opened the words unto you Though I might insist on many doctrines yet not witstanding I will only handle these two The first shall be that which ariseth from the first part of the Text what young men do what their fault is For as I said it is an Ironnical concession not declaring what young men should do but what they do The doctrine is thus much That it is the sin of young men to rejoyce inordinately and carnally in the dayes of their youth to walk after their hearts and the sight of their eyes We read concerning the old world that they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage altogether sottish and sensual till the wrath of God came in the flood and swept them away Now lest any should suppose that this were the fault of old age only the Scripture sheweth that all flesh had corrupted their way before God Gen. 6.11 Isa 22.14 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die It is thought by learned Divines that this speech was not so much the language of Age as of the youth in Israel Hence Solomon giveth a caveat to the young man Eccles 12.1 to bridle and restrain him from his jollity and carnal mirth Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth while the evil day come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them And the Apostle Saint Paul 1 Tim. 2.22 instructeth Timothy to flie the lusts of youth that is in carnal pleasures and pastimes in voluptuousness and sensuallity and the like And Tit. 2.6 Exhort young men that they be sober minded that is that they leave this drunkenness of understanding in being overcome with sensual carnal objects and pleasures Job in the first Chapter of that book when the young people his Suns and Daughters met together to feast he was afraid lest they should be misguided in this kind therefore the holy man in a godly care and thoughtfulness for their welfare sacrificed to God to make attonement for their sin Let us a little consider the reasons of this Doctrine whence it is that young men should be so much misguided in their youth The first cause is natural corruption that they have drawn by propagation from their Parents A spiritual leprosie and maladie and disease which as it prevaileth for the most part against age by covetousness so it getteth ground of youth by sensuallity and voluptuousness This dams up the eare against reproose this hardens the heart against instruction and makes many young men the souldiers of Sathan in sin Again in the second place Men in their youth forget the day of their reckoning and Judgment they are not mindful of their latter end Deut. 32.22 Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end This Precept is neglected both by youth and age but especially by those of younger yeares For they feele their bloud run warm in their veins and they are full of spirits and vigour therefore they suppose that the Grave and the house of darkness is far off from them Again in the third place Young men are not broken by afflictions the fallow ground is not poughed up by the pressures of afflictons which through the grace of God are great means to tame nature and to subdue the pride of it and to bring it to a right frame and temper Before I was afflicted faith David I went a stray And Ephraim faith of himself Jer. 31. I was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoak thou chastisest me and I was chastised I was ashamed because I bore the reproach of my youth But young men are free from aches and pains and sickness and sorrow much more then old age and this is the reason why they are more licentious Lastly young men want true joy in God therefore they betake themselves to carnal joy For sure it is that a man cannot live without joy and contentment if he have it not from the Wells of salvation he will drink it out of watery and slimy places Now because men in their youth cannot take in the spiritual joy of that clear fountain therefore they drink in the muddy waters of carnall joy The use of this point is in the first place an Admonition to all young men to take notice of these maladies and spiritual diseases in themselves The first degree of our healing is to see that we are sick and till then Christ Jesus the Physitian of our souls hath no commission to do us good Let young men observe in themselves first their carnal joy Solomon here sheweth that they rejoyce inordinately This may appear to them first because they rejoyce not where they ought they solace not themselves in God in whom is the fountain of joy nor in Christ Jesus in whom is the spring of joy nor in the sacred Word where there is the Cistern of Joy Even as a bone when it is out of joynt out of its place it must needs be a disordered bone so the affections when they are misplaced are disordered and then our Joy and any other affection are misplaced when they are not set upon God and Christ Now if young men would deal uprightly with themselves they should perceive that for the most part in their jollity and merriment they never think of God or dream of the world to come Nay the serious apprehension of God Almighty would quench their joy and make it altogether put out Secondly the carnalness of the joy of young men appeareth because they rejoyce where they ought not in riot in drunkenness in surfeiting in voluptuousness many times in obscenity of words and phrases in making jeasts of the word of God in deriding their superiours behind their backs As Solomon faith of laughter thou art mad so we may say of this merriment it is

men oft rejoyce they are prudent and wise And you see that this is a vain thing In the second place if a young man rejoyce in his honour and credit amongst men this also is vain Solomon hath shewed it Eccles 2.16 He declareth to us that all the honour of the world will end in oblivion there is saith he no remembrance of the wise more then of the fool for ever for that which now is in the dayes to come shall be forgotten and how dieth the wise man as the fool Again if a man rejoyce in honour and much glory he cannot beleeve so faith Christ John 5.44 How can you beleeve since you seek honour one of another and not the honour that cometh of God only And it is noted to be the reason why many of the chief Rulers that beleeved on Christ did not confesse him without which faith cannot be unfeigned because they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God John 10.43 Nay further the Apostle sheweth us that this is the cause of envy Gal. 5.26 Be not desirous of vain-glory envying one another Envy is a vexing affection this vain-glory is the cause of this envy whereby we shall pine away when we see the happiness and welfare of our brethren Further if young men delight in pleasures which is the common course of youth these also are vain things I said in my heart saith Solomon Eccles 2.2 Go to now I will prove thee with mirth therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanity Kings that have had the greatest wisdome to invent them and the greatest leisure to use them yet they never found full contentment in the same I made me saith he vers 4. great works I builded me houses I planted me vineyards I made me gardens and orchards and planted trees in them of all kind of fruits I made me pools of water I got me servants and maidens also I had great possessions of great and small cattel above all that were in Jerusalem before me I got me men-singers and women-singers and the delights of the sons of men as musicall instruments of all sorts Here were the pleasures of Solomon But vers 11. Behold saith he I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sun The wise Solomon that had been trying every creature whether it had any thing in it that might give him a true rellish profest that there was no profit under the Sun Yet further these pleasures shall cease there shall be an end of them 1 Cor. 7.29 The time is short it remaineth that those that have wives be as though they had none they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not they that buy as though they possessed not they that use the world as not abusing of it for the fashion of this world passeth away Lastly our Saviour Christ in Luke 8.14 sheweth that the pleasures of this life choak the word of God that it cannot bring forth grateful fruit to God Fourthly if young men delight in riches and rejoyce in their estates that God that given them this likewise is a vain thing For first many times wealth is gotten by deceit and then God bloweth on it Jer. 5.27 As a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit therefore they are become great and waxen rich shall not I visit for these things saith the Lord and shall net my soul be avenged on such people as this Again wealch is kept with much sorrow Eccles 5.12 The sleep of the labouring man is sweet whether he eate little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep Thirdly wealth is lost with a great deal of sorrow and vexation Rev. 18.18 when the smoak of Babylon ascended up to heaven Oh what lamencation there was they cryed out What city is like unto this great city and they cost dust on their heads and cryed weeping and wailing saying Alas alas that great city wherein were made rich all that had shipps in the sea by reason of her costliness for in one hour is she made desolate But suppose further that a man should get and keep his wealth in the fear of God yet these things are most uncertain as the Apostle faith 2 Tim. 1.16 Charge them that are rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches Lastly these riches cannot preserve our life so faith Christ himself Luke 12.25 Take heed and beware of Covetousness for no mans life is preserved by the abundance of that he possesseth In the last place If young men rejoyce in friends and Allies this also is a vain thing For Psal 62.9 The man of low degree is vanity and the man of high degree is a lie to be laid in the ballance they are lighter then vanity Again no friend can deliver us from Death Psal 49.7.8 No man can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransome for him for the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever that he should still live for ever and not see corruption Thus I have shewed several things that young men rejoyce in and have shewed likewise that their joy is founded upon vanity upon nothing And this is the second means to heal young men of the inordinateness of their Joy to meditate with themselves how vain and frivolous all things are that they delight in The third means is to betake themselves to seek spiritual joy The well-head of this Joy is God whom the Scripture calleth the God of cousolation The instrument to convey this Joy is Faith Rom. 5.1 Being jnstified by faith we have peace with God The grounds of this Joy are twofold First the good things exhibited Secondly the good things promised The good things exhibited That God hath written our names in the book of life Here is the fountaine of spiritual joy to a true Christian Rejoyce saith Christ not that the divels are fallen before you but that your names are written in the book of life Secondly the other ground of spiritual joy is the good things promised us And those may be reduced to two heads God hath made promises either in regard of evil things as we call them of afflictions that befall us Or the weakness of the graces that are in us Now in the evil of Affliction we may rejoyce first In the promise of protection in affliction 2. In the promise of Edification by affliction 3. In the promise of deliverence from affliction All in the best season Again for the defects of grace in us which indeed is a thing exceeding grievous to a true Christian Here we may rejoyce First In the promise of preserving of grace 2. In the promise of augmentation and

of doing holy duties Would you be found praying pefunctorily and carelesly Would you be found coming to the Sacrament unprepared What though you do holy actions that are good for the matter would you be found doing of them with unfit and unprepared hearts You see what the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 11. For this cause many are sick and weak and many sleep they slept they were dead for this even because they came unworthily to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Would you therefore be found doing of holy duties and not in a right manner The serious consideration of this that Death is the end of all men with the particular application of it to a mans selfe that as it is the state of all men so it is mine in particular I must die and I may die now it hath an influence into all the actions of a mans life To conclude In the last place This point is of use to us also in the death of others First to moderate the mourning of Christians for the death of others Why It is the end of all men it is that that is the common condition of all men it should not be too grievous not too doleful to any man We would not have our freinds to be in another condition in their birth then others we would not have them have more fingers or more members then a man and would we have them have more dayes Let this serve as a brief touch upon that Secondly it teacheth us to make good use of our fellowship while we are together Not only we may die but those that are useful to us may die also let us make good use of one another while we live therefore This will make the death of others bitter and will be worse than the death and losse of our freinds the guilt upon a mans conscience that he hath not made that use of them while they were alive that he might have done let us therefore make the death of our freinds easie by making good use of them while they live It did smite the heart of those Ephesians that they should see the face of Paul no more specially above the rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them think you if they had alwayes hardned themselves against his ministry before Think with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian freind that husband and wife that parent and child a time of parting will come let us make it easie now by making good use of one another while we live that when freinds are took away we may have cause to thank God that we have had communion and confort of their fellowship and society the benefit of their graces the fruit of their lives and not sorrow for the want of them by death So much for that I come now to the second and principal reason why it is better to go to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting it is this because the living shall lay it to his heart What shall he lay to his heart That that is the end of all mèn he shall lay the death of all men to heart The point I observe from hence is thus much It is the dutie of those that live to lay to heart the death of others That is seriously ro consider and make use for themselves of the death of others You see the Text is clear for the point And there is good reason why it should be so First in respect of the glory that cometh to God Secondly in respect of the good that cometh to our selves by it First God is glorified by this when we lay to heart the death of others there is a dishonour to God to slight any of his actions this is one of Gods works in the world the death of men this is a thing wherein Gods hand is seen he saith to the sons of Adam Return The spirit returneth to God that gave it It is he that hath the power of life and death If a sparrow fall not to the ground without the providence of God much lesse the servants of God the precious ones upon the earth the excellent ones as David calleth them I say God is seen much in these works and it is a great dishonour to God when men do not consider the works of his hands David by the spirit of prophesie in Psal 28.5 wisheth a curse upon ungodly men and for this reason among the rest because they consider not the operation of his hands this is that that puts men into a curst estate and exposeth them to the wrath of God when they regard not the works of the Lord. The actions of Princes and great men upon earth every man considereth of them and weigheth them It is that wherein we give God the glory of his wisdome and of his truth of his power of his justice of his mercy of his soveraignty and dominion and Lordship over the whole earth when we labour to draw to a particular use to our selves the works of God in the world specially the death of men of all men good and bad for we must give it the same latitude and extent and scope that the Text doth here he speaks here of the death of men in general and he saith of all men that their death shall be laid to heart by the living Secondly as their is reason that we should take to heart the death of others in respect of the glory that cometh to God thereby so in respect of our selves also much benefit cometh to our selves by laying to heart the death of other men There be three special things considerable in the death of any one that is matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them Therein we see the Certainty of Death Therein we see the Nature of Death Therein we see the Cause End of Death First therein we see the certainty of death For now we have not only the word of God that tels us that we shall die but the works of God taking others before us that as the Sacraments are called visible instructions because they teach by the eye and the outward senses so the death of others are visible instructions to the living it teacheth by the eye a man is guided by the eye to see his own condition and as it were in a glasse there is represented to him his own state what we are they were once the time was that they converst with men as we do that they spake for Gods glory upon earth as we do and what they are now we shall be there will come a time when our works shall cease as theirs do when we shall be in the place of silence as they are I say it confirmeth to us the former certainty and assurance of our death when we see others fall before us And there is great profit and benefit that

and now will be finished in a time of Mortality certain And that there should be no part of correspondency wanting this latter part of the Verse is answerable to the former it is but the same again in other words In the former part there is mention of the righteous man here of the mercyful man they are both one In that he is said to perish here to be taken away they are both the same There No man is said to lay it to heart and here no man is said to consider it both the same So that look upon the whole both parts joyn together they walk on by pairs two and two as the living creatures into the Ark Male and Female The first pair sets forth to you the state and condition of a godly man he is righteous and merciful those are the male and female of Piety The second sets forth to you the state and condition of a dying man he perisheth and is taken away those are the Male and Female of death The third sets out the state and condition of a worldly man he layes it not to heart he never takes it into consideration those are the Male and Female of carnal security And that all the pairs should now be made up the former part was handled at the burial of a good old Man this latter now at the burial of an old and vertuous Gentlewoman those are the Male and Female of nature The former part that is a complaint that the Prophet made and so is the second and this second is set as a Commentary to the first this latter part is as Eve created as a help to Adam for every word in this latter helps to expound some word in the former The first word in the latter part t●… us of the merciful man that is the Exposition of the first word in the former part the righteous man Lest any man should make question who this righteous man was that the Prophet speaks of how we should know him and define him and find him find me a merciful man and he is truly a righteous man The second word in the latter part is taken away that hath reference to the second word in the former and it is a qualification of the harshness of the former there it is said The righteous man perisheth but lest any man should scandal at this word shall we think that he perisheth whose life is hid with Christ in God Shall the Scripture say that he perisheth whose name is in the bundle of life written in heaven To lay aside therefore the rigour of the word here is the Qualification he is taken away The third word of the latter hath reference to the third of the former too No man considereth it If any man ask the reason how it comes to pass that people should be without natural affection that they take it not to heart that they are not grieved for Joseph that they are not striken with any sense of their own losses what should be the reason of it The reason is in this word they take it not into consideration They trouble not their heads therefore not their hearts with it That it may make an aggravation of that They were so far from taking of it to heart that they never propounded it to the examination and scanning of their judgment they consider it not So every word in the latter part is serviceable to the first I shewed concerning the first part who this Righteous man is how great the dignation of the Spirit of God is that he will stile holy men that are so imperfect in holiness yet because of their holy endeavours to walk in the wayes of God blamelesly the Spirit stiles them Righteous men Secondly I shewed how this Righteous man is said to perish and it what sense and how it is impossible they should perish and why the Holy Ghost chooseth this word which is more then death to set out to us the death of the Righteous man And then the last considered in particular how it is lawful to 〈◊〉 for the departure of those that are gone how that God alloweth that how that God blameth for the neglect of it Men are to lay it to heart to grieve How 〈◊〉 this griese is to extend These were the heads of those things that concerne the first part I now go on forward to the second And that is a complaint as the former was that the Prophet takes up over the people of the Jewes for their great stupidity in that they considered not any work of God toward them And it hath these two parts There is the complaint he takes up over the dead Merciful men are taken away from the evil to come And the other complaint he takes up over the living those that are living and survive them they care not though heaven and earth be mingled together though they lose all their props whereby the earth is supported they never consider it I begin with the first of these And that is The complaint that is taken up over the Righteous mans departure In that I consider two things First looke to the meaning of the words And then see what were the motives that made the Prophet take up this complaint and lamentation that whereas others wanted it the Prophet should supply it and should give testimony to their departure The righteous are taken away First for the meaning of the words It is a proposition and there are three parts of it The subject of the proposition Merciful men The Predicat Are taken away The Affix anexed to it from the evil to come Briefly look upon the meaning of all these and they will all afford us some instruction The First is the subject of this proposition It is said here and it varieth from the former Merciful men A man would wonder why he should alter the stile except it were because the Spirit of God delighteth to set out godly men according to the multitude of their titles the righteous and mercyful men Otherwise the same terme might have been kept in the latter part for they are both the same in effect He that is a merciful man is a Righteous man and he that is righteous will be merciful yet the Prophet varieth it righteous men perish and merciful men are taken away There is some special reason of the variation I conceive it is one of these three or all The first reason why he useth this word merciful men in the latter part is For the greater conviction of their stupidity They were such as were not affected with the condition or loss of righteous and holy men nay they were so stupid that they were not affected with the loss of mercyful men that is more If there were any sense of piety they should for Gods cause grieve at the loss of godly men but if their were any sense of their own good there should be grief for the loss of merciful men Generally