Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	minister_n	young_a	youth_n	24	3	8.8151	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35535	An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the thirty second, the thirty third, and the thirty fourth chapters of the booke of Job being the substance of forty-nine lectures / delivered at Magnus neare the Bridge, London, by Joseph Caryl ...	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1661 (1661)	Wing C774; ESTC R36275	783,217	917

determine the Question under debate Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken Hence note First As it is alwayes our duty to waite on God so sometimes on men We should waite First to see what men will doe for us we should waite Secondly to heare what men have to say to us we should waite for counsell for comfort for instruction● for conviction We should waite Thirdly to performe duty and to doe good to men Thus God is pleased to waite upon his creature man Isa 30.18 Therefore will I waite to be gracious As God waiteth to bestow acts of grace on man so man should waite to performe offices of love and respect to man or to give him advice helpe and assistance as his case and needs require Secondly Consider Elihu who had waited long as a hearer was afterwards a great speaker Hence note They that will speak to any mans case rightly must first heare him patiently They must be hearers who would be learners Paul sate at the feete of Gamaliel there he waited as a learner And if they must waite as hearers who would be learners how much more ought they who would be reachers reprovers or reformers Thirdly Elihu waited that he might speake opportunely or in time Hence note Due times and seasons of speaking must be observed and taken Ecclesiastes 3.7 There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence The providences of God po●nt wise men to both And usually times of silence fit us for times of speaking Every thing is beautifull in its season words spoken in their season are not only more effectuall but more beautifull they are like apples of gold in pictures of silver And therefore as the wise man gives us caution Eccles 5.2 Not to be rash with our mouths to utter any thing before God So we should not be rash with our mouths to utter any thing before men but well to consider what we have to say and waite our time to say it The Apostle James Chap. 1.19 would have us swift to heare slow to speak and probably the slower we are to speak the surer we speake Hasty speaking hath given men more dangerous stumbles and falls then ever hasty going did The Prophet represents our Lord Jesus Christ thus be speaking his Father as to his preparation and furniture for the exercise of his Propheticall yea of his whole Mediatoriall office Isa 50.4 Thou hast given me the tongue of the learned that I might know how to speake a word in season As there is much wisdome in hitting the matter what to speak and the manner of speaking how to cloath and dresse the matter of our speech so there is much wisdome in hitting the time and season when to speake And as to time a thing well in acting so to time it well in speaking is the better halfe of it Elihu waited till Job had spoken What I have now touched may be one reason of his waiting But the speciall reason of it follows in the text Because they were elder then he and good reason that he should waite upon his elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat non tantum fenem sed senia confectum non tantum senem aetate sed sapientia The Hebrew is They were elder for dayes they were not only old men for dayes but elder for dayes then he The word strictly taken imports a man more then old even one that is worne with age Further it denotes a two-fold eldership First an eldership in time dayes or yeares Secondly an eldership in wisdome and understanding They are our elders indeed who are wiser then we eldership in time deserves respect but eldership in wisdome commands it And as such are exprest by this word in the Hebrew so both the Grecians and Romans expresse their wise men by a word of the same force Senators were elders not alwayes in time there was no Law much lesse necessity that every Senator should be an old man but in understanding every Senator ought to be a wise man though not an old man They who are to governe others wisely had need be furnished with wisdome themselves Gray haires alone cannot make a good Magistrate We read the word applyed both to Church-Elders called Isa 37.2 The Elders of the Priests and to State-Elders called Elders of the people Exod. 17.5 or of the Land Gen. 50.7 The Elders of the Land of Egypt went with them 'T is said Psal 105.21 22. Pharoah made Joseph Lord of his house and ruler of all his substance to binde his Princes at his pleasure teach his Senators wisdome Young Joseph made Pharaohs wise men wiser and gave counsel to his counsellers Here Elihu calls Jobs friends Elders and we may take him either speaking strictly that they were his Elders in time or speaking modestly that they were his Elders in wisdome knowledge and understanding and therefore he was not hasty to speake but gave them their scope waiting till Job had spoken Because they were elder then he Hence note First in General Young men should shew respect and waite upon their Elders The Apostle would not have Timothy slighted though young 1 Tim. 4.12 Let no man despise thy youth He chargeth the people not to despise Timothy because young and he chargeth Timothy to carry it so that none might have the shew of a cause to despise him though young Let no man despise thy youth let not those that seeke occasion finde it Now as young men especially young Ministers should be so holy and grave in their conversation as not to draw disrespect or contempt upon themselves and as no man ought to despise the young meerly because they are young so all men ought to honour old age The old Law was expresse for it Levit. 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man and feare thy God I am the Lord. See how these two are joyned together Thou shalt honour the face of the old man and feare thy God As if he had said honour old men in the feare of God or shew feare to God in the reverence and honour which thou givest to old men who having lived a long time or many dayes in the world bear at least a shadow of the eternity of God who is The anciant of dayes who lives and abides for ever There is a two-fold stampe of God upon old men more then upon other men First their very age hath a stamp of God upon it for though all ages put together are not a moment to eternity yet as to our computation and reckoning old age beares the fairest image of eternity Secondly old men bear a resemblance of God in their wisdome 't is to be supposed that the oldest are wilest as Elihu speaks v. 7. So then old men are to be reverenced not only for their precedence in time but for their experience wisdome knowledge and prudence Seris venit usus ab annis all which represent

the poynt The aged speak like children when they speak foolishly or unfruitfully He only is a good speaker who speaks that which may doe others good or make them better We say proverbially and truly both of saying and doing As good never a whit as never the better I said dayes should speak and multitude of yeares should teach wisdome Elihu reckons the age of aged men by multitude of yeares this he doth only to highten the matter what wisdome might he not expect from a multitude of yeares that is from such as had lived a multitude of yeares Certainly thought Elihu they will Teach wisdome There is a twofold wisdome First that which is meerely rational Secondly that which is spirituall or there is first a common secondly an holy wisdome Elihu expected wisdome of both sorts but chiefely of the latter from multitude of yeares He expected they would teach the wisdome which the Spirit of God had taught them Sapientiam intelligit quae in vera dei nostri cognitione sita est cujus author sit spiritus dei non hominis animus non anni non usus non experientia Merl that wisdome which consists in the true knowledge of God and of our selves that wisdome which is from above that which man hath not from himselfe nor is taught him by dayes or yeares by use or experience only And it was very probable that they who from their youth had been instructed in the things of God being growne old should also be growne further in this wisdome and riper in this sort of knowledge And therefore Elihu spake according to the rule of right reason when he judged that those three aged men had attained to a very high degree of divine light Such is the goodnesse of God to his people that usually they grow in grace and knowledge as they grow in yeares For though God is Debror to no man but Creditor to all men and though old age in it selfe considered deserves nothing of God yea is not only undeserving but because sin multiplyes as our dayes doe ill deserving yet as Christ saith To him that hath that is who useth and improveth what he hath more shall be given And therefore though true wisdome be a free gift and is infused and wrought by the Spirit of God yet we may in probability and ought according to charity judge that they who have most dayes have also most wisdome Though wisdome be not entayled upon old age yet there we are most likely to finde it I sayd multitude of yeares should teach wisdome Hence observe first We may well expect they should be very wise and knowing who have had much meanes and many opportunities of obtaining knowledge and wisdome And therefore we have reason to expect much wisdome from those who have had a multitude of yeares past over their heads It is a common rule in Logick Causis sufficientibus positis in a●tu necessario sequitur effectus When sufficient causes are put in act the effect must needs follow And so where probable causes are in act probably the effect will follow Old men having been well brought up in youth and having had faire opportunities to attaine knowledge and wisdome are rightly presumed and judged well stor'd and stockt with both Where shall we finde wisdome if not among the Ancients where if not among a multitude or throng of yeares and dayes where else should we look for it shall we goe and enquire among the greene heads and young beginners for it shall we goe to novices and children for it We may say surely they who have been long taught have learned much surely they who have heard many soule-searching Sermons and continued from day to day under the droppings of divine truths are full of fruit and very fruitfull whether shall we goe for fruit else if not to these shall we goe to those that live as upon the mountaines of Gilboa where David prayed no raine might fall shall we goe for Gospel-fruit to the wild naked untaught Indians and Barbarians or to the rightly instituted and plentifully instructed Churches of Christ may we not more then say conclude surely these are wise and full of spirituall understanding Quanquam te Marce Fili Annum jam audientem Cratippum idque Athenis abundare oportet praeceptis institutisque philosophiae c. Cic de Offi lib. t. The Roman Orator Cicero took it for granted that his son Marcus was well grounded in and plentifully furnished with the principles of Philosophy because he had been at Athens a whole yeare and there heard Cratippus a famous Philosopher read many excellent Lectures about things natural and morall And may we not say to many thousands of Gospel-hearers and professors what you that have heard such and such able Ministers you that have had the word so long preached and that at London more famous for Gospel knowledge then Athens for philosophy surely you are filled with all knowledge in the mystery of Christ and with all goodnesse in the practice of go●linesse And doubtlesse the Lord will argue it with those that have had time and opportunities as a rich price in their hand to get wisdome as Elihu did with his friends being aged men Who can imagine but that they are full of wisdome that they abound in knowledge and spirituall understanding who abounding in dayes and yeares have abounded also in meanes of knowledge Note Secondly As old men should abound in knowledge so they should approve themselves ready to teach the ignorant I said dayes should speak and multitude of yeares should teach wisdome 'T is a duty incumbent upon them who have learned much to teach much To conveigh wisdome and knowledge to others is most proper to such as well as most ornamental and honourable To be knowing our selves is a great mercy and to helpe others to the knowledge of what we know is a great duty we loose one speciall end of knowing if we know only for our selves To communicate and diffuse our knowledge to others is the noblest way of using it and the best way of improving it and that in a double respect First it is the best way of improving it as to encrease Secondly it is the best way of improving it as to reward The more we give out our knowledge the more we shall have of it and the more we shall have for it both from God and men The Apostle saith of a Gospel Minister 1 Tim. 3.2 He must be apt to teach not only able but apt that is ready and willing to teach now what the Apostle speaks there of an Elder by office is true of those that are elders in time they also should be apt to teach not only able but ready and willing to teach in and according to their spheare and power I said dayes should speak c. Thirdly Note 'T is a reproach to old age not to be knowing and w●se not to be able and apt to teach wisdome That old age

not to look for much or not to doe their worke for filthy lucre but of a ready mind 1 Pet. 5.2 Thirdly As the reward is small so the opposition is great Ministers are often persecuted and reproacht and the more faithfull and dilligent they are the more they are opposed and reproached To preach the Gospel fully as it should be preacht is to provoke thousands and bring the World about our eares No marvell then i● rhe messengers and interpreters of it be not many if they be but as one among a thousand Thus you see what hinders the generallity of men from medling with that work 'T is but one among a thousand that will engage in a work upon these hard termes or that prae-apprehending them hath faith and self-denyal enough to swallow and overcome them Againe Consider those that outwardly bear the name and Title of the Ministers of Christ and you will find that among them they who are true and faithfull to their trust are upon the matter but one among a thousand As there are but few Ministers among many men so there are but few Ministers among many that are true and right interpreters Doe but take out or sever these five sorts from among them who pretend to be Ministers and then it will soone appear that the interpreters in truth are but few among many of those that are so in Title First Take away all those who thrust themselves boldly or are admitted carelesly or by mistake into the Ministery who yet are ignorant blind ungifted and so unable for the worke Secondly Take away those who though they have gifts and abilities yet are lazie and sloathfull such as will not take paines nor worke in the worke Thirdly Take away those who have gifts and are industrious yet are unsound at least in many poynts and erronious in their judgements and so mis-lead and mis-guide those whose guides and leaders they are Fourthly Take away those who though they are not unsound and erronious yet are prophane and scandalous pulling downe that truth with one hand which they have set up with another or building againe those sins by their practise which they have destroyed by preaching and so make themselves as the Apostle speakes in a like case Gal 2.18 transgressours for as God justly calls such transgressours because they have sinned against his word so they make themselves transgressours because they sin against their owne even against the doctrine by which they have condemned those sins which themselves live in Fifthly Take away those who though they are neither of these neither ignorant nor idle nor unsound nor scandalous yet are but meere formall preachers such as only speake words deliver the out-side and skin of the Gospel but have no acquaintance with the marrow and power of it Take away these five sorts from among Ministers and surely this expression of Elihu will be but too much verified The interpreter is but one among a thousand Abstract all that are ignorant idle unsound scandalous formall dispencers of the word from those who are commonly called Ministers and then they who remaine will be very few so few that every one of them may be reckoned one among a thousand And we shall be forced to say that Elihu hath not sayd without cause whether we respect their excellency or their scarsity that any faithfull messenger or interpreter is one among a thousand This is not spoken by Elihu here nor ought it to be taken up by any of the most faithfull Ministers of Christ to draw honour and respect upon themselves or that their persons may be had in admiration who are faithfull this were a pittifull designe of holding out such a truth but it serves for this end that the people of God may see they have a blessing where any are faithfull and may learne how they ought to prize those faithfull messengers whom the Lord sends among them yea how readily they should receive the grace of God which is tendred in their ministry These are not only each of them one messenger or interpreter but each one of them is one of a thousand A soule-convincing converting quickning comforting Minister of the Gospel is worth thousands and one among a thousand The Prophet saith Isa 52.7 How beautifull are the feet of them that bring glad tideings c. By their feet he meaneth their coming feete being the instruments of their coming to bring this glad tideings yet when he saith their feete are beautifull it may have a greater emphasis for the feete being the lowest part of the structure of mans body it may intend thus much that even that which is lowest and meanest in a messenger of the Gospel his feete wearied and wet yea foule and dirty with travel have a beauty upon them how much more his face and countenance for if the very feete of such news-bringers of such messengers and interpreters should be acceptable and lovely so beauty is to all men how much more should their persons and most of all their message and tideings be And doubtlesse if men did but understand it they would acknowledge that God hath committed such a treasury to them as is better and more beautifull then all the gold and precious things of this world and would cry out O what a mercy is it to have such a News-bringer and what Greedy News-mongers would they be The one among a thousand would be more desirable then many thousands of Gold and Silver Elihu having described the person whom the Lord often makes instrumentall for the restoring and comforting of the sick sinner calling him A messenger an interpreter one of a thousand which latter may be applicable to both the former proceeds to shew the business of this messenger or interpreter who is one of a thousand more expressely or to set out what his worke is surely excellent and glorious worke even this To shew unto man his uprightness We are not to understand this shewing for a bare report of the thing in which sense the Prophet complain'd Lord who hath believed our report Isa 53.1 that is we have shewed good things to the world but who hath believed us The shewing spoken of by Elihu is not a bare declaration of the matter to the eare but an effectuall and powerfull impression of it upon the heart Such a shewing as is spoken of at the 16th verse of this Chapter then he openeth the eares of men The Lord speakes so by his messengers and interpreters that he not only makes the eare heare but the heart too The heart heares when we have a sense and are under the power of what is heard As before we had a spirituall interpreter so here we have a spirituall shewing of his interpretation Here 's a heavenly messenger and a heavenly message to the earthly man To tell the earthly his rightfullness saith Mr Broughton Now because of the pronoune his his uprightness It may be demanded whose uprightness he meanes or what this