Selected quad for the lemma: end_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	day_n	hour_n	minute_n	1,570	5	11.3251	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57460	Divine meditations and contemplations upon severall heads of divinity by G.R. compiled for his owne private use, and published for the common good.	G. R.	1641 (1641)	Wing R17; ESTC R25600	72,461	276

carelesly and idlely bestow themselves on all occasions of sinne whence it is that the good man though he be many waies hardly tempted to sinne by the Devill and wicked men doth alwaies resist and becomes the better but the bad man having many faire occasions offered to amend doth prove the worse and lightly assaulted doth yeeld to vice to wish our selves such as wee ought to be to desire vertue and goodnesse to purpose well to adde to our purpose care and industry is not only a beginning but a going forward and procureth constancy in goodnesse If thou wilt not so much as wish to thy selfe the thing that good is if thou make not speciall choice therof above Gold and thine own appetite how canst thou labour for it and if thou wish the contrary how canst thou not chuse but hate it and in this cause who is in fault but thy selfe doe not ill and say I cannot doe better but rather I will not change thy purpose adde thy indeavours heartily beg and desire for it and hee which commands will give thee grace to turne and obey Meditation 35. Selfe deceit TWo motives there are why men sinne the more boldly because it will be longer as they thinke before they be called to account and when the account must be made amongst so many what hard matter is it for thee or one to escape scot free Thus use they to dally with their owne dangers which have made sinne their inheritance and seek shifts to avoid sounder causes wherin they are the lesse to bee pitied because they grosly deceive themselves Be it that it is long before we be called to account yet the length takes it not away but makes it the more heavy when it comes wee abusing the meane time unto sinne which God hath granted for our repentance so that wee should rather feare to sin because wee shall be called to account then be bold because of the delay for look how much scope the one giveth to our sinnes no lesse revenge doth the other take when they are growne to ripenesse and it is indeed as dangerous for the wilfull sinner that it is long before there be an account as that there is one Now what if that time which men count long bee very short to omit that no sinne is committed but the conscience doth call us forthwith to a reckoning though the act passe yet the guilt is eternally recorded in that booke as also that the life of man is but short after which every one hath his particular judgment and put it over as farre as may be to that generall Inq●…est and the latter end of the world what can be long which hath an end and is alwaies running to that end when the end is once come what is all that worth which past before whether they be 1000. or 2000. yeares and what is that continuance worth which is so full of ends that every part thereof passeth away whiles thou hast it minute after minute and houres after minutes daies after houres monthes after daies and yeares after moneths and after some few yeares which as they begin in a minute so end they in a minute perchance not a yeare not a moneth not a day not an houre in a moment comes death when most unlooked for Hast thou spent 7 yeares in sinne if thou be not a man past all shame thou art by this time much the sorier Why then should the hope of living so much longer make bold againe to sinne will not thy sorrow be doubled when thou commest to fourteen and what use returnes to thee of all these fourteen yeares are they not quite lost by following sinne and thou hast now more to doe if ever thou thinke to bee saved then when thou didst first hegin to say then I will sinne because the time of account is farre of as if one would say because I have much wealth I will spend all as though prodigality could find no bottome He that hath a long time by spending it in sinne doth barre himselfe from all time for if thou continue at all times in thy sinne what time can there be betweene sinne and the time of account and if not at first yet at last by a continuall course of sinne let the time of sinning be never so long sinne and judgment will come together and then thou wilt change thy voice and say Oh this long time is past and the account is at hand now that there will be much to doe at this time and where there are so many it is not likely but that some may escape without their triall though God doe teach us familiarly as men by such ordinary matters amongst us as wee may best understand his meaning as when he setteth downe unto us in his word the forme of a judgment yet must wee not tie him to these necessary circumstances whereunto mans judgment is subject for he executeth his judgment as God and not according unto mans weaknesse he is not bound to time or place or examination of witnesses all things are present before him which shall be our Judge as every mans conscience doth condemne him so shall he feele and know the sentence of the Judge neither shall one prevent or interrupt the other If thou canst not run from thy owne conseience how canst thou escape his judgment who is greater then thy conscience A sheep may stray from the flock amongst strangers but he beares a marke which tries him from the rest and discovers him to the owner in like manner the conscience hath its mark which wheresoever thou runne or thinkest to hide thy selfe will dog thee back to judgment and there lay open thy most secret crimes sins and enormities But these the former surmises of thine proceed not so much from ignorance as infidelity and impiety and doe sound in their true meaning this farre The day of account will never come therefore wee may well say it will bee long in comming it is impossible there should be such a generall judgment therefore some must needs escape This is that bitter root which springeth up now and then amongst carnall professors first to sinne and then to deny God against whose majesty wee sinne for if there be a God which were the greatest blaspemy to think otherwise there must needs be a judgment and his judgment cannot be just which were most wicked to imagine if he be partiall to any or not able to punish all and marke to this purpose the order of Gods workes first that is the creation then there followed the fall of man after a generall corruption of man and last of all the deluge and desolation of sinners the old world is a figure of succeeding ages the law was published by Moses betweene God and the people the covenants broken on the peoples part the punishment of the disobedient to the utter rooting our of that people and their Temple which was the visible signe of Gods presence amongst them the

conclusions may more specially bee deduced but the life of action lies in circumstances the soule where of is Consideration wherefore contemplation reades mee over a lesson which Consideration doth make mee perfect in by observation experience correction Blessednesse which is the perfection of man hath his beginning from Contemplation but his consummation in us by Consideration for as by that I know God who is the cause of causes so by this I love God who is the last end The soule doth performe some actions without discourse so doth it move the body receive digest bestow the meat for nourishment and in those it so falls out because the end is as present as the meanes namely the life of the body but those actions which tend unto her owne proper end or rather of the whole shee doth not produce without discourse because the meanes are nearer and the end farther of Angels for the perfection of their nature doe all their actions without discourse but as the Angels herein are above men so man by the priviledge of discourse above all other Creatures for as in a Mill the stones know not what thing meale is nor to what end neither the wheeles nor the Water which driveth them about but the Miller only which sets the Mill to worke so none of the Creatures of this world know their owne worth or employment but only man which is Lord over them and hath not only the use of particular objects but of common notions also and beholding causes in their effects and ayming at a farther by the next doth sort convenient means to their proper ends and all ends to the chiefe end What a high art is Consideration which doth effect such wonderfull things out of one good it multiplies many and makes her advantage of evill it takes on her the cure of our weakest and worst parts and addeth both comelinesse and grace to the best where Consideration is all things are done orderly but they which by chance doe a good without it doe lose the commendation of their worke for want of it yea of such force is it that actions not speeding in the end yet set a foot by Consideration retaine still the praise of vertue it hath as it were the true touch of that stone whereby Gold is knowne from other metals for so by it wee discerne betweene that which is honest profitable and pleasing preferring honesty to the rest as Gold to other metals it doth cause profit and pleasure to give place to honesty and out of honesty requites us with true profit and pleasure but if profit and pleasure strive with honesty to have their turnes served first or without it then it sheweth them to be base metall and nothing worth that such profit is but losse such pleasure but sorrow and that indeed there is nothing either profitable or pleasant which agreeth not with honesty As they which behold other mens buildings walke in other mens Parkes solace themselves in other mens Gardens make a use to themselves though the possession belong to another so doe we neither heare any thing spoken or see any thing done neither is there any object proposed unto us whereof by Consideration wee may not make some use unto our selves though the matter belong to others And herein is the busy body faulty which medling with all kind of matters doth desire to be a party in possession where he hath nothing to doe whereas if he had Consideration he might take notice of any mans dealing for his owne use and doe no wrong for he cannot bee accounted a busibody which out of Consideration observeth for his owne use from those things which belong not unto him Excesse of anger or pleasure is the greatest enemy to Consideration and the promoter of all hasty and forward attempts which end in sorrowfull events but the feare of death and other miseries are lessened by Consideration Meditation 30. Subjection BEtter well markt then a whole eare is the husbandmans Proverb for the beast which straies away is the sooner owned and brought home againe with a marke but without it lost better to be under government then to follow a loose and lawlesse life better to be trained up under the discipline of the Church then to range at liberty as an Ethnick It was the better for the prodigall youth that he went out a sonne though he returned a sinner and hee receives more liberty by his comming home then he found abroad his Father knowes him the house receives him the fat Calfe is provided for him and all make merry with him The Church doth exercise authority over them which beare the mark of Christ and if there be cause why it doth correct them according to the quality of their faults sometimes by words chiding them sometimes by deeds suspending them from the Sacraments or excommunicating them from the society of the Church and if the Church perceive that any hath entred through hypocrisy and is now discovered by blaspheming the truth which is a casting off of Christs marke such a one it doth remove by the eternall curse Atha Maranatha and for such a one indeed had it beene better never to have received that mark and for those also which in the end doe fall from the Church contemning the order thereof though not cursed but they which are the true members of the Church take great profit by those censures for though they fall oft times through humane frailty yet the Church doth not cease to acknowledge them for her owne because they beare the marke of Christianity and taking a speciall care of them doth by this discipline bring them againe to repentance and amendment of life they are converted they are received they are confirmed more then before and the Church is glad of them as a woman of the child wherewith shee hath long travailed howbeit with them which are without the Church medleth not therefore runne they on still in sinne to their owne perdition as they which are utterly lost in the waste of this world because they have not the mark of Christ Count it thy greatest good in this life that Christ hath markt thee for his owne by baptisme that thou livest under the discipline of that Church wherof he is the head and therefore suffer thy selfe to be rebuked privately openly and if any greater correction befall thee humble thy selfe repent amend and this priviledge that thou art markt by Christ shall restore thee againe to thy former estate and thou shalt be his more then before only beware of hypocrisy which one day shall be discovered and turne not back like a dogge to his vomit for such have their end worse then their beginning and it is better never to have knowne the way of righteousnesse then afterwards to depart from the holy commandement by a wilfull heart into which extremity they are at last led which use not their most honourable profession with a good conscience The fall of a starre is fearefull