and give your Hoary Head to be found in the way of Righteousness May You have before you the Exemple of that Nehemiah who was A man come to seek the welfare of the Children of Israel of that Cornelius who was A Devout man that jeared God with all his House and pray'd to God alwayes of that Treasurer who made the Bible his perpetual Companion and Beleeved with all his Heart and as You have Opportunity Do Good unto all men May the Death I dare not say the Loss of your Ten Children the last of which going from you made a Tenth Wave in your Tryals only promote your Vnion Communion with Him who is Better than Ten sons and may you enjoy in the House of God a Place and a Name better than that of sons daughters May all the Storms besides those which the Adventures of your younger years upon the Atlantic Ocean made you betimes acquainte withal in an unstable a tempestuous World prove so many fresh fair Gales to be friend your late but sure Arrival unto the Rest which remains for the people of God Wherein the Anchor of your Hope is already Cast and where to You are with the more-than-half Furled Sails of Time hastening apace after him that said I desire to loose Anchor and be with Christ which is by far the best of all T is by these Prayers that I would approve my self Sir Your Dutiful Son and very humble Servant COTTON MATHER THE GOOD MANS RESOLUTION Josh. 24. 15. But as for MEE and MY HOVSE we will serve the Lord. SECT I. NEVER was there in this world a People more obliged or encouraged unto the Service of the Great God than we the New-English Israel are The God of Heaven is Our God and it becomes us to Fear Him our Fathers God and how much ought we to worship Him To serve God was the very Errand which we were brought into this Wilderness upon and has hitherto been both our Glo-Glory our Defence That we now grow so dull and cold in this we may write an Ichabod upon all our enjoyments and therein see our Chariots and our Horse-men gone To Revive the Decay'd Service of God among us would be to reduce us into that Favour and Friendship of him who was The Hope of our Fathers which would make us happy enough to refute all the Lies of our Enemies Thus would God the Lord speak peace unto us Thus would Salvation be nigh to us and Glory dwell in our Land. SECT II. TO do some and gain more Service for our God the Text now before us is to be Discoursed on These words are among the last words of Ioshuah the servant of the Lord they are a Devâ—ut and a Divine sentence uttered by the renouned Ioshua in a Speech to The Parliament of Israel The Dying Words of all Great and Good men have usually been esteemed Remarkable by the Survivers and those books which contain Apoâ—â—thegmata morientium have been reckoned perhaps among the most useful in the world Tho the Dying Songs of Swans have not been such things as the Vulgar Error has reputed them yet the Dying Words of Saints have afforded a fit Moral for the Fable The speech of a Dying Saint has as deep a favour of Heaven as the Breath of a dying man has of Earth But mâ—thinks the Dying Words of a Ioshua should be peculiar Oracles peruse them and you will find them so He had been first the Lord-General of Israels Army and was now the Lord Protector of Israels Common-Wealth In this Capacity a few months before he dy'd he issued our orders for a Convention of States to meet at Shâ—chem a place about forty miles from his own Abode The Senate the Iudges the Officers and all the Representaâ—tives of the people being assembled before the Tabernacle which on this extraordinary occasion was removed hither this famous Prince endeavours to settle confirm them in the Service of the living God. It is likely he seared a secret Retaining of Idolatry among many while he was yet alive but it is certain he fore-saw an open Defection to Idâ—â—atry hastening upon them when he should be dead and gone Wherefore he laies in against it by a most powerful and pathetic Speech which has in it First An History of Memorable Providences wherein they had experienced the matchless kindness of God unto them Secondly An Inference from this History which is expressed in two things First A Counsil He concludes Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him. Therefore Wherefore Why inasmuch as you find the Lord so bountifâ—l that you cannot possibly Aâ—mend your selves if you leave Him or excuse your selves if you grieve Him. Therefore are you to fear Him serve Him. Every Mercy of God hath a Therefore in it it calls for Gratitude and Obedience When God has been merciful to us even common Ingenuity end much more holy Ingenuity will put us upon that Enquiry What shall I render to the Lord Behold an Answer in this Therefore We are Therefore to fear the Lord and serve him we are Therefore to put away all our Idols all our Follies for ever more Secondly A Copy He gives them a Precedent an Exemple to induce them hereunto The Pattern of a considerable person has no inconsiderable Influence upon the Observers of it Such an one does good or ill even like a Briareus with an Hundred Hands An Hundred an Hundred more will do like Him. If he be wickked he does according to the Language of Solomon Speak with his Feet If he be Godly he is according to the Character of Iohn a Voice Such an One most effectually bespeaks all about him as Gideon did once Do what you see me to do Thus Ioshua enforces his farewel Exhortation here saith he Be it known to you that I and my house will serve the Lord I was once your Leader pray let me be so still As I leadd you into the Canaan of the Lord let me have so much credit with you as also to lead you unto the Service of the Lord. Be assured I shall be a Witness against you another day if you do not now receive me as a Copy for you You have here Ioshua's Resolution and it was founded upon such moral Reasons that we may take it as Written for the Admonition of us all Wherefore this is the Doctrine which I would demand your Attention to DOCT. Every man should engage both HIMSELF and HIS HOUSE in the Service of the Almighty GOD. SECT III. VVE have diverse Propositions now before us to discourse upon The First of them is this PROP. I. The whole Duty of man is contained in the true Service of God. Both in the First Covenant and in the New Covenant which God has made with man there is a Duty which man must pay to God. In the First Covenant this Duty was to be paid in a way of meritorious Obedience in the New Covenant this Duty is
the Tenders of the Gospel might be made unto us We are told of some in 2. Pet. 2. 1. Who Deny the Lord that bought them Ovile Sacriledge and Impiety That we might all have the priviledge of 〈◊〉 Invitation to the Service of God this has cost no less than the Heart-bloud of Christ and what a monstrous villany were it for us now to despise the Invitation Again The Redemption of Christ has made our Serving of God a Reasonable thing We are all among the Redeemed either in Reality or at least in Possession all the Chosen and Called of God are most really interested in the Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and therefore for them to decline the Service of God were as unequal as it is unlikely But every one of us is at least professedly interested in it Man art thou willing to quit all claim unto the Death and Blood of the Lord Jesus O No not for ten thousand worlds Every one saies I hope I am Redeemed Well then The Service of God is that which we must count our selves Redeem'd unto What saies the Appostle in 1. Cor. 6. 20 Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God. We that have been the Captives of the mighty and the prey of the terrible apprehend our selves to be set at Liberty from their horrible Tyrannies by the Suffering of Christ What less than the Service of God are we thereby obliged unto In a word We are the Bought servants of God and wo to us if our Behaviours be not agreeab to our Obligations REASON III. The Lords daily Mercy to us requires our hearty Service to Him. It is noted of the rudest among the Gentiles in Luâ— 22. 25. Their Benefactors exercise a Lordship over them Never Never had we any Benefactor like to our God who daily loads us with his Benefits Unthankful wretches are we if we shake off the Lordship of such a Lord. It was an Address once made to a Governour in Act. 24. 2. By thee we enjoy great quietness and very worthy deeds are done unto us by thy providence It were a disloyal an unworthy thing not to serve such a Governour Truly From God we enjoy great quietness by the Providence of God we are delivered from a Thousand perils every day and we are surrounded with ten thousand Comforts Every day by the Providence of God we are directed protected sustained and supplyed every day This calls for the Service of God at our hands T is said in Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice unto Him. What a persuasive piece of Oratory is that I beseech you by the Mercies of God. He that urges you to the Service of God may thus plead with you I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that God may not have one Servant in the world the less for you I beseech you Brethâ—â—â— that when the Goodness and mercy of God is following of you you do not turn your backs on the Service of God. To pursue this Argument I beseech you Brethren Whose Light is it whereby you are every day revived It is God's Whose Air is it whereby you are every day refreshed It is God's Whose Fire is it that warms you Whose Meat is it that feeds you Whose Raiment is it that covers you All is God's O then Serve Him. These are the Cords of a man with which we are bound to the Service of our Lord. This is the Poesie which God has inscribed in the Ring of every mercy O learn to serve the Giver of this It was a sad Complaint which the Lord made in Isa. 1. 2. I have nourished them and brought them up yet have they rebelled against me Alas what a YET is there Our God has been as a Father to us and yet shall not we Serve Him as our Master He Relieves us He Supports us He Bestowes on us the mercies of Children and shall not we yet return so so much as the Respects of Servants unto Him The Heavens will hear and be amazed the Earth will give â—ar and be astonished at a thing so much exceeding Brutality it self as this SECT V. BUt we are not to be Alone in the Service of God Man is a sociable Creature as he does need so he must help Humane Society in this Grand concern Wherefore we have a Third Proposition yet to be reflected on PROP. III. Every man should engage HIS HOUSE also in the Service of the Almighty God. We are all related unto some House or other Sometimes a Nation is called by that name So t is said in Exek 3. 1. Speak to the House of Israel And thus every man should labour to promote the Service of God in the Nation which he belongs unto All that can be properly done by him for his Nation in his Station to set up and bring in the Service of God so much every man is to do if ever he would give a good Account of his Talents in the Day of God's appearing But most usually a Family is called by this Name and so it is in the Text now before us T is a Metonymie the House is put for them who dwell in the house Those who cohabit in the same house are to endeavour that the same God may be served by all under the Roof And this is incumbent especially on the Superiors in the House All that are About us but cheefly all that are Vnder us are by us to be drawn or driven to the Service of God. The Master of the Family is to see unto it that every one under his Charge become the Servant of the Lord. And this because of such things as these REASON I. We should engage our Houses to the Service of God out of Respect to God Himself To the Householder it may well be said For Godâ—s sake look after thy House For God's sake Let there be Godâ— Service 〈…〉 To speak particularly First The Commandment of God calls for it We have this Commandment often repeated unto us That we should be careful about the Instruction and Conversion of them that we are charged with T is a Commandment incâ—lcated in the Old Testament We have in Deut. 6. 6 7. The words which I command thee thâ—u shalt diligently teach them unto thy Children We have it again in Psal. 78. 67. He commanded our fathers that they should make known unto their Children that these might set their hope in God and keep his Commandments We have it once more in Deut. 4. 9 10. Gather the people that they may learn to fear me and that they may teach their Children T is a Commandment not unmentioned in the New Testament also We find in Eph. 6. 4. Ye Fathers bring up your Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. Behold How many solemn Charges are laid upon us to do our part that God may be served by all that are under
Time if not their Soul. Secondly Let us mispend no Time in Idleness It was an ill world where the Apostle could say as in 2. Thes 3. 11. There are sâ—me that walk disorderly working not at all Every man should be able to make a good Answer to the Question which Pharaoh put unto Ioseph's Brethren I pray What is your Occupation A big part of our Time should be laid out on our particular Callings A Calling is an Ordinance of God Adam in Paradise had a Labour imposed on him Be diligent in some one or other No man so fully and foully falls into the possession of the Devil as the idle man. The Ants the Bees and all the Creatures exclame against him Idleness tiâ— thundred against in Ezek. 16. 49. as one of the Sins that brought Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom long ago it will carry from Earth to Hell the souls of them that in it snore away their lives When men do'nt misspend their Time then do they discern it Direction II. Let us Discern our Time and Attend every Duty in the proper Time. There is a two-fold Prudence which the Wise man's heart is to be no stranger to The First Prudence is Let no Duty be done out of its Time. We are told in Eccles 3. 11. God hath made every thing beautiful in the Time of it There is a Nick of Time that we are to take for all we do Not Snow but Fruit is beautiful in the Summer T is not beautiful for the Duty of Prayer to be done at a sleepy time or at a busy time T is not beautiful for the Duty of Reproof to be done at a time when it can do no good at all Set not upon this or that Duty at a time when God calls to another Duty T is said in Eccles. 8. 6. To every purpose there is a Time and Iudgement We may render all our Duties like Apples of gold in pictures of silver by well timing of them The Second Prudence is Let no Time pass away without its Duty Let none of our times be unaccompanied with the Duties which belong unto them As now there are Duties that belong to a time of Prosperity and Duties which belong to a Time of Adversity T is said in Eccles. 7. 14. In the day of Prosperity be joyful but in the day of Adversity Consider In a time of Prosperity now is a time for men to Remember their Creator before the evil days come Now is a time for men to set their heart and their soul to seek the Lord who hath given them rest on every side In a time of Adversity now is a time for men to bring sin to remembrance now is a time for men to meet the Lord in all the ways of Repentance and Obedience This is to Discern the Time. But there are especially three sorts of times which we are to fill with the Dutyes of those Times First Let the Dutyes of Worshipping times be done in those times We have our times every day wherein the Lord saith seek my Face Now let the Echo of our souls be that in Psal. 27. 8. Thy Face Lord we will seek We have every day our times for private Prayer our times for secret Prayer our times for Reading of and Thinking on the Word of God. Let those things be faithfully done in those Times Especially Remember the Sabbath Day Let Sabbath-time be sanctifyed time On this day ly all the day long at the pool of Mercy Mercy Mercy and Salvation for an immortal soul is this day to be traded for T is a Time that the great God is very Jealous about He does wonderfully curse the Souls and blast the Houses and ruin the Countryes where this Holy Time is not acknowledged He will terribly break the rest of those whom His Rest shall not be regarded by Secondly Let the Dutyes of Visiting Times be done in those Times T is too commonly seen that Amici temporis Fures our Friends are our Theeves they Steal our time bâ—â—â—ause we don't use our time when then they are with us T is observable in Col. 4. 6. as soon as the Apostle had said Redeem the time he adds Let your speech be always with Grace That that indeed is a rare way to Redeem the time Let us ordinarily study to do some good whatever Company we come into It was observed of that excellent Vrsin by his renowned Friend I 〈◊〉 was in his company but I went away Doctior â—ut Melior the wiser or the better from him Abhor O abhor the useless visits that are quite contrary to all such designs Mourn if you have been in any Company without being profitable thereunto Thirdly Let the Duties of Intervening times be done in those times We have large Fragments of time that are the Intervals of our businesses about these Fragments of time I would say as our Lord said about the Fragments of Bread in Joh. 6. 12. Gather up those Fragments that nothing be lost How many thousands of happy thoughts might we have as we are sitting in the House or walking in the Street otherwise wholly unimployed The very Filings of Gold and of Time are not to be cast away To discern our time is to adapt our time Direction III. Let us discern our Time and make none but Good Bâ—â—gains about the time The Scripture once and again tells us as in Eph. 5. 16. that we are to Buy up the time or buy out the time This is to discern the Time We must be at some Cost and at some Charge for it if we would not be ill-husbands of our time We must pay down either Mony or Monyes-worth for it we must fore go and under go many things for it Many things must we give up that our time so may be well-imployed The case is ordinarily so that either we must resign many Pleasures many Profits many Honours or else we must part with our time Now rather give up all Delights than suffer precious time to be pyrated away All the things of time are sometimes Expence little enough for time Yea many things must we give back that so we may not misemploy our time The Devil and our Lusts have been trucking for our time The Devil that hellish Hucster would engross all our Time for his own He deals with us as the Europeans dealt at first with the silly Indians who leâ—â— go their â—old and Silver and Diamonds for glass-Beads and tinsil-Toyes The Answer that our Lust makes to the Tempter is Let me have the pleasures of sin for a season and every season of my time shall be thine O but we should be content to give back all that Satan has proffer'd us for our time let it be never-so-much that we might have had for the misuse of time begrutch it not 'T was the Speech of Austin Perde aliquid ut Deo vaces If you would have Time for God or any Good you must part with something for it In a
Object will decoy thee into a natural suitable Expression of thy self and as our Lord speaks in Rev. 2. 23. All the Churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the Heart Expect also that the great God will have a Bar for your Detection in another world T is confessed by all Christians as in 2. Cor. 5. 10. We must all appear before the Iudgment seat of Christ. O that we could every one of us now seriously place our selves before the Iudgment seat of God! Remember O immortal souls that you must all very shortly appear before a Iudge who hath Eyes like a flame of fire and you must then be exposed in the full view of Heaven Earth Remember that you shall then have no Vizard no Disguise to cover you but all men and Angels must hear truly what you are It was the warning in Eccl. 11. 9. know thou that God will bring thee to Iudgment Even so Know thou that thou canst not avoid the day when God shall bring every worke into Iudgement with every secret thing Know thou that when the dead small and great stand before God then thou shalt stand among ' em Know thou that tho' thou shouldst then shriek O Rocks hide me or O Mountains-defend me the the Rocks and the Mountains would be deaf unto that lamentable cry Holy Ierom could say Wherever I am or whatever I do Methinks I hear the Alarums of the last Trumpet Arise ye dead come to Iudgement O that you would often Reflect upon the Day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ. Counsil 2. Cry mightily to God that He would give you the Gold which will endure all Tryals whatsoever Our Lord saith unto us in Rev. 3. 18. I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the fire That Gold is Grace let us buy that is let us beg it of Him. Let us make that our servent our frequent Prayer in Psal. 119. 80. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I may not be ashamed Be careful and prayerful that you may be New Creatures and have the Root of the matter in your souls Be careful and prayerful That you may have Oyl in your vessels Be careful and prayerful That you may have in you the well of water which springs up into everlasting life Let your prayers be restless till you find that you are indeed Born again indeed Converted indeed Sanctified As for the Grace of God my son seek it as silver for indeed the Gain of it is better than fine gold Counsel 3. Often bring your selves to the Tryals of a Self-Examination T is the Charge of God in 2. Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves Your souls are as Vessels then Pierce them to see what they have Your souls are as Metals then Touch them to see what they are Such are the Allusions of the Holy Spirit there Know thy self was a golden Rule of Old and it will make a golden Saint when we make much use of that Rule Try thy self We are to use the Word of God as a Glass in which we are to behold our selves and we are often to compare our selves with what is therein required of us When we are in a Meditation as we should every day be upon some Truths of God we should then examine ourselves Whether we are moulded according thereunto And when we are under a Visitation as we sometimes are by the Rods of God we should then Examine our selves as they that of Old said Let us now search and try our wayes Especially when we are approching to the Table of the Lord Self-Examination is not then to be omitted So hath the Apostle urged in 1. Cor. 11. 28. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. T is a fearful Impiety and Presumption for a man to sit down at the Holy Supper without enquiring Have I a Wedding garment on or no Yea t is convenient for a man every Evening before he sleeps to examine himself and ask If I dy this night is my immortal spirit safe O tremble exceedingly least your doom should be that in Jer. 2. 37. The Lord hath rejected thy confidences and thou shalt not prosper in them Therefore be much in Examining your selves Examine Whether you have true REPENTANCE Wherefore Try whether you are at so much pains for no Outward and Earthly thing as you are for the mortification of every lust And Try whether Afflictions themselves are welcome to you when you see you sins thereby embittered and subdued Examine Whether you have true FAITH Wherefore Try whether your Souls are extremely affected with the blessed Fulness Glory which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Try whether your hearts most affectionately close with the Gospel-way of Salvation by Jesus Châ—ist so as cheerfully to venture the Lives of your souls upon it Examine Whether you have true LOVE Wherefore Try whether any thing that has a Tendency to promote the Honour of God be readily embraced by you as a thing more desirable than all the Riches in the world And Try whether you count no Service too much to be done for the People of the Saints of the Most High. Put the Question to your selves and let the Preface of your Answer be that Request in Psal 139. 23. Search me O God and try me and help me to know my self To be much in such Self-Examination is the way to be a Golden Christian and indeed none but such an one will have a Value for the Exercise II. Let us also approve ourselves as gold under the Dispensations of the Blessed GOD. Particularly First Let them that are in Prosperity behave themselves well under the Tryals of the Lord. It may be that you are come to have store of Gold O that you may Be like what you Have T is possible that you have been in much Distress and Sorrow But God has brought you forth as t is said He brought Israel out of Egypt in Ps 105. 37. He brought them forth with Gold. Consider That God is now Trying of your Faithfulness No doubt you have sometimes promised the God of Heaven That if you might have such a measure of Health and Strength or That if you might have such a Degree of Estate and Honour you would glorify God with a wonderful Activity Well saith our God I 'll try God is trying whether you will be true to those Professions and Engagements which you made before He so smil'd upon you God is trying whether you will not Confirm that Observation in Jer. 17. 9. The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Consider moreover That God is now trying of your Thankfulness A very terrible Wrath is denounced against them in Deut. 28. 47. Who serve not God for the abundance of all things God gives you an Abundance of all things and it is to try
God should refer it to you reply'd I would then refer it to him again USE II. Let us all be now Exhorted that the Praise of Ged may be duly accounted by us as the End of our Life in our Prayers for it Let us not shoot beside our Mark or live beside our End. Let us pray that we may live and let us live that we may praise It is the most lamentable plight in the world that a man should spend his Life in Sinning against God rather than in Praising of Him. But alas This is the case of Multitudes Multitudes among us How few of us Consider of in seriously How sew of you that are now before the Lord ever seriously thought with your selves What is the Errand that I am come into the world upon Hast thou not lived above a Score of years in the world and never yet seriously thought What is it that God sent me hither for Every man here I suppose desires to live let your Prayers express those Desires and say after the Psalmist Ps. 32. 8. My Prayer is to the God of my life But more than so Let those Desires be for the sake of your Praises and say after the Psalmist again in Ps. 119. 17. Deal bountifully with thy Servant that I may live and keep thy Word Three things are you to be advised unto yea Four things are to be impoâ—tunately prest upon you First Mark and Prize your Opportunities to be Prâ—â—â—ing of God. Every man has his Opportâ—nities Some have an Instrument of a Thousand Strings but the meanest of us all has an Instrument of Ten strings for our God to be praised with Let every man often enquire What are my Opportunities to glorify God And let every man alwaies conclude My Opportunities are my Treasures Secondly Let the Word of God Direct you in His Praises Be often Consulting of that Peace will be on alâ— and Praise will be from all that walk according to this Rule A Bible Christians let That be your Counsellour on all Occasions The Psalmist could say in Ps. 119. 164. Seven times a day will I praise thee O Lord because of thy Righteous Judgements Thirdly Let the Rod of God provoke you to His Praises If you cannot Bless God for your Afflictions which yet I think is a thing attainable nevertheless I 'm sure you should praise God in your Afflictions Let God gain some Glory and we shall gain some Good by all our Sufferings Take the counsil in Isa. 34. 15. Glorifie the Lord in the Fires To Enforce these Three Things Consider that Thing wich is intimated in the Text. The Lives of your Souls are enwrapped in the praises of God. Saies the Psalmist Let my soul live and it shall praise thee So I may say Let thy Soul praise and it shall live A praising Soul is a Thriving Soul. In this consisteth Life Eternal it self The Life of thy Soul in the Third Heaven will be the praise of thy God for evermore Praise God for thy Life it is a mercy well worth praise Praise God by thy life so thou wilt begin Heaven upon Earth But there is a Fourth Counsil which more immediately concerns that part of the Congregation which are of my own Age and have therefore a more peculiar interest in my Loves and Cares T is to Young People here that I take leave to say Fourthly Begin You now Betimes to live unto the Praise of the everliving God. My Brethren you have not yet begun to live at all if you have not begun to praise the Lord. You are Dead in Trespasses and Sins you are stark dead in the rotten hideous loathsome Graves of your Unregeneracy if you have not yet begun to order your Conversation aright and to ponder How may I so offer praise as to Glorify God But is not this the deplorable Condition of many many Young people here Conscience do thine Office Is not the Hour yet to come is not the Day yet to dawn when that young person whom thou art the Officer of God unto did by an hearty Covenant bind himselfe unto the Serving and the Praising of the Lord But what mean you O ye inconsiderate Youths to delay the Remembring of your Creator so In the Language of the young Prophet whom God sent unto the Iews of old let me say thus saith the Lord Consider your waies Consider the Vncertainty of your Life which you have to be praising of God withal As young as you are you may dy before the most aged person here It hath been truly noted That The old man has Death before his face but the young man has Death behind his back The stroak of Death may sooner lay you in the Dust than some whose Heads old Time hath snow'd upon O look and see and let thy heart shake at the Apprehension of it Thy Death stands just behinâ— thee there with an Horrible Pole-Ax ready lifted up saying as the Prince of old Shall I smite them shall I smite them If the great God utter the word Smite smite thou art gone beyond all Recovery The Blessed God hath newly caused me to look into the Coffins of two very near and sweet Relations neither of which had ever seen Twenty Winters in the World and with a strong hand He then said unto me Go Go tell the young people of Boston and Charlestown that this is that which they are all expos`d unto Behold I am now come in Bitterness and in the heat of my spirit I am come to Warn you of it That You may dy before you are aware of such a dismal Change at hand O do not procrastinate the praises and the Vertues which the God of Heaven Expects from you put not off until Tomorrow For t is the admonition to be now set before you in Prov. 2. 7. Bâ—ast not thy self of Tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth But Consider also the Dreadfulness of a Death ensuing upon a Life not spent in the praising of God. O this Dying t is a solemn thing 't is A thing by it self What followes it But that in Heb. 9. 27. After Death Iudgement That Iudgment will be Eternal and if it come upon thee before thy turning and living unto God it will be very Terrible Hearken to this awful Truth and Voice of the Almighty God and let thy heart quiver as under the loudest claps of Thunder at it If thou Dy before thy peace be made with God and thy praise be given to Him t is impossible thou shouldst escape the Vengeance of Eternal Fire Small Chipâ— as well as great Logs are horribly burnâ—â—◠〈◊〉 there must thou too undergo most exquisite Anguishes for infinitely more than as many Millions of Ages as the Huge Ocean has Drops of Water in it O Consider these Terrors of the Lord and immediately set upon His Praises Now that you would come to these Resolutions before you go from the present Exercise Entreat me not to leave you or to turn from following after you but give me leave to press upon you at least this one Consideration more Consider seriously How exceeding Acceptable it will be to the great God for such Young persons as you to set upon praising of Him Your Praises they are very much desired by the Lord and not a little delightful to Him. He declares My soul desires the first ripe Fruit and He seem'd to express as it were some Hast for the First Fruits under the Law of Old. The Lord in a sort longs to see you serving of Him with the First Fruits of your Age and of your Praise He saies as in Cant. 2. 14. Let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice The Voice of your Praises makes a matchless melody in the ears of the God that has call'd for them The very Chatterings of our infants are pleasant unto us the Praises and the Devotions of young persons are so unto Our Father which is in Heaven and he asketh for them with ungainsayable Importunities 'T was said unto a young man in 1. Chron. 28. 9. If thou seek the Lord He will be found of thee Even so If thou that art a young person praise the Lord he will be pleased with thee One that owns an Orchard full of many fruitful Trees will take a most particular and affectionate Notice of a young Tree beginning to have some little Fruit upon it Our Father is such an Husband man. Young Iohns are they that prove the Disciples whom Iesus loves Young Iosiahs will have special Comforts in this and special Honours in another world And yee Hearts of Adamant are you not yet overcome to resolve I will now praise and serve the great God! O let not your Answer be I am almost perswaded but become Altogether so As t was said of him Behold he prayes thus let it be said of you Behold he praises How How can you be deaf Adders before the Charms of these Considerations Lord visit the hitherto-unperswaded young people here O make it the Day of thy power with them and keep these things in the Imagination of the thoughts of their hearts for Evermore FINIS