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A55560
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The beauty, vigour and strength of youth bespoke for God in a sermon lately preached to young men / by Thomas Powell ...
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Powell, Thomas, 1608-1660.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing P3069; ESTC R33947
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28,699
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91
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THE Beauty Vigour Strength OF YOUTH Bespoke for GOD IN A SERMON Lately Preached to YOUNG MEN. By THOMAS POWELL Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Ben. Harris at the Stationers Arms in Sweetings Rents near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1676. TO THE READER Christian Reader THE greatest and highest Honour of the Reasonable Creature is to serve Him who is the best Good and the last End which is the design of this little Treatise The Excellency and Necessity of what is here treated justly merits a larger Volumn But I studied Brevity and that upon a two-fold account First Because I was desired that there might be little or no Variation from the Sermon as it was Preached either in Altering or Enlarging though something of each I have done yet so I hope as to please both thee the Reader and they who had the Opportunity of Hearing the same Secondly Because I was willing that more might have a share in it which possibly could not have been if I had not endeavoured to crowd my Meditations in a little room Birds when they come to a full heap of Corn chirp and call for their fellowes Goodness and Light are of a diffusive Nature And now since this is Midwifed into the World which was not intended by me such as it is I offer it to thee as the product of my sincere and cordial Love to the Souls of young Men. Let not the Plainness of the Matter and the Homeliness of the Style offend thee I designed it not for a curious Pallate being preached unto a plain Countrey-people I aymed at their Edification and not at any Popular Applause The Treatise is usefull for all that are enquiring after true Felicity especially the younger sort of People being such for the most part that were present when this Sermon was Preached What thou Reader apprehendest not Sound carry it to the Touch-stone of the Word and if but a Mite of saving Knowledge may be through Gods Blessing added to thy Understanding let God have the Glory and the Author hath his End who is Southwark Decemb. READER Thy Friend and Souls servant Thomas Powell ECCLES XII 1. Remember Now thy Creatour in the Dayes of thy Youth while the Evil Dayes come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them GOD set up two great Lights in Solomons Heart one shewing the Excellency of Christ in the Canticles the other the Vanity of the Creature as in Ecclesiastes which is the second Book of Solomon and it is called Ecclesiastes because Solomon was so called And that either because he speaks unto a Multitude at once or else because of his Wisdom with which he was indeed after a copious manner endowed The whole Book is a declaration of Solomons repentance written in his old age as may be gather'd both out of the title of it and the closure of it in the six last verses and also out of the whole body of it being written upon a serious view of the passages and practices of his life past and the great and manifold experience he made and found therein He treats chiefly of the worlds vanity true felicity the maladies of old age the Advantage of being good betimes Hence it is that young men in the conclusion of all are call'd upon to mind their Creator and that whatsoever they are employed in besides is vanity of vanities and no wise yielding true satisfaction but anxiety and torment unto their souls Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them The words in general do press unto a duty of the greatest moment in the world wherein you may take notice of these several things 1. The Act Remember 2. The Object Creator 3. The adjunct of Time Now in the dayes of thy youth exegetically repeated while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them The words will afford us many points of Doctrine I shall only observe two and so insist upon them Doct. 1. That above all things whatsoever we should not forget but Remember our Creator Doct. 2. That there is great reason why we should remember our Creatour in the dayes of our youth even while we are young and before old age over-takes us These in order and with the first I begin viz. That above all things whatsoever we should not forget but Remember our Creator The prosecution of this Point I purpose through Gods assistance in this wise 1. I shall set my self to amplifie it 2. To Apply it The amplification will consist of Explication and confirmation 1. Explication and so I shall shew you 1. What this Creator is 2. What it is to remember our Creator 3. What it is to remember our Creator above all things whatsoever First I am to shew you What this Creator is whom we are call'd upon in the text to mind Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth In the Hebrews it is Thy Creatours alluding to the Trinity so that by Creatour we are to understand God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost for though the Creation of the world is peculiarly ascribed to God the Father and look't upon as his proper work in respect of order and relation as he is the first person of the Trinity yet not so as to exclude the rest for all the persons of the Trinity to speak after the manner of men had a hand in the Creation of the world Gen. 1. 26. And God said Let us make man ni our Image after our likeness who should the Father speak unto here Let us but unto the Son and the Holy Ghost Secondly What it is to Remember our Creator It is not onely a bare thinking on him and that now and then but to remember our Creator implyes these several things First To know him to know that he is and what he is That God is and that he is to be worshipped is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law written in the heart of man and that which the book of the Creatures teacheth as well as the book of the Scriptures But now who This God is and the right mode of worshipping him many are at a loss and the candle-light of Nature without the help of the Holy Spirit in and by the Scriptures cannot direct us neither can our knowledge of God by them be a comprehensive knowledge what God is in his Essence in his Attributes in his persons in his works no man or Angel hath doth or ever shall know Though we must if we would remember our Creator aright know something of each yet he must have the wisdom of God and so be a God that comprehendeth God in his Essence Attributes Persons and works what say you now Sirs do you remember your Creator in this
of thine Affiance commandeth thy Fear and Reverence when thou hearest In the fear of God give Audience to his Word Acts 13. 16. Poor Peasants should tremble when this Prince is speaking It becomes the greatest Person to be awfull in Gods Presence more than in the presence of any other Abraham who had the honour and favour to be Gods Friend yet when God spake to him fell on his face Gen. 17. 3. Moses though high in the Heart of God yet is humble when he hears from God He bowed his Head towards the Earth and worships Exod. 34. 8. And so when thou prayest put up thy Petitions to God with a great deal of Trepidation knowing that though thou takest upon thee to speak unto the great God of Heaven and Earth yet still thou art but Dust and Ashes Luther prayed with Confidence as to a Father but with Reverence as to a God Thou art at best but a Begger and a proud heart will not suit a Beggers purse The Eastern Christians when they called on God threw themselves on the ground The Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal. 84. 11. God resisteth the proud but giveth Grace to the humble God sets himself in battel-array against a proud man as the Greek word emphatically signifies To this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my Word Isa. 66. 2. Again when thou approachest to the Lords Supper is another special time when God should be more than ordinarily reverenced and feared This is Mysterium tremendum a Mystery to be trembled at Read that excellent Scripture Let us have Grace whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 28 29. This holy Fear and Trembling it is that graceth all our performances and makes them acceptable unto God Thirdly Obeying God above all things whatsoever All Service must be denyed rather than Gods must be neglected Not that I would hereby encourage Servants unto Neglect in their Masters Employ that is not my drift that which I would have Servants and all do is serving and obeying God in a right manner And now God is obey'd and serv'd in a right manner and above all things whatsoever First When he is serv'd sincerely and without the mixtures of hypocrisie A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump 1 Cor. 5. 6. My Son give me thy Heart Prov. 23. 26. 'T is the Heart that God looks at the Heart that God requires and the Heart it is that makes the Service acceptable and shews the sincerity of him that performs it My Son give me thy heart not lend me thy Ear or afford me thy Tongue A Sacrifice unto God without the Heart is an abomination unto him I hate your Burnt-Offerings my Soul nauseates your solemn Assemblies Odi Dianos dona â—erentes Bring me no more vain Oblations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hypocrisie spoyls every Prayer soyls every Ordinance stains and discolours every Duty invenoms every Mercy If such an one Pray 't is esteemed Howling if he Mourn 't is hanging down the head like a Bulrush if he Sacrifice 't is cutting off a Dogs Neck if he Rejoyce 't is but a Blaze a crackling of Thorns under the Pot. Secondly When he is serv'd not with a servile but with a filial Fear when he is serv'd not with constraint but willingly and chearfully God loves a willing Servant Religion should be full of Alacrity Heavenly Duties and spiritual Performances are to flow freely from the Soul like those voluntary drops that come sweating from the Honey-comb of its own accord without any pressing or crushing It is onely the Dregs of Obedience that will not come forth without squeezing and wringing The better any thing is the more freely doth it diffuse it self If therefore you would serve God as you should do serve him with a chearfull Fear because Chearfulness puts a gloss and lustre upon Religion and makes it amiable even in the eyes of the world Thirdly When he is served universally in all respects in Holiness towards God in Righteousness towards man Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments Psal. 119. 6. How many are there that pick and cull their Duties and so indeed serve not the will of God but their own Choyce That answer the Lord with half-Obedience like the Eccho which makes not a perfect Respondence of the Voice but of some part thereof Many make such a difference amongst the Tables as if onely one side or one part were of Gods writing The Man that like Agrippa doth but almost Believe almost Repent almost Obey that man shall be sav'd proportionably almost Fourthly When he is serv'd constantly not now and then admitting Cessations but all the dayes of our Life constantly in all Estates unto the End Col. 1. 10. I have done with Explication and so have shewed you the Import of Remembring your Creator as it lies before you in the Text and Doctrine The Second part of the Amplification will be Confirmation which shall consist of several Scripture-Reasons First Above all things whatsoever we must not forget but Remember our Creator because He hath commanded us Remember thy Creator Doth it become a Child when commanded to dispute his Fathers Command Is it not his Father that commands him and therefore he must do it Why is not God the Father of us all by Creation and are we not obliged to Obey him The Wind and Seas do obey him and shall We turn Rebels All Creatures pay Homage unto him and shall Man refuse Doth the Oxe know his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib Isa. 1. 3. And shall not we whom God hath endowed with Reason and made capaces Religionis capable of Religion Are all the Creatures at Gods beck and ready to obey him whensoever he desireth it and yet shall we spurn against him provoking him to wrath and grieving his holy Spirit Why cannot we find in our hearts to obey our Father Creator and Lord Is he not our Sovereign and have any gone on in a course of Rebellion against him that did ever prosper Is it not a vain thing to stand it out with God or contend with the Almighty Would it not be more advantagious to lay down the Weapons and crie peccavi than to wrestle and be foyl'd fight and be kill'd Is it not better to remember our Friend that he may remember us when the proudest and most ambitious shall e're long see their need of him Secondly We must not forget but above all things Remember our Creator because it is the End of our Creation Man was made to love serve and obey his Maker and God hath made him capable though now by Sin degenerated Thirdly God who made us can destroy us our