and set your Affections on things above Watch and pray that you may not enter into Temptation or at least that your Faith may not fail you when you are tempted And to that end read and meditate on the Word of God Day and Night that you may know how to manage that Sword of the Spirit so as to wound the Head of your potent and subtle Adversary I write unto you young Men saith the Apostle Iohn because you are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one Govern your selves in every thing by the exact Rule of the Holy Scripture For wherewith shall a young Man cleanse his way but by taking heed thereto according to that Divine Word Take heed lest the Holy Religion you profess be dishonour'd by your Practices Let your manner of Life be so circumspect and unreproachable that it may stop the Mouths of Blasphemers stop them did I say Nay that it may open them in favour of Religion that when they see your good Works they may be induc'd to glorify your Heavenly Father and to worship him and to confess that God is in you of a Truth Let a becoming Modesty and Gravity adorn your Conversation Let your Speech be always with Grace season'd with Salt Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister Grace to the Hearers Provoke others to a Holy Emulation by the lustre of your Examples and choose the excellent Patterns of the most devout and experienc'd Christians for your own Imitation Let your Zeal be constantly directed by Knowledg and your Knowledg always ballasted by Humility In a word Set the Lord always before your Faces that you may not sin against him Remember your Creator what he is and what Homage and Service you owe him Remember how reasonable that Service is and how entirely your true Interest and Happiness is involv'd in it and industriously improve all the Advantages of your Time to the Glory of him who is the God of your Life that if you live to be aged you may be able to make happy Reflections on your Youth and on the endearing Favours of him that has been with you from your Youth to old Age and has carried you as the Prophet speaks even to hoary Hairs That coming to the Grave in a full Age you may be like shocks of Corn that come in in their season fully ripen'd and prepar'd for Heaven Or if you are called to lie down in the Grave before that you may be ripe for Glory and made meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light betimes that your Names may be great on Earth and your Rewards may be great in Heaven As for you that are still Young but have not yet made an offering of your Youth to your Creator 1. Let me ask you What hinders you from presenting so reasonable a Service to him You have seen that the reason of this Duty which our Text urges is founded in your very Being in the Relation you bear to the Almighty as his Creatures and since your greatest Interest too is embarked in it Why should so just and so useful an Exhortation be rejected Will you yet continue to rob your Maker of the Homage and Service you owe him And deprive your selves of the Honour and Privilege of serving him Will you yet be unmindful of the Rock that begat you and still forget the God that form'd you Is the great God ready to accept your Service and will you still refuse to offer it What Illusions of Sense are those that charm you What Bonds of Iniquity are those that captivate your Souls and hold you both against the forcible Arguments and the indulgent Invitations of the Divine Word As we have taken a view of the Arguments that oblige you to your Duty let us also to remove the chief Stumbling-blocks that obstruct your way enquire a little into the pretended Reasons that detain you in your Sin Will you say 'T is a rigorous Demand to require us to forsake the World almost as soon as we come into it and to renounce the charming Sweets wherewith it flatters our Senses even before we have so much as tasted many of the Pleasures to which it invites us And this in that part of our Life that gives us the highest relish of these Delights when our Senses are most lively and active and when the World shews it self most obliging and kind and presents us on every side with thousands of pleasant Objects But tell me Are the Promises of the World like the Promises of God Are those Pleasures the highest relish of which vanishes by your own confession together with your Youth and so may be soon out liv'd by your selves to be compar'd with the eternal Joys of Heaven Are the Smiles of the World and the Pleasures of Sense to be preferr'd to the Smiles of God and the Joy of a good Conscience here and to the refin'd and spiritual Delights of the other World Is a Life of Sin which will prove bitterness in the latter end of it which is enjoy'd but a few Moments but follow'd with the gnawings of a Worm that never dies to be chosen before a Life of Holiness which is accompanied with inward Peace in the Soul and follow'd with Immortal Glory and Pleasure Is it worth the while to purchase a few hours delight in gratifying your sordid and brutish Appetites with the loss of your precious Souls Will you rather hazard an eternal privation of the Joys of Heaven and expose your selves to the danger of everlasting Perdition than curb the extravagant Inclinations of your vain and sensual Hearts Will you still flatter the levity and unsteadiness of your youthful Minds in pursuing all the vain Fantoms your extravagant Imaginations can represent Will you continue to follow those gay Bubbles which will yield you scarce any thing but Disappointment Vexation and Guilt when you are invited to fix your Minds and your Hearts on your Creator to make him the Object of your Thoughts and of your Desires who gives his Votaries the Hope of Immortal Glory which produces in their Souls a great degree of Happiness at present and who will hereafter fill them with Joys infinitely beyond the most raised Expectation Will you further urge But we have no mind to be singular to distinguish our selves from the generality of Mankind by an Affectation of a strict Course of Life and that at an Age when every one allows the Senses an Indulgence There is a proper season for every thing Youth is the Time for Pleasure and Old Age for Repentance for the latter part of our Lives seems destin'd to trouble and sorrow And then 't is fit to live a spiritual Life when Age has deaden'd the Senses and so prepar'd us to live
the burden and heat of the day in labouring and suffering for him May not I who have spent my Days in Vanity and Sin in Rioting and Drunkenness in Chambering and Wantonness and who now am incapacitated either to do or suffer much for God just at the Period of my Days justly fear being excluded from the participation of this Bliss Is it likely that these Joys that are so spiritual and refined will be poured into such a Soul as mine when parted from this languishing Body which has been debauch'd and corrupted for so many Years with the base and sordid delights of Sin Or may I presume to deposite this vile and mouldering Carcase in the Grave in hope of having it render'd a Glorious Body at the Resurrection of the Iust when I have through the Best of my time abus'd it to the Vilest purposes of Sensuality and Vice Shall these Eyes that have so often been full of Adultery be admitted to see the Lord in Glory And this Tongue be tun'd to praise him with sacred Anthems in Heaven which has thus long lodg'd in it a World of Iniquity and desecrated his Holy Name by prophane Oaths and Blasphemies on Earth That these Feet that have been swift to attend the Places of Debauchery and the Assemblies of the Vngodly shall stand within the Gates of the Heavenly Ierusalem and find a welcome place in the General Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven Or that these Hands that have so long been executing Acts of Unrighteousness here shall be eternally lifted up with Praises and employ'd in applauding the Name and Works of God there May not I more reasonably be afraid that my Soul should fall into the hands of the living God than chearfully commit it to him now my Days are near expiring And justly apprehend that the expence of my Time in Wickedness will be punished with an eternity of Misery And that after I have so long walk'd in the ways of Sin I must now at last lie down in the Grave in Sorrow And O how pungent is that Sorrow while my trembling Soul looks into the consequences of such a Death For if I die in my Sins not only am I depriv'd of all this Happiness which I have been viewing at a distance but must sink into that Abyss of Misery where a never-dying Worm and an unquenchable Lake of fire are the just and dreadful Rewards of a sinful Life These and such like Jealousies and Fears carry so specious an appearance of Reason with them that without a more than common measure of Faith they must needs give the Soul a great deal of Disquiet And 't is no wonder if the Righteous and Holy God suffer the Mind often to labour under these troublesome Thoughts as a proper method both to embitter Sin to one that has been long accustomed to indulge it and to testify for the incouragement of Holiness that he reserves some peculiar Rewards even in this Life for them that have serv'd him with a peculiar Zeal and Constancy and that full assurance of Faith and Hope and a clear prospect of those invisible things which he has laid up for those that love him is a Blessing wherewith he seldom crowns any but those who have been for some considerable part of their Lives gradually raising their Affections and fixing them on things above habituating themselves to converse in Heaven and fighting the good fight of Faith that they might lay hold on eternal Life For since God is pleas'd to propose Rewards as motives to his Service 't is natural to conclude That the consolating Hope of these Rewards which is also a Reward it self does ordinarily bear proportion to the Time and Degree of our Obedience And therefore he that has long devoted himself to the Service of God as he has commonly a clearer prospect of future Bliss and of the security of his interest in it so to advance his Joy still to a higher point he has reason to expect a distinguishing Reward in the Celestial Glory that if he has serv'd his Lord much in his Church which is his Kingdom on Earth he shall not be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven For though he has no ground to hope to be rewarded for his Works on the account of Debt because when he has done his best he is but an unprofitable Servant yet since God himself has promised it he may believe that he shall be rewarded according to his Works on the account of Grace Thus as the early Convert looks back upon all the Sufferings he has endur'd for the sake of his Divine Master with Comfort as on Waters that are past away so the Thoughts of these raise both his Desire and Expectation earnestly to look for a distinguishing Recompence of future Glory And how unexpressible is that Joy which a Holy Man feels when the Eye of Faith can with a great degree of strength penetrate and with equal steadiness contemplate the unseen Glories of the Heavenly State as firmly interessed therein What Joy does the early Convert often taste especially toward the Close of his Days when he approaches the Mark of his long Desire and Hope when he considers that as he has been long labouring to increase in the Knowledg of God he shall suddenly see him as he is and that as he has been long endeavouring after a Conformity to him he shall not only see him but be like him too That as all the Powers of his Soul have been dedicated to his Service so they shall be in a little time intirely fill'd with his Glory and incessantly employ'd in his Praise and as the Members of his Body have been fellow-Servants of Righteousness with the Faculties of his Soul so their refin'd Matter and elegant Form at the Resurrection shall render them fit to become their Partners in Glory Thus have we made it evident that the Time of our Youth is in many respects the best and fittest for the Great Work of remembering our Maker and of engaging in his Service and this even upon the Supposition of our being sure of obtaining an opportunity of repenting in old Age tho we should not reform before But we have further to shew that as the Time of Youth is the Best so it may be and is most likely to be the only Season wherein it will be possible for us to devote our selves to our Creator or wherein our Service will be acceptable to him Which gives us the clearest proof of all of the Danger and Folly of neglecting to consecrate to him the Morning of our Days But the Consideration of this we shall refer to another Discourse THE Reasonableness Advantages OF AN Early Conversion to God DEMONSTRATED SERMON III. ECCLES xii 1. Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth while the Evil Days come not nor the Years
God is pleas'd to press or encourage us to our Duty in his Word by stiling Himself our Creator we are to consider that Title as tacitely including his being our Redeemer too that the God that made us is also the Rock of our Salvation And we find the great Work of the Holy Spirit in Renewing and Regenerating a Sinner is frequently term'd Creation in Holy Writ both to signify the Greatness of the Work and the Resemblance this New Creation in several respects bears to the first and also to denote that both those mighty Works are to be ascrib'd to the same Author and that God may be term'd our Creator not only in that he gave us a Being but also in that he often makes Sinners become New Creatures by Renewing them in knowledg after his own Image and by Creating them in Righteousness and true Holiness Who are therefore call'd his Workmanship Created in Christ Iesus to good Works c. And 't is worth remarking that this Word Creator in our Text is of the Plural Number in the Original Thy Creators as if design'd to express the great Obligations Men are under to each Person of the Blessed Trinity for Making Redeeming and Sanctifying them the former of which is eminently ascribed to the Father the Second to the Son and the last to the Holy Spirit tho' all concur in each of those mighty Works and to signify that all these Works may be fitly express'd by this common Name of Creation 4. As God is our Creator he is the Soveraign Arbiter and Disposer of our Being He is the Soveraign Judg of the World inflicting Punishments and dispensing Favours as he pleases He that has made us and preserves us has power to render us Happy or Miserable He has the Issues of Life and Death in his Hand He that hath created us knows all the Capacity we have of Joy or Sorrow Pleasure or Pain and has power to affect us with either of them as he pleases He can make his Arrows of Terror stick fast in the Conscience or fill the Soul with unspeakable Ioy. He can punish or chear the Mind with his immediate Frowns or Smiles or he can convey Anguish or Joy into the Soul by the Occasion of different Impressions on the Tabernacle of Flesh and Blood wherein she dwells He can dispense Punishments or Pleasures by his own Hand immediately or mediately by any of his Creatures And when he giveth Quietness who then can make Trouble And when he hideth his Face who then can behold him whether it be done against a Nation or against a Man only 'T is the Lord as Hannah speaks that killeth and maketh alive He bringeth down to the Grave and bringeth up The Lord maketh Poor and maketh Rich he bringeth low and lifteth up Which this Holy Prophetess proves by this Argument For the Pillars of the Earth are the Lord's and he hath set the World upon them where his Soveraign Power over Men to dispose of their State as he pleases is infer'd from his Relation to them as their Creator And when the Angel in the Revelation protests there should be Time no longer He swears by him that created Heaven and Earth and Sea and the things therein to shew that God as Creator of the World is the Soveraign Arbiter of it and that the Consummation of Time and of Temporal Things belongs to him under that Character So that 't is our Maker that both shews the Path of Life and holds in his Hand the Keys of Hell and Death And as he has made all things So he does whatsoever he pleses in Heaven and in Earth in the Sea and all deep places And Who can deliver out of his hand Seeing he doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his Hand or say unto him What dost Thou Thus have we endeavoured to shew what is comprehended in God's Title of Creator on which we have taken the greater Liberty to expatiate because hereby a solid Foundation is laid for some of those Reasons which we are hereafter to insist on to enforce the Duty in our Text in the Division of which we have observ'd that in the Terms of the Duty Remember thy Creator the Reasons of that Duty are in part insinuated Having given some Account of the Object of this Duty viz. God under the Title of our Creator We shall now Secondly Briefly explain the Act it self of Remembring him and shew what that imports The Memory is that Faculty of the Soul whereby she is capable of recalling the Ideas of things which have before been present to her But here to Remember does not only signify the exercising of the Understanding on our Creator by reflecting on what our Senses Reason and Divine Revelation may have suggested to our Minds concerning God under that Character It does not here barely import to meditate on him and bear him in mind but because the Understanding directs the Will and Affections and Men move and act very much according to their Conceptions of things their Desires following the Conduct of their Thoughts this Term is applied both to the one and to the other Sometimes it signifies to Esteem and Respect as Psal. 20. 3. The Lord Remember all thy Offerings and accept thy burnt Sacrifice Sometimes to Trust as Psal. 20. 7. Some Trust in Horses and some in Chariots but we will Remember the Name of the Lord our God Sometimes to Worship and Praise as 1 Chron. 16. 12. where after David had exhorted to sing to God to glory in him and seek him because of his mighty Works he adds to the same purpose Remember the marvellous Works that he hath done c. q. d. Adore and praise him for them And this may be further illustrated by the use of the opposite Term of Forgetting which sometimes signifies to disesteem and slight as Ier. 2. 32. Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire yet my People have forgotten me days without Number Sometimes to Distrust as Psal. 78. 7. That they might set their Hope in God and nor forget the Works of God And sometimes to neglect to praise and worship God as Psal. 106. 12 13. They sang his Praise they soon forgot his Works they waited not for his Counsel Or to forsake the Service of God as Deut. 6. 12. Beware lest thou forget the Lord that is by going after other Gods as it is explain'd in ver 14. So that to Remember God does not only import to think or meditate often on him but to think worthily and becomingly of him and to pay him a Respect in some measure sutable to the Idea we have of him To remember his glorious Perfections so as to esteem and respect him deliberately to call to mind the Number and Quality of his Favours and to
expres'd To shew how fitly they are adapted to the State and Circumstances of those that are Young who are the Persons to whom this Exhortation is address'd With which I shall conclude this Discourse 1. From the Terms used to shew the Time of remembring our Creator it may be observ'd 1. That this double Timing of the Duty first by expresly prescribing it in Youth and then before Old Age with its Miseries come on gives the Words a certain Force and Energy proper to inculcate so important an Admonition 'T is a giving Precept upon Precept and Line upon Line as the Prophet Isaiah speaks which he commends as the proper Course to instruct the Young or to use his own Words to teach them Knowledg and to make them understand Doctrine who are weaned from the Milk and drawn from the Breasts to gain the Attention of giddy and unthinking Youth many of whom tho' God condescends to speak once yea twice as he doth here are yet so dull of hearing as not to perceive the Reasonableness of their Duty or at least not sufficiently to consider it and the Danger to which the neglect of it exposes ' em And 2. We may further observe that this Obligation of Remembring our Creator extends it self equally with the Capacity we have of Reflecting on God as our Maker and increases proportionably to the knowledg we may obtain of him So that none are entirely exempt from it who are capable of exercising their Thoughts on God and therefore those may not pretend to be dispens'd with who have not arriv'd to the full maturity of Youth if they are in any degree capable of knowing their Creator As far as they are able to take notice of his Nature and of his Will so far are they oblig'd to worship and obey him And this is further cleared by the Opposition the Wise Man seems to make betwixt the Duty in our Text and the Vanity of Childhood and Youth mentioned just before So that if we take Vanity here in a Moral Sense the Exhortation extends it self to Persons that fall under either of those Denominations that are either in the state of Childhood or Youth And if by Vanity Natural Frailty and Mortality be intended the words are not less extensive for then the frailty of Childhood and Youth is used as a Consideration to prepare the way for this Admonition and Children as well as Young Men are therefore excited to give themselves to the Service of their Creator Because neither are exempt from the danger of Sickness and of Death And this may be further collected from the charge given to Youth in the Text to remember their Creator not only before the Evil Days of Old Age are come but before those Years draw nigh while Old Age is yet at a distance Which shews that none that are capable of reflecting on their relation to God as Creator may excuse themselves as too Young to be concern'd in his Service For as his being our Creator is the foundation of this Duty of remembering him So 't is evident that our Obligation to it is to be measured by the Capacity we have of knowing him as such Therefore he may well require that the tender Buds of Childhood as well as the maturer Blossoms of Youth be consecrated to him who sometimes perfects his Praise out of the mouths of such who in comparison of those of riper Years are but Babes and Sucklings and therefore by the Psalmist calls upon Young Men and Maidens and Children as well as Old Men to praise and worship him 2. That the Terms of Remembring their Creator are wisely adapted to the state of Youth to engage them early in the Service of God will appear by the following Remarks on each of those Terms 1. God under the Title of Creator is fitly recommended to the Young as the Object of their Worship and Obedience 1. Because 't is a Term that easily excites in the Mind a strong and clear Idea of God's infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness And the Wise Man having to do with Youth whose unexperience for want of Years and whose unattention for want of a habit of steady thinking renders them less capable of arriving at the knoledg of the Deep things of God than those who to the advantage of a long observation of things have added that of addicting themselves to frequent Thoughtfulness and Meditation he makes use of that Title of God which might most familiarly suggest a proper Notion of him to their Minds He exposes to them the Alphabet of the Creation out of which even Children may easily learn to spell the Being of a Deity The Ignorant and the Young even those that run as the Prophet speaks the heedless and unattentive may read the Characters of the Divine Attributes which are plainly engraven on the Pillars even of this Material World And as the Apostle observes may clearly discern the Eternal Power and Godhead of the Creator who is Invisible by the curious Fabrick of this Visible Creation so as to render them altogether inexcusable if they neglect to glorisy God according to those sensible notices of him which they may so easily and constantly receive For as the sight of a Magnificent Palace induces us to consider the Skill and Ability of the Architect that built it So when we take a serious prospect of the Structure and Frame of the World or of any part of it it familiarly raises our Thoughts to its Great Author and Cause For as every House is built by some Man so 't is natural to conclude with the Apostle that he that built all things is God And therefore 2. This of Creator is a Title which God is usually pleas'd to assume in Scripture to distinguish himself as the True and Living God from the Idols of the Heathen and to convince their Ignorant Votaries that He is the only proper Object of Religious Worship The LORD is the True God saith the Prophet Ieremiah he is the Living God and an everlasting King The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Then speaking again of the True God he says He hath made the Earth by his Power he hath established the World by his Wisdom and hath stretched out the Heavens by his Discretion And then having spoken of the Vanity of Idols he adds The Portion of Jacob is not like them for he is the Former of all things And the Prophet Isaiah introduces the God of Israel proving himself to be the True God under the same Character I have made the Earth and created Man upon it I even my Hands have stretched out the Heavens and all their Host have I commanded And a little after the Prophet insults over the makers of Idols and then adds Thus saith the LORD that Created the Heavens God himself that formed
draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them TO the Disadvantages of delaying Conversion till the evil Days of old Age and the Advantages of devoting one's self to the Service of God in Youth which we have already insisted on we have this one farther Consideration to add viz. That 4. Our Eternal Interest is extremely hazarded by deferring Conversion to old Age and best secur'd by an early change For 1. We are always uncertain of future Time for the accomplishment of this Important Work Our Time is at the Disposal of our Maker and he has not entrusted our lavish hands with the whole stock of this precious Treasure but only suffers it to run through them by Moments so that we can recal no past nor can we command any future Time 't is therefore our Business to improve the present being ignorant how long the Divine Bounty will continue our Time in this World Upon this account the wise Man instructs us well not to boast our selves of to Morrow seeing we know not what a Day may bring forth And the Prophet Isaiah reprehends the folly of those that encourage one another to go on in sinful Excesses by profanely promising themselves that to Morrow should be as the present Day and much more abundant The Apostle Iames also shews the Vanity of such foolish Presumptions Go to now says he ye that say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a Year and buy and sell and get Gain whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away For that ye ought to say If the Lord will we shall live and do this or that And Experience as well as Scripture assures us that every Man walks in a vain shew and that Man in this respect even at his best Estate is altogether Vanity That some die in their full strength being wholly at ease and quiet their Breasts being full of Milk and their Bones moisten'd with Marrow As others die in the bitterness of their Souls and never eat with pleasure That they lie down alike in the Dust and the Worms cover ' em 'T is evident to every one's observation that Youth does not exempt us from Death nor ensure to us any farther portion of Time than what we at present enjoy But on the contrary that the far greater number of Mankind go early to the Grave and for one that reaches to old Age a multitude fall short of it Nor is it an uncommon thing for Persons of the most vigorous and hardy Constitution of Body to be suddenly snatch'd away into the other World by some violent Disease or otherwise For so many fatal Strokes are we obnoxious to and so frail is the Texture of our Earthly Tabernacle that some of the least and most contemptible things in the World are capable of giving it a mortal shock and the very Pores of the Skin sometimes prove Breaches wide enough for the King of Terrors to enter in at This is well enough known and often enough thought upon by the generality of Men to engage them to use Precautions to secure themselves or their Posterity as much as they can from the prejudice their temporal Affairs might otherwise receive from sudden Death And the Rate an Estate for Life is usually valued at sufficiently shews that to such purposes as these Men need not be taught to know their End and the measure of their Days what it is that they may know how frail they are And if there be no comparison between Earth and Heaven between the uncertain Wealth of this World and the durable Riches of the other between this Life and that which is to come Then 't is infinitely more imprudent for a Man to neglect but for a moment to make his Calling and Election sure whatever future Time here his Youth and Strength may seem to promise than for him carelesly to suffer the security of his temporal Estate to depend merely on the uncertain Life of another Man when he need not put it to that hazard or to expose his Posterity to Poverty and Misery by omitting to make due provision for them against his own Mortality when he has a fair opportunity of doing it 'T is Folly and Madness to leave that undone to day which must be done at one time or other or else we are ruin'd for ever and which may for ought we know be impossible to be perform'd to morrow To neglect to improve the present Time in doing that on which our eternal Bliss depends when the precious opportunity of doing it may the next moment by sudden Death or some stupifying Disease become irreparable Even the Impious Atheist and the Profane Epicure make speedy provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof from the consideration of the shortness and uncertainty of their Time in this World and seek to gratify and indulge their Senses to day because they are not sure of doing it to morrow Let us eat and drink say they for to morrow we shall die And they have so far reason on their side in that they act in Conformity to their Principles because their Hope is only in this Life and they profess not to expect another How unaccountably stupid then are they who tho they believe there is a future State after this Life and tho they know that they shall die and that they know not how soon yet in their vain Imaginations put the evil Day of Death afar off and defer from time to time the great Work of laying up Treasure in Heaven till the Season of doing it is irretrievably lost And in vain is so precious a Talent as Time put into the hands of such Fools who have no heart to improve it If the wise Man argues rightly when he excites to diligence even in the ordinary Affairs of this Life because of the speedy approach of Death This Reason infinitely multiplies its force when apply'd to our present purpose and may therefore most fitly be used to stir us up to an early and diligent improvement of the Time of Youth in the Service of God Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do says he do it with thy Might for there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledg nor Wisdom in the Grave whither Thou goest For Man also knoweth not his Time as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil Time when it falleth suddenly upon them 'T is therefore our prudence and interest to work while 't is day seeing we know not how soon the night may come upon us wherein no Man can work But further 2. If our Time were in our own hands as it is in the hand
as have need of Milk and not of strong Meat Or that you are of the number of those who are over learning and never able to come to the Knowledg of the Truth You should be greatly mortified to this World who have a long time profess'd to be convinc'd of its Vanity and to be dying daily to it and who find old Age ready to transport you to the other And since you have long pretended to have had your Conversation and business in Heaven certainly you ought to have gain'd much by that happy Commerce and to have laid up much Treasure in the Regions of Glory as well as to have been rich in good Works here below and you should be dextrous in putting on and handling the Christian Armour who have often had occasion to try it And so skilful in defeating the Projects of your Adversary the Devil since you are suppos'd not to be ignorant of his Devices as after the sharpest Conflicts to become more than Conquerors through him that hath loved you These things may reasonably be suppos'd and expected of you But do you fill up these Characters that so well agree with your long standing in the Church of God Are you Fathers in Knowledg and Piety as well as in Years And is the size of your Spiritual Stature pro. portionate to the time of your Natural Life or at least of your Spiritual Life which commenc'd not long after the other Are you become very humble by a long acquaintance with your own Hearts and with that God who is the searcher of them Is your Faith become strong by a long exercise Your Hope firm by your long and familiar acquaintance with the Promises of God and with him in whom all those Promises are Yea and Amen True and Faithful Have your various Afflictions taught you to possess your Souls in Patience And have the many Favours you have received of God so tun'd your Hearts to his Praise that you can in every thing give thanks Does your spiritual vigour advance as your natural Strength declines And is your inward Man renew'd day by day as your outward Man perishes Have you made such a Proficiency as this in Religion Or is it otherwise Examine your selves strictly and seriously about it May not your Creator send you back to learn of those that are much younger and who have had less Advantages of Improvement than you Nay may he not send you back to be instructed by your selves I mean by the former part of your Lives And shame your late Back-slidings by putting you in mind of your early Zeal May he not justly reprove you in reminding you of your former Kindnesses to him as well as of his to you as he did the Iews of old and say I remember thee the kindness of thy Youth and the love of thy Espousals when thou wentest after me in the Wilderness in a Land that was not sown Israel was Holiness to the LORD and the first-fruits of his Increase May he not charge you as he did the Ephesians with having left your first Love And with having fallen short of your first Works Surely it becomes you now strenuously to persist in fighting the good Fight of Faith when you are near the consummation of all your Victories in an eternal Triumph To press forward vigorously in your spiritual Race now at last when you have almost attain'd the Mark and to aspire earnestly after that Diadem of Glory with which you are so suddenly to be crown'd To converse constantly in Heaven now you are just forsaking the Earth to live entirely by Faith since you are going to die in it to die in the Lord and that in order to live with him in a State that will turn your Faith into Vision and your Hope into Enjoyment If thus while Age bends you toward the Earth Grace raises your Hearts toward Heaven if your Faith grows sagacious while your Eyes grow dim and your Hope grows firm while your Hands and Knees are feeble if the Warmth of your Love to God increases as your natural Heat abates and the Sallies of your Souls after him grow strong and lively as the Motions of your animal Spirits grow weak and languid Then as your last Works will be more than your first so you 'll honour God as well in the worst part of your Time as you have done in the best of it And as by bringing forth much fruit even in old Age you will glorify your Heavenly Father So your Hoary Hairs will be honourable in this World and an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory will be your Portion in the World to come Secondly Let me now address my self to you that are Young and entreat you also to put this important Question to your own Hearts Whether you have yet remember'd your Creator so as to dedicate your selves to his Service or not If you have devoted to him the first-fruits of your Time 1. It behoves you with profound Humility and Reverence to ascribe to God the Glory of his Grace who made you willing in the Day of his Power to serve him in the Beauties of Holiness even from the Womb of the Morning of your Time and to offer him the early Dew of your Youth For no Flesh may glory in his Presence seeing all Flesh is Grass and the goodliness thereof as the fading Flower of the Field in a Moral as well as a Natural sense If you have been distinguish'd from others by early impressions of Piety know that 't is Grace that hath made the difference and glorify that God who perfects his praise out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings and reveals that to Children which he sometimes hides from the Wise and Prudent Bless him that has redeem'd you from the Earth and from among Men at a time when the Pleasures of Sin and the Society of Sinners appear in the most alluring form Praise that God who by the early Seeds of Holiness he has sown in your Hearts is preparing you to reap a plentiful Harvest of Graces and Blessings here and of Glorious Rewards hereafter 2. Consider the mighty Obligations that are upon you to engage you in a Holy Conversation As you have receiv'd more than many others more is requir'd of you And what we have said may be justly expected to be found in those old Disciples that have follow'd Christ from their Youth sufficiently signifies the Mark you are to aim at and the exalted degrees of Grace you are to aspire to In order to which you ought to be cautious of the least degree of Apostacy Have a care lest after having seem'd to begin in the Spirit you should miserably end in the Flesh. Therefore flee youthful Lusts. And endure hardship as good Soldiers of Iesus Christ Inure your selves to Self-denial
so large a part of your Time to provide for the present Ease and Welfare of your Bodies in procuring them the Conveniencies of Life Is it not more reasonable to grudg that these Houses of Clay should have so much of your Care and Time and that your Souls nay and your Creator should have so little of them And ought you not rather to study how to improve even that Time which you spend in supporting and accommodating this animal Life so as to render it subservient to the great Ends of honouring your Maker and of saving your Souls than to contrive Excuses for entirely squandering away the best part of that little Time in Vanity and Sin which you ought to devote to the Holy Exercises of Piety and Religion And once again can you think you shall bring an acceptable Sacrifice if after the consumption of the prime of your Days in Vanity you should come to offer only some of your last hours to your Creator Will the Days in which you will confess you have no Pleasure your selves be a proper Offering for him to take pleasure in Is it fit to reserve only the Blind and Lame and Sick for sacred Services May not such a Return be reasonably expected to every such Oblation as God by the Prophet Malachi makes to the profane Iews in another case Offer it now to thy Governor will he be pleas'd with thee or accept thy Person saith the LORD of Hosts Would you not have reason to fear that such nauseous Services would be cast back as Dung upon your Faces And that you would have an Answer somewhat like that which you may imagine a Subject would receive who after having wasted his Youth and Strength in bearing Arms against his Soveraign should come on Crutches in his Old Age to tender himself to be listed under his Banner Such a kind of Answer I say as such an inveterate Rebel might expect but as much more terrible as it is a greater Crime to sin against the great Creator than to offend a Creature and as the Resentments of the Living God are more dreadful than the Anger of a Mortal Man 3. To conclude Consider whether the largest Portion of that little Time which you can possibly spend in the Service of God here makes any figure when compar'd with an Eternity to be employ'd in the pleasant Contemplation and Enjoyment of him hereafter Can you think much to dedicate the few Moments God is pleas'd to lend you in this World to him who will reward the Service of those Moments with everlasting Bliss in the next among those Blessed Ones whose Happiness as well as Business it is to be perpetually devoted to the Service of their Maker who enjoy Immortal Youth and feel an unconceivable Pleasure in employing it wholly in the Contemplation of his Perfections in the Celebration of his Praises in the entire Performance of his Will and in the perfect Enjoyment of his Favour Can it be thought that any of those Blessed Spirits that are possessed of this Glory can think much that they spent a little Time here below to obtain it May it not rather be suppos'd that they all unanimously wish if such a Wish be consistent with that perfect State of Bliss that they had improv'd evety Minute of that little Time which their Creator allotted them in this World to his Glory 'T is not to be doubted that the Holy Angels and Saints in Heaven do incessantly worship and serve their Maker with the greatest Alacrity imaginable because they constantly behold his Face and are always enamour'd of his Glory They are under a continual impression of the Reasonableness and Goodness of his Will and know perfectly well that their own Excellency and Happiness consists in their exact Conformity to it and accordingly they find unexpressible Delights in doing his Pleasure And if they count not an Eternity too much for the Service of their Creator can you think the short Time of your sojourning here below too large an Offering for him Seeing then the Law of your Creation and the Dictates of Reason the Importunities of the Divine Word and the Warnings of the Holy Spirit the Command of your Maker and the Example of your Redeemer the Experience of the Saints on Earth and the unanimous Sense of the Saints and Angels too in Heaven together with your own highest Interest both in Time and Eternity do all conspire to oblige you to devote the first and best of your Time to the great Author of your Being How can you any longer refuse to give up your YOVTH to be tied by these many sacred Bonds as a Sacrifice to the Horns of his Altar Behold NOW is the accepted Time Behold NOW is the Day of Salvation Therefore to Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts FINIS Jam. 5. 20. Eccl. 1. 1. 1 King 10. Heb. 11. 4. Deuâ— 30. 13 14. Eccles. 2. 4-10 Eccl. 1. 17. Chap. 2. 1 3 c. Eccl. 12. 13. Rom. 13. 14. Mat. 12. 42 2 Tim. 3. 16. Chap. 12. ver 13. 1 Cor. â— 31. Mat. 26. 45. v. 40 41. v. 45 46. 1 Kings 22. 15. v. 17 18. See also 1 Kings 18. 27. Ezek. 28. 3 4. Num. 15. 39. Job 31. 7. Eccl. 11. 10. Isa. 22. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 32. Prov. 15. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 8. 9. Exod. 3. â—4 1 Tim. 6. 16. Psal. 9â— 2. Isa. 63. 16. Ex â—iâ—ilo ribil sit Gen. 1. 1. Ver. 2. Heb. 11. 3. Isai. 28. 29. Act. 17. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aratus Gen. 1. 26 27. Gen. 2. 7. Jer. 10. 16. Psal. 100. 3. Gen. 1. Psal. 102. 18. Psal. 104. 29 30. Gen. 1. 2. Ezek. 21. 30. Malpigh de Gallis Swainmerdam de Generat Insect Leweâ—hoeck Epistol 1 Cor. 12. 6. John 5. 17. Job 10. 8 9 10 11 12. Psal. 139. 13 14 15 16. Isai. 43. 1. Psal. 138. 8. 1 Pet. 4. 19. Job 7. 20. 1 Pet. 1. 5. John 5. 17. Act. 17. 28. Gen. 1. 3. 1 Thess. 5. 5. 1 Pet. 2. 9. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Gen. 1. 31. Eccl. 7. 29. Psal. 51. 10. Psal. 5â— 4. Act. 20. 28. Jer. 10. 12. and 51. 15. Psal. 85. 10. 1 Tim. 3. 16. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Isai. 27. 11. Deut. 32. 15. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 6. 15. Col. 3. 10. Eph. 4. 24. Eph. 2. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Isai. 54. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 38. 2. Job 34. 29. 1 Sam. 2. 6 7 8. Rev. 10. 6. Psal. 16. 11. Rev. 1. 18. Psal. 135. 6. Job 10. 7. Dan. 4. 35. Psal. 63. 6. Luk. 17. 32. See Eccl. 9. 15. See 1 Chron. 16. ver 8 9 10 11. Psal. 39. 3. Deut 28. 67. Aetas mala Plaut Isai. 51. 13. Gen. 47. 9. Isai. 28. v. 10 13. Ver. 9. Job 33. 14. Psal. 8. 2. Mat. 21. 16. Psal. 148. 12 13. 1 Cor.