A MEMENTO TO Young and Old OR The Young Man's REMEMBRANCER AND The Old Man's MONITOR By that Eminent and Judicious Divine Mr. John Maynard late of Mayfield in Sussex Published by William Gearing Minister of the Gospel Quis integram vocet aetatem cui multum deest quantulum sit quod restat incertum est Petrarc de remed utr fort dial 1. LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst living at the Sign of the Bible upon London Bridg. 1669. Unto the Right Worshipful SIR Thomas Wilbraham of Woodhey in the County of Chester Baronet and to the vertuous Ladies The Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham the Elder and the Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham the Younger To the Lady Meredith of Leeds in Kent ' and to Mrs. Elizabeth Baker of Mayfield in the County of Sussex William Gearing humbly Dedicateth these ensuing Treatises Entituled A Memento to Young and Old c. And Pious Fathers the Glory of Children c. To the Reader THE outward ornaments of Youth are Beauty Tallness and Strength of the Body but Grace and Wisdom are the ornaments of the Soul and Mind But Beauty without Grace is but like a fair sign that hangeth at the door of a foul house and Witt without Grace is but like meat that tasteth sweet in the mouth and breedeth ill blood in the Veins and bodily strength and comliness of Stature without Grace it is but like so much Moss upon the body of a Tree when there is no fruit upon the boughs Absalom had a fair body and a defiled Conscience St. Augustin receiving a witty Epistle from Licentius a young Noble Man and perceiving he had abused it too loosely returneth this answer to him If thou hadst found a Golden Cup wouldst thou not have given it to some Publick use God hath given thee a Golden Witt a Soul of Gold and yet thou usest it an Instrument of Sensuality take heed of making it a vessel of abomination and of presenting thy Soul as a Sacrifice to Satan Diabolus cupit a te ornari the Devil desireth to make thee an ornament to him and thy witt and parts the credit of his Court and Cause Young Men many times have sharp Witts but as the fire in green wood is smothered by the vapours that it cannot shine brightly so holy Wisdom in youth is often smothered by Temptations and Concupisences Naturalists say That the Butterfly spendeth the most part of her Life in painting of her Wings so do many young men in guilding of their Brains Youth is as the Hebrew word signifieth the choice age of a Mans Life and a young Man is called a choice or chosen one 1. Because a Young man was rather chosen than an Old chosen to most employments of action and Youth is the time which a man would chose to live in 2. Because youth is a time wherein a Man is to chuse what course to take and it is the choicest time for the service of God Remember thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth or of thy choice saith Solomon That is in such daies as either thou wouldest chuse or else such daies wherein thou art best able to make thy choice then are we called upon to remember God Take it in that double variation 1. In such daies as a man would chuse whilst things yet go well with him before the evil daies come c. Flourishing Youth and true Devotion are seldom companions Youth unless sanctified is full of vanity serious in trifles and trifling in serious things Or 2. In such dayes as we are yet able to make our choice Death bed Devotion proveth but little worth then do we rather dream of God than indeed do remember him Good reason it is that the Young Man should remember his Creatous 1. Because uncertain of the future of his own life uncertain whether he shall ever live to old age a Soul should not be hazarded upon such uncertainties 2. Because the young man commonly forgetteth God is most tempted by Satan most violently hurried away with Passions Youth is full of folly falsehood frowardness of high conceits of their own worth and sufficiency full of inordinate and excessive love of liberty full of wantonness it is carried with strong affections upon weak grounds it is stubborn impatient of counsels and just reproofs Jerem. 31. 18 19. It is given to Prodigallity Luke 15. 12 13. It is impudent and shameless addicted to sensuality It is the Emblem of a Young Man to have a wing on one Arm as if he had a desire to fly up to Heaven but a clog on the other arm to shew how the vanities and pleasures of the World do clog his desires of Heaven 3. Or it may be Young Menare called upon to remember God because riper age is furnished with most abilities a strong body a pliable mind a riper judgment affections free Religion is not of so easie a performance but it will ask a man his best Or 4. it may be what is gotten in Youth sticks fastest by us as a Vessel retaineth a long time that odour whereâ—with at first it was seasoned God's service should never be given over and therefore learned betimes Nebuchadnezzar would have young Men stand before him the King of Heaven much more Thy Creatour will not highly value thee unless thou hast been bred up in his presence even from thy youth It is a most commendable thing for Young Men to be couragious and resolute in resisting Sin Some Heathens and Infidels have been not able in this kind Sâ— Augustin bringeth in Polemon thus speaking concerning himself I was an Infidel a young Man deprived of the Knowledg of the True God resigned over to all sorts of Intemperance Wine Love Play Rashness were the Chariot which drew my Youth to downfal I was no sooner entred into the School of an Heathen Philosopher But behâ—ld I was wholly changed He upon the Words of a man layeth down his flowery Crowns which he bare on his head his Riots and Drunkenness How unseemly then is it for Young Men that are called Christians to go on in Riot and Wantonness after so many enlightnings so many forcible instructions and so many powerful convictions and inspirations St. Ambrose likewise brings in one Spurinâ— thus speaking I was a Gentile saith she bred in the corruption of an age where vertue was declining and vice on the top of the Wheel I was endowed with an excellent Beauty which by right of natural force gave me the key of Hearts and I seeing it was too much affected courted by wanton eyes and served for a stumbling-block to chastity I purposely made scars in my face extinguishing with my Blood the flames of those that sought me for I loved better to seal my innocence as with the seal of voluntary deformity than to possess a Beauty that served only as a bait for anothers Lust. How may this give a check to the vanity of those women among us who in their youth paint themselves
remember thee let my Tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth c. The course of the words shew manifestly that it was not simply to remember this City and Temple which he undertook but to be deeply affected with its calamity for he preferred Jerusalem above his chiefest joy But most plainly doth Moses expound this word unto us Deut. 8. ver 11. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandements and his Judgments and his Statutes which I command thee this day Where to forget is as well not to embrace in affection and not to observe in practice as not to keep in memory Many other examples we have of like nature in Psal. 119. besides many other Texts of Scripture So that in a word Forgetfulness of God is a withdrawing declining and turning aside of the Heart and Soul from God upon Earthly things manifested in a course of neglecting God's Service and his Commandements and running after the vanities of this life CHAP. III. II. NOw that this is especially incident to the younger sort I wish the lamentable experience of all times and of this especially did not too much ease me of the labour in proving yet something must be said for it according to promise The wise man in setting forth the impudency of a graceless Strumphet sheweth that young men are especially apt to forget God and to be ensnared by her Prov. 7. 6 7. At the window of my house I looked through my casement and behold among the simple ones I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding passing through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house c. These are the men who in the pride of their youth and heath of their Blood value their own witts at an high rate and think themselves the wisest in the Countrey despise the dulness of elder years and more setled spirits as if wisdom were born and should dye with them Yet here ye may see how the wisest of men doth censure them for fools simple ones void of understanding men especially forgetful of God of his Word and Will such a one was seen going toward the house of a strange Woman toward a Whore-house and such are some Ale-houses frequented so much by young men for I know none so fit to keep a Stews as those who professedly without regard of Magistracy Ministry Credit c. do keep common shops for Drunkenness But mark the Wisdom of our young man 21. 22 23. With much fair speech she caused him to yield with the flattering of her lips she forced him he goeth after her straight way as an Oxe goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life She filled his head with her prateing and enticeing speeches and put better things out of his mind She caused him to forget God and cast his fear behind his back so she carried him captive in the bonds of lust and driveth him as an Oxe to the slaughter and as a fool to the correction of the stocks c. So the wise man in Eccles. 11. 9. Sheweth the solly and forgetfulness of young men where by way of Irony and in an holy scorn he bideth them do that which they will do though never so much forbidden and threatned Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the daies of thy youth put God the Judge of all the World out of thy thoughts lay aside all sad remembrance of the last Judgment let none of these Melancholick passions any whit interrupt thy youthful delights walk in the waies of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes Follow thy lusts and senses like the bruit beasts and forget all that will follow even as if thy Soul should vanish away in the ayr at the hour of thy Death like the breath of a Beast without hope of Joy or fear of Vengence in another World By this irronical concession he giveth us an excellent description of the brutish and sensual forgetfulness of the younger sort minding present things with the full bent of their Souls and never seriously looking towards the things that are above But what is the issue but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment Even these things which thou makest nothing off as pardonable Errours of youth shall be scanned in the impartial judgement of God and he will bring thee to Judgment for them all CHAP. IV. III. IN the next place I am to shew the causes of this forgetfulness in the younger sort and here it were but an idle piece of Philosophy to ascribe it to the natural moisture and fluid temper of their brains whereby the impressions of things are presently dissolved like letters written in the water No this forgetfulness is as well in the heart as in the brain and requireth a further search into it's causes 1. In the first place then one special cause is a fleshly confidence in the natural strength of body and hope of long life They look at Death as a thing afar off even out of sight and therefore suffer not the apprehension of it to make any such impression upon them as in any degree to lessen that carnal sensual content which they take in the glut of earthly Vanities The blind Worldling when his barnes were full blessed himself in his own conceited happiness Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years But these persons think they have the advantage of him for whereas his Soul that night was to be taken from his goods they think they have life in store for many years an so with the unfaithful servant conclude that their Master will defer his coming and they may safely delay their Repentance and put him out of their remembrance As Gaal and the men of Shechem could eat and drink and curse Abimilech because they thought he was not near them though he was nearer than they were aware so the younger sort can satisfy their lusts and please themselves and do what they will scorning all admonitions or threatnings of Death because they think it not neer unto them Whereas perhaps Death as the punishment of Sin lyeth at their door and will be found to have way-laid them in the midst of their vanities and to cut them off in the midst of their strength and sins Strength Health abundance of Spirits freedom from aches pains and bodily distempers do put Death out of their thoughts and they will leave crooked and way-ward old age to vex it self with pensive remembrances of the Grave 2. The lively vigour of youth filleth them with a kind of carnal self-content and maketh them please themselves in themselves and so to feel no need they have of happiness and of delighting themselves in the Lord and therefore to neglect and
life as thou art uncertain yet canst thou not possible be certain of the grace of Repentance which is a rare gift and I am perswaded seldome bestowed in decrepit years where it hath been rejected in the more able age especially by such as all their time have lived under a faithful and convincing Ministry Doth the Apostle say That the Gentiles were given up to a reprobate sence because they did with-hold the truth in unrighteousness going on in those unrighteous courses which the Light of Truth Manifested to them by the works of Creation did discover and Condemn How much more mayst â—hou tremble at this dreadful Judgment who continuest in the pride of thy youth to sin with greediness against that Light of the Word which shineth unto thee farr more brightly than that twilight of Nature The Lord make you wise unto Salvation and suffer you not with blind eyes and obstinate Spirits to run upon your own Destruction forgeting him that made you puting off the remembrance of your latter end passâ—â—◠〈◊〉 in a dead sleep of present impenâ—â—er 〈…〉 selfe dream of future 〈…〉 very flashes of Hell-fire 〈…〉 which the Lord preserve you 〈…〉 of your Consciences through 〈…〉 and Grace that ye may not sleep 〈…〉 of everlasting Death SERMON II. Eccles. 12. 1. Remember now thy Creatour c. CHAP. 1. HAving spoken of the former point I proceed unto the Second Observ. That young men ought especially to Remember their Creatour in the daies of their youth What it is to remember in the language of the holy Ghost you may gather by that which I spake of the contrary in opening the former point where I shewed you That this remembrance is not only of the brain but of the heart together with the head implying affections as well as memory and such as are powerful Manifesting themselves in answerable Practices So that as to forget God is a with-drawing declining and turning the heart aside from God so to remember God is a cleaving of the heart to him in love whereby all the Powers of the Soul are given up to him waiting upon his Will in an holy attendance upon the directions of his Word readily practising whatsoever he commandeth and carefully shuning whatsoever he forbideth We read Num. 15. 38 39 40. That the Lord would have the people of Israel to have fringes on their Garments that they might remember his Commandments but not barely to keep them in their memories but saith he That ye may remember and do all my Commandements and be holy unto your God An effectual remembrance that should work upon the affections and make them holy that should shape them out an holy course of Life and make them do all that the Lord had Commanded This doth the Scripture in special manner require of young men Psal. 119. 9. Where-withal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word CHAP. II. THis Point may be made more plain by Reasons Reason 1. The former Point shall be a Reason of this Young Men are especially apt to forget their Maker and therefore young Men ought to be especially careful to remember him The greater defect there is in any the greater care is required in supplying that defect The stronger inclination there is to any sin the greater watchfulness there ought to be in resisting and subduing that sin The more unapt and sluggish we are towards any duty the more careful should we be to quicken and encourage our selves to that duty The weakest parts of a City have special need of guarding Men that have but weak memories and have much dealings in the World are so much the more careful to use their Pens and commit such things to books and memorials with which if they should trust their memories they would deceive them So especially in heavenly things the more apt young Men are to forget their Creatour the more careful should they be to remember their Maker because their affections are violent because they are apt to be blinded with a fleshly confidence in youth and strength of body because they are apt to doate with a carnal complacency upon the natural vigour of their youthful temper because they are more capable of carnal pleasures than the elder sort because there are so many snares laid for them above others by all which means they are apt to lose the best and happiest use of their memories and to live in a sensual forgetfulness of and neglect of their God and Creatour therefore should they with a double care and watchfulness endeavour to stirr up their hearts to a conscionable and affectionate remembrance of their Maker 2. We may also gather a reason from the second word in my Text. Now Remember now c. which noreth a special excellency of this time above others As if he had said Now is the chief time wherein thou mayst do God best Service So then young men ought especially to remember their Creatour because Now in their young daies is the chiefest and choyceest time wherein they may glorifie their God and do him acceptable Service Remember now while sin is but budding whiles corruptions are but twiggs while lust is but conceiving while passion and anger is but a green wound not festered and turned into a setled and cankered malice and revengeful disposition Now whiles thy senses are quick thy spirits lively thy temper healthy thy body strong while thy blood is warm and every part is fit for that imployment for which it was ordained Now shew they self mindful of thy Creatour careful of his service respectful of his Glory Now thou canst do something for him Now is the time wherein thou art able and therefore Now especially thou must remember him 3. This word Now may seem to imply somewhat more viz. That this which is here required must be done now or never True it is some few may be converted in their elder years who in their youth were forgetful of their Maker but ye must observe that here the Lord requireth of every one that he should give up the strength the morning the freshest and principal part of his life unto him and his service Now this can never be done but in youth and he that spendeth his youth in sin and impenitency can never perform this work he can never give up his strength and the best of his time to God The Lord saith Remember ye keep holy the Sabbath day this should be presently done without delay but yet some who have been careless prophaners of the Lords day have afterwards been conscionable observers of it But when the Lord saith Remember your Creatour in youth this cannot be done but in youth He that spendeth his youth in impenitency and ungodliness can never afterwards give up his youth and the strength thereof unto God Under the Law the Lord required the best of the Flock for Sacrifice Now he that should sell or kill all the best and leave none but
to me CHAP. II. WHerefore that this may be made more clear unto us let us consider how and in what respects the daies of Youth are called good daies They are good daies 1. Because they are the first daies of a man's life Childhood is but as it were a preparative to the life of man Children while they are Children have but some imperfect beginnings of the life of reason which is the proper and peculiar life of man therefore we may reckon the daies of Youth as the first daies of man's life when he first beginneth to live as a man and to live the life of reason in some degree of perfection Now ye know that the first in every kind hath the preheminence the first-born of men the firstlings of beasts the first-fruits of the earth the morning of the day the first age of the world the spring of the year So there is a kind of preheminency in the first daies of man's life which are the daies of Youth they are a man's prime and his good daies 2. The daies of Youth are good daies because ordinarily they are the daies of best health and strength daies wherein we are of able bodies for any special service For although it be true that in the worship of God bodily exercise profiteth but little in comparison of the inward power of godliness yet strength and health when they are made serviceable to a sanctified upright heart are of special use both in the immediate worship of God and in the performance of many offices of love which we ought to do towards our Brethren in the Lord. Mens sana in corpore sano as they say a sound mind and an heavenly spirit furthered in the worship and service of God by a strong healthy well-tempered body hath a great advantage in it's work and in that case the daies of health and strength are good daies In Prayer although the strength and force of Prayer doth not lie in the strength of the sides or loudnes of the voice yet it is no smal advantage to the Spirit when in it's fervour and strength of affection it gathereth up and putteth forth all it's powers in earnest supplication before the throne of Grace if then it hath a sound healthy body able to bear the intention of a fervent spirit without fainting or distraction You know that if the arrow be long and drawn to the head it is needfull that the bow and the string should be of sufficient strength to hold drawing And a Christian that will not content himself to shoot those fools bolts mentioned Eccles. 5. 1. but desireth to send forth winged shafts of fervent Prayer that shall pierce the Clouds and enter the Heavens findeth it an help not to be despised when the strength and health of his body is suitable to the vigour of his spirit This holdeth as ye may easily conceive in those exercises of hearing reading meditation c. 3. Daies of Youth are times wherein the powers of the Soul are also quick lively and able by the communion with the body The Soul by reason of it's near conjunction of the body hath it's Childhood Youth and decaying time In younger years it hath those golden daies wherein the understanding is quick in apprehension teachable and apt to receive impression the Memory faithfull the Judgement good and sound the Affections strong and stirring Therefore these are the good daies wherein it is fit to be used in the work and service of God And as in the Spring all these concurring together the Trees in their fresh clothing the face of the Earth renued the beauty of Herbs and Flowers together with the Sun 's shining brightly in his strength and glory make up good daies whereas in the Winter the brightness of the Sun maketh but an imperfect good day whiles the Trees and Fields are stripped dead and withered the ground covered with mire and dirt so the meeting of these together the birth-right of Youth the strength and health of the Body the quickness of the Senses the activeness and abundance of the Spirits the perfections of the Soul c. make the daies of Youth good daies whereas although in the winter of Old Age the Sun may shine the principles of wisdome stored up in Youth may be preserved yet there are those defects naturally clogging that dying age which do ecclipse the brightness and lessen the goodness of those daies CHAP. III. Use â— THis may serve to reprove those who do allow some fleshly liberty to the daies of Youth Many who themselves are aged out of a kind of fatherly experienced gravity as they would have men think and out of a kind of moderation to which their years have brought them as they will have us believe do give liberty to a kind of latitude in the ways of Youth and young men must be born with Who doubteth but that there is a Christian moderation and compassion to be exercised towards such infirmities of the flesh which the Spirit wrestleth and laboureth against either in young or old when the heart being given up to Christ and brought under the soveraign command of his glorious Gospel and blessed Spirit cannot yet wholly free it self from the law of Rebellion nor utterly shake off the body of Death But out of a pretence of levity to flatter the enormities of Youth and to excuse those vitious unbridled courses which stain the glory of those best daies what is it but to say that hard Frosts deep Snows Inundations thick mire and dirt are not to be accounted strange in May nor to be wondered at in the prime and spring of the year Is it to be endured when the best daies of a man's life are wasted away in such courses as are contrary to the end for which a man liveth most contrary to the glory of that great God who hath given them these choice daies of Youth To speak plainly when are you more carefull to fence your Copses Pastures Meadows than in the Spring and will ye say the spring of our life which is the time of Youth may be laid open to the invasion of lusts to the assaults of Satan to the pleasures of Sin Let other men applaud their own gravity and condemn the rashness of others I cannot believe that Solomon wanted either years gravity wisdome or due moderation when he checked the folly of Youth in an holy Irony Eccles. 11. and setteth before all vain young men the Judgement of the great day shewing that for all these things even these excesses of Youth they shall be made to give account nor when he did put down this serious admonition in the words of this Text backed with so many pressing motives Remember now thy Creator in the daies of thy youth while the evil daies come not c. and had there been any defect in the pen-man yet I am sure the Holy Ghost which held his hand would not have suffered him to write one syllable amiss Neither
all shall be turned upside down and he shall become like the beasts that perish As he is sottishly and sensually affected with things present like the beast so he shall return to the earth like it and be turned out of all ver 13. This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings It is a sad thing that when experience hath taught the world so often the vanity of such thoughts yet that those that come after should be of the same mind too think as they thought do as they did live as they lived The Psalmist addeth Selah and it is well worthy even of a note of wonder and astonishment Children see their Parents sins and see how they are taken away and all their pride and covetousness c. doth them no good the pleasure of all is vanished and gone it is no more yet will they run blindly on in the same way so will others that come after them Neighbours and acquaintance though they see this yet they will follow them and tread in their steps this is their folly Selah it is remarkable folly Ver. 14. Like sheep they are laid in their grave Death shall feed on them c. As sheep dying in the field are devoured and fed upon by Ravens and other birds of prey and beasts of the field so death shall not only slay them but feed upon them it shall consume them and turn them into rottenness and dust Then saith he The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning After this long night wherein death shall feed on them in the grave the morning light of that great day shall arise upon them when all shall rise again and then the Righteousness shall have dominion over them and sit in Judgement upon them Oh how many changes are here which they do not effectually foresee and provide for Friends are taken from them they are taken from their wealth Death killeth them Death feedeth on them and if here were an end it were nothing but then cometh that great day after this long night when they must be awakened by the last Trumpet and see the Righteous whom despised sit as Judges over them But Ver. 15. The Psalmist sheweth how he had taken into consideration aforehand all these things and was prepared for them But God will redeem my Soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me Selah David did not settle his heart upon any things of the world but he looked for death and prepared for it made account of being Death's prisoner in the grave but then withall he had overcome death and the grave before hand by the power of faith laying hold of the promise of God knowing that he should be ransomed and redeemed from it not as the wicked whose hearts were set upon the things of the world to be carried from the prison of the grave to execution but he knew that the Lord would receive him to glory and upon this he sets a special note again Selah Then he sheweth what little cause any child of God hath to be troubled at the outward prosperity of the wicked and in the end concludeth all with this speech Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Let him be never so highly advanced and enriched yet if he doth not understandingly consider of changes likely to come upon him but glut himself with the things of this present life he is more like a beast than a man and maketh no use of that reasonable soul which God hath given him above a beast whereby he hath an ability to look beyond these things that lie before his eyes for the present and to make use of his experience in those changes which he hath seen in others applying to himself and reasoning from one thing to another and so to provide for the like to come upon himself You see here the very picture of a caranal secure heart setled upon its lees embracing this present world and doting upon it not foreseeing nor providing for those many changes and turnings of things that are likely to happen and especially that great change that shall certainly come death the grave and resurrection unto Judgement Which were they throughly sensible of they should have a low esteem of these perishing vanities and uncertainties under the Sun and not hazard their dear Souls by too much affecting and too eager seeking after them CHAP. IV. Use 2. WE are all here to be exhorted in a more serious manner to set before our eyes and hearts a more deep consideration of those changes that may befall us and especially of that which must certainly come and to provide against them The Prophet Habakkuk saith I will stand upon my Watch and set me upon the Tower and will watch to see what the Lord will say unto me and what I shall answer when I 〈◊〉 reproved He was before like one standing upon the lower ground looking upon things present things that lay before him viz. The present prosperity of the wicked prevailing over the Church and was troubled at it in his thoughts to see the wicked devour the man that was more righteous than he Chap. 1. 13. Hereupon he is tempted to complain of the Lords wayes of Providence and his manner of governing the world But now being sensible of his errour he would get upon the higher ground upon a watch-tower that he might see into changes that should come afterwards and discern things afar off when the wicked should be most severely punished for all their cruelty in oppressing the people of God So Christians when they stand upon the lower ground and consult with flesh and blood and look upon things with fleshy eyes their thoughts are bent upon things that are at hand even present things but they must get upon the watch-tower raise up their hearts in holy meditations upon the word so that they may see afar off what is coming and what shall be hereafter what changes of things shall happen in time to come When Jehu had the Kingdom of Israel bestowed upon him with a charge to execute Justice on the wicked house of Ahab he rode in his Charet with other Captains Souldiers to Jezreel where Joram the King and his confederate Abaziah King of Judah were together in Vers. 17. it is said There stood a Watch upon the Tower in Jezreel and he espied the Company of Jehu as he came and when a Messenger was sent out and detained he could see this too and give the King knowledge of it yea and a second time he could see who it was too ere the King saw him at all as it seemeth standing upon the lower ground And the driving saith he is like the driving of Jehu the Son of Nimshi for he driveth furiously Then saith Joram make ready when he was even upon his back But then it was too late he was now within the reach of Jehu's Bow So whiles the wicked
Fathers They dealt proudly they hardened their necks c. Furthermore observe they did not insist upon the sins of their immediate Progeniâ—ors but upon the sins and rebellions of their Fathers that came out of the Land of Egypt and first inhabited Canaan They make mention of their Fathers sins as if all their mâ—sery came upon them chiefly for their Fathers Sins rather than for their own Sins What reason can there be assigned why the Holy Ghost makes such a record of their Confession of their Fathers Sins rather than of their own if it be not to convince and shew what we ought to do viz. Not only to lay our own sins to heart and to confess them before God but also the sins of our Fathers as also to shew us that the iniquities of our Fathers do bring the dreadful Judgements of God like a flood upon us as well as our own sins Jerem. 3. 25. We lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God we and our Fathers from our Youth even to this day and have not obeyed the Voice of the Lord our God And Jerem. 16. 19. The Prophet cries out thus to God O Lord my strength and my fortress and my refuge in the day of affliction the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and shall say surely our Fathers have inherited lies vanity and things wherein there is no profit Lam. 5. 7. The Church cries out Our Fathers have sinned and are not and we have born their iniquities SECT II. ONe reason why we should be humbled for the sins of our Fathers as well as for our own is because God hath threatned and accordingly hath visited the sins of the Fathers upon their Children Their Idolatries have brought destruction on their posterity the Fathers-adulteries have brought the Children to a morsel of bread That God hath threatned to visit the sins of the Fathers on the Children you find in the second Commandement visiting the sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation So Exod. 34. 7. That God hath visited Children with Plagues for the Iniquities of their Fathers there are manifold sad instances of it Numb 14. 32 33. Ye may see a double punishment threatened â— Against the Fathers who murmured But as for you your carkesses shall fall in this wilderness vers 32. 2. Against the Children who certainly did not partake in that Sin for many of them were Infants vers 33. And your Children shall wander in the wilderness forty years and bear your whoredoms untill your carkeisses be wasted in the wilderness 1. Sam. 15. 3. The Lord commandeth Saul to go and smite Amalek and utterly to destroy all that they have and spare them not but slay both man and woman infant and suckling oxe and sheep camel and ass Now see what reason the Lord renders why Saul should put all the Amalakites to the sword vers 2. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I remember what Amalek did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt Now the Children must be destroyed for the sins of their Progenitors So the Infants and little Children of the Sodomites perished by fire and brimstone for the horrid abominations which their Fathers had committed What a dreadful Judgement did God inflict upon old Eli for his sin So the Lord told David that the Sword should never depart from his house because of his sin 2. Sam. 12. 9 10. How did God visit Saul's perfidiousness to the Gibeonites on his posterity 2. Sam. 21. 1. There is a double Judgement he visited the Kingdom with Famine for three years vers 1. and visited his Children with a cursed and shameful death vers 6. they were all hanged How did our Saviour threaten the Jewes with all the blood which their Fathers had shed causelesly Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets and wise men and Scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucifie and some of them shall ye scourge in your Synagogues and persecute them from City to City That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the Son of Barachias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar Matth. 23. 34 35. And is not the blood of Christ upon the Children of the Jewes unto this day I have brought the more Instances to shew the truth how God doth punish the Children for the sins of their Fathers to convince us of what concernment it is for us to confess their sins before the Lord as well as our own and to deterr Fathers from sinning against God Ye may see that Fathers in sinning do not only sin to their own destruction but to the destruction of the Children that are yet unborn ye lay up Estates and Portions for your Children and God layes up wrath and vengeance which shall consume both them and ther Estates CHAP. X. NOw because there are objections which perhaps may arise in your thoughts against this Doctrine and they seem to be grounded on Scripture I shall endeavour to remove them Object But it is said Ezek. 18. 4. The Soul that sinneth it shall die vers 18. as for his Father because he cruelly oppressed spoiled his brother by violence and did that which is not good among his people lo even he shall die in his iniquity So in Jerem. 31. 29 30. In those dayes they shall say no more the Fathers have eaten sour grapes and the Childrens teeth are set on edge but every one shall die for his own iniquity and every man that eateth the sour grapes his teeth shall be set on edge How can these Scriptures be reconciled with that in the second commandment where God is said to visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth generation c. how can it agree with these dispensations of Judgements Sol. There are divers answers given hereunto I. Origen and some others make an allegorical Interpretation and say that by the third and fourth generation is not meant Children but so many degrees of sins as if God would spare men for the first and second fault and punish the third and fourth But this is a false and foolish conceit because God sometimes punisheth men for the first sin God chastised David for one act of adultery II. Some answer it by distinction of civil and divine punishments The Civil Law which God made for the Common-wealth of Israel did forbid to put the Child to death for the sin of the Father as Deut. 24. 16. The Fathers shall not be put to death for the Children nor shall the Children be put to death for the Fathers Every man shall be put to death for his own sin But God who is the supreme Judge of the whole world and is not tied to humane Law punisheth Children for their Fathers sins