men remember this the frequent the serious thoughts of death will prevent many a sin 2 Pet. 1. 13 14. Eccles 9.10 it will arm you against many temptations it will secure you from many afflictions it will keep you from doting on the World it will make you do much in a little time it will make death easy when it comes and it will make you look out betimes for a Kingdome that shakes not for riches that corrupt not and for glory that fadeth not away Therefore do not O do not put the day of death farre from you Take heed of crying Cras Cras to morrow to morrow saith Luther for a man lives forty years before hee knows himself to bee a fool and by that time hee sees his folly his life is finished so men dye before they begin to live Secondly If you would bee good betimes then take heed of leaning to your own understanding This Counsell wise Solomon gives to his son or the young men in his time My sonne forget not my Law Prov. 3.1.5 Lean not is a Metaphor from an old or sick man leaning on his staff c. but let thy heart keep my Commandements Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not to thy own understanding Youth is the age of folly of vain-hopes and over-grown confidence Ah! how wise might many have been had they not been too early wise in their own opinion Rehoboams young Counsellors proved the overthrow of his Kingdome T is brave for youth in all things to bee discreet and sober minded Three vertues they say are prime ornaments of youth modesty silence and obedience Ah! Young men keep close in every action to this one principle viz. in every action resolve to bee discreet and wise rather than affectionate and singular I Remember that a young Gentleman of Athens being to answer for his life hired an Orator to make his defence and it pleased him well at his first reading but when the young man by often reading it that hee might recite it publikely by heart begunne to grow weary and displeased with it the Orator bid him consider that the Jâ—dges and the People were to hâ—ar it but once and then it was lâ—kely that they at the first instant might bee as well pleased as he Ah! Young men your leaning upon your selves or upon others will in the end bee bitternesse and vexation of spirit Young men are very apt to lean on their own Wit Wisdome Arts parts as old men are to lean on a staffe to support them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew word signifies that is rendered lean Shagnan in that of Prov. 3.5 this hath been the bane of many a choice Wit the loss of many a brave head the ruine of many a subtile pate Ajax thought it was for cowards and weaklings to lean upon the Lord for succour not for him whence hee was foiled lean not to great parts lean not to natural or acquired accomplishments least you loose them and your selves too Leaning to natural or moral excellencies is the ready way to bee stript oâ— all Babylon that bore her selâ— bold upon her high Towers thick walls and twenty yearâ— provision laid in for a siege waâ— surprized by Cyrus T was said of Caesar that hee received not his wounds from the swords of enemies but from the hands of friends that is from trusting in them Ah! How many young men have been wounded yea slain by trusting to their own understanding their own abilities T was an excellent saying of Austin in te stas et non stas he that stands upon his own strength shall never stand A Creature if like a single drop left to it self it spends and wastes it self presently but if like a drop in the fountain and Ocean of being it hath abundance of security Ah! Young men Young men 2 Pet. 1.4 Psal 27.1 if you will needs be leaning then lean upon precious Promises lean upon the rock that is higher than your selves lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ as John did who was the youngest of all the Disciples and the most beloved of all the Disciples John 21.20 ch 13.23 John leaned much and Christ loved him much O lean upon Christs wisdome for direction lean upon his power for protection Can. 8.5 lean upon his Purse his fulness for Provision lean upon his eye for approbation lean upon his righteousness for justification lean upon his blood for remission lean upon his merits for salvation As the young Vine without her wall to support her will fall and sink So will you young men without Christ puts under his everlasting armes to support you and uphold you therefore above all leanings lean upon him by leaning on him you will engage him by leaning on him you will gain more honor than you can give by leaning on him you may even command him and make him eternally yours c. Thirdly If you would bee good betimes if you would seek and serve the Lord in the spring and morning of your dayes then take heed of flatterers and flatterie Ah! how many Young men might have been very good who are now exceeding bad by hearkning to flatterers and affecting flattery Flattery undid young Rehoboam 1 Kin. 12. and ch 22. Act. 12.22.23 24. Ahab Herod Nero Alexander c. Flatterers are soul-murderers they are soul-undoers they are like evil Chyrurgions that skin over the wound but never heal it Anastatius the Emperours motto was mellitum venenum blanda oratio smooth talk proves often sweet Poyson Flattery is the very spring and mother of all impiety it blows the Trumpet and draws poor souls into rebellion against God as Sheba drew Israel to rebel against David it put our first Parents upon tasting the forbidden fruit it put Absolou upon dethroning of his father it put Haman upon plotting the ruine of the Jews it put Corah Dathan and Abiram upon rebelling against Moses it makes men call evil good and good evil darknesse light and light darkness c. it puts persons upon neglecting the means of Grace upon undervaluing the means of Grace and upon contemning the means of Grace it puts men upon abasing God slighting Christ and vexing the spirit it unmans a man it makes him call black white and white black it makes a man change Pearls for Pebles and Gold for Counters The Flatterers told Dionysius that his spittle was as sweet as honey Rev. 3.17 18 it makes a man judge himself wise when hee is foolish knowing when hee is ignorant holy when hee is Prophane free when hee is a Prisoner rich when hee is Poor high when hee is low full when hee is empty happy when he is miserable Ah! Young men young men take heed of Flatterers they are the very worst of sinners they are left of God blinded by Satan hardned in sin and ripened for hel God declares sadly against them and that in his word and in his works in
and value of many peeces of silver is to bee found in one peece of gold So all the petty excellencies that are scattered abroad in the Creatures are to bee found in God yea all the whole volum of perfections which is spread through Heaven and Earth is epitomized in him No good below him that is the greatest good can satisfie the soul a good wife a good child a good name a good estate a good friend cannot satisfie the soul these may please but they cannot satisfie Omnis copia quae non est Deus meus mihi egestas est Aug. Soliloq c. 13. All abundance if it bee not my God is to mee nothing but poverty and want said one Ah that young men and women would but in the morning of their youth seek yea seek early seek earnestly seek affectionately seek diligently seek primarily and seek unweariedly this God who is the greatest good the best good the most desirable good who is a sutable good a pure good a satisfying good a total good and an eternal good The ninth Reason why young persons should be really good betimes and that is because the time of youth is the choicest and fittest time for service Now your parts are lively senses fresh The dayes of youth are called aetas bona in Cicero and aetas optima in Seneca memory strong and nature vigorous the dayes of your youth are the spring and morning of your time they are the first-born of your strength therefore God requires your nonage as well as your dotage the wine of your times as well as the lees Exod. 13.2 Exod. 22.9 as you may see typified to you in the first fruits which were dedicated to the Lord And the first-born The time of youth is the time of salvation it is the acceptable time it is thy summer thy harvest time O young man therefore do not sleep but up and bee doing awaken thy heart rouse up thy soul and improve all thou hast put out thy reason thy strength thy all to the treasuring up of heavenly graces precious promises divine experiences and spiritual comforts against the winter of old age and then old age will not bee to thee an evil age Gen. 25.28 but as it was to Abraham a good old age do not put off God with fair promises and large pretences till your last sands are running and the dayes of dotage hath overtaken you Mal. 1.14 That 's a sad word of the Prophet cursed bee the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and yet offereth to the Lord a corrupt thing Jer. 1.11 The Almond tree blossomes in January while it is yet Winter and the fruit is ripe in March Ah young men and women who are like the Almond tree you have many males in the flock your strength is a male in your flock your time is a male in the flock your reason is a male in the flock your parts are a male in the flock and your gifts are a male in the flock now if hee bee curst that hath but one male in his flock and shall offer to God a corrupt thing a thing of no worth of no value how will you bee curst and curst curst at home and curst abroad curst temporally curst spiritually and curst eternally who have many males in your flock and yet deal so unworthily so fraudulently and false heartedly with God as to put him off with the dreggs of your time and strength while you spend the Prime-rose of your youth in the service of the world Mat. 21.20 the Flesh and the Devil The Fig-tree in the Gospel that did not bring forth fruit timely and seasonably was curst to admiration the time of youth is the time and season for bringing forth the fruits of righteousness and holiness and if these fruits bee not brought forth in their season you may justly fear that the curses of heaven will secretly and insensibly soak and sink into your souls and then woe wo to you that ever you were born the best way to prevent this hell of hels is to give God the cream and Flower of your youth your strength your time your Talents vessels that are betimes seasoned with the savour of life never loose it Pro. 22.6 The Tenth Reason Why young persons should bee really good in good earnest betimes and that is because Death may suddenly and unexpectedly seize upon you Pares nascuntur pares moriuntur in the womb and in the Tomb they are all alike you have no lease of your lives Youth is as fickle as old age the young man may finde Graves enough of his length in buriall places as green wood and old logs meet in one fire so young Sinners and old Sinners meet in one hell and burn together when the young man is in his spring Job 21.23 24 and prime then hee is cut off and dies one dieth in his full strength or in the strength of his perfection T is an Allegorical description of the highest prosperity as the Hebrew hath it being wholly at ease and quiet His breasts are full of milk and his bones are moistened with marrow Davids children dies when young so did Jobs and Jeroboams c. Every days experience tell us that the young mans life is as much a vapour as the old mans is I have read of an Italian Poet who brings in a propper young man rich and potent discoursing with Death in the habit of a mower with his Sythe in his hand cutting down the life of man For all flesh is grass Isa 40.6 and wilt thou not spare any mans person saith the young man I spare none saith death Deaths motto is Nulli Cedo I yeild to none mans life is but a day a short day a winters day oft-times the Sun goes down upon a man before it be wel up your day is short your work is great your journey long and therefore you should rise early and set forward towards heaven betimes as that man does that hath a long journey to go in a winters day The life of man is absolutely short Psal 39.5 Behold thou hast made my days as a hands breadth The life of man is comparatively short and that if you compare mans life now to what hee might have reacht had hee continued in innocency Sinne brought in death death is a fall that came in by a fall or if you compare mans life now to what they did reach to before the Flood then several lived Gen. 9 six seven eight nine hundred years or if you compare mans dayes with the days of God Mine age is as nothing before thee Psal 39.5 or if you compare the dayes of man to the dayes of eternity Ah! The Heathen could say that the whole life of man should be nothing else but meditatio mortis a meditation of death Young men young men can you seriously consider of the brevity of mans life and trifle away
your time the offers of Grace your precious souls and eternity c. surely you cannot surely you dare not if you do but in good earnest ponder upon the shortness of mans life It is recorded of Philip King of Macedon that he gave a pension to one to come to him every day at dinner and to cry to him memento te esse mortalem Remember thou art but mortal Ah! Young men and old had need bee often put in mind of their mortality they are too apt to forget that day yea to put farre from them the thoughts of that day I have read of three that could not endure to hear that bitter word death mentioned in their ears and surely this age is full of such monsters And as the life of man is very short so it is very uncertain now well now sick alive this hour and dead the next Death doth not always give warning before hand sometimes hee gives the mortal blow suddenly hee comes behind with his dart and strikes a man at the heart before hee saith have I found thee O my enemy Eutichus fell down dead suddenly Act. 20.19 Death suddenly arested Davids Sons and Jobs Sons Petrach telleth of one who being invited to dinner the next day enswered Ego a multis annis crastinum non habui I have not had a morrow for this many years Augustus dyed in a complement Galba with a sentence Vespasian with a jest Zeuxes dyed laughing at the picture of an old woman which hee drew with his own hand Sophocles was choaked with the stone in a Grape Dâ—odorus the Logician dyed for shame that hee could not answer a joculary question propounded at the Table by Stilpo Joannes Measius preaching upon the raising of the woman of Naims sonne from the dead within three houres after dyed himself Ah! Young men and women have you not cause great cause to bee good betimes for death is sudden in his approaches nothing more sure than death and nothing more uncertain than life therefore know the Lord betimes turn from your sinnes betimes lay hold on the Lord and make peace with him betimes that you may never say as Caesar Borgias said when hee was sick to death when I lived said hee I provided for every thing but death now I must dye and am unprovided to dye c. The Eleventh Reason Why young persons should bee really good betimes and that is because t is ten to one nay a hundred to ten if ever they are converted if they are not converted when they are young God usually begins with such betimes Hos 11.1 When Israel was a child then I loved him c. that hee hath had thoughts of love and mercy towards from everlasting the instances cited to prove the Doctrin confirms this argument and if you look abroad in the world you shall hardly finde one Saint among a thousand but dates his conversion from the time of his youth 'T was the young ones that got through the wilderness into Canaan If the Tree do not bud and blossome and bring forth fruit in the Spring Numb 26.64 it is commonly dead all the year after An Hebrew Doctor observes that of those six hundred thousand that went out of Egypt there were but two persons that entered Canaan if in the spring and morning of your daies you do not bring forth fruit to God it is a hundred to one that ever you bring forth fruit to him when the evil dayes of old age shall overtake you wherein you shall say you have no pleasure For as the Son of Syrach observes if thou hast gathered nothing in thy youth Eccles 25.5 what canst thou finde in thy age t is rare very rare that God sows and reaps in old age usually God sows the seed of grace in youth it yeelds the harvest of joy in age Though true repentance be never too late yet late repentance is seldome true Millions are now in Hell who have pleased themselves with the thoughts of after repentance The Lord hath made a promise to late repentance but where hath he made a promise of late repentance yea what can bee more just and equal Pro. 1.24 32. that such should seek and not finde who might have found but would not seek and that hee should shut his ears against their late prayers who have stopt their ears against his early calls The Ancient warriours would not accept an old man into their army as being unfit for service and dost thou think that God will accept of thy dry bones when Satan hath suckt out all the marrow What Lord what Master will take such into their service who have all their dayes served their enemies and will God will God The Circassians a kinde of Mongrel Christians are said to divide their life betwixt sin and devotion Breerw Enqui dedicating their youth to rapine and their old age to repentance if this bee thy case I would not bee in thy case for ten thousand worlds I have read of a certain great man Beda hath this story that was admonished in his sickness to repent who answered that hee would not repent yet for if hee should recover his companions would laugh at him but growing sicker and sicker his friends pressed him again to repent but then hee told them that it were too late Quia jam judicatus sum condemnatus for now said hee I am judged and condemned The twelfth and last Reason why young men should bee really good betimes and that is because else they will never attain to the honour of being old disciples It is a very great honour to bee an old Disciple Now this honour none reach to but such as are converted betimes but such as turn to the Lord in the spring and morning of their youth It is no honour for an old man to bee in coats What more ridiculous than puer contum annorum a child of an hundred years old nor for an old man to bee a babe in grace An A. B. C. old man is a sad and shameful sight O but it is a mighty honour to a man when hee is old that hee can date his conversion from the morning of his youth Now that it is an honour to bee an old Disciple I shall prove by an induction of particulars As It is an honour to bee an old Disciple First All men will honour an old Disciple A Crown is a very glorious thing but there are but few of them Prov. 16.31 The hoary head is a Crown of glory if it bee found in the way of Righteousness God requires that the aged should bee honoured Levit. 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man the old man here is by some expounded the wise man and fear thy God I am the Lord. Hoariness is only honourable when found in a way of Righteousness a white head accompanied with a holy heart makes a man
off the branches and it grew again they cut down the body and it grew again Isedore the Monk was very much out who vaunted that hee had felt in himself no motion to sin forty years together they cut it up by the root and still it lived and grew untill they pulled down the stone-wall till death shall pull down our stone-walls Sin will live this fire will burn Wee may say of sin as some say of Cats that they have many lives kill them and they will live again kill them again and they will live again so kill sin once and it will live again kill it again and it will live again c. Sin oftentimes is like that Monster Hydra cut off one head and many will rise up in its room Fifthly Fire is of a penetrating nature Isa 1.5 6. Rom. 7.13.17 Sin is malum Catholicum A Catholick evil Quodcunque in peccato peccatum est whatsoever is in sin is sin it peirceth and windeth it self into every corner and chinck and so doth sin winde it self into our thoughts words and works it will winde it self into our understandings to darken them and into our judgements to pervert them and into our wills to poison them and into our affections to disorder them and into our consciences to corrupt them and into our carriages to debase them Sin will winde it self into every duty and every mercy it will winde it self into every one of our enjoyments and concernments Hannibal having overcome the Romans put on their armour on his shoulders and so by that policy they being taken for Romans won a City but what are Hannibals wiles to sins wiles or Satans wiles if you have a minde to bee acquainted with their wiles look over my Treatise called Precious Remedies against Satans Devices Sixthly and lastly Fire is a devouring a consuming Element Psal 21.9 it turns all fuel into ashes It is a Woolf that eats up all 2 Pet. 2.5 6. Pro. 6.32 Eccles 9.18 Prov. 13.13 ch 20.29.1 Pro. 11.3 ch 15.25 ch 21.7 so Sin is a fire that devours and consumes all it turned Sodom and Gomorah into ashes it hath destroyed the Caldaean Persian and Graecian Kingdomes and will at last destroy the Roman Kingdome also this Woolf ate up Sampsons strength Absoloms beauty Achitophels policy and Herods glory c. It hath drowned one world already and will at last burn another even this Oh the hopes the hearts the happinesse the joyes the comforts the souls that this fire Sin hath consumed and destroyed c. Peter Camois Bishop of Betty in France in his draught of Eternity Num. 75. tells us that some devout personages caused those words of the Prophet Isaiah to bee written in letters of gold upon their chimny peeces Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire Isa 33.14 who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Ah young men young men I desire that you may alwaies look upon sin under the notion of fire yea as such fire as laies the foundation for everlasting fire for everlasting burnings and this may work when other things will not I have read of a grave and chaste Matron who being moved to commit folly with a lew'd Russian after some discourse shee call'd for a pan of burning coals requesting him for her sake to hold his finger in them but one hour hee answered it is an unkind request to whom she replyed that seeing hee would not do so much as to put one finger upon the coals for one hour she could not yeild to do that for which shee should bee tormented both body and soul in hell fire for ever The application is easy c. Fourthly If you would break with Sin betimes if you would arm against Sin in the spring and morning of your dayes then you should look upon Sin under the notion of a Thief and indeed Sin is the greatest Theif the greatest Robber in the World it robbed the Angels of all their glory 2 Pet. 2 4 Gen. 3 it robbed Adam of his Paradise and felicity and it hath robbed all the Sons of Adam of five precious Jewels the least of which was more worth than heaven and earth 1 It hath robbed them of the holy and glorious Image of God which would have been fairly engraven upon them had Adam stood c. 2 It hath robbed them of their son-ship and of sons have made them slaves 3 It hath robbed them of their friendship Well did one of the fathers call Pride and Vain-glory the sweet spoiler of spiritual excellencies and a pleasant theif and made them enemies 4 It hath robbed them of their communion and fellowship with Father Son and Spirit and made them Strangers and Aliens 5 It hath robbed them of their glory and made them vile and miserable It hath robbed many a nation of the Gospel and many a parish of many a happy guide and many a Christian of the favour of God the joyes of the spirit and the Peace of Conscience Oh the health the wealth the honor the friends the relations that Sin hath robbed thousands of Nay It hath robbed many of their gifts their arts their parts their memory their judgement yea their very reason as you may see in Pharoah Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar Achitophel Haman Herod and those Babylonish Princes that accused Daniel And so in Menipus of Phenicia who having lost his goods strangled himself And so Dinarcus Phidon at a certain losse cut his own throat to save the charge of a cord And so Augustus Caesar in whose time Christ was born was so troubled and astonished at the relation of an overthrow from Varrus Suetonius that for certain months together he let the hair of his beard and head grow still and wore it long yea and other whiles would run his head against the doors crying out Quintilius Varrus deliver up my Legions again by all which it is most apparent that Sin is the greatest thief in all the World Oh then who would not break league and covenant with it and be still in pressing of God to do justice upon it c. Fifthly Nah. 1.1 Hab. 1.1 Mal. 11 If you would break with Sin and arm and fence your selves against Sin betimes then you must look upon sinne under the notion of a burden betimes and indeed sin of all burdens is the heaviest burden in all the world Innumerable evils have compassed me about Psal 40.12 mine iniquities have taken hold upon mee so that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me and again Mine iniquities are gone over my head saith the same person as an heavy burden Psal 38.4 they are too heavy for mee to bear Sin is a weight that easily besets poor souls Heb. 12.1 it is a burden that so troubles them and puzzles them that so curbs them and girds them Rom. 7.13 ult that so presses and oppresses
their Paradise that eat the fat and drink the sweet that cloth themselves richly and crown their heads with rose-buds that they would seriously consider of eternity so as to hear as for eternity and pray as for eternity and live as for eternity and provide as for eternity That they may say with that famous Painter Zeuxes Aeternitati pingo I paint for eternity we do all for eternity we beleeve for eternity wee repent for eternity wee obey for eternity c. O that you would not make those things eternal for punishment Cur ea quae ad usum diuturna esse non possunt ad supplicium diuturna deposces Ambrose in Lu. 4. T. 5. that cannot bee eternal for use Ah! young men and women God calls and the bloud of Jesus Christ calls and the spirit of Christ in the Gospel calls and the rage of Satan calls and your sad state and condition calls and the happiness and blessedness of glorified Saints calls these all call aloud upon you to make sure a glorious eternity before you sail out into that dreadfull Ocean All your eternall good depends upon the short and uncertain moments of your lives and if the threed of your lives should bee cut before a happy eternity is made sure woe to you that ever you were born Do not say O young man that thou art young and hereafter will bee time enough to provide for eternity for eternity may bee at the door ready to carry thee away for ever Every days experience speaks out eternity to bee as neer the young mans back as t is before the old mans faâ—â— O graspe to day the diadem of a blessed eternity least thou art cut off before the morning comes though there is but one way to come into this world yet there is a thousand thousand ways to bee sent out of this world well young men and women remember this as the motions of the soul are quick so are the motions of divine justice quick also and if you will not hear the voice of God to day if you will not provide for eternity to day God may swear to morrow that you shall never enter into his rest it is a very sad and dangerous thing to trifle and dally with God his word his offers our own souls and eternity therefore let all young People labour to bee good betimes and not to let him that is goodness it self alone till hee hath made them good till hee hath given them those hopes of eternity that will both make them good and keep them good that will make them happy and keep them happy and that for ever if all this will not do then know that ere long those fears of eternity of misery that begets that monster Despair which like Medusa's head astonisheth with its very aspect and strangles hope which is the breath of the soul will certainly overtake you as it is said Dum Spiro Spero so it may bee inverted Dum Spero Spiro other miseries may wound the spirit but despair kills it dead my prayer shall bee that none of you may ever experience this sad truth but that you may all bee good in good earnest betimes which will yeeld you two heavens a heaven on earth and a heaven after death The seventh Reason Why young persons should be really good betimes and that is because they do not beginne to live till they beginne to bee really good till they beginne to bee good they are dead God-wards and Christ-wards and heaven-wards and holiness-wards till a man beginnes to bee really good hee is really dead Phil. 2.1 and that first in respect of working Respectu operis his works are called dead works Heb. 9.14 the most glistering services of unregenerate persons are but dead works because they proceed not from a principle of life and they lead to death Rom. 6.21 and leave a sentence of death upon the soul till it bee wash't off by the bloud of the Lamb. Secondly Respectu honoris Hee is dead in respect of honour hee is dead to all priviledges hee is not fit to inherit mercy who will set the crown of life upon a dead man The crown of life is only for living Christians Rev. 2.10 The young Prodigal was dead till hee begunne to bee good till hee begunne to remember his fathers house and to resolve to return home My Son was dead but is alive Luk. 15.24 and the Widow that liveth in pleasure is dead while shee liveth 1 Tim. 5 6 As t is a reproach to an old man to be in Coats so t is a disgrace to be an old babe i e. to be but a babe in grace when old in years Heb. 5.12 13 14. When Josaphat asked Barlaam how old hee was hee answered five and forty years old to whom Josaphat replyed thou seemest to bee seventy true saith hee if you reckon ever since I was born but I count not those years which were spent in vanity Ah! Sirs you never begin to live till you beginne to be good in good earnest There is the life of vegetation and that is the life of plants secondly there is the life of sense and that is the life of beasts Thirdly there is the life of reason and that is the life of man Fourthly there is the life of grace and that is the life of Saints and this life you do not beginne to live till you beginne to bee good if a living Dogg is better than a dead Lyon as the wise man speaks Eccl. 9.4 and if a Fly is more excellent than the heavens because the Fly hath life which the heavens hath not as the Philosopher saith what a sad dead poor nothing is that person that is a stranger to the life of grace and goodness that is dead even whilst he is alive Most men will bleed sweat vomit Meconas in Seneca had rather live in many diseases than dye And Homer reporteth of his Aâ—hilles that he had rather be a servant to a poor Countrey Clown here than to be a King to all the Souls departed purge part with an estate yea with a limb I limbs yea and many a better thing viz. the honour of God and a good conscience to preserve their natural lives as hee crys out Give mee any deformity any torment any misery so you spare my life and yet how few how very few are to bee found who make it their work their business to attain to a life of goodness or to beginne to bee good betimes or to bee dead to the world and alive to God rather than to bee dead to God and alive to the world this is for a lamentation and shal be for a lamentation that natural life is so highly prized spiritual life so little regarded c The eighth Reason Why young persons should bee really good betimes and that is because the promise of finding God of enjoying God is made over to an early seeking of God Prov. 8.17 I
Christ the offices of Christ the merits of Christ the righteousness of Christ the graces of Christ and the influence of Christ O the stories that an old Disciple can tell you of the indwellings of the spirit of the operations of the spirit of the teachings of the spirit of the leadings of the spirit of the sealings of the spirit of the witnessings of the spirit and of the comforts and joyes of the spirit O the stories that an old Christian can tell you of the evil of Sinne the bitterness of Sinne the deceitfulness of Sinne the prevalency of Sin and the happiness of conquest over Sinne. O the stories that hee can tell you of the snares of Satan the devices of Satan the temptations of Satan the rage of Satan the malice of Satan the watchfulness of Satan and the wayes of triumphing over Satan As an old Souldier can tell you of many battels many scarres many wounds many losses and many victories even to admiration So an old Saint is able to tell you many divine stories even to admiration Pliny writes of the Crocodile that shee grows to her last day So aged Saints Hos 14.5 6 7 they grow rich in spirituall experiences to the last An old Christian being once asked if he grew in goodness Answered yea doubtless I do for God hath said Psal 92.12 13 14. The Righteous shall flourish like the Palm-tree now the Palm-tree never looseth his leaf or fruit saith Pliny hee shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God They shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall bee fat and flourishing Isa 46.3 4 A fellow to this promise Isaiah mentions Hearken unto me O house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel which are born by mee from the belly which are carried from the womb and even to your old age I am hee and even to hoary hairs will I carry you I have made and I will bear even I will carry and will deliver you There is nothing more commendable in fulness of age Dan. 7.9 13 22 than fulness of knowledge and experience nor nothing more honourable than to see ancient Christians very much acquainted with the Ancient of dayes It is a brave sight to see ancient Christians like the Almond-Tree Now the Almond-tree doth flourish and is full of blossomes in the winter of old age for as Pliny tells us the Almond-Tree doth blossome in the month of January experiments in religion are beyond notions and impressions a sanctified heart is better than a silver tongue no man so rich so honourable so happy as the old Disciple that is rich in spirituall experiences and yet there is no Christian so rich in his experiences but hee would be richer The Lawyer As Julianius said that when hee had one foot in the grave hee would have the other in the School So though an old Disciple hath one foot in the grave yet hee will have the other in Christs School that he may still bee treasuring up more and more divine experiments and by this also you see what an honour it is to bee an old Disciple c. Fifthly An old Disciple is very stout couragious firm and fixt in his resolutions Psa 44.9 ult an old Christian is like a pillar a rock nothing can move him nothing can shake him what is suckt in in youth will abide in old age old souldiers are stout and couragious nothing can daunt nor discourage them When Joshua was an hundred and ten years old Josh 24.15.29 O how couragious and resolute was hee And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serve whether the Gods that your Fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land yee dwell but as for mee and my house wee will serve the Lord. And it came to passe after these things that Joshua the Son of Nun the servant of the Lord dyed being an hundred and ten years old Confidius a Senator of Rome told Caesar boldly that the Senators durst not come to council for fear of his souldiers hee replyed why then dost thou go to the Senate hee answered because my age takes away my fear Ah! none so couragious none so divinely fearlesse none so carelesse in evil dayes as ancient Christians An old Christian knows that that good will do him no good which is not made good by perseverance his resolution is like that of Gonsalvo who protested to his souldiers shewing them Naples that hee had rather die one foot forwards than to have his life secured for long by one foot of retreat Shall such a man as I am flee said undaunted Nehemia Neh. 6.11 he will couragiously venture life and limb rather than by one foot of retreat credit profession with the reproach of fearfulness Aristotle though a heathen could say that in some cases a man had better lose his life than bee cowardly Arist Ethie 3. cap. 1. It was a brave magnanimous speech of Luther when dangers from opposers did threaten him and his associates come saith hee let us sing the forty sixth Psalm and then let them do their worst When Polycarpus was fourscore and six years old hee suffered Martyrdome couragiously resolutely and undauntedly When one of the ancient Martyrs was very much threatned by his persecutors hee replyed there is nothing of things visible nothing of things invisible that I fear I will stand to my profession of the name of Christ and contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints come on it what will Old Disciples old Souldiers of Christ 2 Sam. 23.11 12. they have the heart and courage of Shammah one of Davids worthies who stood and defended the field when all the rest fled The Hebrews call a young man Nagnar which springs from a root that signifies to shake off Mat. 19.20.21 22. or to bee tossed to and fro to note how fickle and how constant in inconstancy young men are they usually are persons either of no resolution for good or of weak resolution they are too often wonn with a Nut and lost with an Apple but now aged Christians in all Earthquakes they stand fast like Mount-Zion that cannot bee removed And by this also you may see what an honour it is to bee an old Disciple an old Christian Sixthly An old Disciple an old Christian is prepared for death hee hath been long a dying to sin Rom. 6 6. Gal. 5.24 ch 6.14 to the world to friends to self to relations all and no man so prepared to dye as he that thus daily dyes An old Disciple hath lived sincerely to Christ hee hath lived eminently to Christ hee hath lived in all conditions Rom. 14.7 8. Phil. 1.21 22 23. and under all changes to Christ he hath lived
exemplarily to Christ hee hath lived long to Christ and therefore the more prepared to dye and bee with Christ An old Disciple hath a crown in his eye a pardon in his bosome and a Christ in his arms and therefore may sweetly sing it out with old Simeon Lord now let thy servant depart in peace As Hillary said to his soul soul thou hast served Christ this seventy years Zeno a wise heathen said I have no fear but of old age and art thou afraid of death go out soul go out Many a day said old Cowper have I sought death with tears not out of impatience distrust or perturbation but because I am weary of sin and fearful to fall into it Nazianzen calls upon the King of terrors devour mee devoure mee And Austin when old could say shall I dye ever Cyprian could receive the cruellest sentence of death with a Deo gratias God I thank thee yes or shall I die at all yes why then Lord if ever why not now why not now so when Modestus the Emperors Lieutenant threatned to kill Bazil he answered if that be all I fear not yea your Master cannot more pleasure mee than in sending mee unto my heavenly Father to whom I now live and to whom I desire to hasten I cannot say as hee said old Mr. Stephen Martial a little before his death I have not so lived that I should now bee afraid to dye but this I can say I have so learned Christ that I am not afraid to dy Old Christians have made no more to dye than to dine Isa 57.1 2 It is nothing to dye when the Comforter stands by Old Disciples know that to dye is but to lye down in their beds they know that their dying day is better than their birth day Eccl. 7.1 and this made Solomon to prefer his Coffin before his Crown the day of his dissolution before the day of his coronation The Ancients were wont to call the dayes of their death Natalia not dying days but birth days The Jews to this day stick-not to call their Golgotha's Batte Caiim the houses or places of the Living old Christians know that death is but an entrance into life t is but a passeover a jubile t is but the Lords Gentleman-usher to conduct them to heaven and this prepares them to dye and makes death more desirable than life and by this you may see that it is an honour to bee an old Disciple Seventhly An Old Disciple an old Christian 1 Cor. 15 ult 2 Cor. 9.6 Mat. 5.10 11 12 God will reward his Servants Secundum laborem according to their labour though not Secundum proventum according to the successe of their labour shall have a great reward in heaven Old Christians have done much and suffered much for Christ and the more any man doth or suffers for Christ here the more glory hee shall have hereafter T was the saying of an old Disciple upon his dying bed hee is come hee is come meaning the Lord with a great reward for a little work Agrippa having suffered imprisonment for wishing Cajus Emperor the first thing Cajus did when hee came to the Empire was to prefer Agrippa to a Kingdome hee gave him also a chain of Gold as heavy as the chain of Iron that was upon him in prison And will not Christ richly reward all his suffering Saints Surely hee will Christ will at last pay a Christian for every prayer hee hath made for every Sermon hee hath heard for every tear hee hath shed for every morsell hee hath given for every burden hee hath born for every battel hee hath fought for every enemy hee hath flain and for every temptation that he hath overcome Cyrus in a great expedition against his enemies the better to incourage his souldiers to fight in an oration that he made at the head of his Army promised upon the victory to make every foot souldier an horsman and every horseman a Commander and that no Officer that did valiantly should be unrewarded Mat. 19.28 Luke 22.30 Mat. 5.12 but what are Cyrus his rewards to the rewards that Christ our General promises to his Rev. 3.21 To him that overcommeth will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my father in his throne As the King in Plutarch said of a groat it is no kingly gift and of a Talent it is no base bribe As there is no Lord to Christ so there is no rewards to Christs his rewards are the greatest rewards hee gives Kingdomes Crowns Thrones hee gives grace and glory Psal 84.11 It is said of Araunah that noble Jebusite renowned for his bounty that he had but a subjects purse but a Kings heart but Jesus Christ hath a Kings purse as well as a Kings heart and accordingly hee gives And as Christs rewards are the greatest rewards so his rewards are the surest rewards he is faithfull that hath promised 1 Thes 5.24 Antiochus promised often but seldome gave upon which hee was called in way of derision a great promiser but Jesus Christ never made any promise but hee hath or will perform it 2 Cor. 1.20 nay he is often better than his word 1 Cor. 2.9 hee gives many times more than wee ask The sick man of the Palsy asked but health Mat. 9.2 and Christ gave him health and a pardon to boot Solomon desired but wisdome 2 Chron. 1.10.11 12 13 14 15. and the Lord gave him wisdome and honour and riches and the favour of creatures as paper and pack-thred into the bargain Jacob asked him but cloaths to wear Gen. 28.20 Compared with Gen. 32.10 and bread to eat and the Lord gave him these things and riches and other mercies into the bargain Christ doth not measure his gifts by our Petitions but by his own riches and mercies Gracious souls many times receive many gifts and favours from God that they never dreamt off nor durst presume to begge which others exstreamly strive after and go without Archelaus being much importuned by a covetous courtier for a cup of gold wherein hee drank gave it unto Euripides that stood by saying thou art worthy to ask and be denyed but Euripides is worthy of gifts although hee ask not Luk. 15.19 â—â—,25 The Prodigall craves no more but the place of an hyred Servant but hee is entertained as a Sonne he is clad with the best robe and fed with the fatted calf he hath a ring for his hand and shooes for his feet rich supplies more than hee desired Gen. 42. Jacobs sons in a time of famine desired only corn and they return with corn and money in their sacks and with good news too Joseph is alive and governour of all Egypt And as his Rewards are greater and surer than others rewards Heb. 12.28 Mat. 6.19 20 1 Pet. 1.4 so they are more durable and lasting than others rewards the Kingdome that hee
experience every day speaks out pride to bee the young mans couzen God saith one had three sons Lucifer Adam and Christ the first aspired to bee like God in power and was therefore thrown down from Heaven Pride cannot câ—â—â—be so high but Justice will sit above the second to bee like him in knowledge and was therefore deservedly driven out of Eden when young the third did altogether i 〈…〉 te and follow him in his goodnesse mercy and humility and by so doing obtained an everlasting inheritance Remember this young men and as you would get a paradise and keep a paradise get humble and keep humble Pride is an evil that puts men upon all manner of evil Accius the Poet though hee were a dwarf yet would bee pictured tall of stature Psaphon a proud Sybian would needs bee a God and having caught some birds hee taught them to speak and prattle The great god Psaphon Menecrates a proud Physitian wrote thus to King Philip Menecrates a god to Philip a King Proud Simon in Lucian having got a little wealth changed his name from Simon to Simonides for that there were so many beggers of his kinne and set the house on fire wherein hee was born because no body should point at it What sad evils Pharachs pride and Hamans pride and Herods pride and Belshazzars pride put them upon I shall not now mention Ah young men young men had others a window to look into your breasts 〈◊〉 an old woman â—â—â—ing 〈…〉 â—ormity 〈◊〉 a glass went mad c. or did your hearts stand where your faces do you would even bee affraid of your selves you would loathe and abhor your selves Ah! young men young men as you would have God to keep house with you as you would have his minde and secrets made known to you as you would have Christ to delight in you and the spirit to dwell in you as you would bee honoured among Saints and attended and guarded by Angels get humble and keep humble Tertullians Councell to the young Gallants of those times was excellent Tert. de Gult Jam. Cap. 13. cloath your selves said hee with the silk of piety with the sattin of sanctity and with the purple of modesty So shall you have God himself to bee your Sutor The second evil that Youth is subject to is Eccl. 11.9 2 Sam. 13.23 â—â—â— 29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleasure is the bait of sin saith Plato sensual pleasures and delights Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes The wise man by an Ironical concession bids him rejoyce c. Sin c. thou art wilful and resolved upon taking thy pleasure go on take thy course this hee speaks by way of mockage and bitter scoffe c. but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement So Sampson made a feast Judg. 14.10 for so used the Young men to do the hearts of young men usually are much given up to pleasure I have read of a young man who was very much given up to pleasures hee standing by St. Ambrose and seeing his excellent death turned to other young men by him and said Oh! that I might live with you and dye with him Sensual pleasures are like to those Locusts Rev. 9.7 the crowns upon whose heads are said to bee onely as it were such or such in appearance and like Gold but vers 10 it is said there were not as it were They were much out that held pleasure to bee mans sumâ—um bonum but stings in their tails Sensual pleasures are but seeming and appearing pleasures but the pains that attend them are true and reall he that delights in sensuall pleasures shall finde his greatest pleasures become his bitterest pains The Heathens look't upon the back parts of pleasure and saw it going away from them and leaving a sling behind Pleasures passe away as soon as they have wearied out the bodie and leave it as a bunch of grapes whose juice hath been pressed out which made one to say Nulla major voluptas quam voluptatis fastidium I see no greater pleasure in this world than the contempt of pleasure Julian though an Apostate yet professed that the pleasures of the body were far below a great spirit And Tully saith he is not worthy of the name of man qui unum diem velit esse in voluptate that would entirely spend one whole day in pleasures it is better not to desire pleasures than to enjoy them Eccl. 2.2 I said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what dost thou The interrogation bids a challenge to all the masters of mirth to produce any one satisfactory fruit which it affordeth if they could Xerxes being weary of all pleasures promised rewards to the inventers of new pleasures which being invented hee nevertheless remained unsatisfied As a Bee flyeth from flower to flower and is not satisfied and as a sick man removes from one bed to another from one seat to another from one chamber to another for ease and findes none So men given up to sensual pleasures go from one pleasure to another but can find no content no satisfaction in their pleasures The eye is not satisfied with seeing Eccl. 1. â— nor the ear filled with hearing There is a curse of unsatisfiableness lies upon the creature honours cannot satisfy the ambitious man nor riches the covetous man nor pleasures the voluptuous man man cannot take off the weariness of one pleasure by another for after a few evaporated minutes are spent in pleasures the body presently fails the minde and the minde the desire and the desire the satisfaction and all the man Pleasures are Junos in the pursuit and but clouds in the enjoyment Pleasure is a beautifull Harlot sitting in her chariot whose four wheeles are Pride Gluttony lust and idleness the two horses are prosperity and abundance the two drivers are Idleness and Security her attendants and followers are guilt grief late repentance if any and oft death and ruine many great men and many strong men and many rich men and many hopefull men Becanus saith that the fruit of the tree of knowledge is sweet but in the end it breeds choler so do worldly pleasures and many young men have come to their ends by her but never any enjoyed full satisfaction and content in her Ah! Young men Young men avoid this harlot and come not neer the door of her house And as for lawful pleasures let me onely say this t is your Wisdome onely to touch them to taste them and to use them as Mithridates used poyson to fortify your selves against casuall extremities and maladies when Mr. Roger Ascham asked the Lady Jane Grey how shee could loose such pastime her father with the Dutchess being a hunting in the Park Smilingly answered all the sport in the Park is
the Cross for souls he trode the Wine-Press of his fathers wrath for souls he dyed for souls hee rose again from death for souls Ioh. 14.1 2 3 he ascended for souls he intercedes for souls and all the glorious preparations that he hath been a making in heaven this sixteen hundred years is for souls Ah! young men young men do not play the Courtier with your precious souls the Courtier doth all things late hee rises late dines late sups late goes to bed late repents late Ah Sirs the good of your souls is before all and above all other things in the World to be first regarded and provided for ' and that partly because O anima Dei in signita imagine desponsata fide donata spiritu Bern. it is the best and more noble part of man and partly because therein mostly and properly is the Image of God stampt and partly because it is the first converted and partly because it shall be the first and most glorified Ah! Young men Young men if they bee worse than Infidels 1 Tim. 5.8 that make not provision for their families what monsters are they that make not provision for their own souls this will bee bitterness in the end Caesar Borgias being sick to death lamentingly said when I lived I provided for every thing but death now I must dye and am unprovided to dye this was a dart at his heart and it will at last be a dagger at yours who feast your bodies but starve your souls who make liberal provision for your ignoble part but no provision for your more noble part If they deserve a hanging who feast their slaves and starve their Wives that make provision for their enemies but none for their friends James 4.2 3 Hos 7.13 14 how will you escape hanging in hell who make provision for every thing yea for your very lusts but make no provision for your immortal souls Wee hate the Turks for selling Christians for Slaves and what shall we think then of those who sell themselves their precious souls for toyes and trifles that cannot profit who practically say Callenuceus relates this story what once a prophane Noble man of Naples verbally said viz. that hee had two souls in his body one for God and another for whosoever would buy it Ah young men young meâ— do not pawn your souls do not sell your souls do not exchange away your souls do not trifle and fool away your precious souls they are Jewels more worth than a thousand worlds yea than Heaven and earth if they are safe all is safe but if they are lost all is lost God lost and Christ lost and the society of glorious Angels and blessed Saints lost and Heaven lost and that for ever Grandensis tells of a woman that was so affected with souls miscarryings that shee besought God to stop up the passage into Hell with her soul and body that none might have entrance Ah! that all young persons were so affected with the worth and excellency of their souls and so allarmed with the hazzard and danger of loosing their souls as that they may in the spring and morning of their dayes enquire after the Lord and seek him and serve him with all their might that so their precious and immortal souls may bee safe and happy for ever but if all this will not do then in the last place Tenthly Consider young men that God will at last bring you to a reckoning hee will at last bring you to judgement Rejoyce O young man in thy youth Eccles 11.9 and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgement In these words you have two things 1 An ironical concession hee bids him rejoyce c. hee yeelds him what hee would have by an irony by way of mockage and bitter scoff Now thou art young and strong lively and lusty and thy bones are full of marrow thou art resolved to bee proud and scornful to indulge the flesh and to follow thy delights and pleasure well take thy course if thou darest or if thou hast a minde to it Hierom still thought that that noise was in his ears surgite mortâ—i venite ad judicium arise you dead and come to judgement if thy heart bee so set upon it Rejoyce in thy youth c. The second is a commination or a sad and severe praemonition But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement will bring thee these words import two things first the unwillingnesse of youth to come to judgement secondly the unavoidableness that youth must come to judgement but how soon you shall bee brought to judgement is only known to God Augustine confesses in one of his books that as long as his conscience was gnawed with the guilt of some youthful lust hee was once insnared with the very hearing of a day of judgement was even a Hell to him Histories tell us of a young man who being for some capital offence condemned to dye grew gray in one nights space and was therefore pittied and spared Ah young men young men that the serious thoughts of this great day might put you upon breaking off the sins of your youth and the dedicating of your selves to the knowledge love and service of the Lord in the spring and flower of your dayes An young men consider the errours of your lives the wickednesse of your hearts the sinfulnesse of your wayes and that strickt account that ere long you must bee brought to before the Judge of all the World The Heathens themselves had some kinde of dread and expectation of such a day and therefore when Paul spake of judgement to come Felix trembled though a Heathen The bringing into judgement is a thing which is known by reason Act. 24.25 The Philosophers had some dreames of a severe day of accounts as appeareth by Plato's Gorgi as many passages in Tully c. and is clear by the light of nature wherefore in Austria one of the Nobles dying who had lived fourscore and thirteen years and had spent all his life in pleasures and delights never being troubled with any infirmity and this being told to Frederick the Emperour from hence saith hee wee may conclude the souls immortality for if there bee a God that ruleth this world as Divines and Philosophers do teach and that hee is just no one denyeth surely there are other places to which souls aster death do go Eneas Sylvius and do receive for their deeds either reward or punishment for here wee see that neither rewards are given to the good nor punishments to the evil Ah young men 2 Cor. 5.9 10 11. knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord and the terrour of this day Oh that you would bee perswaded to flee from the wrath to
it Non amo quenquam nisi offendam said a Heathen as wee do by persons or things wee know not or would take no notice of Now is it the glory of a man to passe over a transgression and will it not much more bee the glory of Christ silently to passe over the transgressions of his people in that great day The greater the treasons and rebellions are that a Prince passes over and takes no notice of the more is it his honour and glory and so doubtlesse it will be Christs in that great day To pass over all the treasons and rebellions of his people to take no notice of them to forget them as well as forgive them The Heathens have long since observed that in nothing man came nearer to the glory and perfection of God himself than in goodness and clemency Surely if it bee such an honour to man to passe over a transgression it cannot bee a dishonour to Christ to pass over the transgressions of his people hee having already buried them in the Sea of his blood Again saith Solomon It is the glory of God to conceal a thing Pro. 25.2 And why it should not make for the glory of divine love to conceal the sins of the Saints in that great day I know not and whether the concealing the sins of the Saints in that great day will not make most for their joy and wicked mens sorrow for their comfort and wicked mens terrour and torment I will leave you to judge and time and experience to decide And thus much for the resolution of that great question Having done with the Motives that may incourage and provoke young men to bee good betimes to know love seek and serve the Lord in the spring and morning of their dayes I shall now come to those directions and helps that must by assistance from Heaven bee put in practice if ever you would bee good betimes and serve the Lord in the Prim-rose of your dayes Now all that I shall say will fall under these two heads First Some things you must carefully and warily decline and arm your selves against and secondly there are other things that you must prosecute and follow First there are some things that you must warily decline and they are these First If ever you would bee good betimes if you would bee gracious in the spring and morning of your youth Oh then take heed of putting the day of death far from you Amos 6.3 Young men are very prone to look upon death afar off to put it at a great distance from them they are apt to say to death Exod. 10.28 as Pharaoh said to Moses Get thee from mee and let mee see thy face no more if old men discourse to them of death they are ready to answer as the High-Priest did Judas in a different case what is that to us Mat. 27.4 look you unto it wee know sicknesse will come and death is a debt that wee must all pay but surely these guests are a great way from us for doth not David say Psal 90.10 The daies of a man are threescore years and ten wee have calculated our nativities and wee cannot abate a day a minute a moment of threescore and ten and therefore it is even a death to us to think of death there being so great a distance between our birth-day and our dying-day as wee have cast up the account Ah young men it is sad it is very say when you are so wittily wicked as to say with those in Ezekiel Behold they of the house of Israel say Ezek. 12.27 the vision that hee seeth is for many dayes to come and hee prophecyeth of the times that are afar off Ah young men young men by putting far away this day you gratifie Satan you strengthen sin you provoke the Lord you make the work of faith and repentance more hard and difficult you lay a sad foundation for the greatest fears and doubts Ah! how soon may that sad word bee fulfilled upon you The Lord of that servant that saith Mat. 24.48 49 50 51. his Lord delayeth his coming shall come in a day when hee looketh not for him and in an hour that hee is not aware of and shall cut him asunder or cut him off and appoint him his portion with Hypocrites there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth When Sodom when Pharaoh when Agag when Amalek when Haman when Herod when Nebuchadnezzar when Belshazzar when Dives when the fool in the Gospel were all in their prime their pride when they were all in a flourishing state and upon the very top of their glory how strangely how suddenly how sadly how fearfully how wonderfully were they brought down to the grave to Hell Good Couns to Young men Ah young man who art thou and what is thy name or fame what is thy power or place what is thy dignity or glory that thou darest promise thy self an exemption from sharing in as sad a portion as ever Justice gave to those who were once very high who were seated among the stars but are now brought down to the sides of the pit â—sa 13.10 11 â—2 13 14 15 16 17. I have read a story of one that gave a young Prodigal a Ring with a deaths head on this condition that hee should one hour daily for seven daies together look and think upon it which bred a great change in his life Ah young men the serious thoughts of death may do that for you that neither friends counsel examples prayers Sermons tears hath not done to this very day Well remember this to labour not to die is labour in vain and to put this day far from you Senibus mors in januis adolescentibus in insidiis Bernard De convers ad Cler. c. 14. and to live without fear of death is to die living Death seizeth on old men and laies wait for the youngest Death is oftentimes as near the young mans back as it is to the old mans face It is storied of Charles the fourth King of France that being one time affected with the sense of his many and great sins hee fetcht a deep sigh and said to his wife by the help of God I will now so carry my self all my life long that I will never offend him more which words hee had no sooner uttered but hee fell down dead and died Do not young men put this day far from you least you are suddenly surprized and then you cry out when too late a Kingdome for a Christ a Kingdome for a Christ as once Crookt-back Richard the third in his distresse a Kingdome for a horse a Kingdome for a horse Ah young men did you never hear of a young man that cryed out Oh! I am so sick that I cannot live and yet woful wretch that I am so sinful that I dare not die Oh that I might live Oh that I might die Oh that I might do neither Well young
all worldly delights and contents c. Secondly In pardon of Sin Blessed is hee whose transgression is forgiven whose Sinne is covered Psal 32.1 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile It is not blessed is the honourable man but blessed is the pardoned man it is not blessed is the rich man but blessed is the pardoned man it is not blessed is the learned man but blessed is the pardoned man it is not blessed is the politick man but blessed is the pardoned man it is not blessed is the victorious man but blessed is the pardoned man Do with me what thou wilt since thou hast pardoned my sins saith Luther Thirdly In a compleat fruition and enjoyment of God when wee shall be here no more Blessed are the pure in heart Mat. 5.8 for they shall see God Now they see him but darkly 1 Cor. 13.12 but in heaven they shall see him face to face they shall know as they are known but of these things I have spoken largely elsewhere and therefore shall satisfy my self with these hints Lastly If you would be good betimes then you must break your covenant with sin betimes you must fall out with your lusts betimes you must arme and fence your selves against Sin betimes Isa 28 15.18 a man never beginnes to fall in with Christ till hee beginnes to fall out with his Sins till sin and the soul bee two Christ and the soul cannot be one Now to work your hearts to this you should alwayes look upon sin under these notions First If you would have the league dissolved betwixt sin and your souls betimes then look upon sin under the notion of an enemy betimes Dearly beloved 1 Pet. 2.11 Sins especially against knowledge are peccata vulner antia et divastantia wounding and wasting I befeech you as strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the soul As the Viper is killed by the young ones in her belly so are poor Sinners betraied and killed by their own lusts that are nourished in their bosomes Pittacus a Philosopher challenging Phlyon the Athenian Captain in their warres against them to single combate carried a net privily and so caught him and overcame him So doth Sin with poor Sinners the dangerous pernicious malignant nature of Sinne you may see in the story of the Italian who first made his Enemy deny God and then stabbed him to the heart and so at once murdered both body and soul Sin betrayes us into the hand of the Devil as Dalilah did Sampson into the hands of the Philistims Sugred poysons go down pleasantly Oh! But when they are down they gall and gnaw and gripe the very heart-strings asunder it is so with sin Ah! Souls have not you often found it so When Phocas the Murderer thought to secure himself by building high-walls he heard a voice from heaven telling him that though he built his bulwarks ever so high yet Sinne within would soon undermine all Ambrose reports of one Theotimus that having a disease upon his body the Physitian told him that except hee did abstain from intemperance Drunkenness Uncleanness he would loose his eyes his heart was so desperately set upon his Sins that he crys out then vale lumen amicum farewel sweet light Ah! how did his lusts warre both against body and soul The Old man is like a treacherous friend and a friendly Traitour though it be a harder thing to fight with a mans lusts than it is to fight with the Cross yet you must fight or dye if you are not the death of your Sins they will prove the death of your souls The Oracle told the Cirrheans diesque belli gerendum they could not be happy unless they waged warre night and day As one of the Dukes of Venice dyed fighting against the Nauratines with his weapons in his hand no more can wee except wee live and dye fighting against our lusts Ah Young men Can you look upon Sin under the notion of an enemy and not break with it and not arm against it Well remember this the pleasure and sweetness that follows victory over sin is a thousand times beyond that seeming sweetnesse that is in sin and as victory over sin is the sweetest victory so it is the greatest victory there is no conquest to that which is gotten over a mans own corruptions Hee that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and hee that ruleth his spirit than hee that taketh a City It is noble to overcome an enemy without but it is more noble to overcome an enemy within it is honourable to overcome fiery flames but it is far more honourable to overcome fiery lusts When Valentinian the Emperour was upon his dying-bed among all his victories only one comforted him Rom. 7.22 23 2 Cor. 10.3 4 5 6. Gal. 5.17 and that was victory over his worst enemy viz. his own naughty heart Ah young men young men your worst enemies are within you and all their plots designs and assaults are upon your souls your most noble part they know if that fort Royal bee won all is their own and you are undone and shall bee their slaves for ever and therefore it stands you upon to arm your selves against these inbred enemies and if you ingage Christ in the quarrel you will carry the day and when you shall lye upon your dying-beds you will then finde that there is no comfort to that which ariseth from the conquests of your own hearts your own lusts Secondly If you would break covenant with sin if you would arme and fence your selves against sin betimes 2 Pet. 3.6 Gal. 3.10 Joh. 8.34 then look upon sin as the souls bonds for as bonds tie things together so doth sin tie the sinner and the curse together it bindes the sinner and wrath together it links the sinner and hell together I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquity iniquity is a chain a bond now bonds and chains gall the body and so do sin the soul and as poor captives are held fast in their chains so are sinners in their sins they cannot redeem themselves by price 2 Tim. 2. uit nor by power Ah young men young men no bondage to soul-bondage no slavery to soul-slavery the Israelites bondage under Pharaoh and the Christians bondage under the Turks Augustine saith of Rome that shee was the great Mistriss of the world and the great drudge of sin is but the bondage of the body of the baser and ignoble part of man but yours is soul-bondage soul-slavery which is the saddest and greatest of all Ah friends You should never look upon your sins but you should look upon them as your bonds yea as the worst bonds that ever were all other chains are golden chains chains of Pearl compared to those chains of Iron and Brasse those chains of lusts with
which you are bound Ah! who can thus look upon his chains his sins and not loathe them and not labour for freedome from them Justinus the Emperours Motto was Libert as res inestimabilis liberty is unvaluable if civil liberty bee surely spiritual liberty is much more if you ask souls that were once in a state of bondage but are now Christs free-men they will tell you so It was a good observation of Chrysostome Chrysost Hom. 19. in prior Epist ad Corinth that Joseph was the free-man and his Mistrisse was the servant when shee was at the beck of her own lusts when shee tempted and hee refused Such as live most above sin and temptation are the greatest freemen others that live under the power of their lusts are but slaves and in bonds though they dream and talk of freedome Tit. 3.3 Thirdly If you would break league with sin and arm and fence your selves against it then look alwayes upon sin under the notion of fire Jude 23. Arpazontes signifies a violent snatching as the tender-hearted Mother to save the life of her child pulls it hastily and with violence out of the fire And others save with fear pulling them out of the fire Oh! snatch them out of their sins as you would snatch a child a friend out of the fire or as the Angel snatch't Lot out of Sodom hastily and with a holy violence natural fire may burn the house the goods the treasure the servant the child the wife the body but this fire burns the soul it destroies and consumes that noble part which is more worth than all the treasures of a thousand worlds every man hath a hand and a heart to quench the fire which burns his neighbours house but few men have either hands or hearts to quench the fire that burns their neighbors souls this is and this shall bee for a lamentation D. Denisons theeefold resolution part 2. Sect. 2. I have read of one who upon the violence of any temptation to sin would lay his hand on burning coals and being not able to abide it would say to himself Oh how unable shall I be to indure the pains of hell and this restrained him from evil but what is the fire of hell to the fire of sin now to provoke you to look upon sin under the notion of fire consider with mee the sundry resemblances between material immaterial fire between corporal common fire and between this spiritual fire Sin As First Fire is terrible and dreadful a ship on fire a house on fire Oh how dreadful is it so sin set home upon the conscience is exceeding terrible and dreadful Mine iniquity so the Hebrew is greater than I can bear sin or iniquity is often put for the punishment of sin by a Metonymie of the efficient for the effect Gen. 4.13 Mentiris Cain thou lyest Cain saith one on the Text. for sin is the natural Parent of punishment Mine iniquity saith Cain is so great and lies so heavy so terrible and dreadful upon my conscience that it cannot bee forgiven and thus by his diffidence hee stabs two at once the mercy of God and his own soul So Judas Mat. 27.3 4 5. I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood and hee went and hanged himself As there is no fighting with a mighty fire so there is no bearing up when God sets home sin upon the conscience a man will then chuse strangling or hanging rather than living under such wounds and lashes of conscience Histories abounds with instances of this nature but I must hasten to a close Secondly Fire is most dangerous and pernicious when it breaks forth of the chimny or of the house so it is with sin Sin is bad in the eye 2 Sam. 12.9 10 11 12 13 14 15. worse in the tongue worser in the heart but worst of all in the life Fire when out of its proper place may do much hurt in the house but when it flames abroad then it doth most mischief to others Sin in the heart may undo a man but sin in the life may undo others as well as a mans self Set a guard upon thy eye Job 31.1 Prov. 4.23 Ephes 5.15 a greater upon thy heart but the greatest of all upon thy life Salvian relates how the Heathen did reproach some Christians Salvianus de G. D. l. 4. who by their lewd lives made the Gospel of Christ to be a reproach where said they is that good Law which they do beleeve where are those rules of godlinesse which they do learn they read the holy Gospel and yet are unclean they hear the Apostles writings and yet are drunk they follow Christ and yet disobey Christ they professe a holy Law and yet do lead impure lives But the lives of other Christians have been so holy that the very Heathens observing them have said surely this is a good God whose servants are so good It is brave when the life of a Christian is a commentary upon Christs life One speaking of the Scripture Augustin saith verba vivenda non legenda they are words to bee lived and practised not read only Plutarch A Heathen adviseth us to demean our selves so circumspectly as if our enemies did alwaies behold us And saith another for shame Epictetus either live as Stoicks or leave off the name of stoicks Sirs live as Christians or lye down the name of Christians Thirdly Fire hardens it makes the weak and limber clay to become stiff and strong for the Potters use So sin hardens it hardens the heart against the commands of God the calls of Christ Jer. 5.3 ch 19. ult Isa 9.13 and the wrestlings of the Spirit As you see in Pharaoh the Jews and most that are under the sound of the Gospel Ah! how many hath this fire sin hardened in these daies by working them to slight soul-softening means Jer. 2.25 ch 18.12 and by drawing them to entertain hardening-thoughts of God and to fall in with soul-hardening company and soul-hardening Principles and soul-hardening examples of hardened and unsensible sinners one long since thus complained that they did patientius ferre Christi jacturam quam suam more calmly passe by the injuries done to Christ than those which are done unto themselves this age is full of such hardened unsensible souls Fourthly Fire is a lively active element so is sin Gen. 22. Psal 51. Job 3. Mat. 26. Rom. 1.15 c. Ah how lively and active was this fire in Abraham David Job Peter Paul and other Saints though Christ by his death hath given it its mortal wound yet it lives and is and will be active in the dearest Saints Though sin and grace were not born together neither shall they dye together yet while beleevers live in this world they must live together There is a History that speaks of a Fig-tree that grew in a stone wall and all means was used to kill it they cut
my heart to adde drunkenness to thirst The Lord will not spare him but then the Anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoak against that man and all the Curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven In these words you may observe that God is absolute in threatning to shew that he will bee resolute in punishing Psal 11.5 A lover of Iniquity is a liver in Iniquity upon choice 6. The wicked and him that loveth iniquity doth his soul hate Upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. Ah! That all poor sinners would make these two Scriptures their companions their constant bed-fellows till they are got above that sad temptation of turning the mercy of God into an incouragement to sin Whilst Milo Crotoniates was tearing a sunder the stock of an Oake his strength failing him the clift suddenly closing was held so fast by the hands that he became a prey to the beasts of the field All the abusers of mercy will certainly and suddenly become a prey to the justice of God that will rent and tear them in peices as the Psalmist speaks Psal 50.22 Wo wo to that soul that fights against God with his own mercies that will bee bad because hee is good that will be sinful because he is merciful that will turn all the kindnesses of God that should bee as so many silver cords to tye him to love and obedience into arrows and so shoot them back into the heart of God Abused mercy will at last turn into a Lyon a fierce Lyon and then wo to the abusers and despisers of it But Thirdly In Answer to that part of the Objection concerning the Thief on the Cross I offer these things briefly to your thoughts First Exemplum latronis servati est admirandum non imitandum That as one was saved to teach Sinners not to despair so another was damned to teach them not to presume A pardon is sometimes given to one upon the Gallows but who so trusts to that the rope may be his hire it is not good saith one to put it upon the Psalm of miserere and the neck verse for sometimes hee proves no Clerk and so hangs for it Secondly It is an example without a promise here is an example of late repentance but where is there a promise of late repentance Oh! Let not his late and sudden conversion be to thee a temptation till thou hast found a promise for late and sudden conversion it is not examples but promises that are foundations for faith to rest on he that walks by an example of mercy without a precept to guide him and a promise to support him walks but by a dark Lanthorn that will deceive him well young man remember this examples of mercy increase wrath when the heart is not bettered by them But Thirdly This was a rare miracle of mercy with the glory wherof Christ did honour the ignominy of his Cross and therfore wee may as well look for another crucifying of Christ as look for a sinners conversion when he hath scarce time enough to reckon up all those particular duties which make up the integrity of its constitution But Fourthly I Answer This Theif knew not Christ before he had not refused neglected nor slighted Christ before the Sermon on the Cross was the first Sermon that ever he heard Christ preach and Christs prayer on the Cross was the first prayer that ever he heard Christ make he knew not Christ till hee met him on the Cross which proved to him a happy meeting his case was as if a Turk or Heathen should now be converted to the faith and therefore thou hast little reason O young man to plead this example to keep Christ and thy soul asunder who art every day under the call the intreaties and wooings of Christ But Fifthly and Lastly I Answer The circumstances of time and place are rightly to be considered Now when Christ was triumphing on the Cross over sin satan and the world when he had made the devils a publik spectacle of scorn and derision when hee was taking his leave of the world and entering into his glory Now hee puts a pardon into the Theifs hand and crouds other favours and kindnesses upon him As in the Roman Triumphs the Victor being ascended up to the Capitol in a Chariot of state used to cast certain peeces of coyn among the people for them to pick up which hee used not to do at other times So our Lord Jesus Christ in the day of his Triumph and solemn inauguration into his heavenly kingdome scatters some heavenly jewels that this Theif might pick up which he doth not nor will not do every day Or as in these days it is usual with Princes to save some notorious malefactors at their coronation when they enter upon their kingdomes in Triumph which they do not use to do afterwards So did Jesus Christ carry it toward this Thief but this is not his ordinary way of saving and bringing souls to glory and therefore do not O young man let not the Thiefs late conversion prove a temptation or an occasion of thy delaying thy repentance and trifling away the primerose of thy dayes in vanity and folly And thus much may suffice to have spoken by way of Answer to the Young mans Objections The old mans Doubts Resolved I shall now speak a few words to Old men and so close up Now Is it so commendable so desirable and so necessary for young men to be good betimes to seek and serve the Lord in the spring and morning of their Youth as hath been sufficiently demonstrated in this Treatise Oh then that I could so wooe aged persons as to win them who yet have put off this great work to seek and serve the Lord before their glass be out their Sun set and their souls lost for ever Oh that that counsil of the Prophet might take hold upon your hearts Jer. 13.16 Give glory to the Lord your God before hee cause darknesse and before your feet stumble thorow age upon the dark mountains and while yee look for light he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness I but aged Sinners may reply is there any hope any help for us is there any probability is there any possibility that ever such as we are should return and finde mercy and favour with the Lord wee who have lived so long without him we that have sinned so much against him we that to this day are strangers to him yea in arms against him Is there any hope that we white-headed sinners who have withstood so many thousand offers of grace and so many thousand motions of the spirit and so many thousand checks of conscience and so many thousand tenders of Christ and heaven that ever we should obtain mercy that
ever we should have our old hearts turned our millions of Sin pardoned our vile natures changed and poor souls saved c. I Answer that there is hope even for such as you are all the Angels in heaven and all the men on earth cannot tell but that you even you may obtain mercy and favour that your souls dye not with the Lord nothing is impossible and for the grace of the Gospel nothing is too hard now this I shall make evident by an induction of partilars thus First Mat. 20 1â—â—â—17 The Roman penny was seven pence half penny All were not called nor sent to work in the Vineyard at the first-hour some were called at the third-hour others at the sixth others at the ninth and some at the eleventh God hath his several times of calling souls to himself the eleventh hour was about five in the afternoon an hour before Sun-set when it was even time to leave work and yet at this hour some were called imployed and rewarded with the rest Some of the fathers by the several hours mentioned in this Parable do understand the several ages of man viz. Childhood youth middle-age and Old-age wherein poor souls are called and converted to Christ the scope of the Parable is to signify the free-grace of God in the calling of some in the spring and morning of their days and in the calling of others in their Old-age in the evening of their days But Secondly Abraham in the Old Testament Gen. 12.4 Joh. 3.1 2 3 4. ch 7.50 and Nicodemus in the New were called and converted in their old age when there were but a few steps between them and the grave between them and eternity therefore let not the gray-headed sinner despair though his spring be past his summer over past and he arrived at the fall of the leaf But Thirdly Divine promises shall be made good to returning souls to repenting souls to beleeving souls Isa 1.18 Jer. 3.12 Isa 43.22 23 24 25 Isa 57.17 18 Jer. 5â— 5 John 3.16 Mar. 16.16 be they young or old 2 Chron. 30.9 The Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return unto him Joel 2.13 And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for hee will abundantly pardon or hee will multiply to pardon More of this you may see by reading the Scriptures in the margent all sorts of sin shall bee pardoned to all sorts of beleeving and repenting sinners The new Jerusalem hath twelve Gates to shew that there is every way access for all sorts and ranks of Sinners to come to Christ He was born in an Inn to shew that hee receives all comers young and Old poor and rich c. But Fourthly The Lord hath declared by Oath a greater delight in the conversion and salvation of poor sinners whether they are young or old than in the destruction and damnation of such Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye dye O ye house of Israell two things make a thing more credible 1 The quality or dignity of the person speaking 2 The manner of the speech Now here you have the great God not onely speaking promising but solemnly swearing that hee had rather poor sinners should live than dye bee happy than miserable therefore despair not Oh aged sinner but return unto the Lord and thou shalt bee happy for ever But Fifthly Vna guttula plus valet quam caelum terra Luther One little drop is more worth than heaven and earth there is vertue enough in the precious blood of Jesus Christ to wash and cleanse away all sin not only to cleanse away the young mans sins but also to cleanse away the old mans sins not only to cleanse a sinner of twenty years old but to cleanse a sinner of fifty sixty yea a hundred years old 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin not simply from sin but from all sin there is such a power and efficacie in the blood of Christ as is sufficient to cleanse all sorts of sinners from all sorts of sins there is vertue in the blood of the Lamb to wash out all the spots that are in the oldest sinners heart and therefore let not old sinners despair let not them say there is no hope there is no help as long as this fountain the blood of Jesus Christ is open for all sorts of sinners to wash in But Sixthly The call and invitations of Christ in the Gospel are general and indefinite excluding no sort of sinners Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man mark the indefinitenesse of personal admittance hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and hee with mee let the sinner bee old or young a green head or a gray head if hee will but open the door Christ will come in and have communion and fellowship with him So in that Mat. 11.28 Isa 55.1 John 7.37 Rev. 22.17 turn to these Scriptures and dwell upon them they all clearly evidence the call and gracious invitations of Christ to bee to all sinners to every sinner hee excepts not a man no though never so old nothing shall hinder the sinner any sinner the worst and most aged sinner from obtaining mercy if hee bee willing to open to Christ and to receive him as his Lord and King John 6.37 But Seventhly Christs pathetical lamentation over all sorts and ranks of sinners declares his willingnesse to shew mercy to them O Jerusalem Jerusalem saith Christ Luk. 19.41 42. weaping over it that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace Psal 81.13 c. O that my people had hearkened unto mee Christ weeps over Jerusalem so did Titus and so did Marcellus over Syracuse and so did Scipio over Carthage but they shed tears for them whose blood they were to shed but Christ weeps over the necks of those young and old sinners who were to shed his blood As a tender hearted Father weeps over his rebellious Children when neither smiles nor frowns neither counsels nor intreaties will win them or turn them from their evil waies So doth Jesus Christ over these rebellious Jews upon whom nothing would work But Eighthly and lastly though aged sinners have given Christ many thousand denyals yet he hath not taken them but after all Psal 65.1 2. Rom. 10.21 and in the face of all denyals hee still re-inforces his suit and continues to beseech them by his Spirit 1 Joh. 5.2 3. by his word by his wounds by his blood by his messengers and by his rebukes to turn home to him to embrace him to beleeve in him and to match with him that they may bee saved eternally by him all which bespeaks gray-headed sinners not to despair nor to dispute but to repent return and beleeve that it may go well with them for ever Consider seriously what hath been spoken and the Lord make you wise for eternity There are three other Books lately published by Mr. Brooks 1 Precious remedies against Satans devices or salve for Beleevers and unbeleevers sores being a companion for those that are in Christ or out of Christ that slight or neglect ordinances under a pretence of living above them that are growing in spirituals or decaying that are tempted or deserted afflicted or opposed that have assurance or want it 2 Cor. 2.11 2 Heaven on Earth or a serious discourse touching a well grounded assurance of mens everlasting happiness and blessednesse discovering the nature of assurance the possibility of attaining it the Causes Springs and Degrees of it with the resolution of several weighty questions Rom. 8.32 33 34. 3 The unsearchable Riches of Christ or meat for strong men and milk for babes held forth in two and twenty Sermons from Ephesians 3.8 preached on his lecture nights at Fishstreet-hill All three Printed for and sold by John Hancock at the first shop in Popeshead-Alley next to Cornhill 1657. FINIS