World or as the three stretches of the Prophet Elijah or 1 King 17. 21 22. the Widow of Zarephaths dear Son a means to put Life into them who by Nature are as truly dead Spiritually as that Child was Naturally 1. Knowledge of Misery Sense of sin and Misery by i◠alone will do no good nor any thing without it for the foundation of Happiness is laid in it◠The knowledge of a Disease make◠way to a Cure and sense of Misery is the first step to Mercy we usually say it is most miserable to have been happy but in this it is the happiness of sinners to know their misery and their greatest misery if they do not 2. Knowledge of the way or means of recovery out of Misery None but Sinners need Mercy and none but sensible sinners will seek for it but yet they cannot seek it aright unless they know the way to it no more than they can find it unless they seek it the Diseased Woman in the Gospel Mat. 9. 20 21 22. was sensible of her Bloody Issue before she came to Christ and came to him before she was healed by him it was not barely the apprehension of her Disease but the apprehension of her Disease and of Christ her Physician that cured her None so fit to seek for Mercy as humbled sinners and none but such will but yet unless they do they cannot have it 3. Knowledge of Duty when redeemed from Misery Conversion is a change from one contrary to another not from one sin to another that is Hypocrisie but from 〈…〉 contrary one to another from the privation to the habit from Darkness to Light and from Death to Life this new state calls for a new life and all that are brought into such a state must live sutably to it they must not be always 1 Thes 2. 12. Eph. 5. 8. 1. Pet. 2. 9. sinners because they were sometimes so for once is above any Indulgence granted 1. Knowledge of Misery Sense of Misery is necessary not to merit Mercy but to qualifie for it not to fit the God of Mercy to give it but the necessitous sinner to receive it Now the misery of all by Nature is best known as one contrary compar'd with another by considering the happiness of Man in his state of Innocency When God had made the World and richly furnish'd it with all things for Necessity and Delight he then made Man not in the Image of any inferior Creature Gen. 1. 26. but in his own which Image was both outward and inward consisting partly in his Body and partly in his Soul Partly in his Body As it was So admirable a Structure that Galen a Heathen made a Hymn of Praise to God that made it an Instrument of Righteousness and a frame of admirable composure containing so many Miracles as Members so many perfections as parts and in some degree resembling the Majesty of God Partly and chiefly in his Soul by an inward resemblance of it to God not onely in the Spiritual Nature of the Soul but in the Natural Faculties Properties and Endowments of it viz. Knowledge Righteousness and True Holiness 1. Knowledge in his Understanding Of all that was needful for his state of Perfection and Happiness viz. A knowledge of God and his Excellencies of himself as to the Nature of every Faculty of his Soul and both the temper and use of every Member of his Body and of all other Creatures both as to Nature and Kind and how to carry himself uprightly to God and them 2. Righteousness in his Will A Natural Inclination with a power perfectly dispos'd to the whole will of God and to every thing that was just right and good without any reluctancy and of himself to will nothing that was not so 3. Holiness in his Affections Being free from all Disorder Sin and Impurity rejoycing in the love and bounty of God loving him as the chiefest good in himself and as the Author of all his As soon as Adam was made God planted a Garden in Eden in Gen 2. 7. 8. 15 16 17. which was every Tree pleasant to the sight and good for Food the Tree of Life also in the midst of the Garden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and put him into it to dress and keep it and entred into a Covenant of Life with him called a Covenant of Works upon condition Gal. 3. 12. of perfect Obedience forbidding him to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil upon pain of Death God might have dealt with him in a way of absolute Soveraignty and required Obedience from him without any promise of Reward but he did not for he entred into a Covenant with him containing a Precept Threatning and Promise A Precept requiring perfect and perpetual Obedience A Threatning denouncing death if he did not obey it A Promise assuring Life if he did and though the promise is not so clearly expressed as the threatning yet as strongly and truly imply'd for if Adam must die if he disobeyed he should certainly live if he did not The Death threatned was Temporal Spiritual and Eternal the first in the separation of the Soul Gen. 2. 17. 3. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In dying thou shalt dye and all kinds of Death were threatned from the Body the second in the separation of the Soul from God the third in the separation of the Soul and Body from God for ever one from the presence of his Grace here the other from that of his Glory hereafter The Life promised imply'd a continuance of his present Life and the assurance of one to come a confirmation of his present happiness and a translation at last to a greater and better The present Life enjoy'd was two-fold one as a Man and a Creature the other as a perfect and upright Man The first consisting in the Union of Soul and Body the second in a Union betwixt God and the Soul The Life to come was a perfect immutable and eternal happiness both of Soul and Body with God through a perfect likeness to him and an immediate vision and fruition of him in Heaven to all Eternity Adam being a glorious and excellent Creature by Creation and endow'd with a power and will to obey stood bound to obey both by the Law of Nature and the Rom. 2. 14 15. positive Law and Command from God which obliged him to it But being made with a freedom of will viz. a liberty of its own accord to choose or refuse to do or not to do to stand or fall at his own choice without constraint or force from any and being mutably good his will though naturally dispos'd to good only yet being mutable and changeable it might be altered and become evil as it did for through the Temptation of the Eccles 7. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devil the perswasion of Eve and Pride a desire to be as
semper incipit à fine 1 Cor. 10. 31. let it be so to you mind it as your chief good the supream end and chief good are one refer all the general and particular actions of your Life to it ultimately the end makes the means lovely make all other Finis dat amabilitatem medis finis impeliit agentem finis est summe appetibilis finis ultimus dat ordinem mensuram Prov. 6. 21. Ps 63. 8. Numb 6. 14 24. Eccles 9. 10. Rom. 12. 11. 1 Tim. 5. 10. Mat. 6. 33. Psal 63. 1. things subservient to it and let this as Commander in Chief give Laws to all carry the remembrance of it always in your mind place it next to your Heart and uppermost in your thoughts be diligent in it and prosecute the Interest of it both fully and earnestly not as the last and least business of your Life but as the first and greatest viz. in order and dignity not secondarily but primarily before all other things and above them Two principal ends can never consist together Two things may encourage you to this work and in it 1. Strength is promised to it 2. A Reward attends it 1. Strength is promised to it Tripho the Jew in his Dispute against Justin Martyr tells him that those Precepts Christ left about the Duties of Religion were so harsh and burdensome that he would have but few if any Disciples and many there are that either through mistake think they find this stumbling-block in the way of Religion and cannot get over it or lay it there and will not it is true to carnal minds by reason of the contrariety of their Nature to Religion through Rom. 7. 14 22. the corruption that is in them and by reason of custom in sin which makes the contrariety stronger the work 's difficult and uneasie but to them that are renewed it is not or if so at first yet by use it becomes pleasant and delightful for Christs Yoke by constant wearing grows easie Mat. 11. 29. Grave dum tollis suave cum tuleris But if it were not so yet strength shall be given to it that will make it so In the Body where there is a vein to convey Blood there is an Artery to convey Spirits and in the Scripture Deut. 10. 16. 30. 6. Phil. 2. 12 13. where there is a Command to work there is a promise of strength to it what is a Command in one place is a Promise in another Now difficult work and easie are both alike if a sutable and proportionable strength be given Ezek. 18. 31. 36. 26. to the performance of it 2. A Reward attends it viz. Of Honour Pleasure Profit and Peace 1. Of Honour There was no way to the Temple of Honour among the Romans Psal 45. 9. 149. 9. but through the Temple of Vertue nor is there any coming to Honour now in the Prov. 13. 5. 14. 34. 1 Thes 4. 4. Rom. 6. 21. broad way of sin but in the narrow way of Religion for as the future issue of sin is Death so the present fruit is shame Indeed the Enemies of Religion who fetch their Scutcheon out of the Devils Herald-Office count sin their Honour and glory in their shame but God who is the Fountain of all true Honour Prov. 21. 21. places it in Righteousness and Holiness he is Glorious in Holiness and if it be his Honour it may well be esteemed yours this is John 5. 44. the onely true Honour and it cometh from God only and if by 1 Sam. 2. 30. this you Honour him you shall be everlastingly honoured by him a Spirit of Glory shall rest on you 1 Pet. 4. 14. here and a Crown of Glory be put upon you hereafter All seek Honour and some to Honor calcar babet the loss of their Lives and Souls but none but the Religious truly find it 2. Of Pleasure The Enemies of Religion think if once they espouse the profession of it that all Joy and Mirth must be cast out as the Minstrels were by Christ out of the Rulers House when he came to raise his Mat. 9. 23 25. Daughter to Life but they are much mistaken for Christ the increated wisdom of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 24. Prov. 3. 17. says that the ways of wisdom have pleasure in them not the end onely but the way and not some one way onely but all the ways and every step in them are not onely pleasant but pleasantness yea pleasantnesses having all pleasures that are good both as to kind and degree in it The Sheep has delights as well as the Swine though it wallows not with the Swine in the mire and the Religious their pleasures though none that are vain and sensual All look for pleasure in Life and most think there is no Life without it but the Religious only find it 3. Of Profit Religion brings gain this the Job 1. 9. 10. 1 Tim. 6. 6. Devil could not deny when he accused Job of Hypocrisie now the praise of an Enemy is as Aristotle Psal 37. 4. says a universal good Report and this God has assured Mat. 19. 28. 29. Mark 10. 29 30. to all the sincere Professors and Friends of it and that no ordinary gain neither but an increase greater than the World can promise or secure for it is a hundred fold not ten in the hundred but a hundred upon ten a hundred to one use upon use viz. either in kind or vertue in this World and in the World to come Life eternal You may lose something for Mat. 6. 33. 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Religion but you shall never lose any thing by it for if God be yours all things are yours all things conditionally if he absolutely The Offerings of Old increased 2 Chron. 31. 9 10. their store 4. Of Peace The Enemies of Religion talk Prov. 3. 7 17. Psal 119. 165. much of their Peace but without any Reason for there is no Peace to them in that they are Enemies to the God of Peace without the Spirit of Peace and therefore without Peace the fruit of Isa 48. 22. the Spirit and Fighters against Christ the Prince of Peace who speaks Peace not to his Enemies that commit folly but to his Subjects Psal 85. 8. that return no more to it Joy as the Philosopher says is the shadow of all Vertue as inseparable perhaps from it as the shadow from the Body and the fruit of Righteousness as the Apostle says is Peace there is James 3. 18. Rom. 3. 17. no Peace without it and all true Peace in it and it is worth the having for it abides not onely in Life but at Death too The end of the upright is Peace Psal 37. 37. Peace in Life is a rare Blessing but at Death a greater and was there no other benefit in this World to be got by Religion it is
turn not from their Sins they shall dye in them but if they are not warned by you their Blood will be required at your hands The Jews brought a Curse upon themselves and their Posterity by crying out His Blood be upon us and our Children and so will you upon your self and Children by your neglect of them Do you think you shall not have Sins enough of your own to answer for that by your Sin bring the Guilt of theirs upon you Is there no Devil to tempt them to sin or do you think he cannot effectually do it unless you assist him in it Is it a Reproach to be the child of a Whore and is it none to be a Child of the John 8. 44. Devil Is the Birth of such infamous in the eyes of the World and should not the Life of the other be much more so in yours Is there no hand to murder them but your own nor any other way to shew your Love to them but by destroying them and your self too Are Harlots condemned by all for destroying the Bodies of their Children and should not those wicked Parents be so too who through a neglect of them murder their Souls Was it an act of Cruelty to drive Children into the Fire and Water as the Lev. 18. 21. Ezek. 16. 20 21. Jews did to Molech and the Heathen to Saturn and is it none by sacrificing them to the Devil to drive them into Hell is there no love but in going to Hell together or will it not be enough that they go thither unless you go too for company will it be any pleasure to hear them when there telling you what a bloody and cruel Father you was to them in not shewing them the evil of Sin and the misery that did attend it If now you cannot well endure to hear them cry do but think how much less able you will be to hear it in Hell for ever You may then when too late with a little Variation complain and speak truly what Lamech did scoffingly that Gen. 4. 23 24. you have slain Children to your wounding and young Children to your hurt therefore that you may not be careful to make your Family as a Nursery for Heaven Ps 127. 3. and educate your Children as God's Heritage that you may say Gen. 33. 5. with comfort at the great day Lord here am I and the Children which thou hast graciously given thy Servant It is one thing to be blessed with Children and another thing to be blessed in them THE POSTSCRIPT MAny more things I had prepar'd for you but the Book being already bigger than at first I thought it would have been I shall only here give you the Heads of some of them Life is the Crown of all earthly Blessings as Health is the fairest and brightest Jewel upon that Crown a Blessing that none but God can give Pharaoh's Magicians Ex. 8. 18. could not give Life to a Louse a Blessing that any thing will be given to secure when in danger Job 2. 4. of being lost all that a man has will he give for his Life and that all both Good and Bad Rich and Poor Young and Old sooner or later greatly value and unwillingly part with yet I would not have you with Herodotus do nothing else but attend the Health of your Body nor be so busie about the good of a natural Life as to neglect the Concerns of that which is eternal nor yet to neglect it or willingly to do any thing that may destroy it for this would be to sin against your Soul as well as your Body and to do that viz. to please the Devil at your Death which all wicked Men do in their Lives Therefore Phil. 1. 23. Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causam neither on the one hand over-value it nor on the other hand neglect it but be thankful for it and make good use of it and this by living to the end of living Then a temporal Life is well improv'd when spent to secure the Life that is eternal There is nothing will make you more useful while you live than Learning Paul was the most learned of all the Apostles and God made most use of him and there is nothing I desire more as to this world than that you may attain to an Eminency in it and that you may you must diligently seek after it for it will not be got without much labour He that would be a good Scholar must as Isocrates says have six Properties He must be one of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Parts of a strong Memory a Mover of Doubts a Listner to the Sayings or Speeches of others a Delighter in his Studies and laborious in it All excellent things are fenced about with difficulty Plato is said to have brought Vtrumque jungendo perfecisse laudatur Philosophy to perfection by joyning contemplative and moral Philosophy together in which Pythagoras and Socrates excell'd and the Philosopher makes it the most necessary Head and first Principle of Philosophy to know how to use Principles and it will be your Wisdom and therefore should be your Design in all your Studies to bring them to practice that you may not be upbraided as the Athenians were by Anacharsis for using their money only to count and their Knowledge only to know Practice will be blind unless Idem est non habere non uti it see with the eyes of Knowledge and Knowledge will be useless unless it walk on the feet of Practice like his Musick that was understood by none but himself Make the Stock Learning and you may graff what you will upon it but if you will take my advice let it be Divinity When God sent his Son into the Luk. 4. 18. World he sent him to Preach and had I never so many I should esteem it my greatest Honour as well as theirs if they were qualified for that Office truly call'd to it and faithful in it Two things made Christ a Minister Isa 61. 1. Joh. 6. 27. viz. Unction and Commission and no less makes one now for None are truly call'd to it unless qualified for it nor though qualified for it are any of Christ's Ministers unless authoriz's to it Therefore 1. Before you enter upon that Office be qualified for it and called to it Gifts qualifie for it You cannot teach others unless you be first taught your self A Call commissionates to it Without a Call you will like hasty Ahimaaz run without your 2 Sam. 18. 19 20. 29. Errand 2 When you have entred upon the Office be faithful in it Do not enter upon the Office Sacerdos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacerdotium otium as of old the Eccho sounded as a Trade to get by nor through Idleness neglect it when you have entred upon it but out of a Zeal Mat. 5. 14. 2 Corin. 12. 15. for God and the Good of Souls be
not be perswaded nor gathered to him but reject and contemn him and take Counsel against him They bid him stand off and depart they deâ—ire Job 21. 14. not the knowledge of his ways abuse his Ambassadors Acts 26. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 26. Psal 139. 21. Job 8. 44. that are sent to treat of Peace and List themselves under the Command of Gods utter Enemy the Devil and rise up in Arms â—nd open Rebellion against him When God is for Peace they â—re for War 2. On Gods part Who as he is a just Enemy so â—ver an Enemy to all impenitent â—inners He is strange to them â—eeps at a distance and withâ—raws from them knows them afar off and is Angry Isa 57. 17. Ps 138. 6. Psal 7. 11. Ps 18. 26. Isa 1. 11. 59. 2. Psal 5. 5. 11. 5. Psal 146. 9. Psal 1. ult 2 Cor. 5. 19. Prov. 15. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with them Curses their Blessings rejects their Services and counts them an Abomination hates them and walks contrary to them has a Controversie with them Proclaims his Hos 5. 6. Jer. 25. 31. 1 Pet. 5. 5. Displeasure against them and reâ—sts them in open Battel array turns their way upside-down and causes it to perish They are Outlaw'd Enemies God had no Friends among Men untill he made Friends out of Enemies He was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 3. Darkness Adam at first was made a Son of Light the Candle of the Prov. 20. 27. Monstrum ingens cui lumen ademptum Eph. 4. 18. Lord was put into him but affecting the Tree of Knowledge above that of Life he brought Darkness upon himself and all his Posterity All that are brought out of this state are Light in the Lord they Eph. 5. 8. were blind but now they see John 9. 25. but they that are not are Darkness Rev. 16. 10. in the Devil the Prince of Darkness whose Kingdom is full of Darkness they are not onely dim of sight but stark blind Children of Darkness doing the works of Darkness which lead to Eternal Darkness 4. Poverty Adam at first was the Rich Heir Rev. 3. 17. of the World and Lord possessor of all but by sin he became a Bankrupt and then Justice seized on him as the Creditor on his Debtor and turn'd him the unjust Minimè natus at maximè dilectus Possessor out of all he was not the first-born yet had a double Portion but by losing all at one cast he fell into decay and became the first-born of the Poor Isa 14. 30. He was undone and all his Posterity had been ruin'd with him had not Christ the Jewel of the Imperial Crown been parted with to discharge the Debt All that are brought out of this Rev. 3. 18. state are Rich and have all things but they that are not are indigent Beggars without substance Isa 40. 20. or true Riches having no Oblation to offer unto God nor any thing of their own to satisfie that double Debt which they owe viz. of Obedience as Creatures and of Satisfaction as Sinners 5. Nakedness Adam at first was arrayed with Ezek. 16. 7. Rev. 3. 17. the resplendent Robe of Righteousness he wanted neither external nor internal Ornaments but sin the Mother of shame defiled them both and the Devil as a Conquerour with his Captive in War stript him of all those Ornaments and left him naked All that are brought out of this state are clothed with the Robes of Christs Righteousness Solomon in all his Glory was not arrayed Mat. 6. 29. like one of these but they that are not are in the Raggs of Nature filthy Raggs which as filthy defile and as Raggs cannot hide nor cover the shame of Rev. 3. 18. their Nakedness Sin left us and Christ found us as the Man in the Gospel Naked and out of our Wits 6. Bondage Adam at first had perfect freedom Acts 8. 23. and was in bondage to none but Sin brought him and all his Gal. 4. 4. Posterity into it a Yoak that neither he their Father was nor they his Children are able to bear All that are brought out of this state are made Free by Christ John 12. 31. the Devil is cast out and Rules not as a King though sometimes he may as a Tyrant but they that are not are Slaves not onely near to Slavery but actually in it they may say with the Jews that they were never in Bondage to any but they are and that in Soul and Body too The Moralist says if the great ones of the World were divested of their Robes it would plainly appear what Slaves they were but all both great and small high and low with all their outward Ornaments are Slaves they were so before they came out of the Prison of the Womb and greater when out of it than when there to Sin and the Devil 1. To Sin Not onely Pride but every sin else as a Chain compasses them Psal 73. 6. about for they are in the Bond of Iniquity sold under it and Bond-servants to it So many Lusts so many Masters and every one give contrary Commands 2. To the Devil John 14. 30. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 2. 2. 2 Cor. 4. 4. 2 Tim 2. ult He is the strong Man and Prince of this World that has Snares by which he takes them Captive and a Power by which he Rules over them as a Tyrant over his Vassals from whom he exacts Tribute as a Master over his Servants who are under his Command as a Conquerour over his Captives who are led by him at his will and as a Father over his Children from whom he expects Obedience they are not onely Children of the Devil but 1 John 3. 10. Slaves to him They are his by possession though Gods by right 7. Death Adam at first was alive but when the Devil the first-born of Death as Prince of Death and first Condemn'd to it devour'd Job 18. 13. 38. 17. his strength the Gates of Death viz. present and certain Death Temporal on his Body and Spiritual on his Soul were opened to him and but a step there was Rom. 5. 12. betwixt him and Eternal Death All that are brought out of this Gal. 2. 20. Eph. 2. 1. Rom. 6. 11. Ma. 8. 22. Rom. 7. 9. Rev. 3. 1. state are alive in Christ alive by him and alive to him but they that are not are dead not onely sick weak or diseased but dead They may be indeed alive as to their own Opinion so Paul for a time was and in the Opinion of others so the Church of Sardis was and may be alive as to sinful works living in them and to them but this their Life is their Death for it is not a Physical Death which is a loss of the Faculties but a Moral one which is a loss of the goodness of them Sin cast Adam and
24. Numb 16. 22. and the God of the Spirits of all flesh with this his Spirit in you Do not lose your Soul in looking after its Servant the Body as Shimei lost his Life in looking after 1 Kings 2. 36 37. 38 39. 40 41. 46. his but do your principal work for this principal one All that a man has will he give for his life but life and all must be Job 2. 4. given and laid out for the good of the Soul And there is good reason for it if you consider 1. That your Soul was given to you that you should take care of it and every thing else for the good of your Soul Every one has not a Child nor an Estate to look after but every one has a Soul the poorest Widow has these two Mites a Soul and a Body and the most indigent Beggar this Treasure Since then it is every ones yours as well as their possession it should be yours and every ones Redde animae quae sua sunt care to secure the happiness of it and therefore give to the soul the things that are the souls 2. Christ likes them best that are most careful of their souls Christ when on Earth lov'd them most who lov'd their souls more than his body Maries Breakfast was better to him than Martha's Dinner and much more then will he love them that love their souls more than their own bodies He that would not have you Murder your Body would much less have you Murder your Soul 3. According to the care for your Soul here so it is like to fare with your Soul and Body hereafter You are daily Travelling to the Land of Souls viz. the world of Spirits both of the just and unjust every day you take a step to it and within a little while you will be all Soul and as you live to it here so it will be with that and your Body for ever hereafter the welfar of your Body depends upon the welfare of your Soul and the eternal welfare of that upon your care in time about it and therefore as by a care for your Soul you may do two works at once viz. secure the happiness of Soul and Body so by a neglect of it will undo both for ever at the first death your Rev. 20. 14. 21. 8. Soul shall go to Hell and your Body at the second 4. The loss of the Soul is the greatest loss Christ who best knows the worth of a Soul by the price he paid for it says that the gain of a whole World if Mat. 16. 26. it could be obtain'd with the loss of a Soul would be a gain without profit a loss rather than a gain and that not the least but greatest as an irreparable and irrecoverable loss a loss that could neither be made up nor recovered All other losses even of Life it self may be made up either in kind or vertue but nothing can Habet anima mortem suam cum vitâ beatâ caret quae vera animae vita dicenda est repair or make up the loss of the Soul for in this God is lost a lost Groat may be found lost Time may be redeem'd and a lost Estate recovered by diligence but a Soul when gone into Eternity and lost will be for ever so Heaven it self salvâ justitiâ cannot redeem a Soul fròm Hell when once there Your Soul is Gods as well as 1 Cor. 6. 20. your Body that he has bought and therefore Glorifie him with it and commit the keeping of it to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator of Souls as well as of Bodies that at last it may 1 Pet. 4. 19. Heb. 12. 22 23. be taken up to the innumerable Company of Spirits viz. of Angels created perfect and of just Men made so Begin the work of Religion early Make it the great business of your Life Be hearty and sincere in it Be true and faithful to it to the end of your Life 1. Begin the work early 1. God commands and expects it 2. It is the best time for it 1. God commands and expects it Cain brought Fruit to God an Gen. 4. 3. 4. Offering of the Fruit of the Ground Abel brought first fruits the firstlings of his Flock and God had respect to Abel and his Offering but not to Cains and this before the special Law of Exod. 13. 2. 22. 29. 34. 26. first-fruits and first-born which were Gods in all was made to shew as is usually observ'd that it was not Ceremonial but Moral and perpetual God or the Devil will have the use and service of your Life but God has the greatest Right to it and his will is not onely for work but for Day and Time and the first of that viz. your Eccles 12. 1. Youth he calls for which shews kindness on his part in taking any into his Service before they can well work for him and should promote Obedience on yours God is the fashioner and former Psal 139. 13 14 15 16. Deut. 32. 18. Psal 71. 17. Jer. 3. 4. the teacher and preserver the guide and strength of your Youth all the parts Beauty Strength and all the other Excellencies of it come from him and ought to be employ'd for him and therefore do not give the Devil your Youth and God your Old Age him your Spring and God your Winter him your Vintage and God your Gleanings him your Flower and God your Bran him the best and God the worst but the best for he is best and deserves the best Not an old or rotten Sacrifice Mal. 1. 8 14. but the fattest and fairest must be laid upon Gods Altar 2. It is the best time for it Eccles 12. 1. The time of your Choices Primum in unoquoque generè est perfect issimum As to Ease Honour Service Comforts and Safety 1. As to Ease Old Age is the best for Advice and Counsel but Youth the best for Action both as to the Natural and Moral frame of the Body and Mind viz. the parts of one and the endowments of the other Old Age is called the Sickness of Nature but Youth is the Health and Strength of it that is called Eccles 12. 1. the evil day not onely in respect of the evil then suffered but of the indisposition from that evil to any thing that is good but this a good day as most fit and proper for work the Body being most active and vigorous the Fancy and Invention most quick the Memory most strong the Affections most smart and lively the Conscience most pure the Will most pliable and the Heart as not hardened by Custom in sin most soft and so most fit to receive the impressions of Virtue Trees are transplanted Horses broken and Cattel accustomed to the Yoke with ease when young and Youth more fit for Instruction than Old Age even then when it is scarce fit for any thing else