an old man If sin grow to an habit and custom custom being another nature makes it as ordinary to men as to eat and drink But if any of us have spent the flower of our youth in vice and vanity Let the fruit of our age only savour of vertue Indeed an old man of youthful behaviour is more ridiculous than a wanton toying young man Let every man then especially old men put their houses in order and prepare for Death when Death is between their teeth it is too late to provide remedies for the Terrours thereof A MEMENTO To Young and Old Sermon I. Ecclesiastes 12. verse 1. Remember now thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth while the evil daies come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them CHAP. I. THe wise man having first run through the vanities of Life by his own bitter experience now also hath taken a review of them as it seemeth with a penitent heart and an amazed spirit and drawing towards a Conclusion of this work as a principle Master of the assemblies desireth to leave on naile driven to the head and well fixed in the hard heart of the younger sort who are so possessed with those vanities of mind which he had all this while laboured to purge that they think themselves priviledged in youthful wantonness and conceive that all restraints of their unbridled Lust are but the froward or envious cavills of discontented old Age or sullen Melancholy Therefore it was expedient that this 〈◊〉 prejudice whereby they hurt none so 〈◊〉 as themselves should be removed by a coâ—trary Exhortation strongly enforced 〈◊〉 Pen-man beyond exception a man of grâ—â—test sufficiency every way among the Son of Adam excepting that only Immanuel But let them not think that the force of this exhortation is dead with the writer or worn out of date with age but let them know for a certainty that a greater than Solomon is here that the Spirit of Truth who liveth for ever breatheth most Manifestly in this holy Text who must be heard and obeyed by all that would not be found to fight against God Let every one then whose ears God hath opened hear what the Spirit speaketh unto the Church in this place and especially to the younger sort within the Church Remember now thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth c. In which words we have first an Exhortation and then an enforcement of it pressed and amplified at large in many verses following In the Exhortation there is 1. The Duty what 2. The Object whom 3. The Time when all laid down in words of special weight 1. The word Remember 1. implyeth much danger of and inclination to forgetfulness 2. It includeth Heart as well as Head Affection as well as Memory 2. The second thing The Object Thy Creatour a Word that addeth much force to the Exhortation Taken either absolutely as implying the Creatour of all things whom all Creatures at all times must glorify in their kinds or with special relation to those to who the Exhortation is more particularly directed Thy Creatour Remember him whom Created Thee and hath right to thy whole Self thy whole Life and especially to the best of thy Life and Strength 3. The Third thus In the daies of thy youth In the daies rather than years for they are but a few May-daies soon gone and vanished of thy youth The word in the Original is derived from a word which signifies to chuse and thence issueth a word signifying a young man and thence again this in the Text signifying Youth both shewing that younger men are the choycest of men or should be so and that youth is the principal and choicest part of our Life So some render these words In the daies of thy youth in the daies of thy choyce The sence therefore ye may take in these few words O ye young men who are of all others exceeding apt to forget him of whom you ought to be most mindful Let me perswade you to know to love to delight in to fear to remember to cleaue unto and obey even in the best of your time and strength your young vigourous and flourishing daies Him who is the great Creatour of all things Him who gave you in particular that breath which is in your nostrills Him who gave you this heat this strength these Spirits this lively temper of youth Him in whom you live move and have your being CHAP. II. THese things being briefly and plainly opened the observations which I shall make I shall refer to two heads Observ. 1. That young men are especially apt to forget their Creatour 2. That young men ought especially to remember their Creatour The first of these is certainly implyed the second plainly expressed in the words of the Text. Of the first the wise man seemeth of purpose to have deferred this Memento until the latter end of his discourse as knowing how apt the younger sort are to fail in this art of memory concerning the best things and hoping that of all others a speech of farewell would make some notable impression In this point I will shew 1. Wherein this forgetfulnes consisteth 2. I will prove it to be especially incident to youth 3. I will shew the reasons or causes of it I. Now for the first that I may shew wherein forgetfulness consisteth both reason and our own experience in the working of the powers of our Souls shew us That memory is properly seated in the brain and therefore that forgetfulness is a kind of emptiness in the same place But we must attend to those Idiomes of the Holy Ghost who by reason of that near knitting of all the faculties of the Soul in one single root of a Spiritual and Intellectual Being doth promiscuously translate the name of the one to the other and oftentimes include all in one Thou shalt love the Lord thy God saith our Saviour with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul c. Math. 22. 37. Why All the powers of the Soul are not love There is knowledge memory imagination will fear joy sorrow hatred courage c. which are all distinguished both in their Beings and Effects from Love But He in whom all the Treasures of Wisdom were hid knew well that when the heart by love did truly close with God and cleave unto him it could not leave any of its effections behind it but all must be given up unto him The Lord complaineth Isa. 1. 3. Israel doth not know my people do not consider Ignorance was not the only sin whereof the Lord held them guilty but in this was included as well want of love of fear of delight in God as of knowledge of him Not to go too far about This forgetfulness which now we have in hand you shall find to have the same force in the Scripture Psal. 137. If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right-hand forget her cunning ver 6. If I do not
the heart is in the liveliest temper then the spirits are freshest and quickest and natural cheerfulness being Sanctified is a furtherance of spiritual joy The quickness of the natural temper which is in youth most vigorous is a good servant to quickning grace Think not that God is best pleased with the lumpish old age which many times is little more than a dead piece of Earth with a little portion a small remainder of life abiding in it God is the living God and he requireth living Sacrifices Rom. 12. 1. Now thy youth hath more life in it than thine old age There is as it were a close union between the Soul and Body in youth The Soul imparteth a more plentiful â—nfluence of Life unto the Body in youâ—h than â—n old age by the quickness and plenty of the Spirits which in youth are more abundent than in age Give up therefore this most living part of thy life thy young daies unto God and not only that part of life which partaketh more of Death than of life thâ—ne old decrepit and disabled age The hoary head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in a way of Righteousness Prov. 16. 31. Found He doth not say if it enter into the way of Righteousness but if it be Found there If a Man hath turned to God in his youth and persevered in upright walking before him until gray haires come upon him that Man needeth no Crown of Gold to adorn his head his hoary head is a Crown of Glory to him If under the Law a Man did burn the prime of his Beast in Sacrifice it was accepted yea when it was almost consumed even the remainders that were half burnt did yield a sweet savour to the Lord because the best was burnt also upon the Altar of the Lord. So let a Man consecrate the prime of his daies his youth to the Lord offer up this as a living Sacrifice and then even his worn old age which is like a Sacrifice half burnt and spent shall be exceeding sweet and pleasing to the Lord because the best was given up unto him whereas on the other side should any of the Priests have burned a Sacrifice upon the Altar of Baal and then when it was half burnt should have brought the gleanings and laid them upon the Altar of the Lord this would have been a grievous abomination in the sight of the Lord. So in this case c. Oh then Remember thy Creatour in thy youth lest he forget or despise thee in thine age Remember him in thy youth that thy hoar head may be found in the way of Righteousness and so may be a Crown of Glory and not a Spectacle of Reproach and Contempt unto thee 3. Consider especially the unspeakable danger of Sin confirmed and rooted with time wrought and wreathed into the heart and clasped in the affections by long custom in sin Oh when sin hath been thirty or forty years in growing and taking root it cleaveth like the skin to the bones like the Leprosy that was rooted in a wall which could not be taken away untill the wall were pulled down That sin which is in growing the whole time of a Mans youth during the best of his strength it is even a Wonder if it doth not accompany that Man to his Death-bed yea to the Judgment-seat of God I know the mercy of God is infinite and he calleth at the Eleventh hour but I am perswaded those are very few which are so called and especially very few if any of those who have had the means of Grace in their youth and regarded them not Oh this willful hardning of the heart is dreadful This continuing in sin against knowledge this with-holding the truth in unrighteousness moveth the Lord to give men over to a Reprobate sence Rom. 1. 21 24 25 28. Into such a state that he becometh uncapable unteachable that neither blessings nor crosses neither the Rod nor the Word neither sickness nor health neither gray haris nor the approach of Death can work him to to sound Conversion Ah poor forsaken Soul such a one may come to say with Saul God hath forsaken me A speech that might rend a render heart to hear it I speak not this to bring you to despair but to stirr you up to speedy Repentance that ye may prevent this desperate and woful condition CHAP. I. IN the last place let me speak a few words to Parents and old People 1. To Parents Ye that are Parents labour ye to season the very Child-hood of your Sons and Daughters with the true knowledg and fear of God pray over them daily instruct exhort rebuke and use all good means that the prime of their daies may be given up to God Teach them to Remember their Creatour in their Childhood that they may neither forget him in their youth nor forsake him in their old age I fear that most Parents among us by neglecting their Duty herein are guilty of their Childrens Destruction 2. To the Aged Ye that are grown old and have not remembred your Creatour in your younger daies whose bones are full of the sins of your youth Oh know that your case is exceeding dangerous therefore bewaile your lives whereby ye have so much dishonoured your Maker humble and judge your selves in the bitterness of your Souls cry continually and importunately in the ears of the Lord that if it be possible the sins of your youth and the long continued wickedness of your Lives may be forgiven you that the often resistance which ye have made against the spirit of God may be pardoned if it be possible that the frequent casting of the Word of God behind thy back may be forgiven Oh how odious and contemptible is the hoary head found in the way of wickedness in a state of impenitency What is an old Drunkard or Adulterer a gray-headed Swearer an old Covetous Worldling an hoary headed impenitent person but even a monster among Men What dost thou not yet remember thy Creatour not in old age not at fifty at sixty or seventy years Oh wreched security Awake awake unto Righteousness unto Repentance ye old ones that sleep in sin lest ye sleep the sleep of everlasting Death and never behold the face of God in Righteousness SERMON III. Eccles. 12. 1. Remember now thy Creatour in the daies of thy Youth c. CHAP. I. BEsides what hath been already observed something yet may be further noted Viz. Observ. That Grace and Holiness are exceeding fit and no way unseemly for the younger sort Man's Life hath in some regards been compared to a Comedy or Enterlude Acted upon the Theatre or Sage of this World and the truth is many a Mans life is but a Play and many in their courses do but act other mens parts not in sincerity express their own inward dispositions And therefore that decorum which they suppose may grace them in the eyes of Men is the thing they most of all affect and aim
that are young and yet enjoy the good daies of your life do not ye make them evil Remember your Creator in the daies of your Youth take heed to your ways according to the word of God so shall these daies indeed be good daies to you and you shall prepare your selves either for an honourable Old Age or for a blessed end and an happy death preventing the evils of Old Age and putting you in possession of everlasting life which never seeleth the decays of Age. Finally let me in a word beseech those who have already out-lived their best daies to look back seriously and speedily upon the times and courses of their Youth and see how those daies have been spent observing what matter of joy and thanksgiving or what causes of grief and humiliation they may find and accordingly to be affected If you have made them evil daies how should you mourn for this How should you seek God now that it draweth towards the eleventh hour before the night cometh when no man can work which burieth all secure loiterers and unprepared ones in an everlasting night of utter darkness where is weeping and gnâ—shing of teeth The night cometh the darkness is coming yet before it cometh do ye that great work that your Soul may live and not die eternally CHAP. V. Eccles. 12. 1 before the evil days come OF the next point I shall speak very briefly and that is this Observ. That the daies of Old Age are evil daies So the Spirit of God here calleth them This the Holy Ghost here and in other Verses of this Chapter sheweth in divers circumstances Here he saith They are daies wherein there is no pleasure daies wherein there is much matter of grief and vexation little contentment when a man's life is like gloomy daies such as St. Paul met with in his Sea-voyage when neither Sun nor Starrs for many daies appeared to such daies Old Age is here compared daies of darkness wherein Sun Moon and Starrs have their light hidden and darkened and the Clouds return after the Rain Though the showres fall yet it doth not clear up but the Clouds grow up and gather together again so it is in Old Age the end of one trouble is but the begnning of another affliction like to that In the words following these evils of Old Age are more particularly expressed and numbred up The keepers of the house do tremble the arms which are to guard and defend the body shake with the Palsey the strong men the Leggs which are the pillars to bear up this house of clay begin to fail with weakness and to double under their burthen like posts worn and weakened with age The Grinders the Teeth cease because they are few and the Windows shall be darkned c. In a word we may summe up the evils of these Aged daies in these two heads Evils of Loss and Evils of Sense The loss of Contentments in God's good blessings the loss of ability for many good Offices on the other side the suffering of many inconveniences in body and mind which maketh a man a burthen to himself being burthened with such an heap of years CHAP. VI. Use. THe use of this is to renew the former Exhortation to the younger sort that they may prevent these evil daies and remove the evil of them by timely repentance and sincere obedience in their Youth Impenitency and ungodliness makes the good daies of Youth to become evil daies repentance and an holy conversation make the evil daies of Old Age to be good Godliness is profitable to all things saith the Apostle and so it is profitable for all times for times of Youth as well as times of Old Age for health for sickness for life for death it shall do thee good and not evil all thy daies If Old Age bring so many inconveniences with it how careful shouldest thou be to remove the guilt of thy sins before the burthen of Old Age cometh upon thee If these wounds of thy conscience be truly healed by the blood of Christ aforehand sprinkled on by the hand of faith then shall thy Spirit be enabled to bear the infirmities of Old Age yea thou shalt be able to do all things through the Spirit of Christ strengthening and supporting thee Oh how miserably is that poor Soul burthened that hath an heap of years and an heap of sins unpardoned lying upon it but how blessed how honourable is the gray hoary head found in the way of righteousness whose unrighteousness is forgiven whose sin is covered Such shall be Trees planted in the house of the Lord which in their Old Age shall be more and more far and flourishing and their last works as it is said of the Church of Thyatira Revel 2 19. shall be more than the first their last daies better than the first Such a good old age they shall have as divers of the Saints are said to have had Labour then so to live now that the evils of your Age may be mitigated and removed But on the other side how evil and wretched must those daies of Old Age be which are accompanied with the guilt of many sins when years encrease and wickedness encreaseth when a man will not be admonished but as he hath been rebellious in his Youth so he will be obstinate in his Old Age Oh take heed of this if these evil daies have overtaken thee before thou hast put away thy sins before thou hast sought the Lord with all thy heart repent now in the anguish and bitterness of thy soul. SERMON V. Eccles. 12. 1. before the evil days come c. CHAP. I. THus ye have heard how Old Age is said to consist of evil daies now here we see how the Holy Ghost doth call away the thoughts of young men from the pleasures and vanities of Youth wherein they are usually drowned and over-whelmed and giveth them a foresight of a change letteth them know that it will not alwayes be thus with them they must look for other times hereafter to pass over them now they have their good daies their daies of Youth but they must perswade themselves there be other daies coming these good daies will not last alwayes Hence I observe Observ. That it is Christian wisdom to foresee and provide for changes ere they come it is a brutish and sensual folly to have the Heart so possessed and taken up with present prosperity and earthly contentments of any kind as not to have any serious and effectual regard of such changes as may be brought upon us Therefore the Spirit of God having to do with young men in this place who did please themselves in themselves and in their present youthful wayes delights and contentments he setteth before their eyes a lively image of Old Age with the many evils grievances and blemishes of it yea he leadeth them along to the death-bed and hangeth out their winding-sheet before their eyes and by the way presenteth them with many objects unpleasing
with an ill intention seeking to gain that by Imposture which they cannot gain by truth and not satisfying themselves by adulterating their Beauty spare not to discover in their Breasts and Faces the Impudence of their Fore-heads Oh! what will such with all their curiosity answer to this Paynim when her Blood and Scars her Beauty disfigured which served as a Sacrifice to her Chastity shall accuse them before the Tribunal of Christ Cassian commendeth a Christian young Man who having renounced worldly vanities and betaken himself to an austere kind of Life having received a packet of Letters from his Father and diverse of his dear Friends he durst not look upon them but threw them into the fire with these words Be gone ye thoughts of my Countrey and burn for company for fear lest ye tempt me to look again toward the things which I have forsaken He feared as the story saith that by the reading of their lines and the sight of their Names he should have been perswaded to warp towards their Company and the vanities of the world again Oh how ought all young men that have had good education to take heed how they abuse it and the many instrumental means which God hath granted them for the exercise of vertue otherwise they shall pay the loss thereof in the length of a corrupt and miserable Life and their bones in old age shall be filled with the follies of youth which shall rest with them even in their â—Tombs and drag their Souls into the bottomless Precipice from whence there is no recovery Many young people run on in much evil in the time of youth adding sin to sin but as one saith youthful sins may prove ages terrours Many prophane young men that drink and quaffe play and make sport and further one another in sin what do they therin but as Abner said to Joab 2 Sam. 14. Let the young men arise and play before us Observe what play this was Then there arose and went over Twelve Men of Benjamin which pertained to Ishbosheth the Son of Saul and Twelve of the Servants of David and they caught every one his fellow by the head and thrust his Sword into his fellows side so they fell down together This was their play So it is with young men many-times when they come into company by their licentiousness and drawing one another to sin what do they but take the Sword and thrust into one anothers bowels and Labour what in them lieth to destroy each other for ever Oh how careful should Parents be in the well nutring and educating of their Children who are not only the living goods but also pieces of their Parents In Athens it was a custom never to pole their Children till they were taught and then to burn their hair as a Sacrifice to Apollo How should Parents take heed of cockering their Children in sinful wayes Indulgence of Parents is the refuge of Vanity the bawd of Wickedness and the bane of Children Look well to it ye Parents saith St. Hierome That your Children carouse not in the cups of Babilon The Sin and evil examples of Parents is like rust which cleaveth close to their Children and the greater they are upon Earth so much the more malice and precipitation it hath such children will one day complain at the Tribunal of God of the persidiousness of their Parents saying our Fathers and Mothers have been our parricides saith Cyprian Ye fond Parents behold Eli the Priest from whose lips passed so many brave Oracles who shined in the Tabernacle of God and in the mean time for permitting youthful follies and â—nbridled liberty in his Children to become the Object of God's just displeasure behold him cast from the Priest-hood as a rotten Member and his House deprived of that honourable dignity and all his Posterity Condemned to die in the flower of their age His two Sons Hophn and Phinehas slayn in one day his Daughter in Law dead in Childâ—bed and the Ark of God taken by the Philistines and dishonoured by Infidels And lastly himself buried as it were under the ruines of his Countrey as the last Victim of Godâ—s Justice Eleazar is a fit pattern for all aged persons to follow of whom mention is made in the Book of Macchabees That being assaulted with all sorts of Batteries Banishments and Torments to make him counterfeit but one sole Sin against his own Law he said to himself â—ut alas The whiteness of that venerable Hair with which thy head is covered after 〈◊〉 hath grown hoary in the exercise of thy Religion hath it not yet taught thee where the poynt of honour lyeth It is not enough for Eleazar not to counterfeit impiety but to profess vertue even at the price of his Blood Now God grant I may not serve as a stumbling-block to the youth of this City since God will make this day a Theatre of my constancy I will not be-lye the Law of my Master nor dishonour the School in which I was bredâ—nd brought up Memorable is that story of Polycarp that constant Martyr of Christ and Disciple of John the Evangelist as he was brought to the fire to be burnt the Proconsul having most earnestly solicited him to recant and renounce his Faith with promise of liberty I have said he these Fourscore and six years served Jesus Christ and I ever found him a good Master therefore I will not now Blaspheme my King and Lord I will never do it Many other words of admirable constancy and fortitude were uttered then by this old Disciple and faithful Martyr of Jesus Christ which made him regardless of his Life and resolutely to suffer Death for his Name Let none of us then offer the blind and the lame in sacrifice to God nor offer that to him which we would not offer to our Prince Mal. 1. 7. 8. This were to make God's Service a Spittle-House or Hospital to maintain us in our age when we have spent our strength in the service of Sin and Satan This is not to leave sin till sin leve us What Noble Man would be willing to give entertainment to an old serving man that hath spent his strength in the service of his Enemy Why then should we think that having given the flower of our youth to the Devil that God will accept of the bran of our old age Therefore every one like young Timothies and Josia's should begin to serve God betimes and all parents should present their Children to God betimes even as Samuel whom his Mother offered to the Lord very young who ministred before the Lord in his side-coates Youth is not only more capable but more curable than old age If sin get hold of youth it is more easily cured in youth than in men that are old as a green wound is more easily healed than an old festered sore which hath dead flesh in it A man may almost aswel give Physick to a dead man as couâ—sel to many
others with them in the same wayes of Destruction and being joyned together in a wretched society by lewd and lustful songs scurril jests abusive speeches loud laughter ruffian-like out-faceing better and wiser men than themselves they encourage each others they harden their hearts they drown the voice of Conscience they contemn the Word of God they fight against Heaven with prophane and horrible Oathes and as it were seal alâ— their leagues of pretended good-fellow-ship even with a resolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a decreed forgetfulness of God and so of godliness oâ— Death and of Judgment to come wherewith St. Paul made even his Heathen Judge to shake as he sate upon the Bench. 2. Secondly and especially a company oâ— grounded Drunkards that are up and down iâ— the Countrey old Sotts that are setled upon their lees who know almost every corner in every common or blind Ale-house as well as the rooms in their own houses and never think themselves so well at home as in a Tap-house Oh how do these work about to poyson the youth of our age and to make them like themselves the children of hell who by the assistance of the Devil abuse their old crafty pates to ensnare young heedless Souls and to bring in Captives to the Prince of Darkness Doth not the same doom belong unto these which was due to Elymas the Sorcerer for seeking to turn away the deputy from the truth to whom St. Paul himself used this language Thou Child of the Devil and enemy of all goodness wilt thou not cease to pervenâ—â— the streight wayes of the Lord Do not these by the enchantment of their fawning tongues bewitch green years and cast them into a dead sleep of security and forgetfulness of God Oh that miserable experience did not prove my words too mild which yet some that in their own causes can be merciles perhaps will accuse me of too much roughness But who can forbear when he seeth them to be the very Emissaries of Hell and as I may so speak Ipsius ebrietatis leannes the very Panders or Bawds for Drunkenness an inferiour sort of Tempters or Devils Satan's under-Officers and Factors for the Land of Darkness who are not content to go to Hell without a Troop at their heels as if it were not sufficient for them to be guilty of destroying their own Souls unless they have many more Murthers of the same kind to be put into the same Indictment I tell you who soever ye are your society is more to be shunned than his that hath a Plague-sore upon his body ye are to be poynted at and accounted by all that know you as the very Mothes that fret the newest and the strongest Cloth Juventutis pestes The very bane of youth and the corrupters of the next age which shall then arise when your bodies are rotten under ground yea the sins you now set in a course may stream down unto the end oâ— the World whilst they that are infected bâ— you shall infect others and so again successively so that by this means ye may bâ— guilty of those sins which shall be committed many hundred years hence if the World so long continue 3. Those Ale-house-keepers who givâ— way to all manner of excess in their houses whose Motto may be Lucri bonus odor c. In whose ears Swearing is good Musick in whose eyes beastly vomits are a pleasing spectacle and the Lords day a fit time for tipling and swilling with greediness so that they may take mony feed higher go braver and look bigger than men of more worth and better employment These have their trains to draw on the younger sort who know not that their houses go down to the chamber of Death 4 Those Magistrates and Officers cannot by any means be excused under whom these youthful sins growsâ— fast whiles they hold the Sword that is put in to their hands rusting in the sheath where is the Spirit and courage that should be in these that are the very Triarii in the armies of the Lord of Hosts the stoutest and choicest Soldiers Are ye afraid of those who are but Lixae calones Scullions and Tapsters under Satans Banner should such Men as ye fly or fear and not dare to face those who at the most are but Milites levis armaturae Souldiers lightly armed as I may so speak What can they do against a Justice of the Peace a Constable or an Head-borough more than let flye their Arrows even bitter words I know not what policy is in this connivance unless it be to leave the envy and burthen upon us of the Ministry whiles we alone fight against these things with the Sword of the Spirit But if ye refuse utterly to joyne with us in bearing your part of the burthen you must not look to share in the reward I desire above all that you would let the honour of God prevail with you your Charge your Oathes but if these things move not take heed lest the Lord repay you in your own Coyn and whiles you tender not the Glory of God nor the good of the younger sort in general by restraining their licentious meetings by informing against or punishing those that entertain them he may justly leave your own Children to be thus corrupted or at least your Childrens Children of the third or fourth Generation The Lord give you zeal and courage that you may not have your portion without among the fearful CHAP. VII Vse LEt me speak a few words to you that are of the younger sort When soever you see a young Man or Maid carried to their graves that spectacle of Mortality forbids you to be forgetful of your Creatour in any Age or part of your Life Look upon that Coffin that holdeth a body young and very lately strong in constitution and let it be unto thee O young Man an use of instructioâ— nâ—t to trust to long life in the heat of thy youth or the best of thy strength not to please thy self in a self-content arising out of thine own form youthful lively temper not to magnify thine happiness in regard of a seeming advantage which thou thinkest thou hast of old age in being more capable of carnal delights than it that thou art able to take in more of the Devils baits which he never casteth forth without an hook Let it teach thee not to hearken to the enticements of Sinners old or young nor to think that house of all others the best adorned that hath a Sign-post Let it reprove thy great forgetfulness of thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth Let it strike a deep apprehension into thine heart of the necessity of present repentance without all delay and let this so work upon thee and stick by thee that no potts mâ—y wash it off nor no loud Ale-house clamours may drown the voice of thy Conscience when it shall bring this to thy remembrance Oh let not Satan bewitch thee Weart thou as certain of a long
the old the starveling the blind the lame c. That man could never obey the Commandment so when the Lord biddeth us to remember to give up our youth to him if we spend this and our strength in sin we can never obey this Commandment for that time and strength is gone and our importent time crazy drowsy old age is left 4. From this Word Creatour God made all things for his glory and the more excellent any Creature is either in regard of its specifical nature or kind or in regard of its particular qualities and excellencies the more is it tyed to glorify God that made it such So among all earthly Creatures Man being made of the most excellent nature is most straitly tyed to glorify God the Creatour And among Men such as are in their youth and strength being endowed with the most excellent abilities ought more especially to remember him 5. Consider these Words Thy Creatour God is the Creatour of young Men as young Men. He did nor only give thee the being of a Man but the years the life the health the strength the vigour of a young Man He is the Author of thy youth the Creatour of thy strength he is thy Creatour in special he hath now Created that strength and ability in thee which he hath not yet Created in Children that which he hath taken from old Men. Thou hast that work of his now wrought upon and sheâ—ing it self in thee which is not in others and therefore Remember thy Creatour that hath Created that hot Blood that warmeth thy heart that quickness of apprehension and those lively Spirits that are within thee 6. Consider these Words In the dayes of thy youth daies and not years daies and not nights Thy youth is but a few May-daies it will presently be gone and therefore in those few daies that short time thou shouldest give up thy self to thy Creatour Could not ye Watch with me one hour a just reproof of our Saviour to his sleepy Disciples Could ye not afford me a few daies a just reproof of all silly souls who are not wise unto Salvation and think their youth too good too much to be given up to God It is not three hundred years that the Lord asketh at thy hands as at Henoch's nor Nine hundred and upwards as he required of other Patriaches but a few daies of youth Daiâ—s and not Nights The times of youth consist of Daies then is the Sun-shine the Night follow dark times of old age aches weakness sickness sleepiness Now because these are Daies they must be given up to God who is Light and not to the Devil who is the Prince of Darkness not to sins which are works of Darkness This is gross folly to give the Days of youth to Satan and to leave the dimme evening of our old declining age to God to give the good the best daies to Satan and the evil daies as they are called afterwards yea the worst to God CHAP. III. Vse 1. THis sheweth the great folly of young Men who think of all others in a Congregation that they have least reason to give any special heed and yield obedience unto the Word Preached Old Men they think had need to look about them they smell of the Winding-sheet the Grave groaneth for them an earthy cold benumeth their Limbs the beginnings of death are already upon them and have taken deep possession of them but as for themselves they are full of Life and feel no messengers of Death Life aboundeth in their Blood in their Spirits it is strongly seated in their Bones it beateth in their pulses it looketh out at their eyes and shineth in their faces there is no sign no shew of Death Alass poor souls Death doth not alwayes give any long time of warning it maketh many sudden surprizals as well as tedious and lingring seiges It hangeth up young Absalom invironed with his Warlike troops it sheddeth young Amnon's blood in the midst of his Cups while Jobs Sons and his Daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest Brothers house there came a great wind from the Wilderness and smote the four corners of the house and fâ—ll upon the young Men and they dyed Job 1. 18 19. In one night Death slâ—yeth the Sons and Heirs of Pharaoh and of all the Egyptians so that there was scarce one house where there was not one young Man dead How often hath the supream Lord of Life and Death taught us by evident examples that no age is privâ—ledged no years are exempted that the youngest cannot promise himself another year another day or hour ye that sit here old and young who knoweth when or where the next blow will light Sin hath perverted the order of Nature and put it out of course and therefore ye must not look that the same order should be kept in passing out which was in coming into the World and that those who came first should alwaies leave those behind them which were born after them The Son dyeth before the Father the Nephew before the Grand-father the Young before the Old the Heir before him that is in possession Sin hath let in Death into the World and that cometh in as an Enemy not upon parly and conditions bâ—â— as a Conqueror by a forcible entry and 〈◊〉 sacketh this City of the World and maketh no difference of Sex or Age but killeâ— and striketh on the right hanâ— and on thâ— left It hearkneth to no such plea Theâ—â— is an elder man There is a Woman that 〈◊〉 old when I was a Child let me alone I am content to yield when mine Auntients aâ—â— gone before me No if I will that he 〈◊〉 what is that to thee follow thou mâ— Some daies in the year are not near so loâ—â— as some others Some mens lives will bâ— reach the middle of some others their 〈◊〉 setteth at noon and the night is come upoâ— them before they have begun their daâ—â—â— work Therefore let young men learn wiâ—dom from the wise man yea from the Spâ—rit speaking in this Text Remembering the Creatour in the daies of their Youth And 〈◊〉 thou O young Man whatsoever thou heaâ—â—est concerning the wayes of God thinâ— that whatsoever remembrances are deliveâ—ed from the Word to put thee in mind of 〈◊〉 Creatour that they concern thee in especial 〈◊〉 there were none but young Men in a Parist that place should have special need of thâ— Word of God If there were no gray-heâ—â— in a Congregation yet there is need of spâ—cial Exhortations from the Word to mind such of their Creatour If thou hearest of present Repentance conceive that it is spoken to thee If the danger of continuing in sin and delaying conversion be set forâ—h in the Ministry of the Word know that this belongeth to thee in special manner who art in the daies of thy youth If thou hearest the charge of our Saviour Watch therefore left at any time your hearts be overcome with Surfeiting
to me CHAP. II. WHerefore that this may be made more clear unto us let us consider how and in what respects the daies of Youth are called good daies They are good daies 1. Because they are the first daies of a man's life Childhood is but as it were a preparative to the life of man Children while they are Children have but some imperfect beginnings of the life of reason which is the proper and peculiar life of man therefore we may reckon the daies of Youth as the first daies of man's life when he first beginneth to live as a man and to live the life of reason in some degree of perfection Now ye know that the first in every kind hath the preheminence the first-born of men the firstlings of beasts the first-fruits of the earth the morning of the day the first age of the world the spring of the year So there is a kind of preheminency in the first daies of man's life which are the daies of Youth they are a man's prime and his good daies 2. The daies of Youth are good daies because ordinarily they are the daies of best health and strength daies wherein we are of able bodies for any special service For although it be true that in the worship of God bodily exercise profiteth but little in comparison of the inward power of godliness yet strength and health when they are made serviceable to a sanctified upright heart are of special use both in the immediate worship of God and in the performance of many offices of love which we ought to do towards our Brethren in the Lord. Mens sana in corpore sano as they say a sound mind and an heavenly spirit furthered in the worship and service of God by a strong healthy well-tempered body hath a great advantage in it's work and in that case the daies of health and strength are good daies In Prayer although the strength and force of Prayer doth not lie in the strength of the sides or loudnes of the voice yet it is no smal advantage to the Spirit when in it's fervour and strength of affection it gathereth up and putteth forth all it's powers in earnest supplication before the throne of Grace if then it hath a sound healthy body able to bear the intention of a fervent spirit without fainting or distraction You know that if the arrow be long and drawn to the head it is needfull that the bow and the string should be of sufficient strength to hold drawing And a Christian that will not content himself to shoot those fools bolts mentioned Eccles. 5. 1. but desireth to send forth winged shafts of fervent Prayer that shall pierce the Clouds and enter the Heavens findeth it an help not to be despised when the strength and health of his body is suitable to the vigour of his spirit This holdeth as ye may easily conceive in those exercises of hearing reading meditation c. 3. Daies of Youth are times wherein the powers of the Soul are also quick lively and able by the communion with the body The Soul by reason of it's near conjunction of the body hath it's Childhood Youth and decaying time In younger years it hath those golden daies wherein the understanding is quick in apprehension teachable and apt to receive impression the Memory faithfull the Judgement good and sound the Affections strong and stirring Therefore these are the good daies wherein it is fit to be used in the work and service of God And as in the Spring all these concurring together the Trees in their fresh clothing the face of the Earth renued the beauty of Herbs and Flowers together with the Sun 's shining brightly in his strength and glory make up good daies whereas in the Winter the brightness of the Sun maketh but an imperfect good day whiles the Trees and Fields are stripped dead and withered the ground covered with mire and dirt so the meeting of these together the birth-right of Youth the strength and health of the Body the quickness of the Senses the activeness and abundance of the Spirits the perfections of the Soul c. make the daies of Youth good daies whereas although in the winter of Old Age the Sun may shine the principles of wisdome stored up in Youth may be preserved yet there are those defects naturally clogging that dying age which do ecclipse the brightness and lessen the goodness of those daies CHAP. III. Use â— THis may serve to reprove those who do allow some fleshly liberty to the daies of Youth Many who themselves are aged out of a kind of fatherly experienced gravity as they would have men think and out of a kind of moderation to which their years have brought them as they will have us believe do give liberty to a kind of latitude in the ways of Youth and young men must be born with Who doubteth but that there is a Christian moderation and compassion to be exercised towards such infirmities of the flesh which the Spirit wrestleth and laboureth against either in young or old when the heart being given up to Christ and brought under the soveraign command of his glorious Gospel and blessed Spirit cannot yet wholly free it self from the law of Rebellion nor utterly shake off the body of Death But out of a pretence of levity to flatter the enormities of Youth and to excuse those vitious unbridled courses which stain the glory of those best daies what is it but to say that hard Frosts deep Snows Inundations thick mire and dirt are not to be accounted strange in May nor to be wondered at in the prime and spring of the year Is it to be endured when the best daies of a man's life are wasted away in such courses as are contrary to the end for which a man liveth most contrary to the glory of that great God who hath given them these choice daies of Youth To speak plainly when are you more carefull to fence your Copses Pastures Meadows than in the Spring and will ye say the spring of our life which is the time of Youth may be laid open to the invasion of lusts to the assaults of Satan to the pleasures of Sin Let other men applaud their own gravity and condemn the rashness of others I cannot believe that Solomon wanted either years gravity wisdome or due moderation when he checked the folly of Youth in an holy Irony Eccles. 11. and setteth before all vain young men the Judgement of the great day shewing that for all these things even these excesses of Youth they shall be made to give account nor when he did put down this serious admonition in the words of this Text backed with so many pressing motives Remember now thy Creator in the daies of thy youth while the evil daies come not c. and had there been any defect in the pen-man yet I am sure the Holy Ghost which held his hand would not have suffered him to write one syllable amiss Neither
to sensuality and vain youthfull affections First evils in general and then the loss of all earthly pleasures then dimness and darkness weeping cloudy weather Ver. 2. and so he goeth on in the words following Thus doth St. James deal with secure and carnal rich men whose hearts did rest with a kind of muddy contentment in their abundance of worldly things not seriously thinking of sad alterations that might follow Jam. 5. 1 2. Go to now ye rich men weep howl for the miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten c. and ver 5. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter As the beast that is full fed and fatted is wanton and frollick feeding without fear or foresight of the Butchers Axe even in the same morning when he is to die before night even in the day of Slaughter so do ye please your selves and satisfie your own lusts without any serious consideration aforehand of the Axe of God's wrath that lyeth at the root of all such unfruitfull Trees and is ready to give an irrecoverable stroke ye do not carefully forethink of the evils that shall come upon you and therefore I present these unto your thoughts We have a notable example in this kind both of wisdom in Noah and of folly in the men of that Generation living together with him Heb. 11. 7 By faith Noah being warned of God of things 〈◊〉 seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark 〈◊〉 the saving of his House by the which he câ—â—demned the world and became heir of thâ— righteousness which is by faith Here waâ— his notable faith and heavenly wisdom Hâ— was warned of God of things not seen as 〈◊〉 not only of such things as at that time 〈◊〉 not to be seen in present being when he received this warning but of things the 〈◊〉 whereof were never seen in the world before of such things as neither he nor any of 〈◊〉 Fore-fathers from Adam to his own 〈◊〉 ever had any experience of viz. Thâ—â— things mentioned Genes 6. 17. Behold 〈◊〉 even I do bring a flood of waters upon 〈◊〉 earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the brâ—â— of life from under Heaven and every 〈◊〉 that is in the earth shall die These 〈◊〉 strange things not seen as yet no◠〈◊〉 heard of since man was created that 〈◊〉 Lord at one stroke should destroy so 〈◊〉 millions of his creatures not only men â—â—men and children but all other things 〈◊〉 breathed It was now a great work of 〈◊〉 to believe this beyond the experience of the world and against the mocks and 〈◊〉 of the whole world and great wisdom to provide so carefully against it preparing an Ark for the saving of his House Herein he condemned the unbelief and folly of the world whose sensuality earthly-mindedness and deep security our Saviour declareth Matth. 24. 38. in the daies that were before the flood They were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage untill the day that Noah entred into the Ark and knew not untill the flood came and took them all away Noah did foresee and prepare for this notable change before it came but the world of the ungodly continued in deep and dead security They would not believe that the flood-gates of Heaven should be opened so wide as to pour down an universal deluge upon the earth they knew not they considered not of this wofull change untill the flood came and took them all away CHAP. II. NOw the reasons why this is to be accounted a point of wisdom necessary for every Christian are 1. Because a change will certainly come Eccles. 1. 2. Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher all is vanity All is vanity and uncertainty There is no pepetuity nothing changeable in man or in the outward condition of man here on earth yea many changes and strange alterations may befall those that seem to be in a most setled condition many may come some must come Thou that art in prosperity maist fall into adversity Thou that art rich maist become poor Thou that hast Children maist become childless Thou that hast Friends maist become friendless Thou that hast health maist have sickness Thou that art young and strong maist become old and impotent Thou that art a liberty maist be a prisoner These things may come but there is another change that must come namely Death Thou that art living man or woman must be turned into a dead carkase Thou that art now reckoned among the living must be accounted among the dead Thou that now seest hearest speakest walkest c. must become blind speechless senseless not able to move or stir a corps without life breath or motion Thou that now conversest with men must be forgotten and become a dead man out of mind yea thou that now sittest here at this time must stand before the Lord's Judgement-Seat Oh then it is wisdom to be aforehand with these changes and alterations that they may not surprize and overtake thee unprovided 2. It is uncertain how and when these changes shall come Jam. 4. 13 14. Go to now ye that say To day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away For that ye ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this and that Our life is so uncertain that in that respect it may rather be said to appear then to be and it appeareth but for a very little time the date of it is soon expised It is even a vapour and a vapour doth quickly vanish riseth in the morning and is dissolved before noon we may promise our selves years but are not sure of the next day So it proved in that rich mans case Soul thou hast goods laid up for many years He had a short answer Thou fool this night shall thy soul be taken from thee It is therefore a â—ecessary point of wisdom to foresee and provide for this change 3. Great miseries and inconveniences follow upon such alterations when they are not foreseen and provided for many opportunities are lost which never can be recovered such changes happen as deprive men of all ability of doing that which they might have done at ease if they had foreseen these things and taken their time and men may look back with many sad thoughts and much bitterness of spirit upon their neglects and losses this way when it is too late Some few daies weeks months wilfully lost and wasted before will seem more worth unto them than all the world and the treasures and glory of the world when once these changes have overtaken them and come upon them unawares and disabled them for ever Much discomfort cometh
time is past and these do him no good he is never the better for them no more than if he had â—ever possessed them Take two natural men living and dying in that estate the one â—ich and the other a stark beggar the rich man's case is not a jot better when the time of this life is worn out than the others it may be worse because of his unthankfulness and the abuse of his wealth So take a natural man that hath enjoyed abundance of pleasures and another that hath scarce seen any good daies all his life long if both of them live and die in their natural estate they are both alike the pleasures that the one hath had do him no more good than if he had never had any more than the other It may be they have encreased his condemnation exceedingly Now St. James saith that life is but for a time or rather it appeareth but for a time so the pleasures of life are but for a time nay it followeth there life appeareth but for a little time and the pleasures of life are shorter than life and therefore their time is less than life and theâ— saith he life vanisheth away and the pleasures of life must needs vanish with it 〈◊〉 they be gone before it as many times 〈◊〉 are for as ye see in the Text a man may lâ—ve such years whereof he may say and think I have no pleasure in them wherein he may say in his heart Alas I breath yet I keep above ground I yet live but I have out-lived all the comforts of my life they are as it were dead and buried I shall never enâ—oy them any more so that he can look back upon his former comforts and prosperity with a sad heart and weeping-eye comparing it with his present sorrows as 〈◊〉 did as ye may read at large in the 29th and 30th Chapters of that Book In the 29th he expresseth his former prosperity in the 30th his present affliction In Chap. 29. 2. 〈◊〉 saith Oh that I were as in moneths past as 〈◊〉 the daies wherein God preserved me 〈◊〉 his candle shined upon mine head and when by his light I walked through darkness So he goeth on Even so man liveth to that day when he can reckon up a great many comforts as so many losâ—es things once enjoyed now gone and can compare them with many crosses now lying upon them for sometimes the Lord taketh away mens wealth so that those who have lived plentifully are brought to a poor and hard condition sometimes their health that men are afflicted with languishing or painful diseases that their wealth doth them little good they cannot enjoy it Sometimes he leaveth them health and wealth but taketh away those friends that are dearer to them than either the loss of whom embitteâ—eth all those things that are left them Sometimes he depriveth them of liberty and these things come alike to all sometimes he prolongeth their lives unto old age and burtheneth their old age with so many infirmities and grievances that their life is but a lingâ—ing death unto them Sometimes he taketh away their sight sometimes their hearing c. and sometimes he leaveth them to the gâ—awings and gripings of a guilty conscience not cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ. Thus many wayes and in many respects ye see that the pleasures and prosperity of life may be made shorter than this short life it self CHAP. IV. II. IN the second place this should serve to wean us from the love of this world and the things of this life whether it be wealth or pleasure or wordly credit or health or strength or friends or children that we set our hearts upon or take content in how soon may all or any of these be taken from us or how soon may some such heavy blow from the hand of the Lord fall upon us as may strike dead all the delight and comfort which we took in these Therefore as the Prophet saith Isai. 2. 22. Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Cease to put your trust or place your content in man whether men of high degree or of low degree for he is a mortal creature soon gone When that fading fleeâ—ing breath that issueth in and out at his nostrils is stopped by death he is gone and wherein is he to be accounted of What reckoning should be made of so frail a creature So in this case I say cease ye from the things of this life for they have their breath in their nostrils as it were they are frail short-lived comforts and wherein are they to be accounted of Here then is Christian wisdom to have the heart crucified to these things when they are at best and when a man hath most of them then to die to the world and to look upon the best things of the world and the greatest outward comforts of this life as upon so many dead things to affect them and make account of them as so many shadows and empty vanities to use them as dying things I am crucified to the world saith the Apostle and the world is crucified to me This is Christian wisdom when a man can so carry his affections towards the greatest comforts of this life as he would to a thing that is crucified to a thing already nailed to the cross and dying It were a vain thing to take a few flowers and blossoms in the Spring and to lock them up safe in a Cabinet like so many precious Stones or Pearls of great value meaning to keep them many years whereas if he look upon them the next week he shall find them dead and withered their beauty is gone And is it not yet a far greater â—olly to lock up the fading comforts of this life in that precious Cabinet of thy Heart and Soul as as if they were everlasting treasures as if they were some enduring substance such a heart is poorly furnished For an immortal Soul that must live for ever to be stuffed and filled with perishing trash it is as if a rich Cabinet of Gold beset with Pearls should be fill'd with dust and dross yea it is far worse such a soul is miserably furnished when the Soul wherein Christ should dwell the Sould which should be a Temple of the Holy Ghost the Soul that should be stored and furnished with heavenly graces shall be stuffed and filled with such rubbish and â—rash as men gather from the dunghill of this world with the things of this life that are shorter than life it self So St. Paul 1 Cor. 7. 29 3â— 31. This I say Brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have Wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy aâ— though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this