a Man to suffer the fittest season to escape him for the performance of that Work which is the most difficult of all others to be well done and upon the due accomplishment of which both his present and future Happiness depends For 1. Youth is the best Time for our Conversion Because the Soul is not then so much vitiated by evil Habits as when she has run through the several stages of Life in a continued course of Wickedness Tho Sin is deeply enough rooted in our Nature which is all defil'd with the Original Stain Yet we very much fortify our corrupt Inclinations by producing them into Act and by multiplying those Sinful Acts till they become familiar and customary to us and till we drink down Iniquity like Water So that the difficulty of turning from Sin encreases together with the Time of our continuance in the practice of it Can the Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots Then may ye also do Good that are accustomed to do Evil says the Prophet Is it to be thought that Conversion to God is so slight and easy a matter that any Time may serve for its Accomplishment Are not the difficulties that a long habit of Sinning will lay in the way of that great and important Work to be fear'd Is it not much more easy to bend a Young Twig than an Aged Oak and to prevent evil Habits than to rectify ' em A little observation of the World may suffice to inform us that long Custom or Habit is so bewitching a thing that scarce any thing can be imagin'd more ridiculous absurd and inconvenient than many things which the long usage of some Persons nay of some whole Nations has authoriz'd And if Men are so tenacious of any silly and troublesome thing which they have been much addicted to and sacrifice their Reason their Honour and their Ease to the Tyranny of Custom how much more prevalent must a long habit and course of Sin be which besides its deep rooting in our Nature and besides the ordinary force of mere Habit has both its flattering Promises and Pleasures to tempt us to its Embraces and its Threats and Terrors too in suggesting all the mortifying Circumstances of a vertuous course of Life to raise in our Minds the most frightful Idea of Piety and Religion So that if Custom and Habit in general be proverbially stil'd a Second Nature the habit of Sin may of all others most fitly be so term'd And the force of its Dominion over our Souls and the difficulty of its Extirpation out of them must needs have an increase proportionate to the Time of its Duration in them Can any thing then be more evident than that in the days of our Youth when Sin has not yet so deeply rooted it self in our Hearts by evil habits as in Old Age after a long course of Vice in a multitude of repeated Acts our Conversion must needs have the most easy and kindly accomplishment 2. This further appears in that the Minds of the Young are ordinarily the most capable of Instruction It was a saying of a Philosopher that to Cure a Dead Man and Teach an Old Man were things equally difficult For tho in some respects Youth is sufficiently addicted to Pride yet there is a kind of Natural Modesty and becoming Humility often discernible in the Young arising from a Consciousness of their Ignorance and unexperience of things which disposes them to a more Docible frame of Mind than is usually to be found in Elder Persons whose Maturity of Age often makes 'em unwilling to be inform'd especially in matters of Religion either because they imagin they already know what others may pretend to teach 'em or because they are unwilling to undergo the shame of being accounted so long ignorant of Religion and their concern therein which every body ought to be early acquainted with And upon this account 't is likely our Saviour tells his Disciples that except they should humble themselves and become as little Children they should not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. unless they should imitate Children in Modesty and lowliness of Mind that the Sense of their Ignorance might make 'em Teachable Besides the Minds of Youth are generally a much fitter Soil for Truth than those of the Aged because not usually so over-run with the Briars and Thorns of strong and deeply rooted Prejudices The Soul of Man will not long remain empty if it be not early stor'd with Truth 't will be gradually stuff'd with Errors and as 't is much more troublesome to alter and correct a Writing full of Nonsense and Confusion by much razing out and interlining than to write a handsome piece of good Sense on a blank Paper So it is abundantly harder to instruct or rectify a Mind long prepossess'd with Falshood than to make deep impressions of Truth on a Soul more simple and unprejudic'd which if empty of Knowledg yet is not fill'd with Error which as it has not yet learn'd to judg right of things so neither has been much us'd to judg wrong and if not happy enough to be well stock'd with good Notions yet is not so unhappy as to be crowded with bad ones Now seeing to capacitate us to serve God who is a Spirit and therefore will be serv'd with our Spirits without which Bodily Exercise profiteth little there are many great Truths to be learned and tho he has promis'd the help of his Holy Spirit to reveal these to the simple yet seeing he requires us to be diligent in the investigation of Truth and very attentive to the Voice of Reason and Scripture to that End 't is easy to see by reflecting on what has been just now said That the Young whose Minds are yet unform'd have a mighty advantage above the Aged for learning the knowledg of the ways of God and for obtaining a more copious and solid understanding of Truth So that we may well say with the Prophet tho perhaps he speaks in another sense Whom shall he teach Knowledg And whom shall he make to understand Doctrine Them that are wean'd from the Milk and drawn from the Breasts 3. Again there is a certain Tenderness of Spirit attending our first Years and not ordinarily to be found afterwards which renders Conversion more feasible The Heart is more malleable and more easily receives Impressions from the Promises and Threatnings recorded in the Word of God and from the Mercies and Judgments distributed in the World by his Providence Therefore we find few Persons whose Education has given them any tolerable means of the knowledg of Divine things who do not remember themselves to have been much affected in their Youth in attending to the Word of God or in observing some remarkable Passages of his Providence If deep Conviction is a great step towards Conversion Experience shews this is most easily wrought on one that is young How often do we
recollect how fit an Object of Trust and Praise and of all Worship he is so as to engage our Souls to confide in him to offer him the Sacrifice of Praise and all the Adoration and Service that we are capable of rendering In a word to remember our Creator is to remember his Omniscience Power and Justice so as to reverence and fear him to remember his Goodness Mercy and Veracity so as to love and praise him and to remember his Holiness and Purity so as to imitate and obey him 'T is so attentively and seriously to meditate on his Nature and on his Works that while we are musing the Fire may burn as the Psalmist speaks that our Thoughts may kindle a holy Flame of Love in our Hearts towards him which will break out in becoming Acts of Service and Obedience to his Glory 'T is to serve him both with our Understanding Will and Affections to devote our selves entirely to him And as our whole Man is to be dedicated to the Service of our Creator so he also deserves the whole of our Time and we ought to begin as early as possible to remember him For this our Text shews II. In prescribing the special Time for engaging in this Duty which now falls under our Consideration 1. 'T is prescrib'd in express Terms in the days of thy Youth 2. By an opposite Circumlocution containing a Description of Old Age while the evil Days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them that is before the approach of Old Age As is evident both in that these Evil Days c. are opposed to the Days of Youth and in that many elegant Characters are used to decypher the Infirmities and Miseries of Old Age in the sequel of this Chapter immediately after the Text. And in this Description of Old Age we have 1. The Time it self expressed by Days and Years 2. The Character of that Time of Life those Days are Evil and those Years such as we shall confess that we have no pleasure in them 1. For the Time it self it may be call'd Days and Years 1. Either emphatically to signify one and the same thing it being an usual Elegancy in the Hebrew Dialect to express the same thing in various synonymous Terms in two Sentences immediately succeeding one another which serve partly for Illustration and partly to inculcate Truth in the Mind Of which we have Instances in almost every Verse of the 51st Psalm as well as in many other places of Scripture as 't is easy to observe Or else 2. By Days to signify the Brevity and Great Vncertainty of the Continuance of that Time which is soon swallow'd up by Death as the fleeting Days of Youth are soon lost in Old Age and by Years the tedious passing of this short Time by reason of the many Afflictions and Infirmities a Man then labours under Tho' the Time is very short in it self 't is made very long by Misery and Pain which seem greatly to extend it For as the Soul when fill'd with Pleasure and Ioy during her easy posture forgets the Time as it were and suffers it to slide from her with little Notice which makes it appear extremely short So when she is fill'd with Sentiments of Pain and Sorrow her uneasy Situation and impatient desire of Change do so constantly apply her Thoughts to the consideration of that Time which is the Continuance of her Misery that it seems very long and irksome to her So that the Duration of her Sorrow seems always to increase proportionably to the Degree of it and a Man imagines himself to have been much longer under an acute than under a slight Pain when in reality the Time of their Continuance is equal Thus every Moment of Time becomes an heavy Burden to one in Misery who as Moses says the Israelites should do when under punishment for their Sins cries out in the Morning Would to God it were Evening and in the Evening Would to God it were Morning And 't is well known that this is the Language of Old Age. And therefore 2. 'T is express'd by the Character of Evil Days and Years wherein no pleasure is to be had which may be thus explain'd 1. By Evil Days may be understood the Decays and Diseases of Old Age And by the Years wherein there is no Pleasure may be signified the Unhappiness and Misery that those Distempers and Infirmities give the Mind these being a great Occasion of her Sorrow which is then especially aggravated when the Guilt of the Soul conspires with the Distempers of the Body to make the Man compleatly miserable so that he shall say that is he shall confess or complain that he has no Pleasure in those evil Days that he has no Sanctuary of Ease to fly to no Reflection to make that can allay the Trouble of his Mind no Medicine to use that can remove the Distempers of his Body For this is often the Condition of those who forgetting the LORD their Maker in their Youth grow Old in the service of Sin Or 2. By Evil Days which is a positive Character the Time of Old Age may be represented as attended with many positive Afflictions and Pains and by the Privation of Pleasure at that Time which is a Negative Character may be signified the incapacity of relishing the Joys and Pleasures of this Life that accompanies those unpleasant Years wherein the Organs of Sense are very much enfeebled especially when Old Age has been hastned by the Intemeperance of Youth And now since it appears that God as our Creator in the comprehensive Sense wherein we have explain'd that Title requires us to remember him so as to devote our selves to his Fear and Service and that in the Time of our Youth before Old Age with its many Afflictions and Sorrows overtakes us if one makes but a transient Reflection on these things 't is easy to observe that the Wise Man in this Exhortation intimates III. The Reasons of the Duty enjoin'd 1. In representing God the Object of it to us under the August Character of our Creator which evidently entitles him to the Service of our Youth And 2. In setting Old Age before us as a Scene of Misery and Horror as a Time made up of few and evil Days And in opposing them to the better Days of Youth thereby to insinuate that as Old Age brings with it many great Disadvantages and Impediments to obstruct our Conversion to God so Youth is attended with many favourable Circumstances that render it the best and fittest Season to initiate one's self in the ways of Righteousness The strength of these Reasons I shall consider at large hereafter And shall content my self at present with making some few brief Remarks 1. On the Terms used to prescribe the special Time of the Duty enjoin'd in the Text. 2. On the Terms whereby both the Object and Act of this Duty are
expres'd To shew how fitly they are adapted to the State and Circumstances of those that are Young who are the Persons to whom this Exhortation is address'd With which I shall conclude this Discourse 1. From the Terms used to shew the Time of remembring our Creator it may be observ'd 1. That this double Timing of the Duty first by expresly prescribing it in Youth and then before Old Age with its Miseries come on gives the Words a certain Force and Energy proper to inculcate so important an Admonition 'T is a giving Precept upon Precept and Line upon Line as the Prophet Isaiah speaks which he commends as the proper Course to instruct the Young or to use his own Words to teach them Knowledg and to make them understand Doctrine who are weaned from the Milk and drawn from the Breasts to gain the Attention of giddy and unthinking Youth many of whom tho' God condescends to speak once yea twice as he doth here are yet so dull of hearing as not to perceive the Reasonableness of their Duty or at least not sufficiently to consider it and the Danger to which the neglect of it exposes ' em And 2. We may further observe that this Obligation of Remembring our Creator extends it self equally with the Capacity we have of Reflecting on God as our Maker and increases proportionably to the knowledg we may obtain of him So that none are entirely exempt from it who are capable of exercising their Thoughts on God and therefore those may not pretend to be dispens'd with who have not arriv'd to the full maturity of Youth if they are in any degree capable of knowing their Creator As far as they are able to take notice of his Nature and of his Will so far are they oblig'd to worship and obey him And this is further cleared by the Opposition the Wise Man seems to make betwixt the Duty in our Text and the Vanity of Childhood and Youth mentioned just before So that if we take Vanity here in a Moral Sense the Exhortation extends it self to Persons that fall under either of those Denominations that are either in the state of Childhood or Youth And if by Vanity Natural Frailty and Mortality be intended the words are not less extensive for then the frailty of Childhood and Youth is used as a Consideration to prepare the way for this Admonition and Children as well as Young Men are therefore excited to give themselves to the Service of their Creator Because neither are exempt from the danger of Sickness and of Death And this may be further collected from the charge given to Youth in the Text to remember their Creator not only before the Evil Days of Old Age are come but before those Years draw nigh while Old Age is yet at a distance Which shews that none that are capable of reflecting on their relation to God as Creator may excuse themselves as too Young to be concern'd in his Service For as his being our Creator is the foundation of this Duty of remembering him So 't is evident that our Obligation to it is to be measured by the Capacity we have of knowing him as such Therefore he may well require that the tender Buds of Childhood as well as the maturer Blossoms of Youth be consecrated to him who sometimes perfects his Praise out of the mouths of such who in comparison of those of riper Years are but Babes and Sucklings and therefore by the Psalmist calls upon Young Men and Maidens and Children as well as Old Men to praise and worship him 2. That the Terms of Remembring their Creator are wisely adapted to the state of Youth to engage them early in the Service of God will appear by the following Remarks on each of those Terms 1. God under the Title of Creator is fitly recommended to the Young as the Object of their Worship and Obedience 1. Because 't is a Term that easily excites in the Mind a strong and clear Idea of God's infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness And the Wise Man having to do with Youth whose unexperience for want of Years and whose unattention for want of a habit of steady thinking renders them less capable of arriving at the knoledg of the Deep things of God than those who to the advantage of a long observation of things have added that of addicting themselves to frequent Thoughtfulness and Meditation he makes use of that Title of God which might most familiarly suggest a proper Notion of him to their Minds He exposes to them the Alphabet of the Creation out of which even Children may easily learn to spell the Being of a Deity The Ignorant and the Young even those that run as the Prophet speaks the heedless and unattentive may read the Characters of the Divine Attributes which are plainly engraven on the Pillars even of this Material World And as the Apostle observes may clearly discern the Eternal Power and Godhead of the Creator who is Invisible by the curious Fabrick of this Visible Creation so as to render them altogether inexcusable if they neglect to glorisy God according to those sensible notices of him which they may so easily and constantly receive For as the sight of a Magnificent Palace induces us to consider the Skill and Ability of the Architect that built it So when we take a serious prospect of the Structure and Frame of the World or of any part of it it familiarly raises our Thoughts to its Great Author and Cause For as every House is built by some Man so 't is natural to conclude with the Apostle that he that built all things is God And therefore 2. This of Creator is a Title which God is usually pleas'd to assume in Scripture to distinguish himself as the True and Living God from the Idols of the Heathen and to convince their Ignorant Votaries that He is the only proper Object of Religious Worship The LORD is the True God saith the Prophet Ieremiah he is the Living God and an everlasting King The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Then speaking again of the True God he says He hath made the Earth by his Power he hath established the World by his Wisdom and hath stretched out the Heavens by his Discretion And then having spoken of the Vanity of Idols he adds The Portion of Jacob is not like them for he is the Former of all things And the Prophet Isaiah introduces the God of Israel proving himself to be the True God under the same Character I have made the Earth and created Man upon it I even my Hands have stretched out the Heavens and all their Host have I commanded And a little after the Prophet insults over the makers of Idols and then adds Thus saith the LORD that Created the Heavens God himself that formed
the Earth and made it he hath established it he created it not in vain he formed it to be inhabited I am the L O R D and there is none else All which serves to shew how properly this Title of Creator is used in our Text to direct the Minds of Youth to the true Object of Love and Adoration who are ready to make as many Gods as there are pleasing Objects in the World and to sacrifice themselves and all they have to those inchanting Idols that strike their Senses with any agreeable Impression And 3. This is a Relative Title denoting the Natural Relation God bears to the World For the Terms Creator and Creature mutually suppose one another And not only his Relation to the World in General but to Mankind nay to every Individual Humane Creature in particular in the Word Thy Creator is propos'd as the ground of that Service every one that comes into the World is oblig'd to pay to the Almighty whose Title of Creator includes our entire dependance on him So that the Wise Man prudently makes choice of a Term expressing every Man's Relation to God as his Creature because 't is the First and most Evident Principle on which to found our Duty of Obedience to him and most apt to affect the Soul For as when I think on God as Creator of the World in General it raises in my Mind a great Idea of his Majesty and Soveraignty So when I confider him as MY Creator that Relative Character gives an endearing force to the reasonable Obligation I find my self under to serve and worship him because I then look upon him not only as the living God but also as the God of MY Life We may also observe 2. The Propriety of the Term Remember to express the Respect and Service those that are Young owe to their Maker 1. To remember c. signifying the Exercise of the Thoughts on God is fitly urg'd on the Young because as the most early Impressions are the most deep and lasting so a habit of Holy Meditation is soonest acquir'd in Youth when the Mind is most at leisure and not embarrass'd with that multitude of Thoughts and Projects about the Affairs of the World which riper Years are usually incumber'd with What fitter Term could be chosen by which to urge the duty of Young Persons to their Maker than that of Remembring him seeing the Memory is a Faculty that Young People commonly excel in and in which they often glory a Faculty that grows ripe betimes and easily retains that Tincture with which it is early and thoroughly imbued 'T is as if Solomon had said You that are Young ought to season your Memories with the best Impressions betimes when they are most capable both of receiving 'em and retaining 'em and to fill your Minds with the thoughts of God and of the Service you owe him before they are crowded with the Concerns and Business of a perplexing World 2. A Caution seems to be wisely insinuated in this Term against forgetting the Worship and Service of God which heedless Youth too much devoted to Sensual Pleasure is often guilty of for tho' the Young have the most capable Memories yet they are very prone to forget their Duty to their Maker And how aptly so ever they remember other things they often live as if God were not in any of their Thoughts For they commonly divert and dissipate their Minds so much with the amusing Pleasures of this present World that they don't allow themselves time enough either to look backward to remember that God who created 'em and to whom they owe their Preservation nor forward to consider that 't is only in his power to renew and reform them from their Vices and Errors and that he will one day judg them who as he is their Creator has the Soveraign disposal of their Being and has Power either to save or to destroy In whose Favour is Life and whose Displeasure is more terrible than Death THE Reasonableness Advantages OF AN Early Conversion to God DEMONSTRATED SERMON II. ECCLES xii 1. Remember now thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth while the Evil Days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them HAVING before explain'd the Exhortation in the Text which the Wise Man addresses to those that are Young viz. To Remember their Creator in the Days of their Youth or to devote themselves early to the Worship and Service of God We are now to consider the Reasons whereby this Duty is enforc'd which are plainly enough insinuated in the Text as we have before observ'd in the Division of it First In the Terms of the Duty where our Relation to God as our Creator implies the Obligations we have to adore and serve him Secondly In the words used to signify the proper Time of engaging in this Duty viz. In the Days of Youth before the Evil Days of Old Age come c. Where the fitness of the time of Youth to enter one's self into the Service of God and the Disadvantage of deferring it to Old Age are intimated First Then we shall take a view of the Reasons that oblige us to devote our selves to the Service of God in Youth which arise from the Relation that is between him and us as he is our Creator and we are his Creatures And this in that large and comprehensive sense we have given of the Term Creator by which we have laid the Ground-work of our present Reasoning 1. As God is our Creator and Preserver we derive from him our Being and the whole Duration of it that is the whole of our Time Therefore 1. He has an equitable Claim to us as long as we have a Being and to our Youth by consequence 'T is but just that what we receive from his hand should be again offer'd to him that since we live by his Good Will we should live to his Glory Can we assign any portion of our Time which we do not equally derive from our Creator with the rest of it Why then should any of those Moments that are allotted us by his mere Favour be injuriously substracted from his Service and abus'd to his Dishonour The great God whose chief End in all he does is his own Glory because that is the best and most excellent End of all made us and continues our Being for his own Pleasure and Glory Therefore to alienate any part of our Time from him is to oppose his Designs and as much as in us lies to endeavour to frustrate his End and sacrilegiously to rob him of his Honour Nor do we only withhold Divine Honour from him to whom it is due when we neglect to employ any part of our Time in the Service of our Creator for Man being a Creature that can never be altogether idle and unactive that part of our Lives or portion of our Time which we divert from the proper end for which
draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them TO the Disadvantages of delaying Conversion till the evil Days of old Age and the Advantages of devoting one's self to the Service of God in Youth which we have already insisted on we have this one farther Consideration to add viz. That 4. Our Eternal Interest is extremely hazarded by deferring Conversion to old Age and best secur'd by an early change For 1. We are always uncertain of future Time for the accomplishment of this Important Work Our Time is at the Disposal of our Maker and he has not entrusted our lavish hands with the whole stock of this precious Treasure but only suffers it to run through them by Moments so that we can recal no past nor can we command any future Time 't is therefore our Business to improve the present being ignorant how long the Divine Bounty will continue our Time in this World Upon this account the wise Man instructs us well not to boast our selves of to Morrow seeing we know not what a Day may bring forth And the Prophet Isaiah reprehends the folly of those that encourage one another to go on in sinful Excesses by profanely promising themselves that to Morrow should be as the present Day and much more abundant The Apostle Iames also shews the Vanity of such foolish Presumptions Go to now says he ye that say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a Year and buy and sell and get Gain whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away For that ye ought to say If the Lord will we shall live and do this or that And Experience as well as Scripture assures us that every Man walks in a vain shew and that Man in this respect even at his best Estate is altogether Vanity That some die in their full strength being wholly at ease and quiet their Breasts being full of Milk and their Bones moisten'd with Marrow As others die in the bitterness of their Souls and never eat with pleasure That they lie down alike in the Dust and the Worms cover ' em 'T is evident to every one's observation that Youth does not exempt us from Death nor ensure to us any farther portion of Time than what we at present enjoy But on the contrary that the far greater number of Mankind go early to the Grave and for one that reaches to old Age a multitude fall short of it Nor is it an uncommon thing for Persons of the most vigorous and hardy Constitution of Body to be suddenly snatch'd away into the other World by some violent Disease or otherwise For so many fatal Strokes are we obnoxious to and so frail is the Texture of our Earthly Tabernacle that some of the least and most contemptible things in the World are capable of giving it a mortal shock and the very Pores of the Skin sometimes prove Breaches wide enough for the King of Terrors to enter in at This is well enough known and often enough thought upon by the generality of Men to engage them to use Precautions to secure themselves or their Posterity as much as they can from the prejudice their temporal Affairs might otherwise receive from sudden Death And the Rate an Estate for Life is usually valued at sufficiently shews that to such purposes as these Men need not be taught to know their End and the measure of their Days what it is that they may know how frail they are And if there be no comparison between Earth and Heaven between the uncertain Wealth of this World and the durable Riches of the other between this Life and that which is to come Then 't is infinitely more imprudent for a Man to neglect but for a moment to make his Calling and Election sure whatever future Time here his Youth and Strength may seem to promise than for him carelesly to suffer the security of his temporal Estate to depend merely on the uncertain Life of another Man when he need not put it to that hazard or to expose his Posterity to Poverty and Misery by omitting to make due provision for them against his own Mortality when he has a fair opportunity of doing it 'T is Folly and Madness to leave that undone to day which must be done at one time or other or else we are ruin'd for ever and which may for ought we know be impossible to be perform'd to morrow To neglect to improve the present Time in doing that on which our eternal Bliss depends when the precious opportunity of doing it may the next moment by sudden Death or some stupifying Disease become irreparable Even the Impious Atheist and the Profane Epicure make speedy provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof from the consideration of the shortness and uncertainty of their Time in this World and seek to gratify and indulge their Senses to day because they are not sure of doing it to morrow Let us eat and drink say they for to morrow we shall die And they have so far reason on their side in that they act in Conformity to their Principles because their Hope is only in this Life and they profess not to expect another How unaccountably stupid then are they who tho they believe there is a future State after this Life and tho they know that they shall die and that they know not how soon yet in their vain Imaginations put the evil Day of Death afar off and defer from time to time the great Work of laying up Treasure in Heaven till the Season of doing it is irretrievably lost And in vain is so precious a Talent as Time put into the hands of such Fools who have no heart to improve it If the wise Man argues rightly when he excites to diligence even in the ordinary Affairs of this Life because of the speedy approach of Death This Reason infinitely multiplies its force when apply'd to our present purpose and may therefore most fitly be used to stir us up to an early and diligent improvement of the Time of Youth in the Service of God Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do says he do it with thy Might for there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledg nor Wisdom in the Grave whither Thou goest For Man also knoweth not his Time as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil Time when it falleth suddenly upon them 'T is therefore our prudence and interest to work while 't is day seeing we know not how soon the night may come upon us wherein no Man can work But further 2. If our Time were in our own hands as it is in the hand
of God so that we could extend it many Years beyond the ordinary Course of Life or if we had the certain fore-knowledg of the limits which the Almighty has fix'd to our Days if we knew the number of our Months and any of us could read our selves antient in the Book of the Divine Decrees this could by no means justify or excuse our Negligence if we should thereupon presume to delay our Conversion till towards the Close of our Time because of the uncertainty of the continuance of the Day of God's Patience and Grace For as the Days of our Lives are uncertain so is the Day of Grace too and as those are very short so this may be much shorter and we may soon out-live the Time of our Visitation from Heaven and so the things that belong to our Peace may be finally hidden from our Eyes 'T is infinite Mercy in the Great and Holy God to give a wretched Sinner one Smile one single offer of Reconciliation and 't is great Ingratitude and Folly in a guilty Creature but once to refuse to hearken to so Gracious a Call But what words can express the Goodness and Condescension of the Almighty to a miserable Worm when he importunately repeats the Terms of Peace to invite nay to beseech him to be reconciled to him And how provoking must the guilt of that Sinner be who after all this kindness of God towards him stops his Ears at his Counsel like the deaf Adder that will not hearken to the Voice of Charmers charming never so wisely And therefore 't is not to be wonder'd at if his abused Patience and Mercy be turn'd into Indignation and Wrath And thus it often comes to pass Because Men receive not the love of the Truth that they might be saved God sends them strong Delusion that they should believe a Lie and that they all may be damned who believe not the Truth but have pleasure in Vnrighteousness And the Word of God instead of being the savour of Life unto Life becomes the savour of Death unto Death to them Thus the Righteous God sets his Face against them that stiffen their Necks against him and hardens their Hearts in Judgment who themselves have harden'd them against the offers of Mercy If the declining Church of Ephesus was threaten'd with the removal of her Candlestick in case she refus'd to hearken to the Voice of our Saviour when he call'd her to Repentance how justly may every impenitent Sinner fear the speedy ending of the Day of Grace to him And if at one Sermon of the Apostle Paul's as some of the Iews his Auditors were converted so others of them were judicially sealed up in hardness of heart and blindness of mind the most dreadful punishment on this side Hell and the Gospel which they had rejected and despis'd was suddenly snatch'd from them to be carried to the ignorant Heathen Is it not still to be fear'd that they that defer to yield themselves to the obedience of Faith when the glad Tidings of Salvation have been again and again publish'd to them may utterly fall short of Happiness by this their Obstinacy and Vnbelief And if profane Esau who for one morsel of Meat sold his Birth-right was afterwards rejected when he would have inherited the Blessing and found no place of Repentance tho he sought it carefully with Tears How justly may God reject them who have often resisted the Spirit of Grace And suffer them to mourn at last without pity in their greatest Distress who have often griev'd the Holy Spirit in gratifying their sinful Inclinations And seeing he has said his Spirit shall not always strive with Men who knows how soon he may shut up his tender Mercies in Displeasure against those that have long rebell'd against him and swear in his Wrath that they shall never enter into his Rest How soon he may accomplish that terrible Threatening he has pronounc'd against the Impenitent He that hardens his Neck being often reprov'd shall suddenly be destroy'd and that without Remedy 3. There is not only a possibility or a bare likelihood of the expiration of the Day of Grace to those that spend the best of their Time in Rebellion against their Maker before they arrive at old Age But on the contrary there is only a possibility and no likelihood that the Holy Spirit should continue to strive with them at the winding up of their Days who through the greatest part of their Time have resisted his Counsels and Motions And 't is not only Reason that furnishes us with proofs of this from the Soveraignty and Justice of God consider'd with the great Aggravations of Impenitency under the means of Grace or the Threatnings in the Holy Scripture that plainly include this danger as appears from the last Head insisted on but Experience joins issue in this matter and evinces that what our Saviour says of Rich Men may with as much reason and force be applied to old Sinners namely That 't is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a Needle than for such to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And if this Saying seem severe to any in respect of these last as it did to the Disciples of Christ in regard of the other it cannot justly be soften'd with any farther addition than that which our Saviour subjoin'd to qualify his words in the first case viz. That nothing is impossible with God 'T is a thing possible because all things are so to God but very unlikely and not to be often expected and when at any time it comes to pass God may be said to make a step out of the ordinary method of the Dispensation of his Grace somewhat like that he makes when he works a Miracle in the Sphere of Nature In this matter I say one may safely appeal to Experience Let any one that is acquainted with a considerable number of pious and aged Persons ask each of them from what time he dates his Conversion and for one that has had that happy Change wrought on his Soul since he became Old he shall find many that turn'd to God in the strength and verdure of their Youth And can there be a greater instance given then of the deceitfulness of Sin and of the bewitching power it has over the common Sense and Reason of Mankind than we have in the vain promises of Repentance in old Age wherewith so many flatter themselves and by which they seem to hope to render God propitious to them Is any kind of Folly so great in its Degree or so dangerous in its Consequences as this For Mortals to lull themselves asleep in Sin and sing a stupifying Requiem to their Souls while they hang on the brink of eternal Perdition when their vain Hope has merely this uncertain foundation That there is a bare possibility that
Counsel and would none of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as Desolation and your destruction cometh as a Whirl-wind When Distress and Anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledg and did not choose the fear of the LORD They would none of my Counsel they despised all my Reproof Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own Way and be fill'd with their own Devices For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of Fools shall destroy them How will you bear such a dismal Sentence as this O with what Terrour will it strike your guilty Souls especially when you are under the Apprehensions of approaching Death or bowed down under the burden of Age What will you do in those Days of Evil when the Iniquity of your Heels shall compass you about When your Bones will be full of the Sin of your Youth which shall lie down with you in the Dust When the Terrours of God shall strike your Consciences and all your past Life shall accuse and condemn you When the Heaven shall reveal your Iniquity and the Earth shall rise up against you When your Flesh upon you shall have pain and your Souls within you shall mourn Tho Wickedness be now sweet in your Mouths and you therefore hide it under your Tongues tho you spare it and forsake it not but keep it still within your Mouths yet it s luscious Taste shall be turn'd into bitterness in your Bowels and into the Gall of Asps within you Is it not better to repent early than to be reduc'd to mourn despairingly when 't is too late When the Almighty shuts out your Prayers and when a fire is kindled in his Anger that will burn to the lowest Hell when he that made you will not have mercy on you and he that form'd you will shew you no favour If once that dreadful Day overtakes you each of you will then lament his Folly with the saddest Accents of Sorrow and Anguish and turn upon himself with indignation and fury saying How have I hated instruction and my Heart despis'd reproof And have not obey'd the Voice of my Teachers nor inclin'd mine Ear to them that instructed me And bewail himself as our Blessed Lord did Ierusalem when he wept over that unhappy City crying O that I had known even I in that my Day the things that belonged unto my peace but now they are hid from mine Eyes Now consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver If you now begin to entertain serious Thoughts of Religion to stir you up further to this great tho miserably neglected Duty of remembering your Creator in the Days of your Youth let me entreat you to consider two or three things 1. That God has been often pleas'd to dignify them with special Marks of Honour in his Church who have honour'd him by the early dedication of their Youth to his Service and has render'd their Services as eminent in the World as their Piety has been early and exemplary As the forward Piety of Ioseph kept him uncorrupt in his tender Years amidst the evil Examples of his envious Brethren so he was blessed with the largest share in the Affection of his aged Father And tho his Zeal for their Reformation render'd him the Object of their Hatred as well as of his Father's Love yet the Divine Providence wonderfully prosper'd him and gave him favour in that strange Countrey whither their unnatural Malice had exil'd him And as he there preserved his Chastity when it was try'd after so extraordinary a manner that it was become impossible for him to keep himself Innocent without incurring the Odium of being reputed Guilty as well as enduring other severe Punishments So the Purity of his untainted Soul who rather chose to be accounted Vile than to be so was afterwards strangely clear'd up by the Wise and Gracious Providence of the Almighty and his injur'd Name celebrated with the highest Honours of the Court of Egypt The Just and Holy God whom he serv'd having endow'd him with a Prophetick Gift of interpreting Dreams and by that Divine Skill open'd a way for his advancement from Prison to ride in the second Chariot of the Kingdom So that he became a Prince and a Father to that Nation whither he was brought a Stranger and a Slave and proved the happy Instrument not only of preserving Multitudes of People from the Rage of a tedious Famine of seven Years continuance but also of nourishing his Father's Family in that time of common Calamity And by this means he had the honour of the most obsequious Addresses of those very Brethren of his that had been his Persecutors and at last had the God-like Pleasure of melting them into a deep Conviction of the unreasonableness of their Enmity against him by the most endearing Caresses and sweetest expressions of Brotherly Love and Tenderness and the satisfaction of that truly generous and innocent kind of Revenge of overcoming Evil with Good Thus God was pleas'd to reward the eminent Piety of his Youth by making him the Darling of his Providence and to lay the foundation of his Glory in those Sufferings which were the proof of his Vertue Samuel a young Votary to the Service of God in his Tabernacle as he grew up became the Favorite both of God and Men So eminently was he anointed with the Spirit of Prophecy and that in a Time when the Word of the LORD was very precious that all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that he was established a Prophet of the LORD That Piety which season'd the tender Years of David render'd him according to his Name so BELOVED both of God and Men that God was pleas'd to fill him with a Prophetick Spirit and both God and Men thought good to choose him to wear a Regal Diadem The supreme Ruler and Arbiter of the World was pleas'd to reward his forward Zeal for Him by raising him from the Fold to the Throne and by making him exchange his Shepherd's Crook for a Royal Scepter so that from a Feeder of Sheep he became both the Prophet and King of a mighty Nation the sweetest Psalmist and most valiant Prince of Israel Religious Iosiah who began to reform himself at Eight Years old and to reform the People under his Government before he had exceeded Twelve was honour'd of God with the happy accomplishment of that glorious Reformation in the Kingdom of Iudah when he could scarce write himself Man having seen the Light but Eighteen Years and had the earliness of his Piety signaliz'd by the Delay of those Judgments that
Ierusalem was threaten'd with till the expiration of his Religious Reign God was pleas'd to honour his early Zeal with a peculiar protection given for a Time to the Nation under his Conduct for his sake and would not fill his Reign that was so famous for his Piety with those Scenes of Horrour and Misery which darken'd the Times of his unhappy Successors The Divine Compassion would not suffer him to see that City stain'd with the Blood of its Inhabitants which he had been so industrious to purge from Superstition and from the Worship of Idols And as his Life was honourable to himself and of the greatest advantage to his Subjects so his Death was attended with their solemn and universal mourning an Honour which was refus'd to his profane Successor and his Funeral celebrated with the Lamentations of a great Prophet and his Memory preserv'd fresh and eternally fragrant in the sacred History of the Kings of Iudah As Iohn the Baptist first devoted his Youth to the picus Meditations of a retir'd Life and then to the publick Service of God in his Generation So he was invested with the honorary Title of MESSENGER to the Messiah to prepare the way before him who says he was not only a Prophet but much more than a Prophet and that among those that had been born of Women there was no greater Prophet than he The early Piety of Timothy who was well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures from his Childhood was honoured with the most endearing Love of the great Apostle of the Gentiles and with an eminent Station in the Church of God wherein his prudent and Religious Deportment secur'd his Youth from Contempt and made the Apostle give him that singular Character to the Philippians when he assures them that he had no Man like-minded who would naturally care for their State The beloved Disciple is reported to have been very young when proselyted to the Doctrine of Christ and perhaps this was not the least occasion of his being made the Bosom-friend of his Divine Master Nay most of those who were dignified with the sacred Office of Apostleship seem to have been converted in the Flower of their Time by several Circumstances of their History in the Gospel and by the many Years some of them spent in Travels and other hard Services and Sufferings after the Ascension of our Saviour On the contrary we find not like Instances of Persons being call'd to such eminent Services for God and receiving such distinguishing Marks of Honour from him in old Age after a flagitious Life almost quite wasted in the sordid Drudgery of Sin What a generous Emulation then should these illustrious Examples we have mentioned kindle in the Breasts of you that are Young With what an Holy Ambition should they inspire you to become the early Candidates of Religion Who knows in what eminent Services it may please your Maker to employ You And who knows what signal Favours and Tokens of his Divine Love he may confer on you if you consecrate to him the first of your Strength and the best of your Time But the Example which of all others shines with the greatest Glory and communicates the sweetest Influence that is most capable both of raising your Wonder and of exciting your Imitation is that of our Blessed Redeemer who came into the World to teach us by his Life as well as to save us by his Death He was pleas'd to honour the Youthful state of Life by passing through it in the Days of his Flesh while he dwelt with Men and did not defer his Father's Work to old Age a Stage of Life which he never vouchsaf'd to enter on in his very Childhood he wax'd strong in Spirit was filled with Wisdom and the Grace of God was upon him His Soul advanc'd in Divine Knowledg as his Body did in Stature and so he grew in favour with God and Man At Twelve Years of Age he was found reasoning with the Iewish Doctors in the Temple with that Sense and Understanding that amaz'd all the Auditors and with that Zeal that became him who made it his Delight to be about his Father's Business All the time he liv'd amongst Men may be properly enough call'd the Time of Youth for there 's reason to conclude from his History in the Gospel that he accomplish'd the whole of his Work before he was advanc'd much beyond Thirty Years And what a glorious Example does his short Life present us a Life without spot or blemish without the least sign of any inclination to Sin without the least shew of Injustice or Uncharitableness towards Men or the least appearance of Disobedience or Indevotion towards God Nay a Life spent in the greatest Acts of Charity to Mankind and in the highest Elevations of Piety to his Father A Life that consum'd it self in the Zeal of his House that expir'd in a Sacrifice to the Glory of God and for the Salvation of the Souls of Men. So that you have not only the Precept but the Prescription too of your Creator to engage you in your Duty He by whom you were made by whom you are preserv'd by whom alone you can be restor'd from a state of Sin and by whom you must be finally judg'd was pleas'd to assume humane Nature to be made Man in all things Sin only excepted on purpose to exemplify the Duty in our Text by his Life as well as to conquer Sin and Hell by his Death And since he calls you to learn of him to bear the Yoke to which he meekly condescended to bow his own sacred Neck in his tender Years surely 't is good for you to stoop to that Yoke in your Youth too Ought you not to apply your selves as well to his Example for Direction as to his Sufferings for Salvation And is it not both for your Honour and Interest to be conformable to that blessed Life that was first taken up to instruct you and then laid down to redeem you 2. Consider how small that Oblation is which is requir'd of your hands when your whole Life is claim'd as the Right of your Creator seeing 'tis but a part of it that can be directly and immediately offer'd to him The Secular Affairs that the Necessities of your Bodies engage you in and Sleep together with the other Reparations of Nature that are requisite to make those frail Tabernacles Tenantable divide between 'em so great a share of the Time of Life that 't is but a little portion of it that can be allotted to Pious Exercises how soon soever you apply your selves to the practice of 'em and will you grudg your Maker this small share of your Time for the whole of which you entirely depend on him Can you think much to allow a part of every day to Devotion to the immediate Service of God and for the Welfare of your Souls when he allows you
see such a one weep at a transient glance on Death and Iudgment in a Sermon or at a general reflection on the Sufferings of Christ for Sinners while the cered Consciences of those that have been long harden'd in Sin hold proof against the most pathetick and awakening Discourses of the certainty of Death the dismal Circumstances that attend a Sinner at the approach of it and the great consequences that depend on that amazing Change or against the most lively description of the most Cruel and unexampled Sufferings wherewith our Blessed Saviour was tormented for our Redemption That makes no impression on the Adamantine Heart of the latter which is often found to effect a deep compunction of Mind in the former and the Eyes of the one can hardly be kept open by a Discourse that dissolves those of the other into Tears The affections of Fear and Hope Ioy Sorrow Compassion and the like more easily move the tender Minds of Youth and consequently make way for lasting impressions of Piety to the purposes of which these Affections when guided and regulated by an enlighten'd Mind do mightily conduce 4. The Zeal and Resolution which the warm Temper of Youth enages them in for what they embrace renders a thorough Conversion to God more easy to them than to the old who by having either tasted much of the Afflictions of the World themselves or by having been Witnesses to the Miseries of many others often retain so terrible an Idea of Worldly Troubles that the Mortification and Self-denial prescrib'd to the followers of Christ gives them a strange disgust for a strictly Religious Life Besides the abatement of their natural heat and vigour a good degree of which is useful to any great enterprize makes 'em with the Sluggard continually complain of a Lion in the way But the Young who have not been so baulk'd with Disappointments nor felt or seen so many Miseries and who have also a great sense of Honour and are commonly ambitious of high Atchievements and disdain to have their Attempts defeated are hereby dispos'd more readily to take up the Cross of Christ and to fight the good fight of Faith that they may lay hold on Eternal Life Add to this that that Disease of Covetousness that so often attends the Aged who from experience either in themselves or others of the difficulty of getting and keeping and the danger of losing and the inconveniency of wanting the things of this World become more tenacious of them then when they are nearest the unavoidable necessity of parting with them that this Disease I say which is the root of all evil which is Idolatry and therefore opposite to the true Service of God and which renders it almost impossible for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven does not so usually reign amongst the Young who are rather apt to run into the contrary extreme so that their motion in the ways of God is not clog'd with this dead weight which so mightily incumbers those whose Hearts have taken deeper root in the Earth Thus we see how much more easy the Work of Conversion is likely to be when we engage in it in our tender Years than if we defer it to Old Age. But all this while I would not be thought to make the work of Conversion consider'd as the Act of God who alone can turn a Soul from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to himself to be more difficult in one Subject than another for all things are equally possible to him but I have hereby made an Essay to shew that the Heart of an old Sinner is a Subject much more untractable and obstinate in it self than that of one who by reason of his Youth is yet but a Novice in Vice That the work of Mortification and Sanctification is commonly begun with less difficulty and carried on with more ease and speed on the Young than on the Old and that a greater degree of Grace is necessary to reform the latter than the former and whether the Almighty will grant such an extraordinary measure of his Grace to one that is grown old in wickedness may well be doubted as we shall shew hereafter Since then the work of Conversion is of the greatest consequence as it is for our truest interest both in this World and that to come certainly it ought to be perform'd in Youth seeing that is the most seasonable Time as will further appear 2. In that much Good is lost and much Evil contracted by deferring our Conversion to Old Age but much Evil on the contrary is prevented and much Good obtain'd through the Course of our days by an early turning to God 1. Much Sin is prevented and consequently much Spiritual good obtain'd by an early Conversion which will appear to be no small advantage For seeing Sin as it is directly opposite to the pure Nature of God is the worst of Evils and seeing the Excellency or Vileness of a Creature is to be measur'd by its likeness or contrariety to God who possesses absolute perfection in himself it necessarily follows that nothing can so deform a Creature nothing can so defile it nothing can debase it so much and set it at so great a distance from Excellency and Perfection as Sin does It must then certainly be our Interest to break off our Sins by an early Repentance since every sinful Act and much more a continuance in a course of Sin does so much corrupt debase and deform the Soul And if we desire the meliorating of our Nature and would become more excellent Creatures than we are instead of degenerating and becoming worse It highly concerns us to begin early to extirpate that which has strip'd the Soul of much of her Intellectual and which is worse of her Moral Excellency and will render her by so much the more Vile by how much the longer we indulge it and to devote our selves betimes to Religion and Holiness which is the principal Beauty and Glory of a Rational Soul and that which chiefly makes a Man resemble his Creator 2. Much Sorrow and Trouble is hereby prevented and much Ioy and Pleasure obtain'd and secur'd For tho' some Examples may be found of Wicked Men who in respect of their Temporal prosperity for a little Time may be said to spread themselves like a Green Bay-Tree not to be in Trouble like other Men and to have more than Heart could wish Yet God does not leave himself without witness of his Displeasure against Sin in that he often wounds the heads of his Enemies and the hairy Scalps of them that go on still in their Trespasses by signal Judgments in this World as all Places and Ages can testify Nor has the Divine Providence been wanting to signalize the Righteous by frequent Instances of peculiar Temporal Blessings which it has conferr'd on them However the Anguish of a guilty and self-accusing Conscience which the Wicked