facile in our youth And hee that shall compare the severall advantages which age and youth have each of other in matters of Religion will finde perhaps that it is no paradox to maintain against the great Philosopher that Iunenis est magis idoneus auditor moralis and divinae Philosophiae too that a young Timothy is a fitter Auditor of a lecture of Divinity than an old Nicodemus Age I confesse to give it its due honour hath many prerogatives of youth Age is coole and temperate those hot pursuites of vain delights if grace restraine not wee see in time nature itselfe forbeares Age it is stayed and resolute good courses well begun it will hold on though the hand bee hardly drawne unto the plough yet the eye will not suddainely looke backe againe Age it is wise and experienc't and having made frequent triall of the fickle unconstancie of all things under the Sunne can now truely say of laughter Thou art madnesse and that all the glory of the world it is but vanity and vexation of spirit Lastly Age it is sickly and craz'd and daily draweth onward nearer to the grave we see the tongue no not of men and Angels to be so powerfull an Orator to proclaime unto us Dust thou art and to dust thou must returne as but one dumbe fit of a disease ALEXANDER whom in his health all the World could not perswade but that a GOD hee would needs be upon a wound receiv'd seeing the blood come could then humble his conceit jam sentio me mortalem and now I see saith he that I must dye so that the old man dayly seeing that death which may be neare unto the young man cannot be far off from him is the more easily perswaded to prepare himselfe for the more easie passage when it comes These indeed are great advantages of age and yet perhaps the young man hath farre greater For first Youth it is bashfull and modest and modesty saith the Philosopher if it be not a vertue it is vertues companion And thus much Christianitie also seemes to acknowledge when wee say of a man that is not yet past shame that surely he is not yet past Grace For shame oft-times it is the Guardian of Grace and many sins there are for the forbearāce wherof even the best Soules are sometime as much beholding to their modesty as to their Religion But age you know it is more bold and daring and therefore oft-times for want of vertues companion vertue her selfe proves wanting and the losse of shame becomes the ruine of Grace Againe Youth it is alwayes subject to controll hath a Father a Mother a Tutor a Master or if all these may fayle yet old age it selfe wee see if for no other cause yet because old it challengeth a kind of Fatherhood over all youth and if but old ELIES gentle reproofe Nay my Sonnes why doe you such things it leaves some impression in the Soule But age 't is uncontrolable Rebuke not an Elder it is the precept in the Text and ELIHU in IOB conversing with his Ancients though they gave him just cause of speech and reproofe too yet you see how long hee layes his hand upon his mouth before ever hee durst speake so that wee see oft-times the greater is the old mans libertie the greater also is his licence Againe youth it is more free and generous in all dealings of the world liveth nearest to the best law of nature Do as thou wouldst be done unto not so ready to defraud and yet more readie to restore But Age it is penurious and griping and now come in those cruell times of extortion and oppression Quocumque modo rem a man will transgresse even for a peece of bread Lastly and that which is the maine advantage youth it is like golde soft and pliable if soone bent soone set to rights againe but age it is like Iron sullen and stiffe Youth indeed it is more heady but tendermouth'd but age it is more headstrong if it flie out it will run its course the old mans Motto is like that of PILATE Quod scripsi scripsi Hee will have his will Sinnes of youth they are but ill dispositions but sinnes of age they are commonly ill habits Here the flesh turneth Traitor and rebelleth against the Spirit but there it turneth Tyrant and commandeth In the dayes of our youth GOD patiently standeth at the doore of our hearts and knocketh and when hee hath spoke once and twice though wee regard not hee will not yet presently leave us nor forsake us but when once thirty or forty yeares long he hath beene grieved with a rebellious and gaine-saying generation in the end his patience turneth to anger What could I have done which I have not done and so gives them over to a reprobate sence Thus then you see the young man also hath his advantages and indeed what ever precedence our age can chalenge of our youth it is then onely to be found when the old man ploughes with the young mans heckfer For then it is no wonder that the incomes of our age multiplying upon the stocke of our youth should make the fairer revenew but set the comparison right and then thus much I dare boldlie say that whereas in these dayes of ours whereof out of zeale I presume to make them better wee wrongfully complaine oft-times as if they never had beene worse many rare and vertuous young men are not perhaps so rare to bee found yet I thinke it is almost a miracle to see a very good old man who never began to bee good till hee was old If then vertue be so hard a taske as to excuse our vices wee are all too easilie perswaded to beleeve surely in all discretion wee are to make choyce of the fittest season to attaine it and that I have shewen you are the daies of our Youth For let sinne have but its course a while and if you will not beleeve me Saint AVGUSTINE shall tell you what will be the issue Ex voluntate perversa facta est libido Confess lib 8. cap. 5. dum servitur libi dini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudini non resistitur factu est necessitas From a perverse will which naturally wee all bring into the World arise sinfull desires and while we humor our desire custome layes hold upon us and while this custome is not controld it proves another nature Heere then you see the difficulties of Sinne they are like the waters mentioned by the Prophet begin at the ankles rise to the knees thence to the waste after to the neck till in the end they overwhelme us Were it not better then at the first to venture over shooes then at the last over head and eares and therefore while the waters are yet low and passable before the overflowings of ungodlinesse shall too much fright our soules let mee commend unto you that Item of our SAVIOUR but upon a better errand Quod
not onely for feare of our day of death but out of some respect also even unto the day of judgment with the wife Virgins to begin betimes to prepare oyle ready for our lamps seriously oft times to catechise our soules w th the like question of the Psalmist Wherwithall shal a yong man clense his wayes and make answer with my Text Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth In the handling of which words three things I shall breefly commend unto you First I will propose some reasons and motives to perswade the young man to be thus mindfull of his Creator Secondly I will remove those excuses which all youth for the most part are ready to pretend for the neglect of this duty Lastly I will close up all with some short and usefull remembrances which may serve to imprint and fasten this so necessary duty into the meditation and practise of our Soules In the handling whereof though I have here a young man onely to remember yet you shall see no age shall be forgotten to begin then with the first Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth and even for this cause in the dayes of thy youth because thou knowest not whether ever thou shalt live till thou art old For the life of man it is as a Shadow and our dayes are now but a spanne long nay even this short measure as by sad experience wee have too frequent triall wee see so much contracted as that wee injoy oft-times but some few inches even of this Spanne neither Few and evill are the dayes of our Pilgrimage heere on earth have wee now more reason to complaine then IACOB had Now because our dayes are evill wee had need to remember our Creator to amend them because few we were best doe it quickly lest we forgetting him he may prove too mindfull of us and in his justice cut off those few dayes of ours wherein wee have beene so evill as not to flie unto his Mercy And hence is it I should think that St. IOHN in his first Epistle doth so often stile the Saints of GOD by the name of little Children My little Children these things I write unto you Little children keepe your selves from Idols little children it is the last time not onely to expresse his fatherly and tender affection over them with whom like PAVL hee did even goe in travaile till CHRIST should bee formed in them not onely to teach them gentlenesse and humility and that hee that will enter into the Kingdome of Heaven must first stoop to the confession of the Psalmist LORD I am not high minded but even as a Child weaned from his Mothers breast so doe I behave my selfe but even in this respect also to let us understand by reason of the shortnesse and uncertainty of the life of man that even from our Childhood wee are to be trayn'd up with the childe SAMVEL to minister unto the Lord girt with a linnen Ephod while our garments are yet white and spotlesse that both Body and Soule too may as it were hand in hand grow up from strength to strength till of Children wee become perfect Men and atteyne unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of CHRIST For wee are all by Nature the children of wrath all lyable to those everlasting chaynes prepared for the Divell and his Angels and as long as this state continueth wee may complaine with REBECCA I am weary of my life and wee may sit downe with IOB and curse the day that wee were borne in and can we then think any time too soone to begin to make an agreement with our adversary by the way by our Prayer our repentance our faith in the washing of the Bloud of IESVS get the hand-writing of tne Law cancell'd and washt off that as with PAVL and SILAS in the Prison our fetters may fall away and of the children of wrath we may be redeem'd into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of GOD. For was it not madnesse in PHARAOH when as the Frogges were now swarming in the Land in his Court in his Bedchamber in his bosome and MOSES came kindly to him and when sayth hee shall I intreat for thee to destroy these Frogs was it not madnesse I say to put him off and bid him come To morrow Surely wee would thinke even but that one nights torture hee would have redeem'd rather though with the one halfe of his Kingdome and are not our Sinnes as noysome companions as those unwelcome guests of his When then our conscience like Moses shall say unto our Soules when shall I intreat the Lord to destroy these sinnes should wee not be more mad then Pharaoh did we reply To morrow no To day if you will heare his voyce harden not your hearts For the life of man as it is sweet so it is short too and though but one onely way wee have into the world yet many out Whether this or that shall be our end whether sooner or later it shall come this is a secret which GOD hath purposely reserv'd unto himself that so wee may ever be prepared for that from which we can never be secure Let us not then put off necessary duties to uncertaine times let us not turne Prodigals in our youth in hope of I know not how many yeares are yet to come to cry Peccavi in our age For what know wee but that even in the midst of our jollitie when we shall say unto our soule Take thy ease and be merry what know wee but that even then we may be arrested with a Thou foole this night shall thy Soule be taken from thee and then as the Tree falls so it must lye Quid enim saeculi potest esse diuturnum Ambros in Luc. lib. 4. cap. 5. cum ipsa saecula non sint diuturna For why should wee presume of our life or any thing else to continue long in this world when as the world it self hath not long to continue Secondly Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth because though thou wert sure to live and wert resolv'd to sinne when thou art young yet thou art not sure to repent when thou art old and therefore why shouldst thou venture on a certaine disease upon so uncertaine a remedy For the Grace of GOD it is like the Poole of Bethesda and cureth but at set times and therefore with the Cripples in the Gospell we must waite all opportunities and call upon the name of the LORD not when our selves at leysure shall bee pleas'd to seeke after him but when hee in his mercy will vouchsafe to be found of us Indeed some Examples wee finde in holy Scripture of men who have made but a short passage unto Heaven and having not set forward toward CHRIST till they came unto full yeares have yet liv'd to overtake him before they came unto the grave The Thiefe we reade it in the Gospell in one and the same day
for the sinne of man yet like the Sheepe before the Shearer hee opened not his month and how then dwels the patience of CHRIST in us Lastly if wee put off the chiefe care of our Soule till the last houre our prayer our repentance and strict examination of our wayes and thinke in the meane while that a Lord Lord a formall devotion will suffice we know that CHRIST spent whole nights in prayer and in the anguish of his soule and that for the sense of our sinnes sweat even drops of blood and how then dwelleth the devotion of CHRIST in us Those are quaeres able to startle a good soule and surely would we let passe those deceivable examples which from the frailties of men too indulgently oft-times we propose unto our selves this man will doe thus and that man thus and strive more nearly to square our actions according to this infallible patterne in my Text a world of sinnes there are wherewith the World through custome is now almost uncontroullably full fraught which we should then be as farre from any desire to commit as now I feare we are from any intent to amend and having receiv'd at first though but a sparke of grace wee should in time so kindle and inflame it as that like IOHN Baptist it might prove a burning and a shining light by which light we might then easily discover our owne happinesse and say with IOB Now I know that my Redeemer liveth But some men perhaps will heere reply as the Patient once did to the Physitian prescribing him to keepe a good dyet if I had meant saith hee to keepe a good dyet I should never have need to come to you for Physicke pray tell me how I may keepe an ill dyet and not bee sicke so you will say perhaps wee al know already what good wee must doe and what grace we must have that we may be saved but pray tell us what evils we may doe and what grace wee may want and yet bee saved May we not sweare a little ryot a little and if our beloved sinne bee but little one may not our soule flye thither and yet live But first I pray tell mee what sinne is there which any man dareth cal little which without repentāce is great heavie and enough to weigh him down to Hell Indeed so great is the mercy of God as that we finde a pardon oft times given to great sinnes but where ever doe wee finde before-hand a dispensation given to the least God sometime upon the fore-sight of our repentance antedates his pardon Thy sinne is forgiven thee saith Nathan unto DAVID though it is thought the solemne repentance for this sinne was afterwards perform'd but shall we therefore upon the fore-intendment of our repentance antedate our sin Surely if you would give me a house full of gold I dare not tell you so For this quaere is as if a man should aske how high may I fall downe headlong before I breake nay necke or how often may I stabbe my self before I be wounded unto death Surely because a little wound oftimes proveth dangerous or at leastwise full of paine a wise man will not rashly cut his skin and if skin for skin and all that a man hath hee will give for his life how diligent and tender ought to bee every mans care for his owne soule Quae insania est Salvian ad Eccles Cathol lib. 2. ut non quanta potes omnino facias cum ignores penitus quid tibi competat ad salutem What madnesse is it for a man not to take the best care he can for his soule when as he knowes that after all the care which he can take even the Righteous shall scarce bee saved Let us not then presume to inquire how farre we may suffer sin to abound Be we never so carefull to suppresse it sinne will abound too farre but aske rather how farre must grace more abound to obteyne the forgivenesse of our sinne and when we see what high patternes of obedience are every where in holy Scripture propos'd unto our imitation the perfection of the Father the grace of the Sonne the fellowship of the Holy Ghost the Communion of Saints and Angels may these great examples dayly inlarge our indeavours and as long as wee can never hope to doe what wee ought let us never cease to doe what we may Now then to draw all to a conclusion We reade in this Chapter of a two fold fulnesse in CHRIST there is a fulnesse of truth and a fulnesse of grace fulnesse of truth wee have reveal'd in holy Scripture and from hence truth for truth wee are able to communicate each to others but fulnesse of grace this is Gods praerogative which he reserves onely to himselfe and grace for grace what man ever durst take upon him to bestow Fulnesse of truth is the religion of the soule furnisheth the eye the eare the tongue the head but fulnesse of grace this is the soule of our religion and drawes all unto the heart fulnesse of truth it is a diligent MARTHA and provideth many commendable things but fulnesse of grace this is the devout MARY and bringeth the maine necessary part this is the pearle which though wee should sell all that we have to buy will buy a thousand times more then wee can sell this is the oyle which cheereth the countenance the wine which makes glad the heart of man and with a good conscience keepeth a continuall feast This is comes in via pro vehiculo the most gentile and faithfull companion in the world which whē wealth when honor whē strength when wit when speech when sense when life it selfe shall faile will yet never leave us nor forsake us I beseech you then as wee cannot but all thankfully acknowledge that we have already receiv'd the religion of the soule truth for truth let us dayly implore from Heaven the soule of our Religion grace for grace grace upon grace even the grace of our Lord IESVS CHRIST that having given us an understanding head hee would bee pleas'd to create in us a new heart and renew a right spirit within us that when with the sighes and groanes of this spirit from the bottome of this heart we shall call and cry unto him Abba Father hee may graciously make answer from Heaven I will be unto thee a Father and thou shalt bee to me a Sonne Amen Serm. IV THE FOVRTH SERMON ECCLES 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth WHen I read the saying of St. IOHN My little Children this is the last time the time saith St. PAVL even of the end of the world consider withal that it is now neare 1600 yeares ago since this caveat was first given surely me thinks wee that live at the end of this end at the last period of this last time have now great cause together with the end of the world evē daily to bethink our selves of our own end and