O blessed and treble blessed is that Soul that is early married to its Saviour betimes espoused to Christ as its Husband Head and Lord. Now therefore is the time to gain and flourish in Grace which is the Earnest of Glory to set up the Kingdom of Christ Luk. 17. 21. within you as ever you hope to be admitted into his Kingdom above you § 3. An early practice of Piety and Religion will bring you the greatest comfort A pious Youth makes a joyous old Age. Age is a time wherein we are to solace our selves with the remembrance of our forepast life to feed upon the spiritual stores upon the graces comforts and Experiences which your former godly and Religious course of life hath gained you For this reason 't is that Solomon sends the young sluggard to the Ant or Pismire to learn prudence which gathereth her food in the Summer Prov. 16. 6 7 8. and layeth up her store in the harvest If you sleep in harvest sloth sin away the summer season what will you live upon in winter will not spiritual want and poverty pinch you in old age But if thou art Religious in thy youth diligently carefull to lay up a stock of grace and vertue a store of prayers and good works in thy youth then thine old age cannot but be attended with joy and comfort peace and plenty You say usually you must work when you are young to keep you when you are old 'T is true here you must work the works of God and of Religion while you are young to support you comfort you and keep you from despair when you are old Do but think what peace what comfort an old man can have who is about to leave the world and hath all the sins of his youth flying in his face following at his heels and waiting when death shall give them an opportunity to accompany him to Judgment When he shall remember that in his youth he forgat God and spent the prime of his years in the Devils service in ryoting and drunkenness chambering and wantonness in strife and envy I say what peace what comfort can he now reap of those things where of he is ashamed where with his conscience is terrified and soul wounded How loath is he to leave the world how unwilling and afraid to die How doth his aged heart ake his shrinked flesh tremble to think of Death and Judgment Who can express the horror and disturbance of his mind when his Reason tells him he is too weak to live and his Conscience that he is too wicked to dye Whereas when a man can truly say and his conscience bears him witness when he is old that he hath laid out his youth and strength for God in the practice of piety and service of his Saviour when he can now say he hath made Religion his business the glory of God and his own salvation his main work and design in his youth when in a word he can say with old Hezekiah Lord Isa 38. 3. remember that I have walked before thee in truth and with an upright heart what an heart full of comfort what a mind full of peace what a soul full of joy shall that man have in old age even in death it self How chearful may such an old Simeon sing his Nunc dimittis Lord now let thy servant depart in peace for I have sought and the eye of my faith hath seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared for me Therefore if you would be joyous when you are old be Religious while you are young Qualis vita finis ita As is your life such shall your end be To me to live is Christ to dye is gain saith the great Phil. 1. 21. Apostle And 't is the righteous hath hope in his death saith Solomon And you deceive your selves if you think you may live vitiously and yet dye happily Holiness in youth is the Tree upon which the choyce fruit of Comfort in old age alone groweth § 4. As it will bring the most Comfort so it deserves the greatest Honour To see young persons following Christ by an holy and heavenly life 't is honourable and deserves the gteatest commendation It is written in the Gospel that when Christ heard a young man say he had kept the Commandements from his youth he loved him to shew how God loves the early obedience and devotion of young ones to himself To speak in the Scripture language God honoureth such for they greatly honour God and them that honour me will I honour saith the Lord. Yea and God makes 1 Sam. 2. 30. more account and takes more notice of a little goodness a little holiness and obedience in a young person than of a greater measure in him that is elder When Jeroboams child was sick God sent him word by 1 King 14. his Prophet that his child should dye and that he only should go to the grave in peace of all Jeroboams family because in him was found some good thing towards the Lord. There could not be much good in him being but a child and bred up in Idolatry too yet because some good was found in him being so young God took a liking to him and shewed his acceptation of him by conferring that favour and honour upon him above all the Family that he should goe to his grave in peace And Solomon tells you that Religion carrieth length of Pro. 3. 16. dayes in the one hand and honour and dignity in the other and she will conferre it Pro. 4. 8. upon thee she will bring thee to honour and the Lord honoureth them that fear him saith David where Fear is put for all Religion Ps 15. 4. and Worship towards God and those that devote themselves to him by an holy fear will God honour And the sooner you doe this the greater love and honour the greater favour and esteem will God have for you Yea as it will procure you honour from God so from all good men Religion and piety is the Image of God in man and wherever a good man sees this he cannot but honour it and those that bear it St. Paul writes to his Romans to shew singular respect to Andronicus and Junia as persons of Note upon this Rom. 16. 7. consideration because they had the happiness and honour to be in Christ before him And surely 't is the greatest honour and happiness in the world to be early in Christ early in the Covenant of grace Is thy Servant in Christ is he Religious and devoted to God he is more honourable than thee his Lord and Master who art irreligious and out of Christ and shall be preferred before thee in the favour and esteem of God both in this world and that to come Nay Religion will make you honourable even in the eyes of the wicked Jehoram a wicked King honoureth and waiteth upon a Religious Elisha proud Herod reverenceth the holy Baptist Piety is a silent
then choose the pleasures of sin for a season for a few dayes and refuse the pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore Suppose I were now tumbling and trembling upon my dying bed under a cold sweat my eyes set my heart fainting and my breath departing as it must and will be with me a few days hence should I then choose Hell before Heaven should I say then God damn me Lord reject my soul for evermore or this rather Lord Jesus receive my spirit Lord take me to thy self in glory would I then say Lord never let me share in thy mercy or Lord have mercy upon me Lord let me be a companion for the Devil and his Angels in regions of darkness and devouring burnings to all eternity or Lord let me enter into the new Jerusalem the City of the living God the Church of the first-born to the communion of Saints and the spirits of just men made perfect Which of these states would you then choose § 3. Why sinner the former of these is that which you choose now who choose the ways of sin and service of Satan You choose wrath and damnation the company of Devils exclusion from Heaven the place of bliss and the fullest the furthest separation and distance from God the chief good and center of all happiness And is this the choyce you will make in the end when you come to dye No God forbid then reflect and consider a little and be not rash but serious I beseech you in these great things If Heaven be better than Hell life sweeter than death if glory be more desirable upon a dying bed than misery and mercy than wrath why should not the way to mercy and glory be better than the way to destruction the way to life more pleasant to you than the way to death Why should you not choose the way of Religion and holiness now and enter upon it presently this day before the next since you are convinced you must come into this way before you dye or you can never be saved And since you purpose it hereafter and talk of repentance and holiness hereafter why have you any such thoughts or purposes at all but that you are convinced 't is the way to Heaven and that you shall choose the end of this way when death comes And why should you not refuse shun hate and avoid the way of sin now when you are convinced in your consciences you shall be loath to receive the fruit and end of that way when you come to leave the world Certainly wicked men have no reason on their side The Apostle saith Great is the mystery of godliness truly I may invert his words and say Great is the mystery of wickedness For I can see no reason nor do I think any man upon serious thoughts can render any good or solid reason why he should choose the way of the wicked rather than the way of the upright to follow the Devil rather than Christ and to walk in the paths of sin rather than the way of Religion Only men will do it so they are sinful and wicked and will be for ever miserable and wretched because they will fulfilling that of the Prophet their destruction is of themselves 't is wilfull destruction 't is chosen damnation § 4. Therefore young men for whose sake principally I undertook this little work take for a close that of the Prophet Say unto the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Isa 3. 10 11 Woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him And sit down and consider it till you have brought your hearts to a firm belief of the truth of it There are but two wayes wherein all the men in the world are travelling the way of Sin and the way of Righteousness But two Leaders whom they all follow Christ or the Devil But two places whither they all tend Heaven or Hell And know this direction and exhortation is from the Lord though handed to you by his unworthy servant and if you deny me you therein deny him and if so the time is coming and will come when he will deny you And dare any of you deny the Lord and say as those wicked ones to the Prophet Jeremiah Jer. 44. 16 17. As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken to it We will not forsake our sins we will not follow Christ nor be tyed and bound to such circumspection and holiness as his followers are and as his Word requires But we will do whatsoever proceedeth Jer. 18. 12. ceedeth out of our own mouth do our own devices and walk every one after the imagination of his own evil heart And are you content and willing God should take you at your words and for ever give you over to your own hearts lusts to walk in your own wayes and after your own counsels Are you willing from henceforth to give up all your hopes in Christ your hope of Heaven your hope of Life Salvation and eternal glory and to be damned for ever in another world why this is the choyce you are put to either to live an holy life or to be for ever miserable after death either to submit to the Yoak of Christ or never to receive benefit by the Cross of Christ to kiss the Scepter of his Mercy or fall by the sword of his Justice either to follow him in his Kingdom of Grace or to be eternally excluded his Kingdom of Glory There is no other way but these two One of these you must choose The summe of all is you must repent or perish and follow after Holiness or never see the Lord. Religion is the only way God hath made to Heaven and if you never walk in the way you can never come thither And assure your selves I can have no other end or interest to aim at in taking any pains to perswade you to be good and to be sincere followers of our Lord Jesus Christ but this His glory and your salvation which to aim at is doubtless your Interest as much as mine and if all that I have written cannot convince you 't is so 't is but a few days more and Death and Judgment shall Gloria Trinuni Deo sine Fine THE Young Man's Monitor OR A POETICAL PARAPHRASE Upon the XIIth Chapter of ECCLESIASTES The PREFACE Eccles XII i. Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them YOung man remember in thy youthfull age Thy Great Creator and betimes ingage Thy Soul and body both with all thy might To do him Service e're the sable night Of frightfull death approach or evil day Of old decrepid age wherein you 'l say There is no pleasure nor a will to work Youth 's
grace in your hearts and your hope of glory in Heaven none can take from you and therefore whatever you lose of worldly wealth for Religion shall be abundantly recompensed in things of an higher nature else that divine promise must fail Jesus answered Mark 10. 29 30. and said Verily I say unto you there is no man hath left house c. for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time and in the world to come eternall life Whence you may make this Orthodox Parodox no man ever lost by Christ who was a loser for Christ Then for your Liberty though men should cast your bodies into a Prison on Earth yet they cannot cast your Souls into the prison of Hell If they should throw you into a Dungeon they cannot shut Christ out of that Dungeon or hinder the light of his countenance from shining there If they take away your Civil liberty they cannot take away your spirituall liberty They may exclude you Gods House and publick Ordinances but they cannot debar you the throne of Grace Keep Friends from you they may but cannot hinder God from visiting of you with the sense of his love and pledges of his divine favour which will make the closest prison a delightfull palace And as to Life it self know that though men may kill the Body Math. 10. 28. yet they cannot kill the Soul The argument our Saviour useth to perswade you to fear God more than man So that suppose the worst that can come that men do go to the uttermost link of their power which is to kill the body why dye you must and dye you may while you are young and can you dye upon a better account than for Christ and for Religion certainly none in the world dye with more peace and comfort with greater joy and triumph over death than they that dye Martyrs for Christ dye for the sake of Religion and a good conscience So that all the wrong the enemies of God and his truth can do you is with John Baptist and St. Steven to give you a quick passage to Glory and send you with the more speed to Heaven to Christ Jesus which is far better I beseech you therefore resolve upon it to follow Phil. 1. 23. Christ and secure the salvation of your immortal souls whatever it cost you Hearken to none of these objections of Satan against Religion For if once he can prejudice you against what is good he will soon by another assault draw you to the practice of what is evil CHAP. IV. Several Temptations of Satan whereby he seeks to draw young persons to his own service the service of sin § 1. SAtan having bid fair to barr you off from what is good his next attempt is to allure you to evil Being prejudiced against Gods Service he prompts you next to his own In which method as he is very subtil so oft-times very successefull As he that would gain another mans servant to himself decries the service he is in as laborious slavish and unprofitable and withall commends his own as full of and attended with all good properties so doth Satan to gain souls not only reproach and discommend the Service of Christ but cries up and applauds his own Five objections he hath made against Religion and the practice of it and he hath as many temptations drawing to the way and practice of sin the first whereof is this § 2. 1. The delight and pleasure of it nothing so delightfull and pleasant as sin none enjoy so much pleasure and content as his servants Will you take it saith Satan upon the word of David who was forced to acknowledge this and to leave it upon record in Divine Writ that my servants are prosperous there are no bands in their Psal 73. 1. to 7. death but their strength is firm They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men Their eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish Where do you find such a commendation of Religion or the service of God as David here gives of my service saith the Tempter And huge cunning he is in the management of this temptation that it may take effect For he labours what he can to conceal from your eyes those more excellent pure spiritual delights and pleasure which Religion procures to the Soul both here and hereafter And withall hides from you the sting and bitterness of sin covers the hook guilds the pill that the sorrow the vexation and torment which sin will procure to you in the conclusion may not be descerned nor so much as once seriously thought of He would not for a world could he prevent it you should read and believe that of Job Thou Job 13. 26. Eccl. 9 11. writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth Or that caveat of Solomon Rejoyce O young man in thy youth walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment Lest you should know and consider how dear you must pay at last for sin and so be discouraged from his service And still to give his temptation the greater force he represents the delights of his service the pleasures of sin as present that they may be had daily and without difficulty and so secret too as no mortal eye shall take notice of you Such sins and sinful delights may you enjoy and indulge your selves in and no body e're the wiser You may be frequent and bold in them none can know it or call you to an account for it All which is marvellous taking hugely tempting What present pleasure and private too sweet delights and secret too who would refuse them And that he may be sure not to fail of his end he hath yet a farther stratagem that is to plough with your own Heifer to joyn with the lusts of your own hearts with which he holds a secret correspondence to propose such objects and wayes of sin as are desirable and suitable to your natural temper and inclination He knows 't is the pleasure of sin you are betwitched with As Eve of old was captivated with the pleasantness of the forbidden fruit so her children Gen. 3. 6. and posterity are naturally taken with the same bait This therefore is the first commendation of his service and first temptation to sin the delight and pleasure of it 2. Now to resist and overcome this temptation be prevailed with to take into your serious thoughts and remembrance what follows That the pleasures of sin how full and fair soever Satan represents them are really low mean empty thin and unsatisfying Solomon gives you the summe and full of them in few words and that upon experience Childhood and Youth Eccles 11. 10. are vanity that is the delights and pleasures of that age
particular prediction of any of the Prophets But an Historicall relation of what befell this young man and consequently may befall any who will be faithful followers of Christ in a day of trouble Which History St. Mark records for two reasons First to shew the truth of Christs saying That the servant is not greater than his John 15. 20. Lord and if they persecute me they will persecute you Which saying he bids them remember Secondly to discover the Malice of Christs enemies whose rage and malice against him was such that a bare suspition to be of his party to be one of his followers was enough to bring a man into eminent danger of his life So that it had been Impossible for the Apostles to have escaped their Violence had not the Divine power of Christ preserved them for that great work to which He had assigned them For seeing this young man following of Christ they laid hands on him and 't was a narrow scape he made from them I shall not enquire who this young man was concerning whom there are different opinions But onely note his action bespake his affection to Christ for he followed him followed him in bonds left all to follow him and that when his own Disciples v. 49. 50. the great Preachers and first professors of his Name fled away and forsook him All which circumstances duely weighed and put together may make up a demonstration of love and affection And what this young man did is the duty of all young ones to doe viz. to follow Christ that is to be truely Religious according to their Baptismal Vow and the Gospel which they prosess and own To govern themselves by the rule of righteousness endeavouring to answer the hope they have through Christ of future glory and the many and great obligations Christ hath laid upon them to duty and obedience And to convince you young men that this is your duty and to draw you to the speedy and sincere practice of the same is the end of this small Essay and undertaking Since I am equally concerned for the good of your souls with those that are Elder The soul of the Child is as pretious as the soul of the Servant The soul of the Servant of as much value as the soul of the greatest Lord or Master And when I consider the general Corruption and loosness of this age and think how many lie in weight to seduce young ones some to Popery others to open profaneness and debauchery the high way to direct Irreligion and Atheism I judged it greatly needful in my place and capacity to give warning to discover and shew you your danger and to prevent it by exciting you to your duty If possibly I may save some of your souls or at least clear my own Ezek. 3. 8 19. For when I read and meditate on those words of the Lord by his Prophet When I say unto the wicked thou shalt surely dye and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life the same wicked man shall dye in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand Yet if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way he shall dye in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy soul I tremble as well to think what will become of those Watchmen that warn not as of those people who are warned and regard it not Now though this Essay speaks more directly to you that are younger yet the matter of it may be suitable and profitable to all both old and young For when Elder persons hear how much it behoves young ones to be religious they may rationally conclude it highly concerns them to be so much more who according to the Course of Nature have less time to spend and are so many years nearer to Death Judgment and Eternity than the former I shall therefore intreat your regard to what you read in the Psalmists Compellation Young Men and Maidens Old Men and Children mind the Word of the Lord which like the rain falling upon the Earth shall accomplish the end for which it is sent either to soften or harden to be either a savour of life unto life or a savour of death unto death to every Soul that reads it And that my words may make the better and deeper impression I shall press your duty in this Method 1. Shew you that 't is your duty to be Religious in your Youth 2. Urge the Utility and safety of it 3. Answer the many Cavils or discouragements that Satan wicked men or your own corrupt hearts doe or can make against it 4. Shew the Reasonableness and excellency of it 1. It is the Duty of young persons to follow Christ to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and to make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof To be religious mindfull of God and the well-being of their own souls both in this and another world Hence 't is that the Wise man so frequently calls upon young men to hear instruction to learn wisdom and the Eccles 12. fear of the Lord and to Remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth that is know love fear and serve him for words of knowledge in Scripture imply Affection and Practice Love and Obedience Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandments Deut. 8. 11. and his Judgements which I command thee this day so that not to keep the Commandments of God is to forget him and to do them is rightly to remember him thus Solomon requires thee to remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth while thou art strong vigorous and best able in all the faculties of thy soul and parts of thy body to do good service So that Question of David Wherewith shall a young man Psal 119. 9. cleanse his way hath the force of a command to cleanse and free your wayes from all uncleanness unrighteousness perversness and crookedness and to make them direct upright straight and holy according to the Word And in the judgment of Jeremiah this is the proper season for obedience and subjection It is good for a man to bear the Lam. 3. 27. yoak in his youth Whether you will understand it of Jugum crucis the yoak of divine Chastisements or Jugum precepti the yoak of Divine Precepts which is so heavy and irksom to the generallity of youth who cannot bear restraint or limitation no not from God himself Liberty liberty they are all for this not considering that deteriores omnes sumus licentia we are all the worse for taking more liberty than God allows And men never meet a more certain and speedy ruine than when they follow their own Wills So true is that Proverb of ours Wilful persons never want woe Yet as heavy a yoak as this seems to be young men you must take it up sooner
are vanity yea vanity of vanity And can you be satisfied with a bauble with an ens fictum with the meer notion of a thing nay they are not only empty and unsatisfying but sensual and brutish And though these delights may a little gratifie your sensual appetite yet they can never satisfie the rational part of man his soul The Devil and lust may promise fair and pretend full satisfaction to the mind in the commission of such a sin but ever fall short in the performance I ask the greatest Epicure the most voluptuous person that is in the world and if he will be true to his own experience let him tell me 1. Whether he ever found that pleasure and satisfaction in any vice that Satan promised and he expected Let the sin or vice be what it will yet did it ever yield that pleasure in commission that it did in speculation 2. Whether the choycest of his sinfull pleasures hath not in a little time brought trouble and weariness to his spirits 3. Whether this trouble and weariness is not more grievous and irksom than ever the sensual act was pleasant and delightfull 4. If amongst the choycest and chiefest of his delights in which as he conceives he finds most sweetness and pleasure he should have but one delight without variety and change whether that delight would not soon lose its nature and become a very torment and burden to him As suppose the Drunkard were alwayes bound night and day to his cups the Glutton to his table the Sluggard to his Bed the Miser to his Bags or the lascivious Wanton to his Minion would not this be more irksom than delightful and would not his former contentment become a continual torment Therefore these pleasures are unsatisfying the reasonable part of man the soul cannot sit down or rest contented with them nor with any thing else beneath God by whom and for whom it was created 2. Though this temptation is of great force yet before you strike the bargain and engage your selves to the Tempter sit down again and consider a while the shortness of these pleasures and you will find them upon this account very inconsiderable They are but for a season What Heb. 11. 25 the Apostle saith of some meats is true of all the pleasures of sin they perish in the Col. 2. 22. using Some perish in the enjoying and those that are most durable quickly flee away Like a cloud or vapour if not blown away by the wind of adversity they quickly vanish of their own accord If the stormy wind of outward affliction doth not suddenly puff out the fancied blaze of the young mans joy yet the dayes of old age are drawing on Eccles 12. 1. in which he shall say he finds no pleasure Or to be sure so soon as the hand of death shall give the tree of life a shake these fair blossoms fall all at once And there will be none of these delights in another world 3. Before you make too firm a contract with this boasting Master 't is good to know what Wages he gives And that he may not decieve you take it from a better hand than his The wages Rom. 6. 21 22. of sin is death death that is opposite to eternal life Death that compriseth all in it that is wofull and miserable more sorrow than ever you had joy greater pain and torment than ever you found pleasure or contentment in the wayes of sin Believe it young men sin in the temptation hath a different aspect to what it hath in the reflexion In the former it looks pleasant and fair in the latter horrid and foul For besides the stings and lashes that sinners have in their secret retirements when they are under affliction or under any danger or apprehension of death and judgement there are many intolerable and remediless horrors to follow in another world as the proper consequents and just wages of a sinfull life which miseries if they were but as obvious to the sense now as the pleasures of sin are they would be infinitely more powerfull to take you off from sin than all the temptations of the Devil are or could be to draw you to it And methinks men who call and profess themselves Christians should walk a little by Faith and not wholly by sense and believe future things as certain upon the Divine assertion and revelation as if they really were and and you already felt them Which if you really did the Devil could never perswade you to forsake God who rewards his servants with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory to serve 2 Cor. 4. 17. him whose wages are present shame and sorrow and hereafter a far more exceeding and eternal weight of misery § 2. Next to this he thinks it not amiss to recommend his service to you for the Glory and Vtility of it 1. As to the Glory of it nothing saith Satan gains men such repute and honour in the world as this He hath his cursed Angels and Agents to commend vice with the highest Elogiums and those that are most bold and daring and can arrive to the highest pitch and degree in sin shall have the greatest accumulations of honour and highest acclamations of bravery of spirit Who bear greater sway or obtain fairer plumes of honour in the world than my followers A suggestion mightily taking with Young men unless they shall consider That Sin hath no repute except it be among the vilest persons the Devils own servants and drudges whose esteem of it renders it the more abominable and odious You never heard any commend swearing drunkenness whoredom covetousness or any vice but such as lived and allowed themselves in the practice of it whose commendation makes them and their sins the more vile And were there such real repute and credit in sin what need is there to put it under the mask of vertue to render it acceptable why is this but because any vice appearing in its proper and native hue and owning its right name seems monstrous and shameful The holiness of God is his most glorious perfection and therefore sin which is directly contrary thereto can have no real glory in it And that is the glory of a man wherein he resembles God and whereby he gains favour and esteem with God and is this by sin Doth not God behold sinners afar off and hate all the workers of Iniquity and doth not all the repute and glory men get by sin and impiety end in the greatest shame and ignominy can that deserve the name of creditable and glorious which dishonors God abolisheth his Image in man defiles the soul besots the reason enslaves the whole man to the prince of darkness and inevitably brings upon all the practicers of it eternal contempt and reproach in the day of the Lord Jesus Surely then Satan saith more of his service than the sinner can ever expect to find 2. Nor doth it yield that Utility or
his long home and the mourners go about the streets BEfore thou be afraid of what is high And causeless fears now in thy way do lye Before the blooming of the Almond tree And the Grashopper shall a burden be Before desire fail because man must To his long home that is return to dust The Mourners fill the streets with hideous cryes And make them eccho their sad Elegyes PARAPHRASE BEfore thy Health and Strength are so far spent That thou shalt tremble at the least ascent Time was you could have over mountains run Climb pyramids as if you 'ld fetch the Sun From his Celestial Orb or meant to trace Some other Planet in his nimble race But now 't is otherwise you stoop and bow Creep on all four looking down below And if but one of all the four do stumble You tot'ring stand and in a moment tumble And when thy crasie body's down it lyes Looking for help but hath not strength to rise Hence 't is the smallest stone or straw or Hill That 's in thy way thy way with fears doth fill The Almond Tree doth flourish gray hairs sit Thick on thy head as blossoms do on it Those Church-yard flowers make thy head as white As Mother Earth is in a snowy night The Grashopper the lightest burthen tires Thy old and crasie bones All thy Desires Of pomp and pleasure fail the Mourners meet And pensive walk together in the Street Because thine age doth tell them that the Grave Hath got one foot already and must have The other shortly one step more and then No tears or groans can call thee back ag'en Remember thy Creator c. VERSE VI. Or ever the Silver Cord be loosed or the Golden bowl be broken or the Pitcher be broken at the Fountain or the Wheel broken at the Cistern BEfore the Cord of Silver lose its strength The Bowl of Gold be broken or at length The Pitcher from the Fountain broken go Or Wheel be broken at the Cistern too PARAPHRASE BEfore the Pith or Marrow of thy back That heretofore could bend and yet not crack Could burdens bear and ne're complain or winch Be weak and loosed with an aged wrinch Before the Pericardium of thy brain Being broke and shatter'd thou turn child again While yet the Veins and Vessels do impart The Spirits to the Fountain of thine Heart VERSE VII Then shall the dust return to the Earth and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it FOr when these cease thy Spirit takes it's flight To God and bids thy body now good night So thy day 's ended now thou must return A lump of Ashes to thy lasting Urn. The Conclusion VERSE VIII Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher all is vanity THus thou hast Reader in a rustick strain The wisemans counsel What doth yet remain Are strong and well fram'd Arguments to prove His counsel seasonable and to move Thee to the practice of it One doth lye In the eighth verse that all is Vanity This was the Preachers text when he * Eccl. 1. 1. began And now he hath quite through his subject ran He re-asserts and doth with vigour cry Sirs I have prov'd it All is Vanity Riches and Honours and whate're the world Ver. 8. Affords are quickly into nothing hurl'd Its pomps and pleasures sensual delight Like Vanity do vanish when the night Of death approacheth or the evil Time Of aged darkness clouds thy youthful prime Nor doth the wiseman speak at random hee Had paid for counsel e're he counsel'd thee He sought it out and after doth dispense This spirit'al physick on experience Ver. 9. By Physick rules his Physick is the best It hath affix'd a true probatum est And that 's enough For though he could have writ No doubt whole Volumes on this Subject yet He gives the reason why he doth forbear ' Cause multitude of Books a burden are Ver. 12. A burden unto him to write to you To read a burden Wherefore Young man now Take all in brief thy Maker that 's above Ver. 13 14. Fear honour his Commandments keep and love The Motive to inforc't is this in Summe That thou must dye and unto Judgment come O aeterna Veritas vera Charitas chara Aeternitas tu es Deus meus ad te suspiro die nocte August Soli Deo Gloria Sine FINE A Plain and profitable Dialogue between a Sinner and Time Sinner THough Time be bald perhaps he is not dumb Would'st thou but stop Old Time I would have some Discourse about thy Person and thy Glass Thy Sythe and Foretop Pray before thou pass Give me but leave in a few words to try Whether thy self know'st what they signifie Time Ask what thou wilt I 'le answer as I walk But I ne're did nor now can stand to talk Sinner Why art thou bald Old Man what hast thou wore All off with age except that lock before Time No 't is an Hierogliphick that doth teach If time 's once past in vain it is to reach An hand out after him that you must meet Him as he comes if past you cannot greet Your Goods may be confiscate Money lent To Hucksters Houses burnt Estates quite spent You may imbrace a stinking Dunghil then Job 2. 8. Job 42. 10. As Job once did recover all agen But men or Angels cannot once repay To you the loss of one Month Week or Day Nor can one minute past e're be recall'd And that 's the meaning of my being bald Sinner But why do Eagles-wings adorn thy Glass To manifest how suddainly we pass From birth to death Or do they represent Our Swifter flight from hence the sand being speâ—â—… Time Yes 't is a lively Emblem that doth show How swift man 's few and sinful hours do go Not go but run run that 's too slow they flye Well said the Wiseman then a time to dye Eccl. 3. 2. And to be born there is but mentions none For life e're he could write it that was gone When Hezekiah's Sun and Moon 't is said And as some think his Stars were retrograde Full ten degrees and Joshua's Sun did stand Still in the Heavens still the nimble sand Of flying Time continued running They Who lived then could not for that long day Reckon themselves one day or hour younger Nor did it make their lives one minute longer But as the Glass continues running 'till The last sand drops so passeth Time and will Not step one minute back for high or low The Glass once run ready or not you go Where Time shall be no more but swallowed be Up in the Ocean of Eternity Thus miserable man you understand Why I this Glass do carry in my hand And though no Looking-glass yet maist thou see By it how short thy sinfull dayes may be Sinner What means thy crooked sweeping Sythe hast thou Taken the field of the whole world to mowe Time Yes that I have and will not let a