can you think when you are capable your interest by your Parents can avail you any thing against your own personal rejection of God No not tho' Abraham were your Father if you should finally shew your selves rather a generation of Vipers Which we have great hope God will mercifully forbid But if Englands Youth should generally tho' not all at once as they come not to be such all at once against their Baptismal Vow cast off God here is an intercision of the line and an end of the relation between God and us If therefore you love your Country you will love God and study to please and serve him with your whole heart If you love your Prince you will do so for would you have him to be yea would you make him the Head of a destitute People forsaken of God And how would you propose to your selves to live your days and spend your time in the World without God What in eating and drinking and pleasing your Flesh till you dye would you not take it for a scorn and ignominy to you if one should tell you you were born for no higher purposes and are capable of no higher But how dare you think without knowing and becoming specially related to the God of your lives of dying and passing into an unknown World Peruse seriously the ensuing discourse that we longer detain you from it 〈◊〉 if it signifies any thing to your better preparation for Death and Judgment and in Order thereto to your holy and more useful comfortable life on Earth It will answer the Authors Design and with his the desires and prayers of Your Affectionate Friends and Servants in our Lord. JOHN HOW V. ALSOP ERRATA PAge 6. l. 2. r. grateful p. 11. l. 9. r. have right p. 12. l. 29. dele did l. last r. of a p. 17. l. 15. l. differences p. 19. l. 23. ad ye p. 21. l. 16. r. younger years p. 24. l. 29. add to p. 31. l. 2. dele and p. 3. l. 7. r. exquisite p. 32. l. 5. r. montentany A Funeral-Sermon Ecelesiastes XI 9. Rejoyce o young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment NOtwithstanding our manifold advantages for serious Religion in our younger years and the contrary inconvensences of deferring it to old Age or an indefinite hereafter our frequent warnings by the death of others to provide for our own and the unspeakable hazard of a sick-bed Repentance yet how apt are most persons in their youth and strength to forget their Creator and themselves too to indulge to carnal mirth and sensual delights as supposing by a fatal prejudice and mistake That obedience to God would introduce melancholly destroy the chearfulness of conversation and spoil the sweetness of human life and thereupon refuse to bestow a serious thought about Religion and another World till God by sickness or an hasty death summon them to appear before his Bar Upon which account it cannot be thought unnecessary or unseasonable upon all occasions to mind young persons of their sin and duty their snares and dangers their latter end and final judgment What at this time directed my thoughts to such a subject is not unknown to divers present viz. The death-bed Repentance of a young man lately deceased who for some time past attended this Lecture I hope at length with some seriousness and profit tho' at first he came only with a design to carp and sooff as with great remorse he told me in his last sickness And therefore if there be any now come hither upon the same errand and with the same thoughts I pray God command their attention for otherwise it would be in vain for me to beg it and accompany his own Word with a powerful efficacy to their hearts to convince their judgments and perswade their wills and awaken their Souls that they may go away with other apprehensions and resolutions than they came hither as this deceased Penitent once did whose Repentance and Funeral calls loudly to us all to consider this Apostrophe of the Wise man in the Text Rejoyce o young man in thy youth and let thy heant chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment For the coherence of these words with the preceeding Verses we need only observe that Solomon in the former Chapters having given many excellent rules for the quieting of our minds and the comfort of our lives under all that vanity which he pronounc'd upon this World he comes in this Chapter to exhort us to prepare for another For when all is done that can possibly be effected in order to a contented and a happy life yet he tells us that our life it self is vain and transient our death inevitable and that the days of darkness will be many vers 8. and then confutes that unreasonable inference which the young Epicure is too prone to make from such premises deriding his foolish pretence and plea by an Ironie and yet endeavouring to awaken his Conscience by declaring the certainty of an after-reckoning and by a solemn citation of him before Gods Tribunal For to this purpose we may suppose the young sensualist to retort the Argument Are all things vain Is life uncertain and death and darkness near let me then enjoy the light as long as I can let me indulge my appetite and please my sences and gratify my lusts and make the best improvement of this vain this short uncertain life Have I but a a little time in which to enjoy this world Let me not make it shorter by a Stoical reservedness lot me not lose this day least I never have another but eat and drink for to morrow I may dye To which suppos'd Objection the Wise man answers in the Words I have read Rejoyce o young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth q. d. Let it do thee good and bring thee joy be as merry as thou canst and take all the satisfaction thy lusts can procure if thou think it best and most adviseable to do so Walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes q.d. Being resolved upon a short life and a merry baulk nothing which thy lust doth flictate deny thy self no thing thy foolish heart can wish or thy senfual appetite may crave But know for certain a day of reckoning is at hand when God will call thee to an account for thy sensual lusts and youthful follies However now thou maist stifle the convictions of thy Conscience by repeated debauches and lewd company however now thou maist make a shift to drown the sentiments of a reasonable Soul by the noise of riot
encourage them yea to make them rejoyce Do they sometimes Mourn with a godly sorrow yet may they still rejoyce since to consider the end and effect of that sorrow will give it a mixture of Joy And even their penetential tears do but clear their eyes to look up to Heaven with delight and comfort and enable them the better to read a pardon And here it were easy to shew how their Faith and hope and love how their humility meekness and patience their contentedness with God's allotment their resignation to his Will their satisfaction in his Choyce their well pleasedness with his Order their preparedness for every Condition their diligence in their callings their moderation in the use of lawful things and their innocency and harmlesness in their carriage and behaviour towards others do all contribute to a chearful and a joyful life Therefore well might the Psalmist tell us that the Righteous shall be glad in the Lord Psal 64.10 and all the upright in Heart shall Glory And well might our Lord advise his Disciples not to be lifted up with the gift of Miracles but rejoyce rather that their names were written in Heaven Luke 10.20 And well might the Apostle command Christians to rejoyce not by an Ironie as Solomon here speaks to the Young Man but in the most real and proper sense Rejoyce in the Lord always yea and again I say rejoyce Thus much for the first General 2. Let us consider in that the Wise-man directs his discourse to the Young Man in perticular we have thence a plain intimation that of all others young persons are most apt to neglect the fear of God and be unmindful of their Maker through the temptation of sensual pleasures and youthful lusts Tho' God demand his right as soon as we are capable of understanding it and to serve the Lord from our youth is but just and reasonable considering that so great a part of our life is already cut off by our Infancy and Childhood tho' the longer we delay the greater difficulty shall we meet with when ever we set about it tho' our whole life at longest as soon as we are capable and as long as we did live should be devoted to God and 't is all little enough if we consider its relation to our Eternal State tho' the sooner we begin the more welcome we shall be and the more acceptable our Obedience yea tho' an Early piety be the only hopeful method to prevent the hazard of a sudden death and the terrible reflections of old age and the intolerable pangs a death bed remorse yet such is the power of Original Sin in young persons such and so many are the snares of youth and those so agreeable to their vicious inclinations such the force of prejudice Such the artifices of the Devil and so prevalent the perswasions of evil Company they are usually so proud ignorant and unexperienced so rash hasty and unadvised and so easily infected with Sadducism and the principles of Infidelity so loth to assent to any such premises whose conâ—lâ—sion will infer the nessessity of changing their present course that they of all others do most need a serious admonition to remember their latter end and final Judgment least through the temptations of Sensual mirth and pleasure they put the evil day far from them For alas how seldome do we consider in Youth what we are and why we were made or what is our business in the World and what will be the end of our present course Whereas one thought of God and our last Judgment methinks should be enough to drown all other thoughts as the noise of a Canon doth that of a Whisper Sense is so prevalent and Reason so weak we are so much inclined to the one and so unwilling to be led by the other that roys and trifles sports and recreations and the vanities of fools and Children possess our hearts and employ our time not looking behind us to what we have either done or been nor before us whither we are going and what in all likelyhood will be the period of our present mirth and the sad Catastrophe of our Youthful lusts Young persons will hardly be convinced but that Now is their season to be brisk and Jovial having time as they count to command and the World before them that it is time enough to think of Death when they are arrested by sickness or wither'd by old Age let them be concerned about another World who are leaving this their bloed now is warm and their Spirits nimble their senses are quick and their passions strong they will walk in the way of their own hearts and in the sight of their eyes and ordinarily split upon that Rock of Evil company where so many thousand Vessells at their first launching out have dasht in pieces Besides their Age is most inviting to the Devil to bend his chiefest forces against them rather than against Children or Aged persons the former not being capable of making a choice and the latter being fix'd and resolv'd in their way his principal endeavours therefore are levell'd against Youth to draw off their hearts from God and Holy things and to divert their thoughts from the consideration of Death and Judgment which would otherwise restrain and check them in pursuit of their lusts And this brings me to the Third General to consider 3. That for all these things God will bring us to Judgment And therein what Arguments the thoughts of a future Judgment may rationally suggest to damp the carnal mirth of young persons and persuade them to remember their Creatour in the days of their youth And to inforce this Argument I might here mind you of the mischief you will do to others by an ill example and of the aggravation of your sin by employing the best of your time in the service of the Devil which must needs make judgment more terrible in that your final doom the consequences of it will be more severe I might tell you the sooner you repent the more hopeful is your case in reference to a pardon I might largely describe the happy influence of an early Piety with respect to the future part of our lives to direct our choice and govern our actions and prevent a great deal of Sin and shame sorrow and repentance I might mention the comfortable reflections in Old Age upon a well-spent life our capacity of greater Service to God now and our assurance of a weightier crown of Glory hereafter with all the other considerable benefits that have respect either to a safe and happy life a comfortable Old Age and a peacable Death or a joyful Resurrection and a blessed Eternity all which will come under the Argument in the Text and what I shall say of it may be compriz'd under the following particulars 1. Let young persons consider that notwithstanding their present mirth and jollity yet the Judgement of God is infallibly certain It is an
An Exhortation to Youth to prepare for Judgment A SERMON Occasion'd by the Late REPENTANCE AND FUNERAL OF A Young Man Deceased September 29. 1681. ECCLES I. 12. 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 LONDON Printed by J. G. for Benjamen Alsop at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry MDCLXXXI TO John Bawdon Esq SIR IF either the Preaching or publishing of the following Sermon may be any way useful to promote the great design of doing good if the seriousness of the Subject or the weight of the Instance that gave occasion to it may awaken any one Soul to prepare for his final judgment I know you will heartily rejoyce and bless God with me and as readily pardon my defects in the management of so important a Theme and the rather since I indeavoured only to convince and perswade an attentive Auditory consisting mostly of young persons without the least intention of appearing in Print as knowing very well that what may be acceptable to a Christian ear when pronounc'd from the Pulpit doth often fail of being so when perus'd afterwards by a critical eye However the Impression once consented to I ought to address it to no other name but yours being Conceiv'd and Born in your House as well as Preacht in your hearing especially when 't was proper for me to prefix an example of the Connexion between seriousness and chearfulness For having discours'd somewhat concerning the Mirth and Joy of a Christian Life as well as of the unreasonableness and vanity of sensual pleasures it seem'd necessary to confirm that Truth by a lively Instance And were there nothing else to recommend the practice of Godliness but that tranquillity and peace of mind that calmness and serenity of spirit which follows a good Conscience and is the only true ground of a chearful conversation the argument were very pressing But I need not mention this save to let you see the excellency of your choice and thereby incourage others to make the same And none Sir that understand my obligations to you and to your excellent Lady will judge me guilty of the usual flattery incident to such Dedications if I take this first opportunity to avow my Debt of Gratitude and Honour to you both And such I must profess it as is exceeded only by the Duty owing from Children to their natural Parents my loss of whom your respects and kindness have in great measure undeservedly supplied I have only to add that as the mention of your Name will doubtless invite many to read the Sermon who would otherwise be apt to throw it by so I am told I shall lose other Readers by concealing that of the person on whose account it was Preacht To which I have this to say that his name and quality his life and Conversation the circumstances of his sickness and his temper and expressions on his deathbed are sufficiently known to obviate the least insinuation of a Forgery as to what I have related concerning him And as to what I have not recited the Readers benefit would be as unconcern'd in the publication as his curiosity is like to be dissatisfied if he expect any other Reason of its concealment I am Honoured Sir Your most Affectionate Most obliged Humble Servant JOHN SHOWER TO THE READER WE reckon it a piece of justice to the Author of this Sermon to believe and according to that belief to testify that the occasion it self did against his own inclination extort from him the publication of it For when the conflict was only between the Modesty due indeed to his years on the one hand and sence of Duty on the other upon the concurrence of a general Obligation and a present discerned opportunity to promote the eternal good of Souls the determination of the matter this way could not seem difficult to an impartial unbribed Conscience Whither the Discourse it self the occasion and all circumstances taken together have any aptness to serve that end must be left to the Judgment of such as shall read and consider with whom the Discourse must speak for it self And what it had reference to will we cannot doubt appear not very considerable only but be highly grateful also to all Pious and Good men For tho' the Sermon import a relation to a Funeral the Death of the Person had nothing in it so mournful as his Repentance to Life will have with it of Satisfaction and thanksgiving to God with all that are of a Serious and Religious inclination Nor can it enter into our thoughts that any to whom that Character belongs will behold the instance of a Soul as Christian Charity will believe rescued out of the Snare of the Devil and translated to Eternal Bliss with a slight or much less with an evil eye only because it was not by their means or not by one in all things of their mind and way Or that what is the Joy of Angels can be the Offence and Grief of good men It is surely not possible they can be so fatally divided between Paul and Apollo and Cephas as utterly to forget our higher common Relation to Christ For do we not all know we were Baptized into his Name and not of this or that imagined head or Master of a Sect But though that transcendent Relation be not quite forgotten there is too much cause to apprehend and lament that it is not remembred and considered enough And to reflect on it as one provoking cause of God's with-holding his Spirit in so great part from the Ministry of his word and of the consequent paucity of Conversions and abounding wickedness of the time that there is so great a proneness in many to subject the sacred Ministry to the serving of some private mean design more than that of the common Christian Cause and Interest to proselite men to themselves rather than Christ and make them more exact Formalists of their own Mould and Fashion rather than good Christians To teach them rather to deny or embrace this or that frame and set of Rites and Ceremonies than to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World And more earnestly to inculcate and press upon them the things wherein we differ than the unspeakably greater and more momentous things wherein we are agreed and whereof the Dead Carnal dissaffected heart of man far more needs the most earnest inculcation It may well be apprehended the Holy God will be jealous in this case And while we heartily joyn not and do not accept and rejoyce in each others help and concurrence though in somewhat different methods which for the present we cannot give remedy to in the pursuit of his ends we have no reason to think it strange if he leave us to labour in the Fire and weary our selves to no purpose in the pursuit of our own
or bring the pleasures of the flesh to banish the presaging fears of thy immortal spirit however now thou maist flatter or delude thy self by the principles of a Sadducee or please thy senses by the practice of an Epicvre yet for all these things God will bring thee to judgment q. d. Whither thou wilt or no a scrutiny shall be made into thy past actions and an account must be given of thine ill spent life and for all the vanities of thy youth and the sensual pleasures that now entice thee God a terrible and a righteous God will bring thee to his judgment-Seat And it follows v. 10. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart by avoiding sin which is the cause of sorrow and put away evil from thy flesh for childhood and youth are vanity From the words may be collected these Three General Heads of Discourse as comprehensive of the sum of the Text. 1. In that Solomon makes use of an Ironie and so in mockery and derision bids the young man rejoice we may take notice that sinful mirth and sensual pleasure is no real and substantial joy fit for a wise man to choose It hath but the appearance and the name of joy for what is truly so is nowhere to be had without the fear of God and the faithful keeping of his Commandments 2. In that he directs his discourse to the young man in particular we have a plain intimation that young persons of all others are most apt to lay aside the fear of God and forget their Creator through the temptations of sensual pleasures and youthful lusts 3. Because he tells the young man that even He must come to judgment as an argument most proper to damp his carnal mirth and jollity and put a check to his pursuit of youthful Lusts We may hence observe in what respects the consideration of a future judgment hath any force of Argument to perswade young persons to stop in their cours of sin and to remember their Creatour in the days of their youth As to the first I shall divide it into Two Branches and so consider 1. That the carnal mirth of sinners hath but the appearance and name of joy being exprest by an Ironie while on the contrary they meet with trouble and sorrow and dissatisfaction in pursuit of their lusts 2. That the life of a serious Christian in the fear of God and the keeping of his Commandments is the only chearful and merry life 1st That sinful mirth and sensual pleasure hath but the appearance and name of joy Doubtless the thought of Joy carrieth Argument with it to allure as that of sorrow to disswade on which account we are commonly averse to serious practical Religion in our younger years as supposing it would interfere with all the pleasures of human life and doom us to a perpetual mourning melancholick state whereas the Irony in the Text may let us know That while we walk in the way of our own hearts and in the sight of our eyes we deceive our selves with the shadow of Joy and the name of Mirth 'T is true he bids the young man here rejoyce and let his heart chear him but it is in perfect scorn and derision as knowing well that all his mirth and chearfulness must be false and spurious vain and causless less in quantity and worse in quality than the rejoicing of an upright Christian For as to sensual mirth so greatful and infecting to the generality of youth either it depends upon their Company Prov. 23.29 which sometimes begets quarrels and wounds without cause or proves not suitable to their humour or else ariseth from a particular temper of Body heighten'd by meats and drinks and more than ordinary Diet and so hath more of the Beast than of the Man and by consequence must needs be of a short continuance or else is the sole effect of youth and so will undoubtedly decay as they advance in Age. However it is in it self contemptible and base as feigned and not sincere as appearing and not real as vain and without foundation as mational and without a cause and not contemptible only in it self but likewise in relation to the Subject the inferior part of Man and much more in reference to the Object of their carnal mirth when 't is not only senfual but forbidden too and as truly so in regard of the Duration also since it is easily disturb'd and quickly gone How can it be imagin'd that a course of sin can give a Man any solid mirth when the Men themselves are at such a vast expence of care and pains and trouble of unavoidable fear and shame and anxious thoughts either to contrive or to accomplish or to conceal their wicked purposes and practices so that I need not ask that question concerning the joy of the Epicure which Job doth of the Hope of the Hypocrite Job 27.8 what is it when God shall take away his Soul But in the mean time what is it now what mirth and joy have they for the present who must rack their brains and stretch their fancies and employ their most solicitous and concerned thoughts how to make provision for their lusts Rom. 13.14 and then must baffle their reasons and debauch their Consciences actually to enjoy them For oftentimes a troublesome Conscience says so many rubs in their way which they know not how to remove starts so many objections which they cannot answer makes so many doubts and Scruples which they know not how to resolve and overcome that if they will venture upon the sin it must be even in despite of themselves Sometimes the very contrivance of their sins gives them sufficient uneasiness and trouble to spoil their mirth such previous thoughtfulness being necessary to frame the model to fix the time to design the manner and to order the circumstances of some impieties and sometimes the wickedness it self is its own punishment Look upon the young sinner swelling in pride or burning in lust or drowning in sensuality consider him rackt with impatient desires and burthen'd with unavoidable fears least his attempt be unsuccesful or least he be disappointed in the secrecy of the enjoyment and his shame and folly publish'd to the world And yet this is the merry life of the sensual Epicure Besides when by a custom and continuance in sin the Devil is in full possession and Lust upon the Throne what Tyranny doth it exercise and what a blind obedience must the sinner yield How often are you forced to declare that you approve of that which your mind condemns how often do you subscribe to that as true which you know to be false and so run headlong against the light of nature and the checks of Conscience and surrender Soul and Body and all to the will of Satan and the command of an imperious domineering Lust Now what mirth or joy can consist with such a servitude yea while you weary your selves to commit iniquity Jer. 9.5
of outer darkness Beside 't is the sate of many the nearer they approach to Death that the less apt they are to believe it and so perish in their security and are totally unconcern'd about a future judgment But supposing the free use of Reason and an awaken'd apprehension likewise of what refers to their Immortal Souls and their Eternal abode I then add 5. That if through the inticements of youthful lusts you now neglect to prepare it is very probable and you may justly fear it that your passage by Death to this Judgment of God will be very uncomfortable and full of horror whether repentance on the brink of the Grave after a a wicked life may be Saving or no is not the question Thro' an extraordinary act of Grace whereof the penitent Theif was an instance it cannot be deny'd possible But when it is sincere and saving who can tell any otherwise than as in charity we must hope the best For as to the persons themselves on a sick and deathbed how can they in an Ordinary way be assured of their sincerity it is therefore probable that their last Sickness will be very uncomfortable tho' their Repentance should prove sincere and their Souls saved in the day of Christ For suppose when their sins stare them in the face and they did never till now bethink themselves of the necessity of a pardon That Satan should now tell them that their Repentance doth come too late to meet with that mercy they so long abus'd And that 't is all owing to their Fears of Death and the apprehended dreadful consequences of dying If he should tell 'em that the pleasures of Sin being lost and so the bait to intice them gone every thing about them looks sad and mournful and such a change of their condition from health to sickness and the Gates of Death must needs alter their resolutions and thoughts If he should tell 'em that the nearness of Eternity cannot but make a person who hath space to consider more apprehensive of another World and concerned about it than at other times and that if Sickness and Death were at a greater distance they wuold still be the same which is to sadly probable from the many Examples of those who have return'd to their former sins assoon as they return'd to their health and left all their repentance their holy thoughts and good resolutions in that Sickbed where at first they took 'em up If the Devil suggest such a Temptation as this to the Sick Penitent who hath hitherto walk'd in the way of his own heart and in the sight of his Eyes what can he reply or plead on his own behalf to make proof of the Sincerity of his Repentance to himself or to those about him However it may become us to consider seriously that God doth oftentimes in righteous Judgment open the Eyes of Great Sinners on a Death-bed and fill their Souls with an amazing horror from the fears and foresight of of his approaching vengeance When they cannot but apprehend that their Sinning season is now expir'd their mirth and jollity over their final Judgment at hand and their Bodies and Souls within a few hours to part and so be divided between the Grave and Hell you will then admit other thoughts of God and his terrible Judgment than at present in your careless health bitterly reflecting on your past follies in the days of your Youth and freely condemning your former choice the serious review of your vensual Joys which are fled as a shadow and vanisht like a cloud of smaok shall give you an unexpressible remorse and shame having barter'd away your Souls for such a thing of nought and ventured your Eternal Salvation for a trisling lust Was my God my Soul and my Salvation of no greater value will you then be forc'd say of no greater value than so easily to be parted with for the short satisfaction of abrutish forbidden pleasure must I leave this world I lov'd so dearly and bid adieu for ever to all its injoyments are all my good days past is all my mirth and joy concluded and nothing but Eternal sorrows to be expected must all my mirth and laughter be exchanged for tears and howling my ease and pleasure for insuportable and remediless torments must my guilty Soul be thus torn from my body and from all things in which it took delight to be drag'd and hurried to a dismal place where it will hate to live and yet cannot dye Must I sport and sing and revel it no more Must I brave it out in Pride no longer and relish the delights of sense no more no more for ever And which is worse infinitely worse must I make my appearance before my offended Judge whose threatnings I derided whose wrath I provok't whose commands I contradicted whose servants I reproch't c must I now appear before the dreadful tribunal of this Just this Holy this Inexorable Judge Is there no hope of escapeing in the crowd and so avoid a trial or is there no possibility of an excuse when arraigned before his bar or is there no method to be found to evade the Execution of his Terrible Judgment must I hear and hear to my Confusion that Epitome of Hell compriz'd into a Sentence Depart Depart from me ye cursed into Everlasting Fire Oh! what shall I be able to say for my self when my own Conscience brings the charge and reads the Indictment and I cannot disown or deny one Article of what I am accus'd All the mercies you have receiv'd from God all the instructive afflictions you have at any time met with all the awakening Sermons you have heard all the mottions of God's Spirit and the rebukes of your own which you have resisted all the calls of his Word the warnings of his Providence and the threatnings of his Wrath which you have slighted your knowledg of your danger your time and space to repent your former confessions of Sin your convictions of guilt your purposes to reform the reproofs you have had from others and the promises you have made your selves may all be muster'd up to your awakn'd thoughts to seize your Souls with horror and confusion when you are called by Death to pass to this Judgment of God And now Christians 't is probable you may suppose and hope that this will never be your case yet the present instance of this Vnhappy youth may convince you that 't is possible and more than possible For tho' I never saw him to my knowledg Save on his Death-bed yet having exprest his own desires that others might take warning by his Example I need not scruple to acquaint you with what I learn't from himself and is well known to his Surviving companions that during his health he did put the evil day far from him and yet was very apprehensive of a future Judgment and concern'd at his own unpreparedness in his last Sickness most heartily confessing and that with Tears that
unquestionable undoubted truth that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment 2. Consider that this Judgment is near at hand and will shortly take place 3. Consider your summons may be suddain before you are aware 4. Consider that Youth and health is the fittest time to prepare for this Judgment of God 5. That if through the temptations of carnal mirth and youthful lusts you neglect your preparation it is more then probable your passage by death to this Judgment of God will be very uncomfortable and full of horrour 6. That this Judgment it self and its immediate consequences will be intollerably dreadful to unprepared Sinners whether Young or Old 1. Consider that notwithstanding your present mirth and jollity yet this final judgment is infallibly certain What is here affirmed concerning persons is asserted likewise concerning things in the next Chapter Eccl. 12.14 that God will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whither it be good or whither it be evil Methinks I need not tell you that the Doctrine of this final Judgment is declar'd in Scripture with the greatest plainess confirm'd by the strongest Evidence and prest upon the Conscience with the most cogent and inforcing and Arguments espicially since the pretended Objections on the behalf of the Sadducee and the sensual Epicure are so weak and trifling that if their lusts were not stronger than their arguments they themselves would be ashamed to offer them For whoever disbelieves a future Judgment must either conclude that the Almighty God cannot or that the Righteous God will not call us to an account for what we have received and done tho' his absolute Omnipotence doth assure us that he can and his invariable truth having declared his purpose that undoubtedly he will And do we think that all the assurance of this Judgment of God which the Scripture gives us that all those plain assertions concerning the Judge himself and the persons to be Judged and the consequence of the Judgment and the certainty of it that they are only terms of art to affright the world and not real intended truths which will take effect according to their natural meaning that the whole account is perfect fiction and meer Romance contriv'd on purpose to keep the World in due Decorum and so to prevent some bad effects only in reference to the present State of things which would probably follow if this belief did not obtain Whereas is it not necessary that there should be a Judgment day for the conviction and condemnation of great Sinners that scorn the Legislative authority of God and trample on his Government and are above the check and conroul of humane laws to manifest the Righteousness of God as Ruler of the world in rendering to every man according to his works and to uphold the honour of his wise Government whereof Judgment is as necessary and essential a part as Legislation the latter without the former being little else than shew and mockery is it not necessary for the vindication of Religion from that contempt and scorn that is powr'd upon it Is it not necessary to unriddle the mysteries of Divine Providence and disclose the secret wickedness of Hypocrites and put a difference between those that serve him and those that refuse to do so As likewise to rectify the mistakes and false opinions that are abroad in the world concerning God and Christ and Holiness and Sin to put an end to controversies and determine the difference concerning what is Truth and what is Error These and such like things considered besides the Authority of Divine writ do morally assure us that there will be an after-reckoning and a final Judgment And methinks one thought of the certainty thereof should give a check to your câ—rnal mirth and cast a damp upon your Sensual joy and abate your heat and vigour in a course of Sin For did we but believe that for all these things God will bring us to Judgment how could we so readily entertain the temptations of the Devil and fall such an Easy prey to his devices How could so many unhappy Youths invade their own Damnation and snatch it as it were out of the hands of Justice thrust away their present and future happiness and fly into the Devils arms in the persult of their youthful lusts tho' they have been told so plainly and warn'd so frequently of a Future Judgment How could these things be if they did but believe the certainty of this final judgment and how dreadful will be their case who are not awaken'd till they find it to be so who will not acknowledg this Judgment of God till they know the dreadfulness and terrour of it by being brought to their Trial who will not believe that God will ever call them to an account till a final Impenitence joyn'd with their Infidelity bring them under his condemning Sentence 2. Consider that this Judgment is near at hand and will shortly take place As Death will consign us over to God's Tribunal so childhood and youth manhood and old age are but several stages that hasten us to Death Yet a little while and we must go the way of all living Job 16.22 How concern'd and thoughtful soever now we are about this World we must shortly bid adieu and take our leave Even the Man of business must find a time to dye and give an account of his Stewardship tho' he allow himself little or none to prepare for Death and Judgment Our Youth and Strength is quickly gone we soon decline and languish into Dust Assoon as we begin to live we are hastening to the end of our Life As a Candle assoon as it begins to burn or an hour glass assoon as it is turned doth hasten to its end our life withering like a Flower 1 Pet. 1.24 Psal 90.4 and passing like a watch in the night We must dye shortly and much sooner than they who lived in the first ages of the World As Death is the certain consequence of old age so those Evil days as the wise Man calls them do still draw near and will quickly overtake us Whether we eat or drink or sleep whether we be sad or merry whether we talk or are silent whether we work or are idle whether we are studious or careless whether we prepare for Death and Judgment or whether we despise and avoid such Thoughts And yet how many spend ther youthful days in vanity and sin with a careless neglect of God and their Salvation in gluttony and Drunkenness in Chambering and wantonness Rom. 12.13.14 not putting on the Lord Jesus nor walking in his Spirit but making provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof As if this day of the Lord were a great way off at a mighty distance Whereas our Judge is at the door and the end of all things doth approach and it can't be long ere all the World must receive their Doom A beleiving thought of this