God is pleas'd to press or encourage us to our Duty in his Word by stiling Himself our Creator we are to consider that Title as tacitely including his being our Redeemer too that the God that made us is also the Rock of our Salvation And we find the great Work of the Holy Spirit in Renewing and Regenerating a Sinner is frequently term'd Creation in Holy Writ both to signify the Greatness of the Work and the Resemblance this New Creation in several respects bears to the first and also to denote that both those mighty Works are to be ascrib'd to the same Author and that God may be term'd our Creator not only in that he gave us a Being but also in that he often makes Sinners become New Creatures by Renewing them in knowledg after his own Image and by Creating them in Righteousness and true Holiness Who are therefore call'd his Workmanship Created in Christ Iesus to good Works c. And 't is worth remarking that this Word Creator in our Text is of the Plural Number in the Original Thy Creators as if design'd to express the great Obligations Men are under to each Person of the Blessed Trinity for Making Redeeming and Sanctifying them the former of which is eminently ascribed to the Father the Second to the Son and the last to the Holy Spirit tho' all concur in each of those mighty Works and to signify that all these Works may be fitly express'd by this common Name of Creation 4. As God is our Creator he is the Soveraign Arbiter and Disposer of our Being He is the Soveraign Judg of the World inflicting Punishments and dispensing Favours as he pleases He that has made us and preserves us has power to render us Happy or Miserable He has the Issues of Life and Death in his Hand He that hath created us knows all the Capacity we have of Joy or Sorrow Pleasure or Pain and has power to affect us with either of them as he pleases He can make his Arrows of Terror stick fast in the Conscience or fill the Soul with unspeakable Ioy. He can punish or chear the Mind with his immediate Frowns or Smiles or he can convey Anguish or Joy into the Soul by the Occasion of different Impressions on the Tabernacle of Flesh and Blood wherein she dwells He can dispense Punishments or Pleasures by his own Hand immediately or mediately by any of his Creatures And when he giveth Quietness who then can make Trouble And when he hideth his Face who then can behold him whether it be done against a Nation or against a Man only 'T is the Lord as Hannah speaks that killeth and maketh alive He bringeth down to the Grave and bringeth up The Lord maketh Poor and maketh Rich he bringeth low and lifteth up Which this Holy Prophetess proves by this Argument For the Pillars of the Earth are the Lord's and he hath set the World upon them where his Soveraign Power over Men to dispose of their State as he pleases is infer'd from his Relation to them as their Creator And when the Angel in the Revelation protests there should be Time no longer He swears by him that created Heaven and Earth and Sea and the things therein to shew that God as Creator of the World is the Soveraign Arbiter of it and that the Consummation of Time and of Temporal Things belongs to him under that Character So that 't is our Maker that both shews the Path of Life and holds in his Hand the Keys of Hell and Death And as he has made all things So he does whatsoever he pleses in Heaven and in Earth in the Sea and all deep places And Who can deliver out of his hand Seeing he doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his Hand or say unto him What dost Thou Thus have we endeavoured to shew what is comprehended in God's Title of Creator on which we have taken the greater Liberty to expatiate because hereby a solid Foundation is laid for some of those Reasons which we are hereafter to insist on to enforce the Duty in our Text in the Division of which we have observ'd that in the Terms of the Duty Remember thy Creator the Reasons of that Duty are in part insinuated Having given some Account of the Object of this Duty viz. God under the Title of our Creator We shall now Secondly Briefly explain the Act it self of Remembring him and shew what that imports The Memory is that Faculty of the Soul whereby she is capable of recalling the Ideas of things which have before been present to her But here to Remember does not only signify the exercising of the Understanding on our Creator by reflecting on what our Senses Reason and Divine Revelation may have suggested to our Minds concerning God under that Character It does not here barely import to meditate on him and bear him in mind but because the Understanding directs the Will and Affections and Men move and act very much according to their Conceptions of things their Desires following the Conduct of their Thoughts this Term is applied both to the one and to the other Sometimes it signifies to Esteem and Respect as Psal. 20. 3. The Lord Remember all thy Offerings and accept thy burnt Sacrifice Sometimes to Trust as Psal. 20. 7. Some Trust in Horses and some in Chariots but we will Remember the Name of the Lord our God Sometimes to Worship and Praise as 1 Chron. 16. 12. where after David had exhorted to sing to God to glory in him and seek him because of his mighty Works he adds to the same purpose Remember the marvellous Works that he hath done c. q. d. Adore and praise him for them And this may be further illustrated by the use of the opposite Term of Forgetting which sometimes signifies to disesteem and slight as Ier. 2. 32. Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire yet my People have forgotten me days without Number Sometimes to Distrust as Psal. 78. 7. That they might set their Hope in God and nor forget the Works of God And sometimes to neglect to praise and worship God as Psal. 106. 12 13. They sang his Praise they soon forgot his Works they waited not for his Counsel Or to forsake the Service of God as Deut. 6. 12. Beware lest thou forget the Lord that is by going after other Gods as it is explain'd in ver 14. So that to Remember God does not only import to think or meditate often on him but to think worthily and becomingly of him and to pay him a Respect in some measure sutable to the Idea we have of him To remember his glorious Perfections so as to esteem and respect him deliberately to call to mind the Number and Quality of his Favours and to
of his Reason But we have not only the Wisest Man in the World giving us Rules in a matter of the greatest Weight and confirming them with the Probatum est of a very large and long Experience for behold a Greater than Solomon is here The Wisest of Men wrote this Book but the Spirit of Wisdom inspired it If then all the advantageous Characters of Solomon should not much influence the Minds of Young Persons to regard his Admonitions yet the Authority of the Holy Spirit himself whose Dictates these originally are lays a strict Obligation on them to observe 'em as his own Divine Counsels with a Religious Zeal and to respect 'em as his Precepts with an awful Reverence To form in our Minds a just Idea of the general Drift and Design of this Book 't is proper to observe That as 't is natural for Man to seek to be Happy and therefore the Philosophers of all Ages and of all Nations have given Rules according to their Sense of Things for the obtaining this great End We have Solomon a very Philosophical Prince and who of all others deserves best to be term'd the Prince of Philosophers giving in this Book the History of himself with respect to the Method he took in the pursuit of Happiness recounting to us his false Steps for our warning and at last making both the End and Duty and Interest of Man to consist in the Service and Fear of God All which seems to be compriz'd in the Close of this Book in those Words Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole Matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole Duty of Man For if we leave out the word Duty which is not found in the Original more Scope is given to the Words This is the whole of Man q. d. his whole Duty End and Interest And while he is looking back with Regret on the Loss of his own Time and with a Penitential Sorrow reflects on the Sins of his Youth he earnestly admonishes others to beware in Time of the Rock on which he split to be warn'd of taking a wrong Course by his Fall to be perswaded to take a right one by his Repentance and as an excellent Mean conducing to both their present and future Happiness to devote themselves as soon as possible to the Service of God or in the Words of our Text to Remember their Creator in the Days of their Youth For our better understanding of which Words Order directs us to take notice of those in the two last Verses of the foregoing Chapter on which they have an immediate Dependance where the Wise Man seems to obviate an Objection which some especially those whose youthful Heat prompts 'em to pursue the Pleasures of the World would raise against his past Discourse which so much depretiates 'em If such should say his Morals are too severe he answers them Chap. 11. v. 9. Rejoice 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 Which according to some is a Concession of a moderate use of Worldly Pleasures and may be thus paraphras'd Imagine not O Young Man that I pretend to make it a Crime for thee to be Chearful in the use of the good Things of this Life which the Providence of God allots thee No Gratify the Desires of thy Heart and entertain thy Eyes and other Senses with variety of pleasant Objects provided a due Moderation be observ'd in all these Things so that thou use and not abuse 'em for an Account of thy Management of them must be render'd before the just Tribunal of the Alimighty I do not bid thee renounce the Joys and Comforts of this Life But know thou that for all these Things God will bring thee into Iudgment I therefore caution thee of the Danger of being insnar'd by an Inordinate Desire of them Others interpret these Words as an Ironical Permission whereby the Absurdity of the wild Maxims and extravagant Sayings with which Young Persons are wont to encourage themselves and others to persist in a vicious Course are expos'd and a serious Caution thereupon subjoin'd Youth say they is the Time of Life most fitted for Pleasure and Joy the Senses are then most lively and impressible and as a multitude of charming Objects are continually inviting us so our own Inclinations are prompting us to embrace ' em Now therefore is the Time for us to abandon our Selves to Mirth and Pleasure Well says Solomon Rejoice O Young Man c. q. d. Take thy own Course give up thy self to the Conduct of thy beloved Lusts take thy fill of Jollity and Pleasure but mark the Consequence be assur'd that for this Course of Life if obstinately persisted in the Great and Just God will Judg and Condemn thee to Eternal Pains Know thou that for all these Things God will bring thee into Iudgment Which last Sense seems to me most Genuine not only because we have several Examples of this Ironical way of speaking in the Holy Scripture as that Saying of our Blessed Saviour to his Disciples Sleep on now and take your rest seems to be both from the Reproof for Sleeping and Exhortation to Watchfulness which he had given 'em just before and from the Alarm he gives 'em not to indulge their Drowsiness but to rise and be going for the Reason he assigns just after those Words And that of the Prophet Micajah to King Ahab who enquir'd of him whether he should go up against Ramoth-Gilead Go and prosper c. whereby he assumes the Language of the false Prophets but afterwards explains himself in express Terms If thou return at all in Peace the Lord hath not spoken by me Not only do such Examples as these I say justify this Sense of the Words last given but that which seems especially to make it preferable to the former is that those Phrases in the Sentence we are examining of Walking in the way of one's Heart and in the sight of one's Eyes can't be easily accommodated to a moderate use of Worldly Enjoyments as the former Sense supposes seeing 't is evident they are used to quite another purpose in the Scripture by that Prohibition God gave the Israelites not to seek after their own Heart and their own Eyes and by the Curse Iob imprecates on himself if his Heart had walked after his Eyes Both which shew that to walk after one's Heart and Eyes is an Expression more fairly applicable to a Dissolute and Sinful Course of Life than to a Temperate use of Lawful Pleasures After this Ironical Permission of Sinful Pleasures and the serious Premonition of Judgment subjoin'd to it follows a Conclusion in these Terms Therefore remove Sorrow from thy Heart and put away Evil from thy Flesh for Childhood and Youth are Vanity Which some will have
very dregs of 'em as if he were unworthy of the best part of what he has given us as if we could offer any thing beyond his Deserts who has given us our All nay as if the Devil the World and our own corrupt Inclinations were more worthy Objects of Worship than the ever Blessed God who has made us as if he were to be postpon'd to the vilest and most detestable of all Idols As if both the first and best of what we have ought to be devoted to these and as if the Lame and Blind and Maim'd were the only Sacrifices becoming his Altar The Priests under the Law were consecrated in their Youth and continued in the Service of the Sanctuary only to that Age wherein 't is ordinary for Natural Strength visibly to abate to signify that that part of our Time wherein we are most capable of serving our Maker ought especially to be devoted to him as the most acceptable Portion of our days And is it not fit that he that has made us for himself should have the Best of our Service That the strength of our Bodies should be dedicated to him that moulded and compos'd ' em And that the powers of our Souls should in their most flourishing and vigorous state be offer'd to the great Author of all our Faculties Ought not the most attentive Regards of our Vnderstandings to be employ'd in contemplating him that has made us Rational and the most sprightly and eager Sallies of our Wills to be directed towards him who has made us desiring Creatures Certainly as God is our Maker he deserves as well as requires that we most seriously contemplate and most intensely love him on the account both of his own Infinite Perfections and of the Emanations of his Goodness toward us his Creatures and consequently that we improve the best of our Time in those Holy Exercises of meditating on him and aspiring after him 2. As the Notion of Creator includes that upon the Supposition of Man's Fall by Sin God alone is able to perform this mighty Work of Reforming or New-Creating him and as the manner of the use of this Term in the Holy Scripture further intimates his Willingness so to do as we have shewn at large before This further shews the reason we have to devote our Youth to his Service And this Consideration renews and redoubles the force of the former Reasons For what is Man fallen Man that God should be mindful of him And the Son of Man that he should visit him What great Grace has the great God manifested to us that when we had forfeited all the Blessings to be expected of him as our Creator in rebelliously casting off that Natural Obligation we were under to obey him he should neither make us cease to be his Creatures and entirely dissolve that Relation by forsaking the Work of his hands or annihilating us nor vindicate his injur'd Authority by upholding our Being only to render us miserable and by treating us as his Enemies rather than as the Objects of his Favour but on the contrary that he should still shew respect to us as the Works of his hands by preserving our Being by exercising Patience and Long-suffering towards us by encompassing us with many Temporal Favours and by opening and consecrating a New and Living way whereby we might return to him by proposing to us Terms of Peace and Reconciliation by the Blood of the Cross and by offering to renew us in the Spirit of our Minds in a word to make us New Creatures after his own Image that so we might be not only again intituled to those former lost Blessings that were naturally suited to obedient Creatures of that order and rank of Being wherein God had plac'd us at the Beginning but might have our Happiness highly improv'd as well as effectually secur'd by that new and nearer Relation to God through Jesus Christ which interesses them that believe in his Name in those unconceivable Joys which he has merited Upon which account our Creator treats those that are thus reconcil'd to him not only as his Creatures but as his Children and since his only begotten Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things is not asham'd to call them Brethren he refuses not to treat 'em as Ioint-Heirs with him nor disdains to be call'd their Father So that the consideration of God as the Author of this New and Spiritual Creation lays on us the strongest Obligation imaginable to serve and obey him in that it contains both the highest Reason and the strongest Motive of that Obedience For as it is very reasonable that we should obey him that has Wisdom and Power enough to change and reform and render happy such sinful deprav'd and miserable Creatures as we are so 't is the greatest Good that can be done us and therefore is to be earnestly sought at the hands of the infinitely gracious God and seeing he is so liberal as to offer to give his holy Spirit the Principle of all Grace and Spiritual Life to them that sincerely ask and diligently seek it of him here is the greatest Motive and encouragement to engage us in his Service since I say he is not become inexorable by our Sins but still waits to be gracious to us offering to write his Law in our Hearts and to put his Fear into our inward Parts by the power of his Spirit and also assuring us that in keeping his Commandments there is great Reward If therefore the first and best part of our Time is God's peculiar Claim as he has made us much more ought we to offer the first-fruits of our Time to the Service of him who is become reconcileable to us in Christ Jesus and is both able and willing to add to the Obligation of the first that of a second and more Glorious Creation Surely we owe not only the first and best but the whole of our Time now upon a new account to our Creator since he has made such provision for our Reformation and so for our Happiness not only through the course of our Time here but through an entire Eternity hereafter which leads me to the last thing I have to urge from the import of the Term Creator viz. 3. As this Title implies that God is the Soveraign Arbiter and Disposer of our Being because this is a necessary consequence of that Relation of Creator it carries with it a forcible Argument to engage those that are young in the Service of God Our Times are in his hand who can prolong or contract them as he pleases and we must be accountable to him for the Days he has lent us and receive a Sentence according to our Improvement or Abuse of them How reasonable is it and how much for our Interest to offer that part of our Time to our Creator which he peculiarly lays claim to nay to consecrate the whole of it to
a Man to suffer the fittest season to escape him for the performance of that Work which is the most difficult of all others to be well done and upon the due accomplishment of which both his present and future Happiness depends For 1. Youth is the best Time for our Conversion Because the Soul is not then so much vitiated by evil Habits as when she has run through the several stages of Life in a continued course of Wickedness Tho Sin is deeply enough rooted in our Nature which is all defil'd with the Original Stain Yet we very much fortify our corrupt Inclinations by producing them into Act and by multiplying those Sinful Acts till they become familiar and customary to us and till we drink down Iniquity like Water So that the difficulty of turning from Sin encreases together with the Time of our continuance in the practice of it Can the Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots Then may ye also do Good that are accustomed to do Evil says the Prophet Is it to be thought that Conversion to God is so slight and easy a matter that any Time may serve for its Accomplishment Are not the difficulties that a long habit of Sinning will lay in the way of that great and important Work to be fear'd Is it not much more easy to bend a Young Twig than an Aged Oak and to prevent evil Habits than to rectify ' em A little observation of the World may suffice to inform us that long Custom or Habit is so bewitching a thing that scarce any thing can be imagin'd more ridiculous absurd and inconvenient than many things which the long usage of some Persons nay of some whole Nations has authoriz'd And if Men are so tenacious of any silly and troublesome thing which they have been much addicted to and sacrifice their Reason their Honour and their Ease to the Tyranny of Custom how much more prevalent must a long habit and course of Sin be which besides its deep rooting in our Nature and besides the ordinary force of mere Habit has both its flattering Promises and Pleasures to tempt us to its Embraces and its Threats and Terrors too in suggesting all the mortifying Circumstances of a vertuous course of Life to raise in our Minds the most frightful Idea of Piety and Religion So that if Custom and Habit in general be proverbially stil'd a Second Nature the habit of Sin may of all others most fitly be so term'd And the force of its Dominion over our Souls and the difficulty of its Extirpation out of them must needs have an increase proportionate to the Time of its Duration in them Can any thing then be more evident than that in the days of our Youth when Sin has not yet so deeply rooted it self in our Hearts by evil habits as in Old Age after a long course of Vice in a multitude of repeated Acts our Conversion must needs have the most easy and kindly accomplishment 2. This further appears in that the Minds of the Young are ordinarily the most capable of Instruction It was a saying of a Philosopher that to Cure a Dead Man and Teach an Old Man were things equally difficult For tho in some respects Youth is sufficiently addicted to Pride yet there is a kind of Natural Modesty and becoming Humility often discernible in the Young arising from a Consciousness of their Ignorance and unexperience of things which disposes them to a more Docible frame of Mind than is usually to be found in Elder Persons whose Maturity of Age often makes 'em unwilling to be inform'd especially in matters of Religion either because they imagin they already know what others may pretend to teach 'em or because they are unwilling to undergo the shame of being accounted so long ignorant of Religion and their concern therein which every body ought to be early acquainted with And upon this account 't is likely our Saviour tells his Disciples that except they should humble themselves and become as little Children they should not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. unless they should imitate Children in Modesty and lowliness of Mind that the Sense of their Ignorance might make 'em Teachable Besides the Minds of Youth are generally a much fitter Soil for Truth than those of the Aged because not usually so over-run with the Briars and Thorns of strong and deeply rooted Prejudices The Soul of Man will not long remain empty if it be not early stor'd with Truth 't will be gradually stuff'd with Errors and as 't is much more troublesome to alter and correct a Writing full of Nonsense and Confusion by much razing out and interlining than to write a handsome piece of good Sense on a blank Paper So it is abundantly harder to instruct or rectify a Mind long prepossess'd with Falshood than to make deep impressions of Truth on a Soul more simple and unprejudic'd which if empty of Knowledg yet is not fill'd with Error which as it has not yet learn'd to judg right of things so neither has been much us'd to judg wrong and if not happy enough to be well stock'd with good Notions yet is not so unhappy as to be crowded with bad ones Now seeing to capacitate us to serve God who is a Spirit and therefore will be serv'd with our Spirits without which Bodily Exercise profiteth little there are many great Truths to be learned and tho he has promis'd the help of his Holy Spirit to reveal these to the simple yet seeing he requires us to be diligent in the investigation of Truth and very attentive to the Voice of Reason and Scripture to that End 't is easy to see by reflecting on what has been just now said That the Young whose Minds are yet unform'd have a mighty advantage above the Aged for learning the knowledg of the ways of God and for obtaining a more copious and solid understanding of Truth So that we may well say with the Prophet tho perhaps he speaks in another sense Whom shall he teach Knowledg And whom shall he make to understand Doctrine Them that are wean'd from the Milk and drawn from the Breasts 3. Again there is a certain Tenderness of Spirit attending our first Years and not ordinarily to be found afterwards which renders Conversion more feasible The Heart is more malleable and more easily receives Impressions from the Promises and Threatnings recorded in the Word of God and from the Mercies and Judgments distributed in the World by his Providence Therefore we find few Persons whose Education has given them any tolerable means of the knowledg of Divine things who do not remember themselves to have been much affected in their Youth in attending to the Word of God or in observing some remarkable Passages of his Providence If deep Conviction is a great step towards Conversion Experience shews this is most easily wrought on one that is young How often do we
the Sins of his Youth to look back upon his former course of Life Suppose him a late Penitent of the Eleventh Hour and that God is pleas'd even then to indulge him a Pardon With what horror will he review his Life What a loathsome sink of Abominations must he rake into What innumerable Evils will he see himself encompass'd with And with what a mighty weight will they press his Soul Is it likely that that God whom he has so long wearied with his Iniquities and press'd with his Sins as a Cart is press'd with Sheaves will shew him Mercy now without giving him a taste how Bitter as well as how Evil a thing Sin is And without shewing him that if he be sav'd it shall be so as by Fire Is it strange if that God to whose Calls he has been long deaf and from whose Reproofs and Counsels he has so often turned away should suffer him to call a while in the Distress and Bitterness of his Soul before he condescends to give him an answer of Peace And seeing it is the ordinary course of the Almighty when he converts Men first to impress their Minds with great Horrour from the sense of Sin as well to make 'em loath and consequently to forsake their Vices as to make 'em highly value his Favour and adore his pardoning Grace it seems necessary in an ordinary way that an old and harden'd Sinner should undergo the Terror of the Lord to a high degree because the long time he has spent in the service of Sin gives him so great an occasion of Remorse when his Conscience is once enlighten'd and awaken'd and because to extirpate these long and deep habits of Sin there is need of a kind of violent Turn in the Soul For as the evil Spirit tore the poor Man in the Gospel when forc'd to leave him so 't is not usual that Sin leaves a Man of whose Soul it has had a long possession without occasioning great convulsions of Mind and as it were rending the Soul in pieces And how hard will this be to be endur'd at a time when the Spirit of a Man can scarce bear the common Infirmities of Age Who then can bear a wounded Spirit And when these terrors of Mind are over and these pangs of Conscience that give hope of a new Birth are succeeded with some Peace that follows that happy Change yet who knows how far it may be allay'd and how often interrupted by reiterated Scruples and Fears And how long the Soul that has been so violently mov'd may retain her doubtful Vibrations after such astonishing Impressions of Divine Wrath in a time when even Natural Infirmities render the Mind weak and timorous and when the King of Terrors who daily expects the Aged loudly alarms the tremulous Soul to prepare speedily to pass into Eternity the near approach of which mighty Change must needs add terror to every Scruple and when Satan a subtle Adversary of whose Devices for want of experience he is in a great measure ignorant shoots his fiery and invenom'd Darts to weaken the Hope and to heighten the Fears and to increase the Troubles of the Soul Who knows I say what gloomy and dark Intervals these things may occasion 'T is true God can surmount all these Difficulties by proportionate effusions of his Grace and can fill such a Soul if he pleases with unspeakable Joy But is it likely that he should indulge those with the highest and most uncommon Privileges that hold out longest in Rebellion against him And may such reasonably expect he will go out of his ordinary Methods to meet them that have all their Life past gone astray from him And that he will bestow the sealing Evidences of his Holy Spirit on them to a degree which he does not always allow his early Disciples and those that have long follow'd him May it not rather be thought That tho God should forgive their Iniquities he 'll take Vengeance of their Inventions That tho they should die in the Lord they 'll set in a Cloud and go to the Grave with Hezekiah's Lamentation when under the sense of the Wrath of God and under punishment for his Sins Ireckon'd says he till Morning that as a Lion he will break all my Bones From Day even to Night wilt thou make an end of one Like a Crane or a Swallow so did Ichatter I did mourn as a Dove Mine Eyes fail with looking upward O LORD I am oppressed undertake for me What shall I say He hath both spoken unto me and himself hath done it I shall go softly all my Years in the bitterness of my Soul And with that of Iob Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my Youth Is it strange if as they have consum'd their Time in Sin and have grown old in Wickedness their Eyes should be consum'd with grief and wax old with Sorrow And if as they have wallow'd long in Vice so they should be made to swim long in Tears and to water their Couches with continual weeping But what a comfortable Review of his Life may an early Convert take in old Age What joy to look back on that solemn Oblation of the first-fruits of his Time which he made to God and on the early favour which God express'd to him To remember the kindness of his Youth and the love of his Espousals which even God himself delights to remember To turn over the large Volumes of his Experience to look on past Temptations and Conflicts these Reflections will give him a pleasure as much beyond that of an antient Sailor when he thinks on the many Rocks and Sands and Storms he has escap'd and that of a valiant Soldier when he recollects how many Dangers he has past and how many Victories he has obtain'd as he conceives the interest of the Soul is beyond that of the Body and that Eternal Life is to be valued above Temporal With what Admiration mixt with Joy will he be fill'd when he calls to mind what God has done for him For tho the failings of his Life since no Man lives and sins not give him occasion of Godly Sorrow and Humiliation yet these will not hinder a Religious Ioy from reigning in his Soul from his happy experience of the Mercy of his God which will make him with the Apostle glory in the Grace of God in the midst of his Contrition and tho in himself he is nothing will make him say with the Psalmist By my God I have run through a Troop and by my God I have leaped over a Wall With what delight will he recollect the signal favours of the Divine Providence that beautify the History of his Life How his God has spread his Table and fill'd his Cup in the presence of his Enemies and has made both his Rod and his Staff co
comfort him With how much pleasure will he turn his Mind to the House of God to think how often he has gone thither with the voice of Ioy and Praise with the Multitude that kept Holiday How oft he has beheld the Beauty of the LORD while he has been enquiring in his Temple How he has been stay'd with Flagons and comforted with Apples when sick of Love to his Saviour How he has sat down with great delight under his shadow while his Fruit has been sweet to his Taste How he has been satiated as with marrow and fatness When his Soul has hungred after Righteousness How he has often disburden'd his Mind by pouring out his Complaints into the Bosom of his Heavenly Father how he has often receiv'd an answer of Peace sometimes beyond his Hope nay beyond his Desire and sometimes even before his Prayer What precious Seasons of communion with God he has enjoy'd when retired into some corner alone to worship him What fervent desires he has then felt what earnest aspirations of his Soul after him What smiles of the Divine Love have on such occasions chear'd his Spirit what sealings of the Holy Spirit have assur'd his Faith What prospect he has had of him that is invisible What Ioy unspeakable and full of Glory Such Reflections will even make the Soul forget her temporal Afflictions and render the burden of Age supportable These Thoughts will obviate fears and temptations and inspire the Mind with holy Courage and Resolution and furnish her with Arguments for Prayer like that of the Psalmist I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD I will make mention of thy Righteousness even of thine only O God thou hast thought me from my Youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous Works Now also when I am old and gray-headed O God for sake me not c. In a word Tho every Man has occasion to be humbled for his Sins and that in every part of his Life it must needs be a great and next to the Light of God's Countenance through the face of Jesus Christ the greatest occasion of Joy in the World when a Man can lie down in the Grave in Peace with the satisfaction of having made Religion the great Business of his Life of having serv'd his Generation faithfully by the Will of God having from his Youth exercised himself in this to have a Conscience always void of offence both toward God and towards Men When at the shutting up of his Days he can by the Grace of God safely appeal both to him and to Men as aged Samuel did Behold I am old and gray-headed and I have walk'd before you from my Childhood unto this day Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and before his Anointed Whose Ox have I taken Or whose Ass have I taken Or whom have I defrauded Whom have I oppressed Or of whose hand have I received any Bribe to blind my Eyes therewith c. And as he that has serv'd God from his Youth can look back with Pleasure so he may look forward with exceeding Joy For 4. An early Conversion furnishes old Age with much more comfort than a late one in that it usually gives a brighter and more glorious prospect of Reward in the other Life As this Life is not valuable but as it may be improv'd in order to a better so the strong and well-grounded Hope of eternal Bliss in the World to come is that which sweetens the most bitter Afflictions of a Christian here and makes him as much more happy as he is more excellent than his Neighbour whereas if his Hope were only in this Life he would be of all Men the most miserable And a Man's true Happiness in this World is therefore to be measur'd by the strength and liveliness of his Faith and Hope for the Blessings of the other for by these he receives an Earnest of the Heavenly Possession and has some foretastes of that Glory with which he expects in a little time to be fully satisfied For every one knows that there is pleasure in hoping for any thing that we think will add to our Happiness especially when that Hope is thought to be well founded and the things expected of great consequence and speedily to be obtain'd With what an extraordinary Joy then must the Hope of everlasting Bliss and Glory inspire him that firmly believes he shall suddenly enjoy it And that this Hope makes a Saint the most happy Man even in this Life is evident some of the Enemies of Religion themselves being Iudges 'T is worth remarking that an Eminent Person who was one of the greatest Sinners as well as one of the greatest Penitents of this Age even while he maintain'd his Atheistical Principles and led a most flagitious Course of Life confess'd That whether the Business of Religion was true or not he thought those who had the Perswasions of it and lived so that they had quiet in their Consciences and believed God govern'd the World and acquiesced in his Providence and had the Hope of an endless Blessedness in another State the happiest Men in the World And said He would give all that he was Master of to be under those Perswasions and to have the Supports and Joys that must needs flow from them So Just a Thought had he even then of the Ioy of a Good Conscience and the Pleasure which the bare Expectation of future Glory in Heaven occasions that he thought it far out-ballanc'd the pleasures of Sin which are but for a season and thus does Religion triumph over her Enemies extorting from their own Mouths a plain Acknowledgment of what the Psalmist assures that Happy is the People whose God is the LORD Now it cannot be expected that a late Convert should have an equal portion of this Hope and Joy with one that has fear'd the Lord from his Youth The former is commonly exercis'd with greater and more frequent Doubts concerning his Interest in eternal Glory than the latter and the Eye of his Faith is often too weak to read his Evidences for it because as we have shewn before he is apt to question the truth of his Regeneration without which he knows no Man can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And this makes him often thus reason with himself Eye indeed hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have enter'd into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepar'd for them that love him But I fear I shall fall short of the Glory of God because I question the sincerity of my Love to him Is not this fulness of Ioy reserv'd for them that have nauseated the Pleasures of this World with which I have glutted my sensual Appetite even from my Infancy Are not those Rivers of pleasure at the right hand of God only to refresh his diligent Servants that have born
of God so that we could extend it many Years beyond the ordinary Course of Life or if we had the certain fore-knowledg of the limits which the Almighty has fix'd to our Days if we knew the number of our Months and any of us could read our selves antient in the Book of the Divine Decrees this could by no means justify or excuse our Negligence if we should thereupon presume to delay our Conversion till towards the Close of our Time because of the uncertainty of the continuance of the Day of God's Patience and Grace For as the Days of our Lives are uncertain so is the Day of Grace too and as those are very short so this may be much shorter and we may soon out-live the Time of our Visitation from Heaven and so the things that belong to our Peace may be finally hidden from our Eyes 'T is infinite Mercy in the Great and Holy God to give a wretched Sinner one Smile one single offer of Reconciliation and 't is great Ingratitude and Folly in a guilty Creature but once to refuse to hearken to so Gracious a Call But what words can express the Goodness and Condescension of the Almighty to a miserable Worm when he importunately repeats the Terms of Peace to invite nay to beseech him to be reconciled to him And how provoking must the guilt of that Sinner be who after all this kindness of God towards him stops his Ears at his Counsel like the deaf Adder that will not hearken to the Voice of Charmers charming never so wisely And therefore 't is not to be wonder'd at if his abused Patience and Mercy be turn'd into Indignation and Wrath And thus it often comes to pass Because Men receive not the love of the Truth that they might be saved God sends them strong Delusion that they should believe a Lie and that they all may be damned who believe not the Truth but have pleasure in Vnrighteousness And the Word of God instead of being the savour of Life unto Life becomes the savour of Death unto Death to them Thus the Righteous God sets his Face against them that stiffen their Necks against him and hardens their Hearts in Judgment who themselves have harden'd them against the offers of Mercy If the declining Church of Ephesus was threaten'd with the removal of her Candlestick in case she refus'd to hearken to the Voice of our Saviour when he call'd her to Repentance how justly may every impenitent Sinner fear the speedy ending of the Day of Grace to him And if at one Sermon of the Apostle Paul's as some of the Iews his Auditors were converted so others of them were judicially sealed up in hardness of heart and blindness of mind the most dreadful punishment on this side Hell and the Gospel which they had rejected and despis'd was suddenly snatch'd from them to be carried to the ignorant Heathen Is it not still to be fear'd that they that defer to yield themselves to the obedience of Faith when the glad Tidings of Salvation have been again and again publish'd to them may utterly fall short of Happiness by this their Obstinacy and Vnbelief And if profane Esau who for one morsel of Meat sold his Birth-right was afterwards rejected when he would have inherited the Blessing and found no place of Repentance tho he sought it carefully with Tears How justly may God reject them who have often resisted the Spirit of Grace And suffer them to mourn at last without pity in their greatest Distress who have often griev'd the Holy Spirit in gratifying their sinful Inclinations And seeing he has said his Spirit shall not always strive with Men who knows how soon he may shut up his tender Mercies in Displeasure against those that have long rebell'd against him and swear in his Wrath that they shall never enter into his Rest How soon he may accomplish that terrible Threatening he has pronounc'd against the Impenitent He that hardens his Neck being often reprov'd shall suddenly be destroy'd and that without Remedy 3. There is not only a possibility or a bare likelihood of the expiration of the Day of Grace to those that spend the best of their Time in Rebellion against their Maker before they arrive at old Age But on the contrary there is only a possibility and no likelihood that the Holy Spirit should continue to strive with them at the winding up of their Days who through the greatest part of their Time have resisted his Counsels and Motions And 't is not only Reason that furnishes us with proofs of this from the Soveraignty and Justice of God consider'd with the great Aggravations of Impenitency under the means of Grace or the Threatnings in the Holy Scripture that plainly include this danger as appears from the last Head insisted on but Experience joins issue in this matter and evinces that what our Saviour says of Rich Men may with as much reason and force be applied to old Sinners namely That 't is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a Needle than for such to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And if this Saying seem severe to any in respect of these last as it did to the Disciples of Christ in regard of the other it cannot justly be soften'd with any farther addition than that which our Saviour subjoin'd to qualify his words in the first case viz. That nothing is impossible with God 'T is a thing possible because all things are so to God but very unlikely and not to be often expected and when at any time it comes to pass God may be said to make a step out of the ordinary method of the Dispensation of his Grace somewhat like that he makes when he works a Miracle in the Sphere of Nature In this matter I say one may safely appeal to Experience Let any one that is acquainted with a considerable number of pious and aged Persons ask each of them from what time he dates his Conversion and for one that has had that happy Change wrought on his Soul since he became Old he shall find many that turn'd to God in the strength and verdure of their Youth And can there be a greater instance given then of the deceitfulness of Sin and of the bewitching power it has over the common Sense and Reason of Mankind than we have in the vain promises of Repentance in old Age wherewith so many flatter themselves and by which they seem to hope to render God propitious to them Is any kind of Folly so great in its Degree or so dangerous in its Consequences as this For Mortals to lull themselves asleep in Sin and sing a stupifying Requiem to their Souls while they hang on the brink of eternal Perdition when their vain Hope has merely this uncertain foundation That there is a bare possibility that
so large a part of your Time to provide for the present Ease and Welfare of your Bodies in procuring them the Conveniencies of Life Is it not more reasonable to grudg that these Houses of Clay should have so much of your Care and Time and that your Souls nay and your Creator should have so little of them And ought you not rather to study how to improve even that Time which you spend in supporting and accommodating this animal Life so as to render it subservient to the great Ends of honouring your Maker and of saving your Souls than to contrive Excuses for entirely squandering away the best part of that little Time in Vanity and Sin which you ought to devote to the Holy Exercises of Piety and Religion And once again can you think you shall bring an acceptable Sacrifice if after the consumption of the prime of your Days in Vanity you should come to offer only some of your last hours to your Creator Will the Days in which you will confess you have no Pleasure your selves be a proper Offering for him to take pleasure in Is it fit to reserve only the Blind and Lame and Sick for sacred Services May not such a Return be reasonably expected to every such Oblation as God by the Prophet Malachi makes to the profane Iews in another case Offer it now to thy Governor will he be pleas'd with thee or accept thy Person saith the LORD of Hosts Would you not have reason to fear that such nauseous Services would be cast back as Dung upon your Faces And that you would have an Answer somewhat like that which you may imagine a Subject would receive who after having wasted his Youth and Strength in bearing Arms against his Soveraign should come on Crutches in his Old Age to tender himself to be listed under his Banner Such a kind of Answer I say as such an inveterate Rebel might expect but as much more terrible as it is a greater Crime to sin against the great Creator than to offend a Creature and as the Resentments of the Living God are more dreadful than the Anger of a Mortal Man 3. To conclude Consider whether the largest Portion of that little Time which you can possibly spend in the Service of God here makes any figure when compar'd with an Eternity to be employ'd in the pleasant Contemplation and Enjoyment of him hereafter Can you think much to dedicate the few Moments God is pleas'd to lend you in this World to him who will reward the Service of those Moments with everlasting Bliss in the next among those Blessed Ones whose Happiness as well as Business it is to be perpetually devoted to the Service of their Maker who enjoy Immortal Youth and feel an unconceivable Pleasure in employing it wholly in the Contemplation of his Perfections in the Celebration of his Praises in the entire Performance of his Will and in the perfect Enjoyment of his Favour Can it be thought that any of those Blessed Spirits that are possessed of this Glory can think much that they spent a little Time here below to obtain it May it not rather be suppos'd that they all unanimously wish if such a Wish be consistent with that perfect State of Bliss that they had improv'd evety Minute of that little Time which their Creator allotted them in this World to his Glory 'T is not to be doubted that the Holy Angels and Saints in Heaven do incessantly worship and serve their Maker with the greatest Alacrity imaginable because they constantly behold his Face and are always enamour'd of his Glory They are under a continual impression of the Reasonableness and Goodness of his Will and know perfectly well that their own Excellency and Happiness consists in their exact Conformity to it and accordingly they find unexpressible Delights in doing his Pleasure And if they count not an Eternity too much for the Service of their Creator can you think the short Time of your sojourning here below too large an Offering for him Seeing then the Law of your Creation and the Dictates of Reason the Importunities of the Divine Word and the Warnings of the Holy Spirit the Command of your Maker and the Example of your Redeemer the Experience of the Saints on Earth and the unanimous Sense of the Saints and Angels too in Heaven together with your own highest Interest both in Time and Eternity do all conspire to oblige you to devote the first and best of your Time to the great Author of your Being How can you any longer refuse to give up your YOVTH to be tied by these many sacred Bonds as a Sacrifice to the Horns of his Altar Behold NOW is the accepted Time Behold NOW is the Day of Salvation Therefore to Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts FINIS Jam. 5. 20. Eccl. 1. 1. 1 King 10. Heb. 11. 4. Deuâ— 30. 13 14. Eccles. 2. 4-10 Eccl. 1. 17. Chap. 2. 1 3 c. Eccl. 12. 13. Rom. 13. 14. Mat. 12. 42 2 Tim. 3. 16. Chap. 12. ver 13. 1 Cor. â— 31. Mat. 26. 45. v. 40 41. v. 45 46. 1 Kings 22. 15. v. 17 18. See also 1 Kings 18. 27. Ezek. 28. 3 4. Num. 15. 39. Job 31. 7. Eccl. 11. 10. Isa. 22. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 32. Prov. 15. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 8. 9. Exod. 3. â—4 1 Tim. 6. 16. Psal. 9â— 2. Isa. 63. 16. Ex â—iâ—ilo ribil sit Gen. 1. 1. Ver. 2. Heb. 11. 3. Isai. 28. 29. Act. 17. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aratus Gen. 1. 26 27. Gen. 2. 7. Jer. 10. 16. Psal. 100. 3. Gen. 1. Psal. 102. 18. Psal. 104. 29 30. Gen. 1. 2. Ezek. 21. 30. Malpigh de Gallis Swainmerdam de Generat Insect Leweâ—hoeck Epistol 1 Cor. 12. 6. John 5. 17. Job 10. 8 9 10 11 12. Psal. 139. 13 14 15 16. Isai. 43. 1. Psal. 138. 8. 1 Pet. 4. 19. Job 7. 20. 1 Pet. 1. 5. John 5. 17. Act. 17. 28. Gen. 1. 3. 1 Thess. 5. 5. 1 Pet. 2. 9. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Gen. 1. 31. Eccl. 7. 29. Psal. 51. 10. Psal. 5â— 4. Act. 20. 28. Jer. 10. 12. and 51. 15. Psal. 85. 10. 1 Tim. 3. 16. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Isai. 27. 11. Deut. 32. 15. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 6. 15. Col. 3. 10. Eph. 4. 24. Eph. 2. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Isai. 54. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 38. 2. Job 34. 29. 1 Sam. 2. 6 7 8. Rev. 10. 6. Psal. 16. 11. Rev. 1. 18. Psal. 135. 6. Job 10. 7. Dan. 4. 35. Psal. 63. 6. Luk. 17. 32. See Eccl. 9. 15. See 1 Chron. 16. ver 8 9 10 11. Psal. 39. 3. Deut 28. 67. Aetas mala Plaut Isai. 51. 13. Gen. 47. 9. Isai. 28. v. 10 13. Ver. 9. Job 33. 14. Psal. 8. 2. Mat. 21. 16. Psal. 148. 12 13. 1 Cor.