shall bend under us And the Grinders cease because they are few Dentes molares Teeth cease And those that look out of the Windowes be darkened The Eyes darkened and dimm'd with Blindness And the Doors shall be shut in the streets Their Maladies so noysome that none can come to visit them And he shall rise up at the voyce of the Bird That is take little rest the chirping of a Bird or any little thing shall awake and disturb him And all the daughters of Musick shall be brought low This may be interpreted by comparing it with 2 Sam. 19. 35. Man goeth to his long home Comp. Iob 30. 23. and Isa. 26. 4. Or ever the silver Cord be loosed Some interpret it of the Marrow others of the Sinews Or the golden Bowl be broken or the Pitcher be broken at the Fountain The Liver is the Fountain of Blood the Heart of Spirits these lose their drawing and distributing Power These things considered viz. the Inconveniencies of Old Age and the Fitness of Youth for the Service of his Creator should methinks prevail with young men to live henceforth not unto themselves but unto their Creator and Redeemer The time of Youth is Seed-time The Proverb is Youth layes in and Age lives upon it The one sowes the other reaps Now is your Market-time in which if ye be wise ye may make a happy Exchange of Earth for Heaven of a Valley of Tears for a Paradise of Delights Young Men consider you are now Flowers in the bloom your Friends Delight your Countreys Hope It lyeth very much in your Sphere to be either a Crown of Rejoyceing to them or to bring down their Gray hairs with sorrow to the Grave But I dare not enlarge Fourthly Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth because if thou thinkest of deferring till Old Age it is a question whether thou mayst live so long besides the Inconveniences of Old Age which I have told you as above written The Best of us cannot promise our selves a day The present Time is onely ours the Morrow we are not sure of Take Time therefore by the Forelock and cry not Cras Cras to Morrow to Morrow Manna must be gathered in the Morning the Orient Pearl is generated by the Morning Dew Egregious folly it is to procrastinate and put off to the last At tu dum primi floret tibi temporis aetas Vtere Tib. Improve your Time while you are Young Fifthly Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth because the Day of Grace may have its Sun-set on a sudden Thou mayst live perhaps to an Old Age but the Day of Grace may not last so long Now the Gospel is preached Christ crucified set forth the assistance of the Spirit offered and the Gates of Heaven opened to entertain you O therefore Now To day if ye will hear his voyce Heb. 3. 7. If to day thou sayst thou wilt not pray to morrow thou mayst say thou canst not pray Now therefore now as you would tender the good of your own Souls work apace you have the Sun-shine of the Gospel but a Cloud will come While the Sun therefore doth shine cock your Hay shock your Corn wanton not away your Summer lest you begge in Winter The Night indeed is for sleeping but the Day especially a Sun-shine Day a clear Day is for working One being in a fit of Anger a person said unto him Domine Sol ad Occasum The Sun is going down If the Sun must not go down upon our Wrath let it not go down upon our Loytering Sixthly If you have your Life prolonged and the Means of Grace continued yet if no more gales of the Spirit be afforded what art thou the nearer When Gods Spirit blows upon us we shall go full Sail to Heaven It is good striking therefore while the Iron is hot and lanching out while Wind and Tide serve open all thy Sails to every breath and gale of Gods Spirit Welcome every Suggestion reverence every Dictate cherish every Illapse of this blessed Monitor Let every Inspiration find thee as the Seal doth the Wax or the Spark the Tinder Seventhly and lastly Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth because the Promise is made unto Early Seekers Prov. 8. 17. They that seek me Early shall find me Application Is there good Reason why we should Remember our Creator in the dayes of our Youth Then let my Message to you O Young Men this day be accepted The Reasonableness of my Message I have shewed in several Respects Did I press you to things that might tend to your hurt it were something but I am onely intreating you this day to be kind unto your Souls and make your peace with God While the dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when ye shall say I have no pleasure in them The Result of all therefore is Young men Remember your Creator by whom it is that you live move and have your Being Forget him not lest he forget you but seek him Early and ye shall find him Motives hereunto I think very convenient As First If Honour will sway you know that it is the Honourablest thing in the world to Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth Is it commendable for a Child to obey his Earthly Father how much more commendable is it then for us to Obey our Heavenly Father Shun O Young Men the Worlds Ambition and make this your Ambition with good Iosiah to set out betimes with spiritual Isaac to give your selves to Meditation while ye are young with heavenly Iacob to prize and seek the Blessing while others in the use of their vain Sports lose it with King Solomon to know the God of your Fathers with righteous Obadiah to fear the Lord from your Youth and with Ingenious Timothy to know the Scriptures from a Child And what a Cloud of young Worthies are here and are they not Honoured Renowned and made Famous and that for their soon beginning The like will be with you Young men Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth and he will Honour you But alas how few are the number of these young Branches How few are there of the Sons of Wisdom that being enticed by Men consent not But how Honourable is it I say for young Men like Samuel to minister and serve before the Lord while he was but a Child and how comely was the Carriage of those Children that sang Hosanna's unto Christ Contemplate often Young men these Looking-glasses imitate and copy out these patterns and Presidents Besides King Edward the Sixth that Phoenix of his time that truely Noble Prince Henry and the young Lord Harrington with many others who blossomed as the Almond-tree betimes Secondly The longer you neglect the more difficult will the setting upon your Duty be Much Sloath and Procrastination will at last take away the very Heart and
shalt say I have no pleasure in them Is it not better to live than die turn than burn O Sirs persist not till it be too late but choose God your chiefest Good onely Good suitable Good and everlasting Good Fifthly To Remember our Creator implies a due Considering what may Please or Displease him Col. 1. 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing But how few are there that make this their work studying how to please God Doth not the Course of their Lives rather tend to the contrary Who lives to please God but rather to displease him How little is Gods Favour now adayes esteemed of Most of us are ambitious of doing things that may please Persons highly dignified in this World but the pleasing of God is look'd upon as a superfluity and that which may be as well omitted as perform'd as if Gods good word would not honour us so much as a Mortals and His Favour do us more good than the Favour of Man whose breath is in his Nostrils and must suddenly perish Mans Favour is good in its place but when compar'd with Gods there is vast difference as to the Nature Property Effects and Perpetuity of it Foolish therefore is he who preferres the pleasing of Man before the pleasing of God and chooseth rather the one than the other that can remember what pleaseth the Creature but not what pleaseth the Creator This is preferring the less before the greater and the Servant before the Master How stands it therefore with us Are Gods Smiles our Heaven and his Frowns our Hell Is there nothing that we take in hand but we seriously pensitate and ponder it in our Minds saying with our selves Will this and that make for Gods Glory if so I 'le do it if not I shall forbear But Oh Christians how many are remiss in this kind of spiritual Exercise excusing themselves with Phrases that will not excuse them at the Day of Judgement This is too strict say some what need is there of it say others and Who can do so is the language of many But I wish I might have the Opportunity of telling part of my Mind to such persons Is there not a Necessity of Remembring our Creator if we would prosper but can we remember him aright if we please him not and if we please him not can we be saved Sixthly To Remember our Creator implies a remembring his Mercies and retaining a thank full sense thereof Psal. 106. 21. They forgat God their Saviour which had done great things in Egypt Doest thou often think on the Mercies of God so frequently and bountifully conferred on thee Doest thou often revish thy Soul in calling Mercies past to mind living upon Mercies present and depending upon Mercies to come Remember your Creator will surely bear this Interpretation without any wrong to the words Remember what your Creator has done for you his Mercies bestowed on you in such and such a kind at such and such a Time in such and such a Place among such and such Company It is a sign that we sincerely esteem and heartily remember a Friend when we do not forget his Kindness but do even write them down in our Memorandum Book And so it stands good in this Case also if we say we remember God and forget his Mercies we lie and the Truth is not in us it being that which cannot stand together Such who have received Mercies from the hands of God yea such Mercies without which they could not have subsisted and yet are unthankfull forgetting both God and his Benefits too surely such of all are most ungratefull Mercies above us and beneath us Mercies before us and behind us Mercies on the right hand and on the left renders us if still we are barren the most ungratefull Monsters that ever lived on Earth To be unthankfull where there is the greatest reason of being thankfull is Folly in the Abstract And where Mercy is not a Load-stone to draw to God it will be a Mill-stone to sink into Hell Vinegar you know 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filius Vini and the sweetest Wine degenerates into the sharpest vinegar And as nothing is more cold than Lead yet nothing more scalding than that when melted so nothing is more sweet than mercy when thankfully received yet nothing more terrible than that when abused Grace abused turns to fury and Mercies forgotten turn to sore Wrath. Seventhly and lastly To Remember our Creator is to serve and obey him and this indeed is the summe of all Deut. 8. 11. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandments and his Iudgements and his Statutes which I command thee this day Many nay more serve the Devil and their own Lusts than there do serve God God made man for himself but he hath less from him than any other Creature Man should serve God and that in the first place but instead thereof he serves himself first the Devil and his Lusts first Oh wonderfull Degeneration and the Cursedness of our lapsed Estate One would think it incredible that the Creature should not serve the Creator we may Wonder at it indeed and yet Believe it we must because that it is nothing is more certain God who is Truth it self hath said so and we by daily Experience find it so here then is a Mystery of Iniquity That Man should Renounce God who made him and Side with the Devil who hates him and will Eternally destroy him if still sided with That Man should take more Delight in Self-destruction than in Self-felicitating That Man should sell himself to sin and take more delight therein than in Obeying one reasonable Commandement Why should all this be O vain man Are the wayes of God unequal his Demands impossible his Commands intollerable Have a care of harbouring hard thoughts of God who hath said that his Yoak is easie and his burden is light Matth. 11. 29. If thou hast but a mind to be engaged in the Service of God let not the Difficulties that attend it discourage thee but know that God can by the sweet Discoveries of himself whilest thou art in his Service chear thy Heart and make that which seemed hard and difficult the very Delight of thy Soul Iacobs meeting with and enjoying of Rachel rendered his hard and long Service easie and delightfull unto him And so a feeling of Gods Spirit moving on thy Heart when thou art engaged in any Religious Exercise will make it joyous and not grievous a Delight and not a Burden a Heaven and not an Hell Besides holy Obedience is only hard and difficult to the Ignoble part of a Saint viz. the Flesh not to the Noble part of a Saint viz. the Soul All the Wayes of God though tending to the pulling out of right Eyes and cutting off of right Hands are wayes of Pleasantness to the Noble part of a Saint So far as every Christian is Renewed
love and obey him are to be commended and whatsoever Reputation or Fame ye may get among men yet know this is your highest Dignity that you Know God Obey God Love God and Walk with God This Man fears God is an Encomium indeed The Second Doctrine is this There is great Reason why we should Remember our Creator in the dayes of our Youth even while we are young and before Old Age overtakes us And this I shall endeavour to make obvious in these several particulars First Because your Creator requires it Young men God calls upon you saying Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth Young men Ministers call upon you saying Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth Young men Good Company calls upon you saying Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth Angels desire it the Spirit strives Christs Invitation is Come the Gospel cries Now and what will you rather listen unto Satan will nothing prevail with you Shall God call for your Youth and will you deny it How can ye think then to prosper As therefore you would tender your own safety answer like the Eccho Lord doest thou call for my Youth O take it then and thank thee too for what is there in me that should attract God and make him accept of me My Youth is it not full of Levity Wantonness and Vanity Am I not all over corrupt from the Crown of the Head unto the sole of the Foot full of wounds bruises and putrifying Sores Am I not especially considering me in my Youth as an untamed Beast all my Actions being rash and rude and no Good in me can be found at all my Affections being strong are impatient of Reproof and Correction they will not submit their shoulders to the Yoke of God but like wild shee-Asses they snuffe up the wind and despise the Hunter Satan hath Temptations suited to every Age And the Age whereupon he works most busily and prevails most mightily is Youth The Devil he is for the prime of our Dayes and God he is for the prime of our Dayes and who hath the most right God or the Devil surely God thy Conscience will say But yet how many notwithstanding this are there that give their young and lusty years unto the Prince of the Aire the God of this World who allures them so to doe by telling them that their old withered and decrepit Age is good enough to serve God But Iniquity many times is repaired with a proportionable Plague that because they will not give their young Years unto the Lord he will not accept the service of their Old Age but cuts them away yea which is most fearfull in their sins and lets them never come to the Honour of a hoary head Will ye now Young Men hearken unto this and flee Youthfull Lusts God requires the Cream of your dayes In the Law he required unto himself the First-fruits Lev. 2. 14. Wheat beaten out of the green Ears to signifie that he will be serv'd with the First-fruits of our green and flourishing Age. Secondly Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth because too soon you cannot Remember him Nunquam sera est ad bonos more 's via The way to be Good is never too late I am sure the way to be Good is never too soon and though Divines do say a True Repentance is never too late yet a late Repentance is seldom true True Repentance without doubt cannot be too late but then late Repentance is very suspicious being seldom true Could we have served God in our Mothers Womb yet we could not serve him too soon And those who shall serve him to Eternity cannot serve him too much Hark young men hark but let it not amaze you We can never serve God too soon because he lov'd us from Eternity and we cannot serve him too much because he loves us to Eternity Never fear thy setting out too soon for the sooner the welcomer and too soon thou canst not be The consideration of this methinks should perplex the Aged that have lost their time and spur on such who are in their full vigour and strength and tempus commodum they have for God Know you who are here present and yet shall not put in practice what has been told you will have nothing to say for your selves You cannot not serve God too soon why then do you not begin run and keep on in that way Thirdly Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth because it is a Time that is most Acceptable Now is the acceptable time Now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6. 4. Upon this Monosyllable Now saith one depends Eternity As there is a present Time so there is a present Truth to lay hold on The time of our Youth is the onely time to lay hold on Eternal Life and to make a surrender of our selves unto God and Jesus Christ. When we take a far Journey it is requisite that we have the Morning before us Sirs to goe from Earth to Heaven is a great Journey let us then be carefull to set out in the Spring and Morning of our Age deferre not till thou beest Old but walk while thou hast Light lest the Darkness and Night of Old Age and Death overtake thee when no man can work If therefore young Men you would ever be serviceable to God let it be while your strength lasts and before it quite fails Give not the Devil the Prime Bud Blossome Flower of your Age and the Cream of your dayes and in your Old Age when you can do nothing offer your selves to God as if he were bound to have you then and onely then when the Devil has done with you And O unreasonable Creature that hast nothing for thy Maker but the Devils Leavings viz. Old Age a Receptacle of all manner of Maladies Behold the wrinckled Face rotten Teeth stinking Breath withered with Drieness dim'd with Blindness absurded with Deafness overwhelm'd with Sickness and bowed together with Weakness having no use of any sense but the sense of Pain Therefore said the Wise-man Remember 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 And so the Wiseman goes on Allegorically describing Old Age shewing the Miseries that do attend the same a little whereof you may take notice of for the quickening you unto an Improvement of your Time while ye are young While the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars be not darkened nor the Clouds return after the Rain Shewing hereby that in Old Age all the Abilities of the Mind shall be decayed The Clouds retrn after the rain As in Winter one Evil following another In the day when the Keepers of the House shall tremble The Hands and Arms prove crazy And the strong men shall bow themselves The Thighs and Leggs