an old man If sin grow to an habit and custom custom being another nature makes it as ordinary to men as to eat and drink But if any of us have spent the flower of our youth in vice and vanity Let the fruit of our age only savour of vertue Indeed an old man of youthful behaviour is more ridiculous than a wanton toying young man Let every man then especially old men put their houses in order and prepare for Death when Death is between their teeth it is too late to provide remedies for the Terrours thereof A MEMENTO To Young and Old Sermon I. Ecclesiastes 12. verse 1. Remember now thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth while the evil daies come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them CHAP. I. THe wise man having first run through the vanities of Life by his own bitter experience now also hath taken a review of them as it seemeth with a penitent heart and an amazed spirit and drawing towards a Conclusion of this work as a principle Master of the assemblies desireth to leave on naile driven to the head and well fixed in the hard heart of the younger sort who are so possessed with those vanities of mind which he had all this while laboured to purge that they think themselves priviledged in youthful wantonness and conceive that all restraints of their unbridled Lust are but the froward or envious cavills of discontented old Age or sullen Melancholy Therefore it was expedient that this 〈◊〉 prejudice whereby they hurt none so 〈◊〉 as themselves should be removed by a coâ—trary Exhortation strongly enforced 〈◊〉 Pen-man beyond exception a man of grâ—â—test sufficiency every way among the Son of Adam excepting that only Immanuel But let them not think that the force of this exhortation is dead with the writer or worn out of date with age but let them know for a certainty that a greater than Solomon is here that the Spirit of Truth who liveth for ever breatheth most Manifestly in this holy Text who must be heard and obeyed by all that would not be found to fight against God Let every one then whose ears God hath opened hear what the Spirit speaketh unto the Church in this place and especially to the younger sort within the Church Remember now thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth c. In which words we have first an Exhortation and then an enforcement of it pressed and amplified at large in many verses following In the Exhortation there is 1. The Duty what 2. The Object whom 3. The Time when all laid down in words of special weight 1. The word Remember 1. implyeth much danger of and inclination to forgetfulness 2. It includeth Heart as well as Head Affection as well as Memory 2. The second thing The Object Thy Creatour a Word that addeth much force to the Exhortation Taken either absolutely as implying the Creatour of all things whom all Creatures at all times must glorify in their kinds or with special relation to those to who the Exhortation is more particularly directed Thy Creatour Remember him whom Created Thee and hath right to thy whole Self thy whole Life and especially to the best of thy Life and Strength 3. The Third thus In the daies of thy youth In the daies rather than years for they are but a few May-daies soon gone and vanished of thy youth The word in the Original is derived from a word which signifies to chuse and thence issueth a word signifying a young man and thence again this in the Text signifying Youth both shewing that younger men are the choycest of men or should be so and that youth is the principal and choicest part of our Life So some render these words In the daies of thy youth in the daies of thy choyce The sence therefore ye may take in these few words O ye young men who are of all others exceeding apt to forget him of whom you ought to be most mindful Let me perswade you to know to love to delight in to fear to remember to cleaue unto and obey even in the best of your time and strength your young vigourous and flourishing daies Him who is the great Creatour of all things Him who gave you in particular that breath which is in your nostrills Him who gave you this heat this strength these Spirits this lively temper of youth Him in whom you live move and have your being CHAP. II. THese things being briefly and plainly opened the observations which I shall make I shall refer to two heads Observ. 1. That young men are especially apt to forget their Creatour 2. That young men ought especially to remember their Creatour The first of these is certainly implyed the second plainly expressed in the words of the Text. Of the first the wise man seemeth of purpose to have deferred this Memento until the latter end of his discourse as knowing how apt the younger sort are to fail in this art of memory concerning the best things and hoping that of all others a speech of farewell would make some notable impression In this point I will shew 1. Wherein this forgetfulnes consisteth 2. I will prove it to be especially incident to youth 3. I will shew the reasons or causes of it I. Now for the first that I may shew wherein forgetfulness consisteth both reason and our own experience in the working of the powers of our Souls shew us That memory is properly seated in the brain and therefore that forgetfulness is a kind of emptiness in the same place But we must attend to those Idiomes of the Holy Ghost who by reason of that near knitting of all the faculties of the Soul in one single root of a Spiritual and Intellectual Being doth promiscuously translate the name of the one to the other and oftentimes include all in one Thou shalt love the Lord thy God saith our Saviour with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul c. Math. 22. 37. Why All the powers of the Soul are not love There is knowledge memory imagination will fear joy sorrow hatred courage c. which are all distinguished both in their Beings and Effects from Love But He in whom all the Treasures of Wisdom were hid knew well that when the heart by love did truly close with God and cleave unto him it could not leave any of its effections behind it but all must be given up unto him The Lord complaineth Isa. 1. 3. Israel doth not know my people do not consider Ignorance was not the only sin whereof the Lord held them guilty but in this was included as well want of love of fear of delight in God as of knowledge of him Not to go too far about This forgetfulness which now we have in hand you shall find to have the same force in the Scripture Psal. 137. If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right-hand forget her cunning ver 6. If I do not
and Drunkenness and the cares of this life and that day come upon you unawares Luk. 21. 34. Know that this is spoken unto thee and that thou in thy youth must not at any time give way to these things no not when friends meet nor when thou art urged and haled to it When Solomon saith My Son when sinners entice thee consent thou not Prov. 1. 10. Think that he speaketh to thee Whom doth the Compellation My Son better befit than the young Man when St. Paul saith God hath not called us unto uncle anness but unto holiness that every one of us should possess his vessel in sanctification and in honour not in the lust of Concupisence c. 1. These 4. 4 5. Believe 〈◊〉 that he speaketh unto thee who art in thy youth wherein he speaketh most plainly 2 Tim. 2. 22. Fly also youthful Lusts. CHAP. IV. Use 2. THis also sheweth another not able Errour of young Men who think they may freely take that liberty which otherâ— may not and walk more at large than thosâ— of elder years Ye see the holy Ghost crosse this conceit and calleth upon young Meâ— more especially to Remember their Creatouâ— Know therefore That when our Saviour saith Enter in at the strait Gate He speakeâ— unto you that are young and requireth thâ— of you in your youth as well as any otheâ— He directeth both old and young to comâ— this way to Heaven for broad is the way anâ— wide is the Gate that leadeth to Destruction and many there be which go in thereat becauâ—â— strait is the Gate and narrow is the waâ— which leadeth unto Life and few there be thâ— find it Mat. 7. 13 Our Saviour chargeâ— all to leave the broad way that will not 〈◊〉 into Destruction and therefore for younâ— Men to think that they may walk at large anâ— follow their Lusts is to imagine that theâ— have liberty to run into Damnation Therâ— is but one way and that is a narrow one but one Gate and that is a strait one thaâ— leadeth unto Life and they that would livâ— for ever must enter into Life by this straiâ— Gate and narrow way whether young or old If ye would know what allowance ye have in this kind it is no more than that which Solomon giveth in Eccles. 11. 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the daies of thy youth Take thy pleasure but so that thou make sure account for all these vanities and sicentiousness of youth to give a most strict account at the day of Judgment If thou wiâ—t tipple if thou wilt swear if thou wâ—lt â—â—le away thy time c. know for a certain that God will bring thee to Judgment for all these things Was it not to a young Mâ—n that our Saviour spake when he said Go and sell all that thou hast give to the poor and follow me Mar. 19. 21 22. Here was a narrow way and yet this was required of a young Man if he would be saved And though hâ— were young yet could he get no release of our Saviour but he goeth away with a sad and sorrowful heart The like in effect saith our Saviour to every young Man sell all that thou hast do away thy Lusts put away thy Drunkenness cast off Lying Swearing Idleness Pride Vanities and follow me The way of Christ is the strictest 〈◊〉 the narrowest path that ever Man went Now Christ will have young Men follow him and keep their feet in the narrow way which he hath gone before and tread in his steps I hope none will be so Blasphemous as to say that Christ did take this licentious course which young Men think they may take Well then if thou wilt enter into life thou must follow him and go in that narrow path wherein he walked It is to be observed that Christ was young and dyed young therefore if ye that are young look for Salvation by him ye must follow him in those waies of his youth All those good works all that holâ—ness whereby he fulfilled all righteousness these were the practises of his youth if then ye will have him for your Saviour who walked thus in his youth ye must follow him in your youth Christ went about doing good and thinkest thou that thou maist go about doing evil that thou maist run about hunting after idle meetings and ill company because thou art young and in the flower of thy youth No Christ was young when he went about doing good Act. 10. 38. And therefore if thou takest liberty to go about doing evil because thou art young thou art no Disciple of Christ. CHAP. V. Use 3. LEt me exhort you that are young That ye would effectually lay to heart these words of the holy-Ghost Remember now thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth Oh that you would now enter into a Covenant with the Lord and bind your selves resolvedly to seek your Creatour To you that are young the Spirit of God here speaketh Oh take heed of despising him that speaketh from heaven because of your youth but hear him so much the rather because he speaks to young Men and for this end let me urge you with some Motives 1. Consider what wrong it is to God to give Satan the best of thy time Under the Law the first-Fruits were to be given to God Levit. 23. 10. 14. And they might eat no bread until the Lord had the First-Fruits offered unto him So that he who should presume to eat any of his Corn before the Lord had his portion even a sheaf of the first-fruits he was no better than a Sacrilegious intruder upon the Lord's Possession So the Lord requireth of thee O young Man the first-Fruits of thy Life even thy youth and strength and if thou dost not offer and consecrate thy young years to the Lord thou dealest Sacrilegiously thou dost â—lienate the Lord's Portion thou deliverest Possessiâ—n unto Satan of that which God hath committed to thy trust to reserve wholly for him sike some unfaithful Tennant yielding up the possession to him that hath but apâ—â—tended Tirle to the prejudiâ—â— of the right owner Oh do not give thâ— first-Fruits unto the Devâ—l and think that God will be pleased with the Gleanings the refuse and scattered ears the dreggs of old age Offer it now to thy Prince see if he will accepâ— thee Malac. 1. 8. As if he had said Serve thy Princes Enemy in thy youth and strength and then come to the Courtâ— in thine old age limping with thy stilts aâ—â— crutches and say Mine old Master hath cast me off and now I will serve thee see then if he will entertain thee So it is in this case 2. Consider that God loveth cheerfulness in his services so many places of Scripture shew Rejoyce in the Lord c. I will run the wayes of thy Commandments saith David Quicken me O Lord c. Now youth is the most cheerful part of a mans Life then
6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The Sun-beams do as it were guild things whereon it shineth and make them look bright and pleasant whereas they looked dull before without any such lustre or comeliness This Heavenly Knowledge is a shining knowledge it brightâ— ens and beautifies the Mind and Soul and the more fresh and nimble the witt and understanding is the more it is adorned by it no skill no knowledge no learning is so comly for a young Man as this true saving knowledge of God in Christ. II. Hath the young man some strength of memory what can become this Treasury or Store-house so well as Gold Silver Pretious-Stones as the Apostle calleth holy Truths what should hay and stubble trash and dirt do in so pretious a Cabinet what is more unseemly than to have it filled with wanton idle Songs with scurrilous jests with airy vain conceits foolish ballaâ—s legendary tales or the like that which is fit for the Dung-hil is not seemly for a Cabinet III. Is youth full of lively and stirring affections what is more seemly than for the quickest affections and for the most lively motions of the Heart and Spirit to be exercised about Heavenly and Spiritual things The World is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of its comliness which God gave it in the Creation Now God hath thus ordered the World in its several parts that the quickest and nimblest should be highest in their rank and the slowest and dullest should be lowest So the Heavens which are of a most strange and wonderful swiftness are highest and of other things the quickest in motion are nearest Heaven so the Air and in the Air the Birds whereas the Earth being slow and without Motion lyeth below all the rest and is farthest from Heaven So what is more seemly than for those winged affections of young Men and Women to mount up to Heaven and the quicker and swifter they are in their Motions the higher it becometh them to fly what should they do creeping on the Earth like Snailes or earthing themselves in the Earth like Moles or mudding these lively affections in sinful fleshly pleasures Why rather should they not in their daies of youth cast their Souls upon the wing earnestly desiring God to draw them that they may run after him Is it a seemly thing to see a Lark or an Eagle to make her self a burrow or nest under ground or to plunge her self in the Mud No it becometh her to be aloft so it becometh not the winged affections of the younger sort to bemudd themselves with sinful pleasures but to be lifted up in the power of Gods Spirit and to converse with him who is invisible The dullness of age hath more affinity with Earth than the vigour of youth which yet must not perswade old Men to follow the inclination of age and because their backs are bowed with years to think themselves warranted to debase their Souls to earthly affections but rather to conceive themselves directed to look themselves out a burying place entring into a serious Meditation of the Grave whiles their bodies by the decaies of age are daily preparing for their last dissolution into those first earthly Principles of which they were compounded IV. And as the quickness of young Mens affections should thus set them in a course of holiness so the quickness of their Spirits which is one cause of the quickness of their affections doth exceeding well suit with true grace and holiness The Activity and as the Country-word is the Mettle that is in the younger sort is very suitable to an holy Conversation This is one thing which maketh many men falsely to think that Religion is not seemly for youth but these are such as know not the power of godliness and therefore think it to be a lumpish dulling thing But what blindness is this to imagine that the blessed Spirit of God is a duller to the Spirit of a Man when he worketh upon it by his sanctifying power and vertue No it is enough indeed to put life into a dead heart when the blessed Spirit affordeth his gracious Influence unto it If the Sun doth dull and dead the Earth the Trees the Herbs in the Spring-time then may ye imagine that the Spirit of God doth dull the Spirits of Men by Sanctifying and Quickening them It taketh away indeed their wildness and madness that is to say their untowardness unseemliness and uncomeliness but it rather encreaseth and purifieth their kindly vigour and giveth them yet a greater and an higher life and maketh them more lively than before but with a sweet spiritual and heavenly kind of Life It is true that in the beginnings of grace there is some drooping and dejectedness but that is but in the turn when they are coming out of their natural estate from under the Curse and Wrath of God But if once they be indeed set in a course of holiness and find the comfort of Gods love in Christ they shall find themselves more enlivened and quickened by the Spirit of God than they can be by nature only Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty saith the Apostle The Spirit of Christ enlargeth the heart striketh off the fetters of Corruptions and maketh it more free and full of Life Therefore David often calleth upon God to quicken him He was a man naturally of a quick temper of a fresh lively Spirit as appeareth by that Description given of him 1 Sam. 16. 12. He was ruddy and withal of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to But he knew that grace would quicken him more and give him a heavenly activity of Spirit and therefore desired to be more and more quickened by it And how can the vigour and quickness of youth be better imployed than in the work and service of God Is not the Service of God a race And who are so fit to run as those who are young and of nimble Spirits Let us run with patience the race that is set before us and else-where so run that ye may obtain Which as it implyeth a winged swiftness and quickness of stirring affections in the service of God so also a ready diligence and active chearfullness in any work of his to which the heaviness of old age is a clogging hinderance and which doth exceeding well become the liveliness of youthful Spirits V. Are young Men strong and of able Bodies What is more comely for them than to serve the Lord with all their Strength The weakness of the Body doth even make the Spirit fail and faint and hindereth it many times in the Service of God Strength is an help in the worship of God and the Spirit in a strong Body is like a work-man standing upon firm ground which is an help and furtherance in the work VI.
the heart is in the liveliest temper then the spirits are freshest and quickest and natural cheerfulness being Sanctified is a furtherance of spiritual joy The quickness of the natural temper which is in youth most vigorous is a good servant to quickning grace Think not that God is best pleased with the lumpish old age which many times is little more than a dead piece of Earth with a little portion a small remainder of life abiding in it God is the living God and he requireth living Sacrifices Rom. 12. 1. Now thy youth hath more life in it than thine old age There is as it were a close union between the Soul and Body in youth The Soul imparteth a more plentiful â—nfluence of Life unto the Body in youâ—h than â—n old age by the quickness and plenty of the Spirits which in youth are more abundent than in age Give up therefore this most living part of thy life thy young daies unto God and not only that part of life which partaketh more of Death than of life thâ—ne old decrepit and disabled age The hoary head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in a way of Righteousness Prov. 16. 31. Found He doth not say if it enter into the way of Righteousness but if it be Found there If a Man hath turned to God in his youth and persevered in upright walking before him until gray haires come upon him that Man needeth no Crown of Gold to adorn his head his hoary head is a Crown of Glory to him If under the Law a Man did burn the prime of his Beast in Sacrifice it was accepted yea when it was almost consumed even the remainders that were half burnt did yield a sweet savour to the Lord because the best was burnt also upon the Altar of the Lord. So let a Man consecrate the prime of his daies his youth to the Lord offer up this as a living Sacrifice and then even his worn old age which is like a Sacrifice half burnt and spent shall be exceeding sweet and pleasing to the Lord because the best was given up unto him whereas on the other side should any of the Priests have burned a Sacrifice upon the Altar of Baal and then when it was half burnt should have brought the gleanings and laid them upon the Altar of the Lord this would have been a grievous abomination in the sight of the Lord. So in this case c. Oh then Remember thy Creatour in thy youth lest he forget or despise thee in thine age Remember him in thy youth that thy hoar head may be found in the way of Righteousness and so may be a Crown of Glory and not a Spectacle of Reproach and Contempt unto thee 3. Consider especially the unspeakable danger of Sin confirmed and rooted with time wrought and wreathed into the heart and clasped in the affections by long custom in sin Oh when sin hath been thirty or forty years in growing and taking root it cleaveth like the skin to the bones like the Leprosy that was rooted in a wall which could not be taken away untill the wall were pulled down That sin which is in growing the whole time of a Mans youth during the best of his strength it is even a Wonder if it doth not accompany that Man to his Death-bed yea to the Judgment-seat of God I know the mercy of God is infinite and he calleth at the Eleventh hour but I am perswaded those are very few which are so called and especially very few if any of those who have had the means of Grace in their youth and regarded them not Oh this willful hardning of the heart is dreadful This continuing in sin against knowledge this with-holding the truth in unrighteousness moveth the Lord to give men over to a Reprobate sence Rom. 1. 21 24 25 28. Into such a state that he becometh uncapable unteachable that neither blessings nor crosses neither the Rod nor the Word neither sickness nor health neither gray haris nor the approach of Death can work him to to sound Conversion Ah poor forsaken Soul such a one may come to say with Saul God hath forsaken me A speech that might rend a render heart to hear it I speak not this to bring you to despair but to stirr you up to speedy Repentance that ye may prevent this desperate and woful condition CHAP. I. IN the last place let me speak a few words to Parents and old People 1. To Parents Ye that are Parents labour ye to season the very Child-hood of your Sons and Daughters with the true knowledg and fear of God pray over them daily instruct exhort rebuke and use all good means that the prime of their daies may be given up to God Teach them to Remember their Creatour in their Childhood that they may neither forget him in their youth nor forsake him in their old age I fear that most Parents among us by neglecting their Duty herein are guilty of their Childrens Destruction 2. To the Aged Ye that are grown old and have not remembred your Creatour in your younger daies whose bones are full of the sins of your youth Oh know that your case is exceeding dangerous therefore bewaile your lives whereby ye have so much dishonoured your Maker humble and judge your selves in the bitterness of your Souls cry continually and importunately in the ears of the Lord that if it be possible the sins of your youth and the long continued wickedness of your Lives may be forgiven you that the often resistance which ye have made against the spirit of God may be pardoned if it be possible that the frequent casting of the Word of God behind thy back may be forgiven Oh how odious and contemptible is the hoary head found in the way of wickedness in a state of impenitency What is an old Drunkard or Adulterer a gray-headed Swearer an old Covetous Worldling an hoary headed impenitent person but even a monster among Men What dost thou not yet remember thy Creatour not in old age not at fifty at sixty or seventy years Oh wreched security Awake awake unto Righteousness unto Repentance ye old ones that sleep in sin lest ye sleep the sleep of everlasting Death and never behold the face of God in Righteousness SERMON III. Eccles. 12. 1. Remember now thy Creatour in the daies of thy Youth c. CHAP. I. BEsides what hath been already observed something yet may be further noted Viz. Observ. That Grace and Holiness are exceeding fit and no way unseemly for the younger sort Man's Life hath in some regards been compared to a Comedy or Enterlude Acted upon the Theatre or Sage of this World and the truth is many a Mans life is but a Play and many in their courses do but act other mens parts not in sincerity express their own inward dispositions And therefore that decorum which they suppose may grace them in the eyes of Men is the thing they most of all affect and aim
unseemly for those of the younger sort it layeth open the shame of their folly and when they think highly of their own witts and perhaps scorn the advice of their Auncients they make it known to the World that through the greatness of their folly they know not themselves nor their places aright nor what becometh them Idleness and Vanity are most unseemly for them the loss of these precious daies of youth to sleep away these best daies or to triffle them away whiles the Sun shineth upon them it is most unseemly Finally to live in impenitency and security not to seek the love and favour of God in Christ to put off Repentance till old Age is most unseemly and uncomely To sleep all the day and put off a man's main business until night is most foolish and uncomely Conversion to God it is thy main work and the beginning of all the work and service which thou doest for him that made thee and gave thee thy life and continueth it to thee every hour Thou dost never truly put thy self into his Service until thou art truly converted and turned unto him All that thou dost in the Worship of God before is no true Service no work of a faithful Servant acceptable unto God therefore to give him that gave thee all thy daies no part of these best daies of youth to give him that gave thee all thy strength no part of thy strength to give him that gave thee all thy witt and understanding nothing but the ruines and decays of witt memory and understanding in old age or sickness is most unseemly and such as cannot any way become any one that would be called a Christian especially if thou considerest that when thou deniest thy best time to God he may justly deny thee the rest of thy time which thou hopest to enjoy and cut thee off in thy sins CHAP. IV. Vse 2. THis should teach Parents and Masters that have any of the younger sort under their charge to be very careful and diligent to teach them what doth most of all become them even the fear of God and Faith unfeigned Instead of teaching them vain fashions which they are too apt to learn of them to teach them that it will best become them not to fashion themselves according to this evil world but to be transformed in the renewing of their mind to teach them that the words of heavenly wisdome the word of God laid up in the heart and shewed forth in the life will be their richest ornament Let them know how well Humility Modesty Temperance Chastity Sobriety Holiness and the knowledge of God will become them Let them not only be taught how good these things are but how seasonable how fit they are how seemly for them at those years how necessary Let them understand how ill it becometh them at this age to want these Jewels and what deformity the contrary sins do put upon them As it becometh them of younger years to be thus qualified so it becometh you that are elder by all means both in word and conversation to shew them what becometh them CHAP. IV. Use 3. IF Grace and Holiness are comely ornaments of Youth then how unseemly is it for those that have passed the daies of Youth to continue yet without it hast thou out-lived thy Youth and hast thou not yet done that which thou shouldest have done in thy Youth Not yet so remembred thy Creator as to turn unto him and to seek him with thy whole heart Oh blame thy self for this before the Lord and if thou hast lost the first season take heed thou doest not foreslow the latter Art thou now past the Spring of Youth It is more than time thou hadst sown in Tears The Harvest draweth on and then as a man hath sowen so shall he reap He that hath sowen to the Flesh following his lusts and his will shall of the flesh reap corruption but He that soweth to the Spirit being led by the Spirit in the wayes of holy obedience shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Think then with thy self if it be a shame for young men to be without Grace it is a double shame for me that am past the daies of Youth Iâ— God hath shewed thee patience in not cutting thee off in the sins of Youth oh take heeâ— of abusing that patience any longer Wilt thou sin because thou hast escaped hithertoâ— God forbid The longer thou hast sinned the more hast thou provoked the eyes of Gods glory the more dangerous is it to continue any longer in sin The longer the Fig-tree had cumbred the ground the neareâ—â— it was to the cutting down the more it was in danger of the Axe Therefore repent heartily and speedily of the sins of Youth and yet whiles thou maist do somewhat for the Lord hast some strength and abilities for his service let him have thy heart and hand thy body thy soul sacrifice thy self to him consecrate thy whole man to his worship and service even in thy middle-age CHAP. V. Use 4. IF Grace be the ornament of Youth then doubtless Sin must be the shame of Old Age. What an old man an old woman and yet a graceless sinner A gray-head found in the ways of unrighteousness the ways of folly What is this but to be a spectacle of reproach among men How many years hast thou lived an enemy to God Couldest thou find no time for reconciliation in thy Youth nor in thy middle age nor yet now thou art thus far gone in years What is an impenitent old man but a kind of monster among men What a shame is it to see a gray-head quaffing by the fire-side in an Ale-house a man of fifty or sixty years haunting the Ase-house and wanton dallyance A profane Oath in an old mans mouth how odious and shamefull is it Is it not a double shame for old men to be more and more covetous the elder they are to cleave more and more close to the world As one that is to be executed if he hath his hands at liberty when he is turned off the Ladder will catch hold again and cling fast unto it being loth to let go his hold so such a one being summoned by death to leave the world catcheth hold again fastening his very heart unto it and cleaving more strongly and more closely thereunto How much better were it to have loosened the heart from the world by unfeigned repentance that the world and it may part with ease For part ye must though thy heart should be pulled in pieces in parting How ill doth it become an old man that all this while he hath not learned to see into the vanity of the world which a wise man in a little time of experience may easily discern O thou old sinner learn greatly then to bewail the sins of thy Youth that length of time wherein thou hast gone on in sin wherein thou hast hardened thy heart and resisted the spirit of God
assured that the end will be everlasting life then shall the daies of thy Youth be good and blessed daies un o thee SECT III. II. More especially these good daies of Youth are made evil daies when they are spent in any or divers of those sins to which on the one side You his commonly accustomed and which on the oâ—her side in a right consideration of things are most unseemly and unfit for Youth I. One sin is whoredom if any thing can make the daies of Youth of good to become evil daies this will do it when the body which is as a Temple of the Holy Ghost and should be consecrated and dedicated to him from the first building or framing of it as it were shall be made a cage of unclean lusts how great is this prophanation If the Temple at Jerusalem when it was new built should have been made a Stews as one of the Popes is said to have made his Palace and then have been left to be employed as a Temple for God when it grew old and ruinous would not the earth have opened her mouth to swallow up those who should have thus prophaned it O young men how dangerous is it then whilst your bodies are young and should be esteemed and used as new-built Temples wholly dedicated unto God his glory and service to defile them with those sins intending when they are old decayed and ruinous buildings and not till then to use them as Temples of the Holy Ghost St. Paul saith If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy 1 Cor. 3. 17. Therefore if any one hath not kept his Garments clean in this regard let him without delay wash and be clean wash away his guilt by the blood of Christ wash away these lusts and sinfull inclinations by the Spirit of Christ by unfeigned repentance and amendment of Heart and Life and for the time to come according to Davids counsel Psal. 119. 9. Let them make clean their wayes from this foul sin by taking heed unto them according to such parts of the word as these Flee youthful lusts but follow after righteousness faith charity peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart 2 Tim. 2. 22. And that Whore-mongers and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13. 4. And that of St. Paul 1 Thess. 4. 3 4 5. This is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which knew not God 2. Drunkenness which as it is enough to make any part of a man's life evil so it is a great blemish to a young man and maketh the daies of his Youth evil and wretched daies The wise man sheweth that the ruines of Old Age do make the Keepers of the House tremble and the strong ones to bow themselves the Hands and Leggs to shake But how shamefull is it for young men of firm and strong bodies to bring a drunken Palsey upon themselves whereby they are staggering in the streets their Leggs even failing them or a brutish Lethargy whereby they are not able to arise from the place where they sit or lie ye that are Parents look to it that your Children come not into such infectious company as many entice them Take heed ye that are young of besotting your Brains and Understandings which now are naturally fresh and quick if ever wiâ—h this swinish sin Consider that weighty Charge of our Saviour Luke 21. 34. Take heed lest at any time your Hearts be over-charged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness 3. Pride is another sin that is enough to make the daies of Youth to be evil daies That which made good Angels wicked Devils is enough to make the best daies of a man's life evil and miserable What is more seemly for the younger sort than true modesty and humility which God accepteth blesseth and crowneth with graces here and glory hereafter What worse than Pride and a disdainful Carriage want of farther experience should make them in many things to suspend their Judgements unless it be in such as are cleer and evident Contempt and scornfull behaviour towards the Antienâ— Self-conceit as if Wisdom should die with them Self-will and stubbornness an unmoveable Stiffness in their own groundless opinions and unwarrantable purposes with other fruits of Pride they do even deface the good daies of Youth and make them evil 4. Idleness is another sin which marreth these good daies which bringeth not only a rust upon them but letteth loose the lusts of Youth and maketh it exceeding sinful If any should flee this sin as all should then especially the younger sort ought to observe it above others It is not a misery of miseries that those golden daies should be worn out in sluggishness that those abilities of body and mind which are at their best should want employment and want they cannot work they must they are made of such a temper that they cannot be without motion If the Heavens cannot stand still nor the Air fix it self in one place and abide without stirring no more can the minds of young men nor the thoughts of their hearts abide without inward workings of spirit O young man thou canst not keep thine eye-lids from stirring thy Lungs from moving thy Heart and Pulse from beating and canst thou keep thy Soul and the affections of thy Heart from stirring which are more active than any part of thy body No they will have their course and if in any idle sluggish carelessness thou lettest them go as a Ship without a Rudder or Pilot the event is like to be wofull and thou art running upon the Rocks Satan filling the Sails of thy affections with contrary winds and hellish suggestions which drive thee from the Haven of Peace to the gulph of everlasting destruction What a world of snares hath the Devil ready for thee whiles he finds thee idle How many enticing objects and dangerous temptations When shouldest thou provide against the winter of thy life but now in the spring of thy daies Old Age is almost unteachable and if thou learnest not in thy Youth but spendest it in lazy ignorance it will be very hard if not impossible to learn in thine old age when thou art more ready to forget than to learn It is a most miserable spectacle to see an ignorant old man or woman which hath lost the best time of Youth in idleness and not treasured up the principles of heavenly truths Oh how uncapable are they of the things of God! how likely to perish for want of knowledge how uncapable of Knowledge it self Rest and ease is fitter for Old Age than for Youth Labour Diligence Watchfulness Iâ—dustry are things which become those good daies In a word when any sin aboundeth and any lust prevaileth it is enough to make the dayes of Youth evil daies Therefore ye
remember thee let my Tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth c. The course of the words shew manifestly that it was not simply to remember this City and Temple which he undertook but to be deeply affected with its calamity for he preferred Jerusalem above his chiefest joy But most plainly doth Moses expound this word unto us Deut. 8. ver 11. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandements and his Judgments and his Statutes which I command thee this day Where to forget is as well not to embrace in affection and not to observe in practice as not to keep in memory Many other examples we have of like nature in Psal. 119. besides many other Texts of Scripture So that in a word Forgetfulness of God is a withdrawing declining and turning aside of the Heart and Soul from God upon Earthly things manifested in a course of neglecting God's Service and his Commandements and running after the vanities of this life CHAP. III. II. NOw that this is especially incident to the younger sort I wish the lamentable experience of all times and of this especially did not too much ease me of the labour in proving yet something must be said for it according to promise The wise man in setting forth the impudency of a graceless Strumphet sheweth that young men are especially apt to forget God and to be ensnared by her Prov. 7. 6 7. At the window of my house I looked through my casement and behold among the simple ones I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding passing through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house c. These are the men who in the pride of their youth and heath of their Blood value their own witts at an high rate and think themselves the wisest in the Countrey despise the dulness of elder years and more setled spirits as if wisdom were born and should dye with them Yet here ye may see how the wisest of men doth censure them for fools simple ones void of understanding men especially forgetful of God of his Word and Will such a one was seen going toward the house of a strange Woman toward a Whore-house and such are some Ale-houses frequented so much by young men for I know none so fit to keep a Stews as those who professedly without regard of Magistracy Ministry Credit c. do keep common shops for Drunkenness But mark the Wisdom of our young man 21. 22 23. With much fair speech she caused him to yield with the flattering of her lips she forced him he goeth after her straight way as an Oxe goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life She filled his head with her prateing and enticeing speeches and put better things out of his mind She caused him to forget God and cast his fear behind his back so she carried him captive in the bonds of lust and driveth him as an Oxe to the slaughter and as a fool to the correction of the stocks c. So the wise man in Eccles. 11. 9. Sheweth the solly and forgetfulness of young men where by way of Irony and in an holy scorn he bideth them do that which they will do though never so much forbidden and threatned Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the daies of thy youth put God the Judge of all the World out of thy thoughts lay aside all sad remembrance of the last Judgment let none of these Melancholick passions any whit interrupt thy youthful delights walk in the waies of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes Follow thy lusts and senses like the bruit beasts and forget all that will follow even as if thy Soul should vanish away in the ayr at the hour of thy Death like the breath of a Beast without hope of Joy or fear of Vengence in another World By this irronical concession he giveth us an excellent description of the brutish and sensual forgetfulness of the younger sort minding present things with the full bent of their Souls and never seriously looking towards the things that are above But what is the issue but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment Even these things which thou makest nothing off as pardonable Errours of youth shall be scanned in the impartial judgement of God and he will bring thee to Judgment for them all CHAP. IV. III. IN the next place I am to shew the causes of this forgetfulness in the younger sort and here it were but an idle piece of Philosophy to ascribe it to the natural moisture and fluid temper of their brains whereby the impressions of things are presently dissolved like letters written in the water No this forgetfulness is as well in the heart as in the brain and requireth a further search into it's causes 1. In the first place then one special cause is a fleshly confidence in the natural strength of body and hope of long life They look at Death as a thing afar off even out of sight and therefore suffer not the apprehension of it to make any such impression upon them as in any degree to lessen that carnal sensual content which they take in the glut of earthly Vanities The blind Worldling when his barnes were full blessed himself in his own conceited happiness Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years But these persons think they have the advantage of him for whereas his Soul that night was to be taken from his goods they think they have life in store for many years an so with the unfaithful servant conclude that their Master will defer his coming and they may safely delay their Repentance and put him out of their remembrance As Gaal and the men of Shechem could eat and drink and curse Abimilech because they thought he was not near them though he was nearer than they were aware so the younger sort can satisfy their lusts and please themselves and do what they will scorning all admonitions or threatnings of Death because they think it not neer unto them Whereas perhaps Death as the punishment of Sin lyeth at their door and will be found to have way-laid them in the midst of their vanities and to cut them off in the midst of their strength and sins Strength Health abundance of Spirits freedom from aches pains and bodily distempers do put Death out of their thoughts and they will leave crooked and way-ward old age to vex it self with pensive remembrances of the Grave 2. The lively vigour of youth filleth them with a kind of carnal self-content and maketh them please themselves in themselves and so to feel no need they have of happiness and of delighting themselves in the Lord and therefore to neglect and
the old the starveling the blind the lame c. That man could never obey the Commandment so when the Lord biddeth us to remember to give up our youth to him if we spend this and our strength in sin we can never obey this Commandment for that time and strength is gone and our importent time crazy drowsy old age is left 4. From this Word Creatour God made all things for his glory and the more excellent any Creature is either in regard of its specifical nature or kind or in regard of its particular qualities and excellencies the more is it tyed to glorify God that made it such So among all earthly Creatures Man being made of the most excellent nature is most straitly tyed to glorify God the Creatour And among Men such as are in their youth and strength being endowed with the most excellent abilities ought more especially to remember him 5. Consider these Words Thy Creatour God is the Creatour of young Men as young Men. He did nor only give thee the being of a Man but the years the life the health the strength the vigour of a young Man He is the Author of thy youth the Creatour of thy strength he is thy Creatour in special he hath now Created that strength and ability in thee which he hath not yet Created in Children that which he hath taken from old Men. Thou hast that work of his now wrought upon and sheâ—ing it self in thee which is not in others and therefore Remember thy Creatour that hath Created that hot Blood that warmeth thy heart that quickness of apprehension and those lively Spirits that are within thee 6. Consider these Words In the dayes of thy youth daies and not years daies and not nights Thy youth is but a few May-daies it will presently be gone and therefore in those few daies that short time thou shouldest give up thy self to thy Creatour Could not ye Watch with me one hour a just reproof of our Saviour to his sleepy Disciples Could ye not afford me a few daies a just reproof of all silly souls who are not wise unto Salvation and think their youth too good too much to be given up to God It is not three hundred years that the Lord asketh at thy hands as at Henoch's nor Nine hundred and upwards as he required of other Patriaches but a few daies of youth Daiâ—s and not Nights The times of youth consist of Daies then is the Sun-shine the Night follow dark times of old age aches weakness sickness sleepiness Now because these are Daies they must be given up to God who is Light and not to the Devil who is the Prince of Darkness not to sins which are works of Darkness This is gross folly to give the Days of youth to Satan and to leave the dimme evening of our old declining age to God to give the good the best daies to Satan and the evil daies as they are called afterwards yea the worst to God CHAP. III. Vse 1. THis sheweth the great folly of young Men who think of all others in a Congregation that they have least reason to give any special heed and yield obedience unto the Word Preached Old Men they think had need to look about them they smell of the Winding-sheet the Grave groaneth for them an earthy cold benumeth their Limbs the beginnings of death are already upon them and have taken deep possession of them but as for themselves they are full of Life and feel no messengers of Death Life aboundeth in their Blood in their Spirits it is strongly seated in their Bones it beateth in their pulses it looketh out at their eyes and shineth in their faces there is no sign no shew of Death Alass poor souls Death doth not alwayes give any long time of warning it maketh many sudden surprizals as well as tedious and lingring seiges It hangeth up young Absalom invironed with his Warlike troops it sheddeth young Amnon's blood in the midst of his Cups while Jobs Sons and his Daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest Brothers house there came a great wind from the Wilderness and smote the four corners of the house and fâ—ll upon the young Men and they dyed Job 1. 18 19. In one night Death slâ—yeth the Sons and Heirs of Pharaoh and of all the Egyptians so that there was scarce one house where there was not one young Man dead How often hath the supream Lord of Life and Death taught us by evident examples that no age is privâ—ledged no years are exempted that the youngest cannot promise himself another year another day or hour ye that sit here old and young who knoweth when or where the next blow will light Sin hath perverted the order of Nature and put it out of course and therefore ye must not look that the same order should be kept in passing out which was in coming into the World and that those who came first should alwaies leave those behind them which were born after them The Son dyeth before the Father the Nephew before the Grand-father the Young before the Old the Heir before him that is in possession Sin hath let in Death into the World and that cometh in as an Enemy not upon parly and conditions bâ—â— as a Conqueror by a forcible entry and 〈◊〉 sacketh this City of the World and maketh no difference of Sex or Age but killeâ— and striketh on the right hanâ— and on thâ— left It hearkneth to no such plea Theâ—â— is an elder man There is a Woman that 〈◊〉 old when I was a Child let me alone I am content to yield when mine Auntients aâ—â— gone before me No if I will that he 〈◊〉 what is that to thee follow thou mâ— Some daies in the year are not near so loâ—â— as some others Some mens lives will bâ— reach the middle of some others their 〈◊〉 setteth at noon and the night is come upoâ— them before they have begun their daâ—â—â— work Therefore let young men learn wiâ—dom from the wise man yea from the Spâ—rit speaking in this Text Remembering the Creatour in the daies of their Youth And 〈◊〉 thou O young Man whatsoever thou heaâ—â—est concerning the wayes of God thinâ— that whatsoever remembrances are deliveâ—ed from the Word to put thee in mind of 〈◊〉 Creatour that they concern thee in especial 〈◊〉 there were none but young Men in a Parist that place should have special need of thâ— Word of God If there were no gray-heâ—â— in a Congregation yet there is need of spâ—cial Exhortations from the Word to mind such of their Creatour If thou hearest of present Repentance conceive that it is spoken to thee If the danger of continuing in sin and delaying conversion be set forâ—h in the Ministry of the Word know that this belongeth to thee in special manner who art in the daies of thy youth If thou hearest the charge of our Saviour Watch therefore left at any time your hearts be overcome with Surfeiting
and now be very earnest with the Father of mercies to pass by the multitudes of thy sins whch in these many years of thy life thou hast made thy self and others guilty of CHAP. VI. Use 5. LAstly yea that are young let this enter into yovr hearts and be ye perswaded that nothing doth so well fit you nothing so well become your years as to remember your Creator as to know to love to fear to serve and obey him that made you Now is the Spring now is the time of sowing in tears even in your Youth and if ye sow so ye shall in Youth reap the first fruits of comfort Now is the day and therefore work now the night cometh darkness cometh yea the night of spiritual darkness and blindness of mind may come a dreadfull gloomy night may shade your Souls the spirit of God withdrawing his light against which you have so long sinned in the pride of Youth and Satan drawing a black vail over your Souls then there is a woful night within the night of an hardened heart that cannot repent and of a â—eared conscience and a reprobate sense may come when none can rightly work the works of God Oh then what an extreme folly is it for you now to sleep in Sin whiles it is day and whiles mercy is offered and the way of life is shewed and the works which God hath ordained for his people to walk in are laid before you Now then it becometh you to flee youthfull lusts and not to stay till they flee you Now learn to hate all sin and especially the sins to which your age enclineth you even as Death as Hell Do not think that the sins of Youth will become you because Youth is enclinable to them but rather think they are so much the more unseemly because nature corrupted enclineth Youth unto them Sin is so contray unto that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and right order of things whch God hath made that it enclineth men to those things whch are most unseemly for them And this must needs be so for Sin is most contrary unto God now God by his work enclineth every Creature to that which becometh it and so by his work upon man in the Creation he did frame in him a propension and inclination to that which did every way become him best Now Sin being quite contrary unto God and seizing upon man's nature did so corrupt it as to encline it to that which is most unseemly for it So man in general is enclined to earthly to bodily and sensible things sutable to the body and to neglect heavenly and spiritual things which are sutable to his Soul and inner man which considering the nature and creation of man is most absurd and unseemly as if a man should be more carefull of his foot than of his Head What comparison is there between the Soul and the Body Is not that of far greater excellency than this How unseemly a thing is it to seek the satisfying and contenting of the body rather than of the spiritual and better part of a man's self So Sin enclineth old men in age to become more earthly and covetous than before Now this is most unseemly So the Heathen could observe counting it as foolish and absurd for an old man to grow more covetous and eager after the world as for a Traveller to provide himself so much the more carefully for his Journey the nearer he cometh to his Inne or Journey 's end Were it not an unseemly folly when a man is even at home and seeth the smoak of his own Chimney to seek about carefully for a fresh Horse and other necessaries fit for a Journey of many hundred miles So what more foolish and unseemly than for an old man travelling to his last home to be the more carefull of earthly things the nearer he cometh to his grave which are useful to him only by the way And as sin enclineth old age to that whch is most unseemly so also it doth younger years Oh do not think these things seemly for thee to which Nature corrupted by sin enclineth thee no more than that is wholsome for a sick man to which his Stomach vitiated by a disease doth move him Esteem Grace of all things to be the richest ornament put on Christ Jesus that thou maist partake of the beauty of his Grace and Spirit who is the fairest of ten thousand that thou maist be one of those in whom God himself through Christ Jesus is delighted SERMON IV. Eccles. 12. 1. In the daies of thy youth CHAP. I. IN the next place we may observe under what terms the daies of Old Age are opposed to the daies of Youth it is under the notion of evil daies They are opposed to the daies of Youth as evil to good therefore hence I observe Obs. That the daies of Youth are good daies So the opposition teacheth us to inferr for they are such daies as men enjoy while the evil daies come nor The Hebrews call young men by such a name as imployeth choice and a young man in that Language is as much as a chosen or selected man a man picked out of the multitude for special use and so the time of Youth is expressed as a chosen selected time So in this very place for as he had said before Eccles. 11. 9. Rejoyce O young man Or O thou chosen selected one So here Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy Youth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or thy choicest daies So that ye see the ordinary expression used in primitive significant Tongue which is as it were the fountain of all Languages noteth out of time of Youth unto us as a good yea as a choice selected time So much I think the Psalmist implyeth too Psal. 71. 17 18. O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works Now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not c where he seemeth to set the daies of Old Age against the daies of Youth as evil against good O thou hast taught me from my Youth Thou hast vouchsafed me thy presence thy Spirit to teach and guide me in those good and pleasant daies of Youth those good daies when I in confidence of thy presence and assistance encountred the Bear and Lion and rescued my Lambs Tâ—ose daies when I assaulted the Philistine took away the reproach from Israel Those daies when with a lively and ravished Spirit I leaped and daunced before the Ark But now the evil daies of Old Age the winter of my life is growing upon me the times are coming when I shall see no pleasure in them when Clothes shall scarce suffice to warm me and therefore now O my God! forsake me not withdraw not thy presence now in special I find need of thee that thou maist make those daies good unto me through thy love and Spirit which otherwise sin would make exceeding evil and wofull
to me CHAP. II. WHerefore that this may be made more clear unto us let us consider how and in what respects the daies of Youth are called good daies They are good daies 1. Because they are the first daies of a man's life Childhood is but as it were a preparative to the life of man Children while they are Children have but some imperfect beginnings of the life of reason which is the proper and peculiar life of man therefore we may reckon the daies of Youth as the first daies of man's life when he first beginneth to live as a man and to live the life of reason in some degree of perfection Now ye know that the first in every kind hath the preheminence the first-born of men the firstlings of beasts the first-fruits of the earth the morning of the day the first age of the world the spring of the year So there is a kind of preheminency in the first daies of man's life which are the daies of Youth they are a man's prime and his good daies 2. The daies of Youth are good daies because ordinarily they are the daies of best health and strength daies wherein we are of able bodies for any special service For although it be true that in the worship of God bodily exercise profiteth but little in comparison of the inward power of godliness yet strength and health when they are made serviceable to a sanctified upright heart are of special use both in the immediate worship of God and in the performance of many offices of love which we ought to do towards our Brethren in the Lord. Mens sana in corpore sano as they say a sound mind and an heavenly spirit furthered in the worship and service of God by a strong healthy well-tempered body hath a great advantage in it's work and in that case the daies of health and strength are good daies In Prayer although the strength and force of Prayer doth not lie in the strength of the sides or loudnes of the voice yet it is no smal advantage to the Spirit when in it's fervour and strength of affection it gathereth up and putteth forth all it's powers in earnest supplication before the throne of Grace if then it hath a sound healthy body able to bear the intention of a fervent spirit without fainting or distraction You know that if the arrow be long and drawn to the head it is needfull that the bow and the string should be of sufficient strength to hold drawing And a Christian that will not content himself to shoot those fools bolts mentioned Eccles. 5. 1. but desireth to send forth winged shafts of fervent Prayer that shall pierce the Clouds and enter the Heavens findeth it an help not to be despised when the strength and health of his body is suitable to the vigour of his spirit This holdeth as ye may easily conceive in those exercises of hearing reading meditation c. 3. Daies of Youth are times wherein the powers of the Soul are also quick lively and able by the communion with the body The Soul by reason of it's near conjunction of the body hath it's Childhood Youth and decaying time In younger years it hath those golden daies wherein the understanding is quick in apprehension teachable and apt to receive impression the Memory faithfull the Judgement good and sound the Affections strong and stirring Therefore these are the good daies wherein it is fit to be used in the work and service of God And as in the Spring all these concurring together the Trees in their fresh clothing the face of the Earth renued the beauty of Herbs and Flowers together with the Sun 's shining brightly in his strength and glory make up good daies whereas in the Winter the brightness of the Sun maketh but an imperfect good day whiles the Trees and Fields are stripped dead and withered the ground covered with mire and dirt so the meeting of these together the birth-right of Youth the strength and health of the Body the quickness of the Senses the activeness and abundance of the Spirits the perfections of the Soul c. make the daies of Youth good daies whereas although in the winter of Old Age the Sun may shine the principles of wisdome stored up in Youth may be preserved yet there are those defects naturally clogging that dying age which do ecclipse the brightness and lessen the goodness of those daies CHAP. III. Use â— THis may serve to reprove those who do allow some fleshly liberty to the daies of Youth Many who themselves are aged out of a kind of fatherly experienced gravity as they would have men think and out of a kind of moderation to which their years have brought them as they will have us believe do give liberty to a kind of latitude in the ways of Youth and young men must be born with Who doubteth but that there is a Christian moderation and compassion to be exercised towards such infirmities of the flesh which the Spirit wrestleth and laboureth against either in young or old when the heart being given up to Christ and brought under the soveraign command of his glorious Gospel and blessed Spirit cannot yet wholly free it self from the law of Rebellion nor utterly shake off the body of Death But out of a pretence of levity to flatter the enormities of Youth and to excuse those vitious unbridled courses which stain the glory of those best daies what is it but to say that hard Frosts deep Snows Inundations thick mire and dirt are not to be accounted strange in May nor to be wondered at in the prime and spring of the year Is it to be endured when the best daies of a man's life are wasted away in such courses as are contrary to the end for which a man liveth most contrary to the glory of that great God who hath given them these choice daies of Youth To speak plainly when are you more carefull to fence your Copses Pastures Meadows than in the Spring and will ye say the spring of our life which is the time of Youth may be laid open to the invasion of lusts to the assaults of Satan to the pleasures of Sin Let other men applaud their own gravity and condemn the rashness of others I cannot believe that Solomon wanted either years gravity wisdome or due moderation when he checked the folly of Youth in an holy Irony Eccles. 11. and setteth before all vain young men the Judgement of the great day shewing that for all these things even these excesses of Youth they shall be made to give account nor when he did put down this serious admonition in the words of this Text backed with so many pressing motives Remember now thy Creator in the daies of thy youth while the evil daies come not c. and had there been any defect in the pen-man yet I am sure the Holy Ghost which held his hand would not have suffered him to write one syllable amiss Neither