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
sense such who do not experimentally know God that he is and in measure What he is cannot properly be said to Remember him Remember your Creator that is no less than the Import of knowing and acknowledging your selves with God whereby peace may come unto you according unto that excellent counsel of Eliphaz to Iob Acquaint now thy self with God thereby Good shall come unto thee Job 22. 21. Remember your Creator That is of no less Import than the dying words of King David to his Son Solomon And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Father 1 Chron. 28. 9. Secondly To Remember our Creator implyes a reverent Fear of Him Remembring of God is fearing of God Prov. 23. 17. Be thou in the Fear of the Lord all the day long How darest thou to say that thou Remembrest God when thou fearest him not and hast but little dread of his Greatness in thy Heart Thou canst fear Afflictions Death or any Evil approaching towards thee and for the diverting whereof applyest thy self to the Means in order thereunto but how little doest thou use thy Strength and Prudence against Sin that cursed thing and which rendreth thee obnoxious to the Wrath of God which if thou fearest not here shalt hereafter to thy sorrow and eternal detriment Thou canst reverence a Person of Quality or any Earthly Monarch and when Access unto him is granted thee how great is thy Care and Diligence in demeaning thy self before him and how dost thou tremble lest by any uncomely Gesture or Action thou shouldst offend him knowing that in case of Default thou mayst not onely meet with Repulse but also Penalty And shall the Presence of Worms so awe thee and not God in whose presence the blessed Saints and Angels cover their Faces as being unworthy of Beholding him It 's no marvel why Conscience bears so little sway now adayes why Piety is so little countenanc'd why Gods Glory is so little preferr'd why one Man even becomes a Devil to another and why Young men Remember not their Creator The Reason of all lies here The Fear of God is not before their Eyes nor his Greatness studyed by them Our Creator is God over all Blessed for evermore the Lord of Hosts is his Name all the Creatures are at his Beck and Check he is the stronger side and whosoever fears the Lord need not fear any thing else Confidence and strong Confidence is in the Fear of the Lord yea a Fear-freeing Fear this Fear is Thirdly To Remember our Creator implies setting the Mind on work on the Excellencies of him Psal. 104. v. 34. My Meditation of him shall be sweet The Excellencies of God are many great and incommunicable Many and wonderfull are the Excellencies of the Creature but not to be compar'd with God's because all Creature-Excellencies are but Derivatives And what are the Streams compar'd to the Fountain the Rivers to the Ocean and the excellencies of the Creature to the Excellencies of the Creator being in him primitively and incommunicably yea the proper subject and seat of all Excellencies whatsoever God is And canst thou Ovain young man set thy Heart on these transitory Excellencies of the Creature and yet canst not look up so high as to the Creator and take a View of his glorious and transcendent Excellencies that have and do ravish the Hearts of all their Contemplators Davids Meditations of his Creators Excellencies were sweet unto him Call back O young Man all thy stragling Affections it is high time now they have been long enough seeking Rest in these terrene things and finding none Call home O vain man thy Love thy Joy Hope Grief and Fear These are to the Soul as the Souldiers to the Centurion If he said to one Go he went if to another Come he came These say some are the Messengers of the Will these say others are the Wheels the Chariots the Wings the Feet of the Soul But now if thy Love which is the first and General of all the Affections should be set not on God but the World if your Hatred should be directed not against Sin but Good men or which is worse against Goodness it self if your Zeal should not be pure Flames for Divine Glory but a burning Rage against the Truth of God if your Fear should not be a flight from Evil but an Apostasie from Christ if your Anger should be a Displeasure at anothers Eminencies and not at your own Exorbitances if your Hope should not be a well-ballanced Expectation of Happiness but a blind and venturous Presumption of Mercy and if your Grief should be a trouble that you cannot be and doe more evil Ah how vile how irregular how dangerous are Affections thus misplac'd When Love and Hatred keep to their right Centres and move towards their proper Objects to love nothing but Good to hate nothing but Evil. Fourthly To Remember our Creator implies to recollect our selves and return unto him as the Fountain of our Salvation Psal. 22. 27. All the Ends of the World shall remember and turn unto the Lord. By Sin we have Apostatiz'd from God are we yet return'd unto him is there a Conversion of the whole man unto God Are Old things past away and all things become New Hast thou a New Heart till then thou canst not remember God with any Affection Hast thou a New Will till then thou canst not do as thou oughtest Hast thou a New Eye till then thou canst not see the difference that there is between things Spiritual and Temporal Hast thou a new Appetite till then thou canst not know what is bitter or what is sweet Every Faculty is become the seat of Sin and therefore a Necessity there is of a universal Change The Understanding is dark and stands in need of Divine Illumination The Will is contumacious and needeth the Almighty Power of God to make it flexible The Memory is weak and needeth supernatural strengthening The Affections are dull and need spiritual Operation The Conscience is benumm'd and needeth the beams of God's Spirit to warm it and quicken it that it may no more mislead and be as a blind Guide And thus our whole Life is crooked and perverse hast thou gotten it made strait by a sincere Repentance and Reformation The Holy Scriptures are a Rule hast thou measured thy Life by it The Curse of the Law hangs on thee why dost thou not satisfie its Demands and Appeal to the Grace of God in Christ for freedom therefrom Thy miseries O Natural man are many great and intolerable why dost thou not endeavour to extricate thy self out of them Read this Scripture O Graceless Prodigal Psal. 9. 19. The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God Recollect therefore your selves oh Old Men before your dayes are quite concluded Remember your Creator Oh Young Men while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou
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