a Man to suffer the fittest season to escape him for the performance of that Work which is the most difficult of all others to be well done and upon the due accomplishment of which both his present and future Happiness depends For 1. Youth is the best Time for our Conversion Because the Soul is not then so much vitiated by evil Habits as when she has run through the several stages of Life in a continued course of Wickedness Tho Sin is deeply enough rooted in our Nature which is all defil'd with the Original Stain Yet we very much fortify our corrupt Inclinations by producing them into Act and by multiplying those Sinful Acts till they become familiar and customary to us and till we drink down Iniquity like Water So that the difficulty of turning from Sin encreases together with the Time of our continuance in the practice of it Can the Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots Then may ye also do Good that are accustomed to do Evil says the Prophet Is it to be thought that Conversion to God is so slight and easy a matter that any Time may serve for its Accomplishment Are not the difficulties that a long habit of Sinning will lay in the way of that great and important Work to be fear'd Is it not much more easy to bend a Young Twig than an Aged Oak and to prevent evil Habits than to rectify ' em A little observation of the World may suffice to inform us that long Custom or Habit is so bewitching a thing that scarce any thing can be imagin'd more ridiculous absurd and inconvenient than many things which the long usage of some Persons nay of some whole Nations has authoriz'd And if Men are so tenacious of any silly and troublesome thing which they have been much addicted to and sacrifice their Reason their Honour and their Ease to the Tyranny of Custom how much more prevalent must a long habit and course of Sin be which besides its deep rooting in our Nature and besides the ordinary force of mere Habit has both its flattering Promises and Pleasures to tempt us to its Embraces and its Threats and Terrors too in suggesting all the mortifying Circumstances of a vertuous course of Life to raise in our Minds the most frightful Idea of Piety and Religion So that if Custom and Habit in general be proverbially stil'd a Second Nature the habit of Sin may of all others most fitly be so term'd And the force of its Dominion over our Souls and the difficulty of its Extirpation out of them must needs have an increase proportionate to the Time of its Duration in them Can any thing then be more evident than that in the days of our Youth when Sin has not yet so deeply rooted it self in our Hearts by evil habits as in Old Age after a long course of Vice in a multitude of repeated Acts our Conversion must needs have the most easy and kindly accomplishment 2. This further appears in that the Minds of the Young are ordinarily the most capable of Instruction It was a saying of a Philosopher that to Cure a Dead Man and Teach an Old Man were things equally difficult For tho in some respects Youth is sufficiently addicted to Pride yet there is a kind of Natural Modesty and becoming Humility often discernible in the Young arising from a Consciousness of their Ignorance and unexperience of things which disposes them to a more Docible frame of Mind than is usually to be found in Elder Persons whose Maturity of Age often makes 'em unwilling to be inform'd especially in matters of Religion either because they imagin they already know what others may pretend to teach 'em or because they are unwilling to undergo the shame of being accounted so long ignorant of Religion and their concern therein which every body ought to be early acquainted with And upon this account 't is likely our Saviour tells his Disciples that except they should humble themselves and become as little Children they should not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. unless they should imitate Children in Modesty and lowliness of Mind that the Sense of their Ignorance might make 'em Teachable Besides the Minds of Youth are generally a much fitter Soil for Truth than those of the Aged because not usually so over-run with the Briars and Thorns of strong and deeply rooted Prejudices The Soul of Man will not long remain empty if it be not early stor'd with Truth 't will be gradually stuff'd with Errors and as 't is much more troublesome to alter and correct a Writing full of Nonsense and Confusion by much razing out and interlining than to write a handsome piece of good Sense on a blank Paper So it is abundantly harder to instruct or rectify a Mind long prepossess'd with Falshood than to make deep impressions of Truth on a Soul more simple and unprejudic'd which if empty of Knowledg yet is not fill'd with Error which as it has not yet learn'd to judg right of things so neither has been much us'd to judg wrong and if not happy enough to be well stock'd with good Notions yet is not so unhappy as to be crowded with bad ones Now seeing to capacitate us to serve God who is a Spirit and therefore will be serv'd with our Spirits without which Bodily Exercise profiteth little there are many great Truths to be learned and tho he has promis'd the help of his Holy Spirit to reveal these to the simple yet seeing he requires us to be diligent in the investigation of Truth and very attentive to the Voice of Reason and Scripture to that End 't is easy to see by reflecting on what has been just now said That the Young whose Minds are yet unform'd have a mighty advantage above the Aged for learning the knowledg of the ways of God and for obtaining a more copious and solid understanding of Truth So that we may well say with the Prophet tho perhaps he speaks in another sense Whom shall he teach Knowledg And whom shall he make to understand Doctrine Them that are wean'd from the Milk and drawn from the Breasts 3. Again there is a certain Tenderness of Spirit attending our first Years and not ordinarily to be found afterwards which renders Conversion more feasible The Heart is more malleable and more easily receives Impressions from the Promises and Threatnings recorded in the Word of God and from the Mercies and Judgments distributed in the World by his Providence Therefore we find few Persons whose Education has given them any tolerable means of the knowledg of Divine things who do not remember themselves to have been much affected in their Youth in attending to the Word of God or in observing some remarkable Passages of his Providence If deep Conviction is a great step towards Conversion Experience shews this is most easily wrought on one that is young How often do we
God is pleas'd to press or encourage us to our Duty in his Word by stiling Himself our Creator we are to consider that Title as tacitely including his being our Redeemer too that the God that made us is also the Rock of our Salvation And we find the great Work of the Holy Spirit in Renewing and Regenerating a Sinner is frequently term'd Creation in Holy Writ both to signify the Greatness of the Work and the Resemblance this New Creation in several respects bears to the first and also to denote that both those mighty Works are to be ascrib'd to the same Author and that God may be term'd our Creator not only in that he gave us a Being but also in that he often makes Sinners become New Creatures by Renewing them in knowledg after his own Image and by Creating them in Righteousness and true Holiness Who are therefore call'd his Workmanship Created in Christ Iesus to good Works c. And 't is worth remarking that this Word Creator in our Text is of the Plural Number in the Original Thy Creators as if design'd to express the great Obligations Men are under to each Person of the Blessed Trinity for Making Redeeming and Sanctifying them the former of which is eminently ascribed to the Father the Second to the Son and the last to the Holy Spirit tho' all concur in each of those mighty Works and to signify that all these Works may be fitly express'd by this common Name of Creation 4. As God is our Creator he is the Soveraign Arbiter and Disposer of our Being He is the Soveraign Judg of the World inflicting Punishments and dispensing Favours as he pleases He that has made us and preserves us has power to render us Happy or Miserable He has the Issues of Life and Death in his Hand He that hath created us knows all the Capacity we have of Joy or Sorrow Pleasure or Pain and has power to affect us with either of them as he pleases He can make his Arrows of Terror stick fast in the Conscience or fill the Soul with unspeakable Ioy. He can punish or chear the Mind with his immediate Frowns or Smiles or he can convey Anguish or Joy into the Soul by the Occasion of different Impressions on the Tabernacle of Flesh and Blood wherein she dwells He can dispense Punishments or Pleasures by his own Hand immediately or mediately by any of his Creatures And when he giveth Quietness who then can make Trouble And when he hideth his Face who then can behold him whether it be done against a Nation or against a Man only 'T is the Lord as Hannah speaks that killeth and maketh alive He bringeth down to the Grave and bringeth up The Lord maketh Poor and maketh Rich he bringeth low and lifteth up Which this Holy Prophetess proves by this Argument For the Pillars of the Earth are the Lord's and he hath set the World upon them where his Soveraign Power over Men to dispose of their State as he pleases is infer'd from his Relation to them as their Creator And when the Angel in the Revelation protests there should be Time no longer He swears by him that created Heaven and Earth and Sea and the things therein to shew that God as Creator of the World is the Soveraign Arbiter of it and that the Consummation of Time and of Temporal Things belongs to him under that Character So that 't is our Maker that both shews the Path of Life and holds in his Hand the Keys of Hell and Death And as he has made all things So he does whatsoever he pleses in Heaven and in Earth in the Sea and all deep places And Who can deliver out of his hand Seeing he doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his Hand or say unto him What dost Thou Thus have we endeavoured to shew what is comprehended in God's Title of Creator on which we have taken the greater Liberty to expatiate because hereby a solid Foundation is laid for some of those Reasons which we are hereafter to insist on to enforce the Duty in our Text in the Division of which we have observ'd that in the Terms of the Duty Remember thy Creator the Reasons of that Duty are in part insinuated Having given some Account of the Object of this Duty viz. God under the Title of our Creator We shall now Secondly Briefly explain the Act it self of Remembring him and shew what that imports The Memory is that Faculty of the Soul whereby she is capable of recalling the Ideas of things which have before been present to her But here to Remember does not only signify the exercising of the Understanding on our Creator by reflecting on what our Senses Reason and Divine Revelation may have suggested to our Minds concerning God under that Character It does not here barely import to meditate on him and bear him in mind but because the Understanding directs the Will and Affections and Men move and act very much according to their Conceptions of things their Desires following the Conduct of their Thoughts this Term is applied both to the one and to the other Sometimes it signifies to Esteem and Respect as Psal. 20. 3. The Lord Remember all thy Offerings and accept thy burnt Sacrifice Sometimes to Trust as Psal. 20. 7. Some Trust in Horses and some in Chariots but we will Remember the Name of the Lord our God Sometimes to Worship and Praise as 1 Chron. 16. 12. where after David had exhorted to sing to God to glory in him and seek him because of his mighty Works he adds to the same purpose Remember the marvellous Works that he hath done c. q. d. Adore and praise him for them And this may be further illustrated by the use of the opposite Term of Forgetting which sometimes signifies to disesteem and slight as Ier. 2. 32. Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire yet my People have forgotten me days without Number Sometimes to Distrust as Psal. 78. 7. That they might set their Hope in God and nor forget the Works of God And sometimes to neglect to praise and worship God as Psal. 106. 12 13. They sang his Praise they soon forgot his Works they waited not for his Counsel Or to forsake the Service of God as Deut. 6. 12. Beware lest thou forget the Lord that is by going after other Gods as it is explain'd in ver 14. So that to Remember God does not only import to think or meditate often on him but to think worthily and becomingly of him and to pay him a Respect in some measure sutable to the Idea we have of him To remember his glorious Perfections so as to esteem and respect him deliberately to call to mind the Number and Quality of his Favours and to
often labour under together with the common and unavoidable Afflictions of this World which make a very deep Impression upon them whose Appetites are fierce and eager after sensual pleasure their hope being only in this Life and whose Passions soon fall into a violent Ferment because they want the Holy Art of allaying the heat of them by serious Reflections on the Soveraignty Justice Wisdom and Goodness of that God whose Providence governs the Universe these things I say occasion them abundance of Grief and Trouble which one that becomes an early Convert to Holiness avoids who besides the joyous Testimony of a good Conscience that gives a Relish to all his Temporal Comforts and takes away the sting of all his outward Trials is so mortified to this World and rais'd so far above the Interests of it by a lively hope of Eternal Bliss and is so thoroughly convinc'd of the good Conduct of the Divine Governour of the World that he finds no such great reluctancy in himself to submit to the Will of God when he is pleas'd to afflict him In a word if it be both an evil and a bitter thing to go on in a Course of Sin and if all God's Ways are ways of pleasantness and all his Paths are Peace it must needs be a mighty advantage to enter betimes into so sweet and delightful a Walk 3. The Evils of Old Age if we arrive to that are aggravated by deferring Conversion till then but alleviated and render'd tolerable by an early Piety If he that neglects in the Time of his Youth and Strength to make provision for the Time of Age and Sickness when he has a fair opportunity of doing it is justly censur'd as inconsiderate and imprudent because he takes not care to prepare that which might give him some Relief then when many Infirmities will certainly encompass him and the neglect of which will inhance his Misery Then to neglect to turn to God in Youth is a Folly of the grossest kind because nothing can tend so much to support us under the pressure of the many Evils that attend Old Age nothing can tend to take off so much of the weight of that Burden as an early Conversion and nothing can make those Miserie 's so grievous as the neglect of it For 1. By an early Conversion a large stock of Grace and of Experience is treasur'd up which mightily strengthens the Soul under the burden of Age A long Habit of Mortification of Sensual Things Will render Carnal Pleasures insipid and he that dies daily to the World in the Time of Youth when it appears most aimable and charming will not feel much regret in his Mind when he finds Old Age has almost quite taken away the relish of those perishing Sweets since Reason and Religion had long before allay'd the keeness of his Appetite to them The long and good use he has made of his Spiritual Senses makes him patient under the decay of his Natural ones What tho' as Solomon phrases it the Keepers of the House tremble and the strong Men bow themselves and fears be in the way c. How can this make him unhappy whose inward Man has been renew'd day by day even before his outward Man decay'd Who therefore is become strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might which strengthens the weak hands and confirms the feeble knees and makes them that are of a fearful heart strong What if those that look out at the Windows be darkned How can Dimness or even loss of Sight render him miserable who through the course of his Life has endeavour'd to be blind to those Objects that might tempt him to Sin having made a Covenant with his Eyes to guard himself from it and has constantly pray'd that God would turn them away from beholding Vanity How can he be much concern'd at the want of Natural Light who has been long accustom'd to see things that are invisible by the piercing Eye of Faith How can he be much discontented at the decay of the once quick Sensation of his Palate or at the want of Appetite to his Food who has so often tasted and still tastes that the Lord is Gracious Tho' all the Daughters of Musick be brought low How should Deafness be an intolerable grievance to him who has often heard and still hears the still and small Voice of the Spirit of God speaking in his Conscience and testifying with his Spirit that he is one of the Children of God How can the Obstructions that the Organs of Speech suffer which render his Voice weak and Vnmusical discourage him who knows that as his Praises and Prayers have often been Melodious in the Ears of God so they still are very pleasant to him who chiefly minds the Tuneable frame of the Heart And tho' the Sun and the Light and the Moon and the Stars be darken'd c. How can the Infirmities that impair the Vnderstanding and Iudgment the Fancy and Memory c. be insupportable to him who has long understood the Great Mystery of Godliness so as to know the only True God and Iesus Christ whom he has sent which is Life Eternal Who has receiv'd an indelible impression of this Knowledg in his Mind and has the Law of God deeply engraven on his Heart And whose long experience of the Divine Goodness makes him with Holy Confidence still say with the Apostle I know whom I have believ'd and with the Aged Psalmist Thou art my Hope O LORD God Thou art my Trust from my Youth Who however weak his Memory is as to other things yet still remembers his Creator and will not forget his Word Nay tho all the Evils and Infirmities of Old Age which the wise Man enumerates after our Text attack him and threaten a speedy Dissolution of the Frame of his Body How can this dis-dis-spirit him who has long groan'd for deliverance from that Earthly Tabernacle that he might be rid of those remains of Sin that lurk in it And has often wish'd that this Vail of Mortal Flesh were rent asunder because he knows it hinders him from seeing God Face to Face who has so familiariz'd the Grave to himself by frequent Meditations on the Victory his Saviour has obtain'd over it and is so well perswaded of that Blessed Resurrection which his lively hope has long acquainted him with that he can look into the Gloomy Valley of the shadow of Death without Consternation and chearfully commit his Spirit into the hands of God as his Faithful Creator who as he has guided him by his Counsel so he knows will receive him to Glory But on the other side if Conversion be deferr'd to Old Age these and the like Advantages of a long Exercise of Grace and of a large Spiritual Experience being wanting how difficult will
and set your Affections on things above Watch and pray that you may not enter into Temptation or at least that your Faith may not fail you when you are tempted And to that end read and meditate on the Word of God Day and Night that you may know how to manage that Sword of the Spirit so as to wound the Head of your potent and subtle Adversary I write unto you young Men saith the Apostle Iohn because you are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one Govern your selves in every thing by the exact Rule of the Holy Scripture For wherewith shall a young Man cleanse his way but by taking heed thereto according to that Divine Word Take heed lest the Holy Religion you profess be dishonour'd by your Practices Let your manner of Life be so circumspect and unreproachable that it may stop the Mouths of Blasphemers stop them did I say Nay that it may open them in favour of Religion that when they see your good Works they may be induc'd to glorify your Heavenly Father and to worship him and to confess that God is in you of a Truth Let a becoming Modesty and Gravity adorn your Conversation Let your Speech be always with Grace season'd with Salt Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister Grace to the Hearers Provoke others to a Holy Emulation by the lustre of your Examples and choose the excellent Patterns of the most devout and experienc'd Christians for your own Imitation Let your Zeal be constantly directed by Knowledg and your Knowledg always ballasted by Humility In a word Set the Lord always before your Faces that you may not sin against him Remember your Creator what he is and what Homage and Service you owe him Remember how reasonable that Service is and how entirely your true Interest and Happiness is involv'd in it and industriously improve all the Advantages of your Time to the Glory of him who is the God of your Life that if you live to be aged you may be able to make happy Reflections on your Youth and on the endearing Favours of him that has been with you from your Youth to old Age and has carried you as the Prophet speaks even to hoary Hairs That coming to the Grave in a full Age you may be like shocks of Corn that come in in their season fully ripen'd and prepar'd for Heaven Or if you are called to lie down in the Grave before that you may be ripe for Glory and made meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light betimes that your Names may be great on Earth and your Rewards may be great in Heaven As for you that are still Young but have not yet made an offering of your Youth to your Creator 1. Let me ask you What hinders you from presenting so reasonable a Service to him You have seen that the reason of this Duty which our Text urges is founded in your very Being in the Relation you bear to the Almighty as his Creatures and since your greatest Interest too is embarked in it Why should so just and so useful an Exhortation be rejected Will you yet continue to rob your Maker of the Homage and Service you owe him And deprive your selves of the Honour and Privilege of serving him Will you yet be unmindful of the Rock that begat you and still forget the God that form'd you Is the great God ready to accept your Service and will you still refuse to offer it What Illusions of Sense are those that charm you What Bonds of Iniquity are those that captivate your Souls and hold you both against the forcible Arguments and the indulgent Invitations of the Divine Word As we have taken a view of the Arguments that oblige you to your Duty let us also to remove the chief Stumbling-blocks that obstruct your way enquire a little into the pretended Reasons that detain you in your Sin Will you say 'T is a rigorous Demand to require us to forsake the World almost as soon as we come into it and to renounce the charming Sweets wherewith it flatters our Senses even before we have so much as tasted many of the Pleasures to which it invites us And this in that part of our Life that gives us the highest relish of these Delights when our Senses are most lively and active and when the World shews it self most obliging and kind and presents us on every side with thousands of pleasant Objects But tell me Are the Promises of the World like the Promises of God Are those Pleasures the highest relish of which vanishes by your own confession together with your Youth and so may be soon out liv'd by your selves to be compar'd with the eternal Joys of Heaven Are the Smiles of the World and the Pleasures of Sense to be preferr'd to the Smiles of God and the Joy of a good Conscience here and to the refin'd and spiritual Delights of the other World Is a Life of Sin which will prove bitterness in the latter end of it which is enjoy'd but a few Moments but follow'd with the gnawings of a Worm that never dies to be chosen before a Life of Holiness which is accompanied with inward Peace in the Soul and follow'd with Immortal Glory and Pleasure Is it worth the while to purchase a few hours delight in gratifying your sordid and brutish Appetites with the loss of your precious Souls Will you rather hazard an eternal privation of the Joys of Heaven and expose your selves to the danger of everlasting Perdition than curb the extravagant Inclinations of your vain and sensual Hearts Will you still flatter the levity and unsteadiness of your youthful Minds in pursuing all the vain Fantoms your extravagant Imaginations can represent Will you continue to follow those gay Bubbles which will yield you scarce any thing but Disappointment Vexation and Guilt when you are invited to fix your Minds and your Hearts on your Creator to make him the Object of your Thoughts and of your Desires who gives his Votaries the Hope of Immortal Glory which produces in their Souls a great degree of Happiness at present and who will hereafter fill them with Joys infinitely beyond the most raised Expectation Will you further urge But we have no mind to be singular to distinguish our selves from the generality of Mankind by an Affectation of a strict Course of Life and that at an Age when every one allows the Senses an Indulgence There is a proper season for every thing Youth is the Time for Pleasure and Old Age for Repentance for the latter part of our Lives seems destin'd to trouble and sorrow And then 't is fit to live a spiritual Life when Age has deaden'd the Senses and so prepar'd us to live
Counsel and would none of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as Desolation and your destruction cometh as a Whirl-wind When Distress and Anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledg and did not choose the fear of the LORD They would none of my Counsel they despised all my Reproof Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own Way and be fill'd with their own Devices For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of Fools shall destroy them How will you bear such a dismal Sentence as this O with what Terrour will it strike your guilty Souls especially when you are under the Apprehensions of approaching Death or bowed down under the burden of Age What will you do in those Days of Evil when the Iniquity of your Heels shall compass you about When your Bones will be full of the Sin of your Youth which shall lie down with you in the Dust When the Terrours of God shall strike your Consciences and all your past Life shall accuse and condemn you When the Heaven shall reveal your Iniquity and the Earth shall rise up against you When your Flesh upon you shall have pain and your Souls within you shall mourn Tho Wickedness be now sweet in your Mouths and you therefore hide it under your Tongues tho you spare it and forsake it not but keep it still within your Mouths yet it s luscious Taste shall be turn'd into bitterness in your Bowels and into the Gall of Asps within you Is it not better to repent early than to be reduc'd to mourn despairingly when 't is too late When the Almighty shuts out your Prayers and when a fire is kindled in his Anger that will burn to the lowest Hell when he that made you will not have mercy on you and he that form'd you will shew you no favour If once that dreadful Day overtakes you each of you will then lament his Folly with the saddest Accents of Sorrow and Anguish and turn upon himself with indignation and fury saying How have I hated instruction and my Heart despis'd reproof And have not obey'd the Voice of my Teachers nor inclin'd mine Ear to them that instructed me And bewail himself as our Blessed Lord did Ierusalem when he wept over that unhappy City crying O that I had known even I in that my Day the things that belonged unto my peace but now they are hid from mine Eyes Now consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver If you now begin to entertain serious Thoughts of Religion to stir you up further to this great tho miserably neglected Duty of remembering your Creator in the Days of your Youth let me entreat you to consider two or three things 1. That God has been often pleas'd to dignify them with special Marks of Honour in his Church who have honour'd him by the early dedication of their Youth to his Service and has render'd their Services as eminent in the World as their Piety has been early and exemplary As the forward Piety of Ioseph kept him uncorrupt in his tender Years amidst the evil Examples of his envious Brethren so he was blessed with the largest share in the Affection of his aged Father And tho his Zeal for their Reformation render'd him the Object of their Hatred as well as of his Father's Love yet the Divine Providence wonderfully prosper'd him and gave him favour in that strange Countrey whither their unnatural Malice had exil'd him And as he there preserved his Chastity when it was try'd after so extraordinary a manner that it was become impossible for him to keep himself Innocent without incurring the Odium of being reputed Guilty as well as enduring other severe Punishments So the Purity of his untainted Soul who rather chose to be accounted Vile than to be so was afterwards strangely clear'd up by the Wise and Gracious Providence of the Almighty and his injur'd Name celebrated with the highest Honours of the Court of Egypt The Just and Holy God whom he serv'd having endow'd him with a Prophetick Gift of interpreting Dreams and by that Divine Skill open'd a way for his advancement from Prison to ride in the second Chariot of the Kingdom So that he became a Prince and a Father to that Nation whither he was brought a Stranger and a Slave and proved the happy Instrument not only of preserving Multitudes of People from the Rage of a tedious Famine of seven Years continuance but also of nourishing his Father's Family in that time of common Calamity And by this means he had the honour of the most obsequious Addresses of those very Brethren of his that had been his Persecutors and at last had the God-like Pleasure of melting them into a deep Conviction of the unreasonableness of their Enmity against him by the most endearing Caresses and sweetest expressions of Brotherly Love and Tenderness and the satisfaction of that truly generous and innocent kind of Revenge of overcoming Evil with Good Thus God was pleas'd to reward the eminent Piety of his Youth by making him the Darling of his Providence and to lay the foundation of his Glory in those Sufferings which were the proof of his Vertue Samuel a young Votary to the Service of God in his Tabernacle as he grew up became the Favorite both of God and Men So eminently was he anointed with the Spirit of Prophecy and that in a Time when the Word of the LORD was very precious that all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that he was established a Prophet of the LORD That Piety which season'd the tender Years of David render'd him according to his Name so BELOVED both of God and Men that God was pleas'd to fill him with a Prophetick Spirit and both God and Men thought good to choose him to wear a Regal Diadem The supreme Ruler and Arbiter of the World was pleas'd to reward his forward Zeal for Him by raising him from the Fold to the Throne and by making him exchange his Shepherd's Crook for a Royal Scepter so that from a Feeder of Sheep he became both the Prophet and King of a mighty Nation the sweetest Psalmist and most valiant Prince of Israel Religious Iosiah who began to reform himself at Eight Years old and to reform the People under his Government before he had exceeded Twelve was honour'd of God with the happy accomplishment of that glorious Reformation in the Kingdom of Iudah when he could scarce write himself Man having seen the Light but Eighteen Years and had the earliness of his Piety signaliz'd by the Delay of those Judgments that
Ierusalem was threaten'd with till the expiration of his Religious Reign God was pleas'd to honour his early Zeal with a peculiar protection given for a Time to the Nation under his Conduct for his sake and would not fill his Reign that was so famous for his Piety with those Scenes of Horrour and Misery which darken'd the Times of his unhappy Successors The Divine Compassion would not suffer him to see that City stain'd with the Blood of its Inhabitants which he had been so industrious to purge from Superstition and from the Worship of Idols And as his Life was honourable to himself and of the greatest advantage to his Subjects so his Death was attended with their solemn and universal mourning an Honour which was refus'd to his profane Successor and his Funeral celebrated with the Lamentations of a great Prophet and his Memory preserv'd fresh and eternally fragrant in the sacred History of the Kings of Iudah As Iohn the Baptist first devoted his Youth to the picus Meditations of a retir'd Life and then to the publick Service of God in his Generation So he was invested with the honorary Title of MESSENGER to the Messiah to prepare the way before him who says he was not only a Prophet but much more than a Prophet and that among those that had been born of Women there was no greater Prophet than he The early Piety of Timothy who was well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures from his Childhood was honoured with the most endearing Love of the great Apostle of the Gentiles and with an eminent Station in the Church of God wherein his prudent and Religious Deportment secur'd his Youth from Contempt and made the Apostle give him that singular Character to the Philippians when he assures them that he had no Man like-minded who would naturally care for their State The beloved Disciple is reported to have been very young when proselyted to the Doctrine of Christ and perhaps this was not the least occasion of his being made the Bosom-friend of his Divine Master Nay most of those who were dignified with the sacred Office of Apostleship seem to have been converted in the Flower of their Time by several Circumstances of their History in the Gospel and by the many Years some of them spent in Travels and other hard Services and Sufferings after the Ascension of our Saviour On the contrary we find not like Instances of Persons being call'd to such eminent Services for God and receiving such distinguishing Marks of Honour from him in old Age after a flagitious Life almost quite wasted in the sordid Drudgery of Sin What a generous Emulation then should these illustrious Examples we have mentioned kindle in the Breasts of you that are Young With what an Holy Ambition should they inspire you to become the early Candidates of Religion Who knows in what eminent Services it may please your Maker to employ You And who knows what signal Favours and Tokens of his Divine Love he may confer on you if you consecrate to him the first of your Strength and the best of your Time But the Example which of all others shines with the greatest Glory and communicates the sweetest Influence that is most capable both of raising your Wonder and of exciting your Imitation is that of our Blessed Redeemer who came into the World to teach us by his Life as well as to save us by his Death He was pleas'd to honour the Youthful state of Life by passing through it in the Days of his Flesh while he dwelt with Men and did not defer his Father's Work to old Age a Stage of Life which he never vouchsaf'd to enter on in his very Childhood he wax'd strong in Spirit was filled with Wisdom and the Grace of God was upon him His Soul advanc'd in Divine Knowledg as his Body did in Stature and so he grew in favour with God and Man At Twelve Years of Age he was found reasoning with the Iewish Doctors in the Temple with that Sense and Understanding that amaz'd all the Auditors and with that Zeal that became him who made it his Delight to be about his Father's Business All the time he liv'd amongst Men may be properly enough call'd the Time of Youth for there 's reason to conclude from his History in the Gospel that he accomplish'd the whole of his Work before he was advanc'd much beyond Thirty Years And what a glorious Example does his short Life present us a Life without spot or blemish without the least sign of any inclination to Sin without the least shew of Injustice or Uncharitableness towards Men or the least appearance of Disobedience or Indevotion towards God Nay a Life spent in the greatest Acts of Charity to Mankind and in the highest Elevations of Piety to his Father A Life that consum'd it self in the Zeal of his House that expir'd in a Sacrifice to the Glory of God and for the Salvation of the Souls of Men. So that you have not only the Precept but the Prescription too of your Creator to engage you in your Duty He by whom you were made by whom you are preserv'd by whom alone you can be restor'd from a state of Sin and by whom you must be finally judg'd was pleas'd to assume humane Nature to be made Man in all things Sin only excepted on purpose to exemplify the Duty in our Text by his Life as well as to conquer Sin and Hell by his Death And since he calls you to learn of him to bear the Yoke to which he meekly condescended to bow his own sacred Neck in his tender Years surely 't is good for you to stoop to that Yoke in your Youth too Ought you not to apply your selves as well to his Example for Direction as to his Sufferings for Salvation And is it not both for your Honour and Interest to be conformable to that blessed Life that was first taken up to instruct you and then laid down to redeem you 2. Consider how small that Oblation is which is requir'd of your hands when your whole Life is claim'd as the Right of your Creator seeing 'tis but a part of it that can be directly and immediately offer'd to him The Secular Affairs that the Necessities of your Bodies engage you in and Sleep together with the other Reparations of Nature that are requisite to make those frail Tabernacles Tenantable divide between 'em so great a share of the Time of Life that 't is but a little portion of it that can be allotted to Pious Exercises how soon soever you apply your selves to the practice of 'em and will you grudg your Maker this small share of your Time for the whole of which you entirely depend on him Can you think much to allow a part of every day to Devotion to the immediate Service of God and for the Welfare of your Souls when he allows you
so large a part of your Time to provide for the present Ease and Welfare of your Bodies in procuring them the Conveniencies of Life Is it not more reasonable to grudg that these Houses of Clay should have so much of your Care and Time and that your Souls nay and your Creator should have so little of them And ought you not rather to study how to improve even that Time which you spend in supporting and accommodating this animal Life so as to render it subservient to the great Ends of honouring your Maker and of saving your Souls than to contrive Excuses for entirely squandering away the best part of that little Time in Vanity and Sin which you ought to devote to the Holy Exercises of Piety and Religion And once again can you think you shall bring an acceptable Sacrifice if after the consumption of the prime of your Days in Vanity you should come to offer only some of your last hours to your Creator Will the Days in which you will confess you have no Pleasure your selves be a proper Offering for him to take pleasure in Is it fit to reserve only the Blind and Lame and Sick for sacred Services May not such a Return be reasonably expected to every such Oblation as God by the Prophet Malachi makes to the profane Iews in another case Offer it now to thy Governor will he be pleas'd with thee or accept thy Person saith the LORD of Hosts Would you not have reason to fear that such nauseous Services would be cast back as Dung upon your Faces And that you would have an Answer somewhat like that which you may imagine a Subject would receive who after having wasted his Youth and Strength in bearing Arms against his Soveraign should come on Crutches in his Old Age to tender himself to be listed under his Banner Such a kind of Answer I say as such an inveterate Rebel might expect but as much more terrible as it is a greater Crime to sin against the great Creator than to offend a Creature and as the Resentments of the Living God are more dreadful than the Anger of a Mortal Man 3. To conclude Consider whether the largest Portion of that little Time which you can possibly spend in the Service of God here makes any figure when compar'd with an Eternity to be employ'd in the pleasant Contemplation and Enjoyment of him hereafter Can you think much to dedicate the few Moments God is pleas'd to lend you in this World to him who will reward the Service of those Moments with everlasting Bliss in the next among those Blessed Ones whose Happiness as well as Business it is to be perpetually devoted to the Service of their Maker who enjoy Immortal Youth and feel an unconceivable Pleasure in employing it wholly in the Contemplation of his Perfections in the Celebration of his Praises in the entire Performance of his Will and in the perfect Enjoyment of his Favour Can it be thought that any of those Blessed Spirits that are possessed of this Glory can think much that they spent a little Time here below to obtain it May it not rather be suppos'd that they all unanimously wish if such a Wish be consistent with that perfect State of Bliss that they had improv'd evety Minute of that little Time which their Creator allotted them in this World to his Glory 'T is not to be doubted that the Holy Angels and Saints in Heaven do incessantly worship and serve their Maker with the greatest Alacrity imaginable because they constantly behold his Face and are always enamour'd of his Glory They are under a continual impression of the Reasonableness and Goodness of his Will and know perfectly well that their own Excellency and Happiness consists in their exact Conformity to it and accordingly they find unexpressible Delights in doing his Pleasure And if they count not an Eternity too much for the Service of their Creator can you think the short Time of your sojourning here below too large an Offering for him Seeing then the Law of your Creation and the Dictates of Reason the Importunities of the Divine Word and the Warnings of the Holy Spirit the Command of your Maker and the Example of your Redeemer the Experience of the Saints on Earth and the unanimous Sense of the Saints and Angels too in Heaven together with your own highest Interest both in Time and Eternity do all conspire to oblige you to devote the first and best of your Time to the great Author of your Being How can you any longer refuse to give up your YOVTH to be tied by these many sacred Bonds as a Sacrifice to the Horns of his Altar Behold NOW is the accepted Time Behold NOW is the Day of Salvation Therefore to Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts FINIS Jam. 5. 20. Eccl. 1. 1. 1 King 10. Heb. 11. 4. Deuâ— 30. 13 14. Eccles. 2. 4-10 Eccl. 1. 17. Chap. 2. 1 3 c. Eccl. 12. 13. Rom. 13. 14. Mat. 12. 42 2 Tim. 3. 16. Chap. 12. ver 13. 1 Cor. â— 31. Mat. 26. 45. v. 40 41. v. 45 46. 1 Kings 22. 15. v. 17 18. See also 1 Kings 18. 27. Ezek. 28. 3 4. Num. 15. 39. Job 31. 7. Eccl. 11. 10. Isa. 22. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 32. Prov. 15. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 8. 9. Exod. 3. â—4 1 Tim. 6. 16. Psal. 9â— 2. Isa. 63. 16. Ex â—iâ—ilo ribil sit Gen. 1. 1. Ver. 2. Heb. 11. 3. Isai. 28. 29. Act. 17. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aratus Gen. 1. 26 27. Gen. 2. 7. Jer. 10. 16. Psal. 100. 3. Gen. 1. Psal. 102. 18. Psal. 104. 29 30. Gen. 1. 2. Ezek. 21. 30. Malpigh de Gallis Swainmerdam de Generat Insect Leweâ—hoeck Epistol 1 Cor. 12. 6. John 5. 17. Job 10. 8 9 10 11 12. Psal. 139. 13 14 15 16. Isai. 43. 1. Psal. 138. 8. 1 Pet. 4. 19. Job 7. 20. 1 Pet. 1. 5. John 5. 17. Act. 17. 28. Gen. 1. 3. 1 Thess. 5. 5. 1 Pet. 2. 9. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Gen. 1. 31. Eccl. 7. 29. Psal. 51. 10. Psal. 5â— 4. Act. 20. 28. Jer. 10. 12. and 51. 15. Psal. 85. 10. 1 Tim. 3. 16. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Isai. 27. 11. Deut. 32. 15. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 6. 15. Col. 3. 10. Eph. 4. 24. Eph. 2. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Isai. 54. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 38. 2. Job 34. 29. 1 Sam. 2. 6 7 8. Rev. 10. 6. Psal. 16. 11. Rev. 1. 18. Psal. 135. 6. Job 10. 7. Dan. 4. 35. Psal. 63. 6. Luk. 17. 32. See Eccl. 9. 15. See 1 Chron. 16. ver 8 9 10 11. Psal. 39. 3. Deut 28. 67. Aetas mala Plaut Isai. 51. 13. Gen. 47. 9. Isai. 28. v. 10 13. Ver. 9. Job 33. 14. Psal. 8. 2. Mat. 21. 16. Psal. 148. 12 13. 1 Cor.