them who cannot plead so O that every young Man would remember that saying in Prov. 1. 10. My Son if sinners entice thee consent thou not walk not thou in the way of them and remember that saying in Prov. 13. 20. He that walketh with the wise shall be wise but a Companion of fools shall be destroyed What shall I say more In fine Remember young Man that on thy Death-bed thou wilt gnash thy Teeth at the sight of such Companions thy groan will then be O gather not my soul with sinners and one of them in thy Chamber would then be thy Torment there Well then save your selves from this untoward Generation 2. Abandon the Sin of Sabbath-breaking that you may Remember your Creator It is the Command of God in Exod. 20. 8. Remember the sabbath-Sabbath-day to keep it holy Men are like to Remember God himself if they remember this day of the Lord as they ought to do If you look through the World you shall see that Mens Religion is as their Sabbath is The Sabbath is the Engine by which by the Bible true Remembrance of God is kept alive It is the Description which the Lord gives of all good Men in Isa 56. 4. They that keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me Young Men this is the Day to which all other days may say Thou art worth Ten thousand of us Of this Day it shall evermore be said O thou Day that is highly favoured the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among the Dayes and cursed is he that despises thee Young Persons are apt on this day to be vain in their Thoughts and Words and Idle in their whole Behaviour But labour thou to spend this Day as a Market-day for thy Soul spend it in Holy Duties and in those things that may prove both a Cause and a Sign of thy Rest among the People of God for ever Do according to that in Isa 58. 13. Call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord and honourable Do not abuse this high Day of God as the Prophet said unto Gehazi Is this a Time to receive Money so let me say Is this a time to be making of Bargains or to be ordering of Journeys Much more Is this a time for Rioting and Drunkenness for Chambering and Wantonness or for such things as are never seasonable No 't is not such a Time To the young People that make it such a Time I would say as in Neh. 13. 18. You bring Wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath Such Persons are the meer Achans of the Land they live in Finally There are many other sins of Youth especially that sin of Vncleanness which we must avoid and forsake if we would Remember God Let no Young Man allow himself in those cursed things RULE III. Let us Remember the virtuous Example of them that have been good betimes especially the Holy Pattern of the Holy Jesus It is said in Heb. 13. 7. Remember them whose Faith is to be followed So it may be urged Remember them whose Youth is to be followed If we remember them we shall remember God. There have been young Persons that have had the Grace of Forty at the Age of Twenty in them Sometimes a young Man has given up himself to God by a Covenant never to be forgotten A young Man has maintain'd a course of daily supplication and besides often had his extraordinary Dayes of Prayer and Praise a young Man has upheld a course of daily Meditation and besides accustomed himself to read the Scripture with such Attention as to fetch a Note and a Wish out of every Verse before him such an one I have lately follow'd unto the Grave Many more such Instances of Early Piety perhaps a Young Man here and there may afford unto us O now Go thou and do likewise But above all the Lord Jesus Christ calls for our Imitation It is said of Him in Psal 110. 3. Thou hast the Dew of thy Youth In his Youth it self a Dew of Grace was to be seen upon him in his Youth he fulfilled the whole will of God in his Youth he was always about his Fathers business He now says to Young Men what he says to All Men in Joh. 13. 15. I have given you an Example that you should do as I have done O then study Christ Jesus observe Christ Jesus follow Christ Jesus ask What was the Behaviour of Christ Jesus in his Youth and Be as he was in the World. RULE IV. Let us remember the profitable Instruction of them that wish well unto us There is a twofold Instruction which young Persons among us are made partakers of There is Pastoral Instruction and there is Parental Instruction under which you sit Regard this Instruction lest you mourn at last and say How have I hated Instruction and not obeyed the voice of my Teachers You enjoy Pastoral Instrnction O despise it not You have with Sermon after Sermon been publickly and solemnly called upon to Remember God. Besides this I have personally treated with some scores of you about your Eternal Welfare and I hope I may live to visit every one of you for this end earnestly and urgently beseeching of you to be Reconciled unto God. It was of old enjoyned in Deut. 31. 12. Gather the People together Men and Women and Children that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord Behold the Children as well as the Adult have been advised here to Remember the Lord. What is now the effect of it I will for once wax bold with you and say as Dying Bolton said unto his Children Children let any of you meet me at the day of Judgment in a Christless unregenerate estate if you dare I will testifie against you I say again I will testifie against you before the Lord Jesus if you do You enjoy Paternal Instruction too O refuse it not Does not thy Father or thy Master or thy Mother charge thee to Remember God Did they never charge thee to read the Word and seek the Face of God and to make Conscience of thy Wayes Then My Son hear the Instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother What befell the Sons of Eli those Sons of Belial in 1 Sam. 2. 25. They hearkened not to the Voice of their Father because the Lord would slay them Art thou a young Person counselled by a good Parent to Remember the Lord The Lord will slay thee yea The Lord will Damn thee if thou dost not Hearken thereunto Thus are we to Remember God And O who among you are more than almost perswaded hereunto Let a few Considerations more add weight unto those that have also bespoke it of you CONSIDER I. The God of Heaven has Commanded you to Remember him you have this Command in a shadow under the Law of old It was required in Exod. 22. 29. Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of the ripe fruits unto me The Lord
Laws as Holy Just and Good and do promise to take them as the Rule of my Thoughts Words aâ— Actions but because I am subject 〈◊〉 many failings through frailty I do heâ— protest here before thee that unalloâ—ed miscarriages contrary to the constaâ—bent of my Heart shall not disanâ—â— this everlasting Covenant Nathanael Matheâ— It may justly be taken for granted thâ— such a work as this would have an inflâ—ence into his Conversation afterwards and so it had producing in him a Conveâ—sation which became the Gospel of Christ Hâ— kept waiting upon God not only in tâ—â— Family but also under the Ministry of tâ—â— that were near a-Kinn unto him namely his Father and his Brother whereby thâ— Grace thus begun in him was not a liâ—tle cherished and promoted And untâ— all known sins he now kept saying asâ— find once in Short-hand written by him To my Lusts I have had Communion with you all thâ—â— while but I dare not have so any longer Wherefore I renounce all Communion with yâ—â— any more I will cleave to the God that made mâ— But a Year or two after this it was witâ— him as I have observed it is too commonly with such as are Converted betimes unto God. An unhappy gradual Apostacy carried him aside from those degrees of seriousness and intenseness in divine things which he had been used unto 'T is possible an entanglement in a Familiarity with some that were no better than they should be did abate of the good savour which had been upon him and decoy him by insensible steps to some vanities tho' not to any scandalous immoralities that were disadvantageous to him For divers Months he seemed somewhat yet not totally much less finally forsaken of that Wisdom and Vertue which he had before been an example of but the good Spirit of God will not let go his Interest in a Soul of which he hath taken a saving hold This Young Man soon entertained just resentments of his own declensions and it was impossible for the most Badger-tooth'd malice in the World to aggravate any of his Errors half so much as he did himself in his own Repentance for them In the Year 1685. God visited him with sore Terrors and Horrors in his wounded Soul the anguish whereof he thought intolerable yet he made not his condition known to any Body all the while He could say My complaint is not to man but he made it unto the Lord This poor man cryed and the Lord heard and delivered him out of his distresses He arrived in time unto some settlement and renewal of his Peace with God He confessed and bewailed his own sins before the Lord and declared his detestation of them and applyed himself unto the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation from them all Good terms being thus establish't between the Almighty Lord and this Immortal Soul he maintained I think a constant and an even Walk with God until he dyed I find now that Language in his MSS Let me be as active a Servant of Christ as I was of Satan heretofore For more than the three last years of his Life he lived at a strange rate for Holiness and Gravity and retired Devotions He read Mr. Scudders Christians daily walk and Dr. Owen of Spiritual Mindedness and had a restless raging Agony in his Mind untiâ— the Methods of Religion advised by thosâ— worthy Men were Exemplified in his own Behaviour 'T is a note in one oâ— his Diaries O my great unprofitableness under thâ— means of Grace I have cause to bless God for ever for the Writings of that never enough to be admired and loved by me Dr. Reynolds and for the Light I have received thereby concerning the sinfulness of Sin as also that excellent Book of him whom I shall always honour Dr. Owen of Spiritual-mindedness and Mr. Scudders Christians daily Walk by which three Books I have profited more than by any other S. Scripturis exceptis in the World. He was at first surprized at the measure of Spiritual-mindedness without which that great Saint Dr. Owen apprehends the Life and Peace of Souls to labour under prejudice and he thought a Mind swallowed up in such Heavenly Frames and Works as were needful thereunto almost wholly to be despair'd of until as himself a few hours before he dyed said unto me he deem'd he saw an Instance of such a Walk with God not very far from the place of his abode To which purpose his reserv'd Papers have a large Discourse of which this is in the Conclusion There might be a greater Progress in Religion than is commonly thought for What have I Examples for but to imitate them Abraham is fam'd for believing so strongly when he had no Example before him Let me try and see whether I having such opportunities may not arrive to as high a pitch in Christianity as any that I have known He then in the strength and thrô the Love of God set himself into a vvay of strict secret laborious Devotion vvhereby thô none but God and He fill'd the Theatre vvhich he acted upon he vvould be in the Fear of the Lord all the day long He withdrew from the delight of this World and gave himself up to an assiduous Contemplation of God and Christ and a sedulous endeavour after utmost conformity unto him Thus 〈◊〉 kept abounding in the Work of the Lord until three Years of wonderful Holiness had ripened him for eternal Happiness My Account of him will be an unfinished Piece unless all the ensuing stroke go to make it up These things he was Exemplary for First He was one that walked by RVLE He was very Studious to learn the waâ— of conversing with God in every Duty and there vvas a Rule which he attended still unto In his private Papers I find a wiâ—â— Collection of Rules by which he goverâ—ed himself in the several Duties of Chrâ—stianity and in all the Seasons and Stations of his Life He consulted the best Authors for Instruction in the Affairs of practical Religion and not into Paper only but into Action to be transcribed what he most approved in all which The Will of God was the bright Pole-Star by which he steer'd his Course The Reader shall enjoy and O that he would follow two of this Young Man's Directories One of them was this I. O that I might lead a spiritual Life Wherefore let me regulate my Life by the Word of God and by such Scriptures as these 1. For regulating my Thoughts Jer. 4. 14. Isa 55. 7. Mal. 3. 17. Psal 104. 34. Phil. 4. 8. Prov. 23. 26. Deut. 15. 9. Eccles 10. 20. Prov. 24. 9. Mat. 9. 4. Zech. 8. 17. 2. For regulating my Affections Col. 3. 2 5. Gal. 5. 24. For my Delight Psal 1. 2. Psal 37. 5. For my Joy Phil. 4. 4. Psal 43. 4. My Desire Isa 26. 8 9. Ezek. 7. 16. My Love Mat. 22. 37. Psal 119. 97. My Hatred Psal 97. 10. My Fear Luk. 12. 4 5. My Hope Psal 39. 7.
My Trust Psal 62. 8. Isa 26. 4. 3. For regulating my Speech Eph. 4. 29. Col. 4. 6. Deut. 6. 6 7. Psal 119. 46. Psal 71. 8 24. Prov. 31. 26. 4. For regulating my Work Tit. 3. 8. 2 Tim. 2. 12. 1 Tim. 5. 10. Titus 2. 14. Mat. 5. 47. 1 Tim. 6. 8. Rev. 3. 2. Rom. 13. 12. Act. 26. 20. Another of them was form'd into anâ— Hymn the singing of which might produce fresher and stronger Efforts of Souâ— towards the thing that is good It shall be here inserted Lord vvhat shall I return unto Him from vvhom all thy mercies flow I. To me to live it Christ shall be For all I do I 'le do for Thee II. My Question shall be oft beside How thou may'st most be Glorifi'd III. I will not any Creature Love But in the love of Thee above IV. Thy Will I will embrace for miâ—â— And every management of thine Shall please me V. A Conformity To Thee shall be my Aim and Eye VI. Ejaculations shall ascend Not seldom from me VII I 'le attend Occasional Reflections and Turn all to Gold that comes to hand VIII And in particular among My Cares I 'le try to make my Tongue A Tree of Life by speaking all As be accountable who shall IX But last nay first of all I will Thy Son my Surety make and still Implore him that he would me bless With strength as well as Righteousness Besides these Rules which concerned his whole Walk he Treasur'd up many more that referr'd to this and that step in it and it was the predominant care and watch of his Heart not to tread awry Thus one might see a skilful Christian in him And as he was desirous to live by Precept so he was to live by Promise too He fell into a particular consideration how to improve the Promises of God in all the Occasions of life which is indeed one of the most sanctifying Exercises in the World. It was a Proposal vvhich I find he mad unto himself Let me salute these Promises once a day 1. For supplying the wants of thâ— day Phil. 4. 19. 2. For Grovvth in Grace Hos 14. 5 3. For subduing my sins Mic. 7. 19 4. For success in my undertakings Psal 1. 3. 5. For turning all the Events of thâ— day for good Rom. 8. 28. 6. For Audience of my Prayers Job 14. 13 14. 7. For strength to manage all thâ— vvork of the day Zech. 10. 12. 8. For direction in difficulty Psal 32. 8. 9. For Life Eternal Luke 12. 31. Job 3. 16. Besides these tvvo Mat. 11. 28. anâ— Isa 44. 3. Certainly that Man must quickly groâ— another Enoch vvho does thus Walk wiâ—â— God. Secondly He vvas one that lived 〈◊〉 PRAYER He vvas oft and long in thâ— Mount with God It vvas his Custom every day to enter into his Closet and shâ—â— his door and pray to his Father in secret And I guess from some of his Writings that he did thus no less than thrice a day when he met with no Obstruction in it Nor did he Slubber over his Prayers vvith hasty Amputations but vvrestle in them for a good part of an hour together It vvas a most refreshing Communion vvith God vvhich his Devotions brought him sometimes unto Thus in one of his Diaries Dec. 10. I prayed earnestly unto God In the Margin he wrote Remember this earnestly Petitioning that Jesus Christ might be my compleat Redeemer There vvas immediately something that did as it were perswade me it should be so Again Aug. 19. My Thoughts vvere some little vvhile busied about the condescention of Christ in taking of humane Nature on him but for the most part in Ejaculations and Acts of Faith on a crucified ah svveet Word Jesus I saw I gained not much by those Wherefore I addreâ—sed my self to solemn Prayer and haâ— some Assurance in it Once more Aug. 20. I was much affected in Prayer anâ— exercised I hope many Acts of Faith and Love and Delight in God. I sevâ—â—ral times was breaking off but I was â— it were constrain'd to go on in the Duâ— with much enlargement Lord ansâ—â— me for the sake of Christ Thus under the Fig-tree did our Lorâ— Jesus often behold this Nathanael yea unto Prayer he became so habituated thâ—â— while others can Sleep in Prayer he some times would pray in sleep He records 〈◊〉 among his Experiences that upon assault of imagined Temptations when he has beeâ— asleep he has quickly been at Prayer anâ— so caused the Phantasms to leave annoyâ—ing of him And Extraordinary prayer was also witâ— him not altogether extraordinary Thâ—â— he were a Bottle that seemed incapablâ— of holding it yet this Wine agreed witâ— him very well As Young as he was 〈◊〉 knew the Mystery of a Soul fatning 〈◊〉 fasting and thriving by hungring and thirsting after Righteousness He was very inquisitive after the right way to manage a Day of Fasting and Prayer and he would sometimes keep such a day On such a day it was his Custom to make a very particular and penitent Confession of all the Sins that he could perceive himself guilty of and renew his Covenant with the Holy One of Israel to this End he had by him in writing a large Catalogue of things forbidden and required in the Commandments of God which was the Glass in which he then viewed his wayes and having found what Achans might procure trouble to him he then fell to stoning of them One may shape some conjecture at his Humiliations by the Indignations with which he spoke and wrote of the Vanities which his Childhood had I came into the World saith he in one of the Papers penn'd by him on a day of secret Fasting and Prayer October the 17th 1685. without the Image of the Holy God on my Soul my Understanding my Will my Affections and my whole Soul were altogether depraved and wounded When very Young I went astray from God and my Mind was altogether taken with vanities and follies such as the remembrance of them doth greatly abase my Soul within me Of the manifold Sins which then I was guilty of none so sticks upon me as that being very young I was whitling on the sabbath-Sabbath-day and for fear of being seen I did it behind the door A great Reproach of God! A Specimen of that Atheism that I brought into the World with me This was more than the more meagre and feeble sort of Christians though much older than he are us'd to do But paulo majora There was a Sublimer way of drawing near to God which he vvas not willing to leave unattempted He understood that secret days of Thanksgiving had not been unpractised by some vvhom he designed to imitate and therefore he vvould make some Essays for such an Intimate Fruition of God and generous Devotion to him as vvould fill such days as these Hence this I find among the Records of his Soul Resolved To set apart every two Months a Day for solemn Examination and
him the dismal Consequences of this ungodly Walk Consider O Man the danger of all the wild lewd Courses that vain Persons do Walk and Run into First There is a Curse which thou dost Walk under Hear the loud Voice of God in Lev. 26. 23 24. If you will not be Reformed but will walk contrary to me then will I also walk contrary to you All the Imipety all the Unrighteousness of thy Walk is contrary to God. The Curse of God therefore inflicts a Damage and a Mischief upon thee in all his Dispensations that horrible Curse accompanies thee like thy Garment like thy very Shadow in all thy ways Moreover Secondly There is an Hell which thou dost Walk unto Methinks that Speech of God is all Thunder in Eccl. 11. 9. O Young man walk in the wayes of thine Heart but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment This even this is the warning of the most High God unto every Unreclaimed Sinner Well if that be thy Walk take it but know thou that the End of such a Walk is Death and Shame and Ruine for Evermore Know thou that the Wrath the Fiery Wrath of God comes upon the Children of disobedience for such a Walk as thine Now Consider of this all you that forget God. The Psalmist could say as in Psal 119. 59. I thought on my ways and turned Ah! Lord That wandring Souls may thus think and Turn Poor Soul Thou art out of the way O Stop O Turn come back from that hideous Walk which leads down to the Congregation of the Dead Come back into the Walk that thrô the Narrow way leads to Life world without end Hark! Thy God calls after thee Return Return O Soul. VSE II. And a good Advice is hence therefore given to every Man. O Walk with God! What would not we gladly be as Enoch was 'T is said of him by Moses He walked with God. When Paul comes to Paraphrase upon it he so expresses it in Heb. 11. 5. He pleased God O 't is pleasing to God when he sees Men Walking with him The Lord hath shewed thee O Man the thing that is good and what is it It is Walk humbly with thy God. 'T is noted of Enoch That God took him Men in their last Wills usually bequeath their Souls to God But many a Man may do well to examine Will he take it will he take it Except we are Walking with God while we Live we shall not be taken by God when we Die. 'T is only the Walker with God who can expire with that Confidence in Psal 49. 15. He will receive me Let us Walk with God and at our Dissolution we shall be Taken by him up to the matchless and endless Glories that are above He will send his Angels our Guardians now and our Champians then to take us unto the Rivers of Pleasures at Gods right Hand for evermore Dost thou Walk with God Behold that is it that thy Walk tends unto Soul God and thou shalt never part Yea let us Walk with God and we shall be taken by him if the Destruction of the World should now come upon it There will a Day come when swift Lightnings and hot Thunderbolts will consume this lower World God knows when this direful horrid Conflagration shall begin But whenever it is all that Walk with God shall becaught up to meet the Lord He will take you into the Clouds from the reach of the Sulphureous Flames Enoch foretold the coming of this Fiery Day They that are like Enoch shall even like Enoch with a Translation escape the Terrors of it O let us Walk as the People that believed these awful things RULE I. Let us Tread in the Steps of the Lord Jesus Christ and we shall then walk with God Part of his Errand into the World was to set us an Example of such a Walk Now we are told in 1 John 2. 6. We ought so to walk even as he walked O look upon the walk of him that kept close to God without one wry Step one wrong Step for above thirty Years together in the World. What a sort of a Walk was His We read in Act. 10. 38. He went about doing good He walked in all manner of Piety and Charity He Walked in a perpetual endeavour to please and serve His Father Sic oculus sic ille manus sic ora ferebat That was his Walk and it is said in 1 Pet. 1. 21. He has left us an Example that we should follow his Steps Of late Years among the Mahometans even among the Barbarous Turks themselves there are sprung up a vast Sect of Men who are called The good Followers of the Messiah These hold that Christ is God and that he is the Redeemer of the World and they are of such Repute that it is an Applause among them You are the Follower of the Messiah What shall be said of us then if we are not the Followers of our Blessed Jesus Verily the Men of Arabia and Anatolia will condemn us in the Judgment of the Lord. RULE II. Let us Walk with Good men and we do it with God himself If our Conscience be not fearfully stupified it will tell us What sort of men have most of God among them We are with God when we Walk with such as Walk after the Lord. Let us Walk with good Men in their Principles It was wise Counsel in Prov. 2. 12. 20. To deliver thee from the man that speaks froward things walk in the way of good men There may happen a Controversie in some Article of Religion which perhaps thou hast neither Time nor Skill to settle thy own Mind about Observe now which way the generality of sober serious praying People go What gratifies good men is most likely to be the Truth of God Dost thou see which way the loose vile carnal sort of Men go Then Come not into their secret O my Soul. Let us Walk with good Men in their practices too Look upon their Mortification upon their Devotion upon their Zeal and be able to say as in 2 Cor. 12. 18. Walked not we in the same Spirit Walked nor we in the same Steps There has been a famous Tribe of Scholars in the World known by the Name of Walkers 'T is the Name that all Christians may lay claim unto they are Walkers O be of their Society say truly I am a Companion of them that fear God. RULE III. Let us Eat well that we may Walk well 'T is written of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. 8. He did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat eighty Miles unto the Mount of God. Would you engage in a Walk with God Let me then say as the Angel to the Prophet Arise and Eat for the walk is too great for thee A twofold eating are we to be urg'd unto Let us by a Contemplative Eating chew upon the Word of God. Never do any Men Walk with God
like them that can say Meditation is sweet unto me 'T is said of Isaac He walked in the Fields to Meditate And indeed He walked with God when he was alone at that Imployment We should after a Sermon retire to Ruminate thereupon We should in an Evening reflect upon God's Mercy to us and our Carriage to him in the day foregoing We should often single out some Text or some Truth to Exercise our Thoughts upon This will strengthen us for our Walk Again Let us by a Sacramental Eating Feed upon the Bread of God. It is dreadful to see what multitudes do turn their backs upon the Table of the Lord. Alas that ever Men should break the Laws of God yea and the Vows of God as they do by this Omission Art not thou Baptized and now Old enough to be Confirmed Then as often as thou withdrawest from the Supper of the Lord he sets that mark upon thee There goes a Covenant-breaker out of Doors Answer to this Hast thou a sincere desire to Walk with God or no If thou hast not how darest thou sleep in that horrible Perilous Vnregeneracy If thou hast then come hither Come lamenting all thy Infirmities Let thy weakness quicken thee and not hinder O come for thy Food so thou shalt Walk and not faint yea Run and not be weary RULE IV. Let us be with God that we may Walk with Him. Be alwayes on God's side against Sins side All other siding may be culpable but this is Necessary this is Praise-worthy Indeed Sin that calls like Jehu in 2. King. 9. 32. Who is on my side who This is the outcry of Superstition and Profanity Who is on my side who But let me oppose that of Moses hereunto in Exod. 32. 26. Who is on the Lords side Even so Who is on the side of Godliness and Honesty Who is on the side of Holiness and Sobriety Who will bear a Testimony to all the Truths and all the Wayes of the Lord Let us all be on that side and Walk accordingly RULE V. Let us remember that we are Walking and it will be with God. Keep up the frame of Mortals and the frame of Strangers in the World. O Remember as Joshua in Josh 23. 14. I am going the way of all the Earth Remember thou art a Traveller The Psalmist says in Psal 39. 12. I am a Sojourner with God. The way to be with God is to remember I am a Sojourner O Remember this I am walking on the Borders of Eternity every day I am walking apace towards an eternal home This will make our Walk more amiable than that of the three things which go well or than that of the four things which are comely in their going THE GOOD END OF A GOOD WALK GEN. V. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he was not for God took him THe Walk of Holy and Happy Men has been the Subject of our Discourse Behold the End of that Walk now offering it self unto consideration with us The Psalmist hath said unto us in Psal 37. 37. Mark the perfect and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace In the blessed Enoch we may see such an End of such a Man. Two little Clauses comprize the Account which Moses has given of it and the double Estate of this Great Saint is therein referred unto First It is said He was not This points at that Estate which he passed from You may conceive what he was in regard of his Condition and Employment here But now he was not that Sufferer he was not that Preacher any more Secondly It is said God took him This points at that Estate which he passed into Good took him to Himself God took him unto all that Light and Life and Heaven which the Angels themselves had before the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ All that we have hitherto been told seems to be no more than what befalls every godly Man. But no less an Interpreter than the Spirit of God himself by the Apostle Paul has illustrated this Text with a more surprizing Interpretation of it Consult Heb. 11. 5. and we have this Paraphrase hereupon Here it is said He was not There 't is said He was not Found It seems that this Famous Prophet suddenly â—â—sappeared from the view of the World All Mankind with Wonder sought and ask'd and look'd after Enoch as they did after Elijah at another time but they could not find him Why What vvas become of him Here 't is said God took him There 't is said God had translated him that he should not see Death This was a very marvellous Providence He had born a zealous Witness for the Worship and the Truths and the ways of God against a wicked World. God vvould make them see that he own'd the Testimony and the Conversation of this vvorthy Man. Hence though Abel was murdered for his Piety Enoch shall be translated for his He was immediately fetched and changed into the Circumstances of the Glorified Thus he became as Tertullian says of him A Candidate of Eternity The Doctrine which we are hence allowed an Application of is DOCT. To be taken by God from a Mortal Estate on Earth to a Glorious Estate in Heaven is the Priveledge of them that Walk with him PROP. I. They that Walk with God shall be Taken by God from their Mortal Estate on Earth The Scholars of the Colledge at Bethel said once unto Elijah in 2 King. 2. 3. Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day And he said Yea I know it In like manner it may be said unto the Body of the Christian Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy Master thy Spirit from thy Head into another state one day Every Believer may reply Yes I know that it will be so Our Estate in this World is an Estate of Tryal God is here Trying and Framing and Shaping of us in order to everlasting Happiness or Misery And it is an Estate of Trouble too Our Fall from God is the occasion of the many Distresses that belong unto it This Mortal Estate of ours the Lord will one day take us from One day but on what day shall this Deliverance be Truly at our last day at the Day of our Death at the day that we are most ready to tremble at On that Day the Lord will deliver us from the hand of all our enemies and from the hand of sin First God will take the Believer from the state of a Sinner here The dolorous Anguishes of the best Men alive are like those of the Apostle in Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Soul I will tell thee what shall do it The Death of this Body shall That that will do the deed The Believer is now lamenting My iniquities are more than the hairs of my head he is now lamenting My wounds stink and are corrupt
it is not too late as yet for you so to do The Lord said in Jer. 3. 1. Though thou hast play'd the Harlot with many Lovers yet return unto me Even so thô thou hast committed many sins thô thou hast been sinning many years yet return unto me saith the Lord. There was in this very Land one that had lived a carnal stupid ignorant Person for about an hundred years and yet became a serious Christian before he dyed Unto the Oldest Enemy of God among us all I this day proclaim the mercy of the Lord O let this break thy heart and cause thee to come and say I will do Iniquity no more But let this also Terrifie you it will be too late for you e're long It is said in Psal 6. 5. In Death there is no Remembrance of thee Thy Death thy Death is just ready to seize upon thee and there is no work no wisdom in the Grave whither thou art going Then thy cry will be like that of Despairing Ones All too late All too late God prevent such a miscarriage of thy never-dying Soul. VSE II. Let us that are in our Youth Now Remember our Creator in it There are a multitude of young Persons to vvhom the Word of God may reach this day Now the Almighty God make this Word of his Quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged Sword within their Souls Hear O Young People Hear that your Souls may live It is reported of Jotham in Judg. 9. 7. He stood in the top of the Mount and he lift up his voice and cryed and said Hearken unto me that God may hearken unto you Thus would I do thus would I speak this day Here I stand in the Name of God that made you all I would lift up my voice and cry and say O Remember your Creator now in the dayes of your youth If you will not hear this Call of God now God will not hear your cry to Him another Day God will be deaf to the Words of thy Roaring in the dayes of thy Age and of thy Death and of thy Wrath if thou art now deaf to the Words of his Counsel The Counsel and it is wholsome Counsel of our God now unto us is Remember me betimes In order thereunto these things are to be done Rule I. Let us Remember that which will help us to Remember God. First Remember thy Death and thou wilt Remember thy God. A Remembrance of Death will produce in a Man a serious and godly frame of Spirit One that was Remarkable for his Devotions gave that Reason of it O I must Dye I must Dye If a Young Man would awfully realize unto himself that thing I must dye it would highly promote an Acquaintance between God and him And young Man it is not too soon for thee to have the Apprehensions of it There was a young Man in this Land that left behind him in Writing Meditations to promote Preparation for Death O that every young man would be no Stranger to such prudent Meditations Let every young Person Remember this I shall dye very certainly As Job could say in Ch. 30. 23. I know that thou wilt bring me to Death So let the young Person say I know that I must e're long look the King of Terrors in the Face and I know that e're long I shall go thither whence I shall not return Often look upon that Scripture in Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed unto all Men once to dye Often look upon that Scripture in Psal 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death And let these warnings make a deep Impression upon thy Mind There was a Prince who gave a Pension unto a Person that he might once a day come and say unto him Remember that thou art a Mortal Man Do that office unto thy self every Day Look upon Death as the way of all the Earth And Remember I must go that Way Look upon Death as the End of all men and Remember I shall have that End. Remember there is no discharge in that War. Let every young Person also Remember this I shall dye very speedily While we are young we strangely promise our selves to live long Do not harbour that mistake but rectifie it by that Premoniton in Jam. 4. 14. What is your life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and vanisheth away Rectifie it by that Premonition in 1 Chron. 28. 15. Our dayes on the Earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding What are the poor Seventy years that the Life of Man is now contracted into Remember they are winged things they fly away with a marvellous Velocity We are truly told of them in Job 9. 25. that they are swifter than a Post yea more than so swifter than a Ship yea more than that swifter than an Eagle hast'ning to the Prey Besides Remember 't is possible that half of those years may be all that thou shalt ever see it hath been well said That an old Man has Death before his Face but a young Man has Death behind his Back Perhaps Death may strike thee down before him that is old enough to be thy Father Remember that there are Skulls of all sizes in Golgotha Secondly Remember thy Soul and thou wilt Remember thy God Thou hast a never-dying Soul within thee a Spiritual and an Immortal Substance able to discern and argue and affect with a wonderful Apprehension How frequently and fearfully do young Persons forget that they are Owners of such a Jewel Let every young Person Remember this The state of my Soul is miserable Remember the guilt and filth which thy Soul by it's becoming a constituent Essential part in one of Adams Children soon was defil'd withal Remember what a dreadful Anger and Vengeance of God thy Soul by thy sin is expos'd unto Remember that Character of thy Soul in Gen. 6. 5. Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually Remember that condition of thy Soul in Eph. 2. 12. Without Christ a stranger from the Convenant of promise having no hope and without God in the World. Remember what thou hast been doing unto thy Soul ever since thy Birth It is said in Prov. 8. 36. He that sinneth wrongeth his own Soul. O Remember what Wrongs what Wounds thy own Soul has had from thy own hand and Remember what an ever-gnawing Worm what an ever-burning Fire is now ready to seize upon that poor Soul of thine Thou art mindful of thy Body of thy Estate of thy Credit and mindful of almost every Creature which thou art concerned in Thy Soul now begs of thee O Remember me Let every young Person likewise Remember this The worth of my Soul is invaluable A Great Man was well advised once every day to remember that Sentence of our Lord in Matt. 16. 26. What is a man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own soul Thou canst not Remember a