The Beauty Vigor and Strength of Youth, Part 1
The Application of the first Doctrine.
It will be of great Use unto us by way of Reprchension, Exhortation and Commendation.
First,Vse 1. By way of Reprehension; if this be so, then such are to be Reproved that neither remember God or his Mercies, whose Minds are fill'd with Vanity, and swell therewith, but God and his Mercies are out of their Thoughts.
Secondly,Vse 2. By way of Exhortation; we who have given God but little of our Time, Strength and superior Powers, let us now begin; For shame let us not live longer in the world without God and Christ; how comfortless and dangerous is it? Some of us have liv'd a great while, and yet have not made choyce of our chiefest Good, but are as far from it as when we came first into the world.
Thirdly,Vse 3. You who have call'd upon God betimes, and do serve, 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,Doct. 2. even while we are young, and before Old Age overtakes us.
And this I shall endeavour to make obvious in these several particulars.
First,Rea. 1. 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?Iuventutis assecla est stultitia; as a Page follows his Master, so Folly follows Youth. Nazian. orat. 46. in Ecclesiast. Am I not (especially considering me in my Youth) as an untamed Beast? all my Actions being rash and rude,Vicina la…sibus est Adolescentia: Youth is the Age whereunto men are neerest, and most ready to fall; witness the Prodigal. 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,Rea. 2. Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth, because too soon you cannot Remember him. Nunquam sera est ad bonos mores 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,Rea. 3. 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 great weight of Eternity hangs upon the small wire of Time. The time of our Youth is the onelyonly 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 onelyonly 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, Dumvires annique sinunt, tolerate laborem, I am veniet tacito curva senecta pede. Ovid.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 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. Iuveni parandum, seni utendum, Sen.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,Primitiae terrae, & primitiae aetatis Deosacrae. 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,Rea. 4. 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 onelyonly 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,Rea. 5. Remember your Creator in the dayes of your Youth, because the Day of Grace may have its Sunset 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,It is observed, that the Season of Grace is call'd but a Day, not a Month, Week or Year. and the Gates of Heaven opened to entertain you; O therefore Now,The Season of Grace (saith one) is a Summers day for Clearness, but a Winters day for Shortness. To day if ye will hear his voyce, Heb. 3. 7. If to day thou sayst thou wilt not pray,Caesar's deferring to read his Letter before he went to the Senate-house, cost him his Life. 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,Rea. 6. If you have your Life prolonged, and the Means of Grace continued, yet if no more gales of the Spirit be afforded,The Word is as the Wax, the Spirit is as the Seal, so that the Spirit is the principal Verbal in the sentence. 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,Rea. 7. 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.