The Beauty Vigor and Strength of Youth, Title page – To the reader

The Beauty Vigor and Strength of Youth · Title page – To the reader

THE Beauty, Vigour & Strength OF YOUTH Bespoke for GOD: IN A SERMON Lately Preached to YOUNG MEN.

By THOMAS POWELL Minister of the Gospel.

LONDON, Printed for Ben. Harris at the Stationers Arms in Sweetings Rents, near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, 1676.

TO THE READER.

Christian Reader,

THE greatest and highest Honour of the Reasonable Creature is to serve Him who is the best Good and the last End, which is the design of this little Treatise. The Excellency and Necessity of what is here treated, justly merits a larger Volumn. But I studied Brevity, and that upon a two-fold account.

First, Because I was desired that there might be little or no Variation from the Sermon as it was Preached, either in Altering or Enlarging, though something of each I have done, yet so I hope, as to please both thee the Reader, and they who had the Opportunity of Hearing the same.

Secondly, Because I was willing that more might have a share in it, which possibly could not have been,When a Book is of too, great a …, the Poor cannot purchase it. if I had not endeavoured to crowd my Meditations in a little room. Birds when they come to a full heap of Corn, chirp and call for their fellowes. Goodness and Light are of a diffusive Nature. And now since this is Midwifed into the World, (which was not intended by me) such as it is I offer it to thee as the product of my sincere and cordial Love to the Souls of young Men. Let not the Plainness of the Matter, and the Homeliness of the Style offend thee; I designed it not for a curious Pallate, being preached unto a plain Countrey-people, I aymed at their Edification, and not at any Popular Applause. The Treatise is usefull for all that are enquiring after true Felicity, especially the younger sort of People, being such for the most part that were present when this Sermon was Preached. What thou (Reader) apprehendest not Sound, carry it to the Touch-stone of the Word, and if but a Mite of saving Knowledge may be (through Gods Blessing) added to thy Understanding, let God have the Glory, and the Author hath his End, who is

Southwark, Decemb. READER, Thy Friend and Souls servant, Thomas Powell.

p. 1ECCLES. XII. 1.

Remember Now thy Creatour in the Dayes of thy Youth, while the Evil Dayes come not, nor the Years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

GOD set up two great Lights in Solomons Heart, one shewing the Excellency of Christ,Ecclesiastes, i. e. a Preacher. in the Canticles; the other, the Vanity of the Creature, as in Ecclesiastes, which is the second Book of Solomon; and it is called Ecclesiastes because Solomon was so called: And that either because he speaks unto a Multitude at once, or else because of his Wisdom, with which he was indeed (after a copious manner) endowed. The whole Book is a p. 2declaration of Solomons repentance written in his old age, as may be gather'd both out of the title of it, and the closure of it in, the six last verses, and also out of the whole body of it, being written upon a serious view of the passages and practices of his life past, and the great and manifold experience he made and found therein. He treats chiefly of the worlds vanity, true felicity, the maladies of old age, & the Advantage of being good betimes. Hence it is that young men in the conclusion of all are call'd upon to mind their Creator; and that whatsoever they are employed in besides is vanity of vanities, and no wise yielding true satisfaction, but anxiety and torment unto their souls.

Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth, while the evil dayes come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I p. 3have no pleasure in them.

The words in general do press unto a duty of the greatest moment in the world; wherein you may take notice of these several things.

1. The Act, Remember. 2. The Object, Creator. 3. The adjunct of Time; Now, in the dayes of thy youth, exegetically repeated, while the evil dayes come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.

The words will afford us many points of Doctrine. I shall only observe two, and so insist upon them.

Doct. 1. That above all things whatsoever, we should not forget, but Remember our Creator.

p. 4Doct. 2. That there is great reason why we should remember our Creatour in the dayes of our youth,The evil dayes spoken of in the text, and the years wherein we have no pleasure, is old age. even while we are young, and before old age over-takes us.

These in order; and with the first I begin, viz. That above all things whatsoever, we should not forget, but Remember our Creator.

The prosecution of this Point, I purpose, through Gods assistance in this wise:

1. I shall set my self to amplifie it. 2. To Apply it.

The amplification will consist of Explication and confirmation.

1. Explication, and so I shall shew you. 1. What this Creator is. 2. What it is to remember our Creator. 3. What it is to remember our Creator above all things whatsoever.

1First, I am to shew you, What this Creator is, whom we are call'd p. 5upon in the text to mind, Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth.

In the Hebrews it is (Thy Creatours) alluding to the Trinity, so that by Creatour we are to understand God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; for though the Creation of the world is peculiarly ascribed to God the Father, and look't upon as his proper work, in respect of order and relation, as he is the first person of the Trinity, yet not so as to exclude the rest;Quoad ordinem, Patris oper andi modus est à se, per Filium, & Spiritum Sanctum. Hinc origo rerum, nempe Creatio, propriè tribuitur Patri, qui ordine originis est personarum prima. Deus) Hebr. Elohim, id est, unus ex Elohim, scil. Pater, alloqui Filium & Spiritum Sanctum Synecd. integri. Non alloquitur Angelos. Piscat. in loc. for all the persons of the Trinity (to speak after the manner of men) had a hand in the Creation of the world, Gen. 1. 26. And God said, Let us make man ni our Image, after our likeness: who should the Father p. 6speak unto here; Let us, but unto the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Secondly, What it is to Remember our Creator; It is not onelyonly a bare thinking on him, and that now and then, but to remember our Creator implyes these several things.

First, To know him; to know that he is, and what he is. That God is, and that he is to be worshipped, is, foreign,Homo naturâ duplicem format syllogismum de Deo, theoricum et practicum. Theoricus est duplex 1. Deus est: ergo debeo eum cognoscere. 2. Deus est bonus, ergo debeo cum colere. Practicus est, in quo conscientia format assumptionem: Deus mihi bonus est; Ergo mihi est colendus, Alsted. Syst. Theolog. a Law written in the heart of man, and that which the book of the Creatures teacheth as well as the book of the Scriptures. But now who This God is, and the right mode of worshipping him, many are at a loss; and the candle-light of Nature (without the help of the Holy Spirit in and by the Scriptures) p. 7cannot direct us, neither can our knowledge of God by them be a comprehensive knowledge, what God is in his Essence, in his Attributes, in his persons & in his works, no man or Angel hath, doth, or ever shall know; Though we must (if we would remember our Creator aright) know something of each, yet he must have the wisdom of God, and so be a God, that comprehendeth God in his Essence, Attributes, Persons and works, what say you now Sirs, do you remember your Creator in this sense? such who do not experimentally know God, that he is; and in measure, What he is, cannot properly be said to Remember him. Remember your Creator, that is no less than the Import of knowing and acknowledging your selves with God, whereby peace may come unto you, according unto that excellent counsel of Eliphaz to Iob, Acquaint now thy self p. 6duplicate page p. 7duplicate page p. 8with God, thereby Good shall come unto thee, Job. 22. 21.

Remember your Creator: That is of no less Import than the dying words of King David to his Son Solomon; And thou Solomon my Son, know thou the God of thy Father, 1 Chron. 28. 9.

Secondly, To Remember our Creator, implyes a reverent Fear of Him. Remembring of God is fearing of God. Prov. 23. 17. Be thou in the Fear of the Lord all the day long. How darest thou to say, that thou Remembrest God, when thou fearest him not, and hast but little dread of his Greatness in thy Heart?Where the Fear of God is, there Sin is conquer'd as to its reigning Power, and it shall no more storm Walls, demolish Castles, break through Guards, beat up Quarters, and let in Enemies. Thou canst fear Afflictions, Death, or any Evil approaching towards thee, and for the diverting whereof, applyest thy self to the Means in order thereunto, but how little doest thou use thy Strength and Prudence p. 9against Sin that cursed thing, and which rendreth thee obnoxious to the Wrath of God, which if thou fearest not here, shalt hereafter to thy sorrow and eternal detriment.

Thou canst reverence a Person of Quality, or any Earthly Monarch, and when Access unto him is granted thee, how great is thy Care and Diligence in demeaning thy self before him? and how dost thou tremble lest by any uncomely Gesture or Action thou shouldst offend him,By the Fear of God Men do not only depart from that which is Evil, but are also inclin'd to do that which is Good. knowing that in case of Default, thou mayst not onelyonly meet with Repulse, but also Penalty? And shall the Presence of Worms so awe thee, and not God, in whose presence the blessed Saints and Angels cover their Faces, as being unworthy of Beholding him?Prov. 16. 6.Prov 16:6 It's no marvel why Conscience bears so little sway now adayes,Deut. 5. 29.Deut 5:29 why Piety is so little countenanc'd, why Gods Glory p. 10is so little preferr'd, why one Man even becomes a Devil to another, and why Young men Remember not their Creator. The Reason of all lies here;So did not I (said good Nehemiah) because of the fear of God. The Fear of God is not before their Eyes, nor his Greatness studyed by them. Our Creator is God over all Blessed for evermore, the Lord of Hosts is his Name; all the Creatures are at his Beck and Check; he is the stronger side, and whosoever fears the Lord, need not fear any thing else. Confidence and strong Confidence is in the Fear of the Lord,Prov. 14. 26.Prov 14:26 yea a Fear-freeing Fear this Fear is.

Thirdly, To Remember our Creator implies setting the Mind on work on the Excellencies of him.Pulchra sunt omnia faciente te Domine, & ecce tu inenarr abiliter pulchrior qui fecisti omnia. Chrys. All those things which thou hast made, are beautifull, but thou thy self art infinitely more beautifull. Psal. 104. v. 34. My Meditation of him shall be sweet. The p. 11Excellencies of God are many, great and incommunicable: Many and wonderfull are the Excellencies of the Creature, but not to be compar'd with God's; because all Creature-Excellencies are but Derivatives.Some Eyes have been dazled too much with the glitterings of the Creatures, so as to take the Servant for the Master; and have been so much in admiring the Glass, as that they forgot the glorious Beauty that is represented. What Worship and Adoration hath the Sun had? even almost as much as the great Creator of Heaven and Earth himself. Strange! that they should see so darkly, as not to discern the Face from the Veil that covers it. For the Sun is at best but umbra Dei, and nubecula citò transitura, a mere spot, a cloud, if compar'd with so bright an Essence; and as He saith notably, the same Worshippers must needs be foreign, Atheists in the Night-time. And what are the Streams, compar'd to the Fountain; the Rivers to the Ocean, and the excellencies of the Creature to the Excellencies of the Creator? being in him primitively and incommunicably, yea the proper subject and seat of all Excellencies whatsoever, God is. And canst thou Ovain young man set thy Heart on these transitory Excellencies of the Creature, p. 12and yet canst not look up so high as to the Creator, and take a View of his glorious and transcendent Excellencies that have and do ravish the Hearts of all their Contemplators? Davids Meditations of his Creators Excellencies were sweet unto him. Call back, O young Man, all thy stragling Affections; it is high time now, they have been long enough seeking Rest in these terrene things, and finding none. Call home (O vain man) thy Love, thy Joy, Hope, Grief and Fear: These are to the Soul, as the Souldiers to the Centurion; If he said to one, Go, he went; if to another, Come, he came: These (say some) are the Messengers of the Will; these (say others) are the Wheels, the Chariots, the Wings, the Feet of the Soul. But now if thy Love, which is the first, and General of all the Affections, should be set, not on God, but the World; if p. 13your Hatred should be directed, not against Sin, but Good men, or (which is worse) against Goodness it self; if your Zeal should not be pure Flames for Divine Glory, but a burning Rage against the Truth of God; if your Fear should not be a flight from Evil, but an Apostasie from Christ; if your Anger should be a Displeasure at anothers Eminencies, and not at your own Exorbitances; if your Hope should not be a well-ballanced Expectation of Happiness, but a blind and venturous Presumption of Mercy; and if your Grief should be a trouble that you cannot be and doe more evil; Ah how vile, how irregular, how dangerous are Affections thus misplac'd! When Love and Hatred keep to their right Centres, and move towards their proper Objects, to love nothing but Good, to hate nothing but Evil.

p. 14Fourthly, To Remember our Creator implies to recollect our selves, and return unto him as the Fountain of our Salvation, Psal. 22. 27.

All the Ends of the World shall remember and turn unto the Lord.

By Sin we have Apostatiz'd from God; are we yet return'd unto him? is there a Conversion of the whole man unto God? Are Old things past away, and all things become New? Hast thou a New Heart? till then thou canst not remember God with any Affection. Hast thou a New Will? till then thou canst not do as thou oughtest. Hast thou a New Eye? till then thou canst not see the difference that there is between things Spiritual and Temporal. Hast thou a new Appetite? till then thou canst not know what is bitter, or what is sweet. Every Faculty is become the seat of Sin, and therefore a Necessity there is, of a universal p. 15Change. The Understanding is dark, and stands in need of Divine Illumination. The Will is contumacious,Man is defiled à capite ad calcem, from Head to Foot; that (as the Philosopher saith concerning the Soul, It is in every part; where there is Life, there is the Soul, for the Soul is the Life; so) whatever is in us, and cometh from us, and is acted by us, receiveth defilement from us. Sin is like a Leprosie, over the whole man; like a gangrene spreading over the whole Soul. and needeth the Almighty Power of God to make it flexible. The Memory is weak, and needeth supernatural strengthening. The Affections are dull, and need spiritual Operation. The Conscience is benumm'd, and needeth the beams of God's Spirit to warm it, and quicken it, that it may no more mislead, and be as a blind Guide. And thus our whole Life is crooked and perverse; hast thou gotten it made strait by a sincere Repentance and Reformation? The Holy Scriptures are a Rule, hast thou measured thy Life by it? The Curse of the Law hangs on thee, why dost thou not satisfie its Demands, p. 16and Appeal to the Grace of God in Christ for freedom therefrom? Thy miseries (O Natural man) are many, great, and intolerable, why dost thou not endeavour to extricate thy self out of them? Read this Scripture, O Graceless Prodigal: Psal. 9. 19. The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the Nations that forget God.

Recollect therefore your selves, oh Old Men, before your dayes are quite concluded. Remember your Creator Oh Young Men, while the evil dayes come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Is it not better to live than die, turn than burn? O Sirs, persist not till it be too late, but choose God your chiefest Good, onelyonly Good, suitable Good, and everlasting Good.

Fifthly, To Remember our Creator, implies a due Considering what p. 17may Please or Displease him.

Col. 1. 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.

But how few are there that make this their work, studying how to please God? Doth not the Course of their Lives rather tend to the contrary? Who lives to please God, but rather to displease him? How little is Gods Favour now adayes esteemed of? Most of us are ambitious of doing things that may please Persons highly dignified in this World, but the pleasing of God is look'd upon as a superfluity, and that which may be as well omitted as perform'd; as if Gods good word would not honour us so much as a Mortals, and His Favour do us more good than the Favour of Man, whose breath is in his Nostrils, and must suddenly perish. Mans Favour is good in its place, but when compar'd with Gods, there is vast difference as to the p. 18Nature,In thy favour is life, Psal. 30. 5.Ps 30:5 Property, Effects and Perpetuity of it. Foolish therefore is he who preferres the pleasing of Man before the pleasing of God, and chooseth rather the one than the other; that can remember what pleaseth the Creature, but not what pleaseth the Creator. This is preferring the less before the greater, and the Servant before the Master. How stands it therefore with us? Are Gods Smiles our Heaven, and his Frowns our Hell? Is there nothing that we take in hand, but we seriously pensitate and ponder it in our Minds, saying with our selves, Will this and that make for Gods Glory? if so, I'le do it; if not, I shall forbear. But, Oh Christians, how many are remiss in this kind of spiritual Exercise, excusing themselves with Phrases that will not excuse them at the Day of Judgement. This is too strict, say some; what need is there p. 19of it, say others? and, Who can do so, is the language of many: But I wish I might have the Opportunity of telling part of my Mind to such persons. Is there not a Necessity of Remembring our Creator, if we would prosper? but can we remember him aright, if we please him not? and if we please him not, can we be saved?

Sixthly, To Remember our Creator, implies a remembring his Mercies and retaining a thank full sense thereof.

Psal. 106. 21. They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt.

Doest thou often think on the Mercies of God, so frequently and bountifully conferred on thee? Doest thou often revish thy Soul in calling Mercies past to mind, living upon Mercies present, and depending upon Mercies to come? Remember your Creator, will surely p. 20bear this Interpretation without any wrong to the words. Remember what your Creator has done for you, his Mercies bestowed on you in such and such a kind, at such and such a Time, in such and such a Place, among such and such Company. It is a sign that we sincerely esteem, and heartily remember a Friend, when we do not forget his Kindness, but do even write them down in our Memorandum Book: And so it stands good in this Case also; if we say, we remember God, and forget his Mercies, we lie, and the Truth is not in us; it being that which cannot stand together. Such who have received Mercies from the hands of God, yea such Mercies without which they could not have subsisted, and yet are unthankfull,Hostis Gratiae, inimica salutis. Bern. forgetting both God and his Benefits too, surely such of all are most ungratefull. Mercies above us, and beneath us, p. 21Mercies before us and behind us, Mercies on the right hand and on the left, renders us (if still we are barren) the most ungratefull Monsters that ever lived on Earth. To be unthankfull, where there is the greatest reason of being thankfull, is Folly in the Abstract. And where Mercy is not a Load-stone to draw to God, it will be a Millstone to sink into Hell. Vinegar you know 'tis foreign Filius Vini; and the sweetest Wine degenerates into the sharpest vinegar. And as nothing is more cold than Lead, yet nothing more scalding than that when melted; so nothing is more sweet than mercy, when thankfully received, yet nothing more terrible than that when abused; Grace abused turns to fury, and Mercies forgotten turn to sore Wrath.

Seventhly and lastly, To Remember our Creator, is to serve and obey him; and this indeed is p. 22the summe of all, Deut. 8. 11. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his Commandments and his Iudgements, and his Statutes, which I command thee this day.

Many,Every wicked man carries (saith one) the Devils, Pack. nay more serve the Devil and their own Lusts, than there do serve God. God made man for himself, but he hath less from him than any other Creature. Man should serve God, and that in the first place; but instead thereof he serves himself first, the Devil and his Lusts first. Oh, wonderfull Degeneration, and the Cursedness of our lapsed Estate! One would think it incredible, that the Creature should not serve the Creator; we may Wonder at it indeed, and yet Believe it we must, because that it is, nothing is more certain; God who is Truth it self hath said so, and we by daily Experience find it so: here then is a Mystery of Iniquity, That Man p. 23should Renounce God who made him, and Side with the Devil who hates him, and will Eternally destroy him, if still sided with: That Man should take more Delight in Self-destruction, than in Self-felicitating: That Man should sell himself to sin, and take more delight therein than in Obeying one reasonable Commandement: Why should all this be, O vain man? Are the wayes of God unequal, his Demands impossible, his Commands intollerable? Have a care of harbouring hard thoughts of God, who hath said that his Yoak is easie, and his burden is light, Matth. 11. 29.

If thou hast but a mind to be engaged in the Service of God,God's Spirit is an assisting and supporting Spirit. let not the Difficulties that attend it discourage thee; but know, that God can by the sweet Discoveries of himself (whilest thou art in his Service) chear thy Heart, and make that which seemed hard p. 24and difficult, the very Delight of thy Soul. Iacobs meeting with, and enjoying of Rachel, rendered his hard and long Service easie and delightfull unto him: And so a feeling of Gods Spirit moving on thy Heart, when thou art engaged in any Religious Exercise, will make it joyous and not grievous, a Delight and not a Burden, a Heaven, and not an Hell.

Besides, holy Obedience is only hard and difficult to the Ignoble part of a Saint, viz. the Flesh, not to the Noble part of a Saint, viz. the Soul. All the Wayes of God (though tending to the pulling out of right Eyes, and cutting off of right Hands) are wayes of Pleasantness to the Noble part of a Saint. So far as every Christian is Renewed, he is best when he can serve God most, according unto the Apostle; I delight in the Law of God after the inward Man: with my Mind I serve the Law of p. 25God, though with my Flesh the Law of Sin.

Remember thy Creator; that is, Remember him so as to love, serve, and obey him. And thus you have heard first and last the full Import of these words; Remember thy Creator.

The third thing I am to speak unto by way of Explication, is this. What is it to remember our Creator above all-things whatsoever, which may fall under these three heads.

1. Loving God above all things whatsoever.

2. Fearing God above all things whatsoever.

3. Obeying God above all things whatsoever.

First, Loving God above all things whatsoever. Here is Love in its highest stature, and such a kind of Love God requires; nay, no other Love will he acccept of; p. 26either of that kind we must give him, or none at all. The prime of our Affections must God have; and indeed who deservesLove is due to God, not onelyonly for the Good he hath done us, and for the Good that we hope for from him, but for the Good that is in him. Yea God is to be loved for himself. Du Moulin, Treatise of Peace and Contentment of Mind. them more than He? who shall have them, if not He? Verily, our selves have not so great a right unto our selves, as He? We and our selves, and all that is ours are Gods; yea we are more Gods than our own. How is it then, that God is no more lov'd than he is, and that even some who profess Love unto him, do not love him above all things whatsoever? Surely here lies the Reason, Ignorance, Ignorance, Ignorance; Ignoti nulla cupido, sayes the old Poet; what we know not, we love not. Did persons but know God more, they would love him more. O who would not but love that infinite Love and p. 27Excellency, though he had no Interest of his own in it! God is Love it self, and if we will not love Love it self, surely we are distracted.

Doest thou therefore, O my Soul, Remember thy Creator? and doest thou so Remember him as to Love him?Tota Lex Christi tribus literulis includitur: Ama. Deum ama, & omnes leges servasti. Drexelius. and doest thou so love him, as to love him above all things whatsoever? How many, I fear, if weighed in the Ballance would be found wanting as to this, which is the summe and substance of Christianity! And shall I here expostulate with the Young man? What sayest thou? Art thou willing to give Christ the First-born of every Affection in thy Soul? Doest thou love God above all things whatsoever? Doest thou love him above thy Relations, Estate, and very Life? Canst thou preferre Gods Glory before all Secular Interest whatsoever, and even deny thy p. 28very Life for him, if called thereunto? This indeed is Love like Gold tried in the Fire. Verily, when Carnal Relations come in competition with, and stand in opposition unto Christ, we must hate them; when our Friends would prove Snares, and hinder us from doing our Duty,Christus inter Amicos maximus. we must either leap over them, or tread upon them; like Galeacius Caracciolus, that most famous Patron and Second Moses; who though he was the Son of a Marquess, the Pope's Nephew, yet deserted Italy, and (with Moses) Pharaoh's Court, treading upon and leaping over his Wife and Children, rather than he would worship Idols, and so that he might be with Reverend Calvin, under his Ministry in Geneva. So that in this case, Odium in suos, is Pietas in Deum. Ierome likewise hath an excellent passage: If my Wife (saith he) should hang about my p. 29Neck,Praecepta docent, exempla movent. my Mother shew me the Breasts that gave me suck, perswading me to deny Christ, I would not.

Peter though a Friend and Disciple of Christ, yet when he prov'd a Tempter, Christ saith unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan. I cannot omit that excellent Passage of Mr. Swinnock,Treatise of making Religion ones Business, pag. 333. that Laborious and Pious Divine, concerning Love to God, being as followeth: I wish (since Love is the greatest thing my Saviour can give, for God is Love, and the greatest which I can give my Saviour,) that his love to me may be reflected back again; that my chiefest Love may be as a Fountain seal'd up to all others, and broached onelyonly for him who is altogether lovely, that I may hate Father, Mother, Wife, Child, House and Land, out of Love to him; that many Waters of Affliction may not quench this Love, but rather like snuffers make this Lamp to burn the brighter.

p. 30Again, Doest thou love Christ (O Young man) above thy Estate or this present World? Hast thou put thy Love to Christ in one Ballance, and thy Love to the World in another;Mr. Francis Xavarias counsel'd Iohn the Third, King of Portugal, to meditate every day, a quarter of an hour upon this Text: What shall it profit a man to gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul, Mark 8. 36?Mark 8:36 and doth thy Love to Christ weigh down thy Love to the World? or is not thy Case like the young Man in the Gospel, who was Christs Hearer, but not his Follower: When Christ said unto him, Sell all and give to the Poor; it is said, Abiit tristis, he went away sorrowfull, Mat. 19. 22. Doth the World lye nearer thy heart than Christ? How then dost thou love Christ above all things whatsoever?

Again,The Apostle Paul carryed the Image of Christ in his heart as a Saint, the Message of Christ in his mouth as a Minister, and the Mark of Christ in his body as a Martyr. Is Christ (O young Man) of more esteem unto thee than p. 31thy Life? canst thou lay it down for his sake? His Love to thee was stronger than Death, is thy Love to him stronger than Life? Can wicked Men be content to suffer for their Lusts, and will not ye suffer for Christ?

Heroick Luther hath an Expression, and indeed it is like himself: I would rather (saith he) be a Martyr than a Monarch. And the same said again, Disce mori ut vivat Christi Gloria: Learn to die that the Glory of Christ may live.

Such who do preferre Christ,The way to Paradise is by a flaming Sword, the way to Canaan is through a howling Wilderness, and the way to Heaven is by the Gates of Hell. think not much to die for him; and that it is so, see it confirm'd in this Cloud of Witnesses. The Prophet Isaiah was kill'd with a Saw, Ieremiah with Stones, Amos with an Iron-barre, and St. Luke was hanged on an Olive-tree: So that this is clear, he who preferres his Life before Christ, is not worthy of him. He that with Iudas p. 32and Spira will rather sin than suffer, must with them suffer a Hell on this side of Hell.

Secondly, Fearing God above all things whatsoever. Thou fearest thy Father and Mother, thy Master, and such who have the Rule over thee; but doest thou fear thy Maker? How many, I fear, (especially Young men) may I find tardy in this? Why now to remember thy Creator above all things whatsoever, is to fear him; and to fear him above all things whatsoever, is to fear him in an otherguise manner than one Mortal fears another. Civil or Natural Difference among us here below, commandeth proportionable Reverence, and if such Reverence be due from one Creature to another, when they are all made of the same coarse earthly Mould, and must all be buried in the bowels of their common Mother, the Earth; when there p. 33is no Essential, but onelyonly an Extrinsecal difference between them: What Fear and Reverence then is due from us poor dust and ashes to the God of the Spirits of all Flesh, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, between whom and his Creatures there is an infinite distance! O be perswaded (above all things) to fear that glorious and fearfull Name, The Lord thy God. That Name which is the greatest prop of thine Affiance, commandeth thy Fear and Reverence, when thou hearest: In the fear of God give Audience to his Word; Constantine the Great, when hearing a Sermon, would ever and anon start out of his Chair of State, and stand up for a while, being affected, and (it may be) terrified with the Word, insomuch that his Courtiers were amazed, because such a posture did not become so high a place. Euseb. de vit. Constant. l. 3. c. 17.Acts 13. 16. Poor Peasants should tremble when this Prince is speaking. It becomes the greatest Person to be awfull in Gods Presence, more than in the presence of any other. Abraham, who had the honour and favour p. 34to be Gods Friend, yet when God spake to him, fell on his face, Gen. 17. 3. Moses, though high in the Heart of God, yet is humble when he hears from God; He bowed his Head towards the Earth and worships, Exod. 34. 8.

And so when thou prayest, put up thy Petitions to God with a great deal of Trepidation, knowing that though thou takest upon thee to speak unto the great God of Heaven and Earth, yet still thou art but Dust and Ashes. Luther prayed with Confidence as to a Father,Tantâ reverentiâ ut si Deo, & tantâ fiduciâ ut si amico. but with Reverence as to a God. Thou art at best but a Begger, and a proud heart will not suit a Beggers purse. The Eastern Christians when they called on God, threw themselves on the ground.

The Lord will give Grace and Glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly, Psal. 84. 11.

p. 35God resisteth the proud,foreign. but giveth Grace to the humble.

God sets himself in battel-array against a proud man, as the Greek word emphatically signifies: To this man will I look,Deus propitius est illis qui dolent quòd ipsum peccatis suic offenderunt, ac proinde trepidant, quum cogitant se damnationem aeternam esse meritos. Piscat. in loc. even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my Word, Isa. 66. 2.

Again, when thou approachest to the Lords Supper, is another special time when God should be more than ordinarily reverenced and feared. This is Mysterium tremendum, a Mystery to be trembled at. Read that excellent Scripture.foreign, v. 28. foreign, v. 29. Let us have Grace whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire, Heb. 12. 28, 29.

p. 36This holy Fear and Trembling it is that graceth all our performances, and makes them acceptable unto God.

Thirdly, Obeying God above all things whatsoever. All Service must be denyed, rather than Gods must be neglected: Not that I would hereby encourage Servants unto Neglect in their Masters Employ, that is not my drift; that which I would have Servants and all do, is serving and obeying God in a right manner. And now God is obey'd and serv'd in a right manner, and above all things whatsoever,

First,foreign, Esau mourned, Iudas confessed, Ahab humbled himself in dust, and Cain sacrificed, but none of these were accepted with God, because the root of the matter was not in them. When he is serv'd sincerely and without the mixtures of hypocrisie. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, 1 Cor. 5. 6.

My Son give me thy Heart, Prov. 23. 26.

p. 37'Tis the Heart that God looks at, the Heart that God requires, and the Heart it is that makes the Service acceptable, and shews the sincerity of him that performs it. My Son give me thy heart; not lend me thy Ear, or afford me thy Tongue. A Sacrifice unto God without the Heart, is an abomination unto him. I hate your Burnt-Offerings, my Soul nauseates your solemn Assemblies. Odi Dianos, & dona …erentes. Bring me no more vain Oblations; foreign. Hypocrisie spoyls every Prayer,Hypocritae cupit se videri justum. soyls every Ordinance, stains and discolours every Duty, invenoms every Mercy. If such an one Pray, 'tis esteemed Howling; if he Mourn, 'tis hanging down the head like a Bulrush; if he Sacrifice, 'tis cutting off a Dogs Neck; if he Rejoyce, 'tis but a Blaze, a crackling of Thorns under the Pot.

Secondly, When he is serv'd, not p. 38with a servile, but with a filial Fear; when he is serv'd, not with constraint, but willingly and chearfully. God loves a willing Servant.Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, Psal. 110. 3. Hebr. Willingnesses, the Abstract, and in the Plural Number. See Psal. 68. 10. As if the Holy Ghost could not speak enough how willing they are, to note exceeding great willingness to submit to every Commandment of the Lord; or it may signifie Free-will Offerings, voluntary Oblations. Jun. & alii.Ps 110:3Ps 68:10 Religion should be full of Alacrity. Heavenly Duties and spiritual Performances are to flow freely from the Soul, like those voluntary drops that come sweating from the Honey-comb of its own accord, without any pressing or crushing. It is onelyonly the Dregs of Obedience that will not come forth without squeezing and wringing. The better any thing is, the more freely doth it diffuse it self. If therefore you would serve God as you should do, serve him with a chearfull Fear; because Chearfulness puts a gloss and lustre upon Religion, and makes it amiable even in the eyes of the world.

p. 39Thirdly, When he is served universally, in all respects, in Holiness towards God, in Righteousness towards man.

Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy Commandments, Psal. 119. 6.

How many are there that pick and cull their Duties, and so indeed serve not the will of God, but their own Choyce? That answer the Lord with half-Obedience, like the Eccho, which makes not a perfect Respondence of the Voice, but of some part thereof? Many make such a difference amongst the Tables,Our Obedience must be compleat. as if onelyonly one side, or one part were of Gods writing; The Man that (like Agrippa) doth but almost Believe, almost Repent, almost Obey, that man shall be sav'd proportionably, almost.

Fourthly, When he is serv'd constantly; not now and then admitting Cessations, but all the p. 40dayes of our Life,We must not only begin well but end well. constantly in all Estates, unto the End, Col. 1. 10. I have done with Explication, and so have shewed you the Import of Remembring your Creator, Finit coronat Opus.as it lies before you in the Text and Doctrine. The Second part of the Amplification will be Confirmation, which shall consist of several Scripture-Reasons.

First,Rea. 1. Above all things whatsoever, we must not forget, but Remember our Creator, because He hath commanded us: Remember thy Creator. Doth it become a Child when commanded, to dispute his Fathers Command? Is it not his Father that commands him, and therefore he must do it? Why, is not God the Father of us all by Creation, and are we not obliged to Obey him? The Wind and Seas do obey him, and shall We turn Rebels? All Creatures pay Homage unto him, and shall Man refuse? Doth the Oxe p. 41know his Owner, and the Ass his Masters Crib; Isa. 1. 3. And shall not we whom God hath endowed with Reason, and made capaces Religionis, capable of Religion? Are all the Creatures at Gods beck, and ready to obey him whensoever he desireth it, and yet shall we spurn against him, provoking him to wrath, and grieving his holy Spirit? Why cannot we find in our hearts to obey our Father, Creator and Lord? Is he not our Sovereign, and have any gone on in a course of Rebellion against him, that did ever prosper? Is it not a vain thing to stand it out with God, or contend with the Almighty? Would it not be more advantagious to lay down the Weapons, and crie peccavi, than to wrestle and be foyl'd, fight and be kill'd? Is it not better to remember our Friend, that he may remember us, when the proudest and most ambitious p. 42shall e're long see their need of him.

Secondly,Rea. 2. We must not forget, but above all things Remember our Creator, Religion that was first in Gods intention, is now become last in mans execution.because it is the End of our Creation. Man was made to love, serve and obey his Maker, and God hath made him capable, though now by Sin degenerated.

Thirdly,Rea. 3. God who made us, can destroy us; our Creator is our Preserver;God can easily look us into the Grave, & frown us into Hell. as we had our Being from God, so on him doth our Being depend. The same Power that made the World, upholds the World; the same God that made us out of nothing, can make us into nothing: It concerns us therefore that all of us do see to this main thing, Remember thy Creator. Are we not in Gods hands, as the Clay is in the hands of the Potter; we are his Creatures, and he may do with us what he pleaseth, and who shall gainsay p. 43or oppose him in the least? Let us now therefore deferre no longer, but remember and call to mind our Holy Creator, lest he becomes so angry as not to be pacified, but to destroy us for evermore.

Fourthly, God is a bountifull Benefactor, he feeds us, cloaths us, and gives us House-room, and therefore not to remember him, is double Ingratitude. God shewed Mercy unto thee before thou couldst understand it; he prevented thee with Blessings, before thou couldst desire them.He is a beast in the shape of a Man, that will not serve that God at whose Mercy he lies every moment. When thou wast in the Womb, his Bounty embrac'd thee; when thou hangedst on thy Mothers Breast, he did care for thee. How many years are past, in which thou wast not? yet God erected this House of thy Body for thee; gave thee a Reasonable Soul, made thee a Man and not a Stone or a Serpent; And yet wilt thou p. 44not love this God, take delight in this God, fear this God, serve and obey this God? Is it not in and by him that thou livest, movest and hast thy being? Is not the Aire which thou breathest in, his? Is not the Night and Day his, whose Intercourses serve for thy Labour and Rest? Is not the Earth his, whose Fruits do nourish thee most plentifully? Yea doth not this Benefactor wonderfully form, furnish and conserve all the Creatures for thy sake, some whereof serve to obey thee, some to nourish thee, some to cloath thee, some to cure thee, some to chastise thee; but all of them to teach and inform thee? What sayest thou now, wilt thou resolve to think now and then on this precious Creator of ours? Muzzle not, I beseech you, the mouth of Conscience, but give it leave to speak its mind freely.

Fifthly, We should not forget, p. 45but above all things remember our Creator, because he is our Redeemer also. We do not onelyonly owe unto God our Creation, Sustentation, but Redemption likewise. So that thou mayst say, The work of Redemption is many wayes to be admired more than Creation.I was in the jaws of Hell, but thou O God didst pluck me out by the Blood of thy Son; I was the slave of Satan, but thy Grace hath deliver'd me out of his power: I owe unto thee more than I can perform for my Creation, how then shall I do to repay thee for my Redemption? The lost Sheep thou hast deliver'd out of the Claws of the infernal Wolf. The fugitive Slave thou hast brought out of the Prison of Hell. The lost Groat thou hast sought out with great carefulness. In Adam I fell, and thou hast erected me. In Adam I was captivated, but thou hast set me at liberty. In Adam I was lost, and again thou hast saved me.

Sixthly and lastly, we must not forget, but above all things whatwhatsoever p. 46Remember our Creator,God is Centrum quietativum (as the Schools speak) the proper, quieting resting Centre of the Soul, and in him alone can it truely rest. because our chiefest Happiness and Felicity consists therein. God is the summum bonum, and if we would be happy, it must be by resting in him, setling and staying the heart on him, not the Creature but the Creator is the Souls Centre: The Soul is immortal, and nothing can satisfie it but God who is immortal.

Thy Soul nothing can satiate

But God who did thy Soul create.

The Needle of the Compass trembles till it turns to the North Pole. There is in Man a Natural Pulse that beats after Happiness. Noahs Dove could find no rest for the sole of her foot, till she came to the Ark. Return unto thy Rest,In h…c peccabam quod non in Deo, sed in creaturis ejus, me atque caeteras voluptates quarebam, atque ita irruebamin dolores, confusiones & errores animae. Aug. O my Soul, Psal. 116. 7. There is an impossibility of finding true Rest, Solace, and Satisfaction of p. 47Soul any where but in God, and with God alone. You may as soon find Life in Death, or Light in Darkness, as Rest for your Souls any where but in God alone. On the transitory things of this world the Soul often seeks for Rest, but finds it not, why? Because the Soul is more worthy than all the Creatures. God is the End whereunto the Soul was created: For it was made after the Image of God; therefore it cannot be quiet and at rest but in its End, that is, in God. As the Soul is the Life of the Body, so is God the Life of the Soul.Tu bonum null▪ indigens bouo, semper quietus es, quoniam tua quies tuipse es. Idem. And where wilt thou go, Sinner? thou canst not find Rest here below in any thing at all. Can Sin give rest, that is the greatest Evil in the world? Can that give rest, that is the Cause of all the Confusions and Desolations that are in the world? Can that give Rest, that was the first and onelyonly Cause and Founder of p. 48Hell? Can that give rest, that makes us like the Devil, that restless Spirit? will you have recourse to the good things of this world, to Creature-comforts and Enjoyments; to Friends, Relations, Estate, and the like? The Creatures (sayes a worthy Divine) are not good; at least they are not the Souls good; nothing (says he) but an infinite Godhead can allay your hunger after Happiness. And so another; The understanding, Will and Affections are such a Triangle, as that nothing but the Trinity can sill them. Dura sunt omnia, & tu solus requies:Bonus est qui secit me, & ipse est bonum meum, & illi exulto omnibus bonis meis. All things (sayes Austin) are full of trouble and difficulty; Thou alone,He is Good that made me (saith Aug) and he is My Good, and in him do I exult and rejoyce. O God, art the true Rest. All things on this side God have their Mixtures, they have a dark as well as a bright side: Is not our Wine mixt with Water, our Honey with Gall, p. 49our Sugar with Wormwood, and our Roses with Prickles? But now God is every way a pure and immixed Good; He is all Light, Love, Sweetness and Holiness. Deus meus, Vita mea, Dulcedo mea, &c. O my God, my Life, my Sweetness! saith Augustine. Why then should we seeke Happiness in those things that cannot give us Health, or Strength, or Ease, or a good Nights Rest, or an Hours Sleep, or a good Stomach.