Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathanael Mather, who ...…

Secondly, Old-Age is not an easy Time ⟨p. 60⟩for us to defer the Remembering of God unto. Young Man, wilt thou not look unto the Lord, that thou mayst be saved; Until thine Eyes are almost out? Until those that look out of the Windows be darkened? Wilt thou not lay hold on Eternal Life, until thy Hands are shaking with a Palsy? until the Keepers of the House do tremble? Wilt thou not Run the Race that is set before thee, until thy Feet call for a Staff? until the strong men do bow themselves? Alas, these things will not be easy then. Know, that thy Sin will then be stronger: If it be hard for thee to part with a Lust now, what will it be then? An old Tree, and an old Lust are not easily pulled up by the Roots: It is said, in Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? then may you also do good that are accustomed to do evil. An old Custom, and an old Disease are not easily cured. We read of a Devil dispossessed with a wonderful Difficulty, in Mark 9. 25, 26. The Spirit cried and rent him sore, and he was as one Dead: What was the cause of those terrible convulsions? We are told, the foul Spirit had been in that Person, of a Child. An unclean Spirit, a drunken Spirit, a profane Spirit, that has ⟨p. 61⟩dwelt in a Man from his Childhood unto Old-Age, O 'tis not easily driven away: It is said, in Heb. 3. 12. Exhort one another to day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Deceitful Sin, tells the Young Man, To morrow, to morrow will be soon enough to leave thy evil ways: But the Heart grows harder and harder still, To morrow, than it was to day.

Secondly, Old-Age is not an easie Time ⟨p. 60⟩for us to defer the Remembring of God unto. Young Man, wilt thou not look unto the Lord, that thou may'st be saved; Until thine Eyes are almost out? Until those that look out of the Windows be darkned? Wilt thou not lay hold on Eternal Life, until thy Hands are shaking with a Palsie? until the Keepers of the House do tremble? Wilt thou not Run the Race that is set before thee, until thy Feet call for a Staff? until the strong men do bow themselves? Alas, these things will not be easie then. Know, that thy Sin will then be stronger: If it be hard for thee to part with a Lust now, what will it be then? An old Tree, and an old Lust are not easily pulled up by the Roots: It is said, in