Thirdly, Suppose all this, that you could have a Lease of your lives, and you could be assured, that when you come to old age, your hearts should not be hardened; yet consider this, that the more sinful and evil the days of your youth have been, the more disquietness of mind, and horror of conscience will this breed in you when you are old, though you should be called, and converted by Jesus Christ. Job. 13.24, 25, 26. Thou hidest thy face, thou holdest me as thy Enemy. Thou dost drive me as a leaf to and fro, and thou dost ⟨p. 68⟩pursue me like dry stubble. Now why doth Job complain thus? Mark the next words, For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. Job, when he was a young man, it seems he was a wicked man, and had many sins in his youth, and this in his old age made him cry out, and say, that God took him for his Enemy, and that God brake him like a leaf driven with the wind. O beloved, the sins of your youth, though you should be Jobs, converted, yet they will bring great disquietness, and great horror, when you come to age; the lusts of youth, and the vanities of youth, and the sensual pleasures of your youthful days, they will lay a foundation of sorrow, when you come to grey hairs, to be near your graves; so Job 20.11. And therefore, put the case you should repent, and should be called when you are old, you have no cause to put off the call of Jesus Christ, seeing sins of youth will fill you with horror and disquietness of mind. Hence it is, that David, after he was called by the power of the word, cries out, Psal. 25. Lord, remember not the sins of my youth; that gravelled and galled his conscience, the sins of his youth before his call. 1It is the speech of an Author, that to look on the pleasurable vanities and contents of youth, this will become an heavy burden, and bitter vexation in old age. Beloved, the more evil you run out into in your youthful days, the greater and deeper foundation of disquietness and sorrow you lay in your souls in your latter days; though you should be called by Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, Suppose all this, that you could have a Lease of your lives, and you could be assured, that when you come to old age, your hearts should not be hardened; yet consider this, that the more sinful and evil the dayes of your youth have been, the more disquietness of mind, and horror of conscience will this breed in you when you are old, though you should be called, and converted by Jesus Christ. Job. 13.24, 25, 26. Thou hidest thy face, thou holdest me as thy Enemy. Thou dost drive me as a leaf to and fro, and thou dost ⟨p. 68⟩pursue me like dry stubble. Now why doth Job complain thus? Mark the next words, For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. Job, when he was a young man, it seems he was a wicked man, and had many sins in his youth, and this in his old age made him cry out, and say, that God took him for his Enemy, and that God brake him like a leaf driven with the wind. O beloved, the sins of your youth, though you should be Jobs, converted, yet they wil bring great disquietness, and great horror, when you come to age; the lusts of youth, and the vanities of youth, and the sensual pleasures of your youthful dayes, they will lay a foundation of sorrow, when you come to gray hairs, to be neare your graves; so Job 20.11. And therefore, put the case you should repent, and should be called when you are old, you have no cause to put off the call of Jesus Christ, seeing sins of youth will fill you with horror and disquietness of mind. Hence it is, that David, after he was call'd by the power of the word, cryes out, Psal. 25. Lord, remember not the sins of my youth; that gravelled and gall'd his conscience, the sins of his youth before his call. 1It is the speech of an Author, that to look on the pleasurable vanities and contents of youth, this will become an heavy burden, and bitter vexation in old age. Beloved, the more evil you run out into in your youthful daies, the greater and deeper foundation of disquietnesse and sorrow you lay in your souls in your latter daies; though you should be called by Jesus Christ.
- 1Quae fuerunt inaenia juventut is gaudia, haec sunt acerba senectutis gravamina.
