give too loud a testimony every day to this assertion, &c.

2. He was good among the bad, he was good in the house of Jeroboam; it is in fashion to seem (at least) to be good among the good, but to be really good among those that are eminently bad, argues not only a truth of goodness, but a great degree of goodness; this young man was good in the house of Jeroboam who made all Israel to sin; yet Abijah, as the fishes which live in the salt sea are fresh, so though he lived in a sea of wickedness, yet he retained his goodness towards the Lord. They say, roses grow the sweeter, when they are planted by garlick: they are sweet and rare christians indeed, who hold their goodness, and grow in goodness, where wickedness sits on the throne, and such an one the young man in the text was.

To be wheat among tares, corn among chaff, pearls among cockles, and roses among thorns, is excellent. To be a Jonathan in Saul's court, to be an Obadiah in Ahab's court, to be an Obedmelech in Zedekiah's court, and to be an Abijah in Jeroboam's court, is a wonder, a miracle. To be a Lot in Sodom, to be an Abraham in Chaldea, to be a Daniel in Babylon, to be a Nehemiah in Damasco, and to be a Job in the land of Uz, is to be a saint among devils, and such an one the man in the text was. The poets affirm that Venus never appeared so beautiful as when she sat by black Vulcan's side. Gracious souls shine most clear, when they be set by black conditioned persons; Stephen's face never shined so angelically, so gloriously in the church, where all were virtuous, as before the council, where all were vicious and ma

licious. So Abijah was a bright star, a shining sun, in Jeroboam's court, which for profaneness and wickedness was a very hell.

The words which I have chosen to insist upon, afford us several observations, but I shall only name one, which I intend to prosecute at this time, and that is this, viz.

CHAPTER I.

That it is a very desirable and commendable thing for young men to be really good betimes. OTHER scriptures speak out this to be a truth besides what you have in the next to confirm it, as that of 2 Chron. xxxiv. 1, 2, 3. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one-and-thirty years, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left; for in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah, and Jerusalem, from the high places, and groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. It was Obadiah's honour, that he feared the Lord from his youth; and Timothy's crown, that he knew the scriptures from a child; and St. John's joy, that he found children walking in the truth; this revived his good old heart, and made it dance for joy in his bosom. To spend further time in the proving of this truth, would be but to light candles to see the sun at noon.

The ground and reasons of this point, are these that follow.

Reason 1. Because the Lord commands it, and divine commands are not to be disputed, but obeyed, Eccles. xii. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Remember now, I say now: now is an atom will puzzle the wisdom of a philosopher, the skill of an angel to divide : now is a monosyllable in all learned languages.

Remember now thy Creator; remember him presently, instantly, for thou dost not know what a day, what an hour, may bring forth, thou canst not tell what deadly sin, what deadly temptation, what deadly judgment may overtake thee, if thou dost not now remember thy Creator. Remember now thy Creator; remember to know him, remember to love him, remember to desire him, remember to delight in him, remember to depend upon him, remember to get an interest in him, remem ber to live to him, and remember to walk with him. Remember now thy Creator; the Hebrew is Creators, Father, Son, and Spirit. To the making of man a council was called in heaven, Gen. i. 29. Remember thy Creators, remember the Father so as to know him, so as to be inwardly acquainted with him; remember the Son, so as to believe in him, so as to rest upon him, so as to embrace him, and so as to make a complete resignation of thyself to him. Remember the Spirit so as to hear his voice, so as to obey his voice, so as to feel his presence, and so as to experience his influence.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth; he doth not say in the time of thy youth, but in the days of thy youth; to note, that our

life is but a few days; it is but a vapour, a span, a flower, a shadow, a dream; and therefore Seneca saith well, that though death be before the old man's face, yet he may be as near the young man's back, &c. Man's life is the shadow of smoke, the dream of a shadow; one doubteth whether to call it a dying life, or a living death. Ah, young men ! God commands you to be good betimes. Remember, young men, that it is a dangerous thing to neglect one of his commands, who by another is able to command you into nothing, or into hell. To act or run cross to God's express command, though under pretence of revelation from God, is as much as a man's life is worth, as you may see in that sad story, 1 Kings xiii. 24.

Let young men put all their carnal reasons, though never so many and weighty, into one scale, and God's absolute command into the other, and then write Tekel upon all their reasons; they are weighed in the balance, and found too light. Ah, sirs! what God commands must be put in speedy execution, without denying or delaying, or disputing the difficulties that attend it. Most young men in these days, do as the heathens, when their gods called for a man they offered a candle; or as Herculus offered up a painted man instead of a living. When God calls upon young men to serve him in the prime of their youth, they usually put off till they are overtaken with trembling joints, weak eyes, fainting hearts, failing hands, and feeble knees, but there will be bitterness in the end.

II. Because they have means and opportunities of being good betimes. Never had man better means and greater opportunities of being good, of

doing good, and of receiving good than now. Ah, Lord! how knowing, how believing, how holy, how heavenly, how humble might young men be, were they not wanting to their own souls? Young men might be good, yea eminently good, would they but improve the means of grace, the tenders of mercy and the knockings of Christ by his word, works, and Spirit. The ancients painted opportunity with a hairy forehead, but bald behind, to signify, that while a man hath opportunity before him he may lay hold on it, but if he suffer it to slip away, he cannot pull it back again. How many young men are now in everlasting chains, who would give ten thousand worlds, had they so many in their hands to give, to enjoy but an opportunity to hear one sermon more, to make one prayer more, to keep one sabbath more, but cannot? This is the hell of their torment, this is the scorpion that is still biting, this is the worm that is always gnawing. Woe to us that we have neglected and trifled away those golden opportunities that once we had to get our sins pardoned, our natures changed, our hearts bettered, our consciences purged, and our souls saved, &c. I have read of a king, who hav, ing no issue to succeed him, espying one day a well favoured youth, took him to court, and committed him to tutors to instruct him, providing by his will, that if he proved fit for government, he should be crowned king, if not he should be bound in chains, and made a galley slave. Now when he grew to years, the king's executors perceiving that he had sadly neglected those means and opportunities whereby he might have been fit for state government, called him before them, and declared