IT is a thing very sensible unto all who are not utterly void of all Sense▪ That an Hor­rible Tempest hath been with a Long and [...] Strong Force horribly beating upo [...] [...] And among the Objects which the Tempest [...] fallen with most Fury upon▪ there are none [...] have Suffered more observably and more [...]plorably, both by Sea and Land, than the [...] [Page 6] Men of our Land. If it were a special Article in the Afflictions of Job, That the Young Men in his Family were cut off, with an Untimely Death: Alas, how many, how many of our poor Fami­lies are in like sort Afflicted, by Deadly Strokes, carrying off our Young men before their Time! The Sons of Job, were suddenly Snatch'd out of the World. If they had their Life among the Unclean, as Elihu seems to fear they had, it was none of their pious Fathers Fault; They had a Father full of Prayer, and Care, and Fear, con­cerning them, lest they should Bid Farewell to the Fear of God: And there is ground for Hope, that they might be such as were not Lost, when they were Dead. Nevertheless they Dy'd in Youth; and their Death was attended with some very Tragical Circumstances. We often have a Report brought unto us, concerning our Sons, The Young men are Dead. Three Young men went well out of their Fathers Houses, one morning the last Week: and before the next Evening, the Report was brought, The Young men are Dead. And it is not long since other Young men, have in the very same way, come to the same Untime­ [...] End The Report hath been brought many & [...] a Time unto us from abroad concerning the [...] men of our Acquaintance that from hence [...] abroad, The Young Men are Dead. Many [...] Neighbours have their Sons and their [...] absent from them; and that which [...] their Absence the more uneasie is, the [Page 7] Dread of having that Report shortly brought un­to us, The Young men are Dead. Such a Report was brought unto Job, and after many and bit­ter and heavy Afflictions the bringing of this Report unto him, was the Last and the Heighth of all, until painful and pining Sickness at length arrested also the Body, of that Holy man. The Remark which we have now to make is,

That as All Men must Dy, so Young men may Dy.

Persons may be liable to the Stroke of Death, even in the Time of Youth. 'Tis observed by the Learned Amyraut, ‘That the Saints of old, thought that God sent them into the World for two ends; the one, to advance His Glory as much as they were able; the other, to Enjoy therein the Testimonies of His Favour, in Tem­poral Blessings for a course of years, which is the Ordinary Term of Life: Death before the Full Age of a man, they therefore deprecated, as among the Testimonies of the Divine An­ger; as if a Young Plant should complain to the Gardiner,, for cutting it off at the Root, when it is just beginning to Bud.’ Nevertheless we see it every day come to pass, that Plants of all Ages are Cut down by the Knife of Death. What one says of the Grammarian, may be said of eve­ry Child of Adam, That being able to Decline all other Nouns in every Case, he can Decline [Page 8] Death in no Case at all. All Ages from a sad Experience have given us a full Demonstration of it; That persons are Seized by Death at all Ages. Young men Dy as well as Old men; yea, more Dy while Young men, than ever come to be Old men. We say, There are Skins of all Ages in the Market, and Skulls of all sizes in Golgotha. Yea, more Dy before Thirty, than after Sixty. And that which puts a doleful Accent on this Remark is, That Young men may Dy very Sud­denly; and as Job speaks, and as Jobs did, In a moment they go down to the Grave. Death does not always make a slow Dispatch, by some Di­sease, upon Young men; it sometimes Dispatches them with a sudden Violence. The Thunder, and the Whirlwind, that overwhelm'd the Sons of Job, is not more sudden in its violence. There are numberless Accidents, by which the Angels of Death, do their Excution at once, when they have a Commission to take Young men into their Hands. Drowning is one of those Accidents, than which there is none more frequent; Thus is the Lamp of Young men put out! It is at once plung'd into the Water, and in less than three minutes perhaps it is put out. Before Clock work was ad­vanced, the best Instrument for measuring of Time known in the English Nation, was that poor one of K. Alfred, The Burning of a Candle marked into twelve parts. If such an Instrument ought new to be allowed for a Resemblance of Humane Life, we must say upon it, Alas, How of­ten [Page 9] is a Candle blown out before the Six hours of the Twelve are spent! Young men may be Well and Gone, in half an Hours Time. In the Forenoon Young men may think themselves likely to Live yet some scores of years; In the Afternoon something befals them, whereupon the Report shall come, The Young men are Dead.

The Thing which we are now to Endeavour, is, to make some Agreeable and Profitable Im­provement of this plain Remark.

Since our Young men, are so many of them Dead, and so Suddenly, and so Awfully Dead, what Improvement should the Living make of their Untimely Death?

Let our Improvement Ly in these points of Christianity.

I. Are the Young men Dead? Let All People, and especially let Young People, seriously Lay to Heart, the Death of so many Young People among us, and the surprizing, the amazing manner of their Death. It was threatned, in Psal. 28 5. Because they regard not the Works of the Lord, He shall destroy them. Young People, would you not be Destroy'd! Then seriously Regard those Works of the Lord, by which He hath already Destroy'd so many of you. Very lamentable was the Condition of that people, concerning whom the Lord said, in Isa. 9.17. The Lor [...] [Page 10] shall have no Joy, in their Young men. Alas, My Neighbours; We may Lament this as our own Condition; In the Deaths which carry off so many of our Young men, we may read this Thing written, with Dismal and with Direful Charact­ers of Blood, The Lord has much Wrath against their Young men. The Wrath of God hath been Burning like a Formidable Fire against our Land; Our Stupidity is paenal and fatal, and the worst part of that Wrath, if we are insensible of it. Now a very sore Ingredient of our Calami­ties under it, hath been that, in Psal. 78.63. The Fire consumed their Young men. The Deaths of our Young men have been inflicted at such a rate, that we may cry out with the Prophet; The Curse hath devoured our Land, and few desirable Young men are left.

I know not well, how to give Orderly Relati­on of the Confusion, into which our Young People have been daily falling for many years together. But give me leave to take the words of that Prophet, whom they call, The Weeping Prophet, and [Where are you, O Tears, when we speak of such a matter!] Say, I am full of the Great Wrath of the Lord, and I will tell you, how it has been poured on the Assembly of our Young men together.

First, By the Sword of an Extended and Prolonged War, Our Young men are Dead: they were brought forth, and brought up, for the Murderer. The Almighty and provoked God, pass,d upon us that Sentence, in Jer. 18.21. Let their Young [Page 11] men be Slain by the Sword. And accordingly, our Young men were for many years together, Press'd into the Wars; but the Pressing of them was but Numbring [...] for the Slaughter. What were the Enemies, that for many years together vexed us, but those, of whom we might say, and sigh, The Lord has called an Assembly against me, to Crush my Young men. But then, Our Young People terrified by the Hardships Ashore, have gone to Do Business on the Great Waters; and the Storms of the Divine Displeasure have so pursued them there also, that more of our Young men are Dead. It hath been with our Young People, as it was with Zidons, in Isa. 23.4. The Sea hath spoken, I do not nourish up young men. Wonderful Ship­wrecks have sunk Multitudes, Multitudes of our Young men, into the deep Valley of Destruction: God has cast them into the Place of Silence, and the Waters have compassed them about, they have gone down to the Bottom of the Mountains, the Bars of the Pit have been about them for ever. And of those that have Escaped Shipwrecks, how many, [God knows!] how many have Sailed unto their Long Home at the Ports where they have arrived; and so come short Home? Themistius Elegantly com­pares the Death of Old men, to going out of an Inn, the Death of Young men to a Shipwreck; alas, how often does it happen unto us every year, by a Literal Shipwreck? The Sea has been the Snare of our Young men: and a Snare of Death. For this invites us to Reflect upon a Third Way [Page 12] of Dying, wherein our Young men are Dead. Not only Contageous and Epidemical Distempers have been raging in our own Towns, whereby our Young People, have been chiefly prey'd upon; but our Young People have gone into Frigats, and gone unto Islands, that have been so many Post-Houses, for their Sickliness. We are from thence often informed, as in Jer. 9.21. Death has cut off the young men from the Streets, and from the Ships: and for that cause, there are many Mourners in our Streets. But in fine, lest here should not be Deaths enough, to take off our young men, behold, how many Casualties, do ever now and then, produce this Report among our Neighbours, The Young men are Dead! Ever now and then, our Young men are Drown'd, perhaps by Two or Three at a Time, or by Falls, or Shot, or some other Quick Mischief, they are hurried away into the Land of Darkness. Now when two Young men were kill'd with a Sudden Death, in Israel, it was Enjoyned, in Lev. 10.6. Let the whole House of Israel bewayl it. Even so, since there have been so many Young men, detach'd from us by a Sudden Death ▪ I must call upon you all, to Bewayl it before the Lord.

II. Are the Young men Dead? Let All People, especially let Young People, consider, How Soon, [they know not, How Soon!] the Time of their Death may overtake them. The Death of Young men, has a Voice to All men; especially [Page 13] if it be a Sudden Death, 'tis then a Speaking Death: And the language of it, is that in Pro. 27.1. Boast not thy self of To morrow, for thou knowest not, what a Day may bring forth. Syrs, the Sudden Death of young men, does naturally Lead us to this Consideration; That ordinarily there is not any man, who doth on any Day infallibly know what shall on that very Day befal him. [Nescis quid serus vesper vebat.] Where is the man, that when he Rises in a morning, may presume to say I shall Out live this Day, or, This Day shall not be my Last! It was said by the Wise man, (and every Wise man will often think of it!) in Eccl 9.12. Man knoweth not his Time; as the Fishes are taken in an Evil Net, and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare, so are the Sons of men snared in an Evil Time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Time here means, the Changes that are in Time to come upon us. 'Tis ordinarily so; The most knowing of Mortals, may every Day say, I don't know what Changes are this Day to come upon me. The Nets, the Snares, of Dis­asters are, for ought we know continually Spread for us: and silly Creatures that we are, we know not when we shall fall into them. No Day does ordinarily arrive to any man, but for ought he knows, That very Day may bring forth his Death unto him. He was an Old man, that said, in Gen. 27 2. I know not the Day of my Death. But show me the [Page 14] Young man that must not say so too. O that all men, and peculiarly Young men would after this Day, Live every Day, in some sort as if it might prove their Last. 'Tis oftentimes the portion of Wicked men to Dy suddenly. Little did the Inhabitants of the four Criminal Cities, Know what a Day would bring forth, when they were at Sun rise in the midst of their Debaucheries, but before Sun set the Vengeance of Eternal Fire took hold upon them. Little did the Philistines know what a Day would bring forth, when they were in the midst of their profane Sport, but they were immediately Crush'd unto Death, by the fall of an House about their Ears. Little did the Assyrians know what a Day would bring forth, when they were full of Merry and Jolly Expectations over-night, but were by the next morning made Lifeless carcases by the irresistible Thunder of God. Little did Ananias and Sapphira know what a Day would bring forth, when they came into the Congregation in perfect Health; but were carryed Home Dead; they Dy'd upon the Spot. Oftentimes 'tis the Portion of Godly men also to Dy Suddenly Little did the People that were Sacrificing at the Temple, Know what a day would bring forth, when they were going to shed the Blood of their Sacrifices, but had their own Blood shed with that of their Sacrifices. Little did the honest Folks, that were waiting under the Tower of Siloam, know what a Day would bring forth, one minute before the Tower [Page 15] fell upon them. Little did Uzzah know what a Day would bring forth, when he laid his Hand up­on the Ark. Little did the Prophet sent unto Jeroboam, know what a day would bring forth, when a Lyon was waiting to devour him. In short, as Dy'd an Ahab, so Dy'd a Josiah. Yea, and Young men, may Dy Suddenly as well as other men. It was a true Speech of Aquinas, An old man ha's Death just before his Face, but a Young man ha's Death just behind his Back. Death may Smite a Young man, as soon as an Old man. And the same uncertainty, that men every Morning have about what may befal themselves in their Death before the Evening, the same they have about the other Calamitous Changes that may befall them, and a­bout the Calamities that may befal any others that belong unto them. One that, ha's an Husband or a Father in the Morning, does not know but this Day may make them, a Widow and an Or­phan. A Job has his Children about him, in the Morning, and he did not know, that before Night his Children should be his no more. In such Ignorance, does the All wise God, keep the Children of men concerning their own futurities. By this Ignorance we are the better kept in a Filial Faith, on the Fatherly Care of that God, in whose Hands are our Times. 'Tis indeed the only Ignorance that is the Mother of Devotion. I will use upon it, the Expressive words of the Learn­ed Heinsius, Non quaedam ignorare tantum, sed et ignorare quaedam velle, Humilitatis C [...]ristianae par­tem [Page 16] non Exiguam Existimamus. 'Tis a part of a Good Christian, to Affect such an Ignorance. And as it is a Judgment upon Wicked men, that they must not know aforehand, what is to befal them, or, when it shall befal them: For hereby, as the Psalmist speaks, in Psal. 73.13. How are they brought into Desolation as in a moment? So, 'tis a Favour unto Godly men. If they knew what a Day would bring forth such a knowledge would but make Sorrow for every Day. It would utterly take away the Comfort we take in any thing under the Sun, if we knew aforehand, When and How we are to take our leave of that Comfort. As the man of God Wept, when he beheld Hazael in 2 King. 8.12. Because (as he said) I know the Evil that thou wilt do: Thus if a man knew the Evil that is anon to befal himself or his house, he would so fall a Weeping at it, that he would be able to Tast no sweetness in the Gifts of God unto him. Consider, O my Young people, consider; You know not what may Suddenly come upon any of you.

III. Are the Young men Dead? Then let Young men prepare for Death, and by an Early Conversion begin immediately to Live unto God. It is very certain, [The Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!] That for to Dy Unconverted, is to Dy Miserable. Be not Deceived, my Young Folks; To go out of the World, without Conversion, is to go into Confusion world without end. Endless and Easeless De­struction