O blessed and treble blessed is that Soul that is early married to its Saviour betimes espoused to Christ as its Husband Head and Lord. Now therefore is the time to gain and flourish in Grace which is the Earnest of Glory to set up the Kingdom of Christ Luk. 17. 21. within you as ever you hope to be admitted into his Kingdom above you § 3. An early practice of Piety and Religion will bring you the greatest comfort A pious Youth makes a joyous old Age. Age is a time wherein we are to solace our selves with the remembrance of our forepast life to feed upon the spiritual stores upon the graces comforts and Experiences which your former godly and Religious course of life hath gained you For this reason 't is that Solomon sends the young sluggard to the Ant or Pismire to learn prudence which gathereth her food in the Summer Prov. 16. 6 7 8. and layeth up her store in the harvest If you sleep in harvest sloth sin away the summer season what will you live upon in winter will not spiritual want and poverty pinch you in old age But if thou art Religious in thy youth diligently carefull to lay up a stock of grace and vertue a store of prayers and good works in thy youth then thine old age cannot but be attended with joy and comfort peace and plenty You say usually you must work when you are young to keep you when you are old 'T is true here you must work the works of God and of Religion while you are young to support you comfort you and keep you from despair when you are old Do but think what peace what comfort an old man can have who is about to leave the world and hath all the sins of his youth flying in his face following at his heels and waiting when death shall give them an opportunity to accompany him to Judgment When he shall remember that in his youth he forgat God and spent the prime of his years in the Devils service in ryoting and drunkenness chambering and wantonness in strife and envy I say what peace what comfort can he now reap of those things where of he is ashamed where with his conscience is terrified and soul wounded How loath is he to leave the world how unwilling and afraid to die How doth his aged heart ake his shrinked flesh tremble to think of Death and Judgment Who can express the horror and disturbance of his mind when his Reason tells him he is too weak to live and his Conscience that he is too wicked to dye Whereas when a man can truly say and his conscience bears him witness when he is old that he hath laid out his youth and strength for God in the practice of piety and service of his Saviour when he can now say he hath made Religion his business the glory of God and his own salvation his main work and design in his youth when in a word he can say with old Hezekiah Lord Isa 38. 3. remember that I have walked before thee in truth and with an upright heart what an heart full of comfort what a mind full of peace what a soul full of joy shall that man have in old age even in death it self How chearful may such an old Simeon sing his Nunc dimittis Lord now let thy servant depart in peace for I have sought and the eye of my faith hath seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared for me Therefore if you would be joyous when you are old be Religious while you are young Qualis vita finis ita As is your life such shall your end be To me to live is Christ to dye is gain saith the great Phil. 1. 21. Apostle And 't is the righteous hath hope in his death saith Solomon And you deceive your selves if you think you may live vitiously and yet dye happily Holiness in youth is the Tree upon which the choyce fruit of Comfort in old age alone groweth § 4. As it will bring the most Comfort so it deserves the greatest Honour To see young persons following Christ by an holy and heavenly life 't is honourable and deserves the gteatest commendation It is written in the Gospel that when Christ heard a young man say he had kept the Commandements from his youth he loved him to shew how God loves the early obedience and devotion of young ones to himself To speak in the Scripture language God honoureth such for they greatly honour God and them that honour me will I honour saith the Lord. Yea and God makes 1 Sam. 2. 30. more account and takes more notice of a little goodness a little holiness and obedience in a young person than of a greater measure in him that is elder When Jeroboams child was sick God sent him word by 1 King 14. his Prophet that his child should dye and that he only should go to the grave in peace of all Jeroboams family because in him was found some good thing towards the Lord. There could not be much good in him being but a child and bred up in Idolatry too yet because some good was found in him being so young God took a liking to him and shewed his acceptation of him by conferring that favour and honour upon him above all the Family that he should goe to his grave in peace And Solomon tells you that Religion carrieth length of Pro. 3. 16. dayes in the one hand and honour and dignity in the other and she will conferre it Pro. 4. 8. upon thee she will bring thee to honour and the Lord honoureth them that fear him saith David where Fear is put for all Religion Ps 15. 4. and Worship towards God and those that devote themselves to him by an holy fear will God honour And the sooner you doe this the greater love and honour the greater favour and esteem will God have for you Yea as it will procure you honour from God so from all good men Religion and piety is the Image of God in man and wherever a good man sees this he cannot but honour it and those that bear it St. Paul writes to his Romans to shew singular respect to Andronicus and Junia as persons of Note upon this Rom. 16. 7. consideration because they had the happiness and honour to be in Christ before him And surely 't is the greatest honour and happiness in the world to be early in Christ early in the Covenant of grace Is thy Servant in Christ is he Religious and devoted to God he is more honourable than thee his Lord and Master who art irreligious and out of Christ and shall be preferred before thee in the favour and esteem of God both in this world and that to come Nay Religion will make you honourable even in the eyes of the wicked Jehoram a wicked King honoureth and waiteth upon a Religious Elisha proud Herod reverenceth the holy Baptist Piety is a silent
will make you either as miserable as Devils or as happy as Angels I shall add no more but desire you to make this little book your pocket-companion which may sometimes be an assistant to you in grapling with a Lust encountring a Temptation or answering any objection or Cavil which the Devil or his Agents may make against the early dedication of your selves to God by an holy life Nor shall I make any other apology for this publication in this Censorious age but this He that winneth souls is wise Pro. 11. 30. 'T is my duty and desire by all wayes and means to promote the good of Souls And if among the many thousand young ones in this Parish I can gain but one from sin to righteousness from Satan to God I shall neckon it an abundant Recompence for all the Censures I can suffer from evil men If with holy David I may glorifie God and serve my generation by doing good in this or any other kind I shall answer the end of my being and of my being what I am Which that I may let him have the help of your prayers who compassionately wishes the eternall health and happiness of your Souls April 24 th 1680. Samuel Peck IN LAUDEM OPERIS IE to reform the Age and stop the Sluce Of flowing wickedness that 's now let loose Throughout the world if to restore in one The life and beauty of Religion Unto their primitive perfection Or to revive languishing piety Any endeavour may conducive be It must be such as these preventatives The only means to save those pretious lives That yet are free from the inveterate rage Of Vicious habits mortal made by age Obste principiis Sin 's incroachments be Best Smothered by an Early piety The young men of the Princes must be they That must the Enemies of Israel slay 1 King 20. 14. And gain the conquest young men it must be Your selves must gain the glorious Victorie Over God's Enemies such by St. John Are said to Overcome the wicked one Now be Courageous and to lead you on See here is come a Christian Champion The will Conduct you ' gainst the armed files Of Hellish Powers and betray their wiles Unto your View follow his conduct let Your Eyes be now upon his Counsels set Hearken unto his Exhortations bend Your minds to the advice of such a friend That sees your danger and endeavours thus To render you at last Victorious Youths let your practice be his praise as one That seeks no more the profit's still your own R. Tuke Books lately Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside ONe Hundred Select Sermons on several Texts Preached by Tho. Horton late of St. Hellens London Printed from his own Manuscripts left under his hand Sermons by the same Author on 4 th Psalm 42 51 63. Psalm Several Discourses concerning the actual Providence of God in 55. Sermons on several Texts by John Collings D. D. Sermons of Grace and Temptation by Tho. Froysel late Minister of Clunne in Shrop-shire Kingdom of God among Men with a discourse of Unity and Schisme by John Corbet Author of Interest of England Christ displayed as the choycest Gift and Best Master by Nath. Heywood Glimpse of Eternity by Abraham Caley An Exposition on the Assemblies Chatechisme by Tho. Vincent Divine Consolations against the fear of Death by John Gerrard Mr. Edward West's Legacy Counsel and comfort for Troubled Souls by Hen. Wilkinson D. D. A Warning to young men in an Impartial Relation of the horrid murther acted by Robert Brinkhurst A practical Discourse of Prayer wherein is handled the nature and duty of Prayer by Tho. Cobbet Of quenching the Spirit the evil of it in respect both of its causes and effects discovered by Theophilus Polwhiele The re-building of London encouraged and improved in several meditations by Samuel Rolls The sure way to Salvation or a Treatise of the Saints mystical Union with Christ by Richard Stedman M. A. Sober Singularity by the same Author The mischief of sin by Tho. Watson The Childs Delight together with an English Grammar Reading and Spelling made easie both by Tho. Lye The Young-mans Instructor and the Old-mans Remembrancer being an Explanation of the Assemblies Catechism Captives bound in Chains made free by Christ their Surety both by Tho. Doolitle Eighteen Sermons preached upon several Texts of Scripture by William Whitaker The life and death of Edmund Stanton D. D. To which is added a Treatise of Christian-conference and a Dialogue between a Minister and a Stranger Sin the plague of Plagues or sinful sin the worst of Evils by Ralph Venning M. A. Cases of Conscience practically resolved by I. Norman The Faithfulness of God considered and cleared in the great Events of his Word or a Second part of the fulfilling of the Scripture A Cordial Endeavour TO Prevail with YOUTH to be Pious CHAP. I. SInce the first quarrell in the Garden between Man and the Devil wherein Satan proved so successeful he hath never wanted Seconds to take up his Weapons and manage his warfare against the promised seed God told the Woman then I Will put enmity and hath it not Gen. 2. 15. proved true Hath it not been so all along from Adam to Noah from Noah to Abraham and so to Christ Mark the whole passages of our Saviours life and tell me what day was not to him a persecution how was he tossed from post to pillar and from one danger to another How many wiles and snares did the Enemies contrive and lay for him that they might take him and Mark 14. 1. put him to death which though he long avoided yet at length this their wicked purpose was effected And now the Captain is taken the Soldier must look to suffer v. 46. when the principal is slain the followers must expect to bleed The apprehension of Christ could not quench or satisfie the bloody thirst of these blinded Jews but having laid hands on the leader they eagerly seek after all the herd Having rent the Lamb from the fold they seek to worry the whole Flock as appears by the Evangelists relation of the Soldiers dealing with a young man that followed Christ And there followed him a certain young man v. 51 52. having a linen cloth about his naked body and the young men laid hold on him and he left his linen Cloth and fled from them naked Fled for his life and glad he could escape with an whole skin Some would have this tragedy foretold by the prophet Amos And Amos 2. last he that is Couragious among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day saith the Lord. But I conceive otherwise that the prophet here speaks of the flight of the Israelites before their enemyes which the Lord himself had threatned of old by Moses Deut. 28. 15. for their disobedience This therefore of the Evangelist cannot be said to be any accomplishment or fulfilling of any
is old Pro. 22. 6. he will not depart from it If thou art trained up in sin trained up in a loose licentious course of living in thy youth when thou art old thou wilt not depart from it Men think when they are old then they will mend then they will forsake their evil wayes leave their youthful vices and become marvellous devout holy heavenly and close followers of Christ But very hardly 't is the way you have been trained up in the course you have many years been accustomed to and you cannot now alter or depart from it No less power than that which stops the Sun in its course and turns the Rivers of the south can stay thy carier or turn thee out of the way wherein thou hast so long walked St. Paul makes it a Peradventure if such repent and recover 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. themselves out of the snare of the Devil When men have deferred repentance so long and been the willing captives of Satan so many years 't is an hazard if they repent recover themselves and return to God When the Devil had gotten possession of that man in the Gospel and it was so hard a matter to cast him out that the disciples Mark 9. 20. 21. of Christ could not doe it with all their power and prayers when Christ had dispossessed him and observed with what extremity foaming and renting the Devil came forth he asked the Father of the possessed how long this had hapned to his son Answer is made of a child So if Satan get possession of you in your childhood and youth and continue till you are old he will plead right and title to you then and if ever he be dispossessed it will be with great pain great grief and sorrow yea and with no small hazard of your life I mean the life of your soul for he will hold fast and rent you to purpose e're he part with you As good old Polycarpus said concerning Christ These eighty six years he hath been my Master and I his Servant shall I deny him now or leave him now at last cast No I will dye first So doth Satan say concerning men This person hath served me from his youth I have been his master these forty fifty sixty years and shall I let him go now at last cast no I will keep him mine to the end if all the power of hell can doe it Therefore now is the fittest and most seasonable time to make choice of the Master you intend to follow and serve Christ or the Devil one must be and which you take to now 't is probable you will stick to and serve to your Dying Day Moreover if you consider the requisites to a Disciple of Christ and sincere professor of Religion you will find Youth the most proper Season to attain them in If you will be Disciples of Christ true Christians and unfeignedly religious you must be humble and broken in heart for sin Soul-compunction is necessary to Salvation St. Peters Converts to Christ were humble and pricked in their hearts and cried out Men and Brethen what shall we doe you must either Act. 3. 37. mourn for sin here or burn for sin hereafter Sow in tears if you will reap in joy And the time of youth is most sesonable for this The sooner you begin to mourn for sin your sorrow is like to be the less heavy and the more kindly Your hearts have upon them a natual hardness and if by neglect of repentance they gather a Contracted hardness too they will be broken with the more difficulty Custom in sin takes away the sense of it and the longer you continue in it the more will you find a senseless stupidity growing upon your spirits Your Consciences that are now tender and timerous and somwhat shie and fearfull of sin will by degrees grow hard and seared and past feeling Doe you not know this by experience that those sins which a few years since were a great terror to you you can now commit without the least trouble if an Oath or a Curse had slipt from you or if you had been overtaken with intemperance what stings and gripes have you felt after it but now you are frequently guilty of these Crimes yet without the least remorse or trouble for them Therefore now is the time for this work while your consciences and hearts are tender and free from contracted hardness for the longer you delay the more difficult will it be to bring your hearts to this duty Again you must forsake sin your hearts must not only be broken for but also broken off from sin You must repent and turn Ezek. 18. 30. Luk. 13. 3. from all your evil wayes otherwise iniquity will be your ruine and you will perish by it and the longer you continue in sin the harder will it be to forsake it Custom will become a second nature to you and the changing of your Course will be like the Jer. 13. 23. changing the Ethiopians skin and the Leopards spots When once sin gets rooting in the heart and enslaves and captivates the affections it will be extream difficult to get it out and cast it off While the Cockatrice is in the egg 't is easily crushed Before sin gets too much life and strength you may with the better success oppose it and with the greater ease gain victory over it Now is the time to open your hearts and give entertainment to Christ who is said to knock Rev. 3. 20. at these doors by his Word and Spirit which you must open to him as ever you expect he should open heaven to you and become subject to him in his Kingdom of Grace if ever you will reign with him in his Kingdom of Glory And doubtless the fittest season for it is now in youth for if you shut these doors now you will find them fast bolted and barred when you are old Sin in the soul is like rust in Iron it renders it unapt to move though pulled with great strength The Devil is a subtil adversary and the longer you permit him to hold possession of this Royal fort the more will he fortifie it against Christ and beat off with the more ease whatever assaults are made upon you by the Word and Spirit of God Christ will enter most willingly if you will receive him he desires it he seeks it behold I stand at the door and knock but if you refuse your affections will be more allenated and hearts more hardened Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit If you are not inclined or disposed to God to Religion and that that is good to day you will be more indisposed to morrow if you are not willing Christ should take possession of your hearts this week or month or year you will be less willing the next The sooner the better That proverb is true here and cannot be crossed Blessed is the Wooing that is not long a doing
you shall mourn without measure without profit and without end So that here the Father of lyes speaks some truth The Disciples of Christ must be mourners Math. 5. 4. mourners for sin though he conceals that such are pronounced blessed by Christ But withall here is a great Lye couched under this little truth viz. that in the ways of sin you shall meet with no sorrow which I say is a huge lye for in the way of sin there is no avoiding sorrow Your Pride crossed expectations frustrated the world failing afflictions and crosses coming unexpectedly upon you will cause great sorrow and anguish of mind These things the Religious and holy man can bear with much patience and chearfulness but they are an heart-breaking to others For if the world frown upon you and friends forsake you as they did Job in affliction and trouble who have you to smile upon you or to comfort you God will not his wrath is revealed from Heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and he is angry with the wicked every day Satan cannot this Master whom you serve will torment you then vex and grieve you then by adding to and aggravating of your miseries but as you commonly speak the Devil a bit of comfort must you expect or shall you receive from him No young men be not thus deluded A sinfull course is and will be a sorrowfull course it will bite like on Adder and sting like a Serpent in the end The wages Satan gives for all the service you can do him is shame reproach and sorrow And is not Godly sorrow for sin which worketh salvation better than sorrow by sin which endeth in damnation Is not that sorrow or kind melting of the heart by a sweet sense of Gods love which will yield more solid delight and pleasure to your inward man than ever you found in the wayes of sin much more Eligible than sorrow that worketh death Then 't is better to be Gods servant then the Devils slave 2. Besides this is a real slander cast upon Religion that there is no pleasure to them that pursue and practise it The faithfull servants of God and disciples of Christ are not required to throw away all comfort and pleasure in Creature-enjoyments God doth no where command you to leave them but only injoynes the prudent and moderate use of them the contrary to which breeds more bitterness in the disappointment than ever it yielded sweetness to any in the enjoyment Religion allows eating and drinking though not to gluttony and drunkenness affords you to take a subordinate comfort and delight in food rayment friends and possessions and herein more true delight and comfort by sweetning these enjoyments with the mercy love and blessing of God than ever you could find in them before for before you enjoyed the Creature only now God with the Creature Therefore Christ is not so severe a Master as Satan represents him He is bountifull enough to his servants allowing them not only for necessity but delight Gives them all things richly to enjoy with Christian moderation He doth not command 1 Tim. 6. 17. David to throw away his Harp nor Christians utterly to abandon all mirth and pleasure but to take and use it in due measure and season Eat thy bread with joy saith God and drink thy wine with a Eccles 9. 7 8. merry heart What can you desire more Religion gives you leave to be merry though not to be mad It allows you so much pleasure and delight as will do you good and no more and to desire more than this is prodigious folly and madness 3. Grant that all sinfull delights must be denyed yet God promiseth other and better delights in exchange and I hope there is no wrong or injury in this Are not those joyes which affect and refresh the Mind preferable to them which only stir the Spleen Those joyes which arise from this sure hope of an enduring Substance are they not better than those joyes which spring from the embraces the feigned and fancied embraces of a shadow what think you of spiritual heavenly joyes and delights If you will throughly forsake the wayes of sin and works of Satan and heartily embrace the practice of Religion carefully endeavouring an imitation of Christ by an holy life with constancy and resolution you shall find such sweet peace and freshing joy flowing from the sense of Gods love the light of his countenance communion with him in his holy Ordinances and in the hope of the beatifical vision hereafter in heaven as the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and pride of life could never afford nor the greatest sensualist ever boast of or pretend to And whatever sorrow you have for sin whatever griefs afflictions or losses you may be exposed to in this life for the sake of Religion they shall last but a while a little while and in the end be turned into the fullest joy Sorrow may continue for a Psal 126. 5 6. night but joy cometh in the morning you may sow in tears but you shall reap in joy you may go forth weeping yet bearing precious seed yet you shall certainly return again rejoycing bringing your sheaves with you This light affliction for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal 2 Cor. 4. 17. weight of glory Which text alone is sufficient to wipe off this prejudice of Satan against Religion and to make you strictly Religious in good earnest § 5. There is but this one objection or prejudice more that I shall mention which Satan hath to discourage you from following of Christ He represents it as a thing exceeding perilous and dangerous O saith he you cannot follow Christ but you must run your selves upon great hazards and dangers you may lose all you have for your profession if perilous times come your Religion may cost you your Estates Liberty nay your very Lives and is it not better sleeping in a whole skin and to save all then hazard and lose all for an humor and fancy of which you may repent when it is too late 1. As fierce as this Lyon in the way appears yet you need not be frighted if you will remember that as great losses attend you in the ways of sin as in the way of Religion In reference to your Estate which you may lose for the sake of Christ which you ought not to reckon upon yet you shall be no looser in the end And whatever your profession may cost you Sin may cost you as much Some mens lusts are more expensive to them than other mens consciences are to them And if you should lose your worldly comforts yet you may have never the less comfort in the world For if the stream fail the fountain cannot You may fetch comfort from above if you have none below And usually the less comfort the sinner hath from the creature the more the Soul hath from God The treasure of
profit that the tempter boasts Though he sticks not to tell you that such sins as lying cheating defrauding oppressing griping and over-reaching will afford you huge emolument and advantage You will find them greatly profitable and enriching Hereby you may in a short time command the world live plentifully and provide largely for your Family Thus joyning with Covetousness and worldly-mindedness and that desire men have to uphold and maintain their lusts he prevails with them to become his servants Josh 7. 21. Hereby it was that Achan was tempted to take the Silver and Gold and Babylonish Garment which God had expresly forbidden Gehazi to receive the talents and change of raiments of Naamans 2 King 5. 20 23. servant which his Master had refused Ahab to consent to the Killing of Naboth for 1 King 21. 4. 6. his Vineyard Judas to betray his Master for the Thirty pieces of Silver and Demas Matth. 26. 15. to forsake the truth and cleave to this present world Auri sacra fames such 2 Tim. 4. 10. is the sacred hunger of Gold that men are drawn almost to any course of sin to gain it Nay Satan doth not urge only the conveniency of his service in this regard but the necessity of it too The necessity of such and such ways of sinning without which you can never thrive or get any thing considerable in the world And there is none of those who profess themselves the strictest followers of Christ saith he but know these things are sometimes necessary and if they can have an advantage this way will take it and they must do it or they can never live in the world So that I perswade you to nothing saith Satan but what is both convenient and necessary and what those very Religious men themselves will and must sometimes do for their gain and profit And can any thing be said against this Yes the Apostle saith enough against it to conquer any temptation to it Covetousness is the root of all evil it pierceth through 1 Tim. 6. 8 9 10. with many sorrows it draws men into hurtfull lusts yea it drowns them in perdition and destuction Weigh and consider these words of the Apostle and then tell me 1. Whether there can be such Utility and advantage in the Devils service as he tells you there is whether there be such conveniency in unlawful gains or in any unlawful and indirect means and courses to get gain Is it convenient to be entangled in snares and drowned in perdition and destruction Is it convenient to make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience to load your souls with guilt and to pierce your hearts through with many sorrows Are these things which are the attendants on sin by this temptation more gainfull or more hurtfull Is it convenient or profitable for a man to steal a Garment infected with the Plague which will bring death almost as soon as warmth to him that wears it Will it be advantageous to gain any thing with the wrath and curse of God No wherein then lies the gainfulness of the Devils service Nay shall you not lose as well as get by it or compared together will not your losses be greater than your gains you may perhaps by such and such sins gain a little earth vanity Gold that perisheth and Riches that take to themselves wings and flee away these are your utmost gains But what are your losses by sin what think you of the favour of God which is better than life of peace of conscience which is a continual feast of Heaven which exceeds all the Kingdoms of the Earth and of your own souls which are of more worth than the world what think you of grace here and glory hereafter the choycest Math. 16. 26. treasures the fullest pleasures being durable inexhaustible and eternal These are the losses you are like to sustain Now put them into the ballance together and try whether your gains by sin will outweigh your losses by it if not I hope you will not be tempted by Satan to your own loss You will slight that Chapman that bids you to your loss for any worldly Commodity and why not Satan who is so desirous to be trading with you for your souls but bids you to your loss less than the commodity infinitely less than your souls cost And though he proffers ready mony present gain as he saith yet what comfort will this afford you or what good will this do you when you come at the end of your lives to cast up your Accounts and find the Devil hath cheated you you are infinite losers and eternally undone by the bargain These things considered you will find there is no such conveniency in the Devils service no such utility or profit by it as he pretends 2. Then as to his plea of Necessity know there can be no Necessity to sin though thereby you may get gain worldly gain Duty is necessary to all but sin can never be necessary to any There is one thing necessary saith our Saviour and what is that to get the world over the Devils back or to provide for the body by unjust and sinfull means No to provide for the soul gain Heaven to seek after those things that are not seen which are Eternal and to lay up such a foundation against the time to come upon which you may build that sure hope of future happiness as will never make you ashamed This is needful but it can never be necessary or needfull to live in a course of known sin thereby to make provision for the body It were better to starve the body than damn the soul better to be poor on Earth than to be shut out of Heaven better to lose this life if it were possible a thousand times over than fall short of eternal life though we were sure to gain the world by it Because this gain will in no wise countervail or recompense that loss Upon a mature deliberation therefore and just judgment of things you will find Satan as great a deceiver in this proposal as in any of the former There can be no necessity for sin or the least utility or profit by his service § 3. Another Wile which Satan finds exceeding successfull and winning with young persons is to lessen sin to suggest the smallness of it As Lot said of Zoar is it not a little one so saith Satan of this or that sin is it not a little one a trick of youth a small fault next to none at all If it were blasphemy or murder adultery robbery incest or any such hainous crime there might be just ground of scruple and fear but an officious lye a petty gracefull oath a light curse or a little Levity now and then this need not fright you Small matters and not many nor often neither what need you boggle at these these can never hurt you or injure you in the least But young men the welfare of whose
immortal Souls and Eternal good I earnestly desire to promote and further in the Lord Jesus beware of this assault and Wile of Satan and 1. Consider that no sin is little or small in its own nature Some sins are greater than others but all are great all are breaches of the just and holy law of the mighty God of heaven and Earth and that which hath an infinite object cannot be small Eadem est rotunditatis ratio in nummulo exiguo quae est in magno There is the same reason of roundness in a small piece of money as is in the greatest The same reason of sin in the smallest sins as in the greatest because committed against the same Law of the same God St. James saith Whosoever shall Jam. 2. 10 11. keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all for he that said Do not commit adultery said also do not kill c. If you do refrain from some sins yet if you commit others if you refrain swearing but make no conscience of lying refrain stealing but art guilty of cheating refrain open or actual murder but yet art guilty of malice you break and contemn the whole Law of the same God and you are equally liable to the wrath of God and curse of the Law with those that live in the practice of the most notorious crimes and without infinite mercy and an hearty repentance these sins will damn thy soul and the greatest can do no more Therefore there is no sin small in it self and if the Devil tell you there is he is a lyar But suppose it true that the sin you are tempted to in comparison of some others be small yet this in some respects aggravates the offence if you shall yield to the temptation When a man will forfeit the favour of his Prince for a trifle it argues a great slighting of his favour So the less the sin the greater your contempt of Gods love which is thereby forfeited Our Saviour saith What shall it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul What shall it profit you to lose Heaven and Happiness to lose God the chiefest good for the greatest sinfull profit or pleasure But when you shall lose and forfeit all this for nought for a small sin a very trifle for that which as you say is not worth speaking of this argues great folly and is a marvellous aggravation of your sin 2. Though Satan seems so modest and fair at first asking but little things yet he will not rest there but if he finds you yielding he will proceed further and prompt you on to the commission of greater As the habits of grace so the habits of sin are strengthened by degrees Though the beginnings are small yet in a little time you will find a great encrease Rivers at first arise from small springs which by running increase to deep and irresistible streams So actual sins for I speak not of Original corruption the fountain whereby the former are fed in their first beginning are but small but by daily practice increase and swell carrying the sinner with a strong stream towards the sea of divine wrath If the Tempter finds you make no conscience of smaller sins his game is fair before him and he knows right well how to play it to his best advantage For he will propose sin to your thoughts and tell you 't is no great matter to think thoughts are free And if he can make you dally with sin in your thoughts then by delightfull thoughts of sin he lays siege to your wills and tells you 't is no great matter to desire or wish so long as you do not act And the chief fort of the will being gained the lesser forts of the affections quickly yield themselves And having entertained and lodged sin in your hearts he tempts you to proceed further to vent it with your lips Words are but wind and your tongues are your own you may and ought to speak And then as there is opportunity he prompts you to practice Go on a little further the sin is sweet try but once put one step in the way you may return at pleasure if you like it not And having yielded so far it may be with great reluctancy and smitings of conscience yet when these are off he comes again and tells you it cannot be worse try once more till at length you begin to commit sin with delight and ease yea with greediness and resolution nay with hardness and obstinacy and now you are fit for any service Satan can require of you or imploy you in Thus 3. The Devil draws men on to the greatest sins by tempting them at first to smaller evils Nemo repentè fit turpissimus No man arriveth to the highest degrees of wickedness on a sudden but is drilled on step by step from one degree to another by the Devil and his own lusts till by degrees the reverence of God is lessened the justice of God slighted the will more inclined the heart more hardned the conscience more seared the habits of sin more strengthned the Devil more encouraged and the sinner at length wholly captivated 4. And have we not daily too many sad instances of this proceeding and dealing of Satan with men How have some men by yielding now and then to the use of a small Oath so perfectly learned the Language of hell that they can hardly speak without swearing so wofull is the gradation of sin and the sly method of Satan with the sinner as St. James sets it forth first tempted Jam. 1. 14 15. then enticed then drawn aside then lust brings forth sin and so proceeds to finishing How Thus Sin hath its conception that 's delight its formation that 's design its birth that 's action its education that 's custom its perfection that 's a reprobate sense and the next step is Hell So you see whither smaller sins will bring you in the end Therefore Obsta principiis c. Excluditur facilius quam expellitur Seneca 'T is easier to keep out vice than to turn it out when once entred Easier to refrain sin at first than to reform it afterwards Small breaches at first are easily stopped but let alone till they become great they often prove irrepairable Weigh these things aright and the force of this temptation falls § 4. The last Temptation to sin is the hopes of future Repentance O saith Satan you are young you may allow your selves some years of pleasure and delight and when you are old then repent and make your peace with God and all is well To resist and conquer this assault I referr you to what went before page 29 to page 35. where you may see the great hazards you run by continuing in sin upon this consideration There being nothing more uncertain than Life nor any thing more groundless than hopes of future repentance where there are present purposes and resolves to sin CHAP. V. Wicked
God and keep his commandments and know that if in things lawfull and honest they disobey man they dishonour God and break his commandments Which are That we obey every ordinance of man for the Lords sake Obey the powers that be for the powers that be are ordained Rom. 13. 1 2 c. of God whosoever therefore resisteth the powers resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Therefore they obey for conscience sake whereas others may be subject for wrath or for interest sake they are subject for conscience sake So that he who is most faithfull to the King of Heaven will be most faithfull and true to his Vicegerent on Earth Therefore this is but a calumny raised against the Religious and righteous and made use of by Satans Instruments to bring Religion into contempt And 't is no more than what their Lord and Master met with of whom it was said that he forbad to pay Tribute to Caesar And St Paul was accused as a person disloyal a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition 'T is true when men command any thing directly sinfull or repugnant to the divine command they are bound to obey God rather than man Rather to displease man than to dishonour God and wound their own consciences Yet even then their Religion teacheth them after the example of their blessed Lord patiently to suffer what the Governours shall think meet to inflict upon them for their supposed or imputed crimes and whatever they suffer not in any case to rebell for that were to seek relief by that which they know to be sin And though some have been found great Rebels to Civil Magistrates who were also great professors yet 't is certain they were no more than professors For had they been sincere Christians and made real conscience of obeying the Gospel or following the example of Christ himself they dare not have done it Since both our Saviours example and the Gospel he hath left us plainly tell us we must obey them that have the rule over us and that upon no less penalty than damnation To close this reply therefore to his cavil if you would be Religious shun the society of wicked men who make it their business to reproach Religion Say to these as David Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the commandments of my God Wherein the Ps 119. 115. Psalmist plainly implies and intimates that evil doers discourage and impede us in our devotion obedience and duty towards God hinder men from keeping Gods commandments And you must say to them Depart if you resolve to be Religious and keep the commands of God CHAP. VI. The general corruption of the Times together with the natural corruption of our Hearts are great Impediments to Religion in Youth § 1. THe general corruption of the Age doth Satan make use of as an argument to vice and discouragement to Vertue and Religion The most go the worst way and young men are apt to think company is good the more the merrier they shall fare as well as others and going with the most they shall have fewest to blame and find fault with them The force of which temptation would abate if you will but consider that though the multitude or generality of men in the times we live in be vitious and such as would Hector God and Religion out of the world and establish Atheism and prophaneness in their room if possible yet this is no argument for you to follow them but the contrary rather For their multitude renders them suspitious The Church of God and sincere followers of Christ are but a little little flock And the greater part run on in the broad way that leadeth to destruction Your danger is never the less for your great company He that sins with a multitude shall suffer with a multitude 1 Joh. 5. 19. Exo. 23. 2. Though hand joyn in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished Multitude power or greatness of men will be no sufficient apology to God For then the sinners in the old world Sodom and Gomorrah had been excusable for they were by far the greater number But their example is no warrant for your imitation For you and I and all Christians are to walk by the rule of Gods Word and not by the example of men any further than it conforms to the divine precept St. Paul as good and holy a man as he was durst not propound himself an Example for others to imitate any otherwise than thus Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ And therefore if they be not followers of Christ whatever their number be or greatness or power be in the world you are not to be followers of them No remember what Solomon saith a companion of fools shall be destroyed You know who Pro. 13. 20 the wise-man means by Fools and he doth not say if they be not so many or so great but be they never so numerous or prosperous a companion of them shall be destroyed Therefore do not bless your selves that you walk in the common road in the broad way wherein the most go as if this were any commendation or safety to you for praest at solus sapere quam cum aliis insanire It is better and safer to be good alone than to be wicked with a multitude Elijah was better alone than if he had joyned with the Priests of Baal Luther better alone though 't is said of him Vnus homo solus totius Orbis impetum sustinuit he was the man that alone bore the violence of the whole world than if he had joyned affinity with the pompous and numerous train of Rome And Athanasius was better alone than if he had sided with the numerous and blasphemous Arians So you are better alone if you could be so in this way following of Christ in the practice of Religion and holy obedience than if you should herd with the generality of men in the ways of sin and unrighteousness Therefore there is no weight at all in this argument the Most do thus therefore do you so too unless you can be perswaded Jer. 17. 9. to imagin and believe 't is better to be eternally miserable with a multitude than eternally happy with a smaller number § 2. Your own Hearts which the Prophet tells you are naturally very bad very corrupt and blind not apt to see or be sensible of your need of Christ and misery without him or to discern the beauty of holiness the joy peace comfort and satisfaction that is to be found in the serious practice of Religion and service of God nay which are averse to and have a natural antipathy enmity saith St. Paul against God and his holy commands These hearts I say are like so much tinder ready to take every spark of prejudice which Satan and wicked men strike against the ways of Christ They cannot be more ready to suggest evil than
of your own Consciences Are you convinced that God in all respects is the best Master and that Religion will bring you the greatest profit and surest gain in the end having the promise both of the life that now is and of that which is to come Why then will you not serve God and become Religious Do you not know that sins against conscience will bring upon you the greatest Vengeance Are you not also convinced of this that men when they come to dye wish they had minded Religion more and served God better And do you not think that when death seizeth you you shall be of the same mind and say O that I had more regarded holiness and the practice of Religion and dedicated and devoted my self to God by an holy life who made me heaped many mercies upon me and promised infinite and eternal rewards to me And will not the thoughts and remembrances of your neglect of Religion and service of God now at death be more bitter than the practice of it could have been burthensome in your life Without doubt it will and must Therefore if you would not be self-condemned at death and judgment resolve to become speedily and seriously Religious to redeem your time to serve the true and Living God with the deepest humility the greatest fear the hottest love and highest faith and the remainder of your days to have your fruits unto holiness that the end may be everlasting life CHAP. VIII Wherein is briefly set forth the excellency of the wayes of Religion above the wayes of Sin § 1. AS a farther perswasive to the practice of Religion and an holy life consider that the way of holiness the way to Heaven take it at the very worst with all the miseries and afflictions that may attend it is better than the way of sin the way to Hell take it at the very best with all the sensual delights and pleasures that are to be found in it The poorest bitterest most despised way to rest and felicity is infinitely more choosable than the richest sweetest fullest and fairest way to torment and misery It is better to go to Christ through a Dungeon in chains of iron than to Satan through a Paradise in chains of Gold Look upon these two with a proper real and sound estimation and there is no comparison between the worst of Piety and the best of Iniquity One is called the way of darkness the other the way of light the one the way of truth the other the way of error the way of holiness is called the way of life the way of sin the way of death The one ends in the highest communion with God the other in the fullest separation from God The former leads to the greatest supernatural blessedness the other to the lowest and most inconceivable destruction Now that I may fully convince your judgments of the truth of this point I shall hint some scripture arguments to confirm it and such as carry with them the greatest force of reason to perswade the minds of men to believe it They are such as these § 2. Though there be more miserable evils in the way of the Godly yet there are more sinfull evils in the way of the wicked Divines distinguish of evils Sinfull and sorrowfull evills Sorrowfull or penall evils which are these outward losses abridgment want disquietness pain sickness reproach and such like There are indeed many of these evils in the way of the righteous And there are sinfull evils as wickedness of heart profaneness of life in the way of the ungodly Now consider all the sorrowful miserable evils of this life and they are but minima in genere malorum the least kind of evils As the good things of this life are the least kind of good things therefore so often heaped upon the wicked And as I said these outward evils which are opposite to these outward good things are but the least kind of evils As Poverty is opposite to Riches imprisonment to liberty sickness to health and want to fulness But what is a sinful evil opposite to 'T is opposite to the best to the greatest good that is God Opposite to the Will of God to the nature glory presence and fruition of God Some good may come by sorrowfull evils a man may climb to Heaven by the cross as the good Thief did But no good can come to a man by sinfull evils for they are all killing and damning Now what is a light affliction for a moment to a destruction endless and intolerable § 3. There be some crosses in the way of Holiness and Religion but there be many curses in the way of sin Our Saviour hath said indeed If any man will come after me let him take up his cross and follow me Such must expect trouble But the advantage is as the Christian is not exempted from the Cross so neither is the Cross divided from the Comfort But as their sufferings abound so their consolation Cor. 2. 1. 5. abounds much more by Christ And a sweetned Cross is better than an imbittered Crown 'T is better that the meat lye in the preserving Brine than rot in the sweetest honey But on the contrary in the way of sin there are it may be not so many Crosses but more Curses As the way of the wicked is filled up with sins so 't is filled up all along with Curses The Pro. 3. 33. Curse of the Lord is in the House of the wicked but he blesseth the habitation of the just And in the 28th of Deuteronomy see how Deut. 28. ad finem cap. thick Curses are sown in the way of the wicked Cursed shall he be in the Field Cursed shall he be in the City Cursed in his basket in his store c. And is not this a miserable way that a man cannot set a step in it but a Curse attends him Is not a Prison where the light of Gods countenance shines better than a Palace where the cloud of Gods wrath sets Is it not better to meet with unpleasant Physick than to drink a delightfull Cup of Poyson Is not a Cross in the way and happiness in the end better than pleasure in the way and Cursedness in the end Then the way of Religion is better than the way of sin § 4. Though in the way of sin you may enjoy more of the Creature yet in the ways of holiness you shall enjoy more of God Wicked men in Scripture are called children of the night good men children of the day Now though in the night there be more stars yet in the day there is more Sun and the Sunlight is better than starlight The ungodly possess more of this world therefore called the men of the world whose bellies God is said to fill with this world as he did Dives his but he had better been without it And David speaking of the wicked saith they Psa 73. Job 21. have more than heart can wish And Job
sets forth the abundance that befals them but all this is but the world but the Creature And as the Princes kiss was more valuable than his cup of Gold so the good we enjoy from God is more than all we can enjoy from the Creature In the way to destruction you may have more riches but in the way to Heaven you shall have more graces which are more pretious than Gold yea than fine Gold that perisheth In the way of sin you may have the acclamation of men but in the way of holiness you shall be sure to have the approbation of God A wicked man may say in his way this house is mine this estate these possessions mine but the godly man may say this Heaven is mine this Jesus is mine All that the one can boast of is that these Creatures are mine and these sins are mine but the other may say God is mine his love mine his favour his mercy his promises all mine for evermore Judge now is it not better to enjoy a spring than a drop the Sun than a candle the Substance than the shadow Is not fulness better than emptiness the chiefest good which is God than the least good which is the Creature Is it not better to possess glorious certainties than specious seeming nothings and vanities In a word is it not better to enjoy him who alone is all happiness than all other things which without him are but a cypher then the way of holiness is better than the way of sin § 5. The way of Religion hath more liberty in it than the way of sin I know you will think this a strange assertion 'T is for this reason that wicked men choose the way of sin that they may have liberty This is one main end of their walking in this way and main cause of their being so hardly brought off from it because 't is wide and broad and they may have room and liberty enough But they are deceived in their end for there is more liberty in the waies of God than in the waies of sin To make this good know there is a threefold liberty 1. An indifferent liberty which is conversant about the lawful use of the Creature The way of Religion barres not this liberty at all nor diminisheth it but adds to it rather adds some drams of sweetness to relish the Creature A Religious person may buy sell marry eat and drink and glad his heart in the lawful use of Creature-comforts though not dishonour God and defile his own soul by the abuse of them as the wicked do who by their sin poyson all their lawful things Drunkenness and Excess turns his meat and drink into poyson pride makes his garments infectious all his blessings become a curse and his very liberty in these things a perfect slavery by his vile lusts So that a godly man enjoyeth more liberty about the use of lawful things than any wicked man upon Earth whatsoever 2. There is a carnal liberty which is nothing else but the licentiousness of a mans lusts the liberty of a corrupt a base heart a liberty for men to do evil to act as they list and to live without all check or controll Our tongues are our own who shall be Lord over us I confess Religion allows no such liberty which is falsly so called and the way of Religion is not at all the worse for denying men this liberty but the better As it is no defect but a perfection in God that he cannot lye or deny himself so it is the excellency of Religion that it allows not of a licentious liberty which in truth is a bondage and wholly inconsistent with true liberty The Holy Ghost calls the service 2 Pet. 2. 19. of sin a bondage And will you call this liberty which God himself calls a bondage and the worst of bondage spiritual bondage to corruption sin and Satan who worketh in wicked men effecttually ruleth over their hearts and carries them captive at his will is this liberty to be held with the chain of Hell Is that man at liberty who is at the command of every vile lust if his lusts bid him swear he swears lye steal commit adultery do this or that sinful action and he doth it Is that man at liberty who is now captivated to one sin then to another One while a slave to prodigality then to covetousness now a slave to presumption then to despair now to excessive mirth and revelling then to exceeding fears and horrors while his lusts give his soul no rest night or day but tire him out from time to time with importunity and all he doth he doth with a slavish spirit Sometimes anxious and careful how to commit sin and then fearing lest those sins should be discovered First his evil heart sollicits him to sin and he cannot withstand it and afterwards his conscience like Judas his torments him for sin that he cannot endure it And look how many lusts you have unmortified so many Lords and worse than Egyptian taskmasters you have over you This is all the liberty you have in the way of sin wherein there lies Serjeants Jaylors Fears Attachments and thy own Conscience both Witness Judge Prison and Hell But in the way of Religion and holiness there is a spiritual liberty the highest attainable Joh. 8. 36. Rom. 6. 14. Gal. 3. 13. Rom. 8. 15. Rom. 8. 1. in this world this is liberty from the dominion of sin from the curse of the Law and from all condemnation It is such a liberty as takes away the spirit of bondage and puts in the spirit of adoption the spirit of love making us willing to serve God whose service is perfect freedom Here is a liberty to plead for mercy at the throne of grace and doth never cease till it be consummated in glory Therefore if you are for true liberty choose the way of Religion for the contrary is so far from liberty that it is the greatest slavery and bondage on this side Hell § 6. In the way of Religion and holiness as you shall have Liberty so all things else that are needful to make the way easie and delightful to you A sufficient Guide God Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory Psal 73. 24. A better Guide you cannot desire and better counsel you cannot have 't is sufficient to direct you in all dangers fears temptations and difficulties To every one that walks in this way God gives the same assurance that he did to Jacob I will be Gen. 28. 15. with thee and keep thee in all places whither thou goest and I will not leave thee When thou art weary I will give thee rest when thou fallest I will raise thee up when thou wanderest I will reduce thee when thou art fainting I will strengthen thee when thou dyest I will save thee I will Heb. 13. 5. never leave thee nor forsake thee And as the omnipotent
and omniscient God will be your Guide in this way so he will afford you all needful helps and assistances to help you forward both inward and outward Inward his Spirit and Grace preventing corroborating renewing preserving grace which shall daily increase in your souls All outward aids and assistances as the Word which is called a Staff to keep thee from falling and a Light to keep thee from straying the Sacraments which are as dew upon thy graces to increase them and seals to thy Faith to confirm it to the end The help of all Gods faithful servants living and dead The dead recorded in Scripture help thee by their Examples the living by their Prayers And above all thou hast Christ in Heaven making continual intercession for thee This very consideration proclaims the way of Religion more excellent and more eligible than the way of sin § 7. Add to this that the way of Religion though somewhat strict and difficult is the only way to glorifie God and enrich your selves The glory of God is the principal end of your Creation and Redemption All that you have and are your lives estates souls bodies parts are all from God and given for God and ought to be improved to his glory You neither made your selves nor were made for your selves neither is any thing given to you to serve your lusts Honours are not given to make men proud nor Authority to make men insolent nor Riches to make men idle nor parts to make men subtil in evil but all to make us good and to render us more apt to glorifie our Maker And as this way brings glory to God so gain to your selves As a man who walks on in a way of sin though he could gain the world must be a loser in the end because he loseth his own soul So if a Christian going on in the way of righteousness and true holiness should lose all he hath in this world if he should never see a quiet day upon Earth never feel a drop of joy in his heart never eat a morsel of bread but in a prison nor ever do any service for God but at a Stake yet in the end continuing faithful he is a great gainer for all this because he saves his soul and gains Heaven And because these light afflictions for a moment shall end in a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory And our blessed Saviour saith He that forsakes Father or Mother or houses or lands for my sake shall receive an hundred fold in the life that now is and in the world to come everlasting life Therefore if you have any desire both to glorifie God here and secure to your selves eternal gain hereafter walk in the way of Holiness Piety and Religion And which is further and greatly considerable let me last of all mind you of this that neither the way of Religion nor the strictness of it will last long Your works duties sufferings afflictions and crosses shall not be for ever Perhaps you may be Religious strict and holy in this Life a few years or months or days and then all thy hard duties all thy crosses and afflictions all thy combates and conflicts with sin Sathan and the world and all thy doubts fears despondencies and griefs are at an end for ever and thy felicity begins that shall never end The Conclusion § 1. HAving offered some disswasives from Sin and perswasives to Holiness all that yet remains is my earnest and hearty entreaty that you would sit down and consider what you have read For this little Essay with the other greater helps which God affords you shall assuredly be a witness for or against you in the day of Judgment Books are like Physick if they do n't do good they do hurt And if any thing make it work kindly it must be Consideration Pondering and weighing well in your minds what you have read on both sides for Piety and against Iniquity Soul matters spiritual and Heavenly things are of eternal moment therefore call for the greatest deliberation and seriousness But most men are rash and inconsiderate in these mighty affairs therefore so often in Scripture stiled Fools and in truth there is none so foolish as the sinner They consider not what they do They are carried to their courses with vain not with serious thoughts upon the fury of rash resolution not upon the stableness of advice and counsel Whereas would they but take counsel of themselves by a deliberate consideration would they as we say proverbially but look before they leap they might shun many impieties which they run headlong into For consideration takes an intimate view of matters and rightly ponders of the nature and full shape of things it turns things over and over inside out considers this and thinketh of that it seeth the best and worst it compareth nature with nature kind with kind cause with cause occurrence with occurrence issue with issue reason with reason and end with end It asks where and how a thing begins and when and how it ends So that would you take more consideration which is in your power to do you would not be so foolish and mad in your choice for your selves as the most are Had the Prodigal son but well considered before-hand what would have been the issue and end of leaving his Fathers house for the company of Harlots he would never have been so hasty to be gone Had Gehazi thought with himself how dear he must 2 King 5. 27. pay for his two Talents and suits of apparel he would never have run so fast to overtake Naaman as he did But generally men will not consider of the matters of salvation and damnation Delight pleasure or profit make the sinner quick and venturous and will give no time willingly for consideration which would be a great wound to sin and often crush that Cockatrice in the Egg in the first motions of it But men little consider that for every sinful profit or pleasure the precious soul is laid to pawn to answer for it The Drunkard will not consider he pawns his soul for his inebriating cups the Unclean person for his lascivious act the miserable Worldling for his ill-gotten gain yea and the common Swearer for his rash Oaths But feed greedily on the sweet morsels and suck liberally of the present pleasures of sin not considering what the Feast will cost when the reckoning 's paid Therefore I say let me prevail with you to sit down and consider a while And if your conscience tells you you are yet the servants of Satan walking in known wayes of sin ask your selves whether you have sufficient reasons for this your choyce such as will afford you comfort when death comes What if you should once a day commune as David speaks with your own hearts after this manner § 2. Were I this day to dye what would my choyce be then would it be the same that now it is or hitherto hath been should I
then choose the pleasures of sin for a season for a few dayes and refuse the pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore Suppose I were now tumbling and trembling upon my dying bed under a cold sweat my eyes set my heart fainting and my breath departing as it must and will be with me a few days hence should I then choose Hell before Heaven should I say then God damn me Lord reject my soul for evermore or this rather Lord Jesus receive my spirit Lord take me to thy self in glory would I then say Lord never let me share in thy mercy or Lord have mercy upon me Lord let me be a companion for the Devil and his Angels in regions of darkness and devouring burnings to all eternity or Lord let me enter into the new Jerusalem the City of the living God the Church of the first-born to the communion of Saints and the spirits of just men made perfect Which of these states would you then choose § 3. Why sinner the former of these is that which you choose now who choose the ways of sin and service of Satan You choose wrath and damnation the company of Devils exclusion from Heaven the place of bliss and the fullest the furthest separation and distance from God the chief good and center of all happiness And is this the choyce you will make in the end when you come to dye No God forbid then reflect and consider a little and be not rash but serious I beseech you in these great things If Heaven be better than Hell life sweeter than death if glory be more desirable upon a dying bed than misery and mercy than wrath why should not the way to mercy and glory be better than the way to destruction the way to life more pleasant to you than the way to death Why should you not choose the way of Religion and holiness now and enter upon it presently this day before the next since you are convinced you must come into this way before you dye or you can never be saved And since you purpose it hereafter and talk of repentance and holiness hereafter why have you any such thoughts or purposes at all but that you are convinced 't is the way to Heaven and that you shall choose the end of this way when death comes And why should you not refuse shun hate and avoid the way of sin now when you are convinced in your consciences you shall be loath to receive the fruit and end of that way when you come to leave the world Certainly wicked men have no reason on their side The Apostle saith Great is the mystery of godliness truly I may invert his words and say Great is the mystery of wickedness For I can see no reason nor do I think any man upon serious thoughts can render any good or solid reason why he should choose the way of the wicked rather than the way of the upright to follow the Devil rather than Christ and to walk in the paths of sin rather than the way of Religion Only men will do it so they are sinful and wicked and will be for ever miserable and wretched because they will fulfilling that of the Prophet their destruction is of themselves 't is wilfull destruction 't is chosen damnation § 4. Therefore young men for whose sake principally I undertook this little work take for a close that of the Prophet Say unto the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Isa 3. 10 11 Woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him And sit down and consider it till you have brought your hearts to a firm belief of the truth of it There are but two wayes wherein all the men in the world are travelling the way of Sin and the way of Righteousness But two Leaders whom they all follow Christ or the Devil But two places whither they all tend Heaven or Hell And know this direction and exhortation is from the Lord though handed to you by his unworthy servant and if you deny me you therein deny him and if so the time is coming and will come when he will deny you And dare any of you deny the Lord and say as those wicked ones to the Prophet Jeremiah Jer. 44. 16 17. As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken to it We will not forsake our sins we will not follow Christ nor be tyed and bound to such circumspection and holiness as his followers are and as his Word requires But we will do whatsoever proceedeth Jer. 18. 12. ceedeth out of our own mouth do our own devices and walk every one after the imagination of his own evil heart And are you content and willing God should take you at your words and for ever give you over to your own hearts lusts to walk in your own wayes and after your own counsels Are you willing from henceforth to give up all your hopes in Christ your hope of Heaven your hope of Life Salvation and eternal glory and to be damned for ever in another world why this is the choyce you are put to either to live an holy life or to be for ever miserable after death either to submit to the Yoak of Christ or never to receive benefit by the Cross of Christ to kiss the Scepter of his Mercy or fall by the sword of his Justice either to follow him in his Kingdom of Grace or to be eternally excluded his Kingdom of Glory There is no other way but these two One of these you must choose The summe of all is you must repent or perish and follow after Holiness or never see the Lord. Religion is the only way God hath made to Heaven and if you never walk in the way you can never come thither And assure your selves I can have no other end or interest to aim at in taking any pains to perswade you to be good and to be sincere followers of our Lord Jesus Christ but this His glory and your salvation which to aim at is doubtless your Interest as much as mine and if all that I have written cannot convince you 't is so 't is but a few days more and Death and Judgment shall Gloria Trinuni Deo sine Fine THE Young Man's Monitor OR A POETICAL PARAPHRASE Upon the XIIth Chapter of ECCLESIASTES The PREFACE Eccles XII i. 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 have no pleasure in them YOung man remember in thy youthfull age Thy Great Creator and betimes ingage Thy Soul and body both with all thy might To do him Service e're the sable night Of frightfull death approach or evil day Of old decrepid age wherein you 'l say There is no pleasure nor a will to work Youth 's