coming under Christ's Yoke to save and secure your Immortal Souls from the Damnation of Hell Can their remain then any Doubt in this thing viz. The importancy and weight of coming under Christ's Yoke and that betimes or making over our precious Soul to Christ in an everlasting Lease or Bond when you are a lost Soul for ever if you do not and there remains no way but one with you even eternal Damnation unless you thus comply with God's established way of Life and Salvation as he hath plainly declared in the Gospel O then with what continual Solicitude and Carefulness should you mind and attend this one would think that it should swallow up your Thoughts Night and Day and that to talk of Indifferency and Remissness in this Case should be esteemed and entertained as talk of folding the Arms and betaking your self to sleep in case you were in a Ship that was ready to sink or an House that hath taken Fire So likewise one would think in so weighty a case to talk of Difficulties that there is a Lion in the way were a strange Impertinency and trifling when such an absolute necessity lies upon you in good earnest without delay to come to Christ and yield Subjection to his Yoke or be sentenced to an everlasting Destruction from his Presence 2 Thess 1. 8 9. to comply with and stand to his gracious Terms or fall into the Hands of a Sin-revenging living God Now since it s thus I make a solemn appeal to you young People before the Lord of Heaven and Earth this Day whether ever condemned Malefactor trembling under the fearful expectation of a shameful Death had more just cause supposing he received some hints that upon his Submission a Pardon for Life might be obtained to esteem it a Business of the most important deepest Concernment speedily to seek and humbly to sue for the King's Grace and Mercy than you have to Day while it 's called to Day to look upon it as the most serious awful Business that ever your Thoughts could converse with viz. to come in and comply with this way which God hath provided for and proposed to you not only as the best but the only way So that if this be refused there is no other you have no other Choice eternal Death lies upon the Neglect of it The Lord awaken you this Day to consider it You and I must at the Judgment of the Great Day stand accountable for this Sermon I have insisted the longer upon it because of that abounding Sloth and Aversion of our backward Hearts hereunto Which in course leads me in the seventh Place to tell you 7. That it is necessarily requisite on your part in order to come under Christ's Yoke to understand that since things are as you have heard surely it is no time for sitting still when you have a Business of that Infinite Weight and Importance depending which must be done or you undone for ever but to be up and doing that you may escape the final Doom of Unbelievers and Impenitent Sinners There remains not the least Doubt but that in this Case Diligence and Care is the Duty of all and every Mothers Child here but who almost among us is there that is stirring and striving in the diligent use of Means viz. Retiredness from a vain World deep Musings and Soliloquies servent and frequent Wrestlings in Prayer vehement Desires firm and fixed Resolutions c. O! what a wretched Stillness and Carelessness is there to be found in your Closets and Consciences as to these things Tears are fitter than Words to lament it There is a Jesus that hath come to seek you when all were lost that hath done much to save you when all were undone and under the condemning Sentence of God's fiery Law He bore the Yoke of your Guilt that a way might be made to restore you to his gracious and easier Yoke of Service which was so necessary with respect to your Fallen State that he could not love and save you had he left it out and suffered you to follow the Inclinations of your own corrupt and wicked Hearss and let you had your Wills in a course of Rebellion and Sin Now pray what have you done towards securing the present and eternal State of your miserable Souls in coming under his blessed Yoke After all that Christ hath done his Agonies bloody Sweat his Death on the Cross where are thy Prayers Tears Cares Fears Tremblings When did'st thou go apart and solemnly set thy self to meditate and commune with thy own Heart about the State of thy poor Soul using some such Soliloquy as this viz. O my Soul How is it with thee What State art thou in of Nature or Grace What are thy Wants thy Ails thy Maladies Art thou in Christ or Christless What are thy Dangers Temptations Sins Hast thou fled for Refuge under Christ's Cross When was the time thou did'st close with his Person Did'st thou ever sincerely like and comply with his Terms Can'st thou come up before God's Tribunal and stand to it that thou hast made a free Surrender of thy Self to him and with a Loyal Heart given thy Neck to his Yoke Will thy Evidences hold Weight in God's righteous Ballance Or are they light false and deceitful like Flowers on a dead Corps or Varnish on a rotten Post Was 't thou ever throughly made sensible of humbled for and by renewing Grace quickned raised out of that Gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity wherein thy Original Guilt did entomb thee This sort of Soliloquies is called in Scripture communing with ones own Heart making a diligent Search there Psal 77. 6. And then upon a Discovery of an yet abiding and remaining in the Chaos of corrupted Nature a solemn Enquiry is to be made O my Soul what hast thou been doing How hast thou spent thy time till now Did'st thou never hear or read of this thy vile State of Apostacy and Enmity Wast thou never called upon to turn and live e're this time Have not thy Parents many a time told thee thou wast conceived and brought forth in Sin and wert a Child of Wrath by Nature and that thou must be born again or perish Have not God's Ministers told and taught thee this altho thy Parents had not What if Death had come and haled thee out of this World to the Judgment-Seat in all thy Guilt and Sin Hast thou not seen many as young as thy self snatched away O how could'st thou divert and drive away Melancholly Thoughts of thy present Sin and approaching Misery and turn to Sports and Mirth and Follies and the vain Pleasures of a transitory deceitful World O! What a desperate Hazard hast thou run all the Days and Nights thou hast been in this World O foolish wretched Soul who hath bewitched thee thus to forget thy self yea to undo and destroy thy own and only Darling Self thy Soul which the whole World could'st thou gain it would be infinitely
calleth up his Officer Conscience out of all its Slumbers gives forth his uncontroulable Order to reprove the Rebel to set all his Sins in order Well Conscience must obey the Book is opened the Indictment as with the Voice of Thunder is read and the guilty Wretch roars out as one abandon'd to Despair It is like some Writings invisible till brought to the Fire and then all is legible But now on the other hand after a Man hath come under Christ's Yoke and continueth under it as a Loyal Subject in Faith Patience and sincere Obedience Now Conscience hath Peace and that upon sure and solid Ground Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by Faith we have Peace c. 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our Rejoicing the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity not with Fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation c. Is it not then good to bear c. 6. It is good in respect of that security a Man hath under it that whatever befalls him here in this Life all shall now work for good I may now eat my Bread or want it with a chearful Spirit if I am tempted afflicted meet with Crosses Losses Disappointments in my Calling Well be it so yet this I know that being found in Christ and under his Yoke all lieth under that blessed Promise Rom. 8. 28. We know that all things work together for good c. Afflictions shall do thee good What good Ans Try thy Patience exercise thy Repentance learn thee Obedience make thee humble wean thee from the World conform thee to Christ shew thee more of the Corruptions of thy own Heart fill thee with more Pity and Compassion to others and finally fit thee more for thy Translation to Heaven Ah poor Desolate Sinner thou hast not one Syllable of this Promise or any other in the whole Book of God belonging to the while thou art Christless and Yokeless abiding under the Power of Unbelief and Impenitency thou abidest under the Terrible Threatnings of Divine Wrath and Vengeance thou hast not one poor Tag to hold to hang by for thy good only Divine Patience at present keeps thee out of Hell and that Darling Attribute thou abusest too but thou hast not one Promise to comfort thee Look into the Bible all 's against thee while thou refusest Christ's Yoke thy Part thy Portion in that Book lieth only among the Penal Statutes and Curses contained therein Look into the World all the Providences of God are against thee sculk were thou wilt send from County to County from one end of the Land to the other thou art but like a Rebel a Rogue Heavens Writs are out against thee so that no Place under Heaven is safe only under the Yoke of Christ and there thou wilt not come Ah my Brethren who would live in such a Case that but reflects reviews these things But now turn over a new Leaf come but over to blessed Jesus and under his easy Yoke and then all is for thee every Providence every Promise turns to and smiles upon thee every Wind whatever shall blow thee some good but till thou turn do what thou wilt thou can'st devise consult cast about thee to make thy Life comfortable all 's in vain Miseries attend thee thou dwellest on the dark side of the World not a Smile from God no he is angry with thee every Day at present thou art cursed and hereafter abiding out of Christ thou wilt be damned whereas would'st thou be but advised and perswaded to yield thy self to the Lord Jesus and his Yoke then even now in this Life would'st thou reap these six Benefits Thy Sins pardoned thy self adopted the Dominion of thy cruel Lusts subverted thy Duties accepted thy Conscience pacified and all the Providences of God sanctified to do thee good And then for the Life which is to come thy self eternally saved Which is next to be spoken to as falling under the second Branch viz. The blessed Effects and Consequences of bearing Christ's Yoke respecting the other World 2. It is good to bear the Yoke c. in respect of time to come And that briefly will appear if you consider That now the grievous Sting of Death is removed and the glorious Rest of Heaven remaineth So that I may now say Blessed be God my Eternal State is secured let Death come when it will I am safe as to the other World O Sirs when dreadful Fears of misâ—arring for ever fall upon a poor Creature it 's sad indeed that Word for ever the Thoughts of it work strongly and mightily on the Spirit of a tender Doubting Christian Hence I remember I have read of the Primitive Christians that they use to say Domine hic seca hic ure c. i. e. Lord cut here burn here so thou spare hereafter Ah poor unconverted Sinner thou art not sure of this Life another Hour that Deut. 28. 66. is but a sad Case O but then what is it to hang in suspense about everlasting Life if it were but a measuring Cast it were enough to disquiet a Man all his Days to go up and down in suspense about Eternity Ah I don't know but I may be damn'd for ever But my Brethren when it 's ten twenty nay an hundred to one but I am lost and undone for ever my next remove will be into Hell O! how can I eat or drink or sleep or laugh when there 's but a Paper-wall between my Soul and Hell When eternal Flames are e'en ready to kindle on me When if I am not found under this Yoke of Christ God's Truth stands ingaged for my Damnation Unconverted young Ones Have you no Pangs Can your Youthful Vanities quite drown the Fears the Thoughts of Eternity Do you never think of that Day of Judgment Or dare you in good earnest Poor Creature Suppose thou should'st make a Shift at best a sorry one God knows to rub through the Miseries that attend a Christless State in this Life Ah! what Shift in all the World can'st thou imagine thou can'st make when thou com'st to die and thence to be consigned to the dreadful Tribunal of an inexorable Judg This will be a Dilemma thou wilt never be able to answer Each Step of thy present Life thou now takest is towards Hell each Morsel thou now eat'st is but a feeding a fatning thee for the Day of Slaughter And what Peace can a Thief take in a long Table of Dainties with a Gallows at the end of it Sirs for the Lord's-sake think of the After-claps of Death and Judgment how bitter the Effects and Consequences of a vain and sinful Life will be What a Recoil what a Shriek will thy Soul give when it finds nothing opening before it but the eternal World and feels it self a sliding down a launching forth into that amazing Ocean of Eternity and has no Christ no Hope to fly to But now once come under the Yoke of Christ
of Belial a Rout of Rebels a Brood of Vipers Confederates with the Devil against God Psal 68. 21. 7. Consider Christ bore our Sins in his own Body on the Cross 2 Pet. 3. 24. And so he bore the Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law to deliver us from it O then How ready should we be to bear his easy Yoke 8. If you bear not his Yoke it is unreasonable you should bear his Name upon you 2 Tim. 2. 19. 9. Consider If you bear his Yoke in time of Youth he will bear you up in time of Death when Flesh faileth Psal 73. 25. 10. Consider If you refuse to bear his Yoke this Sermon will bear witness against you at the Day of Judgment Direction 1. Would you bear Christ's Yoke then bear with Hardships break through all Difficulties bear the Smitings of Faithful Friends without and Conscience within for Sin esteem it a Kindness bear with and be glad of Convictions of the Spirit and the Interdictions of Providence in sinful Paths When you find your vile Hearts opposing difficult Duties as secret Prayer Self-examination c. confess the Naughtiness of your Hearts say Lord here 's a Duty that my wicked Heart stands averse to O create in me a new Heart change my Nature and then oppose the necessity of it against the difficulty in it say I must take pains in coming under and bearing of the Yoke or I must suffer the pains of Hell for ever O my Soul which is hardest Repent or perish turn or burn coming to Christ and his Yoke or departing accursed into Everlasting Fire isn't Hell a more terrible Word than repent and believe Is not the stroke of Vengeance worse than the Yoke of Repentance Can the Devil name any thing in Christ's Yoke so hard as we can prove all things in Sin to be and all Places in Hell to be Sure Physick is better than Poyson letting Blood than a Mortal Stab through the Heart It 's better to be preserv'd in Brine than rot in Honey and whet this on your Heart that there is no Remedy Sin must have Sorrow here or for ever Wherefore be nor Slothful in Business but fervent in Spirit in secret Duties take heed of three things 1. Of being Slite and Formal 2. Sluggish and Slothful 3. Too short and hurrying The Lord bless this to you 2. Would you bear the Yoke in Youth be not fond of Heshly Youthful Pleasures if you belong to God he 'll make you rue it bitterly your sensual Pleasures are Satan's Traps whereby he takes and trapans Multitudes of young Ones to Hell If the love of Games Sports Plays Meats Drink take thy Heart thou wilt never endure to take Christ's Yoke 3. Labour to get and when got to keep and preserve a tender Conscience for want of this when I was young I suffer to this Day O never make light of any the least Sin but keep at the utmost distance from the appearance of Evil. 4. Accustom thy self to continual Reverent Thoughts of God's Omnisciency and Omniprescency 5. Keep out of Evil Company Wisdom it self hath told you a Companion of Fools shall be destroyed Prov. 13. 20. 6. Study the Duties of thy particular Calling art thou a Servant keep thy self free from Injustice and Defrauding it is a Sin will make a fearful Noise in Conscience when awaked But I may not enlarge Wherefore to close all O young People to day while it s called to day harden not your Hearts but hear his Voice c. Take my Yoke upon you c. I have spread it before the Lord in secret and now I declare it to you that I should esteem it a rich recompense before I go hence and be no more seen if through the Cooperation and Blessing of God I might Yoke in some of you yea all your Souls to Christ this day O how easy would it make my Pilgrimage my Passage through this Vale of Tears I would not go with the Guilt of the blood of any Soul of you upon me O that this may be the day of God's Power I know it is the Lord alone that can convert a Soul But let me tell you I would never despair of that Soul's Conversion that is brought on its Knees incessantly to cry with Ephraim Turn thou me and I shall be turned O it s a blessed sign when Sermons end in Groans and Tears Lord I must be converted or condemned I will not let thee go without thou bless me The Lord say Amen FINIS