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
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
grace in your hearts and your hope of glory in Heaven none can take from you and therefore whatever you lose of worldly wealth for Religion shall be abundantly recompensed in things of an higher nature else that divine promise must fail Jesus answered Mark 10. 29 30. and said Verily I say unto you there is no man hath left house c. for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time and in the world to come eternall life Whence you may make this Orthodox Parodox no man ever lost by Christ who was a loser for Christ Then for your Liberty though men should cast your bodies into a Prison on Earth yet they cannot cast your Souls into the prison of Hell If they should throw you into a Dungeon they cannot shut Christ out of that Dungeon or hinder the light of his countenance from shining there If they take away your Civil liberty they cannot take away your spirituall liberty They may exclude you Gods House and publick Ordinances but they cannot debar you the throne of Grace Keep Friends from you they may but cannot hinder God from visiting of you with the sense of his love and pledges of his divine favour which will make the closest prison a delightfull palace And as to Life it self know that though men may kill the Body Math. 10. 28. yet they cannot kill the Soul The argument our Saviour useth to perswade you to fear God more than man So that suppose the worst that can come that men do go to the uttermost link of their power which is to kill the body why dye you must and dye you may while you are young and can you dye upon a better account than for Christ and for Religion certainly none in the world dye with more peace and comfort with greater joy and triumph over death than they that dye Martyrs for Christ dye for the sake of Religion and a good conscience So that all the wrong the enemies of God and his truth can do you is with John Baptist and St. Steven to give you a quick passage to Glory and send you with the more speed to Heaven to Christ Jesus which is far better I beseech you therefore resolve upon it to follow Phil. 1. 23. Christ and secure the salvation of your immortal souls whatever it cost you Hearken to none of these objections of Satan against Religion For if once he can prejudice you against what is good he will soon by another assault draw you to the practice of what is evil CHAP. IV. Several Temptations of Satan whereby he seeks to draw young persons to his own service the service of sin § 1. SAtan having bid fair to barr you off from what is good his next attempt is to allure you to evil Being prejudiced against Gods Service he prompts you next to his own In which method as he is very subtil so oft-times very successefull As he that would gain another mans servant to himself decries the service he is in as laborious slavish and unprofitable and withall commends his own as full of and attended with all good properties so doth Satan to gain souls not only reproach and discommend the Service of Christ but cries up and applauds his own Five objections he hath made against Religion and the practice of it and he hath as many temptations drawing to the way and practice of sin the first whereof is this § 2. 1. The delight and pleasure of it nothing so delightfull and pleasant as sin none enjoy so much pleasure and content as his servants Will you take it saith Satan upon the word of David who was forced to acknowledge this and to leave it upon record in Divine Writ that my servants are prosperous there are no bands in their Psal 73. 1. to 7. death but their strength is firm They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men Their eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish Where do you find such a commendation of Religion or the service of God as David here gives of my service saith the Tempter And huge cunning he is in the management of this temptation that it may take effect For he labours what he can to conceal from your eyes those more excellent pure spiritual delights and pleasure which Religion procures to the Soul both here and hereafter And withall hides from you the sting and bitterness of sin covers the hook guilds the pill that the sorrow the vexation and torment which sin will procure to you in the conclusion may not be descerned nor so much as once seriously thought of He would not for a world could he prevent it you should read and believe that of Job Thou Job 13. 26. Eccl. 9 11. writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth Or that caveat of Solomon Rejoyce O young man in thy youth walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment Lest you should know and consider how dear you must pay at last for sin and so be discouraged from his service And still to give his temptation the greater force he represents the delights of his service the pleasures of sin as present that they may be had daily and without difficulty and so secret too as no mortal eye shall take notice of you Such sins and sinful delights may you enjoy and indulge your selves in and no body e're the wiser You may be frequent and bold in them none can know it or call you to an account for it All which is marvellous taking hugely tempting What present pleasure and private too sweet delights and secret too who would refuse them And that he may be sure not to fail of his end he hath yet a farther stratagem that is to plough with your own Heifer to joyn with the lusts of your own hearts with which he holds a secret correspondence to propose such objects and wayes of sin as are desirable and suitable to your natural temper and inclination He knows 't is the pleasure of sin you are betwitched with As Eve of old was captivated with the pleasantness of the forbidden fruit so her children Gen. 3. 6. and posterity are naturally taken with the same bait This therefore is the first commendation of his service and first temptation to sin the delight and pleasure of it 2. Now to resist and overcome this temptation be prevailed with to take into your serious thoughts and remembrance what follows That the pleasures of sin how full and fair soever Satan represents them are really low mean empty thin and unsatisfying Solomon gives you the summe and full of them in few words and that upon experience Childhood and Youth Eccles 11. 10. are vanity that is the delights and pleasures of that age
sloth still in thy aged bones doth lurk Wherefore before thy halting age doth come Before thy Spirits suffer martyrdome Thy joynts are feeble and thy heart is faint And killing evils do thy body taint Before thy wit thy health and strength decayes Give God the prime and flower of thy dayes VERSE II. While the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars be not darkned or the clouds return after the rain BEfore the Sun and Moon withdraw their light And Stars be dark'ned by an aged night Thine eye-lids drop down brinish tears amain Like dripping Clouds returning after rain PARAPHRASE ER'e wrink'led age and Paleness doth disgrace The Serene lustre of thy youthfull face Thy comely cheeks do lose their Rosy hew And heat and vigour bid thy lips adieu Before thine eyes grow dark and dim and doe Like Stars by day at last extinguish too Or understand it thus before the Sun Quite through thy youthfull Zodiack hath run Or if not then yet while the Light doth last While yet thy stronger Manhood is not past Or if not then before the Moon is gone Thy Manhood and thine Elder years are done At least at last while Midnight Stars do shine Before thy dotage miseries combine Like Clouds and threaten sorrows in a show'r Even such as may dissolve thee every hour Remember thy Creatour VERSE III. In the day when the Keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves and the grinders cease because tbey are few and those that look out of the windows be darkened BEfore the day approach when those that keep Thy clayie cottage tumble those that peep Forth of the windows do in hast retreat Thy strong men bow and grinders cease to eat PARAPHRSE THe wise-man means before thy hands and arms That kept thy body ‖ 2 Cor. 5. 1. call'd an house from harms Shall cease their work and through thine abuse Shall by an Aged palsy lose their use Those wary watchmen that did always stand And keep a Centinel at thy command Undaunted were and ready to endure The fiercest Onsets thereby to secure Their head and body now alas they faint Base cowardise doth now their courage taint Those painfull Labourers whose daily task Was to administer what thou did'st ask Did first provide and after feed thee too As careful Nurses for their nurslings doe Now stand in need of others to dispence Convenient diet for their Sustinence Their former work they cannot now ingage But trembling stand through feebleness and age Thy Legs and Thighs those men of strength to run Now bow themselves and cry their Race is done Time was they nimbly posted thee about That thou might'st find thine own inventions out When they did swiftly trace the ways of sin And would to th' house of God as swift have been If thou had'st put them to 't but now alas Weakness is where their Youthfull vigour was Their strength is gone and they are tyred so With running heretofore they scarce can go Thy usefull Grinders that were once compleat Now fail and cannot masticate their meat Thine Eyes those window-peepers that did show Like brighter Stars within their Orbs below Like wasted Tapers lose their light and blink And back into their hollow Sockets sink The Wisemans counsell is therefore that you Before these evils come Remember now Thy Great Creator VERSE IV. And the doors shall be shut in the street when the Sound of the grinding is low and he shall rise up at the voyce of the bird and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low Er'e the doors be shut And to the Grinding Sound an end be put Before the Bird shall raise thee by her voyce And all the Daughters cease their pleasant noise PARAPHRASE SOme lit'rally by Doors doe understand Those of the house wherein he liveth and By which he ran when young into the street His Friends and his Associates to meet And by which Doors his Friends resorted thither To laugh and quaffe and pass the time together But now those doors are shut and privacy Old age likes better than their company Or by these Doors we understand the Ear Which now is shut is deaf and cannot hear These are the Doors by which you do receive The sweet instructions that your Teachers give All counsel good and evil is convey'd By these unto the Soul by which she 's sway'd To this or that O open then the door To Wisdom's saving counsel now before Old age hath clos'd it and thou then begin To call advice when none can enter in Perhaps the Wiseman doth by Doors intend The Mouth and Nose and whatsoe're doth send Aid to the Intrails and by Streets he may The Pipes and Veins and Arteries display Which in old age grow faint and filthy too And cease their former Offices to doe The Valves are clos'd the tyred blood now stops Within it's veins and circulates by drops The Doors are off the hinges and 't is hard To open them that rusting age hath barr'd Before this be thy case stirr up thy strength And set to work for Heav'n that at length When from this house of Clay thy Soul must put Thou maist not find the Door of Heav'n shut Before thy mouth which now doth grind and crump It's food with noise it 's food doth softly mump Before such noise as you ne're wont to hear At midnight wake and Startle you with fear The Birds sweet voyce which you were wont to love Is harsh and now to passion doth you move Not only Thunder or the noise of Drums Beating and ratling in your sleeping rooms Disturb your rest but at the smallest din You are awak'ned and must rise agin A Cock may'nt crow or little Chicken peep Alas Old age must ask them leave to sleep Before the Daughters Musick shall be turn'd To Low and harsher Notes the bellowes burn'd Jer. 6. 29. That fed the Organs or before thy Lungs Those bags of breath do fail thee and thy tongue Time-keeper to the rest shall falter quite Thy pipes are hoarse and do so creak 't would fright Thy self to hear them now which heretofore Melodiously could sing and chaunt and roar Keep time and tune too and rise and fall Observe their stops and quaver it withall Could play so sweetly that they 'd often move And ravish such as do wind-musick love But now these Daughters bid their mirth good night Their Musick 's such as cannot now delight They now afford although they strain for 't too No better musick than Groat Fiddles do Or if you please which yet is more forlorn No better sound than doth a Gelders horn Therefore before thy Pleasant dayes are gone Young man thy Great Creator think upon Remember thy Creator c. VERSE V. Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fears shall be in the way and the Almond-tree shall flourish and the Grashopper shall be a burden and desire shall fail because man goeth to