For the former nothing can be more unquestionable and plain if you do but survey what hath been largely spoken of the Nature of Christ's Yoke and the bearing of it All which amounts to this viz. That on his part it is no other than a restoring Apostate Man to the Image and Favour of God again the bringing you under the Gospel and there by his Word and Spirit to open your Eyes to renew you in the Spirit of your Minds to slay the Enmity to circumcise your Hearts to love the Lord your God to alter and change that Hellish Bias that was on your Wills whereas otherwise you would run upon your own Ruine and soon be made the deplorable Spectacle of a Sin-revenging Justice So that the very Nature and Use of Christ's Yoke on his part is a main part of your Happiness and true Felicity for pray tell me what miserable Wretches were you continuing under the Power of a carnal Mind that is not cannot be while such subject to the Holy Law of God the most material Branch of which Law is to love and delight in the Blessed God wherein so much of Heaven it self lieth that without it Heaven would be a kind of Hell for their could be no Agreement and so no Enjoyment what Communion can Light have with Darkness Or Christ with Belial Can two walk together i. e. take delight in living together that are not agreed I have read of the Irish Earth that no Venemous Creature can endure to to live upon it But my Brethren the Irish Earth would better brook a Toad than Heaven a carnal Mind or a carnal Mind Heaven O young Man What wilt thou do with that carnal corrupt Heart of thine It is impossible while such to obey this Law of Love which if thou can'st not obey Woe to thee living Woe to the dying for enter Heaven and enjoy God thou never can'st if thy Heart before hand be not fram'd to love and take Complacency and Delight in him and this can never be till Christ's Yoke and Government take place in and over you the first and chief Branch whereof on his Part Is to circumcise your Hearts to love the Lord your God Deut. 30. 6. And therefore nothing can be more evident than this that to bear the Yoke of Christ is the summary of all that is truly good And it will be no less evident if you survey on our part the nature of coming under and bearing this Yoke which is no other than a yielding our whole selves to God Rom. 6. 13. Or a cordial unfeigned surrendring upon the Gospel-Proclamation which may be shadowed forth thus suppose in a well-govern'd State there should be a Conspiracy among the Subjects and instead of continuing in a Dutiful Subjection they hatch Rebellion and it breaks out openly Now in this Case the Law proclaims them Rebels and justly condemns them to a shameful Death but the Prince out of his Grace and Mercy puts forth a Proclamation of Pardon upon their throwing down their rebellious Arms and returning to their Obedience Now as in all Similitudes some difference is allowed so it must be here be sure for amongst Men it may so happen that the Rebelling Party may be the stronger or upon equal ground and so may stand upon their own Terms treat and capitulate with their Swords in their Hands having Strength to defend themselves and subsist without Peace with or a Pardon from their Prince But now here it is otherwise between the Great and Almighty God and poor sorry rebellious Man God is infinitely powerful justly provoked able to destroy wretched Rebels both Soul and Body in a Moment Now in this State of Things I demand of thee poor Sinner art thou able to contend with the Almighty Can'st thou subsist or live without Peace with him Should he come forth in a way of Wrath and Vengeance where would'st thou appear or shew thy Traitrous Head Surely in thy State of utter Impotency thou darest not say thou art in any capacity of meeting God in the Field well notwithstanding all this Disparity yet the High and Lofty One whose Name is Holy against whom you have sinned he who stands in no need of you nor your Subjection nor your Salvation it is he that sendeth forth a Proclamation of Pardon and Peace founded in the Blood of his own Son and that at a time when you lay in your own Blood and Filth of Sin and all was lost and when you were Enemies whom in Justice he might have sent to Hell in all you Gore and Guilt Rom. 5 6 7 8. And when there could have been no remission without the effusion of the Blood of Jesus then did he commend his Love to you and spared not his one and only Son but delivered him up to the Death for poor Sinners and entereth a new Covenant issueth out the Gospel-Proclamation viz. That notwithstanding all your Sin and Unworthiness and that dreadful Charge and Sentence of the Law that lieth against you yet hath the Great God made rich Provisions of Mercy upon your Return and Submission for your gracious Reception and Remission he hath found out a Ransom viz. the Price of his own dear Son's Blood and hath set him forth in the Gospel To be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood Rom. 3. 25. So that let the Wicked now forsake his evil ways and turn in unto this strong Hold and make Peace and he shall make Peace I will have Mercy I will abundantly pardon tho his Sins be as Scarlet I will make them as white as Snow I will not only forego all the Advantages my Justice had against him but will be pacified towards him and embrace and receive him to favour and reward him with an eternal weight of Glory as if he had never offended and rebelled against me O Infinite astonishing Condescention of the Blessed God! thus to beseech rebellious Sinners to be reconciled to him in his Son Certainly you will say if there be the least spark of Ingenuity towards God or drop of Tenderness and Care left in you towards your own Souls O wonderous O joyful News enough to melt down a Stone unspeakable are the sweet Bonds and dear Obligations lying on us to surrender our selves upon this Proclamation Why now be it known to you ye young Ones that your coming under and bearing this Yoke is no other thing in the nature of it on your part Thus an hearty yielding subjecting of your Minds to Christ as your Prophet saying Lord Jesus I yield here is my Mind bring into it what Light thou pleasest and so of your Wills and Life subjecting the same to him as Priest and King to be your Atonement and Peace to save you from your Sins and govern and rule you by the gracious Scepter and Yoke of his sacred and sweet Precepts I now refer it to your selves whether this be not the Summary of all that is truly good If any should object
bear the Yoke of Christ in the time of Youth is the summary of all that is truly Good In the handing of this Doctrine I shall speak to these three things I. To open what Christ's Yoke and the bearing of it is II. To clear it up to you that to come under and bear it in time of Youth is the summary of all that is truly Good III. To close all with some Motives to excite and Rules to direct young Ones to come under this Yoke and to bear it in their Youth I. To open what this Yoke of Christ is To set this in its clear light Man is to be considered in a double Relation 1. As a reasonable Creature and 2. As a wretched Sinner Now answerable to both these Christ's Yoke consists of two parts 1. Moral 2. Evangelical 1. The Moral part of this Yoke chiefly respects that Duty which Man as a reasonable Creature oweth to God as his Creator and that is to serve and obey him as his Rightful Lord and to love him as his chiefest Good Now this still belongeth to us For Man as a Creature lieth under an eternal Obligation to love and serve his Creator neither ought you to entertain the least thought as if Jesus Christ the Son of God the Saviour and Redeemer of lost Souls when he came into the World did ever abolish or dissolve this Obligation and Bond of Duty to be in Subjection to our Creator O no that would have been as if Christ came to supplant his Father and dethrone him of his Authority and Government over Man O let this be far from any of us to think as besure it was from any design or purpose of our Blessed Redeemer when he came into the World For you read expresly that he came to redeem us to not from God Rev. 5. 9. and when he suffered for us the just for the unjust it was to bring us to God 1 Pet 3. 18. i. e. that he might bring poor Apostate Man back to love serve please and enjoy his God again And this brings me to the second Part of this Yoke 2. The Evangelical Part of Christ's Yoke which chiefly respects Man's Duty considered as a wretched Sinner And that he is as soon as he begins to be as the Psalmist acknowledgeth Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me Psal 51. 5. Now this State and Condition of Man superinduceth a new Yoke which tho it was none of that which Man in Innocency was called to bear yet now Man having sinned and fallen from that Estate God in Christ out of his abundant Mercy calleth him to bear Remember whence thou art fallen and repent c. Rev. 2. 5. The Gospel Part to Christ's Yoke principally stands in its Commands and Precepts of Repentance Faith Self-denial and sincere Obedience as you may see in these following Scriptures Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Math. 3. 2. And Jesus preaching the Gospel saying the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel Mark 1. 15. Repent and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out c. Acts 3. 19. But now God commands all Men every where to repent Acts 17. 30. And our Saviour saith I am not come to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Math. 9. 13. And in Luke 13. 3. he saith Except ye repent ye shall perish And so likewise for Faith without which it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. And God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life John 3. 16. And when the poor trembling Jaylour cried out what shall I do to be saved the Apostle said Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Acts 16. 30 31. And to this purpose you read That this is the will of him that sent me saith Christ That every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life John 6. 40. And again This is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son 1 John 3. 23. And our Lord severely threatens That if we believe not we shall die in our Sins John 8. 24. And that he who believeth not shall be damned Mark 16. 16. And so for Self-denial and Obedience Jesus Christ affirmeth If any Man will come after me he must deny himself Math. 16. 24. and Luke 9. 23. And that Christ is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him Heb. 5. 9. And the Gospel-threatning runs That Christ shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in Flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that obey not the Gospel 2 Thess 1. 7 8. And hence it is that the Children of Disobedience in Sacred Writ are called Children of Belial i. e. Qui nullis legum vinculis teneantur such as are without Yoke Masterless who are not will not be held by the Bonds of Christ's Commandment So that it is evident that by the Yoke of Christ is meant his Commands to repent believe and obey the Gospel all which have no other tendency but the Good and Happiness of fallen Man Quest But here it may be demanded why this is called a Yoke since its chief end and design is to make Man happy Answ That it is for the Good and Happiness of Man is most certain as you will see in its proper place But then it is here to be considered that it is not now with the humane Nature as it was when it first came out of the Hands of God but a quite different thing It is now become apostate and corrupt since the Fall The carnal Mind is Enmity against God it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8 7. It hates to be reformed loves to wallow in the filth of Sin as the Swine in the Mire It is so woful daily Experience sheweth it as well as Scripture So that now Repentance Faith Conversion c. tho it be no other than the recovery of a lost Soul to God yet it s irksome and tedious to our corrupt Natures like plucking out a right Eye or cutting off a right Hand It is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun but it is a torment to a sore Eye Food is pleasant to the Healthy to the Hungry but loathsome to the Sick Alas by Nature we are sick unto Death and love Darkness rather than Light there is an aversness to Self-Reflection especially in time of Youth O how backward and unwilling are Youth to retire and consider their Sins and take pains with their Hearts to get them affected with their Danger they cannot endure the Yoke of Conviction of Sin and Reproof for Sin nor to be restrained their vain Company and sensual Pleasures but as Zophar saith Man is born like the Ass his Colt Job 11 12. exceedingly given to ramble and run a stray eagerly bent
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