are vanity yea vanity of vanity And can you be satisfied with a bauble with an ens fictum with the meer notion of a thing nay they are not only empty and unsatisfying but sensual and brutish And though these delights may a little gratifie your sensual appetite yet they can never satisfie the rational part of man his soul The Devil and lust may promise fair and pretend full satisfaction to the mind in the commission of such a sin but ever fall short in the performance I ask the greatest Epicure the most voluptuous person that is in the world and if he will be true to his own experience let him tell me 1. Whether he ever found that pleasure and satisfaction in any vice that Satan promised and he expected Let the sin or vice be what it will yet did it ever yield that pleasure in commission that it did in speculation 2. Whether the choycest of his sinfull pleasures hath not in a little time brought trouble and weariness to his spirits 3. Whether this trouble and weariness is not more grievous and irksom than ever the sensual act was pleasant and delightfull 4. If amongst the choycest and chiefest of his delights in which as he conceives he finds most sweetness and pleasure he should have but one delight without variety and change whether that delight would not soon lose its nature and become a very torment and burden to him As suppose the Drunkard were alwayes bound night and day to his cups the Glutton to his table the Sluggard to his Bed the Miser to his Bags or the lascivious Wanton to his Minion would not this be more irksom than delightful and would not his former contentment become a continual torment Therefore these pleasures are unsatisfying the reasonable part of man the soul cannot sit down or rest contented with them nor with any thing else beneath God by whom and for whom it was created 2. Though this temptation is of great force yet before you strike the bargain and engage your selves to the Tempter sit down again and consider a while the shortness of these pleasures and you will find them upon this account very inconsiderable They are but for a season What Heb. 11. 25 the Apostle saith of some meats is true of all the pleasures of sin they perish in the Col. 2. 22. using Some perish in the enjoying and those that are most durable quickly flee away Like a cloud or vapour if not blown away by the wind of adversity they quickly vanish of their own accord If the stormy wind of outward affliction doth not suddenly puff out the fancied blaze of the young mans joy yet the dayes of old age are drawing on Eccles 12. 1. in which he shall say he finds no pleasure Or to be sure so soon as the hand of death shall give the tree of life a shake these fair blossoms fall all at once And there will be none of these delights in another world 3. Before you make too firm a contract with this boasting Master 't is good to know what Wages he gives And that he may not decieve you take it from a better hand than his The wages Rom. 6. 21 22. of sin is death death that is opposite to eternal life Death that compriseth all in it that is wofull and miserable more sorrow than ever you had joy greater pain and torment than ever you found pleasure or contentment in the wayes of sin Believe it young men sin in the temptation hath a different aspect to what it hath in the reflexion In the former it looks pleasant and fair in the latter horrid and foul For besides the stings and lashes that sinners have in their secret retirements when they are under affliction or under any danger or apprehension of death and judgement there are many intolerable and remediless horrors to follow in another world as the proper consequents and just wages of a sinfull life which miseries if they were but as obvious to the sense now as the pleasures of sin are they would be infinitely more powerfull to take you off from sin than all the temptations of the Devil are or could be to draw you to it And methinks men who call and profess themselves Christians should walk a little by Faith and not wholly by sense and believe future things as certain upon the Divine assertion and revelation as if they really were and and you already felt them Which if you really did the Devil could never perswade you to forsake God who rewards his servants with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory to serve 2 Cor. 4. 17. him whose wages are present shame and sorrow and hereafter a far more exceeding and eternal weight of misery § 2. Next to this he thinks it not amiss to recommend his service to you for the Glory and Vtility of it 1. As to the Glory of it nothing saith Satan gains men such repute and honour in the world as this He hath his cursed Angels and Agents to commend vice with the highest Elogiums and those that are most bold and daring and can arrive to the highest pitch and degree in sin shall have the greatest accumulations of honour and highest acclamations of bravery of spirit Who bear greater sway or obtain fairer plumes of honour in the world than my followers A suggestion mightily taking with Young men unless they shall consider That Sin hath no repute except it be among the vilest persons the Devils own servants and drudges whose esteem of it renders it the more abominable and odious You never heard any commend swearing drunkenness whoredom covetousness or any vice but such as lived and allowed themselves in the practice of it whose commendation makes them and their sins the more vile And were there such real repute and credit in sin what need is there to put it under the mask of vertue to render it acceptable why is this but because any vice appearing in its proper and native hue and owning its right name seems monstrous and shameful The holiness of God is his most glorious perfection and therefore sin which is directly contrary thereto can have no real glory in it And that is the glory of a man wherein he resembles God and whereby he gains favour and esteem with God and is this by sin Doth not God behold sinners afar off and hate all the workers of Iniquity and doth not all the repute and glory men get by sin and impiety end in the greatest shame and ignominy can that deserve the name of creditable and glorious which dishonors God abolisheth his Image in man defiles the soul besots the reason enslaves the whole man to the prince of darkness and inevitably brings upon all the practicers of it eternal contempt and reproach in the day of the Lord Jesus Surely then Satan saith more of his service than the sinner can ever expect to find 2. Nor doth it yield that Utility or
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
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