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A66355
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The vanity of childhood & youth wherein the depraved nature of young people is represented and means for their reformation proposed : being some sermons preached in Hand-Alley at the request of several young men, to which is added a catechism for youth / by Daniel Williams.
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Williams, Daniel, 1643?-1716.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing W2657; ESTC R31018
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71,103
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147
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his jollity he is to be scorned as well as pityed 2. He allarms this brutish Sensualist with a prospect of Judgment God addresseth himself to thee as one stupidly ignorant but know thou it 's what thou art little acquainted with or thoughtful about for all these things he will bring thee into judgment a sore thorn in thy gay Cloaths a great cooler to thy lusts meer gall in thy Cups and a sad disturbance to thy airy conceits God will bring thee into judgment for all these things Thô thou despise his Laws thou shalt not escape his Sentence he will not leave it to thee whether thou shalt be miserable though he referr'd it to thy choice whether thou wouldst be serious hee 'l compell thee to feel his wrath though he would not force thee to refrain thy voluptuousness Yea Oh thou that sportest thy self in thy brutish delights thou shalt account for all thou shalt suffer for each Thy punishment shall be proportioned to thy sins and to thy pleasures thou didst take in sinning and dost thou never consider how great that 's like to be 3. He then annexeth a serious Caution against two evils to which Young Persons are obnoxious v. 10. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart that is anger as the word may be rendred or all those heart lusts which will end in sorrow of heart Thou art afraid of seriousness thou seemest to prevent sorrow by thy carnal mirth but alas thou art making way for the deepest groans by thy seeming cure thou bringest on sorrow by a pretended driving it away But Young Man God seeing thou takest a wrong course condescends to warn thee against the anguish which thou preparest by thy vicious inclination 2. And put away evil from thy flesh that is fleshly pollutions to which Youth is prone or the bodily punishments which vile courses expose to If you take the first sence then as in forbidding heart lusts he stops a course of sin at the Spring-head without which all the attempts for Reformation will be too feeble so in forbidding fleshly pollutions he would restrain the acting of sin q. d. Thô Lust is conceived in the Heart yet let it not break forth in thy practice for abstinence from wicked acts will conduce to change thy temper and abate thy guilt If you take the latter sence then he argues from that misery which brutish Youth is most likely to be affected by q. d. That Body which thou so indulgest that flesh whereof thou art so tender is like to feel the woful effects of thy folly Therefore as thou lovest thy very flesh kindle not the flames which are to devour it in Hell bring not down those Judgments which may torment thy Body on this side the Grave The wise Man introduces these advices by a Motive referring to v. 9. Therefore c. as if he had said because God will bring thee to judgment avoid these sins for which thou shalt certainly be arraigned and prevent the miseries which the sentence will include and which the Judge must execute according to the sanction of that Law whereby thou shalt be judged Then then O Young Man thou shalt know by the punishment felt that thy Lawgivers threatnings were not vain though during temptations they appeared so My Text is a further Motive and as such is here inserted For Childhood and Youth are Vanity q. d. To these sins your young years are prone they have room in your temper and without great care and labour cannot be removed or put away therefore be intent and vigorous to put away evil from your flesh to remove sorrow from thy heart Having thus described the Coherence of the words I shall lay them down for a Doctrine as they be in my Text. Doct. Childhood and Youth are Vanity I shall explain this Doctrine and insist on that sence of the words which will most conduce to the advantage of Young Persons 1. Childhood and Youth may be taken for that time of Humane Life which is short of Manhood If you take it thus then the whole clause may be thus expressed Though you are very apt to boast of these years as most conducive to happiness though now your Spirits are vigorous your Bodies healthy and strong your Sences quick the Cares and Maladies of Old-Age are far from you yet all this will not make you happy This time of Youth it self is vanity it 's insufficient to make thee a Blessed Creature yea though thou didst enjoy all sensible things that can minister to its satisfaction it is but vanity a poor thing a short and empty matter which leaves its admirers deceived yea undone if they have no better provision A serious Old Man disdains those years and would not live them over again yea few live long that wish not much of that time expunged out of their life and remember it with a blush 2. Childhood and Youth note Persons of those Years or age viz. Children and Young People I shall consider these words in this sence and of such of you the Spirit of God proclaimeth vanity as your proper Epithite Quest. What is meant by Vanity as it predicates of these Young People Answ. Vanity is either natural or moral and then it 's the same as to say 1. Young People are frail and mortal All flesh is grass and the goodliness thereof as the flower of the Field Isa. 40. 6. The robust Youth hath his breath in his Nostrils by the Course of Nature he may live longer than Old men yet by the Frailty of Nature he may die before the oldest man Thou reckonest upon long Life but thou mayest dye tomorrow Oh young man thou hast the seeds of Death in thee thou canst not resist any Messenger of Death Heb. 9. 17. the Sentence lies against thee and sin the cause of Death cleaves to thy early Age Rom. 8. 10. What variety of accidents art thou subject to every moment It 's by Gods power you Children are alive till now as well as the Man of eighty Oh young Folk that think of many years before Death and you can meet how many younger than you are already rotten in their graves there may be many Children in this place whose death your Fathers yea Grandfathers may live to mourn for it 's a brittle house your very Souls inhabit Exh. I cannot omit this Exhortation Do and forbear all you ought to do and forbear in order to Eternity as Persons within a step of Death I hope the youngest here are assured that there is no working in the grave Eccl. 9. 10. What is to be done for Eternity must be done while you live the state of trial lasts no longer than Life whatever is beyond the Grave is unchangeable reward or punishment Wilt thou lay to Heart these things 1. I have much to do for Eternity 2. Work for Eternity is hard to do 3. This work as hard as it is must be done or I perish for ever 4. How short a while may
People are pleased that the Beast should rule the Man they quietly yield up themselves to the Empire of this brutal part they can bear no check to it they are afraid it should come under restraints But Oh young Man thou art carnal or spiritual as thy Appetite or sanctified Reason govern thee much of a Christians Warfare consists in the struggle between these the inordinate appetite is a great part of that Flesh which lusteth against the Spirit and is contrary to it Gal. 5. 17. Is it not high time thou shouldst set thy self to contend with this Enemy and attempt to bring it into subjection This is Temperance when thou canst restrain its irregular motions and deny its cravings Oh then daily quench this fire and press after that Sobriety which implies a moderation of Soul to the objects of sense and a Government of our Life by the Will of God and not by fleshly desires Let it then be thy business in every duty to weaken this Tyrant and the scope of thy Life to deliver thy self from the power of thy Appetite 2. Make no provision for the Flesh to fulfill it's Lusts Rom. 13. 14. It 's afflictive to behold some Persons contriving for their Bellies as if carefull for nothing else it 's the design of their labours and the thing that makes Riches valuable with them is that they may pamper the Flesh and fulfill it's desires But resolve with thy self thou wilt not minister to this flame nor live as if catering for the Flesh were thy principal employment in this World Prepare what is meet for thy Body it 's a mercy in our Pilgrimage to have the conveniencies of Life but excesses are fittest for them who dare brutishly say Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die 1 Cor. 15. 32. Poor Worms is there nothing after Death that they should live in preparation for yea is not Life it self as bad as Death whiles it serves to no higher an end nay these voluptuous Courses do often so enfeeble Nature and multiply Diseases that Life is a burthen and some beginning of Hell in bodily Torments 3. Avoid Temptations according to thy weakness to resist them He that 's prone to slip ought the more carefully to look to his ways Is Gluttony thy Crime be afraid of Feasts Art thou apt to be Drunk look not at the Wine when it sparkles refrain the Company in compliance with whom thou hast so oft offended Knowest thou not that the companion of riotous persons shameth his Father Prov. 28. 7. It 's in vain to pretend I will not be drunk though I do associate with them that will perswade me to it How oft hast thou resolved and yet complyed Nay thy delight in the Sin is plain in the choice of such Associates and thy Lust is strong enough to prevail when the Temptation offers if it be able thus before hand to lead thee into the occasion 4. Force thy self to an abstinence from just liberty for some time when the strength of thy Lust is found to abuse what is otherwise lawfull Some People are so exorbitant that if they drink any Wine they must drink to excess if they go into a Tavern at all they cannot forbear Drunkenness if that be thy case do not despise it as below Vertue for a while to drink no Wine at all or wholly to forbear a Tavern or Alehouse it is thy misery that what is to another Man lawful is to thee a snare but it is thy Duty and Wisdom to manage thy self with a regard to thy weakness that thou mayest by degrees get rid of thy wickedness 5. Be content by watchfulness and hard struggles to oppose thy Lusts till time and frequent repulses abate their power An appetite long indulged is not soon brought under the power of the Soul it will be importunate and uneasie even after it's dominion is removed much more whiles the contest for Superiority between it and Grace is undecided Therefore sink not as if it were in vain to strive nor let the uneasiness of the struggle tempt thee to give it over for as yielding to the flesh makes it more impetuous so frequent denying it will abate the strength of its motions Many Drunkards after a while become rid of all Inclinations to be drunk and Sobriety grows so habitual to them as if excess had never been their Temper Oh Children never make your Cure hard by beginning a wicked Custom Oh young men that are ensnared grieve not to be at due pains nor patiently to wait the stopping the Course of sin which thou hast strengthned by frequent compliances Thou must cease to be a Drunkard or thou art miserable for ever And thou must be at all the labour and be willing to continue it till thou art reformed or a Drunkard thou wilt be still 2. Quest. How shall a young Man be delivered from Uncleanness The former Directions are proper to this Case I shall apply somewhat of them and add some more Rules 1. Awe thy Soul with the Purity and Perfection of Gods Law as it referrs to this Sin It 's a great snare to mistake a Precept and confine it below God's explication of it or intention in it yet how many Young People allow themselves in degrees of Uncleanness as innocent not seeing that these things are comprehended in that Precept Thou shalt not commit Adultery Therefore Young Man examine the Word more strictly and thou wilt find that God hath provided against every degree of uncleanness and against all that leads thereto Are thy hidden thoughts and motions free No the thought of foolishness is sin Prov. 24. 9. And our Lord reproves the Pharisees as Hypocrites because their hearts were full of uncleanness Mat. 23. 27. Evil concupiscence inordinate affections c. are to be mortified Col. 3. 5. Are thy lustfull Gazings on a Woman allowed No our Saviour expressely saith He that looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Matth. 5. 28. Mayest thou talk Obscenely No Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting are convenient nor to be once named among Christians Eph. 5. 3 4. If the Command of God reach to these lesser degrees sure thou art not so stupid as not to see that all grosser acts are forbidden as more abominable And if Marriage be the remedy against Incontinence thou darest not think that God allows thee other wayes to gratifie thy lust and so frustrate the great ends of that Ordinance and the aptitude of humane Nature for it 2. Be watchful against all occasions of Uncleanness Nourish not Lust by an intemperate Diet. He had need be free from fleshly Inclinations who dare strengthen the assaults of the Flesh against his Chastity The Spirit of God tells thee that if Wine prevail thine eyes shall behold strange women Pr. 23. 32 33. Be not in the reach of a Woman that will entice thee Ioseph escaped the snare by flying from his Mistress