their particular Constitutions and Tempers The most principal Duties and Institutions of Christianity do suppose this Degeneracy and Corruption of Human Nature and in this and many other Scriptures it is manifestly implyed The Subject of this Text is not Pure and Unbiassed equally indifferent unto Good or Evil but 't is supposed that he needs to be purified as well as guided Wherewithal shall a Young Man cleanse his way His way cleansed There is hardly any Metaphor whereby the Affections and Conversations of Men are more usually expressed than by this of their Way and Walk But there are some particular ways of Wickedness more appropriate unto Youth than to Elder Persons The Instructions Counsels and Exhortations of the Holy Scriptures besides those of common and universal Concern are therefore all suited to the various Classes under which Men may be severally considered There are some corrupt Inclinations and Practices some ways of Sin to which Young Men are more inclined and tempted than before or after that Age which in Childhood they are not arrived unto and in Riper Years are commonly exchanged for others I say commonly because sometimes Gray Hairs are deformed by the Vices and Follies of Youth and sometimes the Wisdom and Virtue of Old Age may be Eminently the Ornament of Young Men. Old Age may sometimes flourish in Youth and be as often perished in those that are well stricken in Years Covetousness for instance is not so much the Peculiar Vice of the Age but may be the Fault of Young Persons The Rich Young Man in the Gospel is an Instance who told our Lord that he had kept the Commandments But he had Houses and Lands and Bags of Mony which stood in his way to Heaven those he observed and kept as well as the Commandments Particular Countries and Places particular Callings and Relations particular Seasons and Times may have their special Sins and so have the different Ages of Men. The Ignorance of Youth is commonly attended with Pride and Conceitedness For they who know but a few things are always most presumptuous of their own Understanding and so are commonly more Rash and Hasty Giddy and Inconstant fond of Liberty and Impatient of Restraint Affecters of Novelty and Lovers of Pleasure of Company Pastime and sensual Mirth c. There are some youthful Lusts which young Timothy is warned against 2 Tim. 2.22 such as Ambition and Vain-glory Curiosity and Envy to appear Great and considerable before others as the Scope of the Place and three or four following Verses seem to manifest Not Drunkenness and Vncleanness or such carnal Lusts For tho' all Men have the Seeds of these yet the Modesty and Frugality the Weakness of Constitution and often Infirmities of Timothy make it very improbable they should here be principally meant The Corruption of Human Nature 't is true doth usually and with great Violence discover it self in unsanctified Youth by these Lusts of the Flesh These are some of the ways of their Heart according to which they form their Lives Where the Restraint of Bodily Temper special Providence Religious Education and Divine Grace do not make the difference I need not go about to prove that Childhood and Youth are Vanity or Sinful Folly considering the many Examples in Scripture and the multitude of such in every Age and in none more than our own considering the frequent Warnings given us by God against such Lusts considering the bitter Remorses and penitent Confessions of many who are truly Converted or but Awakned by the prospect of Death and Judgment considering the earnest Supplications even of Good Men that God would not Remember the Sins of their Youth Even David thought he had cause for such a Request Psal 25.7 whose Poverty and Piety whose Industry and Afflictive Trials in his Younger Years were a very great Restraint from those Lusts which are more Unbridled in others of another Education and Condition Not to mention how many in Riper Years are made to passess the Sins of their Youth Job 13.26 and their very Bones are full of them Job 20.11 For a Young Sinner hath himself for his Heir and Successor when he is Old and that which he receives for his Inheritance is only the sorrowful remembrance and bitter Fruits of his Youthful Follies It is sad to consider how many Young Men of hopeful Parts and promising Capacities are taken in the Devils Snares in the pursuit of Sensual Pleasures and lay up Matter for future Diseases and bodily Pains how they poison their Blood and weaken their Constitutions how they hasten or antedate the Infirmities of Old Age and do what they can to dig their own Graves But it is a more Melancholly Reflection to consider how they provoke God and incense his Almighty Vengeance how they wound and wrong their own Souls and treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath how they provide Fuel for everlasting Fire and consign their Bodies and Souls to Hell for ever To see them run headlong to their own destruction by walking in the way of their Hearts and in the sight of their own Eyes To consider how easily they are led into destructive Paths and made a cheap and hasty Prey by the Tempter till they are hardned past Recovery or cut off in the midst of their days by a sudden Arrest of Judgment And so for the short and vain Pleasures of Youth they perish to Eternity unless some few of them by an extraordinary Grace are recovered at the last Hour and renewed unto Saving Repentance But it is much to be feared that very few Death-Bed Penitents are so Secondly It is supposed to be a matter of no small Difficulty for a Young Man to Reform and Cleanse his Ways This in part appears from what hath been said already of the Corruption of Human Nature and the Vicious Inclinations of Youth Their Ignorance and Rashness and want of Experience their Aversion to serious Thoughts for fear of Melancholy with the apprehended unsuitableness of Restraint and Retirement unto Persons of their Age do all increase the Difficulty They usually reckon that they have the World before them they have Time enough hereafter and are now in the Age of Liberty and Pleasure and that both God and Man will indulge a great deal to them because of their Youth Presuming at the same time that a great while hence they shall have Opportunity and Heart and Help to work out their Salvation when ever they please For when they Calculate their own Nativities they reckon to the longest Term of Human Life that any are wont to reach to Their Sun is climbing higher they have a great while to Night and so are far removed from the Thoughts of Death Accordingly when ever they are advised by those who are Elder to look forward to the Grave and beyond it to bethink themselves of their Everlasting State and provide for an Endless Life their inward Thought is agreeable to the High-Priests Answer unto
Seasonable Advice to Youth A Funeral Sermon On Psal 119.9 Preach'd upon the DEATH OF Mr. Richard Walter Jun. In the Eighteenth Year of his Age. January 13th 1691 2. By JOHN SHOWER LONDON Printed for Samuel Crouch at the Corner of Pope's Head-Alley over against the Royal-Exchange 1692. TO Mr. JOHN WALTER Sir IF the following Sermon upon the Death of your Brother may be of any Vse and Advantage unto others the Obligation will be very much owing to you with whose Desire I complied in the Preaching of it and now in the making of it Publick The chief of my Design therein being the Instruction of the Younger sort I could not so fitly prefix any other Name as yours I hope your tender Affection to your Brother will make you read this Memorial of of him with great Seriousness and assist your good Improvement of those Counsels which are so needful for Persons of your Age to consider and obey I shall only add my Hearty Prayer to God for the Early Impressions of his Grace to Sanctifie you betimes and make you to know and love the Holy Scriptures and so preserve you from the Snares of the World the Flesh and the Devil and particularly from Youthful Lusts If this Sermon may any way contribute to such a desirable effect on you and others of your Age I shall bless God London Feb. 25. 1691 2. I am Yours in the best Services John Shower A Funeral SERMON On the DEATH of Mr. Richard Walter Psalm 119.9 Wherewithal shall a Young Man cleanse his way By taking Heed thereto according to thy Word A Practical Discourse to Young Persons would not be unfit at any Time in this Age and in this City if there were no special Occasion leading to it But it is most fit when there is one such as the Providence of God hath now given me by the Death and Funeral of a Young Gentleman What I shall say on that Subject I reserve for the Close to inforce the Improvement of the other contained in this Text Which will admit to be considered two ways Either First As the rectifying and cleansing the way of Youth is a necessary Means in order to the obeying God's Word and the keeping his Commandments Dr. Hammond The Original will bear this Interpretation And some Ancient Versions do countenance it The Sense then is this How shall Young Men be purged and purified by Divine Grace so as thereby to be qualified for Obedience to God It is a kind of Prayer in a Poetick strain for that Grace which is necessary to Holy Walking But Secondly I chuse rather to consider those Words as an Answer to the Enquiry by what means we may be sanctified betimes and enabled to please and obey God in our whole Course And that we are told is by carefully observing and taking heed to the Word of God The Blessed Influence whereof to that purpose is here Asserted and Amplified Partly from the Subject with respect to whom it hath this Effect A Young Man Partly from the special Object about which this purifying Influence of the Divine Word is employed in such an one i. e. The Cleansing of his way This extends to all that needs to be rectified either in Heart or Life in Spirit or Practice Not only as to his external Behaviour but his inward Principles and Temper For we read of the Young Man's walking in the way of his own Heart and in the sight of his own Eyes Eccl. xi 9. Neither are we to over-look the Form and Manner of Expression by way of Question Wherewithal shall a Young Man cleanse his way The Psalmist had before declared the Desire of his Soul that his Life might be ordered according to God's Word Ver. 5. Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes He had professed the Purpose and Resolution of his Heart to endeavour it Ver. 8. I will keep thy Statutes O forsake me not utterly Upon which follows the Interrogation in the Text Wherewithal c. i. e. But how shall one so Young as I am under the Guidance of a Deceived Mind and the Biass of Corrupt and Vicious Inclinations assisted with very little Experience surrounded with many dangerous Examples and suitable Temptations c. How or wherewithal shall such a One be Cleansed and Reformed and Enabled to please and obey God The Answer is by attending to the Instructions of his Word by observing the Orders and Directions he hath there given us by applying that Word for our Sanctification and by following the Holy Counsels and Conduct of it The Question it self how this may be done doth suppose the Necessity and imply the Difficulty of it There is great need it should be done but how shall it be effected Were it not a matter of some Difficulty there would be no ground for such a Question by what means it may be brought about But because it is not a slight and easie though most needful matter the proper means must be diligently sought for and minded viz. by taking heed unto the Word of God For the opening of this Passage there are Four things to be considered First The sinful ways of Youth that need to be Rectified and Cleansed Secondly The Difficulty that is supposed by the Interrogation to Purifie and Reform them Thirdly The sufficient and only means how this may be done i. e. by the Word of God Fourthly The Necessity of careful Attendance unto this Word and particular Application of it to an effectual Cure First Concerning the sinful impure ways of Youth which need to be Rectified and Cleansed The Corruption of Human Nature upon the the First Apostacy is not more plainly expressed in the Divine Revelation than manifest in the effects of it unto the experience of all who are any ways acquainted with themselves We need but compare what we find in our selves with the Holy Image Nature and Law of God unto which at first there was a just Conformity and Agreement in the Nature of Man But now we are alienated from God and disaffected to him The inward and deep depravation of the Vnderstanding and Will the Two Superior Powers of the Soul that command the rest may easily be discerned if we will but examine and reflect upon our selves Tit. 3.3 That our Judgments are deceived and our Minds blinded and our Wills fetter'd by Sensual Lusts and that we are pleased with our Slavery and unwilling to be delivered The Rectitude of our Nature being lost by the First Transgression an Hereditary Corruption is transmitted from our First Parents to all their Posterity We are shapen in Iniquity and conceived in Sin And that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean This discovers it self very early in Children and with more violence in the various Lusts of Youth according to the several circumstances of their Conditions in the World and the different Channel that is formed for it by
your Baptism yielding your Selves to the Lord as the most solemn and Important Transaction of your whole Lives And be sure * keep out of the way of Temptation as much as you can endeavouring to avoid those particular Snares by which you are most easily overcome Pretend not a Resolution against the Sin if you are willing to look upon the Temptation to walk upon the brink of the River and to come near the door of that House into which you know you must not enter It is impossible a Man should love to abide by a Temptation for a good end or without unspeakable Hazard It is vain Confidence on your own Strength to come as near Sin as you durst and the Event does commonly prove it so Especially * see that you well imploy your Time upon the Lords Day and take heed to your * Company all the Week Few of the Younger sort Miscarry but date their Sin and Ruin from the neglect of this Counsel * Begin with God every Morning by serious Prayer and Reading some part of the Holy Scriptures with some Practical Affectionate Book if but for a quarter of an Hour it would leave a serious Tincture on the Mind and a good Savour on the Heart and be of use to antidote you against Temptation and to preserve a Holy frame all the Day But * never desist your diligent Endeavours till you come to walk with God in his Love and Fear and as under his Eye all the Day long That the pleasing of God may become the Business and Pleasure of your Lives Lastly Do not delay Compliance with these Counsels but presently set about it can you begin too soon to cleanse your Hearts and Ways Is it too soon to be reconciled to God and delivered from the danger of Damnation Can you attain Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost and a well grounded Hope of Eternal Life too soon If you languish'd under a noisom Distemper that threatned your Life would you imagin you could be healed too soon And how much Sin and Mischief Shame and Sorrow and bitter Repentance may you prevent by taking heed unto the Word of God betimes How much larger Opportunities for the glorifying of God have Young Converts than late Penitents though they be Sincere What Advantages never to be retrieved have they lost who have out-sinned their Youth because their Time is gone and can never be recalled What Honour may you bring to God who remember your Creator in the days of your Youth What Ornaments to your Profession may you prove Of what usefulness unto others in this World being filled with the Spirit of God What attainments in Grace and the knowledge of Christ See Mr. Charnock Vol. 2. p. 57 58. and what additional degrees of Glory may you reach You may grow to a greater Stature being new born in Youth and bring forth more and better Fruit in Old Age You will have a longer time of Peace of Conscience and of the Comforts of the Spirit much sweeter fore-tastes of Heaven and improved meetness for it You may lay up Treasures of Experience to confute the Devil if he assault you on a Death-Bed c. And is it nothing to despise all these advantages of an Early Piety to secure the comfort and usefulness for the future part of your Lives Is it nothing to be prepared for a sudden Death and to provide against the Pangs and Sorrowful Reflections of a Death-bed Is it nothing when you come to Die to review your former Life with Joy saying Lord remember how I have served thee the God of my Fathers from my Childhood and Youth Is it nothing to bring God greater Glory in this World and receive a more weighty and sparkling Crown of Glory in the next Have you not been often told how much more difficult your Repentance and Conversion to God will hereafter be than now if you should be spared some Years longer Are your Hearts like to be better by longer continuance in Sin Will the Justice of God be less provoked will it not be more Will the Devil have less advantage against you when he hath had so much longer Possession To Day while it is called to Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts It is some hardning of your Hearts not to hearken to his Voice this day It is one step more towards final Impenitence and Unbelief against which there is no Remedy provided in the Gospel How hardly was that Man Cured Mark 9.29 who was possessed with a Devil from his Childhood The more you are alienated from the Life of God the harder will be your Recovery And how much greater is the provocation against God by every such Delay How aggravated and displeasing is your base ingratitude against the Blessed God and a Merciful Redeemer You reject his present Call slight his Kindness and refuse his Love and in effect tell him that though you have no mind to perish but that one time or other before you die you will accept it that yet you have other Business for the present to mind it will be time enough for that when you are more at leisure Your Youthful Lusts now call you your Secular Affairs and Settlement in the World now call you to other Thoughts and these shal l be first minded and served Your Compassionate Physician offers his Help and promises a Cure if you will but hearken and submit to him You tell him in effect that you like your Leprosie and are in love with your Disease You care not to be recovered to Health you will not as yet be Purged and Healed though one time or other you intend to call for his Assistance May he not most justly say unto you Let him that is filthy be filthy still You would not be purged from your filthiness therefore you shall not till you die How bitter will be the Thoughts of these repeated Calls neglected What cold Horror and Shivering Dread shall seize thee on a Bed of Languishing which some may take for true Repentance But Oh how little of that which by a large Charity we hope is so may the Righteous God accept and who can tell whether he does or no For such Men see themselves upon the brink of the Grave and stepping into Hell and know it is as much as their Souls are worth presently to make Peace with God by unfeigned Repentance No wonder then if they let fall some little Drops of a beginning Sorrow if they have some extorted Resolutions of Living better some sudden Remorse and Regret for those Sins that they are now like to be Damned for some quick and rash Vows of an Awaken'd Conscience with some Confusion of Face under the Fears of Death and Judgment But at such a time it is hard to distinguish between Religious Sighs and Natural Groans or separate their Repenting Cries for Mercy from their Howlings on their Beds through Bodily Pain 'T is true God
may work Miracles of Mercy on such Convinced Sinners who did not seek to him till the Eleventh Hour but whether he will no there is no Certainty or Probability but that he can if he please which to Persons in that condition who fear an Everlasting Hell the next Hour is a sad uncomfortable Thought No Man in his Wits that reads the Bible would run the Hazard If they have the use of Reason and are not harden'd in Atheism and Infidelity they cannot but fear and tremble Peace and Prosperity may transport Men the Mouth of Conscience may be stop'd in Health by false Principles and the Voice of Flattering Company its secret Whispers may be drown'd by the noise and hurry of Business or diverted brib'd and abus'd by the entertainments of Sense and the deceitfulness of Riches But in Sickness and Affliction when dis-intangled from its Fetters Conscience will speak its own Sense and it ever speaks loudest in a time of Calamity Then it will witness and accuse condemn and terrifie All their Arts of Oblivion cannot make it silent it will disquiet them with Fears and Torments which encrease at the approach of Death and after Death are the beginning of Hell For though as one says That may not be fully opened till the last Judgment yet the Anguish of Conscience is a part of Hell-Fire preparatory to the Horrible Sentence of Dooms-day Now Is he his own Murderer who would not endeavour to make Peace with God when in danger of approaching Death The like is he who will defer this for one Day because every Day of such delay is a Day of Danger and so is he obliged by the same care for himself and concern for his Soul if he Sinned Yesterday to Repent to Day lest he be Dead to Morrow For how many Persons die Suddenly many have done so of late and more may and who knows that he shall not Thy Sick Neighbour may recover and live many Years and he that is now in Health may expire the next Hour You are also uncertain of a tedious Sickness to afford you the lingering forerunners of Death or of such a one as shall not disturb the Brain and unfit for serious Thoughts The first Symptom of your last Sickness may conclude your Life you may not have time to complain or cry Job 36.13 14. They cry not when he bindeth them they die in their Youth and their Life is among the Vnclean How groundless are the Expectations of arriving to Old-Age The Almond Tree does not every where flourish Hardly one or Two of a great Multitude lay down a Hoary Head in the Bed of the Grave Very little Ripe Fruit is gathered into the Basket in comparison of the many Blossoms that fall to the Ground Is not your Constitution in Youth more tender and consequently more subject to external Impressions that may cause Sickness While grown Branches can stand the shock of a Cold Winter every Blast or Storm will spoil the Beauty of new blown Flowers And yet though you know this and therefore must grant your length of Days no surer than that of others and your presuming on the future equally hazardous and without ground you will not now Repent and turn to God It may be you Resolve you will if you live till hereafter that is you are content to to be Damned if you die before that time And who knows what a Day may bring forth Prov. 27.1 Jam. 4.14 Though you are now Strong and Healthful in the heat and Wantonness of Youthful Blood or in the strength and vigour of your Age and begin to have a throng of Worldly Business may not the same be said of some of those who died the last Week who it may be delayed their Repentance on the like grounds and thought their own Death as improbable as you do yours which is now so much the nearer by how many Days you have surviv'd them Is there any of you but would willingly Repent and turn to God one Day before you die And who can be sure to do that who delays till to Morrow I perswade my self you cannot think that you shall be exempted from appearing before the Bar of Christ if you die in Youth Or that those Lusts and Sins that are Damning to Men of Forty will not be reckon'd for by God or hereafter punish'd because committed by one of Sixteen Will you yet boldly put it to the venture Eccl. 9.11 and Rejoyce O Young Man in thy Youth and walk in the way of thy own Heart and neither know nor consider that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment And how soon may you receive that Summons every whit as soon as if you had lived many Years longer To several Diseases You are more obnoxious than Elder Persons to some that are now Reigning and often prove Mortal as you are more full of warm Blood to catch the Infection particularly the Small-Pox By which Distemper it pleased God to visit this young Gentleman Mr. Richard Walter in the Eighteenth Year of his Age concerning whom as it will not be needful so it cannot be expected I should speak much being almost a Stranger to him till the last Scene of his Life When I was requested to joyn with some Friends in Prayer for him and afterwards at his own Desire visited him and prayed with him I found him in a very Penitent and Serious frame which I hope was not the bare effect of his having receiv'd the Sentence of Death in himself not only because during his whole Sickness he discovered the like Temper of Mind whenever he had the free Exercise of Reason which after some Days Delirium God was pleased very observably to restore in answer to Prayer but because he had formerly been under very serious Impressions of what concern'd his Soul and the Everlasting World Unto which purpose the practical Books of that Great and Holy Man Mr. Baxter were useful to him as they have been unto Thousands more These Impressions I hope did remain and were now and then awaken'd and reviv'd upon him notwithstanding the dangerous Snares and Temptations of Youth His fervent and penitent Supplications to Heaven as the fruit of these I hopâ— found Acceptance with the Father of Mercies thro the Mediation of Christ For at the very last he was 〈◊〉 afraid or unwilling to Dye Notwithstanding that 〈◊〉 exprest a very great Sense of his Sin he could yet say I hope my Dear Redeemer hath enabled me to Repent and hath forgiven me There is Pity in his Bosom and Mercy in his Breast And so he went on mentioning some Scriptures to that purpose There is one thing I would add which may be Iâ—â—…table and Exemplary if God allow you the use of Reason on a Sick Bed that before he died he was willing to do something to promote the Salvation of his Acquaintance and Companions as the best Expression oâ— his Friendship to 'em by exciting them to consider theiâ— Latter End and prepare for the other World wherâ— we must have our unchangable Eternal Abode Thiâ— appear'd when I spake to him on that Head by the instructive Messages he desir'd me to convey to some oâ— 'em and by his most affectionate Wish and Prayeâ— for his * In the Island of Barbadoes Parents when I parted from him viz. Thaâ— he might meet them in Heaven where he said will bâ— more and better Pleasure in one Moment than is to bâ— found in all the Enjoynments of this World for a Thousand Years God grant that they and all his Relations and Acquaintance such especially who have desir'd this Sermon may wisely improve his Decease which administred the occasion And may it be of some use to all the Younger sort who heard it or may now read it to help 'em to consider and remember the Divine Counsel oâ— this Text how Young Men may cleanse their Ways by taking heed unto the Word of God THE END