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
I as young as I am have to do all this hard work in which is the point I am on Young Man if Death overtake thee thou canst not put it off till thou set about the work thou hast neglected all the cryes in the Word will avail nothing Bethink thee then if Ahijah had not been good betimes he must have been eternally undone so it may be thy Case O Child of ten years old if thou dost not get Grace before thou art a Year older or it may be a Month or Week older thou must dye graceless Doth not the Word tell thee of some who dye in youth and their life is among the unclean Job 6. 14. Shall that be thy Case canst thou bear it be perswaded now to fix thy thoughts on such things as these Shall I Lye or Swear now who may be dead within a Month Dare I prophane this Sabbath who may be dead within a Week yea my next sin may be the last act of my Life How can I live without Christ a day longer when I may dye to Night shall I delay to know and love and fear my God who must do it soon or never I am sure if I do not fear God before I dye Hell will be my place and I am not sure of a Week to attain this Fear of God Did the youngest of you know your frailty you would tremble at delays you would not dare to sin you would blush at your slothfulness in any good Work Oh then hear this Sermon as one that may never hear another Pray the next time as one that may never Pray again When thou art next tempted ask thy self Would I yield to this if I were to dye to morrow Will you believe this and walk as them that believe it even Youth is too uncertain for any wise one to venture to sin or neglect his Salvation as if sure of time to repent and repair his neglects 2. Vanity is taken in a moral sense viz. as it regards the minds and manners thus Eph. 4. 17. the Spirit of God warns us against walking in the Vanity of the Mind Vanity is oft put for all sins 2 Kings 17. 15. several sins are expresly called Vanity and this Name is applyed partly with respect to the Nature of some sins but chiefly from the tendency and consequence of every sinful course Every way of sin is vain and sin deserves the Name of Vanity from this consideration that it is committed to no valuable purpose yea it ends in what is destructive and far worse than meerly unprofitable In this sense I shall improve the Text and it includes these things 1. Young people are prone to many sins that are notoriously vain 2. Young People are apt to live to very low and unprofitable purposes which is Vanity 3. Young People are apt to live to evil and destructive purposes which is the heighth of Vanity Before I enter on these things let me ask you young Folk Is not this a true Charge and is it not as awful a description of your State as true Obj. But how comes this to be laid so universally that all young People are thus vain Ans. 1. Because the generality of young People are vain For one that is sober how many are wild for one that is pious there be many prophane A religious Child is become a wonder Godliness in youthful years is very rare The body of your ordinary young People is sottish the generality of witty Youths are atheistical and irreligious When the Disease is so common the charge is proper as against the whole Ans. 2. All young Persons are inclin'd to be vain Vanity is the Temptation of that Age your Constitution and want of Experience do especially expose you to this mischief though Grace may deliver some of you from the power of Vanity yet it hath not cleansed you from all disposition to Vanity it hangs about you and liveth though restrained Your stumbles will be at this stone and your Faults will be under this head of youthful Vanity Young People you see why the Charge is so common Will you then apply what I shall say to your selves When I describe the Disease say This is my Disease When I propose the Remedy speak to thy Soul This is proper for my Case this is necessary to my Condition Thou Child say I am a Child and therefore apt to be vain Thou young Man say I am a young Man and therefore I am apt to be vain I must deny my Age or own this Charge Nay further reason awfully with your selves Most young People are under the power of Vanity The wicked Youths are a hundred to one that 's pious Oh my Soul what is my Condition is not there more danger that I am one of those hundred wicked ones than that I am that One pious young one I shall now return to consider the three particulars under which I included the Moral Vanity of young People 1. Young People are prone to many sins that are notoriously Vain There be some particular sins that in their Nature argue more Vanity than other sins they inferr a very vain mind in the Persons committing them Young ones have many of these sins and Lusts strongly prompting thereto I shall reduce your sins to eight particulars and give you some Directions under each to help you against that particular sin But remember each of these are sins every sin defileth thy Soul and bindeth thee to undergo the Punishment threatned if it be not repented of and mortified Nor canst thou hope that these sins will be put away unless thou follow the Methods which God hath directed for that end He will not Convert thee as a Bruit that regards nothing thô he must consider thy weakness as a Sinner and therefore exert his Power by the Means thou attendest 1. Young People are subject to Folly The Spirit brands our tender years with this Crime Prov. 22. 15. Folly is bound up in the Heart of a Child Is this limited to Children No A young Man void of understanding is too often seen Prov. 7. 7. This fault is not a want of that Wisdom which is unexpected from your Age But it is such Folly as in your Years might have been healed and it 's made up of blindness and mistakes against that light which God hath afforded you God hath given you reason to govern your selves by you are under the Means of Wisdom whereby you may know your true end and the proper means to that end Nevertheless most young Persons are Fools Dost not thou place thy Interest in things which are vain and destructive Dost not thou think Jollity thy only Heaven and the pleasing thy Lusts the only real Paradice What is enjoying God or glorifying God to thee these are things thou art unacquainted with and unconcerned for Obj. Perhaps thou wilt say I desire to be saved and I do something towards it how then do I mistake my end or means Ans. 1.
I fear thou dost not know what it is to be saved Salvation with thee is only being kept out of Hell as a place of Torment when thou hast sin'd thy fill but there is little more to commend Heaven to thee If there be not vain sports Revelling and the like carnal Enjoyments thou canst not tell how Heaven should be a happy State thô better than Hell But is not this the grossest Folly What to think that Salvation which contains no Vision of God no perfect Holiness of Heart no full Conformity to Christ no ravishing sense or Communications of the Divine Love no hand in God's Praises Foolish Youth there 's no Heaven but what principally includes these that is not Salvation which wants any of these Let me ask thee art not thou foolish if thou judgest Salvation to be what it is not art thou not foolish to think it to be another thing than God describeth it to be art thou not a Fool that fanciest that cannot be a happy State unless it wants what all good Men account to be Happiness and unless it includes such wicked and bruitish things as Heaven must keep and cleanse us from Oh poor Creature thus foolish do thy Notions of eternal Life discover thee to be Ans. 2. Thy Folly appeareth in that thou fanciest thou canst be saved in another way than that which leads to it To convince thee of this consider that 1. Christ is the principal Way to Life Ioh. 14. 8. He as a Priest by offering up himself merited Life for such as repent believe and obey him He as a Prophet teacheth Men the Author Means and Nature of the Terms of Life He as King applies his Purchase by the Spirit subdues Impediments fits the Soul for and judicially admits it into Glory Now Child dost thou hope to live for ever and neglect Christ is it not Folly to expect Life and despise a Saviour yea trample his Blood under thy Feet is it not Folly to hope to be saved by Christ and yet believe the Devil rather than him and prefer the Dominion of others before his Government 2. Faith Repentance and Holiness are a way to Heaven subordinate to Christ I say subordinate to Christ for they could not save thee but for a Christ Sinners had never obtained them but by a Christ and they tend to save as they refer to Christ whose atonement is the only purchasing Price But yet they are a way to Life No Man shall ever get to Heaven without them Christ hath resolved without Faith no Man shall have Pardon by his Merits and therefore all the savingly enlightned do believe that they may be justified Gal. 2. 16. He appoints us to repent that our sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come Act. 3. 19. and limits the number of the saved to such as obey him Heb. 5. 9. Now young Man is it not Folly in thee to expect Heaven when thou hast nothing which Christ hath instituted as a means of that Glory Doth he as our Law-giver declare that he will and must suspend thy Salvation 'till thou believe and wilt thou madly say he will save me though I do not believe dost thou know what he 'll do better than himself Yea your Folly is greater in that Christ hath not only suspended Life on these Conditions but he hath expresly declared that they shall for ever perish that do not in these things submit to him and yet thou art confident What greater Folly than for an unholy one to look for Glory when God saith Without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. and All the wicked shall be turned into Hell Psal. 9. 17. is it not Folly to remain impenitent and yet be in hopes of Heaven when Christ saith Except you repent you shall all likewise perish Luk 13. 3. Will not you own your Madness that look'd for Life in your Disobedience when you shall hear our Lord saying Slay these mine Enemies that would not that I should reign over them Luk. 19. 27. Is it not an establish'd Rule under the Gospel He that believeth not shall be damned Mar. 16. 16. Unbelief and Hell are certainly connected as Faith and Heaven 3. Thy Folly appears yet more in that thou fanciest thou canst be saved in a way contrary to Salvation and certainly leading to Hell Wouldst not thou judge him a Fool that intending for Dover yet chuseth the Road to York are not they Fools who desiring Health refuse Physick and take nothing but Poyson Thy behaviour exceeds the grossest of these Instances What barrs any one from Heaven but the dominion of sin and that Conscience justly chargeth thee with Doth not God declare that to be carnally minded is death Rom. 8. 6 thou art so minded and yet expectest life Is not God express that no Whoremonger nor unclean Person nor covetous hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of God Eph. 5. 5 And also that the abominable and all Liars shall have their part in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21 Is he not as positive that no Fornicator Reviler Thief or Drunkard can be saved 1 Cor. 6. What can be plainer than that in being such as these thou destroyest thy self These Vices lead to destruction and God warns thee against foolish self-deceit by hoping for a better issue than Ruine by such a Course Oh sottish Youth will Theft Drunkenness Swearing Prophaneness think you lead to Heaven after all these discoveries of God's resolves what will damn thee if such Vices will not who can be damned if thou be saved will a provoked God lye for thy sake No no his Threats will take hold of thee notwithstanding thy silly dreams Children you see I have described the Folly of all Young Ones who are wicked I have chosen this great Instance viz. They mistake their true Happiness and the Way to it I might open this great sore beyond this Alas Young People are generally ignorant of God and themselves they know neither good nor evil aright they commend what they ought to dispraise they chuse what they should reject they make a mock of the greatest Mischiefs as Sin and Hell they rarely understand Men or know how to carry it aright for this World or for Eternity they mistake Truth for Error are governed by appearances rather than realities Where shall I stop if I intend a full attempt of the Folly of Youth Quest. What shall I that am Young do to heal me of my Folly Answ. 1. Beg Wisdom of God by fervent Prayer Iam. 1. 5. If any of you lack Wisdom let him ask it of God c. Thou wantest Wisdom thou art bid to ask it Thou art encouraged to ask for he giveth it to such as ask yea he gives liberally and he will not upbraid thee with thy past Folly when thou settest thy self to get Wisdom Nothing will heal thy Folly but wisdom and a prayerless creature is never like to obtain it