Lusts do exceedingly augment that estrangedness to and distance from God So here there is a natural rebellion in the Will against God but these youthful Lusts when fulfilled do much more add to that resistance and opposition and further that wretched and vile aversion in the Will to God And they will introduce such a vile setled habitual enmity in the Will to the blessed God as that you will wish there were no God with David's Fool in the 14. Psal 1. For you cannot but know that your Lusts are detestable to the holy and pure Nature of God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity as the Prophet speaks in the 1. Hab. 13. You have Items of this in your own Breasts you cannot plead ignorance herein that when you obey your Lusts you do that abominable thing which his Soul hateth and abhorreth which being done most certainly influenceth the Will to a dislike of and regret at the holy Nature of God that you like not to retain him in your thoughts but will account thine own impure lusts more desirable and better than God and if so you may easily make an estimate how these youthful lusts indispose the Soul to Conversion it may as well stand with the life of a man to be cast into the depth of the Sea with a Milstone about his neck as it can stand with thy Conversion whilst thou yieldest obedience to thy youthful Lusts for these more and more alienate thy Will from God and Christ and swell thee with pride and enmity against the holy Will and Word of God that it will become a pleasing thing to thee to shove God out of thy thoughts 10. Psal 4. and to say to the Almighty Depart from me I desire not the knowledge of thy ways And can this stand with Conversion O see the malignity of the influence that thy youthful Lusts have upon thy Will to hinder thy Conversion with what astonishment should you bethink your selves and say What a wretch am I to yield to my youthful lusts which set my Will against my bountiful and blessed Maker the Author of my Life and Being O the compleat and comprehensive Wickedness of this enough to make me tremble what to hate God and love my lusts that will damn me O horrid temper how canst thou hold up thy Head before him whose Eyes are as a Flame of Fire if there be found in thee an obstinate downright aversation in thy Will surely O my Soul if thou werâ— to live here a thousand years and hadst no other business than to bewail this it would not be sufficient O young ones think of this O that God would set it home upon your Hearts methinks it should cast yoâ— down with amazement and compel you tâ— say when tempted to yield to your youthful Lusts with that excellent young man in the 39. Gen. 1. How can I do so great Wickedness and sin against God 4thly These youthful lusts indispose the Soul to Conversion as they exceedingly harden the heart hence have you that admonition in the 3. Heb. 13. Take heed lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of Sin There is a threefold hardness incident to the heart of man 1. Natural 2. Habitual or contracted 3. Judicial or penal 1. the Natural is found in all men as they come into the world in their several Ages and Generations it is derived to us from Adam and it's part of that wretched corrupt nature that we receive from him by our immediate Parents 2. the Contracted or acquired hardness is that which we bring upon our hearts by a course of Sin we read of it in Prov. 29. 1. Ezek. 3. 7. and Rom. 20. 5 6. 3. the Judicial hardness is a tradition or being given up to our own hearts lusts by a justly provoked God not that God infuseth any evil disposition into the heart but withdraweth his gracious Spirit Deut. 29. 9. and moreover he leaves the stubborn Sinner to his own natural and contracted hardness whereby he becometh more blind dead refractory and obstinate than ever of this we read in the 9 of Exodus and the 12. in the instance of the Lord 's hardening Pharaoh's Heart Isa 6. 9 10. Go and tell this People hear you indeed but understand not and see you indeed but perceive not make the Heart of this People fat lest they be converted It is a tremendous Text and is quoted six times in the New Testament Math. 13. 14. Mark 4. 12. Luk. 8. 10. John 12. 40. Acts 28. 26. Rom. 11. 8. Now it is principally the second and third viz. Contracted and Judicial hardness that youthful lusts yielded to do miserably bring upon the Heart These make the Heart like the Leviathan's scales as Job speaks these do as it were bury their Heart in the Grave and roll a great Stone over it and so they indispose the Soul to Conversion for what fruit can ever be expected from a Rock oâ— a Stone let the Rain come down from Heaven upon it let the Sun shine with its Beamâ— upon it let the Seed's-man cast his Seeds on it yet the Rock is a Rock still So it is with a stony rocky Heart let there be line upon line and precept upon precept alas there is no impression made neither can there be until there be a removal of its hardness and that can never be till the cause of that hardness be removed which is a going on in the practice of these vile Lusts O the malignity of their influence they stop the Ears thaâ— the Heart becomes like the deaf Adder they shut the Eyes they fold up the Arms theâ— make the Heart like an Adamant regardleâ—â— under threatnings and all other administrations used by God to awaken convince and convert Sinners let one Minister come after another and cry aloud lift up their Voices like Trumpets in the shrillest manner as Boanerges yet as Zephaniah telleth us in 3. Chap. 5. They know no shame let God speak to them in their Prosperity they will not hearken 22. Jer. 21. let him multiply upon them the Fruits and Expressions of his Goodness in daily Preservations Deliverances c. yet they despise the Riches of his Goodness 2. Rom. 4. and 32. Deut. 15. But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked then he forsook God which made him O the malignity of Sin 's influence Solomon saith in 9. Eccles 3. It fills the Heart with madness while they live O young man thou art besides thy self bereaved of the right use of thy Reason by following of thy lusts hadst thou ever any fear or tenderness any sense of Sin any compunction of Heart O if thou yieldest to thy Lusts how quickly will all be extinguished and not only so but those Lusts will bring thee to such obduration as will lay thee naked and open to the unexpressible Misery of having that Scripture fulfilled upon thee 6. Isaiah and the 9. and 29 Chap. 10. The Lord hath poured upon you the Spirit of a
to it 2. As they directly oppose the means of it 1. As they wofully indispose the Soul to it this will appear beyond the least doubt if you seriously consider what a polluting a pernicious influence youthful Lusts have upon all the faculties of the Soul These Lusts they diffuse a blindness upon the Mind they benum the Conscience increase the natural rebellion of the Will exceedingly harden the Heart and miserably enthral and deprave the Affections and so they wofully indispose the Soul to conversion 1st They diffuse a blindness on the Mind that noble faculty the thinking discerning and reasoning Power of the Soul which some call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the leading and directing Faculty which is to the Soul what Eyes are to the Body therefore called 1. Ephes 18. the Eyes of the Vnderstanding these Eyes youthful Lusts blind so that they cannot see afar off to the end of a sinful Life how bitter and evil a thing Sin will prove at last when God will bring the young man to Judgment for all his youthful Lusts hence they fearlesly chose a course of Vanity and Sensuality in serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Being blinded through their Lusts they discern not the absolute necessity of a Saviour they see no beauty in him that he should be desired and what more effectual bar can there be to their Conversion Alas while the mind is blinded tho' a poor Sinner hangs over Hell every moment under a just sentence of Condemnation at the very door of Eternity yet all 's at peace the Soul lieth in a deep and deadly Sleep though a Minister come and weep over him use the most rouzing Arguments with him all 's one noâ— a whit moved or stirred though you speaâ— never so much Reason or Scripture â—â— Soul thou hast an unholy Nature to be renewed an offended God to be reconciled to thou hast innumerable Sins and not one oâ— them pardoned thou hast Death and Judgment to make ready for thou hast but a feâ— more days on Earth yet while the mind â—â— blinded they make light of all a merry taâ—â— will more affect them Romances Playâ— and Comedies such Bubbles and empâ—â— Vanity are much more pleasing than thâ— most powerful Heavenly Sermon Noâ— whence is this but from the blindness young mens Minds and whence is thâ—â— blindness but from their youthful Lust aâ— you may read in that apposite Scripturâ— Ezek. 14. and 5. They are all estranged froâ— me through their Lusts Lust in David bloâ—ted out the impression and remembrance of the Evil and danger of sinning against God hence when he was recovered by effectual Grace see how he rates himself in Psal 73. 22. So foolish and ignorant was I even as a Beast before thee Lust in toxicates the Mind and then like a Drunkard that through the vapours that fume up into his Head sleepeth and forgetteth all his dangers his debts So it is here and O how impossible is thy Conversion while thy Mind is thus darkened the Mind that is the Watch-man of thy Soul to keep off Sin and danger and if the watch-man be blind how small hope of Conversion By this you see how youthful Lusts indispose the Soul to Conversion as they blind the mind 2dly They indispose the Soul for conversion as they stupifie Conscience that Spy in our Bosom that Vice-gerent of the supream Judge whose office is various 1. to record and register all we do 2. To bear witness and give in evidence 3. As a Judge to pass sentence Conscience sits on the Throne as God's Deputy in the Soul to award out Life or Death 4. To be a Tormentor a never-dying Worm it is to the damned â—n Hell and an insupportable burden to â—ome on Earth creating such internal Anxiâ—ties and Tortures that all the Arts Wits Pleasure and Diversions in the world canâ—ot root out as in Belshazzar Cain Judas Tiberius Nero Caligula c. of these divers offices and acts of Conscience you read in Rom. 2. 15. 1 John 3. 20 21. Prov. 18. 14. And that in order to Conversion it is necessary that this busie Faculty in man be awakened will appear if you consider that 8 of Jer. 6. God hearkened and heard and no man repented him saying What have I done but every one turned to his course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel There you have God's inquisition and search to find ouâ— whether that People repented or no â— hearkened and heard saith God Then yoâ— have God's evidence brought in no maâ— repented or converted and then you havâ— the Cause laid down of their not repenting No man said What have I done q. d. Haâ— Conscience been awakened to have donâ— its office to have div'd into all their Villanies had that domestick Spie in the Bosom brought in a true account concerning whaâ— they had done they would certainly havâ— repented e'er this Alas the subtile Heaâ— of a Sinner will endure and bear all thâ— historical notions of the evil of Sin of thâ—â—erribleness of Hell as one in Health can beâ—â— the names and notions of Plague Stonâ— Colick and the most tormenting disease and all but as Powder shot and scare-Crowâ— untill Conscience like Peter 2. Acts 36 3â— closeth particularly with Sinners thus Ye aâ— they that with wicked Hands crucified 〈◊〉 Lord of Glory and then they were pricked to the Heart and as Nathan closed with David 2. Sam. 12. 7. He draws his Parable out of the Clouds and enters him with this arrest Thou art the man then he presently cries out I have sinned O believe it Sirs when once Conscience meets with a desperate Sinner that hath been ruffling it in all manner of Riot for a time drenching himself in sensual pleasures and Conscience in the name of the great God arrests him with an O wretch what hast thou done thus and thus to provoke the Great the Holy the Righteous sin-revenging God I have been privy to all thy secret as well as open Wickedness and I have sad News to tell thee that the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against thee c. Thus when Conscience finds out a Sinner and spits as it were Hell-Fire in his Face believe me it will eftsoon put the Soul upon the Rack and cause it to break forth with an O Wo is me the Sins which I now see are bitter as Death the Wrath that I begin to feel at present and that to come that I fear makes a kind of Tophet within me O if I should dye in this case what would become of me Lord is there no mercy What shall I do to be saved Thus Conscience in its efficacious working is necessary to Humiliation which is one great part of Conversion and then for hope of mercy and pardon and a fixed resolution to forsake all known Sin and teturning home to God which makes up and compleats a Sinners conversion you may easily discern from what I have said as to the first part of Conversion the
deep sleep We may stand amazed to see how Persons adorned with excellent Endowments of Nature that have great ability in natural things men of great Sense as we say when they hear how their unmortified Lusts war against their Souls and expose them to the Wrath of God and Everlasting Burning yet can go on in their lusts without remorse or any akings of Heart nay that which made the Son of God to bleed anâ— brought him to such bitter Agonies and strong Cries and Groans and for which Vengeance is now tearing and tormenting thousand in Hell Alas all is but as a Dream whilâ— sin prevaileth it hardeneth the Heart to â— degree of spiritual Phrensy Hosea 7. 9. 5. Jer. 3. 5. Isa 12. and 1. Chap. 5. likâ— Jonah fast asleep in the sides of the Ship tho' ready to perish Young men remember it yielding to your Lusts will so insensibly harden you that you will be like â— man that is seized with the dead Palsie whoâ— tho' you pinch and strike he feels nothing or like Solomon's besotted Wretch 7. Prâ—â— 14 15. They have stricken and beaten me bâ— I felt it not Or like the Prophet's Aetâ—opian 13. Jer. 23. Can the Aethiopian chanâ—â— his Skin and the Leopard his Spots theâ— may you change your accustomed Eviâ— Bernard describing the malignity of Sin 's iâ—fluence as to its encroaching Nature oâ—serves this Gradation At first saith he Sâ— is importable next time heavy then eaâ—â— then light then sweet at last necessaâ—â— Wherefore flee youthful Lusts as ever yâ—â— would escape these Soul-ruining Evils as blindness of Mind searedness of Conscience incurable hardness of Heart all which indispose the Soul to Conversion nay they expose it to Damnation 5thly These youthful Lusts indispose the Soul to Conversion as they miserably enslave and defile the Affections which are seated in the sensitive apperite of a man and they are such as these Anger Love Joy Fear Sorrow these are planted in us to be subservient to our Souls in glorifying God and working out our own Salvation But through these youthful Lusts they become subservient to Satan and predominant over the Soul bringing it into miserable bondage and vile slavery and so indispose it to Conversion In Prayer thy affections should be fixed on God in Christ as the sole object of thy Love Delight and filial Fear But are they so dost thou draw nigh to God as thy exceeding joy tell me young man where are thy Bethels thy Penuels I doubt upon a serious review it will be found quite otherwise that vain thoughts have lodged in thy mind and that swarms of noisome Lusts have been tumbling up and down the dead Sea of thy Soul in time of Prayer Ah how little of love to God hatred of Sin answerable to their nature have possessed your Souls in duty if any pious stirrings of Affections have been how short a stay have they made how many more ambitious wanton covetous or revengeful Thoughts have been jumbled together with them I appeal to you Is it not enough to change that Prayer into Sin wherein thy God hath been lodged with a crew of viperous Lusts or rather wherein thy Affections have been committing spiritual Fornication with their Idols or have been Dinah like gadding abroad with the Fools Eyes to and fro to the ends of the Earth Now upon enquiry whence this comes about if thou search impartially and cast the lot right it will appear that the Arch-Agent of and in all this is thy minion Lust that Youth is under the power of some complain of continual distractions in Prayer their Minds are like the unquiet Waves of the Sea up and down their Affections unstable rambling up and down Alas the main reason of this woful posture in Duty is their unmortified Lusts and it is very observable that the more provision you make for the Flesh to fulfil it in its lusts the more dominion and tyranny it will have over your Thoughts and Affections in holy Duties and is such a Prayer ever like to issue in thy Conversion wherein thy Affections have been under the vile umpire and influence of thy Lusts It may rather be called a Service done to thy Lusts than to God There was Jehu what ardent and zealous affection did he seem to have in the Service and Cause of God when he cryed out Come see my Zeal for the Lord of Hosts But what was it that influenced and moved his affections it was not the Glory of God but the lust of Vain-glory and Self-advancement Experience confirms this that many in their youth have had shews of great affection in their Profession of Godliness who have after a while fell away and become at last as senseless and stupid about Heavenly things as any prophane one in the world O young People those Lusts you serve will have such an ill influence on your Affections as that they will become like wild Horses to tear your Souls in pieces O cursed Lusts how unspeakable is that thraldom they lay our affectionate part under that when thy Affections should be like Elijah's fiery Chariot to mount thy Soul up to Heaven they should through thy lust be like the Wheels of a Jehu's Chariot furiously to hurry thy Soul to Hell Our affections were planted in us for this end to facilitate and make our access to God to become easie pleasant and delightful to our Soul but O miserable change they now are quite contrary through thy unmortified Lusts they are like Clogs Chains and Fetters to hinder the Soul's approach to God When at any time the Ship of thy Soul should hoise fail for Heaven thy Affections being defiled and led captive by thy Lusts will like a Sheet-Anchor hold it back When thou shouldst be loving the Lord thy God with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind which our Saviour telleth you is that first and great Commandment on which all depends for saith Christ on this hang all the Law and the Prophets O how deplorable a case is it that instead of this my depraved Affections should terminate upon and cleave to a Cup or a Whore or a dunghil world O monstrous wickedness O young men bethink your selves what a pernicious temper this is ought it noâ— to cut you to the very Heart to find your selves convicted of such enmity and aversion in your affections to the blessed God and whence is it but from your youthfuâ— Lusts O diseased Soul if thy lusts had noâ— corrupted and perverted thy Affections thou wouldst have thought God as suitabâ— an object for thy love as meat to the hungry and drink to the thirsty Is he not thâ— chiefest best most excellent comprehensive purest fullest and most immutable permanent Good Should not an object so admirably fit attract and allure thy superlatiâ—â— love Do you not know do n't your Coâ—sciences tell you that your affections ougâ—â— to be placed on God above all and ougâ—â— it not to fill your Souls
that Pleasure went out at first on occasion to Bathe her self and having stript off her Cloaths laid them by the Water side but Sorrow having hid her self in the Covert as unseen steals the Cloaths away puts them on and so departs Hence multitudes are cheated they run and ride court and woo Pleasure which they have no sooner obtained but they perceive their Error alas it is nothing but Sorrow got in Pleasures Cloaths O young man that art so eager after Pleasures you know not what you so earnestly reach after do but enquire of those that have detected the Cheat and they will tell you there is nothing in all the world so deceitful as Sin it deceived Angels above and Man beneath it promiseth credit and pays with shame it promiseth ease and pays with pain it promiseth Bread and pays with Stones it promiseth a Paradise of pleasure and pays with a Wilderness of Sorrows it promiseth Liberty and pays with Bondage it promiseth Satisfaction and Content and pays with nothing but vexation and disappointment O young man enquire e're thou venturest enquire cui bonâ— to what purpose What shall I gain by Pleasures Shall I be more free for and cheerful in the Service of God will my Soul be more heavenly or my Body more healthy what will come of this pleasure will it forward me in the way to Heaven or Hell will it pay charges at last This hunting after Sensual Pleasures and neglecting God and my precious Soul what aspect will it have in its final review Alas young men if you would bring things to a close tryal and scrutiny the vail of Sins pretences is so thin that you might presently detect its falshood and in unmasking and discovering it Lyes you would rcceive much advantage in fortifying you against its Allurements I end this with St. Paul's Exhortation Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another daily lest you be hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin And then Eighthly and Lastly Consider in order to the fleeing of this youthful Sin of an eager pursuit of vain Pleasure that you shall not loose but gain true pleasure and by abandoning the spurious and pernicious Pleasures of Sin a sound Conversion of thy Heart and Life to God will but exchange thy Pleasures and exchange is no robbery Sure it would be a great favour and kindness to take from thee the filthy muddy ditch-waters of Sin and present thee with the pure and precious Waters of Life Were that man hurt that should have a glass of Poyson took out of his Hand and a Cup of Sack put in O youth I must not spare to tell thee that thou wilt never taste one drop of true Delight and Pleasure till thou art converted and become seriously Relious It is no part of God's meaning when we enter his sweet Service that we should be debarred of Pleasures for the Ways of Wisdom are Ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Paths of Peace Prov. 3. 17. But only that we should exchange the Onions and Garlick of Egypt for the Milk and Honey of Canaan Isaac must not be sacrificed but the Ram So here all ramish and rank Pleasures must but not the Soul-ravishing and refreshing pleasures at God's right hand Psal 16. 11. O that you would but make Experiment hereof you will find One Hour's praying better than a thousand of prophane fudling as Mr. An. Burg. saith thou wilt find one hours enjoyment of Christ as thy Husband by Faith better then all the wanton Dalliances and unchaste imbracements of unlawful objects So that young man thou fleest from true Pleasures when thou fleest not thy youthful sensual Pleasures the Lord bless these Considerations to thee Now this brings me to lay down some Rules to direct Youth how they may flee the next youthful Sins Remedies against those Youthful Sins of Flexibility in yielding to Temptations and readily going down the stream following a multitude to do evil and keeping ill Company c. THese Sins I have shewed you before are especially the Sins of Youth to be easily drawn and enticed to do as others do c. Now I shall very briefly offer you some Considerations for the fleeing of them 1. Consider Christ's Flock is but a little Flock and the Gate and Way to Life eternal is straight and narrow and they are but few that walk therein If you will not be content to go to Heaven with a few you are never like to come there The beaten Path is the common Road to Hell which hath used in all Ages to be thronged with Troops but Heaven's straight way from the time of the old World to this day hath at best had but a paucity of Walkers and sometimes a singularity as Noah in his day was singular and Elijah in his day left alone when there were 400 false Propheâ—s of Baal and Jeremiah was fain to weep in secret I confesâ— this is a shrewd temptation to â—oung People and of all Ages that age of Youth is most in danger of stumbling at it but O Youth is it not better to be â—aved alone or with a few than to perish with millions Had you lived in Noah's time when the Flood came would you not have rather chose to have been preserved with Noah's Family alone than drown'd with the rest tho' you had all the world to keep you company I remember the learned Breerwood divides the World into 30 parts and after a diligent pondering of it telleth us that 19 of the 30 are Paganish and of the 11 parts that remain he saith Mahumetism takes up six so that there remains but five for Christianism O that the Desire of all Nations might come and accomplish that Prophecy Isa 2. 1 2. When the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be exalted on the top of the mountains and all Nations shall flow into it So that you may see by this O Youth that thou must either renounce all hopes of Heaven and lay aside thy Christianity or else be willing to be singular to the World that lies in wickedness it 's the World's fashion to be prayerless and graceless but will you read Rom. 12. 1. with Jam. 1. 17. And then with these Scriptures see 1 John 2. 15 16. But it may be objected That you are câ—me out of the Pagan and Mahumetan World you go with the Christian World and therefore â—hat can be said against you but that you may do as other Christians do I answer with the Apostle that spake expresly of our times in that of 2 Tim. 1. and the five first Verses This know that in the last days perilous times shall come Men shall be so and so even in the Church of God having a form of godliness but denying the power Well what Advice doth he give as to these nominal Christians why in the very next words he saith From such turn away Alas in the Christian World the number of sound Believers is but small indeed if all that name