unto God 4. You that give away your Hearts from God are guilty of great folly you are hereby not only unjust towards God but you are injurious towards your selves God hath not need of your Hearts but you have need to give them to him your loss is great by with-holding your Hearts from God you lose the heart of God which you should have in exchange you lose the favour of God which is infinitely beyond the favour of men you lose the peace of conscience which is the Souls feast you lose the joyes of the Holy Ghost which are unspeakably sweet and glorious you love all that communion with God and communications of the richest spiritual supplies which you might have from God if you gave your Hearts unto him hereby you lose your souls which is the greatest loss you lose your salvation and the eternal crown and glory which you are capable of And what do you gain by giving away your Hearts from God you look indeed for great satisfaction and delight and a happiness which the things you chiefly desire and love should yield unto you but be sure you will come off with disappointment none of these things can give that which they have not something indeed you will gain by giving your Hearts to the creatures namely deep wounds of conscience heart-piercing sorrows smarting scourges sometimes of afflictions or if your life be more pleasant and conscience for a while asleep at your latter end you are like to be utterly consumed with terrours or if you be not awakened then be sure you will be awakened in the flames of Hell Fire and brimstone and a horrible tempest of Gods wrath and most dreadful indignation shall be the eternal portion which you will gain by your preferring the creature above God in your affections And what can be more foolish more injurious to your selves than this sin Vse 3. For exhortation of all men especially of you that are young men to give your Hearts unto God This is the first day of the new year and some of you do bring new-New-years gifts to one another be perswaded to present God with the new-New-years gift of your Hearts the Devil that old Serpent and the World that old Cheat have had your Hearts all the old Year and some deceitful Lusts have hitherto gained and possessed your Affections be perswaded to call off and pluck your hearts now at length out of the hands of these enemies which seek after your destruction and to offer them up unto God for a New-years gift this new-New-years day and as a new and living sacrifice which will be very acceptable unto God who is the God of your Salvation Some of you have nothing of your own which you can give unto men without wronging your Masters or your Parents but all of you have hearts of your own which you may give to God and which you cannot keep from him without wronging him and wronging your selves too Young men it may be you have given your Hearts to Delight and Pleasure the Goddess which most in the world do adore But sit down and consider whether sensual pleasure doth deserve your Hearts you have tasted a little of its sweetness and hope for a great deal more yea so much as shall give satisfaction and contentment but you will find emptiness and vanity in the enjoyment bitterness and misery to be the consequent of that pleasure which your Hearts do so much love and desire Solomon who had as great a confluence of creature-delights as any man living and upon trial had found all to be vanity and vexation of spirit in the issue doth from his own experience warn young men against indulging the flesh and giving their hearts unto any sensual-delights Indeed he seemeth in his first words to give allowance to young men to take their pleasures and to walk in this way of their hearts but his speech is ironical for withall he tacitly intimates unto them how dearly they should pay for their pleasures when God should bring them unto Judgment Eccles. 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thine heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgment As if he should have said Young ones be as merry and frolick as you list take your fill of sensual Pleasures if you think good Smell at every flower suck at every breast taste and feed on every dainty dish drink and drink deep of every sweet cup Bathe your selves in the streams of all creature-delights run into every pleasant embracement melt away in soft pleasures indulge your sensual appetite to the height gratifie every lust to the full withhold from your selves nothing which is pleasing to your flesh do whatever seemeth good in your own eyes be chearful and rejoyce all your youthful dayes seek gather and enjoy with all freedom whatever is delightful to your hearts or pleasant to your eyes This do if you think good and that it is your interest BVT KNOW that for all these things God will bring you unto judgement Believe remember and seriously consider that there is a day of reckoning not far off a day of judgement coming when you will be called to an account and when all your delights and pleasures will vanish like the cloud and be fled for ever out of your sight then your most sweet delights will be turned into Gall and Wormwood then horrible pain and everlasting torment will take the room of your momentany pleasures and as you like the one so indulge your selves in the other Or it may be it is the honour and esteem of men which too many of you that are young are most enamoured with and have addicted your hearts unto Some of you though you have not the golden chain about your neck have gotten the chain of Pride and ambition about your Heart whereby it is captivated and led away from God unto any kind of Practices which may likely get you a name and lift you up in others esteem And is it not to be feared that some of you make use of Religion as a footstool to raise you a little higher or as a stirrup to advance you into the seat of some kind of repute and as a cloak to cover ambitions designs And is any kind of honour either amongst the ungodly or the religious worthy of your hearts Doth it deserve the highest room in your affections Is it fit that Pride should sit in the throne which doth belong to God Your affections are hungry will they be satisfied with wind If they be filled sometime will they can they herewith be satisfied Do you not lose honour by loving it and desiring it inordinately and that higher honour than the honour which you may desire but never attain unto I mean do you not lose the honour and esteem of God which is infinitely beyond all
THE Best Gift OR GOD'S CALL UPON YOUNG MEN for their HEARTS Delivered in a Sermon to YOUNG MEN. By THOMAS VINCENT Minister sometime of Maudlins Milkstreet London LONDON Printed for George Calvert and Samuel Sprint and are to be sold at the Golden Ball in Duck Lane 1672. THE BEST GIFT c. Prov. 23. part of the 26th verse My Son Give me thine Heart SOlomon was not only a King but a Prophet not only a Prince but a Preacher and in the name of God he calleth upon all the children of men especially young men by the name of his Son for their Heart that they would present the Lord with the gift of the Heart As in the later clause of the verse he directeth the eye of their mind unto the observation of Gods way which he calleth his way Let thine eyes observe my Wayes so in this first clause he directeth their hearts unto God in himself whom he doth represent My Son give me thine heart Hence observe Doct. That all men especially young men ought to give their Heart unto God In handling of this point I shall shew 1. What is meant by the Heart 2. What it is to give God the Heart 3. Why all men especially young men ought to give God their Hearts 4 Make some application 1. What is meant by the Heart The Heart in Scripture is frequently taken for the whole Soul as including all its powers and faculties thus Mat 15.8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips there was the worship of their outward man but their heart is far from me the worship of the Soul and inward man was wanting So Rom. 2.28 29. He is not a Iew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Iew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit c. And we shall find in the Scripture that every faculty is sometimes called by the name of the Heart The Understanding Eph. 4.18 Being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts The Conscience 1 Iob. 3.20 For if our heart condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things The Memory Luk. 2.19 Mary kept al these things in her heart But chiefly and most properly the Heart is taken in Scripture for the Will and Affections which are seated in the Heart as the Understanding Memory Fancy and Imagination are seated in the Head and thus we may understand the acceptation of the word Heart in this place namely for the Will and Affections yet not excluding the other faculties 2. What is it to give God the Heart Persons give God their Hearts when their Wills make choice of him as their chief Good and they place their liking affections chiefly upon him when their love is chiefly towards him their desires chiefly after him their hopes and delights chiefly in him Persons give God their Hearts when theâ— open the door of these secret chambers and let God in and lodge him the dearest embracements of their affections when they give him full possession of their hearts and set him up in the highest room when they give God the chief rule and command in their hearts placing him upon the the throne when they engage their hearts to the Lord in a solemn covenant to be his and only his 3. Why all men especially young men ought to give their hearts unto God R. 1. Because God hath right to their hearts The Devil and Sin have got the possession but they have no right to the heart they are usurpers and therefore should be turned out God only hath right to the heart and that to the heart of young ones as well as others young ones have not right to possess their inheritance left to them by their Fathers whilst they are under age until they arrive at one and twenty years but God hath right to possess the hearts of young ones in the years of their minority He hath a right to their hearts so soon as they are born so soon as they have them themselves and that because he hath made them and he hath bought them they belong to him by right of Creation and by right of Purchase The Body was form'd by God but the Soul is infus'd and cometh more immediately out of his hand and it is but equal to return that to God which he hath made to present God with the gift of that which is his own the work of his own hands especially when besides his natural right to the heart he hath made a purchase of it he hath laid â—own a great price for it even the price of his Sons bloud as the bloud of Christ hath purchased an everlasting inheritance for men so it hath purchased the hearts of men for God to be his everlasting habitation See this Argument urged by the Apostle upon the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6.19 20 Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods God hath a double right both to to the body and to the Spirit too and as the heart is his by way of right so all ought to make it his by way of tender and gift R. 2. All especially young men ought to give God their hearts because God doth require them some tacitly give away their right by their not demanding of it and some things which are the right of such a man yet are not his without a lawful demand but God hath not only right to the heart but he requireth it he maketh a demand of it he commandeth us to give it See Matth. 22.37 38. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy mind this is the first and great commandment It is not the eye or the ear or the tongue or the knee that God careth for but the heart the sincere and supreme love of the heart is the chiefest and most comprehensive commandment Some debts are forfeited by Law if though they be demanded they be not timely demanded but God doth timely demand this debt of the Heart He doth not stay till men are grown into elder years but he demandeth their hearts when they are young He calleth upon young men to give him their hearts as in the Text My son give me thine heart R. 3. All especially young men ought to give God their Hearts because God will accept of their Hearts If a man will not accept of his right he loseth his right and there is no obligation upon a man to tender a gift that is despised but God will accept of the Heart and nothing is more acceptable than the Heart nothing is acceptable like the Heart and nothing is acceptable without the Heart all the good language of the lips the devotion of the knees and all bodily
exercises is of no worth in Gods account all is flattery all is mockery without the Heart the Sacrifices under the Law although of Gods own appointment yet comparatively with the Sacrifice of the Heart they were not esteemed and without the sacrifice of the Heart they were despised but the Heart was never despised never refused but readily accepted as the most delightful sacrifice See Psal. 51.16 17. For thou desirest not sacrifice that is comparatively else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt-offerings the Sacrifices of God are as broken spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise God doth not despise the heart yea He desireth and delighteth in the Sacrifice of the Heart when it is offered up unto Him by the hands of Christ our great High Priest in Heaven a heart broken and bleeding for sin gasping and breathing after God is very pleasing and acceptable And as God will accept the Hearts of any so especially the Hearts of young ones the sooner any bring their Hearts unto God the better is he pleased the Rose is sweetest in the bud before it be quite blown and the love of Youths to God hath a great fragrancy and is very sweet and delightful to Him R. 4. All especially young men ought to give God their Hearts because he doth best deserve them not only as he hath a right to them of which before but also as he is the most deserving object Nothing is worthy of their Hearts beside Him or in the least degree of comparison with Him 1. If Loveliness do deserve Love God is altogether Lovely this cannot be said of any creature in the world which may be apt to draw away the Heart the creatures indeed may have loveliness but the loveliness of creatures is inferiour Gods loveliness is supreme the loveliness of creatures is defective Gods loveliness is perfect the creatures may have some loveliness but God hath all loveliness the creatures loveliness is derivative Gods loveliness is from himself and whatsoever loveliness the creatures have they derive it from Him and therefore even that loveliness is eminently in Him and moreover such loveliness as is infinitely beyond that What is the Beam in comparison of the Sun What is the Stream in comparison with the Fountain What is the drop in comparison with the Ocean And what is creatures loveliness in comparison with the Creator's loveliness Indeed God's loveliness is not visible like some creatures-loveliness because God is a Spirit and his loveliness spiritual but Gods loveliness is not the less because it is not corporal and visible but the more because not so low and inferiour and subject to alternations as bodily beauty is as the beauty of the mind adorned with wisdom and grace is far beyond the beauty of the 〈◊〉 of the rarest symmetry and mixture of colours so the beauty of God which is spiritual doth infinitely excell all created beauty whether of body or of mind Gods loveliness cannot be discerned with the eye of the body but it may be viewed with the eye of the mind with the eye of faith through the illuminations of the spirit indeed the beauty of his face cannot be seen by any in the body the vision of this is fit only for Angels and is reserved for the Saints in Heaven yet in his back parts there is infinitely more loveliness to be seen than in the face of any creatures whatsoever if there could be a composition of all created loveliness in one person it would fall infinitely short of the loveliness of God in any one of his excellencies and perfections Hence was that desire of David Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple And Psal. 63.1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee as in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary 2. If sutableness do deserve love there is infinitely more of this in God unto the Heart than in any thing else that any may set their hearts upon Indeed sensitive objects are more sutable unto the bruitish part I mean the senses in which many bruits do excell men but God is most sutable to the most excellent and noble part of man which is the soul He is a sutable good and the only sutable good for the Heart because he is the only chief good nothing beneath nothing besides the chief good can give true satisfaction to the Soul none but God can fill up the large and immense desires of the Heart the house may be filled with goods the bags may be filled with silver and gold the cabinets may be filled with jewels but none of these things can fill the Heart the eye may be tired with seeing and the ear wearied with hearing and all the senses glutted and cloyed with their proper objects but none of these objects are sutable to the Soul and therefore cannot fill and satisfie its desires Earthly riches are uncertain and thorny worldly honours are vain and windy sensual pleasures are thin and empty and all are of short continuance and very transitory and what then can they all do to give satisfaction unto a rational Soul which is a spiritual substance to an immortal soul which must abide when the body is dropt off into the dust and all these things are vanish'd out of sight and which must live so long as the eternal God shall live God only is the sutable good for the Soul the creatures are not so far beneath the Soul as God is above it the creatures have not so much emptiness as God hath fulness the creatures have not such insufficiency as God hath All-sufficiency he that is Self-sufficient must needs be All-sufficient an Ocean surely is sufficient to fill a Bucket or a Nut shell though ten thousand worlds are not sufficient to fill one Soul yet one God that is All sufficient can fill ten thousand worlds of souls It is a great expression Eph. 3.20 21. Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us to him be glory c. He can do above abundantly above exceeding abunantly above in the original the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above abundantly He can do infinitely beyond not only our Prayers and what we can ask but also our conceptions and what we can think We may ask for great things mountains of Gold seats amongst the Starrs the most delicious things for the sense but God can do more than this for us and if he doth not give such things because they are not so good he giveth that which is better a little true Grace