Soul would say Amen how would Satan be disappointed how would Heaven rejoyce it would be thy best day and the entrance of eternal Life Obj. But I believe some here are ready to say Sir must I now change must I now stop my Vanity surely 't is too soon Sure I might be vain a little longer there 's no danger in it I hope Answ. My Address to you is for this Instant even to day harden not your Hearts Heb. 4. 7. Oh Child just now cease to be vain 't is late enough with the youngest of you it 's not too soon to stop a wicked Course now now thou shouldst yield to Christ If you ask Why now I tell you 1. Because young Peoples Souls shall be saved or damned by the same Rules as the old ones if they be past Infancy Oh if you die to night God will judge you by the Gospel Rom. 2. 16. and that 's the lowest Rule God can judge you by Youth must be judged as well as Men Eccl. 11. 10. Young ones that obey not the Gospel shall not escape the Vengeance 2 Thess. 1. 8 9. 2. God is concerned at and provok'd by the Vanity of Children Pray consider you think it may be that God takes no more notice of what you say or do than you do your selves Alas you are deceived don't you think God was angry with the Children whom he slew by the Bears for deriding the Prophet 2 King 2. 24. God notes what you do Young Ones God doth not rule old Men and leave Children to their own Wills his Laws are prescribed to young Men under the same Threats as to the old and it 's not indifferent to him what you do God observes what you do as much as any other person for you are his Subjects you were made for his Glory you serve him or his Enemy the Devil and what you do is good or evil 3. The youngest of you are under Vows to God against Vanity I suppose you were entred into Gods Covenant by your Parents as Deut. 29. 11 12. Was not a holy Heart and a serious godly Life engaged in that Covenant in opposition to Sin and Satan You are dedicated to God in your Infancy you are his and not your own Young Children what will you lie to God now will you be perjur'd now O God forbid Dare any young Person here say I was given to God in my Infancy but I now retract it I was sworn to be the Lords but I will not keep to him Baptism will sink those Children of Believers who perform not their Vows and practically renounce their God 4. Let me tell you if you remain vile all your Youth a thousand to one but you will be ever so You may die before you are old and then you are undone but if you live and are not converted when young it 's improbable that ever you should O it 's ill dealing with old Sinners they are conceited full of Prejudices immersed in worldly Cares the Calls and Threatnings of God are grown familiar to them and their Souls stupid and void of Affections God makes now and then an Instance of Grace in them but 't is rare the last Hour Converts are next to Miracles most feel that he that hardens his heart being often reproved shall die without Remedy Prov. 29. 1. 5. Again Oh what service mayst thou do for God when thou ceasest to be vain betimes Come my Friends what a heap will every days little come to in time if Young persons would but now begin to be holy tho they act but a little for God every day it will at length amount to much As we say he that begins with the Sun will make a long days Journey Oh how much do Young People do for the Devil in a state of sin when they live long how large is the Roll of their Transgressions and how much might they do for God in a state of Grace how many may bless God for thee what a publick blessing mayst thou prove thou mayst well be an eminent Saint much improved for Heaven and abundant in the fruits of Righteousness 6. Our Youth will be the Plague or Hope of this Land in this great Crysis Great things are before us the rapid motion of Providence hints no common matters There have of late been many ways taken to debauch Young People in their Manners to prejudice them against Holiness and Sobriety Nevertheless the holy God has seasoned some Young Ones there are many looking Heaven-ward and God seems designed to reform the rest Well whether of these two prevail doth determine England's lot Oh if our Youth grow yet more profligate God's about to leave us if he recover our Youth we may hope he 'll yet continue amongst us Young Ones I would be earnest with you for God indicates his mind to England by you Oh be you all ready to say Can I help to save a Nation by the Grace of God I will be one of these that will do it let Satan and the World and the Flesh struggle with me as they can 7. This youthful Vanity continued in will be the grief and wounding of Age tho thou shouldst be converted then Little do you now know what youthful sins may cost you in old Age Thou makest me to possess the sins of my youth sayes Iob ch 13. 16. Oh how bitter will the remembrance of past Villanies be oh how wilt thou tremble to think thou hast help'd any one in the way to Hell when thou thy self art got out of that road How will it grieve thee to think thou hast been a means to damn any Soul can it be a little thing to thee the Joy of late Converts is abated by the thoughts of youthful Sins Paul carry'd it to the Grave with him that he was a Persecutor in his Youth Believe me Sirs the Evidence of our Conversion when late is more than made up by the Innocency of our Lives when converted young And they are to blame who seem to complain that gross Villanies have not made their Change more remarkable Thus I have done with the first Vse God grant it be to such purpose that none may go out of this place unwearied and unresolved unwearied with his Vanity and unresolved to put an end to it Exhort 2. To such as through Grace are delivered from this Vanity Before I enter on this I must declare you are our Joy and our Crown I would I could speak it of every one here to day Oh that every Young One in this place were of this Number You are our Comfort that God has some to propagate Religion when we are dead and gone How lovely is Gods Image in your tender Years Your Grace is less questionable now than it would be if you were aged I say your Conversion's more evident now for you are now in your Health and Heat you are now under the force of Temptation you are not decripid and aged and under the
the blessed God and is the gratifying thy lusts equal to these You are receptive of divine Joys and are thy carnal merriments answerable to these Oh young Body what use art thou fit for to others What benefit mayest thou yield to thy self how canst thou seem to answer these by a trifling diversion or a perishing advantage Sure thy Capacity is thy shame the very Beast that liveth to the utmost of his Powers will witness against thee who behavest thy self so much below thine It would have been thy Mercy whose Exercises have been so low that thy abilities had been less Hence 3. Wilt not thou shortly acknowledge with shame and grief that thou hast lived to unvaluable Purposes No Ministers rebukes will be so sharp as thy own when Grace renews thee or endless Torments overtake thee If the Spirit ever enlighten thy Mind and alter thy Will we may ask thee What fruit had you of those things whereof you are now ashamed Rom. 6. 21. With a grieving blush thou wilt answer Nothing I dare boast of nothing I can justifie I am ashamed of my Reward as well as my Labour What I reaped by Sin is my shame as well as sin it self it was a Fools Diversion wherewith I pleased my self it was my Blemish wherein I gloried it was my Loss whereby I valued my self What are they now to me they are Dogs meat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to what I now taste Phil. 3. 8. I am astonished that I could relish these unsavoury things or derive the least Contentment from them when my chief Good was unsecure Young Man if Grace do not awaken thee Hell will the never-dying Worm will be Convictions of the emptiness of what thou hast pursued and the base Purposes thou hast lived to How will they tear thy Soul with such Thoughts as these where 's the Pleasure now where 's the Satisfaction to which my Endeavours were confined oh that I had been but a Beast who have lived to designs so brutish Oh that I had had no intellectual Nature being I studied not to know my God and the way of Life Oh that I had been void of rational Powers since I did not govern my self accordingly Oh that ever I had natural Abilities to love and fear being I have not loved my God nor so revered him as to abstain from Vanity Wo is me that I had a Capacity for any Service seeing I have lived so uselesly to God to my Friends and to my self Alas where is the Fruit of my labonr what now do I enjoy that deserved one hour of my life or answers the least of my Abilities These these oh Child will be the Effects of thy present way 3. Children and young People are apt to live to destructive purposes which is the height of Vanity The last Head is convincing that it were as well thou hadst never lived but by this it were far better for thee thou hadst remained meer nothing to this day to live to hurtful Ends is worse than not living at all yet this is thy Condition you dishonour God you provoke the Eyes of his Glory you trample the blood of Christ under your Feet with Contempt How many young People serve the Devil with their strength are a Snare and Infection to all they can influence One young body spoils many others and leads them to that Villany they had never thought of You oft break your Parents Hearts and they by thy means feel that a foolish Son is the heaviness of his Mother Prov. 10. 1. You frequently destroy your Master's Estate To the serious you are a Grief to the City and Kingdom a Plague as helping on its Sin hastning its Punishment and obstructing its Good How many may complain of Harm on thy account But whatever Hurt you bring to others sure you avoid Mischief to your selves No no Young men live most to their own Hurt and seem to take great pains to make their Misery sure and great Oh vain Youth thou daily makest thy self more the Child of Wrath by thy sinful Practices thy wicked Habits grow more strong by idleness and frequent opposition hopeful Principles are more baffled and expelled Conscience by thy Affronts is less concerned and capable to admonish thee Thy ill treatment of Gods Spirit makes him withdraw and his Visits are more seldom so that he is ready to say of thee Let him alone Hos. 4. 17. Believe it careless Youth thy ways tend to more sin and less hopefulness of Grace and Glory Oh wretched Life to live only to be more guilty and to be exposed to greater Punishments thou runnest Hell-ward thy Thoughts tend there thy Words lead there thy vile Actions heap the greater store of eternal Flames Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish are the things thou workest for Rom. 2. 8 9. Thou labourest for these Wages thou livest thy self daily to a greater obnoxiousness to these Woes as if thou wert afraid thou shouldest not be miserable enough Oh Soul to be pitied not to be born had been thy mercy as well as Iudas unless thou change thy living is it not to thee those words are proper Behold you are worse than nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 4. 24. Hadst thou not lived at all thou hadst not done the mischief thou now art doing thou couldst not have felt the hurt thou must shortly endure How may most young Folk bemoan the day of their Birth their Life is a misery which might have capacitated them for the Bliss of Angels had they well employed it The Lord grant you be not found thus foolish and cruel to your selves yet to this you are more proner than to a more profitable Course The next Work is to shew you 1. How Childhood and Youth became thus vain 2. Why they continue so 3. How most young People grow still vainer 1. Quest. How comes it to pass that Childhood and Youth are vain Ans. Childhood and Youth became vain by Original Sin There 's the Spring of the Disease thou didst not come out of God's Hand thus prone to sin and thus averse to himself But a depraved Nature descends to thee from Adam by the Line of thy Ancestors Thou wert born under the Infection common to Mankind generated in the ordinary manner the very quickened Embrio in the Womb hath all the Seeds of those sins which time ripens and opportunity brings forth our Constitution is become sinful and all corrupt Effects are next to natural I shall not trouble you with Disputes but meerly inform you 1. How our Nature became corrupt 2. How it descends thus corrupted to thee 1. Our Nature became corrupt or vain by the entrance of Sin whereby the Divine Image was expelled as well as forfeited A Rational Soul cannot be void of moral Qualities and Dispositions as it is a Subject of God's moral Government there must be Wisdom or sinful Ignorance in the Mind there must be Love or Enmity to what is good and Aversion or Inclination
vain Answ. Childhood and Youth continue vain for want of a due use of means appointed for their healing O young People here are three things in this that are very fit to move you 1. First here 's Comfort that the Vanity of Youth is healable thy case is sad but 't is not desperate there 's hope in Israel concerning the Recovery of Sinners in their Youth The Devils became wicked and never can be recovered they may grow viler but they can never grow better but blessed be God this is not thy case the Wound though sad is yet curable There have been many young Folk made pious and serious Isaac was good betimes Timothy and Iohn were Old Disciples before they could call Man Iosiah's tender years were impress'd with Grace I have known undoubted Evidence of Grace before ten year old Oh then you need not resolve to be vile because 't is in vain to attempt to be good no no No young Persons in this Assembly need to say so or need think so God has not resolved against Young Persons that they shall never be recovered nay he has determined that out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings he will ordain praise Psal. 8. 2. Children Our Lord Jesus has never said he will have nothing to do with such as you I 'll neither wash you nor heal you nor teach you Nay he has said quite otherwise Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not c. Mat. 19. 14. The Spirit of God never resolv'd I will convince no wicked Children I will sanctifie no prophane Youth nay instead of that to you he speaks in Psal. 34. 11. Come ye Children hearken to me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. The Spirit has a Mind to be the Teacher of Children and the Instructer of Youth he has a mind to train up the Young Generation for Heaven as well as the Old ones So that Young ones may say to Day Why though I am wicked yet there 's hope and though I have a vile Nature yet there 's hope I may be recovered even though my whole frame seems thus set for Villany and appears thus desperately dispos'd There 's the first point and that 's a great matter and under the power of that I preach to Young Ones and under the hopes of that you Young Ones should regard what I say and urge for the case of Youth is healable 2. Secondly Here 's a loud Call to you that God uses means to heal Young Ones of their Vanity This confirms the former Is God at pains with Youth to make them better then there 's hope of Youth for God would not be at this labour if it were wholly useless O my Friends God has sent his Son to dye for young Children as well as old Men even Young ones receive forgiveness by his Blood My little Children to whom I write for your sins are forgiven 1 Ioh. 2. 12. The Spirit of God strives with many Young ones as soon as they can understand any thing he bids early for your compliance I do believe there 's not a Child of six years old under the Gospel Means but the Spirit of God has been striving with This holy One can truly say I have been dealing with this Child to make it happy Pray let 's a little consider Thou Child or Youth hast thou had no sence of Hells misery ever upon thy Heart hast thou never been convinc'd that 't was ill to Lye or Swear Hast thou never found pressing motions to be good and to resolve against evil have no good desires stirr'd in thy Soul Why all these were the workings of the Spirit of God on thy poor Soul God has been labouring with every young Body in this Congregation He has been labouring with thee by the advice of thy Parents when they taught thee to read or taught thee thy Catechism or instructed thee to pray it was God by them taking pains with thee We Preachers preach to you Young Ones as well as to the Old nay we preach to you with more hopes expecting that you are not hardned as old Persons are Young People have not the Mercies of God have not the preservations of God towards you been so many Teachers What has been the Language of every Mercy to thee Child to you young ones but this Oh Children don 't you provoke this God don't make me your Enemy for you see I would fain do you good I would fain be merciful and not a Destroyer of you Nay have not Afflictions been the pains of God with you Is there ever a Young one here that has not been sick at one time or other Why the Lord sent that Sickness to thee and spake in this manner thereby I will warn this Young one to be Religious lest he should dye before he be converted all the Corrections of thy Parents and Master for thy Sin they have all been the Calls of God and his Language in them all has been I would fain imbitter Sin to this poor Young one by something short of Hell I would gladly restrain the Wickedness of this Youth before I must damn him You see you had need look to it for God has used means towards your recovery think not God doth not mean me in his Word don't say God did not intend my cure in the helps I enjoy alas he intendeth thee as well as any other It 's thy enlightening Oh Young Man he intends by all his teachings 'T is thy Conversion O Young Woman that he designs by all his Calls all these have been directed upon this very design and least you should doubt it the Spirit of God does particularly name you O Young Men and Maids praise you the Lord Psal. 148. Young Men be sober Tit. 2. 6. Nay Christ himself tells us in Prov. 1. 4. that his great design there is to give discretion to the simple young ones Therefore I beg that not one young body in this place may forget what I say now that they frustrate God's hopes if they be not Good and disappoint him of all his labour if they be not gracious all the pains that have been taken with them are lost upon them and will God bear this will he always bear this what will become of you if you proceed this way 3. Thirdly Here 's an awful Charge That you young Men continue vain because you don 't rightly use the means for your healing Ah sad Charge the case of young ones is curable but why is it not altered before now Why O Conscience speak Children you have Consciences Young Ones you have Consciences Can you say 't is long of God I am vile still 't is long of the want of means that I am vile still Ah Friend Father Son and Spirit can all say 't is not my Fault that this Child is bad still 't is not my Fault this young Man and Woman is wicked so long 't is not long of me May not
all the World Holy Angels are not always strangers to thy Carriage and Discourses and mayst not thou blush at their Remarks Devils do oft impress thy Fancy and put those things into thee which thou thinkest and talkest of these Enemies of thine do gladly behold thee unmanning thy self wounding thy Soul and corrupting others with thy foolish Speeches and Actions Thy silly Companions observe thee and receive the Contagion to which their own Inclinations make them apt And is it nothing with thee that thou conversest with People ready to be diverted from seriousness and forward to be vain by thy Example Alas thou becomest accessory to all the evil they shall propagate and wilt be condemned in their thoughts if God give them Repentance or cursed by them in Hell if they dye impenitent Thy ungrave Deportment sometimes is seen by such as are wise and good those despise thee and pity thy Madness when thou pleasest thy self as being airy and witty 4. Be not an unconcerned Stranger to the State of the World where enough daily occurrs to make thee serious Canst thou be light and altogether vain in a World so full of Sin and Misery how many dismal Objects dost thou see and hear of what Cruelty in one Man to another how oft is the Church oppressed what Judgments and Calamities are thy Neighbours under what dangers is the Land of thy Nativity exposed to Most of the Earth lies in Ignorance Idolatry and subject to the Devil's Empire 1 Ioh. 5. 19. how many Souls are bemoaning their own sins and ready to despond under Doubts and Fears where is there a Family but groaneth under some disaster and canst thou play the Buffoon as if Childish toys diverted thee from all sense of these things 5. Awe thy Soul with the importance of sacred things so as not to dare to entertain a light thought concerning them much less to speak jestingly of them Every Scripture truth is a beam of Divine Light it 's revealed by the eternal Spirit to Mankind for to direct their Faith and Practice 2 Tim. 3. 16. and dare a poor Worm that shall be judged thereby affront Heaven by ridiculing its Discoveries Young Man they cannot be matter of Jest which the holy and wise God is intent on and the Hearts of all devout Persons are deeply exercised with Are such things to be sported with by Man which the very Devils tremble at Canst thou chuse but be seriously affected with the Matters of Religion if thou believe these are the things the Incarnation Sufferings Death and Testimony of the Son of God referr to These are the things which great Miracles have attested These are the things which the various Operations of the Holy Ghost on Souls design and the Ministry of Angels subserve These are the things which the Devil is so industrious to oppose These are the things a Gospel-Ministry is established for and about which all pious Ministers are so intent and importunate These are the things which most affect and govern all such who are freed from the Dominion of their Lusts and can dye with hopes These are the things which if totally disregarded expose Mankind to all bruitish Villanies in this World and endless Tortures in another 6. Abstain the Society of light Persons and observe the danger of excessive Mirth There 's that levity in thy temper which inferrs danger by vain Persons and thou art inconsiderate if the latter doth not force thee to say of Laughter it is mad and of Mirth what doth it Eccl. 2. 2. Yea sorrow is better than laughter for by the sorrow of the Countenance the Heart is made better Eccl. 7. 3. 7. Acquaint thy self with those purer and higher Joys which a serious Temper lead to There be delights of a higher Nature than what thou pursuest they would soon render these unsuituble to thy taste as well as contemptible to thy judgment No holy young Man would exchange the feast of his heavenly Father for thy Swinish husks Luke 15. 16 23. there 's no present emptiness nor following bitterness in Spiritual Delights The sence of Gods Love Peace of Conscience the lively hopes of Glory the satisfaction of well-doing the serenity of a composed Soul the ease of a rectified Nature as far as the Faculties are delivered from Sin and healed by Grace do constitute a delight so real and refined as if thou once taste will make thee reflect on thy past Joys with shame and disdain See Psal. 4. 6. Cant. 2. 3 4. 7. Young People are prone to lye This Sin appeareth in Childhood and then such a habit is contracted as they hardly are delivered from It 's now true of many They go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies Ps. 58. 3. You lye to your Parents to excuse your Faults You lye to God in breaking your Baptismal Vow You lye to your Equals for pleasure or gain You speak falsly to revenge your selves on such as you are angry with Oh how oft do you speak otherwise than you think and contrary to what you know deceiving them to whom you speak Consider thou Child lay to Heart O young Man that Lying is a horrid Sin Herein thou imitatest the Devil who is the Father of a Lye and the first Liar Iohn 8. 44. Thou art contrary to God who is a God of Truth to him lying Lips are an abomination Prov. 12. 22. He is so incensed by this Sin that he allots every Liar his Portion among the worst of Sinners Rev. 22. 15. Oh Child wouldst thou get to Heaven then thou must not lye Art thou afraid of burning in Hell for ever then fear a Lye Wouldst thou be a Child of God He tells thee his Children are such as will not lye Isa. 63. 8. It 's the Charge of God to thee Put away lying and speak the truth Eph. 4. 25. Darest thou say I will not regard what the Lord saith to me Alas he will punish thee for a lie worse than thy Father or Master can punish thee for any Fault Young Men allow not your selves in this Iniquity let no Master force you to lye in your Trade much less do you use it in your Discourse it 's a mean thing it 's destructive to Humane Society and the bane of Conversation What is a greater Reproach than to be a Liar What is esteemed a worse Affront than to say thou lyest Great are the mischiefs to Mens Repute Estates Peace by a false Tongue and in vain be all pretences to Religion if the Tongue be not bridled as to this fault Iam. 1. 26. How hateful is it to debase so noble a thing as Speech in deluding thy Brother in thy Communication with him Quest. How shall a Young Man avoid Lying Answ. 1. Love Truth and despise what would allure thee to quit it in thy Speech It 's the Character of him that shall inhabit God's Temple He speaketh the Truth in his heart Psal. 15. 2. To speak the Truth argues a
plain Man an honest Man an Heroick Man and generally a Godly Man Therefore like it in thy self as thou must do in another In order to this get rid of slavish fear which induceth to lying excuses Hate Pride and vain Glory whence all Lyes for ostentation proceed trample on love of filthy lucre and thou wilt not lye for gain Abborr a hurtful envious Spirit which will prevent those lies that are framed to the damage of thy Neighbour 2. Be wary and thoughtful of what thou art about to speak He that speaks hastily is in danger to speak falsly and having uttered one lye in haste is too apt to back it with more whereas he that is sparing in his words doth not easily betray truth and he that considers dare hardly utter a false thing Who will venture to lye that says within himself God hears what I am going to say and he will judge me by my words This restraint on thy Speech is so needful that thou shouldst pray Set a watch O Lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips Psal. 141. 3. 3. Let the lies thou hast uttered at any time be to thee matter of deep humbling Repenting sorrow for what 's past will be a strong caution against the same fault thy grief for it will make thee earnestly pray with David whose fault this was Remove from me the way of lying Psal. 119. 29. They sleightly confess a lye who can persist in it 4. Take heed of Equivocation which is ordinarily downright Lying What is blamed in Jesuites is too usual among Protestants as if a poor Artifice would compensate truth To conceal thy meaning where thou dost not owe a discovery of it is warrantable but to impose delusion under pretence of truth is intollerable especially where Rules of Justice are violated How sad is it to observe the liberty some take in deceiving their Friends with ambiguous words which they hope will be interpreted contrary to what they know to be true 5. Do not be encouraged by Reports to publish what thou hast not just reason to believe What false slanders do some utter on incredible evidence Report say they and we will report it Jer. 20. 10. as not daring to invent the lye yet not scrupling to repeat what they more than suspect to be false But learn thou never to say any thing of thy Enemy upon worse testimony than thou wouldst believe it of thy Friend 6. You that are subject to correction be watchful and innocent in your Carriage that you may not need to lye Do nothing that thou needest be afraid to own This will prevent falshood and thy fear of being put to lye may guard thee against many irregularities Here I would advise Parents and Masters to encourage truth by abating somewhat of severities for Faults that are plainly confessed And I wish Buyers by their backwardness to give a just price would not tempt the Sellers to lye in bargainings for their goods 8. Young People are subject to fleshly Lusts especially Uncleanness This Head concerns Persons past Childhood and therefore I direct it to Young Men. You are not ignorant that your Appetites are unruly and your Inclinations too lascivious In eating you are prone to Gluttony Excessive drinking is too common a fault there be many Drunkards short of twenty years old and Voluptuousness seems the Idol whom our Striplings worship above the living God Uncleanness is thy raging Disease What immodest Dalliance what filthy Thoughts what obscene Speeches what wanton Looks Self-pollution yea actual Fornication doth Conscience charge some of you with How few possess their Vessels in honour 1 Thes. 4. 4. or arrive at Manhood without a forfeiture of Chastity Thou that art apt to Drunkenness or Gluttony oughtest to consider what these Vices are and how vile thou rendrest thy self by indulging thy self therein Sure thou forgettest thou art an imbodied Soul whiles thou art led by thy brutish Lusts. The Name of Christian ill becomes thee Whose God is thy Belly Phil. 3. 19. Where is thy Reason that thy Appetite should thus rule thee What is thy Conscience that fails to terrifie thee out of sins so undoubted and dangerous Shall God put thee off with a portion that becomes a Beast and when thou askest Heaven reproach thee with faring sumptuously every day and receiving thy good things in this life Luke 16. 19 25. Oh Drunkard how odious art thou to all that behold thee how subject to do and suffer the worst of Mischiefs Thy Enemies have an advantage to betray thee Satan may easily perswade thee to the greatest of Sins when thy Soul is in no case to see the Temptation or the consequences of it What secret art thou able to keep what business art thou fit to do how do reproach and penury wait thy persisting in this Course But above all dost thou lay to Heart that God is incensed against thee He left it a rule to Israel that Young Man should stoned against whom his Parents witnessed that he was a Glutton and a Drunkard Deut. 21. 20. It is the sanction under the Gospel that Drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6. 11. Is thy pleasure worth the pains thou must endure or the loss thou shalt sustain Oh Unclean Person how dismal is thy case This Lust blindeth thy Judgment and seareth thy Conscience so that Misery becomes unavoidable by a stupidness in Sin How darest thou worship a holy God whiles thou wallowest in thy pollution Doth not thy filthiness make God a terrour to thee in every Duty as well as defile the Duty by the wandrings of a vile Imagination The Holy Spirit is quenched by lustful motions and cannot dwell in a Heart so unclean 1 Cor. 6. 19. Thou professest to belong to Christ's Body hear the Apostles expostulation Shall I take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of a Harlot God forbid 1 Cor. 6. 15. How oft O Young Man hath the Spirit of God reproved thee How oft hath Conscience bitterly warned thee and darest thou waste thy Body debauch thy Mind ruine thy Estate deface all hopefull impressions on thy Soul renounce a Christ for a base Lust defie God to avenge the Affronts and for ever undo thy self and them whom thou allurest to partake in thy Lasciviousness Then admit that as a holy resolve Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness but put ye on the Lord Iesus Rom. 13. 13 14. and take heed least God give thee up to vile affections Rom. 1. 26. Quest. How shall a Young Person be delivered from Gluttony and Drunkenness Answ. Set thy self to get the mastery of thy Appetite Reason with thy Soul and cry earnestly to God that this may not be thy Ruler None would be a Glutton or Drunkard but that his Appetite hath more power than his Reason and Conscience is too weak to resist the cravings of his Lust most young
made it easie the Current of sin running has made the Channel wider and the opposition less O therefore for the Lords sake begin this day to consider the Devil is grown more impetuous by thy Consent And I can tell thee to day and let the youngest of you observe it That if thou continuest wicked thou wilt be yet more and more so And thou wouldst now blush to think what Wickedness thou wilt hereafter come to As Hazael when it was foretold him by the Prophet what Cruelties he should commit cries out Is thy Servant a Dog 2 King 8. 13. c. Thus I have finished what I intended in the Explication I now come to the Use. First by way of Inference the Lord set it home Some own'd great good on this day twelve-month may more receive good to day The Inferences then are these Inf. 1. How dismal a sight doth this Truth afford us of this World Childhood and Youth is Vanity Ah Lord how true then is it that even the whole World lies in Wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19. the greater part doth so for Young People are many more than old ones The chief part of Age is Vanity the best part of Time is Vanity Childhood is the time fittest to learn in Youth is the time fittest to act in and yet both these are Vanity Oh how little are heavenly Designs carried on by Young Ones Oh how little is God worshipp'd and serv'd by Young ones How few of them are engag'd in their own true Concerns Dreadful that in Youth we will do nothing and in Age we can do nothing Oh who loves God and is not grieved who loves Souls and is not melted All men come sick into the World and most men grow more diseased by their stay there All come miserable and most help on each others Ruine and encrease their own Oh how many go off the Stage and have reason to wish would to God I had perish'd before I saw the light So like Hell is this present State that i'ts a wonder we are able to take any Delight therein God is serious with pleople in their younger Years and they heed it not Ministers are earnest with young People and they regard it not Ah poor Wretches they think we have nothing to do with them Oh Young Ones help us to mourn to day for I am calling on Men to mourn for you who in your Youth yield your selves up to your Lusts and thereby are injurious to Christ and cruel to your own Souls and will you be unmoved Inf. 2. What Care is incumbent on Parents and Masters in the managing of Young Persons Youth is vain and that bespeaks a suitable carriage O Parents you don't beget Angels but sinful Children you breed up corrupt ones and not perfect ones Few are sanctified in the Womb and therefore you should deal with Children as with deprav'd and corrupt Persons as with them whose Childhood and Youth is Vanity The very Distemper directs Parents and Masters in their duty and carriage towards their Children I shall especially name Parents in my Directions 1. Children are Ignorant Oh therefore take you occasion to instruct them Alas canst thou let thy Children be unacquainted with God and insensible of their own Misery or the way of their escape What must thy Child be inspir'd or it must perish for want of knowledge If it must know pray who is fittest to teach it Upon whom does it lye in point of Duty as it does upon you And who has the Advantage of doing it as thou hast Who is so like to prevail with thy Child as thy self None faithfully dedicates his Child to God in Infancy that will not carefully instruct him when of age to learn 2. Youth have unruly Appetites and therefore don't indulge them Oh that every Parent here had but his Heart open to what I say and I speak it out of pity to the Souls of Young ones 'T is an ill practice in Parents to feed their Child by the cravings of i'ts Lust and not by their own Judgment I will tell you the Mischief of it besides the laying a foundation of distemper in Age it gives the Appetite an ungovernable force Children being alwayes indulg'd in what they crave they cannot deny themselves any thing they desire and by the same rule that they must now eat what and when and drink what and when they will while they are under thy care they will be drunk and Whore c. when they grow in years their Reason cannot bridle it then as thine which ought to guide them neglects to do it now Oh dreadful thing that any Childrens Appetites should come from under their Parents tuition unbridled I look on nothing a greater Reproach to Parents And what 's the ground of all Wickedness in the World more than an Inordinate Appetite yet how few Parents do help to cure it while cureable whereas an Appetite curbed in Childhood would endure a denial in Age. 3. Youth have violent Humours and Selfishness and therefore don 't foolishly gratifie them A Child left to himself brings his Mother to shame Pr. 29. 15. Oh what a Devilish Sight how pleasing to Satan to see Children cocquer'd and Youth indulg'd It 's peevish then all must be done to please it it 's obstinate and it must have it's will it 's revengeful and it must not be check'd this is the way of most Parents And 't is just with God that Child should break your Hearts whose Will you never broke How many poor Creatures will have cause in Hell to curse their Parents Dreadful that they prove the worst Enemies to their Children under a pretence of fondness 4. Youth have many Lusts and are prone to sin therefore be afraid for them and prevent all Occasions Iob knew this Iob 1. 5. He went and offer'd Sacrifice lest his Children should have sin'd and cursed God in their hearts Oh that Parents would consider what brittle Vessels Children be what dry'd tinder Youth is Occasions though small over-rule Young Persons What then Oh then be perswaded to choose the Company of your Children for them see that it be of their own Sex and Virtuous Put them to Trades and such Trades as have the least Snares set them in Families where most Good is to be got and least evil to be catch'd Find them business and fulness of Employ and cut out their time for them Parents learn this Wisdom that your Children have no time for Idleness Marry them as soon as convenient if so be you are not very certain of their Sobriety 5. The Vanity of Youth is deeply rooted therefore be importunate pleaders and sharp Correctors If advice prevail not 't is not an easie thing to cure a Child of it's Vanity or Youth of it's Folly Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a Child the Rod of Correction will drive it far from him Prov. 22. 15. And withhold not correction from thy Child and he shall not dye Prov. 23.
13. I look on 't as a sad sign of growing Villany in the next Age that correction is become unfashonable The Lord pity us Let me tell you once for all Sirs Youth is governed chiefly by fear and they that lose the benefit of that passion lose the greatest advantage which Youth have to be manag'd or improv'd by People may talk of love but God's injoining the Rod so oft discovers that it will prevail but with very few Wisdom must be exercised in this matter as the end may be best attained But be assured the Blood of that Child lyes at the Parents door who might have been reform'd by Corrections and was not Can Parents forget God's severe Judgment against Eli for his indulgence to his Sons or do you think that Children are now so harmless that they need not to be corrected I should have call'd you to give them good Examples as being powerful to encline them who strictly observe and are prone to imitate you they are apter to evil than good deny them no help to their holy improvements and create them no hinderances But time prevents me Inf. 3. How should Young Ones bear the Rebukes and Restraints of Superiours in sence of their own Vanity Here I call to Young Ones again Parents and Masters know what will harm you better than you do your selves they know how weak you are to resist Temptations they know what 's sinful and destructive better than you Oh therefore thank God and thank them that are over you who endeavour your healing and don 't suffer sin to lye upon you Lev. 19. 17. If you be good your selves you 'l do the same for your Children when you have them therefore don't take that ill which is your necessary cure but reckon Am I vain Oh then though I have not the Liberty I would and have not the Allowance I desire matters are better order'd for me for I can't bear those other things Inf. 4. How Attentive ought you to be to all Advices and Pleadings of your Relations being design'd to heal you O! for thy Souls sake Young One never let the Advice of thy Parents be lost never let thy Friends Counsel and Reproof be lost because 't is all design'd to remove this Disease Thou dost not see the Hell thou art just running into thou dost not see the Heaven thou art flying from thou dost not see the God thou hast provok't thou dost not know the Misery thou art under thou art ignorant what Grace what Wisdom thou wantest how much must thou learn and attain before thou art wise or good thou art ignorant of many snares and sins thy folly hides thy folly from thee O therefore be heartily intent to all their Advices and say to thy self Lord is this for my cure and shall I neglect it Is this Reproof for my good and shall I make light of it Is all this pains to heal my poor diseas'd Soul and shall I cast it behind my back God forbid Inf. 5. How great a Wonder of Grace is a young Convert and how thankfully should such acknowledge it O the power that makes the vain Prodigal come to himself Luk. 15. 17. How near does God come to the Soul to tame it when 't is like a wild Asses Colt How efficacious is Grace that overcomes Lust in it's greatest rage and that deadens Temptations when they strike on Youth so prone to relish the offer and yield to it O Blessed work that inclines us to fear that God whom in our Youth we are so apt to despise Having laid these things before you I offer two General Vses of Exhortation Exh. 1. Reflect on your selves whether you are under this Vanity or deliver'd from it Young Folks I speak mostly to you and therefore I intreat you for the Lords sake to lay to heart what I am saying Your case is dismal you are born vain and prone to be vain are you still so or not 'T is a great work that goes to the healing you is that work pass'd on thee 'T is a great deal of God goes to the making a Youth good and serious have I felt that Pray ask your selves Am I vain or am I not Is my Heart a Spring of Divine Motions or Beastly Inclinations Young People how is it with you Try your mayes are they under the Government of Grace or of Lust are they under the Conduct of Wisdom or Folly Ask your selves Do my wayes profit or hurt People Is it not time to ask What Sirs are the years you have spent unfit to be enquired after or is thy Sin not worth being concerned about Oh ask your selves often What am I doing whither am I going Does my walk please God or provoke him Do I walk with him or do I forsake him Try and judge impartially it 's thy greatest concern thou mayest deceive thy self thou canst not delude thy God who will judge as the matter truly stands with thee How is it with you O Young ones There 's none here but ought to be concern'd how 't is with them You will be concern'd nay within a while you must be concern'd therefore enquire this to day and never rest till it be determined Exh. 2. Receive Directions suitable to your case And here I must divide this whole Assembly into two parts First Such as are under the power of Vanity Secondly Such as are by Grace delivered from it One of these two is every one in this Assembly Young and Old you are still under the power of Vanity or you are delivered from it There is a great difference in your Case I 'll speak to each 1. Those of you that are yet under the power of this Vanity Poor Souls would you be delivered or have you a mind to continue what you are Come Children dare you be still blind and still obstinate shall thy Soul that was made for God be a Cage of unclean Birds Shall thy Tongue which is his Glory be employed to his Dshonour O Young body shall not Christ heal thee of that Nature which the Devil introduced Wilt thou live a Bruit and a Devil still shall Satan serve himself of thy parts and of thy strength and of thy opportunities shall the Devil say of thee Here 's a Child I hope will do me a great deal of Drudgery Here 's a young Person will do my Work while he lives and be damned with me when he dies Young Folks Satan stands by and seems to speak thus of you And must Christ all this while weep over thee and say Here 's a young thing that 's my Creature but he will rebell against me as long as I spare him here 's a Youth fit to serve me but he will bring on me all the Dishonour that he can and obstruct my Interests as far as he is able Here 's a Stripling that I bought with my Blood a young Girl or Boy but he serves Satan before me and will not be saved unless against his Will For
government of Fear as old Folks be Oh my Friends what but Grace can win thy Consent to Christ now when the Devil and the World are strongly bidding for it You are like to reap the largest Harvest because you have the longest Seed-time You young ones that do fear the Lord betimes you are like to be the more remarkable in the Heavens All the Blessings that belong to the oldest Saint belong to you and Christ as truly loves you The youngest Believer in this place may rejoyce in all the fulness of Christ as his Store-house and Security he may read over all the greatest Promises of the Gospel with Comfort as his own We bless God for you bless God for your selves that hath adopted you for his so soon and thereby prevented much Sin and made you early Blessings for your sake we hope the Gospel will not be removed from England how happy are each of you your Parents can die comfortably now that you are in Christ Your Friends look with joy upon you as secure in your better part Oh the comfortable Aspect that every such Soul affords I will give you a few words of Advice Directions to such as are Converted in Youth 1. Be watchful over your selves because some Vanity remains in the best while here Satan would more gladly overcome you than others and he knows there 's matter for temptation to work on in thee Youthful years are subject to youthful Lusts Young Timothy himself was warned of them by wise Paul 2 Tim. 2. 22. Therefore don't venture on Occasions of Vanity don't venture into temptations to sin Nothing but perfect Grace perfectly heals the Sin of your Constitution Young ones you don't think you are perfect you are not thoroughly clean therefore walk carefully walk watchfully take care of Voluptuousness for there is some unruliness in thy Appetite still Take care of wanton Dalliance for there is some Disposition to Uncleanness 1 Tim. 5. 2. Still take care of evil Company Youth may be ensnared tho they are good Avoid all frothy Society for Youth is apt to be perswaded to loss of Time and Levity Therefore walk with watchfulness in whatever you are doing You are not in Heaven tho in a State of Grace you are not perfect tho upright therefore keep a jealous Eye while your green years continue 2. Keep humble and modest as to your Opinions for Truth admits the Disquisitions of Age and a long Study Young People think every Notion they have gotten is infallible and every plausible Reason is with them unanswerable But let me tell you you will change your judgments it may be before you dye And too much confidence in Youth leads a Man to Scepticism in Age Be not wise in your own conceits Prov. 3. 7. You are subject to error in deep things your knowledge can be but superficial if you live long you will blush at your present confidence And therefore don 't presently take up Notions determine not hastily difficult points make no noise about singular Opinions and do not rashly censure men that are wise and aged whose deep thoughts are preferrable to a voluble Tongue or luxuriant Fancy 3. Design and furnish your selves for great service for God in the World I would earnestly bespeak a mercy for the next Age resolve an eminency in Holiness I would have every young Convert here resolve to be one of the highest Saints Resolve to do much for God's Name and Gospel and if you have hopeful Abilities resolve to be great Blessings to your Countrey Side with the best Cause and best Men. You may live to have greater Opportunities to serve God than we have had you may do so and I hope you will do so The Lord furnish our Youth with Abilities transcendant to ours as their work is like to be above ours O my Friends I would have you therefore prepare your selves get your Heads well enlightened get your Hearts well enflam'd with Love to God and Men. Labour to be industrious in your Calling that you may have Estates to do good withal for Idleness and waste make Persons too poor to do great Service whence they live as Shrubs though planted young Study good Catechisms as a guard against Errors Lay up rules of Prudence for your Conversation but beware of crastiness and little base designs Observe your Constitution that sickliness may not prevent your Use. Get such an Elocution as may advantage what you speak c. 4. Admit the helps and put your selves under all the instituted Engagements of Christs Members Admit the helps Sirs we have good Books carefully peruse them Read the Scriptures Ay and labour to be well furnisht and skilld in them from your Youth 2 Tim. 3. 15. Set your selves to hear Sermons especially put your selves under the Labours and Conduct of the best Ministers Contrive every one of you to sit under that Ministry that truly understands and plainly and powerfully urges the great things of the Gospel viz. The Mysteries Promises and Laws of our Redeemer I tell you why I say this Young ones are apt to like the Preacher that has Fancy rather then Weight strong Affections rather than Judgment that has vain Gingles rather than solid Truth and that is earnest for small matters above essentials Oh take it from me to Day all Hearers savour of their Pastor Give me therefore a Pastor that 's likest to ripen for a Heavenly Life and not to amuse me with little fine-spun Notions where light carries not it's Evidence Preferr moderate Pastors above others Men who are more intent on the great things of the Gospel than lesser matters Men who allow for different Conceptions in others knowing themselves are imperfect Men who insist on no terms of or bars to Communion but what Christ hath made If God do not deliver the growing Age from a Contentious Dividing Uncharitable Temper I shall say the next fiery struggles will hazard the Life of Religion and sacrifice Love the very Heart of Religion to every trifle and disputable Notions which hath sorely wounded us Value Moderate Men wise Men are always such Your furious dividing Bigott is unacquainted with himself incapable of taking up the body of Divine Truths as they stand in their order and place Hence one thing fills his mind and that commonly the least and all his Zeal is laid out in that while he confounds Truth and Error Few Men have heads clear enough to distinguish Truth Truth and Error lye oft so near that the Man that has not the clearest judgment and the conduct of the Spirit will easily fail much more such whose parts are low and whose uncharitable Temper exclude the assistances of the Spirit Further I call you Young ones to attend to the Lords Supper You are dedicated to God by Baptism in the right of your Parents that was not thy act but theirs for thee that was not in thy own right but in thy Parents right The first solemnizing of thy own Profession is