your Baptism yielding your Selves to the Lord as the most solemn and Important Transaction of your whole Lives And be sure * keep out of the way of Temptation as much as you can endeavouring to avoid those particular Snares by which you are most easily overcome Pretend not a Resolution against the Sin if you are willing to look upon the Temptation to walk upon the brink of the River and to come near the door of that House into which you know you must not enter It is impossible a Man should love to abide by a Temptation for a good end or without unspeakable Hazard It is vain Confidence on your own Strength to come as near Sin as you durst and the Event does commonly prove it so Especially * see that you well imploy your Time upon the Lords Day and take heed to your * Company all the Week Few of the Younger sort Miscarry but date their Sin and Ruin from the neglect of this Counsel * Begin with God every Morning by serious Prayer and Reading some part of the Holy Scriptures with some Practical Affectionate Book if but for a quarter of an Hour it would leave a serious Tincture on the Mind and a good Savour on the Heart and be of use to antidote you against Temptation and to preserve a Holy frame all the Day But * never desist your diligent Endeavours till you come to walk with God in his Love and Fear and as under his Eye all the Day long That the pleasing of God may become the Business and Pleasure of your Lives Lastly Do not delay Compliance with these Counsels but presently set about it can you begin too soon to cleanse your Hearts and Ways Is it too soon to be reconciled to God and delivered from the danger of Damnation Can you attain Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost and a well grounded Hope of Eternal Life too soon If you languish'd under a noisom Distemper that threatned your Life would you imagin you could be healed too soon And how much Sin and Mischief Shame and Sorrow and bitter Repentance may you prevent by taking heed unto the Word of God betimes How much larger Opportunities for the glorifying of God have Young Converts than late Penitents though they be Sincere What Advantages never to be retrieved have they lost who have out-sinned their Youth because their Time is gone and can never be recalled What Honour may you bring to God who remember your Creator in the days of your Youth What Ornaments to your Profession may you prove Of what usefulness unto others in this World being filled with the Spirit of God What attainments in Grace and the knowledge of Christ See Mr. Charnock Vol. 2. p. 57 58. and what additional degrees of Glory may you reach You may grow to a greater Stature being new born in Youth and bring forth more and better Fruit in Old Age You will have a longer time of Peace of Conscience and of the Comforts of the Spirit much sweeter fore-tastes of Heaven and improved meetness for it You may lay up Treasures of Experience to confute the Devil if he assault you on a Death-Bed c. And is it nothing to despise all these advantages of an Early Piety to secure the comfort and usefulness for the future part of your Lives Is it nothing to be prepared for a sudden Death and to provide against the Pangs and Sorrowful Reflections of a Death-bed Is it nothing when you come to Die to review your former Life with Joy saying Lord remember how I have served thee the God of my Fathers from my Childhood and Youth Is it nothing to bring God greater Glory in this World and receive a more weighty and sparkling Crown of Glory in the next Have you not been often told how much more difficult your Repentance and Conversion to God will hereafter be than now if you should be spared some Years longer Are your Hearts like to be better by longer continuance in Sin Will the Justice of God be less provoked will it not be more Will the Devil have less advantage against you when he hath had so much longer Possession To Day while it is called to Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts It is some hardning of your Hearts not to hearken to his Voice this day It is one step more towards final Impenitence and Unbelief against which there is no Remedy provided in the Gospel How hardly was that Man Cured Mark 9.29 who was possessed with a Devil from his Childhood The more you are alienated from the Life of God the harder will be your Recovery And how much greater is the provocation against God by every such Delay How aggravated and displeasing is your base ingratitude against the Blessed God and a Merciful Redeemer You reject his present Call slight his Kindness and refuse his Love and in effect tell him that though you have no mind to perish but that one time or other before you die you will accept it that yet you have other Business for the present to mind it will be time enough for that when you are more at leisure Your Youthful Lusts now call you your Secular Affairs and Settlement in the World now call you to other Thoughts and these shal l be first minded and served Your Compassionate Physician offers his Help and promises a Cure if you will but hearken and submit to him You tell him in effect that you like your Leprosie and are in love with your Disease You care not to be recovered to Health you will not as yet be Purged and Healed though one time or other you intend to call for his Assistance May he not most justly say unto you Let him that is filthy be filthy still You would not be purged from your filthiness therefore you shall not till you die How bitter will be the Thoughts of these repeated Calls neglected What cold Horror and Shivering Dread shall seize thee on a Bed of Languishing which some may take for true Repentance But Oh how little of that which by a large Charity we hope is so may the Righteous God accept and who can tell whether he does or no For such Men see themselves upon the brink of the Grave and stepping into Hell and know it is as much as their Souls are worth presently to make Peace with God by unfeigned Repentance No wonder then if they let fall some little Drops of a beginning Sorrow if they have some extorted Resolutions of Living better some sudden Remorse and Regret for those Sins that they are now like to be Damned for some quick and rash Vows of an Awaken'd Conscience with some Confusion of Face under the Fears of Death and Judgment But at such a time it is hard to distinguish between Religious Sighs and Natural Groans or separate their Repenting Cries for Mercy from their Howlings on their Beds through Bodily Pain 'T is true God
Peace Now though this Grace is not yet certainly Saving yet it tends to that which is so and none have cause to despair but that being duly improv'd and comply'd with it may end in it It is expresly said to such as live under the Gospel they are to work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling for this reason that God works or is working in them i.e. statedly and continually is at work or is alway ready to work in them to will and to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own good Pleasure 2 Phil. 12.13 The matter fails not on his part He will work on in order to Salvation if they work in that way of Subordinate Co-operation which his Command and the necessity of their own case oblige them unto The Impotence therefore of the Will lies in its * D. Bates's Harmony of the D. Attributes in Octavo p. 63. Obstinacy This is the meaning of St. Peter speaking of Unclean Persons That their Eyes are full of Adultery and they cannot cease from Sin 'T is from their own Fault alone that they are without Power Therefore the Scripture represents Man to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weak but wicked His disability to Supernatural Good arises from an inordinate Affection to that which is sensual Let me add if this Holy Word animated by the Divine Spirit be not effectual to our Sanctification those means which are more Extraordinary are not like to be so Psal 78.22 23 24. They Rebelled against God and would not believe his Word or Trust in his Salvation though he commanded the Clouds from above and opened the Doors of Heaven and rained Manna for them to Eat and gave them the Corn of Heaven Their Victuals came out of the Clouds and their Water cut of a Rock and yet these Miracles did not Convert them Neither the Miracles of Moses or those of our Blessed Lord were sufficient in their time In some Places our Lord wrought Miracles and yet they desired him to be gone out of their Coasts And when he was on the Cross they jeared him with his Miracles though they could not but acknowledg them he saved others himself he cannot let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe After the Miraculous Feeding of Two Thousand with Five Loves and Two Little Fishes John 6.14 22 26 30. the People were astonished and said one to another This is he that should come this doubtless is the expected and long looked for Messias and would have taken him by force and made him King And yet I think the very next Day at least within a Day or Two when he told them they followed him only for the Loaves they say unto him What Sign shewest thou that we should believe What work dost thou As if he had never wrought a Miracle before Luk. 16.31 Yea our Lord hath told us If we will not hear Moses and the Prophets neither would we believe though one should rise from the Dead Though one of your Acquaintance who Perished in his Sins should appear at Midnight in a Frightful Shape and warn thee in particular by his Example to take heed of Youthful Lusts and not continue one Hour longer so near to endless and intolerable Misery as is every Impenitent Sinner Should he tell thee that he once made a Mock of Sin and a Jest of Hell and a Scorn of Godliness as thou dost That he did not believe there was such a Holy Terrible God as now he finds or that it would be so fearful a thing to fall into his Hands but now he feels the Word of God to be true and that for a Foolish Lust he hath the Recompence of a Miserable Eternity If such Warnings were given they would not awaken Men to Repentance unto whom the Preaching of the Word is not effectual We read that after the Resurrection of Lazarus from the Dead they that knew him before and knew he was raised again John 11.53 and Conversed with him afterwards were not Converted to believe on Christ for from that very Day of his Raising Lazarus the High-Priests and Scribes and Rulers and People took Council how they might put him to Death The like may be said concerning the Resurrection of Jesus Christ himself And how many do we see brought to the very brink of the Grave within a step of Death and Hell both in their own apprehension and in the judgment of others who upon an unexpected Recovery not unlike a Resurrection have been far from being reclaimed and bettered afterwards Their forc'd Repentance vanisheth when the fear of dying ceaseth It is the Ministry of the Word which is the ordinary Method that God hath appointed for our Sanctification and if that be not effectual these extraordinary Methods would not Fourthly It remains to be considered That if this Word become the effectual means of our Sanctification we must carefully attend and take heed unto it The Original imports to observe narrowly Psal 130.3 with great exactness we must still have it in our Eye that we may form our Designs regulate our Affections and order our Ways accordingly Josh 1.8 We must carefully preserve it as a Treasure and watchfully observe it as a Rule we must hide it in our Hearts verse 11. A competent knowledge of this Word and diligent endeavour to encrease it is manifestly supposed Heb. 2.1 and that we give earnest heed to the things we Read or Hear lest at any time we let them slip We must study the Mind of God in the Holy Scriptures wait on the Publick Preaching of it consider its Tendency and Use as able to make us Wise unto Salvation Col. 3.16 We should ponder it in our Hearts and endeavour to preserve it there that it may cohabit and dwell with us Jer. 15.16 and in us and be unto us the Joy and Rejoycing of our Hearts Yielding up our selves unto the Power of Truth that we may experience its Holy Efficacy to all the Ends for which God hath appointed it 1. What is first and most obviously to be Collected from what hath been said is the Vsefulness and Necessity of the Holy Scriptures What excellent Knowledge may be found there for the cure of our Ignorance What Sanctifying Influence for the purifying of our Hearts and Ways What Establishment and Strength to fix our Wavering Minds and heal our Unsetledness How certain and Divine are its Instructions How Pure and Spiritual and yet Plain and Express are its Precepts What pungent and smart Reproofs what inviting Promises what terrifying Threatnings are imployed in this Word to lead us into the way of Life and save us from the Paths of the Destroyer How fitly do the effects of it answer its Name 1 Cor. 1.18 Rom. 1.16 Psal 110.2 Heb. 4.12 of the Power of God and the Rod of his Strength the Power of God to the Salvation of the Soul It is quick
and powerful sharper than a Two-Edged Sword to pierce and wound by Conviction It is the Word of God's Grace to heal those Wounds Act. 20.32 1 Tim. 2.3 able to build us up and give us an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified What Sins are to be avoided how Temptations are to be resisted how Bosom Lusts are to be Mortified and a Pure Acceptable Worship to be performed and what otherwise is necessary to the pleasing of God and Communion with him is taught us in this Word Hereby we are acquainted with our Sin and Misery and told the only way of our Recovery and Happiness The Malicious Arts and Stratagems of the Devil are here unfolded hence we are instructed how to conceive of God how to approach to him converse with him and resemble him Our Steps are hereby directed by unerring Light our Purposes setled and our Course stated and Directions given us how to use our Selves and all we have for the Service of our Maker Redeemer and Sanctifier By taking heed to this Light we are safely led out of those Labyrinths where others have lost their way and may prevent stumbling into the Pit of Destruction into which others fall All the Doctrins and Precepts of this Word tend to our Healing and Recovery to promote the perfection and felicity of our Nature to bring us to the best kind of Life for the present in respect of duty to God comfort to our Selves and usefulness unto others And this in the expectation of the Heavenly Reward enabling us in some measure to partake of the Earnest and enjoy the Fore-tastes of it In short It is by this Word that we believe in Christ and have hope towards God and are enabled to love him and so to dwell in Love Our Faith our Hope our Love to God and Christ are all begun cherished and maintained by the influence of this Word To this we owe that Faith whereby we are vitally united to the Son of God that Hope whereby all our Grace flourisheth and that Love whereby we are Fruitful For as by Faith we have a Spiritual Life by Hope we gather Strength and by Love we become active in all the Fruits of Holy Obedience 2. This will justifie the extraordinary Esteem and Affection that Good Men have for the Word of God Who after such experience of its cleansing Virtue but must profess that the Sayings of this Book are Faithful and True and Worthy of all Acceptation more to be desired than Gold than much Fine Gold sweeter than the Hony and the Hony-Comb Psal 119.93 97. O how love I thy Law saith David It is my Meditation all the Day I will never forget thy Precepts for by them thou hast quickened me O that this Law might be continually within my Heart to enlighten counsel and refresh me that it may dwell richly in me be always an Ornament of Grace to my Head and a Chain of Gold about my Neck Health to my Navel and Marrow to my Bones I heard its Voice I felt its Power and beheld its glorious Beauty and so have been changed into the same Image and shall I not love it If any should seem to wonder and think such Estimations and Affections strange you may answer with the Man born Blind John 9.30 This is a marvellous thing that you know not what it is or why I so much prize and love it when it hath opened my Eyes I was Spiritually Dead and Defiled and by this Word I received quickning and cleansing No wonder therefore if I account all things but Dross and Dung in comparison of this Knowledge Phil. 3.7 8. 3. What Thankfulness should they express whose Hearts have been seasoned with Holy Principles and Affections betimes and their Way cleansed by the Word of God If through the Knowledge of Christ you have escaped the Pollutions that are in the World through Youthful Lusts when so many others are thereby Drowned in the Gulph of Perdition should you not be very Thankful When you behold Multitudes who wallow in the Mire and take Pleasure in the ways of Sin are regardless of God and Christ and the Eternal World you may say I was as Mad as they or should certainly have been so if Free Grace had not prevented What Gratitude do I owe to my Redeemer and his Mighty Spirit who makes me thus to differ Many of you can look back with Joy and Praise upon the Early Experience you have had of this kind You can reflect how early God began with your Souls so early that your Baptism seemed to have had its effects and influence presently so early with some that you cannot tell the very time when God first began Others can remember the special Instruments whom God imployed from time to time to do them good by what careful and prudent Education Prov. 4.4 by what useful Examples of Holy and Affectionate Relations by what convincing Sermons Ch. 5.3 4. by what awak'ning Providences by what repeated Motions and Strivings of the Spirit of the Grace you were brought to the knowledg of your Sin and Duty and enabled to own and avow your Baptismal Covenant and seriously out of choice come under the Bond of it To which Purpose David acknowledgeth God Psal 16.2 7. O my Soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art my Lord therefore I will bless thee who hast given me Counsel and enabled me to receive it who hast enlightened my Darkness removed my Prejudices cleansed me from my Pollutions softned my hard Heart subdued my Enmity and Disaffection to thee and made me willing in the Day of thy Power to come to Christ that I might have Life and Healing by him Lord how is it that thou dost manifest thy Self to me and not unto the World That I should be quickned and cleansed while others are left under Spiritual Defilement and Death 4. What need have Superiors to be careful and diligent to bring Young Persons under their Charge acquainted with the Word of God It is mentioned not only to the Praise of Young Timothy but of those who were concerned in his Education that he knew the Holy Scriptures from his Childhood 2 Tim. 3.15 i.e. those of the Old Testament for scarce any other were then written when he was a Child He was also acquainted with what was necessary to be known concerning Christ as is mentioned in the same Verse under the Expression of the Faith which is in Christ Jesus Women and Children had then the Scriptures in a Language they understood for his Grandmother Lois and his Mother Eunice instructed him very early in the knowledge of God and Christ The Debauchery of Youth is very much owing to the want of good Principles instilled into their Minds in their Tender Years By that means they are a more easie Prey to the Devil having little or nothing to oppose to the Snares he lays for them or to their own corrupt Inclinations You therefore that