that excess of affection that is found in young Folks to vain and sinful pleasures there is it's true a great unwillingness in others to forgo the pleasures of Sin but it strangely tyrannizes over Youth wherefore I shall lay down some Arguments to persuade you to be willing to flee this Youthful Lust First Consider the Lord Jesus Christ young People he was not a Man of Pleasures but a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Griefs and how unsuitable are you to him while you pant after vain Pleasures I remember I have read of five Men met together that asked one another What means they used to abstain and flee from Sin The first answer'd That he continually thought upon the Certainty of Death and the Vncertainty of the Time of it and that made him live every day as his last The Second Meditated on the severe Account he was to give at the day of judgment and of the everlasting Torments of Hell and this kept him from Sin The Third Of the vileness and loathsomness of Sin and of the excellency and beauty of Grace and this made him abhor Sin The Fourth Of the everlasting Rewards and Pleasures provided for those that did abstain from Sin and this prevailed with him The Fifth and last Continually meditated on the Lord Jesus Christ and of his Love to poor ainners in dying an accursed death for them Snd this made him ashamed to sin And truly this last is the greatest of all O what an Argument is this to constrain you Young Ones to flee sinful Pleasures I beseech you for Christ's sake to flee them Methinks if Christ should come and demand your Life and Blood they should freely go and will you not part with your brutish Pleasures for him You are certainly Enemies to the Cross of Christ while you mind earthly Pleasures he lived a self denying life mortified to all the Vanities of this World to set you an Example he died also to redeem you from a vain Conversation O Young Man view thy Pattern and imitate your Self-denying Saviour or you are â—one of his If a Father or Mother come in competition with his Name and Interest you are bound to hate them Luke 14. 16. much more your youthful Lusts of vile Pleasure The Pleasure of our dear Lord was to do the Will of his heavenly Father Joh. 4. 34. Now saith the Apostle in Phil. 2. 5. Let the same mind be in you as was in Christ And in Luke 14. 27. Our Saviour saith Whosoever doth not come after me cannot be my Disciple You are not to come after us Ministers one step but as we conform to Christ O look unto Jesus Young Ones did he affect Sports and Games Did he use to spend hours at Cards or Dice c You read of whole Nights he redeem'd for and spent in Prayer and how he went up and down always doing good O what a blessed way would this be to recover the licentious Youth of this Age to the gravity and purity of Religion if they would write after and draw each line of their Lives according to this holy Pattern I have read of an Earl called Elzearus that was given much to immoderate anger and the means he used to cure this disordered affection was by studying Christ and his patience in suffering the Injuries and Affronts that were offered to him and he never suffered this Meditation to pass from him till he found his heart transformed into the similitude of Jesus Christ O Young Men you are all distemper'd with the immoderate love of vain pleasure O flee to Mount Calvary to a crucified Jesus and there represent to thy Soul his Sorrows and Agonies till thou find this Lust crucifi'd Argue thus with thy self what did so dear so great and glorious a Person as the Son of God deny himself those ineffable pleasures above that he had in his Father's bosom and come down here on earth and took to himself an house of Clay our Flesh which proved to him an house of mourning all the days of his flesh and then dyed an ignominious painful accursed death and all this for me to redeem me from the pleasures of Sin and destroy these works of the Devil And shall I think much of denying my self a few draughts of vain delight for him who drank of the bitter Cup of God's wrath and the gall and vinegar for me And then Secondly Consider that either you must forsake these sinful pleasures for a time here or your sweet Saviour for ever hereafter For â—n Man can serve two Masters he will either love and live to the one and hate and leave the other or else è contra Therefore what Christ said to the Jews concerning his Disciples John 18. 8. If ye seek me let these go their way That may I say to you Young Folk concerning your sinful pleasures if ye seek an interest in the blessed Jesus you must let these go it is made the Badge of a graceless christless Man in that of 2 Tim. 3. 4. A lover of pleasure more than of God And our Saviour in Luke 18. 14. tells you That pleasures choke the seed of God's Word they nourish the heart and fatten it into a sensless stupidity And 1 Tim. 5. 6. the Apostle describeth the unconverted Widow thus She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth And then Thirdly Consider Young Man Tbat God will bring thee to judgment for all thy sinful pleasures Is it not enough to embitter all thy pleasures in the flesh to read in Faith that one Scripture Eccles 11. 9. Rejoyce O young Man c. but know that God will bring thee to judgment You are apt to think that you shall hear of them no more but be you assured all must come into the Judgment O Young Men how many are now under wrath that when on Earth were eager in their pursuit of Games and Sports c. O Youth consider the Feet of them that have carried multitudes of your Age to Perdition stand ready waiting for the word of Commission to carry you away also Hence it was that the primitive Christians used to pray Domine hic ure hic seca ut in aeternum parcas Lord burn here cut here that thou may'st spare hereafter O remember Abraham's words to him that lived in pleasure while on Earth and at last dying and lifting up his eyes in Hell and calling for a drop of water to cool his tormented tongue Remember saith Abraham thou hadst thy pleasures in thy life-tme and Lazarus his sorrows Luke 16. 25. O that this were more thought on by our jolly Youngsters Paul saw need of using this tremendous Argument in 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ c. And then it follows Knowing the terrors of the Lord we persuade Men To what why to Self-judging and Godly-sorrowing and mourning for Sin that so they may not be condemned of the Lord at that great
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
to God by Christ every day our Life is a worthless thing without it hence in 1 Pet. 3. 7. the Apostle doth so earnestly press Husbands and Wives to exemplary walking that your Prayers saith he be not hindred Now there is nothing so much hindereth Prayer as giving way to your Lusts for by these you provoke God to stop his Ear and withdraw and stand at a distance from you and by these you irritate the Rebellion of your own Hearts against God and cause it to stand at a greater distance from God as Adam when he yielded to eat of the forbidden Fruit he grew shy of God Woful experience evinceth this when Persons have given way to Pride or Passion or Lust or sinful Pleasures in the day they can't tell how to go and pray to God at night or look him in the Face with any comfort or confidence when Conscience upbraideth dost thou pray O vile Hypocrite hast thou been kindling the Fire of his Wrath all day and dost thou think to obtain his favour all of a sudden When thou hast been grieving his Spirit and tearing open the wounds of the blessed Jesus by thy wilful sinning against Light and Convictions how canst thou expect the Comforter should come to thee If a man were to plead for his Life at the Bar would he be so mad as to distemper himself with strong Drink before hand this were the ready way to lose him his Life and so it is the ready way to lose your Conversion wherein stands the Life of your Souls if you intoxicate them with the stupefying Vapours that arise from your fulfilled Lusts It was holy Mr. Dod's saying That either Praying would make us leave off Sinning or Sinning would make us leave off Praying And then pray observe your Lusts tend to the manifest withering cripling your Souls in the performance of this duty It cuts and clips the Soul's wings in Prayer and then down you fall and sink as a dead thing in Prayer O therefore flee youthful Lust or they will render Prayer no more than a dead empty Formality and how waste and desolate a thing is that it will be like some Disease in the Body that converts all the Food that should nourish Nature to the feeding themselves and so macerate and miserably consume the Body or like some Thief or Thieves in a House the Master's Goods and Stock continually waste and consume and no wonder the Viper is in their own Bosoms Thus young men your Lusts will bring leanness into your Souls in Prayer O young man dost thou find the Lord gone in Prayer no discoveries of himself but a great estrangedness wouldst thou know the cause read that in Ezek. 14. 5. They were estranged through their Lusts Be assured of this there is a Heart-league and some youthful Lust or other which lays an embargo upon the Soul and arrests the profit of all thy Prayers Suppose a man did know and see his own Wife loving and cleaving to some other man would not this spoil the comfort of their communion as we that are reasonable Creatures don't love to be among unreasonable Brutes in the Wilderness or the Living to be among the Tombs and the Dead So a holy God regards not the Prayers will not be enquired of nor spoke with by those who regard their Lusts in their Hearts Isa 58. 1 2 3 4. Why have we fasted and thou regardest not You took pleasure saith the Lord and brake not the Bonds of Wickedness So some complain Alas we have prayed for Pardon and Peace and the Manifestations of God's Love but have received no answer find no return now whence is this Oh young man sure there is some betwitching Lust or other sucks thee As if I saw a Plant or Tree that is daily watered and has no want of outward means of flourishing and bearing Fruit yet withereth and dyeth away be sure there is some Worm in the Root corroding it I have heard of late many young People pouring out their Complaints after this manner Alas I have been seeking and knocking at the door of Ordinances Prayer Word Sacrament c. but have not find not feel not supplies come in I am like those that had been toiling all Night and catch nothing Oh never was my Heart so dead in Duty saith one so straitned and shut up saith another And hence some cry out To what purpose should we wait any longer What profit is there in Praying to the Almighty What sweetness in Ordinances What is Christ more than another Now I pray whence is this What is Christ a barren Wilderness a Land of Darkness a broken Cistern a Field without a Treasure a Well without Water a Cloud without Rain What is the Lord unwilling to hear and pitty a poor distressed Sinner that comes and makes its moan to him And is it in vain to seek him Oh no! Christ is precious God is gracious the hearer of Prayers the rewarder of such as diligently seek him But here is the true cause of all a man comes to God with his Idol in his Heart and then God will not speak with him can you ever imagin that so pure Majesty should match with your Lusts no no for then should the Father of Light have communion with the darkest Darkness sooner will he leave thee while thoâ— livest to be a Shrub or Heath in the Deseâ—â— that sees not when Good cometh and to bâ— a magor Missabib when thou diest than eveâ— let thee in to acquaintance with himself tiâ—â— the league and power of thy youthful Lusâ— be broke Can two walk together that anâ— not agreed No man can serve two Masters but either he will love the one and hate thâ— other c. Matth. 6. 24. O be not deceiveâ— God is not mocked if you regard Iniquiâ—y in your hearts God won't hear youâ— Prayer Possibly thou art pinch'd througâ— the power of a natural Conscience flying thy face telling thee that such Lusts will sit thee at last and this sends thee to thâ— Knees and then thou criest Lord Lorâ— there be these and these youthful Lusts of minâ— that wring my Conscience that I can have â—â— quiet O ease me of them And thus thoâ— seekest out to pacifie and stop the Mouth â—â— Conscience and that 's all never comest up to practise this Rule to flee these Lusts but ever likest lovest and livest them never sell all part with all and so ruâ— divorced from them all to Christ taking his blessed Yoke upon thee saying He anâ— he alone shall rule and reign in them and over them Oh that such would ponder that Text James 1. 7 8. Let not a double-minded man think to receive any thing at the hands of the Lord and that other place in 1. Isaiah 10 to 14. I am weary saith the Lord there of your New-Moons and your very Assembling is provoking to me while your Hands and Hearts are unclean and full of sin wash ye make ye clean
like the Man in the Gospel Mat. 12 43 44 45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest but findeth none Then he saith I will return into my house from whence I came out and when he is come he findeth it empty sweâ—â— and garnished Then goeth he and taketh wâ—â— himself seven other spirits more wicked thâ—â— himself and they enter in and dwell there anâ— the last state of that man is worse than the fâ—â—mer So in Hebr. 6. 4. and 10. 26. aâ—â— 2 Pet. 2. 20. O then above all Youâ—â— Ones see to this that there be a sound Conversion as the ground-work of all for upon this the very hinges of your Souls salvâ—tion turn Hence our blessed Saviour iâ— John 3. 3. pronounceth Except a man be boâ—â— again he cannot see the kingdom of Goâ— Wherefore again and again I advise Young Ones to see to their Foundation it were â— conceive much better for a Man to be deceived in thinking himself unregenerate when he is regenerate than on the otheâ— hand to deem himself regenerate when hâ— is not The former mistake indeed is afflicting but the last is damning If a condemned Malefactor conceit he hath a Pardon anâ— has none he may go pleasantly to the Gallows but he won't be able to hold it wheâ— he comes there The Lord open your eyeâ— and hearts and cause you to see and feel the truth and power of this first general Rule oâ— Means in order to the fleeing your youthful Lusts Now I shall proceed to lay down thâ—se distinct Remedies suitable to each particular Lust that young People stand bent unto And here again I must entreat you as you have any regard to the glory of God and your own Salvation and would not be condemned with ungodly and impenitent Sinners at last that you do not refuse to put in practice what shall be taught you in the following Rules how to flee each particular Sin that you are so prone to and now I shall begin with that which so early appeareth even in your very Childhood and wofully groweth up with you to riper years Namely that airiness vain rashness and carelessness of spirit and conversation all which I at large and distinctly treated on under the first Enquiry viz. What were those Sins that might be more especially called youthful Sins Now forasmuch as these three border so near and close upon each other I shall for the Cure of these prescribe this Remedy Remedy or Means against youthful Vanity Rashness and Inconsiderateness The First Remedy ENdeavor to get and keep an awful impression upon thy heart all day long of God's Omnipresence and Omniscience that you cannot flie from him because he is every where and that you cannot hide or conceal any thing from him because all things are naked and open to his All-seeing Eye At what time thou art ready to pour out thy heart in Vanity and Froth catechize and chastise thy feathery and light spirit after this manner Dost thou now remember thy Creator Art thou aware of his holy Eye and Presence Canst thou blear and blinâ— the pure piercing flaming Eye of Heaven What wilt thou dare to pilfer steal be undutiful and lie while the jealous sin-revenging God stands by Thus would but Young Men presentiate the Majesty Prescience and Omniscience of God to themselves in the midst of their juvenile Extravagancies how would it a we and fill their Souls with trembling one Aspect of this Eye of God â—â— able to make the whole Earth tremble Psal 104. 32. He looketh on the Earth and it trembleth And Job speaketh of some Sinnerâ— the Murtherer the Thief the Adultereâ— that to be seen in their Sins is to them the greatest terror imaginable Job 24. 17. â—â— a man saith he see them they are in thâ— terrors of the Shadow of Death Now then young People I appeal to you what fear and holy seriousness would this work iâ— you did you always thus set the Lord before you as David speaketh in the 16. Psal 8. and at your right hand then would you could you durst you be so vain fickle unstable tossed up and down with every puff of windy pleasures Oh no and here let me add this viz. represent to thy Soul what an Eye it is that seeth thee It may be you may fancy that God sees as man sees Scripture speaks of Sinners thinking that God is such a one as themselves in 50. Psal 22. Alas man may see and not see as we say i. e. wink and connive at thy youthful Sins and not be at all displeased with thee But God's Eye is 1. an holy pure strict observing Eye there is nothing can escape his knowledge wheresoever you are whatsoever you are doing you are still under his observation Psal 11. 4. His Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of men Hab. 1. 13. Thou art saith the Prophet of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and canst not look upon Iniquity That is canst not with the least approbation nay canst not without great indignation look upon evil O vain Youth remember that an angry holy Eye is upon thee in all thy irreligious and vitious Courses in all thy furious and precipitate Evil Ways And then 2. consider it is an infinite Eye comprehending all things past present and to come at once uno intuitu Many things confound us we can be intent upon nothing but in a successive way things done many years ago elapse and slip our remembrance but it 's not so with God with whom a thousand years are but as one day See that 139. Psal v. Thou compassest my Path saith David and oâ— lying down and art acquainted with my Way v. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit whither shall I flee from thy Presence If ascend up to Heaven thou art there If make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dweâ—â— in the uttermost parts of the Sea even thâ— shall thy Hand lead me c. Sure youâ— men this would call in your vain anâ— stragling thoughts and unite your careleâ—â— Spirits to the fear of God's holy name diâ— you believe and remember God's infiâ—â— Presence There is a Story of a pious man have met with who being desirous to reclaiâ— an unchaste Woman from her lewd aâ— vile Conversation took this course wiâ—â— her he came to her pretending to haâ— some wanton dalliances with her provide it might be done with all privacy she theâ— upon led him from Room to Room â—â— he still made many scruples lest at thâ— Window or that Key-hole this crevis â—â— that cranny some or other might chance â—â— peep in and espy them together at lengâ—â— she brought him to the inwardest Room â—â— the House where saith she I am confideâ—â— that none can possibly pry in to discoveâ— what we do Whereupon he told her wiâ—â— weeping Eyes No bolts not bars can keeâ— out God no walls
morrow is as the Proverb runs To count your Chickens before thâ— be hatched It is reported of Caesar that he would never let his Soldiers know when or where he meant to march next So here it is altogether uncertain at whose door God may knock next by a sudden Death he doth not always send out the Scouts and fore-runners of a lingring sickness as warnings of our approaching change But sometimes in a moment in the midst of youthful security and jolligy he lops down the strong and healthful while he spareth the more infirm and sickly There is no condition of Life but we have instances how it hath been imbitter'd by sudden deaths occasioned and sometimes by falls either of a House or Horse or else by falls off a House or Horse and sometimes by Fire kindling upon Persons when asleep and sometimes by Water persons falling into it when awake Again sometimes by preternatural Heats and Colds some burnt up with Feavers others drown'd with Humours some choaked with Quinsies others snatch'd away with Apoplexies in so short a breath that they have not time to cry out for help Innumerable are these Casualties that you young ones lie open to and how dangerous then is it to delay though you are now free from pain and in good health may not the same be said of many others who died suddenly and it may be delayed their Repentance on the like grounds as you do O foolish and unwise who hath bewitched you Moreover it is to be considered that your present delaying to flâ— your Lusts doth exceedingly provoke the Lord of your Life and Time to cut shoâ— your Life for how can you reasonably expect that the Almighty in whom ye live and move and have your being shoulâ— prolong the days of such Rebels who makâ— no other use of their time but to affront anâ— dishonour him O young people hoâ— righteous a thing would it be for God â— cut you off and deny you a longer conâ—â—nuance on Earth while you put him oâ— and delay your Repentance and Return â— him Surely if thou resolvest upon a prâ—sent league with thy Youthful Lusts refusing a divorce as yet between them and thâ— Soul it is most just with God to resolve up on a present divorce between thy Soul anâ— Body and to refuse thee an hours patienâ— more Wherefore O mortal Youth â— minute Dust and Ashes represent to thâ— self thy danger if thou delay the time â— thy delay is a time full of danger upon thâ— account viz. the uncertainty of thy time oâ— Life But then 2. It is dangerous in regard of the uncertainty of thy time of Grace So thâ— suppose thou hadst an assurance â—â— the continuance of thy time of Life sâ— many Years as Hezekiah had yet whâ— would that avail thee while thou art at utter uncertainty about thy time of Grace If you enquire what I mean by time of Grace I Answer it stands in the enjoyments of the usual means of Salvation which are two fold first the outward preaching of the Word secondly the inward strivings and motions of the Spirit these make up a time of Grace which is called an acceptable time a time wherein God may be found a day of Salvation in Psal 32. 6. and 2 Cor. 6. 2. Now such a time much differeth from that which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the time of our Life which lasteth as long as our Lives last Alas there is many a man out-lives his time of Grace hence Luke 19. O that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy Peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes The time of Grace is tempus labile a transient thing delay but one quarter of an hour longer and thou mayst with Esau be rejected and find no more any place for an acceptable Repentance post est occasio calva Ah how did Esau weep and take on after he had lost his time of Grace he might once have had the time of Blessing without those bitter Agonies but he delayed and loiter'd away his season Great is the mercy of God to allow man a time of Grace on Earth but great is the misery of man as Solomon saith Eccles 8. 6. because he discerns not his time who can give a due estimate of enjoying the Gospel wherein so great Salvation iâ— offered to Sinners Behold I stand at the Door and knock c Rev. 3. 20. Though thou haâ— played the Herlot with many Lovers yet return unto me saith the Lord. Jer. 3. 1. O Israel thou haâ—t destroyed thy self but in me â—â— thy help found As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a Sinner c. Ezek. 33. 11. As though God did be seech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead that you be reconciled â—â— God 2 Cor. 5. 19. In the Gospel we have the love of God commended to us in thâ— when we were Enemies Christ died for uâ— we have his admirable Condescension hiâ— manifold Invitations his precious Overtures his strange and wonderful Reasoningâ— Turn ye turn ye why will ye dye His reiâ—â— rated Calls Isa 55. 1. Come come come three times in one verse O the incomparable love and kindness that is displayed iâ— the Gospel to poor Sinners O that theâ— was in young People a Heart to understanâ— these things that concern their Peace in thiâ— their day before they are for ever hid from their Eyes Sure you would not shuffle anâ— shift off these blessed offers of Grace witâ— dilatory excuses did you but consider hoâ— soon the Market will be over and gone hoâ— soon your plenty may be turn'd into penuâ—y a Famine may arise of hearing the Worâ— of the Lord and thy Soul perish for want â—â— Vision thy Teachers may be removed by Death natural or civil or God may send the Gospel one way and thee another O young man now thou hast the Lord's Voice in the publick Ministry of his Servants crying to thee Flee flee thy youthful Lusts to day while called to day O hear his Voice this day this hour of the day without any longer delay for you are wholly uncertain whether if you should live till a to morrow ever you shall have another Call you are not the disposer of his Offers and Calls sometimes God hath been quick with Sinners he hath invited them to come in and they not regarding he hath immediately rejected them Luke 14. 24. For I say unto you that none of the men that were bidden shall taste of my Supper Therefore take heed it is dangerous deferring that which the Lord spake of Judgment and Affliction in the 1. of Nahum 9. I will make an utter end Affliction shall not rise up the second time may be fulfilled concerning his gracious offers and invitations in the Gospel possibly the Lord will make an utter end of speaking you may never hear more from him be sure he will at last come to an end of
seldom of all Acts of Disobedience â—uffer that of marrying against the consent of Parents go off the stage of this Life unpunished And then for Servants that are under the Yoke who are in great danger of miscarryâ—ng in that Relation let me prevail with â—hem to treasure up these following Scriâ—â—ures Eph. 6. 5 6 7 8. Col. 3. 22 23 24 â—5 1 Tim. 6. 1 2. And especially study that Titus 2. 9 10. and 1 Pet. 2. 18. Exhort Servants to be obedient to their own Masters â—nd to please them well in all things not answering again not purloining but shewing all â—ood fidelity that they may adorn the Doctrine â—f God our Saviour in all things O remember that in serving your Masters after the flesh in singleness of Spirit you herein serve the Lord Christ Remedies against that Youthful Sin of Sabbath-breaking I Have shewed you how prone Youth is to this Sin and those that are afraid of pilfering from Man and robbing their Masters of their Goods yet make no Conscience of pilfering and robbing God of his time O what multitudes of Youth make this day to be the day of finding their carnal pleasures and recreating themselves wherefore to direct you how you may flee this Sin 1. Consider God hath sanctified and blessed this day not only as a day for his own Worship but for his own Workmanship in a new creating us in Christ Jesus it 's a special day for dispensing of Grace and Pardon to undone condemned Sinners and should we not then sanctify it and keep it holy On this day the golden Scepter of Grace and Mercy is held forth and Proclamation is made of an Act of Oblivion to all rebellious Sinners that shall throw down their Weapons of Enmity and come in and subject themselves to the Lord Jesus that their Sins and Iniquities however aggravated shall be pardoned and be remembred no more for ever and not only so but a Marriage Feast is on this day instituted to be celebrated a Feast of fat things wherein the returning Prodigal is crowned with all the expressions of joy and honour Bring forth the fatted Calf the best Robe the Ring let Heaven rejoyce and make merry c. O Youth what are thy Esau-like morsels abroad in the Field but as the husks that Swine do eat to the dainties of a Father's house O the time is at hand when the crumbs that fall from the Lord's Table will be more desirable than all the sweet meats of Sin and the Flesh that thou meetest with in thy rambles on God's Holy day Thou gainest a little fleshly content and merriment but losest the blessednesses promised in Isa 56. 2. Blessed Ashre there is the plural number is the man that doth this that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it The blessedness of gracious communion and fellowship with the Father and with his Son Christ Jesus c. And who can express the heavenly comfort of that O would you ever be drunk with Wine or bewitched with the sordid pleasures of the Flesh If you had once drank of this high Country Wine the Wine of Heaven's consolations Heark Young Man to those that have tryed it Psal 84. How amiable are thy Tabernacles c. And so the Psalm runs on One day in thy Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste 2 Cant. 3. But I must not enlarge 2. Meditate upon this how woful a Sin-Sabbath-breaking is and how woful a condition Sabbath-breakers are in To profane the Sabbath is a Sin of an high nature it is a vile despising the Riches of God's goodness Alas You could not have a Sabbath but from his astonishing mercy Be sure then to profane a Sabbath is a surpassing Provocation beyond the Sin of the Devil who never had the mercy of one day of the Son of Man 's afforded him Moreover it indicates and sheweth that you have no delight in God in his Service who have no delight in his day and is thy want of Love to God a small Sin When it is as one saith the very heart of the old Man the badge of Devils and damned Spirits And then consider how woful the condition of Sabbath-breakers is they carry about them the mark of Death and Hell as 't were in their Foreheads wherever they go for it 's past all doubt that Sabbath-breakers are under the wrath of God and in a state of alienation to him and will certainly perish if they continue in that state O Young Man strongly impress this on thy heart and say Is this a tolerable condition Is it wisdom to continue it an hour longer O think with your selves what if I had dyed in this Case what had become of me how exceedingly thou art beholden to the patience of God that he hath not cast thee into Hell The Lord open your eyes and imprint this Meditation upon your hearts then you would admire the mercy of a Sabbath and the provisions of grace in the Ordinances and you would loath and detest the Tempter that would entice you to waste a Moment of so blessed a Day Wherefore to close this I shall recite the Testimony of a wise and learned Person * J. Hales of this Nation who was as is noted of him natus ad exemplar born to be an Example to others This Excellent Person writing to his Children of whom he travail'd in Birth that Christ might be formed in them he freely opens his mind in these following Words I now write something to you says he touching the Observation of the Lord's day because I find in the World much Looseness and Apostacy from this Duty People begin to be cold and careless in it allowing themselves Sports and Recreations and secular Imployments in it without any necessity which is an ill presage and a sad Spectacle He there makes this profession and declaration to them I have found says he by a strict diligent observation that a due observation of the Duties of this Day has ever had joyned to it a Blessing upon the â—est of my time and the Week that has been so begun has been blessed and prosperous to me And on the other side when I have been negligent in and of the Duties of this Day the rest of the Week has been unsuccesful and unhappy to my own secular Imployment and this I do not write lightly or inconsiderately but upon long and sound Experience Here I thought to have given you a quotation of many Instances very remarkable of God's punishing the breakers of this Holy Day but it would swell this Treatise too big for the Poor to purchase it and there are indeed few Months that pass but you have sad memorials hereof at â—yburn of Malefactors crying out of this Sin as introductory to all others and the source and spring of all their Miseries The next Sin that Youth is addicted to is Pride Remedies against
A Directory for Youth Through all the Difficulties attending that State of Life Or a Discourse of Youthful Lusts IN WHICH The Nature and Kinds of them are described and Remedies against them laid down First Preached to Young People and now Published at their Request By Samuel Pomfret Minister of the Gospel For thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the Iniquities of my Youth Job 13. 26. His Bones are full of the Sins of his Youth which shall lie down with him in the Dust Job 20. 11. Remember not against me the Sins of my Youth Psal 25. 7. I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my Youth Jer. 31. 19. Ad vos juvenes mihi Sermo flos aetatis periculum mentis Aug. de temp London Printed for John Dunton at the Black-Raven in the Poultry 1693. To the Young People that were Hearers of the following Sermons and since have been sollicitous for the Publishing of them Grace and Peace c. Beloved Friends THat sincere Affection and Compassion which God hath wrought in me to your precious Souls hath prevailed with me against my naâ—â—ral inclination to yield to your Request for the Printing those Sermons that I Preached from â—â— Tim. 2. 22. wherein is recommended to â—â— the weight and necessity of St. Paul's Adâ—â—â—ition to Timothy to Flee Youthful Lusts The Wise Man saith Prov. 25. 11. A â—ord spoken in season is like Apples of â—â—ld in Pictures of Silver And if so then must be allowed me that I have not miscarâ—â—d in my choice of such a Word spoken to you O that I might not miscarry in my wish for you namely that it may prove eventually a Word whereby you may be saved The Word damned is hard you would not have that to be your lot But pray permit me to tell you plainly and publickly without Lisping and Whispering that saved you cannot be and damned you must be except by a true and timous Repentance you flee your Lusts the infallible truth of which is originated in and built upon his Word who is Truth it self and cannot lye as you may see in the 6. Gal. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap 13. Luke 3. Except ye Repent ye shall perish 8. Rom. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall dye 20. Job 11. His Bones are full of the Sin of his Youth which shall lie down with him in the Dust 5. Prov. 11. And thou mourn at the last and say How have I hated Instruction c. 11. Eccles 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth but know thou that for these things God will bring thee to Judgment O Young People would you with due care apply these things to your own Souls it were enough to rent the very Caul of a secure Heart I know such is the Depravation of our Natures that if there were any possibility of escaping Hell and Damnation without fleeing our Lusts we should never voluntarily submit to this Godly Counsel given by St. Paul to young Timothy I have read of a Book that the Pope hath called Taxa Camerae Apostolicae wherein men may know the Rate of any Sin upon what terms men may keep a Whore be Drunk c. As to that it is a bundle of Lyes But the Inspired Scriptures may be truly call'd a Rate Book where any of you may know what a beloved Lust will cost without Repeneance viz. the Wrath of God in Hell and so everlastingly true is this that I beg you to despair of ever finding the least Jota of God's Word to fail or fall to the Ground unaccomplished I know you will be tempted to do as other Young People commonly do namely to forget these things and by the sloth and aversion of a wretched Heart in conjunction with Satan's temptations to be carried away to other trivial matters wherefore let me intreat you as ever you would avoid the Curse of Reuben Unstable as Waters to ballast your Hearts by laying in strong and powerful Convictions of the intollerable Evil of Sin the indispensible necessity of Christ and holiness the unconceiveable worth and the preciousness of your Souls and Time and the unavoidable approach of Death and Judgment Look ye you Young Folks the Breasts of whose Virginity hath not yet been press'd you are young and want that Experience that elder Christians have and therefore the greater allowance must be made you must allow your Souls more time to digest the great mysteries of Religion by Meditation and Prayer And you are more strongly bent to sensual Pleasures and Sports and to forget God and your Souls Death and Judgment And therefore you must so much the more chastise the pregnancy of that Vanity and Folly that is bound up in your Natures by a severer vigilance and abstinence When I was young it pleased God of his infinite Mercy to priviledge me above thousands with a Religious Education and by his restraining Grace to preserve me from open Prophaneness blessed be his holy Name But yet notwithstanding this to my own just shame I mention it in those early and wanton days of my Youth I was miserably vain foolish and disobedient serving divers Luâ—ts and Pleasures The bitter remembrance whereof hath for more than 20 Years past cost me Sighs and Groans unutterable Oh the time 's not to be numbred that I have wished I had been sick in Bed rather than sinning against so good a God the Remote parts of the World that I have been in the Roads I have journeyed in the Fields I have watched in the Nights I have watched on the Houses I have lived in and the Beds I have lain on can witness to my Tears and Sorrows while I have recogniz'd my Vanities and Folly And now forasmuch as it is utterly impossible for me to recall and recover those past and mispent days of my Youth I would on the bended Knee of Importunity for my own sake as well as your's beseech this one thing of you as I have of God for you viz. to take Warning and to be effectually perswaded by the Terrours of the Lord which I have felt to Flee that Youthful Lust and with that Godly young man Moses rather choose any Affliction than adventure to sin it 's a known Sentence felix quem faciunt c. It 's not unknown to many of you how unwilling I have been drawn to expose these my homely thoughts to publick view But an extream thirst after the present Conversion and Eternal Salvation of your Souls hath overswayed me herein I know God's Blessing upon it can make it effectual to reach this end which is all I aim at or am ambitious of and if it shall please Almighty God to make me a poor weak Instrument successful herein I shall go to my Grave with joy and esteem it so great a Recompence as if I were young again or had remembred my Creator in
the days of my Youth I am not ignorant of my own Infirmities but I write not to you Fathers and Mnasons old Disciples but to Children and Youth who need not strong Meat but Milk If any other should so far humble themselves as to cast an Eye upon so mean a Discourse with whom its business is not I would desire this of them that instead of loading this poor thing and its Author with harsh and hasty Censures they would lend it and him their help in their hearty Prayer to God for a Blessing upon the one and an increase of Gifts and Grace in the other I esteem my self oblig'd to acqudint you that two of these Sermons were Preached above a Year ago and those Young Men that were not my Auditors then may be apt to think that I have made great alterations in the transcribing of them for as much as here they will meet with a great deal more than what they heard in a single Sermon about six Weeks ago wherein through the streights of time I could do no more than just name many particulars which formerly I was large upon I shall detain you no longer only add this hearty desire for you That while many of your Age are hastening the Wrath of God upon this poor Nation by their Atheism Immoralities that you may be frequenting your Closets and on your Knees mourning for your own and the Nations Sins e're the Lord come upon us with his fierce Anger and there be no remedy which is the hearty desire of him who is a willing though weak and unworthy Servant of Christ Samuel Pomfret 2 Tim. II. xxii Flee also Youthful Lusts IN this Chapter Paul proceeds to direct Tim. in the right management of his great Work whereunto he was called in order to which he instructs him whence he should derive strength for it v. 1. then he exhorts him to propagate those truths to others which he had heard and received from him v. 2. then he encourageth him to endure hardness in his Work from a two fold Metaphor viz. that of a Souldier and an Husbandman who first strive and labour and afterwards receive the reward and reap the fruit of their pains from ver 3 d. to the 8th There he minds him of the Example of Christ who first suffered and died and afterwards was raised to life again and thence inferreth that all the faithful who suffer with him shall also live and reign with him for ever From v. 8. to the 14th and then he gives other instructions how he should behave himself as a workman that need not be ashamed dehorting him from all vain and prophane Bablings and Errors that began to infest the Church of God adding an argument that if a man purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel of Honour prepared for his Masters work from 14. to the 24th and so he cometh to the words in my Text Flee also youthful Lusts Which admonition to Tim. one would have thought might have been omitted and that upon a two fold account Tim. had an infirm weak Body and such sickly people usually incline more to minde a Winding-sheet than wanton Lusts Tim. was a holy young Man very temperate for the most part drinking only Water and such cold Liquor was more likely to quench than inflame the heat of Lusts and yet because Tim. was a young Man Paul saw need to give him this admonition Well then may you young people need it Besure it is written for your admonition in these last and leude days on whom the end of the World are come Wherefore attend thereunto as for your lives Flee youthful lusts In which words there is no need of any Logical division to detain you from this following Theological proposition which without the least violence done to the Text naturally floweth from it That it is a duty of special concernment to young people to flee youthful lusts In the prosecution of this Doctrine I shall endeavour the resolution of these following Questions Q. 1. What is the import of the word Flee Q. 2. What are those Youthful Lusts that you are so concerned to flee Q. 3. Why it as a duty of such special concernment for Youth to flee those lusts Q. 4. How young people may best Practice this their especial duty to flee youthful lusts Q. 1. What is the import of this word Flee Answ Now to Flee imports the swiftest motion as to run is more than to go so to flee is more then to run Wings are nimbler than Legs You know in all motion there is terminus a quo terminus ad quem the terms from which and the terms to which So it is here flee from sin to God Flee i. e. to the farthest distance from sin and to the nearest closure and union to God 11. Job 14 If iniquity be in thy hand put it far away How far so far as God puts it away when he pardons sin even as far as the East is from the West 103. Psal 12 So should you do in your Repentance for sin Object But we can as soon flee from our selves as from our Lusts in this sense the Law in our Members will abide Sol. Altho there cannot be in this life a perfect freedom from nor destruction of sins Being an existence this being only the priveledge of the glorified Souls above yet there may and must be a subversion of its Power and Dominion both in Heart and Life so that the meaning is flee from thy youthful lusts to the utmost distance even as far as the East is from the West in respect of thy love and affection to and practice of these lusts Tho sin is and will remain in thee yet maintain a continual alienation in thy heart and endeavours in thy life against it in a diligent use of all those sanctified means and spiritual remedies which God hath appointed for the abandoning thy youthful lusts Such as these following 1. Vehement desires and longings of soul after the mortification of them in their habits as well as external acts 7. Rom. 24. 2. Deep humblings of soul and loathings of self for former yieldings to thy Lusts 73. Psal 22. So foolish and ignorant was I even as a Beast before thee 31. Jer. 18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoning himself thus I was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke Surely after I was instructed I smete upon my thigh I repented I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth 3. Earnest cries to Heaven for Preventing pardoning and purging Grace 19. Psal 13. Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion ever me 51. Psal 1. 2 7 10. verses Have mercy upon me O God according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Wash me throughly from mine iniquities and cleanse me from my sin Purge me and I shall be clean create in me a clean heart O God 4. Fixed resolutions
life it is the ready way to Atheisin and Apostacy whereas if you would always keep the eye of your mind open to behold the speedy approach of Death and Judgment as in rem presentem how admirably would it work how serious in casting up your souls accounts and imploring of pardon and eternal Life would you be 15. Another of these youthful sins is Pride and vain Glory which stands in an overvaluing of our selves with reference to the endowments of the Mind or Body such as Wit Parts Beauty Stature Strength Agility c. Young ones have much darkness and ignorance both of God and themselves and hence they set themselves as among the Stars in their own thoughts if they have Parts how prone are they to be proud of them conceiting themselves to have much more than indeed they have and then above measure admiring their own Wit and strength of parts and expecting every one else should admire them too not considering that these mental gifts without Grace makes them more like the Devil that abounds with endowments of this kind and to be more serviceable to him as malignant instrumentals in promoting the ruin of mens souls as Austin told a great but unsanctified Scholar ornari a te diabolus quaerit the Devil seeks to be honoured and served by thee And you read in 3. Gen. 1. Because the Serpent was more subtile than any other beast the Devil used that Creature to destroy mankind Now this Pride of Intellectuals is never more dangerous than when it terminates upon Religion and Souls affairs and there are none more obnoxious hereunto than young people a little knowledge maketh them think they are fit to be Preachers presently whereas the old and experienced Christian with trembling cryeth out Lord who is sufficient for these things Young ones for want of acquaintance with and experience of the wickedness and deceitfulness of their own hearts are apt to think that they have abundance of Grace Paul a young man was highly conceited of his good estate in Religion and spiritual matters till the commandment came in the power of it and revived in him a sight and sense of his cursed and sinful estate by nature 7. Rom. 9. And so the young man in the Gospel according to Matth. 19. chap. 20. All these have I done what lack I yet O young man remember this spiritual Pride is like the flye in the pot of Oyntment make all to stink if you over-value your selves in matters of Religion you may soon undo your selves and fall into the snare and condemnation of the Devil This was the reason why Paul forbids the choosing of a young beginner in Religion to the work of the Ministry Not a Novice lest he should be lifted up with Pride 1 Tim. 3. 6. Paul was a wise man he well knew the subtilties of Satan and the want of experience in young ones would soon insnare them and betray them into the hands of this sin And then with respect to Pride in bodily endowments as Beauty Strength Stature c. Alas how is the Youth of the present Age grown monstrous herein Never did Pride ride in such state when it went abroad in the Streets of Sodom as at this day it doth in this Nation wherein I was born and in this City wherein I now breathe Alas what wandering eyes wanton dresses foolish fashions apish imitations extravagant washings profane patching in a word a practical devotedness to the vile Body that is but a fine skin full of filth Flegm Choler and Corruption abounds in this City O the Arts Studies Pains among us all for the neatifying priding pampering this piece of earth that e're long will be meat for the Worms O young people what will a white skin or strength of Limbs or a rosie Complexion signifie when God rebuketh man for sin his beauty will consume as a Moth. 39. Psal 11. One fit of an Ague can alter thy beauty or a visitation with the Small Pox can change it into its contrary 16. Another sin Youth is ordinarily prone to is quenching and stifling the holy motions of Gods Spirit This more especially they are liable to that are the seed of the Righteous and that dwell among those whose chief scope and aim is to promote your Conversion by their daily Prayers Instructions and holy examples Such young ones as are thus educated in righteous Families and used to a constant attendance through the care of their godly Parents or Masters on the means of Grace both publick and private they do meet with innumerable inward motions of the spirit of God striving in and with them they lie more obvious to the Lords grace and I am perswaded that there is not one to be found among these that are come to years of understanding but what must own the truth of this But oh the woful opposition that is commonly made by young ones against these holy suggestions and illapses of the blessed spirit they are usually like the sparks falling into a Sea of water when they are at a Sermon how many knocks and secret jogs touches of Heart and Conscience do they meet with to consider soberly about their spiritual and everlasting state But what through the subtilty of Satan and the love of foolish mirth and pleasures and vain company c. presently as soon as they return they lose all quench those begun convictions and just were it if the abused spirit should depart for ever and strive no more Be assured young people you cannot sin at so cheap a rate as an old sinner that never had the heavenly gales breathings operations motions to conversion interruptions and checks in sinful courses as you have had O it is this that accents Gospel condemnation that light is come and men love darkness rather than light 3. John 19. When because light reproves gauls the sinner therefore it is hated this is dreadful indeed O ponder a while what an infinite mercy of God it is to your poor miserable souls to have the strivings and negotiatings of the holy spirit of God 147. Psal 19. he hath not dealt so with all of your ranks and standing How many thousands are let alone like young Dagons now to resist these and to sin against the light argueth such a love to sin and aversation to God as justly may place you in the forefront of desperate sinners 17. The next sin Youth are prone to is Atheism c. ridiculing serious Religion The holy Apostle distinctly foretold by a spirit of Prophesie this very sin in the 2 Peter 3. 3 4. knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming surely these are those last days wherein we live and never did this sin of Atheism and deriding at goodness obtain such a vogue till of late in this irreligious Age wherein the main Articles of the Christian Faith are shaken in the minds of
multitudes of young people Satan hath corrupted the minds of many and diffused his venemous influence not only through the Pagan and Papal but also through the Protestant and Reformed world too O! what a world of infidelity and Atheism is to be found in our Cities and Countries and would to God our Churches were free but if we compare the lives of abundance of Professors with their pretended Creed really their profession will scarce cover their Hypocrisie and Atheism though you should exercise the largest Charity God and Christ the immortality of the Soul Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are in their Creed and they would condemn you for a rank Heretick if you should deny any of these Doctrines But a little observation of their sensual lives will soon acquaint you with their vile and odious Hypocrisie and Atheism while you behold in their lives the great God disobeyed Christ vilified Heaven condemned and the Worlds vanities preferred before it Hell ventured upon for the sake of a pleasing sin And among us there are a generation of young Wits sprang up that that albeit they have had baptismal Water on their face yet arrived to that highth of sin as to tell the world not only in their works but also in words that Religion is a meer fancy nothing but the melancholly imagination of some poor spirited men that foolishly and fondly conceit of such a thing as God lives and of a Heaven prepared for those that have it and Hell for those that want it and then they scare and affright themselves with those buggbears that their own fancies represent And thus as the judicious Gurnal sadly observes p. 298. Some among us have dared to make it their boast and glorying that they have at last got from under the burthen of that Tyrant Conscience they can Swear and Drink Whore and what not without any check or remorse Time was when they were under the wing of their Parents that they trembled at the hearing of such guilt But now entring into those Atheistical Clubs and imbibing their principles their Consciences are become silent after they have been duck't so often for scolding that they are Sermon poof and laugh at the Notion of Damnation and at Ministers who in the name of God threaten impenitent sinners with it and look upon them as the veriest fools and mad Men in the World but know that these will prove the worst fools at last yea worse by far than David's Fool Psal 14. 1. The food hath said in his heart there is no God That fool durst only whisper it but these speak it boldly and openly These declare their Sin as Sodom and hide it not To go about to confute these Sons of Belial would be a vain thing we have Moses and the Prophets every Leaf therein is sufficient But these Sinners deride the Scriptures and so tho' one should arise from the Dead and come from Hell with the Flames of that burning Lake about his Ears and tell them the Torments they endure neither would they believe Surely that such a Generation not only of practical but professed Atheists should be found in a Land that hath enjoyed so much Gospel-light is a lamentation and ought to be for a lamentation I may say as Jeremiah 2. chap. 12. v. Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be ye horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. Methinks it should make our very Hearts to tremble when we see such cursed Weeds spring up in such a Garden that God hath taken such pains withal he is more than blind that doth not see and so say Stultorum plena sunt omnia Master Greenham feared rather Atheism than Popery would be England's Ruin The Lord affect your Heart and mine with this Abomination of the Day we live in namely the ridiculing and deriding the power of Godliness stiling it nothing but Fancy or Faction Pride or Singularity 18. Another Sin the Youth of this Age are much given to is Swearing Cursing and taking the Holy and Reverend Name of God in vain A Sin for which the Land mourns There are two Kinds of it both which young people are prone to 1. Using the Name of God unreverently in common talk at every turn to say O Lord O God or God bless me or take me this is taking God's Name in vain and how many thousands of little Children as well as others are guilty in this kind almost at every word tossing that awful and holy Name about in their graceless mouths which a world of Glorious Angels and glorified Spirits are magnifying continually 2. Horrid prodigious Oaths not to be named without abhorrency Rom. 3. 13 14 you read there that their Throat is an open Sepulchre the poyson of Asps is under their Lips whose Mouth is full of Cursing and Bitterness And certainly if ever the Youth of a Kingdom were in danger of that dreadful Curse of the Almighty flaming out from the Mount Ebal of those Scriptures the Swearing Youth of this Kingdom is Zech. 5 2 3 4. And he said unto me What seest thou And I answered I see a flying Roll the lengâ— thereof is twenty Cubits and the breadth there of two Cubits Then said he unto me This iâ— the Curse that goeth forth over the whoâ—â— Earth for every one that sweareth shall bâ— cut off according to it I will bring it forth saith the Lord of Hosts and it shall enter into the House of him that sweareth falsly by my Name and it shall remain in the middle of his House and it shall consume it with the Timber and Stones thereof Whence you may note that so long as this Sin remains unrepented of this Curse remains and abideth on them till it bring utter ruin upon them and their whole Estate Mal. 3. chap. 5. And I will come near to you in Judgment and I will be a swift Witness against the Swearer saith the Lord of Hosts Exodus 20. 7. The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain Not guiltless there is a Meiosis in those words that is the Lord will be severely avenged on such O the fearful estate of not a few but multitudes and whole troops of Children and young ones in this Land in this City in our Armies in our Fleets by reason of this Sin who can number the Persons much less able are we to number the Oaths the horrid Imprecations they use that almost at every word call to God to Damn them their Souls their Blood Wo to us the moral Heathen would be ashamed of us Is it not time to lament to see a young Generation run with open Mouth upon Ruin with their Mouth set against Heaven in Blasphemies and such prodigious Vices as hasten their own Damnation and threaten England's Destruction may not we justly fear that the bloody Oaths of the Land of our Nativity may turn it into an Aceldama i. e. a Field of Blood In this Sin are wrapped both Parents and
Children Masters and Servants Officers and common Soldiers Rich and Poor and too frequently Ministers with the People the Buyer the Seller Verily if the Lord who threatneth to be a swift Witness against the Swearer should now come among us with his deserved as well as threatned Curse what scudding and crying to the Hills and Mountains to cover us would there be A Tree loaded with Boughs is fit for lopping a Sinner loaded with Oaths is fit to be hew'n down cast into Hell Fire A Chimney furr'd with Soot will take fire at last a Sinner's mouth furr'd with Oaths will at last without Repentance burn him with unquenchable Fire O how little is this considered by our common Swearers O young ones take heed of this Sin young Joseph when he was in a Swearing Court he learn'd to swear the Court-Oath viz. by the Life of Pharaoh that was his Sin But alas in our Age it 's become fashionable and a piece of Gentility to Swear by the Death Wounds Blood of Christ Petty Oaths of Mass Faith and Troth which in former times were most severely condemned by the good old Puritans Now wo to us we run to the highest form in the Devil's School and commence Masters of that Black Art of damme's and full-mouth'd Blasphemies Yea and the Lord be merciful to us our little Children have learn't it as soon as they can speak or waddle about Streets the sound whereof hath often pierced my Heart with my Ears the good Lord of Heaven and Earth banish it out of our Island or it will I fear sink us We are encompassed about with two Oceans saith one an Ocean of Waters and an Ocean of Mercies And let me add a third namely an Ocean of Oaths which if not reformed will bring a fourth viz. an Ocean of Miseries Some say Words are but Wind it 's true but it is such a Wind as will blow a Soul to Hell if Grace prevent it not 19. Another Sin that young people are notoriously given to and guilty of is Idle and Sinful squandring away their precious time young People think that they have such a profound and full stock of time to come that they have enough to spare and spend profusely and while away as the Countrey Phrase is at present and therefore they make little or nothing of lavishing out Hours and Days You know persons will spend prodigally out of a full Purse who would be very sparing if they knew they had but a little or were like to come to Poverty Thus Youth foolishly fancy that because some have lived to see and fulfil 70 or 80 Years therefore they must do so too and when they have been thus kind to themselves in making such a computation of many Years to come then they turn Prodigals of their time and cast it away as a thing of nought and with it cast away all care of their Souls and loiter out their Morning-Season at that profuse rate as if they were never to be called to account for that or that God only design'd and assign'd the Evening of their Life that last and worst part of time to be redeem'd and carefully improved for their better part their precious Souls But how miserably cheated are young People herein as appeareth by those many awakening instances of our Lord 's coming to young Ones in the Morning of their Life a time when they least of all looked for him and then how have they cried out O precious time more worth than a World when it cometh to the last Sand at the bottom of the Glass O then what a mercy would they esteem it if God would trust them once again with Time O young People think of this the next Temptation to Idleness or carnal Ease oâ— Pleasures that returneth and frown upon it give it the same entertainment as you would a Thief that comes to kill or rob you remember your Souls and Eternity are imbarqued in your youthful Seasons and surely the consideration of the worth of your Souls and the astonishing nature of Eternity carrieth force enough to make the extravagant lavishers of time to become the most thrifty Husbands of it as one of the most precious things in the World O young Man thou hast now a rich Price put into thy hands dost thou want a Heart to improve it Know thou that ere long thou mayest have a Heart but no price of precious Time in thine Hand We are fallen into a loose and licentious Age. 20. Uncleanness is another Sin that Youth is prone to this is the breach of the Seventh Commandment In which Commandment there is a two fold Uncleanness forbidden first mental or the uncleanness of the Mind secondly corporal or that of the Body Now Youth is commonly addicted to both these and to watch and wait for opportunities to fulfil their impure Lusts hence in the 7th of the Prov. 6 7 8 9. you read At the Window of my House I looked through the Casement and behold among the Simple Ones I discerned among the Youths a Young Man void of understanding passing by the way to her House and he went near her Corner in the twilight in the Evening and behold there met him a Woman with the attire of an Harlot his Eye waited for the twilight and in the twilight he was taken by her as you may see in the 23 verse Peter speaketh 2 Epist 2 chap 4. vers of Eyes that are full of Adultery It 's true indeed that this Sin hath the same common principle as other Sins viz. a corrupt Nature it is seated in the Heart there is the Fountain of it 15. Matth. 19. Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murthers Adulteries c. But yet the Eye is the Heart 's chief agent to espy out objects and to find out and fetch in Fuel for this Sin And as the Heart sometimes sets the Eye on work to prole and range about for a beautiful Bait so the Eye sometimes meeting with Objects sets the Heart on work yea all a fire or in a flame of adulterouâ— Lustings Youth is a hot Age and exceedingly propense to be carried away with these lascivious and filthy Lustings as hot anâ— fat Grounds are most fertiâ—â—â—nd abounding with filthy Weeds hence we find upoâ— Record 15. Luke 13 14. the Younger Brother called the Prodigal Son who spent a upon Harlots his vicious and corrupt Afections were restless and raging till hâ— had yielded his Members as Instrument and Servants to this Sin of Uncleanness â— the Apostle phraseth it in the 6. Rom. 13. 1â— Not that I speak this as if other Ages weâ—â— free from such inordinate Lusts for Naturâ— Corruption is not idle in any Age but of a Ages Youth is most incessantly and viâ—lently bent hereunto So that it is to â—â— accounted a singular Mercy and Grace fâ—â— a young Person to pass that season of Life chastly as not to contract some such notabâ—â— blot to cleave to him like a
c. The truth is your youthful Lusts in Prayer do render you most abominable and odious in the sight of God for they do as it were challenge and bid defiance to God whence else are those thunders of his provoked Majesty in 1. Mala. 14. 7. Jer. 9 15 16. 33. Ezek. 31 32 33. Chap. 14. from the 1 st verse to the 9. To go and Pray with the Idol of my Lust in my heart is a mocking God and God won't be mocked nay let me tell you God's anger is increased by such Prayers and then I appeal to you what Good can be looked for from such Prayers alas rather Confusion than Conversion O young People pray remember it your Lusts will not only blunt and take off the edge of Prayer that it shall never do any execution but they turn thy very Prayers into sin and how likely that is to turn thy heart God wards judge ye Thus I have shewed you how your youthful Lusts hinder Conversion as they oppose the means of it Were there a demand made why Consideration and Prayer and otheâ— Godly means should be so irksome and buâ— densom Is God so undelightful an objeâ—â— to approach unto that you cannot enduâ—â— his presence or are so soon weary in holâ— Exercises like a man under a heavy loaâ— Oh no to draw nigh to God in Prayer is thâ— joy of holy Souls but they are those Luâ—â— within that make it to our corrupt Nature so unpleasant and tedious And thus have shewed you how they oppose thâ— means of Conversion on our part and therâ—fore it is a duty of such special concern meâ— for young men to flee youthful Lusts becauâ—â— of the malignity of their influence expresse first in that they hinder Conversion Noâ— I come to the second Head to shew yoâ— the malignity of their influence as they huâ—ry Youth into grievous Temptations 2. A second particular of the maligniâ—â— of youthful Lusts inflence lieth in this viâ— In that they hurry Youth into grievoâ—â— Temptations There are two sorts of Temptations thâ—â— we read of in Scripture the Apostle Jamâ—â— treats of both in the 1. chap. ver 2. and â—â— 14. The former sort are no other than Afflâ—ctions which are for the probation anâ— tryal of the Christian's Faith and Patience and with respect to these the Apostle saith My Brethren count it all Joy when you fâ—â— into divers Temptations ver 2. And Mosâ—â— saith that God tempted Abraham 22. Gen. 1. That is God proved and tryed his Servant Abraham's Faith But now the other sort of Temptations are no other than solicitations and seducements to Sin and with respect to these the Apostle saith in the 13. and 14. verses Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with Evil neither tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death And hence our blessed Lord teacheth us to watch and pray that we enter not into Temptation that is to sin for in this sense is the word used in Scripture as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to try is the proper word for the other temptation so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the proper word for temptation to sin And of this sort of temptation it is that youthful Lusts are both the Fons and Fomes the breeder and feeder the food and fuel the mother and nurse they do both by force and fraud violently hale and hurry and cunningly entice and draw young ones to sin The Devil may flatter you but he cannot force you it 's your Lust that opens the Door or temptation could never enter It hath been an old practice of Sinners when they fall into sin to accuse and lay all the blame either upon the Devil or the instrument that provoked them Oh saâ— they the Devil owed them a spight and noâ— he hath paid it not considering that thâ— true procreating cause of Sin is a mans owâ— Lust It must be own'd that this World full of Snares and Temptations to with draw Youth from God's house to the Alâ— houses and there provoke them to Intempâ—rance and to Gaming houses and theâ— provoke them to consume their Estates anâ— precious time and to filthy houses anâ— there provoke them to destroy themselvâ—â— for the sake of brutish pleasures In this senâ—â— it is true homo homini daemon One is a Devil to another i. e. tempters to Sin But a these are but external movers the principâ—â— Agent is thy own Lust within As one saith Temptation is a Siege Satan is the Enemâ— without the Walls labouring to force aâ— entrance our Lusts are the Traytors with in that hold correspondency with tâ—â— Enemy without and open the Gate of thâ— Soul to receive him They are our owâ— Lusts that go over to Satan in the day â—â— battel and fight against our Souls 1 Pet. 2. O young men your Lusts are like the meâ—â— of Keilah to David in the day of temptation 1 Sam. 23. 11. Poor David was hateâ— and hunted up and down by Saul who soughâ— his Life at length he cometh to Keilah presently it was told Saul that David wâ—â— come to Keilah David enquireth of the Lorâ— Whether the men of Keilah would deliver him up into the hands of his Enemy Saul And the Lord said They will deliver thee up Whereupon David presently fled and so escaped Thus if you follow not this counsel to flee your youthful lusts they will certainly deliver you up in the hour of temptation that you will not be able to deliver your own Soul they will betray you as Dalilah did Sampson and let in the uncircumcised Philistines upon you When Judas his heart was set upon the lust of Covetousness how miserably was he overcome with many desperate Temptations he will betray the precious Life and Blood of the Son of God for thirty pieces of Silver and afterward you know what became of him so true is that in the 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. They that will be rich saith the Apostle whose Hearts run after their Covetousness fall into Temptation and a Snare into many foolish and hurtful Lusts So when Balaam's Heart was set upon this Lust he will rise early run and ride till he is weary that he might Curse Israel at length he becomes through his Lust more desperate and senseless of God's fury than the dumb Ass he dissembles his Conscience coins cunning Evasions O the malignity of lusts influence Suppose it be the Lust of Uncleanness what pernicious temptation doth this cast many young men upon frequenting Satan's Seminaries those Chappels of Hell Stews and Plays wherâ— oftentimes are Challenges Stabs Combaâ—â— Blood and Murder thus have many ventured as deep as Hell to gratifie their filthy Lusts Hence they are said to draw Iniquiâ—â— as with Cart-ropes Isa 5. 8. and that the wearied themselves
spake unto the Congregation of Israel in the case of Korah Dathan and Abaram saying Depart I pray you from the Tents of wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their Sins So I say to you young people flee your wicked lusts touch nothing of them lest you be consumed It was good counsel the Angel gave Lot Flee out of Sodom escape for thy Life look not behind thee lest thou be consumed in her Flames But it 's more merciful counsel to you to flee your youthful lusts inasmuch as it 's better the Body were swallowed up in the Earth or burnt to Ashes in Flames than that your Souls and Bodies should be swallowed up in Tophet and burnt in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone world without end as most certainly if you flee not your lusts they must be O young people if you stay with your lusts they will undo you Soul and Body for ever Who would not flee from Plague Fire Sword Famine c Alas your Lusts are worse than all these while you abide in them the Wrath of God abideth on you John 3. 36. its all being within the reach of the Wrath of God within the â—ail of his storm O what is it then to be just under it Amos 2. 14. How much more desireable were it to lie open to famine Pestilence Bloodsheds c. than to be exposed to the Storms and strokes of God's vengeance Oh what is there in your Lusts that should so bewitch you as to venture your eternal ruin and destruction for them and judge ye whether it be possible for any one of you to do any thing more directly to the ruin of himself tho' you should study for it seven years than to go on impenitently in the fulfilling thy Lusts That judgment that in it self is slow and your living in a course of Sin most certainly hasteneth its execution It 's true God may grant you further patience but you cannot promise your selves an hours patience you are not sure of being out of Hell one hour longer But if God should spare thee some years as is the Case proposed by Solomon in that of Eccles 8. 12. Tho' a Sinner do evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet what then shall it go well Oh no as it followeth surely it shall not go well with him The Iniquity of Ephraim saith the Lord is bound up Hos 13. 12. And in Psal 50. I held my peace saith God and thou thoughtest me such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set thy sin in order before thee This is enough to make a Sinner's Loins to tremble to consider that in the day of God's patience while he continueth impenitent it is no other than a treasuring up wrath against the great and terrible day of wrath Oh! how many of our brisk and jovial Youngsters fancy they shall hear no more of their Vanities and Sensualities because God hath born with them iâ— their past Follies they conclude all 's over and done with But be it known to youâ— God hath as Job speaketh sealed up youâ— youthful Sins in a Bag against the day â—â— Judgment in which day God will reckoâ— with you for all even from the Sin thaâ— clave to you in your Mothers womb to the last Sin you commit in this World If yoâ— flie not your Lusts by Repentance there iâ— no flying Divine Vengeance If you adveâ—ture to cry Peace Peace behold swift aâ— sudden destruction is coming upon you according to the unalterable Law of the greaâ— God Psal 68. 21. But God shall wound thâ— head of his enemies and the hairy scalp â—â— every one that goeth on in his trespasses anâ— in Luke 19. 27. O the malign influence â—â— their Lusts there is no flying future wratâ— except you flie your present Lusts Future â—â— I say alas it 's in part come for God is as I to you angry every day and his wrath abâ—deth on you in the threathing every mâ—ment how soon execution may be who knoweth methinks it 's like a Maâ—â—factor's being upon the â—adder there waâ— nothing but turning off and he is goâ— Consider What a fearful thing it is to â— into the hands of a living God Hebr. 10. â— Then how glad would you be to flie out â— his hands if you could as you read â— Job 27. 22. yea how fain would such flee to the Rocks Mountains Hills and there be glad if they would but fall upon them to cover and hide them from the wrath of a Sin-revenging God Rev. 6. 15 16. Now God commands you to flee Sin and so make an escape from the fulness of wrath to come But if you be contentious and disobedient why then he himself will not let you escape Hebr. 2. 3. That 's a startling Question in Isa 10. 3. And what will you do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far to whom will you flee for help and where will you leave your glory methinks that other Scripture in Job 5. 1. might put you in fear Call now and see if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn Alas the Wise Virgins could not help the Foolish to a drop of Oil no no Saints and Angels have but enough for themselves they be sure can't help you and be sure God won't he hath positively told you so in Prov. 1. 28. Then shall they call and cry and seek but I will not hear because I called and they refused From the 20th verse to the 24th of that Chapter you have the Riches of Grace displayed on God's part in calling prodigal Youth to Repentance And from the 24th to the 26th verses you have on the Sinners part the malignity and poyson of youthful Lusts expressed in their refusal And then from the 26th to the 33 d. you have the Epitomy of all Misery Then shall you call on me but I will not answer c. O that young Men did but see the Truth of this viz. the certain and sure destruction that they are pulling down upon their own heads while they embrace their Lusts When the Disciples saw themselves in danger of drowning they earnestly solicited their Lord and Master Christ to save them Matth. 8. 25. But do you hear young Men you are in greater danger than drowning you are in danger of damning When Joâ— was under some fearful apprehensions oâ— this see how pathetically he takes on in Job 10. 1 2. I am weary of my life I wilâ— speak in the bitterness of my soul I will say unto God Do not condemn me When Nimveh heard this Argument of destructioâ— hastening within 40 days O how were they concerned they proclaim a Fast and cloath themselves in Sackcloth confess and forsake their Sins c. O Young Men Are you tempted by the delights of Sense then place these Terrors of the Lord againsâ— those sensual Joys Let me
Fountain and sealing a new and everlasting Covenant of Grace in his Blood that whosoever believeth and repenteth shall not perish but have Ever lasting Life O astonishing Love was there any need for God to stoop to offer undone man a Covenant of Grace but his ways are not as ours c Now this youthful Sin of Delays spurneth at this Bowel and Bosom Mercy and Love of God the Father And can this be thought to be a little Sin O unparrallel'd Wickedness of what a Scarleâ— tincture and bloody nature is this Sin O young man consider it take heâ—â— of shuffling here thou wilt be apt â—â— think within thy self that sure this is not so What I guilty of trampling on the bowleâ— of Go'ds mercy which I venture to puâ— off turning to him a little longer far beâ— it from me to do so great wickedness I never intended any such thing O deludeâ— Youth come see thy guiltiness e're it â—â— too late to remedy thy self The Goâ— and Father of our Lord Jesus revealeth anâ— publisheth his eternal thoughts of love tâ— poor Sinners that had destroyed themselveâ— alloweth them a day of Salvation and acceptable time to come in and be saved without exception though he was the offendeâ— party yet he proclaims fury is not in me I have no pleasure in the death of Sinners I am willing to be reconciled lo I have found out a Ransome I have bruised my own Son and slain my own Lamb to be a sacrifice for Sin and a Saviour for Sinners him have I sealed and set forth to be the only propitiation for Sin through Faith iâ— his Blood sure they will reverence my Son and admire my Grace in offering him and strive who shall first receive him sure every Knee will bow to him and every Mouth confess to him what less could be expected Now then instead of this to crave with Solomon's sluggard a little longer and a little longer to embrace and enjoy our vile Lusts which according to the tenor of the Gospel cannot one moment be regarded and loved without a manifest rejection of Christ I appeal to you whether your present delays are not a notorious despising the Riches of God's Goodness which Sin is a most bitter provocation of Almighty God who could every moment confound such despisers of his Grace What think you will an earthly King bear it that his descending below himself to spare and shew mercy to obstinate Traytors should be despised It is also to be considered how wickedly these delays do vilifie the Grace of our dear Redeemer who though he was rich with the Riches of the Deity he thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet such was his amazing Grace that for our sakes he became poor with the poverty of our humanity he took upon him the form of a Servant he was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Griefs and here in the days of his Flesh endured the contradiction of Sinners the temptations of Satan the curse of the Law the bitter wrath of God and the accursed death of the Cross and all this for Rebels Enemies O infinite condescension and after all this is done he comes a wooing to our Doors and follows us up and down with the sweet motions of his Spirit and with the strong motives of his Love in dying for us pleading O Sinners why will you dye I am Jesus who dyed for you turn unto me my Heart is towards you what could I have done more for you to win you to redeem you than I have done O remember how I was wounded for your Sins Behold my Hands and Feet reach hither thine Hand put it into the hole in my side look upon me in the Garden and on the Cross and trace me there when my Blood trickled down my weary Body and see how I loved you and whether ever love was like mine to you O that the Lord would please to make you sensible young people and cause you to apprehend the truth of this that Christ doth really thus plead with you to know the things of your Peace now in this your day and to flee your youthful Lusts without delay And here I pray give me leave without the least prevarication to represent to you the impious nature of this Sin of delaying as it is a despising and contemning all this rich Grace and Love of blessed Jesus O young man while thou delayest thou tramplest on Christ's precious Blood thou embracest and openest to thy vile Lusts and Christ is made to serve to stand without in the mean while is it not enough to provoke him in fury to be gone and never return more till he come to sentence thee to go accursed into everlasting Fire Young man has not Christ's Blood a cry does it not cry to Heaven for Mercy to poor Sinners and does it not cry on Earth to Sinners O cease your enmity throw down your weapons of hostility O repent repent and I will appease and quench the Flames of divine Wrath that your Sins have kindled c. Now delays so long as they last are a direct opposition hereunto it is equivalent with waging war against crucified Christ it is interpretatively a conspiracy with the Devil against Christ Young man were you aware of this O be assured the hand of Joab is in this there is a peculiar enmity in Satan against the Blood of Christ as it is a Sinner's ransom while himself is left bound with eternal Chains hence he subtilly endeavoureth to strengthen the confederacy with thy youthful Lusts by present delays which if he can effect he knoweth it to be a direct compliance with him to vilifie that healing Plaister of Christ's precious Blood and how doth he insult when he can prevail herein to keep out Christ notwithstanding all his wooings pleadings and to keep up the present leagâ—â— between thee and thy Lusts as he moâ—â— certainly does whilst thou delays O youâ—â— man never forget this argument againâ—â— this Sin of delaying it is a Sin directlâ— against the bleeding dying love of Chriâ—â— And then it is a sin against the blessed Spâ—rit the third Person of the sacred Trinity who proceeds from the Father and the Sâ—â— and comes in the ministry of the Word inwardly to strive with you to convince yoâ— of Sin and Misery in order to a revealing â— Christ and his Righteousness to you for voâ—â— Salvation O admirable Grace that the Hâ—â— Ghost that heavenly Messenger should voucâ— safe to come under a Sinner's roof upon suâ—â— a design so advantagious to a self-destroyiâ—â— Creature O with what humble thankâ—â— Hearts should we receive such a messengâ—â— that leaves thee probably many ninety ninâ— better then thou art and comes to the secretly whispering and breathing O â—â— thy youthful Lusts to day while it is caâ—â—ed to day return return O prodigal youâ—â— there is Bread enough and to spare in thâ— Father's house if you stay here in this â—â— Country you perish if you
the Name of Christ might pass for true Christians the number would be great but if no more must be accounted true Christians than such as are born again and all old things are done away and all things become new being dead to sin who once were dead in sin c. O then the number is but small It 's amazing to me that strange blindness and heavy judgment that is fallen upon thousands of titular Christians at this day they will severely condemn a Man that he is no good Christian that doth not profess his Faith in Christ and come to Church and the like and yet will hug themselves with this that they are good Protestants and Christians althe ' they will make nothing of omission of Closet and Family-Prayer they will many of them swear and curse and live in Rioting and Drunkenness yet if they but come to Church c. all is well It were impossible to reckon up here the thousands of ways how Satan aâ—d Sin blind poor Sinners in the Christian World to their everlasting destruction Now â—en O young Man consult not with flesh â—â—d blood it may be there are many about â—ee carnal Friends and Neighbors that â—â—ve no fear of God and these are seeking to â—â—w you off O remember this advice â—â—t it 's infinitely better to be saved with a â—â— than be damn'd with a multitude 2. Consider ill Company whereunto â—â—uth is exceedingly prone is a Self-destroyâ—â—â— Evil nothing more emboldens Sinners â— wickedness A company of wanton loose â—â—ths met together is like a Pest-house for â—ection they do a world of mischief in â—milies Churches Kingdoms here it is â—t so many of England's London's Youth â—train'd up for Hell they soon ascend the â—â—t of the Scorner and so are quickly ripe â— a Descent down to Hell Here they sowe â—ows under one anothers Elbows and stuâ—usly argue one another to damnation â—â— they let flie against Religion deriding â— Godliness jeering at others saying What â— grow precise You turn Fool Thus as â—â—od sought the death of Christ and deâ—oyed the young Babes in Bethlehem so â—e seek the destruction of any hopeful â—â—nings and good motions that are at any â—â— found in persons of tender years And â—â— to be lamented exceedingly the sad Sucâ—â— this hath had in this City O the innumerable Tears and Groans of godly Parents that this hath cost And after all no recovery of their prodigal Children out of this Snare of the Devil 's ill Company The Lord be merciful to us and convince the Youth into whose hands this Book shall fall of this Nation of this City of the truth of this and cause them to keep at the utmost distance from this Pit of destruction It is upon this account that wise Solomon so frequently calls upon the young Man Noâ— to come near the borders of this temptation not to pass on that side of the way or near the threshold of the house where this bait is laid O young Man be watchful of your Company the greatest danger is when you are among vain and carnal Friends and Acquaintance these are the great Impedimentâ— in your way to Heaven In all probability many had been converted if they had associated with gracious persons The Man after God's own heart begins his first Psalm with Blessed is the Man that walketh not in the company of the ungodly O it 's an excellenâ— means to the saving of Souls to be there where there is continual helps to Conversion and Holiness as Prayers and heavenly Instructions and godly Examples whereas among the ungodly there are continual temptations to Sin wicked Society is the Devil's Boat wherein he ferrieth over multitudes to Hell O young Man as you would not be gathered with the ungodly at â—â—st take heed of joining with them now It â—as the Prayer of a godly Person under â—ouble on a dying Bed O Lord let me not â—â— to Hell where the wicked are for Lord â—â—ou knowest I never loved their Company here O it 's a Soul-destroying Evil to keep comâ—any with those whose nearness will set me â—â—ther off from God to be there where Worldliness Prophaneness and Wantonness â—nd Sensuality reign what is this but the â—ery Suburbs of Hell And then 3. Consider what an Honour and Commendation it is to resist Temptation while â—ou are Young and the sollicitations of vain â—ersons are strong O then to flee their enâ—â—cements how excellent and laudable is it â—â— was Lot's unhappiness to dwell in Sodom â—ut it was high honour to be righteous there â—â— shewed saith an ingenious Writer that â—â— holiness was of a strong complexion to retain â—â— healthfulness in so corrupt an Air. It 's a â—reat Sin to be bad among the good but it is â—â— high Honour to be good among the bad O remember Young Man how well God â—akes it when evil Company do strongly and â—iolently draw and entice thee to the service â—f the Devil the Flesh and the World then â—o break through all those hellish importuniâ—â—es as Joseph did and cleave to the Lord with â—o invincible and holy resolution See the honour of this in that sacred and sweet portion of Scripture 2 Cor. 6. 14. to the end I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a Father to you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord God Almighty If therefore you flee and withdraw from evil Company you shall be honoured with God's Company and Acquaintance and what can you desire more See how David triumpheth in this Priviledge Psal 23. 4. Tho' I walk through the valley of the shadow of death yet will I fear none ill why because thou art with me Hence Isa 43. 2. When thou passest through the water I will be with thee fear not drowning When flesh and heart faileth God will never 4. Consider That yielding to the enticements of the ungodly and joining with them is not only a foul Sin but a fearful sign of a graceless person for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols Now this Argument should mightily move you to abhor and flee the company of the wicked as you would a house marked out for the Plague It was the saying of an Heathen That Company is of an assimulating naâ—ure Seest thou a Person choosing commuâ—ion with one that is carnal that liveth after the flesh c. You may be sure that that Man is so too for as Face answereth to Face so do Mens Hearts and Lives to one another after their kind They that are afâ—er the Spirit do all savour and chuse a spiâ—itual Conversation so they that are
Leprosie as shall be matter of just shame and humiliation before the Lord so long as he liveth Sure I am the success Satan hath had in poysoning the Youth of this City with this sordid and beasily Sin deserves to be lamented were it possible with Tears of Blood O how desirable a Mercy would it be if the Lord would please to touch the Hearts of those who are fearfully guilty of this base Sin among us and bring them to cry out with the â—eper 13. Lev. 45. I am unclean I am unclean and to make that Confession as the Prophet doth in 1. Isaiah 6. From the Sole of the Foot to the Head nothing but putrifying Sores and then to put up that Petition of David's in 51. Psalm 10. Create in me a Clean Heart O God And that of Peter's in the 13. John 9. Wash me Lord not my Feet only but my Hands and Head yea my whole Body and my whole Soul also as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians 1 chap. 5. 23. That God would sanctifie them wholly in Body Soul and Spirit 21. The next and last Sin of Youth that I shall mention is A woful giddiness of Spirit to imbibe and receive any kind of loose and wild Errors that are spread abroad Indeed the Ringleaders and Broachers of Error oftentimes are persons who have passed the flower of their Age but usually they that run after them and are proselyted by them they are our raw and unexperienced Youth and more especially such of them as have not been catechised nor by the care and endeavours of Parents and Masters been well grounded in the Principles of Religion for want of which they have easily been seduced and led into Errours by such as lie in wait to deceive And wo to us are we not miserably over-run at this day with pernicious Errours contending most unchristianly for our own Devices and Parties crying out Lo here is Christ and there is Christ when more truly it may be said Lo here is Satan and there is Satan transforming himself into an Angel of Light and through his subtilty corrupting the minds of many among us from that simplicity which is in Christ 2 Cor. 11. 3. Hence the Apostle was fill'd with a Godly jealousie and fear lest the Corinthians should be removed and carried away from Christ The good Lord humble us for our swervings from the end of the Commandment which is Love out of a pure Heart and of a good Conscience and Faith unseigned and for our turning aside so much to vain Janglings Errour has got the Ascendant in the Cockloft of some mens Brains and there it so inebriates and infatuates them that like the Gnosticks of old who under the pretence of New Light and Revelation fansied themselves admirably Holier than others so these conceit themselves to be more Evangelical and refined because more airy and notional and then they are strongly inclined to spend all their Zeal in a violent obtruding their own starving and sleepy Opinions upon others which indeed serve for no other end but to devour all the Life and Substance of Religion as the lean Kine in Pharaoh's dream did eat up the Fat How audaciously have some by their loose and lewd Pens and Tongues argued against the merit and Deity of the Son of God derided the Spirit of Prayer advanc'd Morality and the works of the Law in the room of Christ boasting of the sufficiency of man's power to save himself and then on the other hand how industrious have some been to contrive a smooth and easie way for corrupt Nature to come to Heaven without the toilsome labour of subduing our Lusts and Sinful Affections as if now under the Gospel the holy Law of God was no Rule for us to walk by but laid flat like an old Hedge that Sinners may at their pleasure trample on it and walk over it and that to be solicitous about Sanctification and Inherent Holiness is but a legal business and not influential to a Christian's Peace nor Evidential of his Pardon but that now the main design of the Gospel at the first flight is to mount Sinners so high as to possess them with a gallant triumphant Confidence and strong gigantick Perswasion of the Everlasting Decrees of God that he hath Elected and loved them and that their Sins are pardoned so that they need not trouble themselves about Repentance and the Law of God written or copied out on the Table of their Hearts and the Inhabitation of the Spirit of Grace in their Souls as a Principle of Spiritual Life O how sad a sight is it to see the Field of the Church thus over-run with Tares and the House of God filled with Smoke it's enough to fill us with fear that the Fire of God's Judgment is beginning there Now this being the sad genius of our Times there are none more apt to take in the infection than Youth upon the account of that levity and curiosity that usually possesseth that Age. Young people have itching Ears and are very credulous being rather willing to take what they hear on trust than to trouble themselves and take pains to try what conformity such and such Notions have to the unerring Rule the Scriptures Unstable Youth is given to change and like a Reed is soon shaken or like young and fresh Meat in hot weather which is most in danger of being Fly-blown And Satan he is that old Serpent that is most busie to blast and poyson their hopeful Spring he is that mystical Fox that is evermore endeavouring to spoil our Vine oâ— its tender Grapes yea when they begin to bud Now when these two meet aâ— subtil Devil and a simple Youth what danger is there of an impure copulation between the young man's Mind and Errour especially when in the one there is a pleasing Vagrancy and Vanity like Dinah gadding abroad and in the other a poysoning Energy And alas how is this abundantly verified by woful experience at this day shoals have been perverted insomuch that our Land is like a Lazar-House or Hospital the Plague is begun among O that there were some Aaron among us to take a Censer and put on Incense and go in quickly and make an atonement to allude to that 16 Numb 46. And thus I have finished the second Query proposed viz. What those Sins are that Youth is here admonished to flee 3d. Qu. Why is it a Duty of such special concernment for Youth to flee these Sins A. In the resolution of this I shall give you these two Reasons 1. It is a duty of special concernment for Youth to flee these Sins 1st Because of the propriety of their Inherence And 2 d. Because of the malignity of their Influence 1. Because of the Propriety of their Inherence The roots of all these Youthful Lusts are deeply fixed in thy corrupt Nature Hence they are here stiled Youthful Lusts indeed Original Lust is one and the same specifically in all 〈◊〉 yet every Age hath