last place in that they hasten your destruction as you may read in these following Scriptures Rom. 6. 21. What fruit had ye then in those things for the enâ— of them is Death And in verse 23. The Wages of Sin is Death 1 Pet. 1. 11. Abstain from Fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall dye Matth. 18. 8 9. If thy right Hand offend thee cut it off c. or no entring into Life eternal Isa 3. 10. Now in vain were all these Revelations of the determined and immutable Will of God in his Word if continuance in your Lusts could stand with impunity and escaping destruction I know that the vain hopes of escaping is a mighty encouragement to the voluptuous Youth whose Heart stands bent upon his Lusts but if once his Conscience comes to be throughly convinced that his lusts will most surely find him out that his Damnation lingreth not slumbreth not but is hastening a pace towards him so that he may as well hope not to dye as not to be thrown into Hell when he dyes oh then what trembling surpriseth the guilty Sinner Now in order to the awakening the Conscience of wild and wanton Youth to flee their youthful Lusts let them but weigh this Argument taken out of God's Word who hath peremptorily declared that he will by no means clear the Guilty but is angry with them every day and hath revealed his Wrath from Heaven against all that persist in their Lusts let them steep their thoughts in such terrible tremendous Scriptures as Deut. 29. 18 19 20. Lest there should be any among you whose Heart turneth away from the Lord and it cometh to pass that when he heareth or readeth the Words of this Curse that he bless himself in his Heart saying I shall have Peace though I walk in the imagination of mine Heart to add sin to sin What then O pray mind and lay to heart what followeth in the 20. vers The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him Also in Job 5. 3 4. Eliphaz saith I have seen the Foolish taking root but suddenly I cursed his Habitation and in the 27. Chap. and 13. you read this is the Portion of a wicked man with God and in 17. Chap. 5. Their triumphing is but short and their joy but for a moment So that as soon should God cease to be God as the Sinner that goeth on in his Trespasses should go unpunished the certainty of whose destruction depends upon the irrevocable Will of God God hath said it the Lord hath spoken it and it shall come to pass Alas we that dwell at ease and enjoy our health are not able fully to conceive what the power of the Lord's anger and wrath is which he hath revealed against Sin and Sinners Some indeed as they have been drawing near and launching out into the Ocean of Eternity have had such sights and views of it as hath scar'd and affrighted them with such amazements that they have cryed out inducias usque ad mane truce but till the Morning Others O that I had never been born call time again Others O Lord let me live on Earth though it be but the life of a Toad I have also read of one who saw Hell but in a Dream or Vision and the terror was so great that he would have chosen ten times to dye rather than see and feel so great horror again But as to our Youth that look at a Death-Bed many years off they can scarce imagine what an aspect this will have at a dying hour Now at present it shews its fairest side but when all Masks are pulled off it will be quite another thing you may see its stinging efficacy in the 33. Isa and 14. Now in the days of your vanity and pleasure this Argument and Reason is wrapt up like a Flag about the Staff Hell and Damnation are but as it were in semine and your persisting in Siâ— is called a treasuring up of Wrath againsâ— that great and terrible Day of Wrath that is approaching and hence you are secure careless and all quiet But oh that young people would but think what a dreadfuâ— sight it will have when they come to lie down with their Bones full of the Sins oâ— their youth and their Souls brought dowâ— to the sides of the Pit as low as Hell by their youthful lusts O with what unexpressible rage and fury will their Consciences then reflect on their fore-past Sins You read in James that when Lust is consummate it bringeth forth Death and the sting of Death is Sin unmortified unpardoned this brings to a terrible Bar Judge and Sentence Depart ye cursed c. So that here in the final issue of your youthful lusts they will if you flee them not cast you into the Fire of Hell with an utter destructioâ— from the presence of the Lord. See here how God hath hedged up your sinâ—ul waâ— with thorns to stop you and restrain yoâ— from yielding to your filthy and forbiddeâ— Lusts and also to spur you on to bâ—eaâ— through all the difficulties and objectioâ— that lie in your way to Repenâ—ance and Conversion that so when the Devil oâ— the Lusts of the Flesh object against the Severities pains and labour oâ—â—bâ—ndoning and forsaking your Dalilah-corruptions 〈◊〉 might have it in readiness to answer Avoid Satan what tell you me of pains in parting with or departing from Sin do not you see here in the Scripture is it not written that Eternal Pains will be my Portion if I flee not my youthful lusts and what are the pains of parting with my lusts now compared with the pains of parting with God Christ and Heaven and the undergoing the pains of Hell's torments the Fire that is never quenched the Worm that never dyes O Devil that wouldst tempt me to sin O vile Lust that wouldst entice me and draw me to fulfil your unreasonable request is it easie to dwell with everlasting Burning If I dwell with you and hearken to you if I flee you not I must dwell and lodge for ever and ever in Tophet Is it not better to dwell with Lyons Bears Serpents Adders here in a Wilderness all my Life on Earth than abide with you an hour longer seeing that I run the hazard of an Eternity of Torments in that hour and the only way to provoke God to shorâ—en my Life on Earth is to yield to my lusts What if I should gain a little beastly pleasure or perishing earthly treasure by obeying my youthful lust what then when God takes away my Soul Job 27. 7 8. and in Matth. 16. 25 26. What is a man profited though he should gain the whole World and lose his own Soul What can a man give in exchange for his Soul Wherefore as Moses
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
its particular proper Lusts this appropriation cuts off young ones from all vain Excuses that ordinarily are made when they sin O such a one provoked me or Satan tempted me Alas these Lusts are from thy self they are inherent in thee if it be enquired Whence are all these heaps of filthy Lusts in young ones the Answer is easie Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornication Theft false Witness Blasphemies 15. Matth. 19. This is that Dunghil in which the whole Serpentine blood of all actual Sins is conceived and brought forth here is that hoâ— Aetna which is within you young ones that never ceaseth from sending forth continual steams and fumes of vile Lusts It true the Devil and the World are greaâ— enticers to Sin but not like your inherenâ— Lusts 1 James 14. 15. But every man â— tempted when he is drawn away of his owâ— Lust and enticed That when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when iâ— is finished brings forth Death Satan and thâ— World can only tempt and entice you Objectively and Externally but your youthful Lust tempts internally and thereforâ— more dangerous Now see the strength â—â— this 1st Reason viz. that that gives me moâ—â— danger that must put me on more labouâ— and diligence to shun and escape Besides whatever any of our spiritual Enemies shoulâ— attempt to draw you to Sin it would be altogether ineffectual were it not for these Lusts within These most endanger the Soul and according to your mortifying and fleeing these you may estimate the true estate of your Soul to be a state of Grace 18. Psalm 23. I was also upright before him and have kept my self from mine Iniquity Alas young ones the propriety and inherence of your Lusts is such as necessitates your continual Watchings Strivings in Prayer at the Throne of Grace if a man had a Thief in his House a Fire in his Chamber he had need to bestir himself or he will be rob'd and burn'd Young man thou carriest Gunpowder about thy very Nature O had thou not need to flee them or that which carries Fire It 's dangerous yielding to thy youthful lust It 's like putting Fire to the Powder It was the saying of a German Divine when his Friends were commending him recounting his usefulness and serviceableness Auferte ignem adhuc enim paleas habeo Take away the Fire for there is yet Chaff in me O what Guards do you young ones need to keep you from being ruin'd by so near domestick an Enemy What sharp Winters of Frost and Snow i. e. Fasting Weeping or Suffering dost thou need to kill these rank Weeds i. e. thy youthful Lusts in the Garden of thy Soul the consideration of this Inherency of thy Lust young man calls for both inward and outward Exercises Assistance internal as Checks of Conscience solicitousness of Thoughts earnestness of Desires actings of Faith in Christ the strivings teachings strengthenings quicknings of the blessed Spirit External as denying your Senses that dangerous tho' extreamly delightful Flesh and Blood liberty of a guardless careless and needless converse with the world's Trinity Honours Pleasures Profits and allowing your sinful and needy Soul a due proportion of time in constant attendance upon God in all outward Ordinances both publick and private which he hath appointed and instituted for thy help and assistance to mortifie and abandon thy youthful lusts It 's upon this account and consideration namely that propriety of Sins inherence in thee that renders this duty of fleeing thy youthful Sins so very difficult hence it 's called 18. Matth. 9. a cutting off a righâ— Hand a plucking out a right Eye hence it is that the Gate of entrance into Life iâ— by our blessed Saviour called a strait Gate hence it is that if there were no Devil in the world to tempt you or wicked Instruments to entice you yet would you be carried out to commit all Evil with greediness iâ— you close not with the Counsel here given you Were it not for this propriety of your Lusts inherence you might no more feaâ— that roaring Lyon that goeth about seeking whom he may devour than the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah who said The Prince of this World cometh unto me and finds nothing in me 14. John 30. But alas your Lusts are within you as the Canaanite in the Land of Israel and they easily beset you there is a naturality of Sin now since the Fall as blackness to the Aethiopian and like a fretting Leprosie adheres to our Natures with so much pertinacy that even after conversion Sin remains while on this side the Grave which truth is verified by the sad experience of all believers in the world that so they may never put off their Christian Armour till they put off this earthly Tabernacle but be continually kept watching fighting runing wrestling praying c. after millions of Tears and Prayers still they are fain to send up their Cries and Groans to Heaven for the abating and destroying the remains of Pride Atheism Unbelief c. And what hope can be left O young ones that ever you will obtain a Victory when your Enemy is so near you nay dwells in you if you lie idle nay how sure is it that you will be carried a miserable Captive by your Lusts to Hell if you take not this Advice to flee your youthful Lusts especially if you consider how the Devil night and day is watching to set Fire to thy Lusts thou hast a combustible Nature and Constitution and he is cunning and filled with Malice and with all sorts of Wiles Depths Baits Snares for all tempers and above all he desires to have young ones so that to be secure and indifferent here is in a sense equivalent to yield your Souls to Sin and Satan which brings me to the second Reason of this Doctrine Second Reason That therefore it is a duty of special concernment to Youth to flee youthful Lusts because of the malignity of their influence this I shall evidence to you more generally and then more particularly 1. More generally Your youthful Lusts so far as they prevail they destroy your Souls 8. Rom. 13. If you live after the Flesh you shall dye Mark it I pray upon what unalterable terms it runs O the malignity of these Lusts 7. Rom. 21. and the 23. What Fruit had you then in those things whereof yoâ— are now ashamed for the end of those things is Death v. 23. The wages of Sin is Death But to be more particular there is a threefold evil influence these youthful Lusts if noâ— abandon'd will certainly have upon you 1. They will hinder your Conversion oâ— render it exceeding difficult 2. They will hurry you into most grievous Temptations and Perplexiâ—ies 3. They will hasten your utter Ruin anâ— Destruction 1. They will hinder your Conversion or render it exceeding difficult and this they will do these two ways 1. As they wofully indispose the Soul
necessity of a waking working Conscience in order to Conversion for it is the property of Conscience to turn in upon the Soul and debate matters discursively in a kind of silent reasoning with the Soul it hath both a directive and reflexive power iâ— takes that light that lay cold and uselesâ— before in the mind and brings it down in â—way of home application to the Soul 3. Laâ— 40. 119. Psal 59. And now I come â— make good what is proposed namely Thaâ— Youthful Lusts stupefie and beâ—uâ— this faculty of Conscience and so indispoâ—â— the Soul to Conversion Look you Siâ—s although it is not in the power of young oâ— old Sinners to rase out and expunge this Faculty out of their Breasts for it is so esseâ—tial to the Soul as that the Soul can't be Soul wirhout it nothing can be more it separable than this bosom Judge which oâ— calleth sensus praejudicium judicij divinâ— Yet though I say they can't get rid on they may and often do by a love and life â—â— sin gag it muzle and stifle it for the present they cast Conscience into a deep sleep by yielâ—ing to their Lusts One calleth the Love â—â— Sin the Devil's Opium whereby he luâ—â— Conscience asleep Hence it is that you read of its being past feeling and seared as with an hot Iron Ephes 4. 19. and 1 Tim. 4. 2. defiled polluted 1. Tit. 15. not performing their offices being deaf to every holy suggestion of God's Spirit O young people your lusts served and obeyed will make your Consciences to be like Lot when he was made drunk by his Daughters of whom it 's said That in the Morning he knew nothing what he had done in Gen 19. Thy Lusts will breed such sottishness and stupidity in thy Conscience as will most certainly hinder thy Conversion Conscience is a Witness but if that witness be dumb who shall tell thee of thy Sin and danger Conscience is a Schoolmaster to direct and correct but if that Schoolmaster be blind or craz'd or lie like one stark mad or dead who I pray shall admonish you and administer reproof to you alas we speak without you it 's Conscience that is as a thousand Witnesses within you and if that be like an Idol what hope of Conversion Conscience is the Candle of the Lord within thee and if this be put under a Bushel how easily may the Devil hurry thee blind fold to Hell and Damnation Conscience is appointed of God to be that to the Soul as the Pilot is to the Ship amidst Rocks Sands suppose now that the Pilot have either lost his Compass to steer by or has no supernal light to make an Observation by how improbable is it that the Ship should ever come safe to Harbour So if Conscience be stupified how unlikely is it that ever that Soul should be converted It hath been and still is to me just ground of wonder and astonishment that when a Minister comes in the Name and by the Authority of the Great Jehovah Maker of Heaven and Earth to a Congregation of sinful Worms and there preach and prove to them out of the infallible Scriptures that they are born in Sin and that in their natural conditions they are but a few steps off Eternal Damnation and that there is a blessed Jesus come to seek and save what is lost and that he is able and willing to save to the uttermost all that come to him and yet after a Minister hath done alâ— this not one probably of many Scoreâ— in the Auditory that brings the Doctrine preached home to his own Soul saying Thiâ— is my Condition my Soul's portion I am by Nature a Child of wrath God's Law hath found me ouâ— and convinced me oâ— sin that there are none more guilty than I and more worthy of Hell I am the Man the Woman whom it curseth as sure as if my Name was mentioned but the generality detain the Truth in Unrighteousness they go away and live as wickedly aâ— before Now the Lord be merciful to us how could ever Dust and Ashes be thus unconcerned did but Conscience roundly and soundly do its work viz. to bear witness to pass sentence c. But here is the bane of all and the true Cause of mens Impenitency and Unconversion they hearken and yield to their lusts and thereby Conscience is laid asleep O young people see the malignity of Sin 's influence and say Away ye cursed Lusts it 's high time O my Soul to flee these Awake Conscience awake it 's high time to regard thy message 3dly These youthful Lusts they increase that natural rebellion that is in the Will against turning to God and so they indispose the Soul to Conversion the Will is an excellent part or power of the reasonable Soul it is compar'd by some to the Primum Mobile in the Heavens that carrieth all the inferiour Orbs away in its own motion or like a Queen sitting upon its Throne exercising its dominion over the other parts of the Soul And as Conscience hath several offices and acts so hath the Will The Schoolmen marshall up several as Volition and that either absolute and efficacious or more languid and imperfect 2. Fruition 3. Intention 4. Election 5. Resolution and Consent c. but I shall only shew you how impossible a saving and found Conversion of the Soul can ever be except the Will this superiour faculty in the Soul be brought into subjection and obedience to Christ and then shew you how youthful Lusts not only hinder that subjection of the Will to Christ but strengthen its resistance and rebellion against it 1 How impossible a thing Conversion is without the Will be brought into obedience to Christ When God first created Man upon Earth this noble part of the Soul the Will was in a most perfect and holy conformity to the Will of God but since Sin entred the Will is so far fallen from its primitive honour that Bernard saith voluntas tua infernus est tuus that mans Will now is his Hell of a Virgin she is now become like a polluted Whore So that naturally we will not come to Christ John 5. 40. We will not be made clean Jer. 13. 27. We will walk after our own Devices Jer. 18. 12. Now how impossible a thing is it that there should be a through Conversion till this natural Rebellion of the Will is slain and removed for the Will is the man and it 's everlastingly true and will be found so That his you are whom you willingly obey whether it be of Sin unto Death or Obedience unto Righteousness Rom. 6. 16. 2. Youthful Lusts yielded unto strengthen that natural averseness and obstinacy that is in our Will and so it indisposeth the Soul to Conversion We read that Whoredom and Wine take away the Heart in Hosea 4. 11. Why may some say was the Heart set upon God before No not at all but by it is meant that those
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
after the Flesh do chuse a carnal Conversation Hence David who was a gracious Man proâ—eth it by this maâ—k Psal 16. 3. speaking of the Saints the excellent ones of the earth saith he in whom is all my delight And â—he heavenly Apostle John giveth you this very maâ—k of true godliness in 1 Joh. 3. 14. And on the other hand a keeping and loâ—ing the company of ungodly persons is made the badge of an unconverted person Hos 7. 8. Ephraim he hath mixed himself â—mong the People What People why the â—dolatrous Heathens And what 's this a sign of why that he was but an Hypocrite elegantly expressed in that Metaphor that followeth Ephraim is a Lake not turned O therefore as you would escape the mark of an Enemy to God and Godliness Flee this youthful Lust of ill Company have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Eph. 5. 11. Company â—â—t with him that is a Fornicator 1 Cor. 5. 9. Walk not in the way enter not into the path of evil Men Prov. 1. 1. and 4. 14. And this brings me to lay down Remedies against the next Sin that Youth are prone to viz. The Sin of Intemperance Remedies against the Youthful Lust of Intemperance THis is a Sin Youth is much given to as I have in the beginning shewed now in order to the fleeing of it First Labour after a distinct and clear knowledge what it is wherein it stands The Schoolmen say a person is guilty of this Sin these five ways when he eats and drinks 1. Praeproperè too hastily 2. Lautè too daintily 3. Nimis too much 4. Ardenter too vehemently 5. Studiosè too carefully 1. If he eat too soon or hastily before the proper Season Isa 5. 11. Wo to them that rise up early that they may follow strong drink And Eccl. 10. 17. Wo to the Land whose Princes eat in the morning A time wherein the Soul is to be feasted at the Throne of Grace and in the word of God's Grace Prayer and reading the Scripture according to that excellent Rule in Matth. 6. 33. First seek the kingdom of God And then a person may be said to eat too soon or hastily when he falls on without Prayer or craving of a Blessing it was the continual practice of our dear Saviour who is out Example to look up to his Father for a Blessing e're he would partake of the Creature 2. If a person eat and drink too daintily when there is an excess in point of Costliness and Curiosity Manna had been better for the Israelites than Quails Holy Jacob's sanctified desires extended no farther than if thou wilt give me Bread to eat mark it not sumptuous delicate Fare but Bread Gen. 28. 20. And Elijah was content with a Cruise of Water and a Cake on the Coals while Jezabeâ—'s 400 Prophets were pamper'd at her full Table Christ has taught us herein in that Petition how to regulate our desires Give us this day our daily Bread Pray observe it no more than plain Bread And the Apostle saith Having food and rayment let us therewith be content 1 Tim. 6. 8. Rayment not Ornament So that when we without cause crave delicate Fare and lash out beyond that proportion our Estates and Incomes will bear we are guilty of this Sin And then when we are too curious about the Sorts of Meat and Drink and their Dressing and Sawces we herein generally send in Ammunition to the sensual Appetite to rebel against Reason and Grace 3. We offend and are guilty of this Sin of Intemperance when we exceed as to the quantity eating and drinking more than what fits us for our general and particular calling as we must not neglect our Bodies so on the other hand we must not pamper them Take heed saith our Saviour lest at any time your Hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting c. and so that Day come upon you at unawares This was the Sin of the Old World and Sodom and it is England's and London's Sin especially the younger sort at this day 4. We offend and are guilty of this Sin when we seed eagerly and greedily or as St. Jude speaketh in the 12. ver They feed without fear not regarding God's awful Dispensations in the world as you have it set forth in that 6. Amos Wo to them that are at ease in Zion ver 1. That lie upon Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and eat the Lambs out of the Flock and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall ver 4. That drink Wine in Bowls but are not grieved at the Afflictions of Joseph ver 6. When the Church of God is drinking Blood and Tears it is unseasonable to drink Wine in Bowls Daniel would eat no pleasant Bread nor drink Wine when it went ill with the poor People of God 5. We offend and are guilty of this Sin when we eat studiously when we study to pamper and make provision for the Flesh and to please our Appetite as if we were Debtors to the Flesh to live to it and caâ—er for it 6. We offend herein when we make the pleasing of our Appetite our main end in Eating and Drinking and not the glorifying of God and preparing us for his Service The All-wise God never gave us our Appetites to be our rule or our end in eating and drinking but to be governed by Grace and Reason to an higher end than pleasing the Flesh Now having shewn you wherein this Sin stands the next direction in order to â—lee it is as followeth Secondly Study how hateful this Sin is to God and how hurtful it is to your selves and others it is hateful to God as it takes the heart off from him and Idolatrously sets it upon the Throat and the Belly hence you have it described in that 3. Phil. 19. Whose end is destruction whose God is their Belly being enemies to the Cross of Christ Hence Gluttons are commonly called Belly-Gods And you may further see how odious it is to God in that thundring Scripture Isa 22. 14. In that day did the Lord call for Weeping and Mourning and behold eating of Flesh and drinking of Wine saying Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Surely this Iniquity shall not be purged away till you dye saith the Lord of Hosts Again it is hateful to God as it is a notorious Transgression of his holy Law Ephes 5. 18. Luke 21. 34. Prov. 23 20. It is a Sin so expresly againâ—t the command of God that Gluttons and Drunkards can't plead ignorance especially such as live under the Gospel So that it must needs be hateful to God seeing it is Rebellion against the Light Job 24. 13 hence David expostulates in Psal 10. 13. Wherefore doth the Wicked contemn God Again it must needs be hateful to God as it carrieth in it a hatred of God if the Friendship of this World is enmity with God as St. James affirmeth in
the 4. Jam. 4. What is then friendship with the Lusts of the Flesh O young men think of it seriously when you are tempted to Riot and Excess this is direct enmity to God and therefore most hateful to him and can your seeble Hands grasp and make your part good with Omnipotency Iâ—â— a terrible thing to renounce the Heaven of God's love and favour for the pleasing of my Throat but directly to run into the Hell of his hatred O what madness is this It were much better a thousand â—imes that thou shouldst never eat bit or â—rink drop more than do so And then â—â— it is thus hateful to God so it is hurtful â—o your selves and others 1. To your â—elves and that both as to your Bodies and â—ouls Intemperance is the bane of the Body as it fills it with Diseases and oppresseth Nature consuming its animal and â—ital Spirits and so is a degree of self murâ—er Who hath Wo who hath Sorrow but â—he Glutton and Drunkard Prov. 23. 29. Hence are those proverbial Sayings Meat â—â—lls as many as the Musquet and the Board as â—â—e Sword and much Meat much Malady Plures pereunt crapulâ quam capula c. It â—rings ruin to a man's Estate Prov. 23. 21. â—he Drunkard and the Glutton shall come to Poverty Many a man hath become by â—ntemperance worse than an Infidel in waâ—ing that Provision that he was bound to preserve for Wife and Children Thus Intemperance is hurtful to the Body And then it is hurtful to the Soul as it wages War against it 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved â—l beseech you abstain from fleshly â—usts which â—ar against the Soul Fulness breeds forgetfulness of God Deut. 6. 11 12. When thou â—halt have eaten and art full then beware 〈◊〉 thou forget the Lord. So Prov. 30. 9. Feed me with Food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord It unfits the Soul for all holy Exercises a full Belly and a lean Soul usually go together When the great enquiry is What shall we eat what shall we drink There is a deep silence about the Soul no such voice heard as What shall I do to be saved A full Belly saith one neither studies well nor prays well and St. Paul saith in Rom. 16. 10. That they serve not the Lord Christ that serve their own Bellies In a word Intemperance is so hurtful to your selves as that without timely repentance and fleeing it it will most certainly exclude Soul and Body out of Heaven and plunge both into Hell for evermore 1 Cor. 6. 9. Know ye not saith the Apostle that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God be not deceived neither Drunkards c. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Now the works of the Flesh are manifest Drunkenness Revellings and such like of which I have told you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And in the 12. of Luke 45. If that Servant shall begin to eat and drunk â—nd be druâ—kâ—n the Lord of that Servant will out him â—sunder and will appoint him his pâ—rt on with the Vnbeliever And that is Hell And then this Sin of Intemperance is hurtful to others its injurious to the Poor coathing and feeding them Many have â—ot Mony for such uses because they have â—ast it away and prodigally consumed it â—pon their Lusts of Gluttony and Drunkenâ—ess And it 's a Sin highly aggravated by â—he Miseries and Afflictions of the Church of God at this day wherein God calls for mourning Now at such a time to say with them in Isa 56. 12. We will fetch Wine and â—e will fill our selves with strong Drink and tomorrow shall be as this day and much more â—bundant O what an aggravation is this And would to God that I could not apply â—his Text to our present times the Lord be merciful to us What an incongruity is it â—o hear and see some Christians ready to â—tarve and cry out for a bit of Bread in one place and others Jesuran like waxing fat and kicking for Wantonness some rowling in Blood and others in Vomit some feeding on Ashes and drinking of Tears while others fare deliciously every day some like Dives other like Lazarus O young men study the hainous nature of this Sin of Intemperance as it is hateful to God and hurtful to your selves and others And then Thirdly Study thy self both the state of thy Soul and Body enquire and commune with your own Hearts about it whether thy Soul be in a state of Grace and Peace with God or of Sin and Enmity be sure one of them it is O labour after a true sight of it which it is if a state of Sin and Enmity then fasting and abstinence become one in thy condition much more than eating and drinking Alas a poor Sinner unreconciled to God ready to drop into Hell and hanker after dainties and delicacies of Meats and Drinks how absurd But if it be a state of Grace and Peace why then Grace will be content with less than Nature and Nature will be content with little It is Lust that is so outragious but they that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts And then study the state of thy Body too is it not mortal must it not be e're long Worms meat and then do but soberly judge how far such a thing should be pampered and at what rates O methinks a sight of your state should make you abhor Gluttony and Epicurism O youth attend hereunto remember Esau was called prophane for parting with his Birth right for one Morsel of Meat and when ever you feel your Appetite eager and craving remember these three directions I have now given you to flee this Sin which brings me to lay down Rules and Remedies against the next youthful Lust Remedies against that Youthful Sin of Lying THis is a Sin I have shewed that Youth are especially prone to I shall very briefly lay down some Directions to flee it 1. Awaken thy Soul young man to consider the danger of this Sin of Lying and that in these two particulars 1. It s a Badge of a graceless Child And 2. it 's a Bar to endless glory It 's a badge of one that 's graceless pray ponder on these Scriptures Isa 63. 8. For he said Surely they â—re my People Children that will not lye And so he was their Saviour And John â— 44. when our Saviour told the wicked Jews they were of their Father the Devil who was a Lâ—ar and the Father of it And then 2. it is a Bar to Life eternal Rev. 21. 27. ver And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever maketh a Lye But in the 8. ver of that Chap. it is affirmed That all Lyars shall have their part in that Lake that burneth with Fire for evermore O this Sin
that Youthful Sin of Pride THat Youth is apt to admire themselves for their supposed Excellences as Beauty Parts Wit Strength c. I have shewed before Man is a proud piece of Dust and a little thing will puff him up a Râ—bbon a Feather a Wire a black spot a bag full of Dirt a Shop full of Goods or the Excrements of Beasts this is that old Leaven of Corruption that hath leavened the whole humane nature hence young Absalon swells O that I might be Judge of Israel Wherefore I shall lay down some directions in order to your fleeing this Sin 1. Represent to thy self how odious and abominable this Sin is to God as will evidently appear if thou study these Scriptures 1 Peter 5. God resisteth the Pruod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word signifieth Sets himself in battle array against such a person Proverbs 6. 16 17. it is there placed in the front of those six things the Lord hates A proud look c. Proverbs 16. 5. Every one that is Proud in Heart is abomination to the Lord and though Hand joyn in Hand yet shall he not go unpunished Isaiah 23. 8. Surely the Lord of Hosts hath purposed to stain the Pride of all Glory And in Isaiah 2. 11. The Day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is Proud whose Heart is lifted up O young People when ever you are affecting a Glory and a kind of Supremacy to your selves consider these Scriptures and remember what a God he is that hath thus expressed his hatred of this Sin he is a God of infinite Greatness and Majesty that might in his Soveraignty have left thee in the Womb of Nothing had he pleased or might have crush'd thee into nothing in the Cradle When he did but let out of his Glory a little to Job and Isaiah one crys ouâ— Wo is me I am an undone man I have seen the Lord Isaiah 6. The other breaks forth Behold I am vile I abhor my self in Dust and Ashes for mine Eyes have seen the Lord of Host And in Heaven where he fully shineth forth in his Glory the Elders fall down and cast down their Crowns before him that sitteth on the Throne O proud Dust one glimpse of the high and lofty One would make thee quake and tremble Secondly Get thy Heart well seasoned with deep Convictions of what a poor sinful mortal Creature thou art it is ignorance of your selvâ—s that makes you proud Hence you read Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and increased with Goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Here you see the different judgment of God and man Whence is it but from man's ignorance of himself O proud Youth were you brought but once to understand what a leprous deformed diseased Soul lodgeth in thy dunghil Body let Conscience answer whether thou couldst be Proud or no a Soul so ignorant of and averse unto the blessed God so unbelieving unholy universally miserable and wretched so like to the Devil and yet be proud a Soul so unreconciled to God so unready for the coming of Christ in such danger of the damnation of Hell one would thiâ—k here should be no more room for Pride than there is reason for it and that 's none at all but the quite contrary namely lying in Tears and abasement before the Lord and begging of Mercy better becometh such a Soul And then for thy Body wherein this miserable Soul lodgeth for a few days one would think thou shouldst have little mind to be proud of that were it only for the sake of so wretched a Tenant that dwells within but as wisely consider it and see whether there be any thing in it or no to be proud of first then O young man dost thou not know it to be a poor vain frail perishing thing the Heathen can tell you this without the Book of Scripture hast thou now a juvenile verdure and freshness of Complexion or briskness of Spirits or quickness of Parts or strength of Body and art thou tempted to Pride by any or all of these Alas let but a Feaver or an Apoplexy seize you as they may within the space of an hour and then where are all these Indeed if thou couldst by thy youthful strength and ability hinder any of these and wert so considerable a Creature as to beat back Sickness and Death when they come thou mightest have some pretence for thy boasting but if thy young Flesh be but as Grass that can no ways defend it self from the Sythe then be ashamed and abased in the Dust Have you noâ— seen or at least have you not heard â—â—w suddenly many of your Age have dâ—â—p'd into the Pâ—â— go to the Church-yard â—nd look among the Graves and see it there be not shorter Graves than would fit you and learn humility Thirdly Sâ—udy an humbled Christ and abhor Pride for ever Mat. 11. 29. Learn of me saith Christ for I am meek anâ— lowly And will you be proud and haughty Psal 22. 6. I am a Worm and no Man it is spoken of Christ O when you are tempted to be high-minded and to over-valuing conceits of your selves to think I am some body and deserve respect and esteem then look an humbled Christ in the face and loath thy self and say O proud heart dost thou stand upon thy Pantofles and Terms and thy Saviour stoop and step down into the form of a Servant Dismount dismount proud Dust and come down and let the same mind be in you as was in Christ 2 Phil. 6. The next Sin Youth is prone unto is quenching the Spirit Remedies against that Youthful Sin of Quenching the Spirit I Have shewed you how prone Youth is to quench the Motions of the Spirit of God stifling those inward Convictions that are wrought in them of their lost and undone estate by Nature of the necessity of Conversion and the New Birth and of their indispensible Duty to use the means both publick and private that God hath appointed in order to their Conversion there are not a few of London's Youth that are guilty in a high degree of this Sin Wherefore to prevent it for time to come attend to these following directions First Understand wherein this Sin of Quenching the Spirit stands and that 's the first step to Reformation in this point Quenching is a metaphorical part of Speech it is borrowed from a Fire or Lamp that useth to give light and heat now this applied to the Spirit it must follow that the Spirit is a Fire heating and Light enlightning the Soul and therefore in reference hereunto the Apostle in the 1. Thes 5. 19. saith Quench not the Spirit how that is done may be gathered from the metaphor thus a Fire or Light is two manner of ways quenched 1. By withdrawing of Fuel from it 2. By casting of Water upon it So it is here with this heavenly Fire 1.
in Christs strength to obey your Youthful Lusts no more 14. Hosea 8. Ephraim shall say what have I any more to do with Idols 34. Job 32. Lord what I know not teach thou me and wherein I have done iniquity I will do so no more 5. Lively acting of faith on a crucified Christ and the precious promises 6. Rom. 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that hence forth we should not serve sin 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit 6. Daily watchings against all occasions of drawing out your youthful Lust and Corruption 31. Job 1. I have made a Covenant with my eyes that I will not look upon a Maid 18. Psal 23. I have kept my self from mine own iniquity and you may rank under this head that in 13. Rom. 13. of making no provision for the flesh to fulfil it in its lusts 7. And Lastly Willingness to receive a Christian and Friendly reproof for your youthful sins and follies 141. Psal 5. Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyle which shall not break my head Now when you carefully use these and such like-means which God in his holy word hath appointed then you comport with this exeellent Rule Flee Youthful Lusts and so you have the import of that Phrase Flee which will further receive an accession of light if you read with it those other Scriptures where the word Flee is used in a good sense I shall only allude to them Flee youthful lusts as Lot fled out of Sodom 19. Gen. 17. Flee for thy life look not behind thee stay not thou in the plain escape to the mountain least thou be consumed Flee Young man thy Lusts as Joseph fled from his tempting Mistress 39. Gen. 12. And she caught him by his garment saying lye with me and he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out Flee as Jaocb fled from the face of his bloody Brother Esau 35. Gen. 1. Flee as the poor distressed Manslayer fled from the avenger of Blood to the City of refuge 19. Deut. 5. And thus I have endeavoured the Resolution of the first Question what the import of the word Flee is Q. 2. What are those youthful lusts that you are so concerned to Flee Ans In the Division of our lives there are peculiar and predominant lusts incident to each division Now in the general Youth is obnoxious to most sins yet some more than others Youth hath its proper sins that hange about that haunt and dog that season of life some whereof respect the temper of their minds and others the frame of their lives which I shall give you in these following Heads 1. Aireness of Spirit levity of Mind vanity of thoughts 2. Blind Boldness in adventuring on desperately in dangerous ways 3. Careless incogitancy and inconsiderateness about the most awful important matters of their Souls 4. Delaying Repentance and turning to God foolishly thinking it's time enough they are yet young 5. Eager pursuits after sensual Pleasures Games c. Loving these more then God 6. Flexibility to temptations as dry Tinder to receive the least sparke easily enticed 7. Going down the Stream and following a multitude to do Evil saying I do but as other young people do 8. Hating lustructions Admonition and Reproof 9. Intemperance in meats and Drinks 10. Keeping of ill Company that Soul runining snare of Hell 11. Lying and inventing Excuses 12. Making little or no Conscience of relative Duties 13. Nourishing vain hopes and flattering themselves with the thoughts of long Life and puting far away the evil Day 14. Omitting the holy Observation of the Sabbath 15. Pride of their parts Beauty Strength 16. Quenching the motions of the Holy Spirit 17. Ridiculing serious Religion as too strict and more than needs 18. Time-wasting 19. Uncleanness 20. Woful giddiness of Spirit ready to imbibe any kinde of error To begin with the first of these 1. Aireness of Spirit c. It is observable what name the Hebrews give a young Man viz. Nagnar which cometh from a root that signifieth to be tossed to and fro Thereby setting forth the Levity and Vanity of a young Man's mind Solomon tells us in the 10. Eccl. 11. that Childhood and Youth are Vanity light Spirited and Frothy O how rare a sight is it to see young people serious and staid in their minds Ballasted and Ballanced in the matters of Religion Most are as the Apostle saith of them tossed easily to and fro with every Wind tho they are born with sinful corrupted Natures and are every moment liable to Death and Damnation while they continue in a natural condition yet they are like the wild Ass in the Wilderness that snuffeth up the Wind at her pleasure as the Prophet Jeremiah speaks 2. Jer. 24. They are become vain in their imagination their minds are like that of the Poets full of vain fancies and fictions the Eye of their minds like that of their Body looks all outward as if they had no Soul to mind Hence it is that so many thousands of Prayers Tears and Instructions of faithful Ministers and Relations are defeated and rendred unsuccessful through the Instability and Vanity of young peoples spirits B. Boistrous and Bold adventuring upon sinful and pernicious Courses of a Jehu like temper 2 Kings 9. 10. Furious and Desperate This is that young people are prone to in the heat of their Youth to be venturous as the Horse that rusheth into the Battle Now if you would see how the Horse rusheth into the Battle compare with that 8. Jer. 6. the 39. Job 19. and there you have it Now most elegantly and lively expressed by God himself Hast thou given the Horse strength hast thou cloathed his neck with thunder Canst thou make him afraid as a Grashopper his nostrils are terrible He paweth in the valley and rejoyceth in his strength he goeth on to meet the armed men He mocketh at fear and is not affrighted neither turneth he back from the Sword The quiver ratleth against him he swalloweth the ground with firceness he saith among the Trumpets ha ha in which discription you may see how furiously and dangerously he rusheth into the Battle for he rusheth upon the Pikes and deadly 〈◊〉 prepared for destruction and oftimes is suddenly slain Thus young people are apt to rush on in sinful ways Furiosus juvenibus animi habitus Tho God hedge in their way with Thorns they break through all as Balaam would on tho there was a drawn Sword in the way So Youth is prone to this mad fury in venturing on tho God hath laid many bars in sins way as Majestracy Ministry Conscience and the occular demonstrations of his Judgments upon other impenitent sinners these are all bars in their way yet how rare is
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
to it 2. As they directly oppose the means of it 1. As they wofully indispose the Soul to it this will appear beyond the least doubt if you seriously consider what a polluting a pernicious influence youthful Lusts have upon all the faculties of the Soul These Lusts they diffuse a blindness upon the Mind they benum the Conscience increase the natural rebellion of the Will exceedingly harden the Heart and miserably enthral and deprave the Affections and so they wofully indispose the Soul to conversion 1st They diffuse a blindness on the Mind that noble faculty the thinking discerning and reasoning Power of the Soul which some call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the leading and directing Faculty which is to the Soul what Eyes are to the Body therefore called 1. Ephes 18. the Eyes of the Vnderstanding these Eyes youthful Lusts blind so that they cannot see afar off to the end of a sinful Life how bitter and evil a thing Sin will prove at last when God will bring the young man to Judgment for all his youthful Lusts hence they fearlesly chose a course of Vanity and Sensuality in serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Being blinded through their Lusts they discern not the absolute necessity of a Saviour they see no beauty in him that he should be desired and what more effectual bar can there be to their Conversion Alas while the mind is blinded tho' a poor Sinner hangs over Hell every moment under a just sentence of Condemnation at the very door of Eternity yet all 's at peace the Soul lieth in a deep and deadly Sleep though a Minister come and weep over him use the most rouzing Arguments with him all 's one noâ— a whit moved or stirred though you speaâ— never so much Reason or Scripture â—â— Soul thou hast an unholy Nature to be renewed an offended God to be reconciled to thou hast innumerable Sins and not one oâ— them pardoned thou hast Death and Judgment to make ready for thou hast but a feâ— more days on Earth yet while the mind â—â— blinded they make light of all a merry taâ—â— will more affect them Romances Playâ— and Comedies such Bubbles and empâ—â— Vanity are much more pleasing than thâ— most powerful Heavenly Sermon Noâ— whence is this but from the blindness young mens Minds and whence is thâ—â— blindness but from their youthful Lust aâ— you may read in that apposite Scripturâ— Ezek. 14. and 5. They are all estranged froâ— me through their Lusts Lust in David bloâ—ted out the impression and remembrance of the Evil and danger of sinning against God hence when he was recovered by effectual Grace see how he rates himself in Psal 73. 22. So foolish and ignorant was I even as a Beast before thee Lust in toxicates the Mind and then like a Drunkard that through the vapours that fume up into his Head sleepeth and forgetteth all his dangers his debts So it is here and O how impossible is thy Conversion while thy Mind is thus darkened the Mind that is the Watch-man of thy Soul to keep off Sin and danger and if the watch-man be blind how small hope of Conversion By this you see how youthful Lusts indispose the Soul to Conversion as they blind the mind 2dly They indispose the Soul for conversion as they stupifie Conscience that Spy in our Bosom that Vice-gerent of the supream Judge whose office is various 1. to record and register all we do 2. To bear witness and give in evidence 3. As a Judge to pass sentence Conscience sits on the Throne as God's Deputy in the Soul to award out Life or Death 4. To be a Tormentor a never-dying Worm it is to the damned â—n Hell and an insupportable burden to â—ome on Earth creating such internal Anxiâ—ties and Tortures that all the Arts Wits Pleasure and Diversions in the world canâ—ot root out as in Belshazzar Cain Judas Tiberius Nero Caligula c. of these divers offices and acts of Conscience you read in Rom. 2. 15. 1 John 3. 20 21. Prov. 18. 14. And that in order to Conversion it is necessary that this busie Faculty in man be awakened will appear if you consider that 8 of Jer. 6. God hearkened and heard and no man repented him saying What have I done but every one turned to his course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel There you have God's inquisition and search to find ouâ— whether that People repented or no â— hearkened and heard saith God Then yoâ— have God's evidence brought in no maâ— repented or converted and then you havâ— the Cause laid down of their not repenting No man said What have I done q. d. Haâ— Conscience been awakened to have donâ— its office to have div'd into all their Villanies had that domestick Spie in the Bosom brought in a true account concerning whaâ— they had done they would certainly havâ— repented e'er this Alas the subtile Heaâ— of a Sinner will endure and bear all thâ— historical notions of the evil of Sin of thâ—â—erribleness of Hell as one in Health can beâ—â— the names and notions of Plague Stonâ— Colick and the most tormenting disease and all but as Powder shot and scare-Crowâ— untill Conscience like Peter 2. Acts 36 3â— closeth particularly with Sinners thus Ye aâ— they that with wicked Hands crucified 〈◊〉 Lord of Glory and then they were pricked to the Heart and as Nathan closed with David 2. Sam. 12. 7. He draws his Parable out of the Clouds and enters him with this arrest Thou art the man then he presently cries out I have sinned O believe it Sirs when once Conscience meets with a desperate Sinner that hath been ruffling it in all manner of Riot for a time drenching himself in sensual pleasures and Conscience in the name of the great God arrests him with an O wretch what hast thou done thus and thus to provoke the Great the Holy the Righteous sin-revenging God I have been privy to all thy secret as well as open Wickedness and I have sad News to tell thee that the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against thee c. Thus when Conscience finds out a Sinner and spits as it were Hell-Fire in his Face believe me it will eftsoon put the Soul upon the Rack and cause it to break forth with an O Wo is me the Sins which I now see are bitter as Death the Wrath that I begin to feel at present and that to come that I fear makes a kind of Tophet within me O if I should dye in this case what would become of me Lord is there no mercy What shall I do to be saved Thus Conscience in its efficacious working is necessary to Humiliation which is one great part of Conversion and then for hope of mercy and pardon and a fixed resolution to forsake all known Sin and teturning home to God which makes up and compleats a Sinners conversion you may easily discern from what I have said as to the first part of Conversion the
Lusts do exceedingly augment that estrangedness to and distance from God So here there is a natural rebellion in the Will against God but these youthful Lusts when fulfilled do much more add to that resistance and opposition and further that wretched and vile aversion in the Will to God And they will introduce such a vile setled habitual enmity in the Will to the blessed God as that you will wish there were no God with David's Fool in the 14. Psal 1. For you cannot but know that your Lusts are detestable to the holy and pure Nature of God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity as the Prophet speaks in the 1. Hab. 13. You have Items of this in your own Breasts you cannot plead ignorance herein that when you obey your Lusts you do that abominable thing which his Soul hateth and abhorreth which being done most certainly influenceth the Will to a dislike of and regret at the holy Nature of God that you like not to retain him in your thoughts but will account thine own impure lusts more desirable and better than God and if so you may easily make an estimate how these youthful lusts indispose the Soul to Conversion it may as well stand with the life of a man to be cast into the depth of the Sea with a Milstone about his neck as it can stand with thy Conversion whilst thou yieldest obedience to thy youthful Lusts for these more and more alienate thy Will from God and Christ and swell thee with pride and enmity against the holy Will and Word of God that it will become a pleasing thing to thee to shove God out of thy thoughts 10. Psal 4. and to say to the Almighty Depart from me I desire not the knowledge of thy ways And can this stand with Conversion O see the malignity of the influence that thy youthful Lusts have upon thy Will to hinder thy Conversion with what astonishment should you bethink your selves and say What a wretch am I to yield to my youthful lusts which set my Will against my bountiful and blessed Maker the Author of my Life and Being O the compleat and comprehensive Wickedness of this enough to make me tremble what to hate God and love my lusts that will damn me O horrid temper how canst thou hold up thy Head before him whose Eyes are as a Flame of Fire if there be found in thee an obstinate downright aversation in thy Will surely O my Soul if thou werâ— to live here a thousand years and hadst no other business than to bewail this it would not be sufficient O young ones think of this O that God would set it home upon your Hearts methinks it should cast yoâ— down with amazement and compel you tâ— say when tempted to yield to your youthful Lusts with that excellent young man in the 39. Gen. 1. How can I do so great Wickedness and sin against God 4thly These youthful lusts indispose the Soul to Conversion as they exceedingly harden the heart hence have you that admonition in the 3. Heb. 13. Take heed lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of Sin There is a threefold hardness incident to the heart of man 1. Natural 2. Habitual or contracted 3. Judicial or penal 1. the Natural is found in all men as they come into the world in their several Ages and Generations it is derived to us from Adam and it's part of that wretched corrupt nature that we receive from him by our immediate Parents 2. the Contracted or acquired hardness is that which we bring upon our hearts by a course of Sin we read of it in Prov. 29. 1. Ezek. 3. 7. and Rom. 20. 5 6. 3. the Judicial hardness is a tradition or being given up to our own hearts lusts by a justly provoked God not that God infuseth any evil disposition into the heart but withdraweth his gracious Spirit Deut. 29. 9. and moreover he leaves the stubborn Sinner to his own natural and contracted hardness whereby he becometh more blind dead refractory and obstinate than ever of this we read in the 9 of Exodus and the 12. in the instance of the Lord 's hardening Pharaoh's Heart Isa 6. 9 10. Go and tell this People hear you indeed but understand not and see you indeed but perceive not make the Heart of this People fat lest they be converted It is a tremendous Text and is quoted six times in the New Testament Math. 13. 14. Mark 4. 12. Luk. 8. 10. John 12. 40. Acts 28. 26. Rom. 11. 8. Now it is principally the second and third viz. Contracted and Judicial hardness that youthful lusts yielded to do miserably bring upon the Heart These make the Heart like the Leviathan's scales as Job speaks these do as it were bury their Heart in the Grave and roll a great Stone over it and so they indispose the Soul to Conversion for what fruit can ever be expected from a Rock oâ— a Stone let the Rain come down from Heaven upon it let the Sun shine with its Beamâ— upon it let the Seed's-man cast his Seeds on it yet the Rock is a Rock still So it is with a stony rocky Heart let there be line upon line and precept upon precept alas there is no impression made neither can there be until there be a removal of its hardness and that can never be till the cause of that hardness be removed which is a going on in the practice of these vile Lusts O the malignity of their influence they stop the Ears thaâ— the Heart becomes like the deaf Adder they shut the Eyes they fold up the Arms theâ— make the Heart like an Adamant regardleâ—â— under threatnings and all other administrations used by God to awaken convince and convert Sinners let one Minister come after another and cry aloud lift up their Voices like Trumpets in the shrillest manner as Boanerges yet as Zephaniah telleth us in 3. Chap. 5. They know no shame let God speak to them in their Prosperity they will not hearken 22. Jer. 21. let him multiply upon them the Fruits and Expressions of his Goodness in daily Preservations Deliverances c. yet they despise the Riches of his Goodness 2. Rom. 4. and 32. Deut. 15. But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked then he forsook God which made him O the malignity of Sin 's influence Solomon saith in 9. Eccles 3. It fills the Heart with madness while they live O young man thou art besides thy self bereaved of the right use of thy Reason by following of thy lusts hadst thou ever any fear or tenderness any sense of Sin any compunction of Heart O if thou yieldest to thy Lusts how quickly will all be extinguished and not only so but those Lusts will bring thee to such obduration as will lay thee naked and open to the unexpressible Misery of having that Scripture fulfilled upon thee 6. Isaiah and the 9. and 29 Chap. 10. The Lord hath poured upon you the Spirit of a
deep sleep We may stand amazed to see how Persons adorned with excellent Endowments of Nature that have great ability in natural things men of great Sense as we say when they hear how their unmortified Lusts war against their Souls and expose them to the Wrath of God and Everlasting Burning yet can go on in their lusts without remorse or any akings of Heart nay that which made the Son of God to bleed anâ— brought him to such bitter Agonies and strong Cries and Groans and for which Vengeance is now tearing and tormenting thousand in Hell Alas all is but as a Dream whilâ— sin prevaileth it hardeneth the Heart to â— degree of spiritual Phrensy Hosea 7. 9. 5. Jer. 3. 5. Isa 12. and 1. Chap. 5. likâ— Jonah fast asleep in the sides of the Ship tho' ready to perish Young men remember it yielding to your Lusts will so insensibly harden you that you will be like â— man that is seized with the dead Palsie whoâ— tho' you pinch and strike he feels nothing or like Solomon's besotted Wretch 7. Prâ—â— 14 15. They have stricken and beaten me bâ— I felt it not Or like the Prophet's Aetâ—opian 13. Jer. 23. Can the Aethiopian chanâ—â— his Skin and the Leopard his Spots theâ— may you change your accustomed Eviâ— Bernard describing the malignity of Sin 's iâ—fluence as to its encroaching Nature oâ—serves this Gradation At first saith he Sâ— is importable next time heavy then eaâ—â— then light then sweet at last necessaâ—â— Wherefore flee youthful Lusts as ever yâ—â— would escape these Soul-ruining Evils as blindness of Mind searedness of Conscience incurable hardness of Heart all which indispose the Soul to Conversion nay they expose it to Damnation 5thly These youthful Lusts indispose the Soul to Conversion as they miserably enslave and defile the Affections which are seated in the sensitive apperite of a man and they are such as these Anger Love Joy Fear Sorrow these are planted in us to be subservient to our Souls in glorifying God and working out our own Salvation But through these youthful Lusts they become subservient to Satan and predominant over the Soul bringing it into miserable bondage and vile slavery and so indispose it to Conversion In Prayer thy affections should be fixed on God in Christ as the sole object of thy Love Delight and filial Fear But are they so dost thou draw nigh to God as thy exceeding joy tell me young man where are thy Bethels thy Penuels I doubt upon a serious review it will be found quite otherwise that vain thoughts have lodged in thy mind and that swarms of noisome Lusts have been tumbling up and down the dead Sea of thy Soul in time of Prayer Ah how little of love to God hatred of Sin answerable to their nature have possessed your Souls in duty if any pious stirrings of Affections have been how short a stay have they made how many more ambitious wanton covetous or revengeful Thoughts have been jumbled together with them I appeal to you Is it not enough to change that Prayer into Sin wherein thy God hath been lodged with a crew of viperous Lusts or rather wherein thy Affections have been committing spiritual Fornication with their Idols or have been Dinah like gadding abroad with the Fools Eyes to and fro to the ends of the Earth Now upon enquiry whence this comes about if thou search impartially and cast the lot right it will appear that the Arch-Agent of and in all this is thy minion Lust that Youth is under the power of some complain of continual distractions in Prayer their Minds are like the unquiet Waves of the Sea up and down their Affections unstable rambling up and down Alas the main reason of this woful posture in Duty is their unmortified Lusts and it is very observable that the more provision you make for the Flesh to fulfil it in its lusts the more dominion and tyranny it will have over your Thoughts and Affections in holy Duties and is such a Prayer ever like to issue in thy Conversion wherein thy Affections have been under the vile umpire and influence of thy Lusts It may rather be called a Service done to thy Lusts than to God There was Jehu what ardent and zealous affection did he seem to have in the Service and Cause of God when he cryed out Come see my Zeal for the Lord of Hosts But what was it that influenced and moved his affections it was not the Glory of God but the lust of Vain-glory and Self-advancement Experience confirms this that many in their youth have had shews of great affection in their Profession of Godliness who have after a while fell away and become at last as senseless and stupid about Heavenly things as any prophane one in the world O young People those Lusts you serve will have such an ill influence on your Affections as that they will become like wild Horses to tear your Souls in pieces O cursed Lusts how unspeakable is that thraldom they lay our affectionate part under that when thy Affections should be like Elijah's fiery Chariot to mount thy Soul up to Heaven they should through thy lust be like the Wheels of a Jehu's Chariot furiously to hurry thy Soul to Hell Our affections were planted in us for this end to facilitate and make our access to God to become easie pleasant and delightful to our Soul but O miserable change they now are quite contrary through thy unmortified Lusts they are like Clogs Chains and Fetters to hinder the Soul's approach to God When at any time the Ship of thy Soul should hoise fail for Heaven thy Affections being defiled and led captive by thy Lusts will like a Sheet-Anchor hold it back When thou shouldst be loving the Lord thy God with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind which our Saviour telleth you is that first and great Commandment on which all depends for saith Christ on this hang all the Law and the Prophets O how deplorable a case is it that instead of this my depraved Affections should terminate upon and cleave to a Cup or a Whore or a dunghil world O monstrous wickedness O young men bethink your selves what a pernicious temper this is ought it noâ— to cut you to the very Heart to find your selves convicted of such enmity and aversion in your affections to the blessed God and whence is it but from your youthfuâ— Lusts O diseased Soul if thy lusts had noâ— corrupted and perverted thy Affections thou wouldst have thought God as suitabâ— an object for thy love as meat to the hungry and drink to the thirsty Is he not thâ— chiefest best most excellent comprehensive purest fullest and most immutable permanent Good Should not an object so admirably fit attract and allure thy superlatiâ—â— love Do you not know do n't your Coâ—sciences tell you that your affections ougâ—â— to be placed on God above all and ougâ—â— it not to fill your Souls
with horror wheâ— you find not your affections strongly beâ—â— and inclined to him how much more then should you loath your selves when your Affections are sullenly averse to him Is not this a fearful pitch of malignity wouldst thou not think him a vile Miscreant and reckon the Earth too good to bear him that should hate the presence of his own Father and abhor all converse with him and canst thou so accuse and condemn such a one and not thy self for much greater degrees of wickedness better thy affections were disinclined to thy nearest Relations yea to thy self than to the blessed God who is the spring of thy life and being and yet thus it is while thy Lusts are obeyed instead of loving God thou lovest thy Pleasures more than God instead of hating Sin thou hatest God more than Sin O then possess thy Soul throughly with a due and deep sense of this great Evil that thy youthful Lusts do thy poor Soul in depraving thy Affections so that they seem to be in you what the Devils were in the Herd of Swine violently carrying you from God the fountain of living Waters to lying Vanities And thus I have shewed you how these youthful Lusts do hinder Conversion as they indispose the Soul in all its parts and faculties to Conversion Which brings me to the second thing namely to shew how these Lusts do hinder Conversion as they directly oppose the means of it and that both on God's part and yours 1. On God's part These youthful Lusts provoke God to withdraw his Spirit and Grace and leave you to your own Hearts Lusts and then what hope of Conversion remains It is God alone that can take away that Stony Heart and give a Heart of Flesh that quickens the dead Soul In Conversion we are said to be his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto gooâ— Works 2. Ephes 10. And St. John saith 1. John 13. We are born again not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will â—â— man that is not by any natural power vertue or strength inherent in them Bâ—â— of the Will God it 's he that worketh both â—â— will and to do and his people are said tâ— be a willing People in the day of his Power Psal 110. 3. The Metaphors that the holy Ghost useth in Scripture to set forth thâ—â— work of Conversion by do plainly poiâ—â— out this That no less power than that Omnipotent Power of God is required to thâ— Conversion of a Sinner as for instance 1. That of the Resurrection from the dead 6. Rom. 4. to raise the Dead is the effect â—â— an Almighty Power 2. That of Creation 2. Ephes 10. And who can create bâ— God no Creature can the mightiest Aâ—gâ— cannot create the meanest Worm Thâ— Conversion is set forth in Scripture to be the Lord 's own workmanship Hence you read 2. Ephes 1. You hath he quickned who were dead in Sins and Trespasses And in 36. Ezek. 27. A new Spirit also will I put within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall do them And in 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive And it was God that opened Lydia's Heart It is true that the Lord of Heaven the God of all Grace who could work of himself and without any means is pleased to make use of means to wit his Word as in the 1. James 18. By the Word of Truth of his own Will begat he us that we should be a kind of First Fruits of his Creatures Hence the Word is called the Incorruptible Seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. and the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit Hence the Lord hath appointed and instituted the great and honourable Office of the Ministry and bestows Gifts on his Ministers to preach the everlasting Gospel to the World to open Sinners Eyes and turn them from Darkness to Light Hence Ministers are called Spiritual Fathers not that there is any inherent power in either the Word it self or him that preacheth it but from the Spirit of God whose Instruments we are 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. The Weapons of our Warfare saith the Apostle are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds c. And in 2 Cor. 4. 7. We have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God So then saith the same Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 7. Neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase Not any thing in a way of efficiency only instrumentally as a Pen is the Instrument but it 's the Hand that writes so the Word preached and the dispenseâ— of it are Instruments of Conversion but it 's the Spirit of God is the quickning Agent for it must needs surpass the strength of a Creature to change the Nature and to cause a return from so miserable a privation and death as by Nature we are in unto so glorious and excellent a participation of the divine Nature and Life as every converted Soul is put into when transformed into the Image of God Now then to raise the Argument and build upon this Foundation that I have laid if the principal efficient Cause and means oâ— Conversion on God's part be his own Almighty Arm revealed and made bare hiâ— Spirit poured out and putting forth a quickning vital Energy then there 's little hope of Conversion where this Almighty Agent is provoked so far forth as to with-hold his Spirit and to leave a Sinner to his own Hearts Lust But youthful lusts yielded to and served do most certainly thus provoke God to withdraw his Spirit and Grace and therefore obstruct their Conversion in a direct opposing the means of it on God's part That they do thus provoke God is evident from these Scriptures 81. Psal 11 12. But my People would not hearken to my Voice and Israel would none of me So I gave them up unto their own Hearts Lusts and they walked in their own Counsels 1. Rom. 26. For this cause saith the Apostle God gave them up to vile Affections This Text it 's true speaketh of the Heathens of whom the Apostle had been speaking before in ver 19 20. he had been shewing what means they had to know God they had not the Light of the Gospel as we have only the Light of Nature then he sheweth us ver 21. how they had abused this Light wherefore saith he For this cause God gave them up You see here what may befall poor Heathens that have no more than a Natural Light yet even they for not improving and living up to that may so far provoke God as to give them up O what do you think young people that are within the Pale of the Church you have what the Heathen had and you have superadded a further and more excellent Light the Light of Scripture and many of you have the enlightenings
of the Spirit in manifold Convictions I say what do you think will become of you who obey not the Gospel you may read in 2 Thess 1. 7 8. what your Portion will be without a speedy fleeing your youthful Lusts Did God give up the Heathens O be afraid young ones that have the Light of Scripture before your Eyes in this Text flee youthfuâ— lusts lest you by yielding to them provoke God to say as once to Ephraim He is joyneâ— to Idols let him alone q. d. Such a one knoweth better but he hateth the Light he must have his Lusts let him have them leâ— his Heart be made fat that he never convert and turn O fearful sign of Reprobation You will find your Soul like Bowle down hill rowling to Hell amain For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fieâ— Indignation which shall devour the Sinner 10. Heb. 26 27. My Spirit saith God shalâ— not always strive with man 6. Gen. 3. young People did you never find the Spiriâ— of God in this Text or others tending â—â— the same thing to abandon your Lusts striving with you Have you had no Motion excited have you had no Thoughts cast in that have had this aspect and tendency which you have represt and resisted through the indulgence of your youthful Lusts Know it young man that herein you havâ— provoked God to take away his holy Spiriâ— and it is a righteous thing that the Spirit of God should retire and desist as to further influences and operations which should make you with awful thoughts retire into your own Soul and smite upon the Thigh and say What have I done I have provoked the Most High God to withdraw his Spirit and can that Sin be small that hazards the favour of God and the life of my Soul for ever If once the abused Spirit of God depart and leave thee to thy youthful Lust thou wilt be like Sampson when his Locks wherein his strength lay were cut Judges 16. 20. It was told Sampson that the Philistines were upon him and he awoke out of sleep and said I will go out as at other times before and shake my self and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him Or like Esau Heb. 12. 17. who afterward would have inherited the Blessing but was rejected for he found no place for Repentance tho' he sought it carefully with Tears Or like those Mountains of Gilboa upon which neither the Rain nor Dew falls They say that nastiness in a Dove-house will cause the Dove to leave that House Sure I am that your youthful unclean Lusts will in time drive away that mystical Dove the holy Ghost from thy Soul and then who shall quicken thy dead Soul Alas if that great Master of Assemblies leave thee never more to strive with thee what can poor Ministers do Suppose there were a vast Assembly oâ— Godly able Divines met to consult abouâ— thy Cure they must all return re infecta iâ— vain and say as the King of Israel did iâ— another case to the poor Woman that crieâ— to him in time of Famine Help my Lorâ— O King And he said If the Lord do â—â— help thee whence shall I help thee out of thâ— Barn-floor or out of the Wine-press 2 King â— 26 27. So here if the Lord have doâ—â— with thee and will not pity and help whence should we out of our barren Soâ—â— and earthen Vessels your case is dreadfuâ— and we can give you our Tears but we caâ— not give you any Oyl not a drop of savinâ— Grace If God have given you the Spirâ—â— of Slumber and a deep Sleep Isa 29. â— 11. Rom. 8. Can we open the Heart God shut it up Can we plow up the Grounâ— if God lay it Fallow here 's a judgment iâ— deed If a man sin against God saith Eli wâ— shall intreat for him So if God set himâ—eâ—â— against a Soul who can recover that Soâ—â— Thus you see the malignity of that inflâ—ence youthful Lusts have in hindring of Coversion as those lusts do oppose the meaâ— of it on God's part provoking him to tâ—â— judicial penal act of withdrawing his Gracâ— and delivering up to their own hearts lust And therefore it is a duty of special conceâ—â— to young ones to flee their youthful luâ—â— But then in the second place it will furth appear if you consider that these youthful lusts do oppose the means of Conversion on the Soul's part 2. Youthful Lusts oppose the means of Conversion on our own part such as Consideration Prayer and attendance upon God in his holy Word Resolution and Reformation But here perhaps you may object and say That Conversion is not in your power it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God who giveth Grace and sheweth Mercy to whom he pleaseth ex mero motu suo beneplacito and who can move him or command it from it A. This is a point which very many young ones through Satan's subtilty are greatly puzled about but the chief fault is themselves let us endeavour to set you to rights and all these matters in clear light that so much stumble you as to the use of means on your own part And first pray remember by way of Concession that there is no man without the mighty power of God and his effectual Grace can convert and change his own corrupt Nature this is granted But then I say moreover that where ever the Gospel cometh and is preached as it is now blessed be God among us there is none that I know of so much as question it but that all those who enjoy it and to whom it is preached have such a sufficiency of means and aids for Conversion and Salvation granted to them a is abundantly sufficient to convict condemn and leave wholly inexcusable all those that are disobedient to it and remain unconverted under it that it was not so much their cannot as their will not and obstinate refusal that is the proximate and immediate cause of their non-conversion and unbelief John 3. 19. This is the condemnation Light iâ— come into the World and men love Darknesâ— rather than Light because their Deeds are evil John 5. 4. And ye will not come untâ— me that you might have Life Jer. 8. 5. They refuse to return And it is upon this Hypothesis that all those melting moving Expostulations and pleadings with Sinners in the Word of God are raised and built as for instance Turn turn ye why will you dyeâ— as I live saith the Lord I desire not the Death of a Sinner Ezek. 33. 11. Chap. 18. 23. Cease to do evil learn to do well wash you make ye clean come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall
be as Wool Jer. 13. 27. O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean â—â— when shall it once be Thus having cleared what lay in our way as matter of Objection and discouragement touching the means of Conversion on our part I shall proceed to consider more particularly those instituted means of Conversion and then shew you how your Lusts oppose those means and thereby hinder your Conversion For the Means I shall begin with that of Consideration and that because I find the Holy Ghost in Scripture beginning here with unconverted Sinners commanding and commending this as an excellent means of Conversion in the 1 Kings 8. 47. If they shall bethink themselves and repent then hear thou their Prayer c. where you see plainly that retiring into our own hearts by serious thoughtfulness and consideration is a singular means to Repentance and Conversion Again in Hag. 1. 5. Now therefore thus saith the Lord Consider your ways Psal 119. 59. I thought on my ways and turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies He first considered and then he converted So the prodigal Son came first to himself by consideration and then he came home to his Father by sound Conversion Luke 15. 17. Here the Lord complains of that People's impenitence in Jer. 8. 6. No man repented him And in the next words relateth the Cause of it to be want of consideration No man said What have I done O would but young men retire from the Noise and foolish Vanities of this world and allow their Souls leisure for the serious exercise of this important Duty to consider their sinful and woful estate by Nature in what posture they stand God-wards with their apostate Natures and how the Wrath of God that is revealed from Heaven against all Unrighteousness this wrath abideth on them every moment during their unconverted state and how fearful a thing it is to carry ones doom in ones own bosom to go up and down the world in a state of enmity to the most high Jehovah under his Curâ—e and Wrath as they most certainly do iâ— their state of Nature and there to consider of their manifold Omissions and Commissions how many thousand ways they have offended God how many checks of Conscience they have stifled what Motions of the Spirit they have resisted what preciouâ— seasons of Grace they have neglected whaâ— Light Love Mercies Engagements Vowâ— they have sinned against what pains they have taken to satisfie their Lusts stopping their Ears at the holy Instructions Counsels Exhortations intreaties of Parents Ministers what estrangedness and separation theiâ— Sins have made between God and their Souls and then to consider how short their time oâ— Earth will be how sure it is that their youthful Sins will sooner or later find them out â— how certain that God will bring them â—â— Judgment for all thy Pleasures in the Flesh all thy Thoughts Words and Deeds Thuâ— I say would but young men take time â—â— commune with their own Souls about theâ—â— tremendous matters it would surely awakeâ— and call them to fear and enquire What mâ—â—â— I do to be saved And so prepare them foâ— that other Head of Consideration nameâ—â— the rich soveraign and free Grace of God in Christ laid open in the Gospel how God hath so loved the World as to give his only Son to dye for us when enemies that whosoever believeth and repenteth shall not perish but have everlasting Life how able and willing Christ is to save and receive all heavy laden weary Souls that see themselves lost and â—aste the bitterness and feel the burden of their Sin that come to him how lovingly he invites all such to come to him and assureth them of a gracious reception and a full remission of all their Sins and eternal Salvation c. and that it is not all the aggravations of their Sins however they have been multiplied and commited against the Light of Natural Conscience or the Light of Supernatural Grace revealed in the Scriptures that shall be an impediment or bar to their acceptance and pardon upon their return If the Wicked forsake his Way and the Vnrighteous man his Thoughts and turn unto the Lord he will have mercy and to our God and he will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7. or multiply to pardon Again there is nothing but an unbelieving impenitent Heart resisting this Grace can or shall ever deprive you of so great Salvation as is offered to you in the Gospel and tho' you have refused in past seasons when he hath called yet for all that he won't refuse you If you flee from your lusts to him the only refuge for lost Souls the match shall not break on his part and if you perish and miss Salvation at last it shall not be long of him So that this is undeniable viz. that Consideration on our part is a most fit and apposite means of Conversion I have some time read of a Religious Father that had rebellious wicked Son that was a great grieâ— to him when the Father was on his deaâ—â— bed he called his Son to him and laid hiâ— under a solemn engagement and promise That he would every day retire alone aâ—â— spend one quarter of an Hour in seriouâ— thinking After the pious Father was deaâ— the wild Son began to consider of his promise to his Father and accordingly once day retires at first he began to think of thâ— Honours and Pleasures of this World buâ— after a while he began to consider what hâ—â— Father's design was in obliging him theâ— once a day to retiredness and thoughtfulness and then he began to call to mind his Sinâ— and wicked Life that he had lived and thâ— good Spirit of God concurring with thosâ— thoughts he became a new man So thaâ— Consideration is a means of Conversion Now I come in the next place to shew yoâ— how youthful lusts directly oppose this meaâ— of Conversion and that will appear it yoâ— consider the rage of these Lusts they wiâ—â— not give the judgment leave or leisure â—â— animadvert and consider they are impâ—ruous and tyrannical hurrying poor Siâ—ners Hell wards this is obvious to our oâ—servation every day how many young people do we see by one base pleasure or other always led captive from the time they awake in the Morning till they lie down at Night and never take time to consider or ask themselves What have I done What must I do to be saved Where must I abide for ever If a man rides through a Country full speed he can never draw a true Map of that Country If you â—oile and ruffle the Waters you can never see your face in them Thus if a Soul be hurried with its Lusts it can never retire and soberly debate matters in its own breast Consideration can find no place in such a Soul as Christ told the malicious Jews in the â— John 36 37. My words can find no place in â—ou because they were so enraged and blindâ—d with the
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
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
longer upon this because it will be of use through all the rest which I hope I may dispatch with a quicker hand Means or Remedies against that Epidemical Sin of youthful delaying Repentance and Conversion c. YOung People are as you have heard exceedingly prone to put off God and their Souls with saying in themselves I aâ— young enough and have time enough to repent hereafter c. these are the usual pleas that young people make for delaying their Conversion and this is indeed the usual anâ— beaten Road to Hell and the commoâ— Snare in which Satan entangles multitudes of unwary Youth perswading theâ— that it 's too soon to repent that it 's too eaâ—ly to fully and sadden the briskness anâ— beauty of their Youth with the melancholy apprehensions of Religion but alaâ— while silly Youth listens to these charmâ— the fatal hour of death often steals on anâ— cuts them down e're they are aware oâ— awake Wherefore for the Cure and Remedy hereof I shall offer these following Coâ—siderations First Consider the danger of Delays Young People make little or nothing oâ— putting off the important matters of thâ—â— Souls a day a week a month a year not considering what an infinite prejudice it may be to their everlasting Happiness to neglect the looking after these matters though it were no more than for one hour or one day and that will appear 1. In regard of the utter uncertainty of their time and that both of their time of Life and time of Grace Alas you know not what a day an hour may bring forth the very next hour may find thee alive and leave thee dead This is that which Youth are not easily perswaded of they foolishly dream of years and then they entertain so good an opinion of the truth of their Dream that they grow as peremptory in it as if they had an Inheritance settled upon them for perpetuity But O vain Youth where ever dwelt the man whâ—t was his Name that could ever assure thee of another day nay that thou shalt see the end of this day Is not thy Flesh grass as well as others view the weekly Bills of Mortality and see there whether young ones are priviledg'd above others from Sickness and Death Let it therefore be seriously thought upon by young people that their time of Life is utterly uncertain that they are but one breaths distance from Death and Eternity and though it is possible that they may live till to morrow or next Year yet it 's equally possible that they may dye before others have been surprized who have had the same reason to hope for a longer time aâ— themselves and therefore they cannot delay and put off their Conversion and turning to God without notorious or manifest danger O be not deceived you whose consultations have wont to be with Flesh and Blood and whose conclusions use to be that you are young and healthy and have many Yearâ— to come and therefore it 's time enough hereafter to repent Piety is too grave for your green head the caput mortuum of your old Age will serve well enough to serve God with I say be not deceived a sudden death may snatch you hence and send youâ— guilty Soul to Hell before your Body be carried to the dust for the great God is the sole and soveraign Lord of your life and time and pray see how he rebukes the presumption of such Sparks who boast of their years to come 12. Luke 19 20. I will say tâ— my Soul Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years take thine ease eat drink and be merry This Prodigal was neither sick nor possessed with any fears of Sickneâ—â— and Death yet see what follows v. 20. But God said unto him Thou fool this Night thy Soul shall be required of thee then whose shall these things be So in the 28. Isa 18. you read of some Desperadoes that had made â— Covenant with Death and were at an agreement with Hell But what saith the Lord why he telleth them that the one should be disannulled the other should not stand nay he calleth them a refuge of Lyes and that the overflowing Scourge and Storm of his wrath should rend down all their lying refuges And in the 58. Psal 9. you read that such as are taken away living and in his wrath before the Pots can feel the Thorns i. e. suddenly and in so short a breath that elsewhere they are said to go down into the Pit in a moment and that these rebukes may particularly intend young ones you may see in the 36. of Job 14. They dye in Youth c. Hence the Holy Ghost often makes use of that Metaphor Grass in the 40. Isa 6. and 90. Psal 6. In the Morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the Evening it is cut down and withereth The grass is growing in the field and as our Saviour noteth to morrow cast into the Oven Matth. 6. 30. Such is the condition of Youth you may be in good health in a flourishing condition in mirth and jollity one day and be burning in Hell the next Therefore flee this Sin of delaying your Repentance c. it was the counsel of Solomon who was inspited 27. Prov. 1. Boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth q. d. This day God in mercy affords thee to repent in c. but trust not upon a to morrow that is utterly uncertain whether it come or no or if it do whether thy Conversion or thy Condemnation in it shall be brought forth or no If it was thy own and thou couldst certainly knoâ— it would be in thy possession c. theâ— might be some little pretence for thy presenâ— delaying but when it is another's and â—â— is utterly hid and concealed from thee whether thou shalt live to it or no how can yoâ— without certain danger delay till anotheâ— day He that will adventure to build oâ— Ground that is none of his own must looâ— to have all undone or overturn'd at thâ— pleasure or displeasure of another Tâ—us you delay and profusely waste the preseâ— season and space of Repentance which merciful God indulgeth you with aâ— boldly entrench upon the future which Goâ— has reserv'd in his own power how hazaâ—dous an adventure do you run for it 's a ruâ—â— in the civil Law no Person can promiâ—â— that which is anothers Now the owne and proprietor of your time is God and â—â— hath concealed the day the hour the mâ—ment of Death's arrest from us that so yoâ— should never delay but work out your Salvation to day while it 's called to day thâ— command of God takes hold of you at thâ— present the counsel of God concerning thâ— future is kept hid from you alas for a tâ— morrow whose is it Seneca the Heatheâ— could see this and say solum tempus praeseâ— nostrum No time is ours but the present to count upon a to
you thâ— suggests that Corvina Cras as Augustine caâ— it cras cras if you have been ignoraâ—â— hitherto know it from this day for a mâ— certain truth it is no other than that lyer â— Hell the Devil and sure I am he hath â— way so plausible and politick to circumvâ—â— thee as by hanging these weights of delaâ— upon thy Soul and thereby letting and bindering thy present flight from Sin to Christ with an hereafter is time enough so that thou mayst conclude upon this that more perish this way than any other for Satan can prevail upon few to say peremptorily they will not repent but this is the common snare and bait wherein and whereby he taketh multitudes I will turn to God hereafter for these delays provoke the God of Grace to take away his Spirit and then what can the miserable Sinner do It was the saying of an Eminent Person The Spirit of God is a tender thing grieve it once and you may drive it away for ever and then it is not your crying Lord Lord that will fetch him back again Thou mayst intreat to use the words of that blessed Soul-converting Preacher for Mr. Fenner's danger of deferring Repentance one dram of that Mercy that hath been offered but thou hast rejected but it shall never be granted to thee God may clap that fearful sentence upon thee Now henceforth never Fruit grow on thee more never Repentance come into thy Heart more If now thou wilt not repent and be converted the Lord may set it down in his decree that from this day forward thou mayst sumble about thy Sins but shall never get victory over them thou mayst blunder about Repentance but never do the work what is the reason why because I would have purged thee and thou wouldst not therefore thou shalâ— not be purged any more O young men there is a time wherein God will not be found he will not always wait your leisure your pleasure how long or how shoâ—â— your time of Grace will last is hid from you Repentance is God's gift and Giâ—â— are given according to the good pleasure of the giver It is a great mistake to think that it is at your pleasure to call it down from Heaven at your need to convey you to Heaven when you feel your selves falling into Earth bitter Experience hath taught multitudes of shuffling delaying Sinners the delusions of such conceits while it their immoderate pursuit of their Lusts they have endeavovred to stop the mouth oâ— Conscience with promises that e're long they would take time to consider and recollect themselves and return to God in the mean while stifling and slighting the merciful motions of the Spirit of Grace oâ— a sudden e're they are aware a silent and secret decree passes against them Let theâ— alone they are joyned to their Lusts which though it make no noise in their Heads yet it effectually sealeth up their Heart to an incurable obduration and hardness And now I appeal to you upon this consideration viz. the uncertainty of the time of Grace whether Delays are not unspeakably dangerous since no man knows whether the next day will afford him so much as a possibility of Repentance if he put off and defer it this day Wherefore O young man as ever thou wouldst not be forsaken of God and have the things of thy Peace for ever hid from thine Eyes and the dreadful guilt of innumerable Sins seal'd upon thy Soul O flee this youthful Sin of delaying Repentance a moment longer 2. Consider the Impiety and Wickedness of Delaying for it doth in effect speak thus to God The real love and delight of my Soul is in my Lusts I desire thee therefore to stay for my Repentance till hereafter and by no means to punish me while I shall be provoking and dishonouring thee in the tract of my youthful days give me leave to be a faithful Servant to divers Lusts and Pleasures while I have strength and spirits and then when I grow impotent and my Lusts turn me off I pray thee to accept me and grant me Heaven O what monstrous Blasphemy and Impiety is there in such a vile deportment towards the Blessed God and pray is there not something of this in every delay it sheweth evidently that thou preferrest thy Lusts before him yea the Devil's service before his O transcendent horrid Wickedness that ever a reasonable Creature should choose to be employed in the Devil's work and drudgery before that most gracious noble honourable service of God O young man let Conscience speak is the Devil so real a Friend so good a Master or is there so much pleasure in being a slave to thy Lusts as that the Loâ—â— of Heaven and Earth the Author of thy Life and Breath should stand by and stay till they are in the first place served and then when the Devil and thy Lusts will dismiss thee God shall have their leaving I beseech you let Conscience judge in thâ— case whether Hell it self can exceed sucâ— Ungodliness Suppose your dear Fatheâ— that begat you or your tender Mother thaâ— bare you should knock at your Door anâ— intreat an admission and you should say That at present they must excuse you theâ—â— are a company of Thieves Murderers anâ— Adulterers that you must first attend anâ— entertain c. Would not this be condemned as a piece of vile Inhumanity And can it be deemed in the present casâ— a less piece of Impiety to put such an higâ— affront and indignity upon the Great God as when he graciously invites you to breâ—â— off your Sins by Repentance that he mighâ— shew you Mercy to put him off as Feâ—â— did Paul Go thy way for this time herâ— after possibly I may attend but for â—â— present there is the Devil and a train â—â— youthful Lusts stay for me and I must give entertainment to them in the first place This without an Hyperbole may be stiled the Master-piece of Wickedness the Mother of Abominations it is a plain contradiction of and direct opposition to the soveraign command of our Maker who saith Eccles 12. 1. Remember thy Creator in the Days of thy Youth before the Evil days come c. God saith To Day while it is called to Day repent And you say No to day while it is called to day I must rejoyce and follow my youthful pleasures and delights And so you put the lye upon God and credit the Devil who is the Father of Lyes O this Sin of Delays hath a world of rebellion in it and Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft Moreover the impiety of this Sin will further appear if you consider what a Scorn it casts upon the admirable Grace of all the three glorious Persons of the Trinity as if not worthy of acceptance the Father's Love and Wisdom to and for a lost World of Sinners in decreeing and revealing of Jesus Christ his blessed Son to seek and to save what was lost opening a
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
live after â—â— Flesh you must dye O young ones your Delays must neeâ— provoke and highly affront the blessed Spâ—rit they cast a Scorn upon him to see â—â— his melting Perswasions and Motions set â—â— naught and at the same time the charms and hissings of Satan that hellish Charmer and Serpent entertained O how cutting and bitterly provoking would it be to a compassionate Father to see a rebellious Son stopping his Ear to all his loving and good Advice and Counsel and opening it to the vile inticements and seducements of base fellows How was Jacob troubled when his Sons Simeon and Levi rebelled Gen. 34. 30. Ye have troubled me saith their Father and made me stink among the Inhabitants of the Land the Canaanites c. O young man when the two Spirits that of Heaven and that of Hell come to thy Soul and knock for entrance and thou openest to Satan and shuttest out the Spirit of God by delays this cannot be done without an high hand of rebellion there is abundance of impiety in it for herein thou castest a contempt on the Spirit if it be a deprecating thing to set one person lower and in a meaner place in my House than another of meaner quality how much more to shut the door against a person that is a Friend while an Enemy is let in surely comparisons are too short in the present case the good and gracious Spirit of God cometh wooing and arguing Be intreated O young man to open Christ's yoke is easie one day of a repenting Sinner's Spirit in strict watching and holy walking is better than a thousand days elsewhere c. And Sinners delay and neglect attendance hereunto making the urgings of Sin and Satan an excuse for their present put-offâ— these do not only rob the Spirit of thaâ— honour and glory due to him but highly expose him to contempt And it is very remarkable that ordinarily such persons are left of God to run into such heights oâ— wickedness that deservedly bringeth them to some shameful and despicable end â—â— must be confessed sometimes God hath overcome such by his Grace after much ado if I may so express it striving on his paâ—â— and rebelling on theirs but then it must be granted also that such have usually been exceedingly wounded and wofully distressed in their Souls for their so long standing and stouting it out but where it endâ— not in Conversion there not only thâ— blackness of darkness is reserved for them in the other world after that direful Sentence of Go ye Cursed but even in thâ—â— Life they become notorious to all for theiâ— Ungodliness and Impiety O let this consideration young ones prevail with youâ— no longer to delay your Repentance anâ— turning to God viz. the Impiety of iâ— which I might farther shew you from thâ— direct opposition that delays carry againsâ— your Baptismal Covenant and all those holy Institutions of Christ in the Gospel usually stiled the means of Grace whereby you are obliged everlastingly to the earliest Conversion and Repentance all which I might have easily formed up into Arguments to set forth the impiety of Delays but I shall not insist on these only shall sum up the strength of what hath been offered that Delays are impious and wicked as they trespass against the bowel-mercy of God the Father the bleeding wounds of God the Son the blessed Inspirations of God the holy Ghost which Sin is enough to break our Hearts and Eyes with grief and tears It is a Sin of such a Scarlet tincture as that it must needs make us ashamed if there be any shame in us for the mercies of God are all as so many messages of Love and Kindness and every drop of the Blood of Christ is as a Sermon of Love and Grace and every illapse of that sweet and heavenly Dove is as a sacred Band and Cord of Love and Mercy and all to win us to draw us to save us Rom. 12. 1. 2 Cor 7. 1. O wonderful love of God who ever heard of such kindness that the offended Majesty of Heaven and Earth who hath all Power and Might in himself and is infinitely removed from all possibility of want that he should condescend to us Rebels to send his own dear Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh deliver him up to the accursed Death of the Cross open an everlasting Fountain of Grace enter his Protestations yea his Oath that he has no pleasure in a Sinner's death and for as much as our Sin had procured a malediction and heavy wrath upon us and a woful seperation of our Souls from the blessed God That it should ever enter into the Heart of God to the end that such as we might go free and be delivered from that Curse and Wrath and be restored to the favour of God to bruise his own Son and put his Soul and Body to grief and make him an Offering for Sin and O how wonderful was the Love of Christ thaâ— he should be content and willing to come under the obligation to this Oblation to the bearing of this Curse and Wrath in ouâ— stead was there ever Love lâ—ke to this that when we were Enemies spitting oâ—â— our venom and enmity against God hâ— should dye for us pay our Debts have hiâ— Hands and Feet nailed for us c. And â— how wonderous is the Grace and Condescention of the third Glorious Person the blessed Spirit that ever he should strive with Sinners in order to their Conversion wheâ— he might have stood at an everlasting distance from them O the rare humility â—â— the whole Trinity expressed in these Mysteries of Love and Grâ—ce Now for any of Adam's undoue posterity condemned Creatures poor Worms Hell-deservinâ— Sinners to abuse all this Grace and rich Mercy how impious and monstrously vile a thing this is I have largely proved to you and shewed you in particular that this Sin of Delays is an high affront and indignity offer'd to all this Mercy and Grace the consideration whereof should make you lift up your Voice and weep bitterly A stubborn Saul wept upon the reflection of his abuse and ill requital of poor David's kindness in 1 Sam. 24. 16 17 18. The Lord open your Eyes and Hearts this day young ones that you may with grief and shame flee from this Sin that carrieth such transcendent wickedness in it It 's a known rule corruptio optimi est pessima The best things abused prove the worst of all O remember it young ones Delays under these Circumstances put very great aggravations upon all your Sins O think of it what melting Arguments these three Names have in them Creator Redeemer Sanctifier to a present Conversion and then think what a Soul confounding thing it is to contradict oppose the Power and Authority and to abuse and contemn the Grace and Mercy of each Person See that in Isa 1. 2. Hear O Heavens and give Far O Earth I have nourished and brought up Children but they
have rebelled c. O what Paleness would gather upon your Faces were you cited to appear before the Bar of God and your Consciences should give testimony against you herein The next Consideration I shall offer for your help against this youthful Sin of Delays shall be as followeth 3. Consider the egregious folly and madness of Delaying thy Repentance and return to God wherein as in the former Consideration thou abusest the Grace of God so here thou abusest the very Reason of a Man and most foolishly cheatest thy self as is evident in these following particulars Thou wilt turn to God hereafter whic◠is as hath been largely proved utterly uncertain and at present thou wilt embrace thy sinful Pleasures now is not this notorious folly to put all to the desperate adventure of an hereafter when thousand have perished and found no place for Repentance in all their after Times and Seasons Suppose at last you should come to g◠Christ and pardon and God would pleas◠to wait upon you though this is rare th◠is a miracle of Grace yet what a wounding will it be to you to remember how you have spent your youth and strength in Sin O the bitter Out-cries and Accusations o◠such Now how foolish a thing is it to Delay at present upon hopes of hereafter Repentance that is in plain English in hopes of hereafter-Grief next door to Despair in hopes of being wounded a thousand times deeper and being more confounded and ashamed and drinking larger draughts of the Wormwood and the Gall than early Converts do Is not this Folly Again how unreasonable and mad a thing is it to expect that God should presently open to me when I call for Mercy in my last extremity after I have most wickedly put him off and sacrificed the Male of my Flock my best Years to the Devil and my Lusts Can it seem reasonable that an holy and jealous God should regard such presumption Again what Folly is it to defer a work till hereafter that may be done now at present with ease since should I live a thousand years each day yea hour's delay would add something more to the hardness of my Heart and difficulty to my Conversion qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit All acts of Sin strengthen the habits within they engage the heart more to the love of sin and the more resistance always the more impenitence and hardness O foolish Youth hast thou not enough already to sink thee what folly is it to add more weight of guilt if a man had received one stab it were dangerous but suppose he had a hundred how hard would be his cure Oh young man wo to thee if thou makest thy Conversion thus hazardous by Delays As in bodily affairs in case of Sickness is it not folly to defer sending for the Physitian or in case of Poyson received into the Body is it not folly to defer the Remedy till to morrow or in case of a Wound received never to regard the means of healing till it fester and turn to a Gangreen pray what would you say or think of a man that when Sickness or Distempers come should say I am not at leasure to be sick go and come at a more convenient time would you not conclude that the Disease had already seiz'd the man's Intellectuals Alas the madness and folly in saying so to Repentance is much more and much greater unless a man could command the Grace of Repentance at his pleasure I remember the Advice one gave to young men in imitation of Solomon in the 11. Eccles 9. Rejoyce O young man c. q. d. Walk after the sight of your own Eyes now and look after the Duty of Repentance when you are blind and can't see Work not while it's Day but when the Night comes mind matters of less moment while you can do any thing and your main interest when you are fit for nothing Defer your Repentance till hereafter though you know not but you may dye to Night put it off to a sick Bed though you cannot tell but sudden Death may prevent your lying sick at all Run as far as you can out of the way to Life even till out of breath and then return First let your time be spent and then improve it Increase your Debts to purpose and be sure that you have a good long Score and then pay Provoke God as much as you can and then appease him Be sure you treasure up as much Wrath as you can and then confidently expect Heaven O the folly of delaying our Repentance Sin is so fortified and strengthned by delays that every hour drives the Nail in farther till it 's very difficult removing it Sin takes the deeper rooting by delays and requires much more strength and violence to pluck it up and the heart is in danger of growing to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you read of Rom. 2. 5. an irrepentable heart and altho' God is able to give Repentance yet there 's an infinite peradventure whether he will or no for as Augustine saith * Qui enim poenitenti promisit indulgentiam dilatori diem crastinum non promisit Aug. in Psal 145. 8. That God who promiseth Pardon to the Penitent hath not promised to morrow to the Sinner that puts off his Repentance O the folly of delays when every moment the Devil will be nearer and God farther off when the next closure with Lust may ensnare and enslave thee for ever O Young Man is this thy Prudence to promise to thy self a more convenient Season hereafter when thou wilt have less time less strength less aid and assistance less tenderness of Conscience less influence of the Spirit and when thou wilt have more love to thy Lust more blindness in thy Mind more hardness of Heart more aversness in thy Will to turn to God more unsensibleness and searedness in thy Conscience or else more in danger of downright and absolute despair O miserable folly of delays Besides if you consider the suspition of an hereafter-Repentance true Repentance is never too late but late Repentance is seldom true which might be abundantly argued from the usual experience of Sinners when they are sick O what Protestations do they then make of their Repentance and Amendment but commonly return to Sin as the Dog to the Vomit when restored to health again So that there is usually great unsoundness in Mens Sick-bed Repentances by no means is it to be depended on Surely it would be compar'd with this a pardonable folly for a Man to adventure upon Poyson because he hath heard there is a certain Antidote in the World to expel it tho' he cannot tell whether he can get that Remedy or no To what this is in the present Case It would be a piece of madness that would be deservedly unpardonable to run the risque and adventure of a death-bed Repentance when you are told of the multitudes that perish to a
and terrible day Hence Paul himself beat down his Body denied himself fleshly pleasures lest at that day he should be a Cast-away Hence Peter interrogates Seeing all these things shall be dissolved at that day of judgment what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness not in chambering and wantonness 2 Pet. 3. 11. Hence also is the force of that great Command to a present Repentance without delay Acts 17. 30. Because God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by Christ It was this that made voluptuous Felix tremble O Young Man had thou but a lively impression of this upon thy heart O how soon would it wither all thy pleasures at the root and instead of Ease it would fill thee with Remorse and Bitterness O therefore when this thy Youthful Lust grows boistrous then â—se this Goad to awaken thee and oppose â—his strong and terrible Argument for the â—ooling and quelling thy Lust after pleasure viz. That God will bring thee to Judgment You read of Moses when young and the â—emptation of pleasure strong yet he chose â—ather to suffer Affliction than to enjoy Sins â—leasures that are but for a season And why because he by Faith saw a day of final and further recompences at hand Hebr. 11. 25. And then Fourthly Consider That all thy youthfuâ— pleasures are but for a season Heb. 11. 25. And you read in Job 21. 13 14. They spenâ— their days in mirth and in a moment they gâ— down to the grave or hell Who do why all your Pleasure mongers from one Age to another Look ye were it possible for yoâ— to have a sight of the damned in Hell therâ— would you find the many thousands thaâ— spent their few days on earth in the pleasureâ— of Sin And it 's but a while but you anâ— all of your complexion and temper that love Pleasures more than God must vanish away and never laugh more never jest it gaâ—â— it more O the doleful hour is at hand Thâ— stolen waters of Siâ—'â— pleasure are sweet buâ— short like Naboth's Vineyard which Ahâ—â— so â—â—gerly thirsted after he got it it 's true buâ— he could not keep it Sins pleasures arâ— compared to the crackling of thorns under â— pot If any should ask Why they should be â—â— short I would have such to bethink them selves Why they should be at all I am sure the All wise God'â— thoughts are not as youâ— and those whose distemper'd Souls thâ—â— grace are begun to be cured think otherwise Ask a converted Soul What pleasure there is in Sin and he will tell you it iâ— the very gall of bitterness Alas Young Man it is a disease upon thee that makeâ— thee think of any pleasure at all in Sin buâ— yet that mistaken Pleasure of thy sick and diseased mind is but momentary and a â—ery Shadow Why then art thou so eaâ—â—r after Pleasure O the great Cheats poor â—inners put upon themselves Hence pleaâ—ant Sins are called Lying Vanities O young man remember thy time on Earth â— but short 1 Cor. 7. 29. and therefore thy â—leasures in Sin cannot be long O how small distance is there between the Sports and â—ames of Youth and the mortal Pangs and â—ains of Death how soon will thy clear â—orning be overcast with evening Clouds â—e pleasures of Sin will be quickly over â—â—t the pain will be for ever as Job saith â— mans Life on Earth Job 14. 1. His days â—â— few but his Troubles are many So may â—ay of Sin its pleasures are few but its Terâ—â—s are many like a short Feast but a â—ng reckoning therefore when you are in anger of being enticed with Sin 's pleasures beseech you to endeavour and O that God â—ould teach you to improve this Consiâ—eration that they are but for a season â—here is a notable Story that I meet with â— Mr Burrough's Moses his choice concernâ—g one Theodorus a young man who at a â—ne of great Festivity and Jollity in Egypt â— his Fathers House with-drew from all the â—â—mpany and got alone and fell a meditaâ—â—g thus Here is delight and content in the â—est I may have what I will desire but how long will it last And upon this Meditatioâ— thinking with himself this will not holâ— long he withdrew himself into a privatâ— Room and fell down upon the Earth anâ— with many Tears cryed out thus unto Goâ— in Prayer O Lord says he my Heart iâ— open unto thee I indeed know not what to ask but only this Lord let me not dye eternally Lord thou knowest I love thee O let me liâ—â— eternally to praise thee And when his Mother came to him and would have hâ—â— him come to the rest of the company thâ— were bidden he made an excuse anâ— would not only upon this meditation bâ—cause he saw these things were but for a seâ—son and would not last O that it mighâ— please the Lord to give you young oâ—â— Wisdom and a Heart alike to know â—â— brevity and vanity of all fleshly pleasures as to draw off your Hearts from them aâ— to make your choice of those pleasures thâ— are for ever at the right hand of Goâ— And then Fifthly Consider youthful and sensâ— Pleasures are vile in their nature Cicâ— though a Heathen thought not that mâ— worthy of the name of a man that spâ—â— one day in sensual Pleasures And Tâ—â— accounted a Life of Pleasure a Life of Beaâ— And what doth God say in the Scriptâ—â—â— of the Person that liveth in pleasure yâ— may see 1 Tim. 5. 6. Such a one is dead while be liveth And in the 21. Job 11 12 13. Such say to the Almighty depart from us Pleasures they alienate and take away the Heart from God and the things of God they stuff the heart with manifold Evils they deaden it with security they harden it in Sin and swell it with Vanity and â—our it with an enmity against the severiâ—â—es and strictness of Religion in a word Pleasures dispose a Person to all manner of â—mpieties and expose a person to all manner of miseries Aristotle maketh mention of a parcel of Ground in Sicily that sends forth such a strong smell of fragrant Flowers â—o all the Fields thereabouts that no Hound â—n hunt there the scent is so confounded with the smell of those Flowers thus in our â—icentious Age Pleasures hinder us in our spiritual chase they take away all scent â—nd sense too of Heaven and heavenly â—hings Who is fit for any holy excrcise that hath been immersing himself in sensual pleasures Can the Heart that but just now â—ath been enlarged and let out or poured â—ut in vain and youthful pleasures be prepared for the holy presence of God in Prayâ—r or Meditation What think you doth Chambering and Wantonness doth Gaâ—ning and Sportfulness fit you for commuâ—ion with God O how much sooner do they ripen you for Hell and Destruction Wherefore O young man flee these vaiâ— pleasures that
brutifie and vilifie thy Soul that resemble thee to a Beast and ripen theâ— for the Devil that cannot stand with the infinite Love but hatred of God O flee these And then Sixthly Consider youthful sensual pleasures are not only short of their time and vile in their nature but most bitter and pernicious in their end Stolen Waters are sweet and Bread eaten in secret saith Solomon Prov. 9 17. But in the end it bites like a Serpent Prov. 32. 27. and stâ—ngeth like aâ— Adder O Youth such are all Sin 's pleasure whether you believe it or no yâ—â— shall be sure to feel it after a season for your pleasures are all but for a season and theâ— followeth the Curse of the Law the wrath of God the terrours of Conscience thâ— guilt of Sin and these are enough to drowâ— thy pleasue and distract thy Spirits like to that kind of Honey that Historians teâ—â— us of in Affrica lusciously sweet but affect all that eat of it with a mortal Madness and Frenzâ— and the reason they assign is that the Bees gather it from poysonouâ— Weeds thus sensual sinful Pleasures aâ— Solomon saith Eccles 2. 2. affect with madness Hence in the 7 Eccles 2. he affirmeth that it is better to go to the House of Mourning than Feasting You have a Scripture very full and apposite to this purpose in that in 20. Job 16. where Zophar speaking of the wicked Pleasure-monger saith He shall suck the pâ—ison of Asps There is an old Interpreter * Xantus Pagninus I have met with that reads it He shall suck the Head of Asps The Hebrew word Rosh signifying both câ—put and veneum Head and Poyson Now what is it to suck the Head of Asps Pliny in his Natural History tells us that the Asp or she Viper engendring with the Male takes his Head in her mouth and being overcome with the pleasure of the act bites it off whereby he perisheth after which she conceiving the young within her become impatient of staying their full time and they eat out through her side whereby she perisheth And so it is with the Sensualist that is all for pleasure in Sin as if you loâ—k back to the 12. ver of this 20. of Job you shall find though wickedness be sweet in the mouth yet it is but as the sucking of the Head of Asps they shall perish by it In the close of the 12. ver it is said to be Gall of Asps by which is meant both the bitterness and destructiveness of sinful Pleasures His Wickedness saith Zophar though sweet and delicious in his Mouth that is the act of committing it yet when it s turned in his Bowels that is after the commission of it it is the Gall of Asps O its grievous to him he wisheth he had never done it So Prov. 5. 4. speaking of the end of Sin 's pleasure he tells you its bitter as Wormwood It is like a Pill wrapt up in Sugar which when the Sugar which was over it is melted then the bitterness of the Pill shews it self So when the pleasure of Sin is wasted then the sorrow appears I have read of a most pleasant and luscious sort of Fruit in the West-Indies but withal that these dainties are so sauced with the intollerable scorching heat of the Sun by day and a multitude of stinging Creatures by night that the People that dwell in those parts expose themselves to danger to gather them which made the Spaniards to call them the Comfits of Hell and truly what are the pleasures of Sin but such Comfits of Hell there is some carnal pleasure that delights a rank unhallowed Palate but here is the misery of it they are served in with the scorching fiery wrath of God and the stinging of a guilty restless Conscience so that the fears of the one and the anguish of the other are surely able to melt away that little pleasure they afford O that young ones would seriously consider how bitter Sin 's pleasures will be in the end brevis est voluptas peccati sed perpetua paena peccatoris And Bernard saith momentarium est quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat O commune with thine own Heart enter the Closet within thy own Breast and say What shall I be taken with a little seeming sweetness and pleasure in Sin when within a moment or two this will be turned into the Gall yea Poyson of Asps O young men evermore keep your Eye on the ending of Sin how it goes off at last you may see in Cain and Spira with hideous groans and consuming griefs it comes on like an Harlot very Comically Come let us take our fill of Pleasure but it goes off like Rachel weeping and bitterly lamenting Solomon saith in Prov. 23. 17 18. My Son envy not Sinners for surely there is an end and a sad and woful end too envy them not they are rather objects of Compassion and Pity to see a Sinner merrily for a minute swallowing the bait of pleasure and then to consider his end is to be torn for ever with the hook of Vengeance and after a little gigling and foolish mirth to be cast into a Lake of â—ire and Brimstone for ever O sad end O happy is he that foreseeth the bitter end of Sin at last and shunneth it by forgoing and fleeing the bewitching pleasure of Sin at present and wise is he that takes up out of the Word of God the same thoughts of Sin now amidst all temptations and allurements to it as the worst at last will be forced to take up out of their own experience and feeling amidst all the torments of Hell Sure it is better to go to Heaven with labour than to Hell with pleasure and to be preserved in Brine than to rot in Honey as one saith to be fed upon salt Marshes and short Commons and to live than to be glutted in rank Pastures and so fatted up for destruction Wherefore O youth call not choose not that pleasure now that thousands are suffering the wrath of God for in Hell All you that have adventured and took the sweet Bait my advice to such is let them vomit up their Morsels again and smite on their Breast and lament with penitent remorse that ever they should be such fools as to delight in that which hath grieved God and wounded their own Souls and never any more return with the Dog to the Vomit And then Seventhly Consider youthful sensual Pleasures are deceitful they mock thee and make a Fool of thee and then thou makest a mock and sport of Sin Sin smâ—lâ— with enticing blandishments as Satan on our first Parents Gen 3 5. O Ye shall be as Gods So here Sin promiseth O ye shall be thus and thus advanc'd and advantag'd But were our first Parents as Gods by heaâ—kening to Satan and eating of the forbidden Fruit or were they not cheated and instead of being like God they became like Satan It is observed by the Mythohgists
hath been the bane of multitudes it ruin'd Ananias and Sapphira in the 5. of the Acts. It is one of those seven things the Lord hates Prov. 6. 17. Moreover it is the ruin of all humane Society and Commerce for where there is no Truth there can be no Trust and where there is no Trust there can be no thriving Trade Truth being the Bond of all human Society In a word Lying is the very Image of the Devil 2. Arm your selves before hand with forcible Scripture Arguments and Antidotes against it that whensoever the Temptation returns it may not catch you unprovided As for instance if hopes of Profit tempt thee to Lye have it in readiness O Satan what is a man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what can a man give in exchange for his Soul What tell ye me of a little Pelf and Profit that Thieves can steal suddenly and that Death will strip me of shortly is this worth the losing my Soul for and those unsearchable Riches of Christ and Heaven that Crown of Life If a little fear of mortal srowns and displeasure from thy Superiours prompts thee to Lve provide thy self and beat back the Tempter with an It is written Who art thou that art afraid of a man that is Grass Fear not them that can kill the Body and no more but fear him that can destroy both Body and Soul and cast both into Hell O Satan man cannot damn me but God can and will if I make a Lve O how much more tolerable is the wrath of a man that is but a breathing clod of Clay and is ready to dye and turn to Dust than the wrath of the living God that is every moment ready to seize the Lyar. Once more â—f the Temptation to lye receive force â—rom hopes of concealment or that it is not â—ikely ever to be discovered c. say O Devil can it be concealed from or lie unâ—iscovered to the Eye of Heaven While â—here is a God above and a Conscience within me can I and my Lye if I should â—enture lie hid long be sure it would find â—e out to gripe and torment me Whereâ—ore avoid avoid Satan Truth of Speech â—â—d Peace of Conscience cannot be too â—uch priz'd nor too carefully preserved â—ccording to that old Rule â—â—re to be true nothing can need a Lye â— Fault that needs it most grows two thereby 3. and Lastly Beg hard of God to purge â—y Heart for out of the evil treasure of â—y heart proceeds Lying and all Evil the â—incipal work must be about thy Heart â—sal 12. 2. They speak Lyes saith the Psalâ—ist with flattering Lips and with a double Heart do they speak Gen. 17. 9. The Heart â— deceitful above all things Now if ever â—ou would flee this Sin of Lying O get â—â— Heart-Cure or this Evil will break out â—â— the Lips again though you should for a time bridle your Tongues As a Spring will have its Course though you should dam up the Stream a while it will after a while break through all your Banks and run into the old Channel again So here it will be even so For out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh and the old Heart is a kin to the old Serpent for Lying it 's only the New Heart that is the true Heart and until the Heart be renewed the Tongue cannot be aright reformed How can ye that are evil saith out Saviour speak good things How can you match a double Heart and a single Tongue together a Lying Heart and a true Tongue Since there is such a near relation between the one and the other as between the Cause and its effect Now young man who can create a new and true Heart in thee but God Whither then shouldst thou go but to him this was David's practice how frequently do we find him on his Knees sometimes praying that God would make his Heart sound in his Statutes sometimes that God would create in him a clean Heart and renew a right Spirit within him again sometimes he prays Remove from me the way of Lying and was it in vain Oh no he was a man after God's own Heart he would not endure a Lyar in his sight in his House The next Sin I shall direct you to flee is neglect of Relative Duties as Obedience to Parents and Masters c. Remedies against that Youthful Sin of Disobedience to Parents and Masters THis is a Sin peculiar to that state of Life O Young Man if you would flee it 1. Study these Scriptures Ephes 5. 1. Col. â— 20. Children obey your Parents c. for this â—s the first Command with promise and it is well-pleasing to God here is a double Argument to enforce Obedience to Parents First â—â— hath a promise of long Life annexed That â—hy days may be long in the Land Is not this â—o be reckoned a singular Blessing especially â—s it comes in by the way of a precious Promise O flee Disobedience as you would flee immature Death or being cut off and â—ut down in the flower of your Age for there is nothing more directly tends to cut short your life than this Sin of Disobedience â—o Parentâ— as in the Instance of Absâ—lon And then the 2â— Argumâ—nt is That Obedience to Parents is well-pleasing to God O powerful Motive it wants nothing of strength to move you only a due Application and then 2. Consider how the Sin of Disobedience to Superiors entails God's Curse upon you see for this these Scriptures Prov. 30. 17. 1 Sam. 4. 11. Lev. 24. 14. Deut. 21. 18. Deut. 27. 16. 3. Consider how subject and obedient Christ was to his Parents Luke 2. 51. and should not you be subject to yours Christ hearkned to his and wont you to yours O write after this blessed Copy 4. Consider how unnatural a thing it is not to love honour and obey your Parents you have your being from them and come out of their loins you have cost them many thousand of Cares and Fears and Tears and will you rebel against them I have observed that there is in Youth when grown up usually such headiness and pride in their behaviour towards their Parents that when they should have most comfort in them they have most heart-breaking grief and sorrow O Youth thinks they are wise enough now to govern rule and to dispose of themselves without advising with their Parents But be it known to thee O foolish Youth God doth not think as thou dost and long experience hath instructed us of the Errours of unexperienced Youth herein in those many fatal and ruining miscarriages that have followed upon the evil choice they have made O young People pray consider how much you are the Goods and Possessions of your Parents That you cannot without a kind of Theft as one saith dispose of your selves without the consent of your Parents And I have also made this Observation That God doth
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
Righteousness that Heaven and Earth may sooner pass away than the least Jot or Tittle of his Law pass away unaccomplished though foolish Sinners make nothing of breaking it Well then the great case is How shall Sin be pardoned and the Sinner saved If Justice come upon the Sinner for satisfaction it will swallow him up in the Gulf of eternal misery Therefore had this question been put to the innumerable Host of Angels in Heaven what way sinful man could be saved and yet Justice satisfied and the Law fulfilled They would have been everlastingly puzled and pos'd no less then the infinite Wisdom of God could ever have found it out which is called Wisdom in a Mystery Now that Mystery is revealed in this glorious Text God the Father hath sent and set forth his own Son in our Natures to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness and Justice as well as his Grace and Mercy in pardoning and saving such and only such as believe in Jesus So that if you neglect Christ and Faith in his Blood do what you will you will be still under the Curse of the Law and the Wrath of God you can never escape Condemnation it 's impossible it should be otherwise without the shedding of Blood there can be no Remission Heb. 9. 22. It cannot be the Blood of a meer Creature that can take away Sin it must be the Blood of that Immaculate Lamb of God And when all this is understood there is another great Truth you must know and that is that there must be Faith in this Blood or there can be no actual Remission of your Sins and therefore in vain do Sinners support their hopes of pardon in Heaven with their own Righteousness saying We have sinned but God is merciful and we now repent and reform and turn to God c. Alas poor Soul can these make Satisfaction and make up a Ransom and Price for a Sinner's Redemption what need Christ have shed his Blood then It 's true these Duties are excellent in their due place and must be performed but will you put them in Christ's room and make Saviours of them then you put an undoing Cheat upon your poor Souls and will miscarry for ever under your Convictions and amidst all your Performances for he that believeth not the Wrath of God abideth on him and he shall not see Life And therefore if you would not quench the blessed Spirit and perish after all his strivings with you and shewing you your Sin and Misery I add in the next Direction 5. Prayer this is an excellent means to prevent miscarrying under the operations and workings of the Spirit of God O let nothing be able to keep God and your Souls asunder Are you under the Convictions of the Spirit and don 't know what course to take for Peace with God and freedom from Condemnation Away to the Throne of Grace and there pour out thy Complaints into the Bosom of God and say O Lord I am a sinful wretched vile miserable Creature I have destroyed my self time was I was ignorant and knew it not but now thy Spirit has awakened my Conscience and opened my blind Eyes to see my Sin and Misery so that I am now convinc'd that I must be damned without Faith in a crucified Christ but alas Lord I have such a cursed base deceitful hard and unbelieving Heart in me that I can't tell what in the world to do for an Interest in Christ Lord I am without strength I beseech thee to pity a poor undone Sinner that is now driven to thy Door by want and misery And here plead hard and make Supplication for an Heart to believe and that in spite of all Discouragements first tell him what thou hast heard of his Benignity and tender Compassion That the King of Israel is a merciful King and that thou hast heard of an Eternal Design of Grace to poor Sinners and how in the Fulness of Time he sent his Son to seek and to save what was lost and opened a Fountain of Grace and established an everlasting Covenant of Grace in the Blood of Christ and now has set forth in the Gospel his Son to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood and has made proclamation to all rebellious Sinners to come in and accept of Mercy through Christ and commanded upon pain of Damnation to take Christ and with him all saving good Then plead thy compliance with the Gospel-Call and say O blessed Lord in obedience to thy Call lo I am come here a poor trembling starving Beggar that of all that ever came in and knocked at thy Door none more in need of a Saviour and Salvation than I. Now here suggest thy Wants and say Lord I want Faith I have through thy Mercy awakenings of Conscience but I want to be in Christ that my Nature may be renewed I see my undone state without him but I want union with him Lord while I am without Christ I am without strength O draw me O let it be the Day of thy Power hast thou not said no man can come except thou draw and dear Lord I find the impotency of my own cannot O let me find the Efficacy of thy own Power and feel the vertue of thy Almighty Arm drawing me to Christ Lord perswade me make my Heart to stoop subdue my strong Corruptions dispossess and disarm that malignant party in my Soul demolish those strong Holds of Sin and Hell there O Lord this is a sad condition to be unreconciled to thee and unespoused to Christ O pity and help one that seeth reason enough to believe but has not strength enough my Insufficiencies are equal with my Necessities though I can never get to Heaven without Faith and Holiness and though I know I want both yet Lord thou knowest I am no more able to change my sinful nature and be the Author of Faith to my self than I am to create a World or quicken and raise the Dead but if thou wilt make bare thy Arm it will soon be done my proud Heart shall soon be humble my hard Heart shall soon become soft my unbelieving Heart be made believing O speak but the Word and a poor Sinner that has fear'd burning in Hell hundreds of times shall sing thy Praise O thou that commandest me to turn Turn thou me and I shall be turned And here plead his Promise and Christ's Purchase after some such manner as this Blessed Lord hast thou not promised that thou wilt not cast out him that cometh to thee and that thou wilt give thy holy Spirit to him that asks and that it shall be opened to him that knocks and that thou wilt take away the Heart of Stone and give a Heart of Flesh and give a New Heart and remember Sin no more Lord if these be not thine own Promises I 'll be content to go away empty And are not all thy Promises yea and Amen Is it not
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