Yoke of Christ earlier in their Youth Jer. 31. 18. 19. Ephraim bemoaned himself saying I have been as a Bullock unaccustomed to the Yoke I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the Reproach of my Youth Job 13. 26. Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the Iniquities of my Youth O young People did you but know what some have suffered and undergone crying out in the Day-time thy Hand O Lord lieth heavy on me and in the Night-time their Sore running grievously upon this account surely you would be awakened to other Apprehensions about the necessity of an Early Coming under the Yoke For my own part I have passed the Days of my Youth but the bitter remembrance of my Vanity Pride Self-conceit Idleness and foolish mispending of precious Time c. will stick by me and like a Goad stick in me so long as I live So that as is reported of the Jewish Rabbies that they use to say concerning the Great Sin of the Isrealites worshipping the Golden Calf that after it there never was any remarkable Judgments befel that People of the Jews but there was an Ounce of the Calf in it that is there was a Lash in it for that Sin such have been my Thoughts that to this day I never met with any bitter strokes in the Course of God's Holy Providence towards me but that place of Ephraim and Job runs in my mind which I mentioned but now Thou makest me to possess the Iniquities of my Youth It may be some of you may be apt to think and say he is a good Man would my Soul was in his Soul stead and condition Alas Alas you know not what you say the Heart knoweth its own Bitterness a Stander by a Stranger doth not It 's true I bless the Lord who gave me Councel at length and for what ever he hath done for me wrought in me O Eternity it self is little enough to praise him I am sure it 's his own and not of me Oh no let me be vile in my own Apprehensions as low as Hell whether I had certainly run had the Lord left me to my self But all I say is O that I had bore the Yoke earlier in my Youth I could repeat it from my very Soul a thousand times O that I had c. Those Words of Augustine have often affected me Sero â—e amavi Domine O Lord too late have I loved thee The Heart-searching God knoweth if my Heart deceives me not that I could wish I had born the most torturing racking Pains and Miseries of this Life rather than delayed so long to come under Christ's Blessed Yoke But why do I thus run out in publick on this Subject it may be some may think it were fitter for the Closet than the Pulpit Well! be it known to you my private Recesses have been no Strangers to these things But who can tell what good the Lord may do by it as since the Preaching of it I praise the Lord I have had an account of one that hereby was awaken'd Is there any Evil in declaring it for one that has heedlesly run upon a Rock and suffered Damage to call out to others that are failing the same Course to stop and tack about least they fall into the same Distress So for me that to the 19th Year of my Age was Foolish and Disobedient c. to call out to you that have not as yet fulfilled those Years or if you have exceeded them that you would proceed no further in your foolish and trfling Delaies I see there be many of you that are are just entring the Teens well hear it for your Good you are in the Posession of a Jewel which some here would give the whole World for if they had it supposing they had their Eyes opened to see the Cheats of Sin and Youthful Pleasures c. The Lord make you wise for Eternity 4. Consider what a World of Suitors you above all others have Jebovah Father Son and Holy Spirit Court and Councel you hence a great part of the Scriptures are penned for your Sake God hath a kindness for your Age and makes his first Applications to you he covets the beginning of your Strength and you may therefore be assured that what he seeks he will accept if you come in and yield to his Yoke But it 's probable some be ready to object if he so much desire us why don't he he conquer and convert us Answ O take heed of replying against God least your Bonds be made strong know it therefore the way wherein he will be found and let out of his powerful Spirit and Grace is the way of fervent frequent Prayers redeeming Time waiting diligently at Wisdom's Gates and watching against the Enticements of Sinners in all which there is Infinite Mercy and Grace and after all will you dare to Blaspheme his Wisdom in appointing and his Mercy in affording you these Means and then cast out your Foam against the God of Heaven and say why don't he convert me O if you understood all you would rather stand admiring and say why has he not damned me Is it fit a Holy God should be thus reproach'd by so mean a Worm as thou Or is it reasonable you should expect that he should force you against your Wills Moreover Satan the World and the Flesh are desirous of your Age the Devil knows your Weakness want of Experience proness to put off the thoughts of Death and Judgment what Folly is bound up in your Hearts c. Hence he is very busy with Youth as being very desirous of the Male in your Flock O then what need had Youth to bestir themselves least so subtile and malicious an Enemy blind them to their own Perdition 5. Consider what an Advantage you have above old Sinners First as you have more hope in your present Case you have not so often grieved the Spirit nor repulsed so many Checks of Conscience nor stifled so many Convictions nor is Sin grown so old and deeply rooted in you by a long Custom as it is in others Which Secondly is a mighty Advantage in your turning to God viz. preventing the Power and Plague of an evil Custom Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopean change his Skin c. It 's an amazing thing to consider how some that have accustomed themselves to that beastly Sin of Drunkenness have thereby been brought so under its Power as in despight of all Arguments the bitter Cries of a starving ragged Family the Danger of Arrests the Flashes of Hell in their Consciences that by times have met with Reproofs of Ministers c. yet have still continued in that Sin to their Destruction O young Man you have this Advantage above old Sinners you may avoid the Plague of an ill Custom a Plague I think a Man had better never been born than to be under 6. Consider what you are till you come under the Yoke you are Children
Yoke is an Emblem of Labour it 's true indeed our Saviour saith His Yoke is easy but pray don't mistake that Expression it no ways imports as if Christians may be idle No my Beloved tho Christ's Yoke is easy yet it is not a Yoke of Idleness Tho praised be the Lord it is not an Iron Yoke of Cruelty yet it is a Yoke still for Duty and as it is a Yoke it imports the necessity of Labour and Diligence O that the Self-deluding Soul-cheating Lazy Professors of this secure Age were but convinced of this those who deem Christ's Service to be no other than an heap of good Wishes also those who think it stands only in a Circle and Course of dull and drowsy Performances to pray hear sing Psalms c. and I wish there were but so much done by some but our blessed Saviour fully detecteth the insufficiency of these in those two great Instances of the Pharisee in the Temple Luke 18. and the young Man in the 19th of Math. All these saith he have I done from my Youth and yet he was never brought under Christ's Yoke never throughly convinced of the Sin of his Nature never knew what Poverty of Spirit brokenness of Heart pangs of new Birth meant never entred the strait Gate of Regeneration And O that this were not the sad condition of far the greater number among us under the Gospel Alas what shall we think of those who are wrapt up in Ignorance blinded by the God of this World all quiet while the strong Man armed keeps the House no Outcries what to do to be saved others who tho they profess high hear and know much yet live idly and unprofitably are at ease pampering and indulging their beloved Lusts making continual Provision for the Flesh to fulfil it in its Lusts who cannot endure to have their Corruptions crossed but hate Reproof and make their Profession of Christ to be a Cloak to their loose and licentious Practises Surely these are as far from the Yoke of Christ as they are from that great mark of true Christians They that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts Gal. 5. 24. Hence we read of work of Faith the labour of Love and the Patience of Hope 1 Thess 1. 3. Wherein you have a Figure which Rhetoricians call Hypallage i. e. the Work of Faith for a working Faith the Labour of Love for a laborious Love and the Patience of Hope for a Hope patiently waiting that like an Anchor holds out all Storms Temptations Conflicts Hence also it is that the Kingdom of Heaven is said to suffer violence aend the violent take it by force Math. 11. 12. My Brethren there is no part of Christ's Service but calls for labour to repent to believe to love to hope c. and therefore it 's called a Yoke which brings me to open the other Branch Namely Quest What the bearing of this Yoke is Answ In the general the bearing of this Yoke is no other than a cordial and unfeigned Subjection to Jesus Christ in the Gospel to answer to his Calls to open at his Knocks to accept of his Offers to believe his Reports to obey his Commands Or if you can conceive it better by other Terms to bear his Yoke is our sincere and hearty consent that He and He only bear rule over us But this being the main of our Duty it requireth a more distinct and particular opening generalia non pungunt wherefore I shall consider these two Things 1. What is necessarily requisite to it 2. What is essentially contained in it Answ For the first of these it is necessarily requisite to the bearing of Christ's Yoke that a Man come first under it This is so plain and obvious that it needs no more Proof than it meets with Objection and Doubt and that is none at all that I know of For as the Apostle in another Case makes his Appeal to common Reason Rom. 10. 14. How can they believe on him of whom they have not heard So may I in the present Case How can a Man bear the Yoke unless he come under it This carrieth its own Light in it So that under this Head it only remaineth needful to consider what is requisite to the coming under Christ's Yoke Now to give a right and clear Answer hereunto two things must be considered 1. What is requisite on God's part 2. What is requisite on our part 1. In order to a Man's coming under the Yoke there is requisite on God's part both the Wheel of his Providence and the Arm of his Power The one to bring a Sinner under the Gospel and the other to draw a Sinner under the Yoke For as our Saviour saith No Man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him John 6. 44. But where and what is this drawing why the very next Verse answers it fully It is written in the Prophets and they shall be all taught of God every Man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me v. 45. So that this drawing is no other than God's teaching a Sinner by his Word and Spirit under the Gospel Dispensation Now that this is necessary is evident from the full Testimony of Scripture and the free Confession of all that ever were converted and brought under the Yoke of Christ Psal 110. 3. Phil. 2. 12. Eph. 2. 1 10. James 1. 18. And as to the Apostle's Query 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who maketh thee to differ from another He propounds it not by way of doubt but concludeth upon the Testimony as well he might of every regenerate Person that it was God and not Man And my Beloved whoever shall take a right Survey of the Depth of that miserable Apostacy Man is sunk into by the Fall together with all its Effects in that Darkness Filth Folly Bondage Power of Lusts Enmity Rebellion Prejudice against God all which is attended with a Senseless Stupidity so far from being convinced of the evil of so wretched and vile a State as for the most part likeing and approving the same I say whoever surveyeth this aright may justly stand amazed that ever there should spring up in any Age of the Church a Pelagius a Patron a Pleader for the power of Man to make himself to differ from another The Lord awaken us to right Apprehensions touching this Point viz. the necessity of the Arm of God's Power to draw a Sinner under Christ's Yoke Alas without this How can of Darkness such a Soul be made Light in the Lord and the Dead hear the Voice of the Son of God and live How should Satan called the strong Man be cast out or the stony Heart in a Sinner's Breast be taken away or the Enmity in a carnal Mind be slain or the stout fierce Rebellion in the Will quell'd and conquered All which must be done if ever a Soul be brought under the Yoke of Christ Alas there is
Lustre and Glory doth this reflect and cast upon the bearing of the Yoke of Christ Under which the Soul is delivered from the intolerable Yoke of Guilt Now the Man may dwell at ease and in patience possess his Spirit all 's well Sin is pardoned if Death comes the next remove is to Life Eternal 2. To bear Christ's Yoke is good in respect of that comfortable Sense he may now have of his Adoption My Brethren coming under Christ's Yoke is coming into his Family he is now no longer a Fugitive a Vagabond a Foreigner a Stranger as he was before without God without Christ an Alien from the Covenant having no hope but now in Christ Jesus you who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the Blood of Jesus yea Fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God Eph. 2. 12 13. compar'd with ver 19. O how good is it then to come under the Yoke of Christ and so be under the blessed Order Rule Care and Provision of his Family There 's bread enough and to spare in your Father's House You may conclude upon Paternal Care and Affection Psal 103. 13. As a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord c. Jer. 31. 20. Is Ephraim my dear Son my Bowels are troubled for him Your Heavenly Father in case of Danger hath a Bosom for your Refuge and in case of Miscarriages he hath Bowels to pity you he will say it 's a Child of mine I won't cut him off Temptation has been too hard for him Corruption has run him down The Spirit was willing but the Flesh was weak I 'le visit his Sin with Stripes but my loving kindness I will never take away Again you may conclude upon Access to God as to a Father with a Child-like Boldness Sin was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that great Gulph betwixt God and you now Sin being pardoned the Partition-wall is removed and there is no Bar to Communion but within you a sweet Spirit of Adoption and above you an eternal inheritance kept in Reversion for you But O! the sad Condition of those that never came under this Yoke of Christ they lie abroad open and expos'd to all the Miseries of this Life and Pains of Hell for ever while out of Christ they are of their Father the Devil and can look for no Childs Portion from Above but from Beneath Is it not then Good to bear this Yoke betimes 3. It is Good in respect of Freedom from the Yoke of Sin 's Dominion O young Man do but think what an Hellish Life the Service of thy Lust is its Commands are always unreasonable cross to the great End of Creation Preservation Redemption c. and sometimes they are cross one to another So every Sinner till he come under Christ's Yoke is miserably haled pull'd this way and that way an Ambitious Lust calls him up Stairs a Covetous Lust calls him down a most fearful intolerable Thraldom The Lord open your Eyes that you may see and escape it e're it be too late But now when a Man comes under Christ's Yoke he is no longer under the Law but under Grace and so no Iniquity shall have Dominion over him Rom. 6. 14. His old Sin-mates may call and knock till they are weary the answer now is Ego non sum ego and with David Psal 119 115. Depart from me ye evil Doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God I am a Companion of all them that fear thee I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments ver 63. and 106. This is through Grace now the final Resolution of one under Christ's Yoke and now the Heart is fixed till now it was halting between two and you know a Man can never be quiet while unresolved but now being united to Christ he is at his Center Râ—th 1. 16 17. Millions of Gold and Silver can't draw him thence Cant. 3. 4 I held him and would not let him go Poor Judas wanted this therefore his Friends his Money his Chapmen could give no quiet but under Christ's Yoke the Soul is at rest As a Woman when married all her troublesome Suitors have now done their Solicitations O how good is it then to bear Christ's Yoke 4. It is good in respect of acceptation of our Persons and performances Eph. 1. 6. He hath accepted us in the Beloved It is a fearful case for a Man's Person and Duties to be rejected of God yet this is the very case of every Child of Belial i. e. without Christ's Yoke O it 's none but those that yield Subjection to Christ that find acceptation with the Father Believers their Duties tho attended with much imperfection like lame Mephibosheth yet being themselves under Christ's Yoke they are not despised the Father sees his Sons Name and Image on them and so tho there is much Alloy in the Mettal yet it passeth in the Court of Heaven And is it not then good to bear Christ's Yoke c. 5. It is good in respect of that Peace of Conscience which it possesseth the Soul with O what a Paradise of Pleasures are the Reflexions of a good and peaceable Conscience Now bearing Christ's Yoke hath a direct tendency to it Psal 119. 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them And as many as walk according to this Rule Mercy and Peace shall be upon them Gal. 6. 16. When a Man subjects himself to this Yoke he meets with Rest and Peace in his own Conscience My Heart saith Job shall not reproach me so long as I live Ah poor rebellious Sinners do but suffer your own Consciences to tell you all they know and it is enough to make your Ears to tingle and your Hearts to tremble yea to make you Magor-Missabib an Afrightment and Terror round about Felix his Throne could not secure him Alas that negative Quiet the Children of Disobedience have at present is but the effect of their Ignorance an Hours Sickness may break it and then their Conscience of Guilt appeareth like Hell and as the Hand upon the Wall to guilty Belshazar O the tremblings misgivings intolerable Torments that such do undergo after a wretched Course of Obstinacy and Opposition they would not have Christ reign and now they begin to feel Despair to reign in their Breasts and such a Tempest to arise in their Consciences as is ready every Moment to carry away and sink down all to Hell Soul and Body This Storm was breeding and gathering all the time of Rebellion against the Lord they were treasuring up Wrath as the Apostle stiles it Rom. 2. 5. and the Great God held his Peace and was silent Sentence against their evil Works was not speedily executed Hence they bless themselves and say they shall have Peace and on they go with more Violence and Presumption than ever Well what 's the Fruit and Consequence hereof Why an angry Majesty riseth up and