experience every day speaks out pride to bee the young mans couzen God saith one had three sons Lucifer Adam and Christ the first aspired to bee like God in power and was therefore thrown down from Heaven Pride cannot câ—â—â—be so high but Justice will sit above the second to bee like him in knowledge and was therefore deservedly driven out of Eden when young the third did altogether i 〈…〉 te and follow him in his goodnesse mercy and humility and by so doing obtained an everlasting inheritance Remember this young men and as you would get a paradise and keep a paradise get humble and keep humble Pride is an evil that puts men upon all manner of evil Accius the Poet though hee were a dwarf yet would bee pictured tall of stature Psaphon a proud Sybian would needs bee a God and having caught some birds hee taught them to speak and prattle The great god Psaphon Menecrates a proud Physitian wrote thus to King Philip Menecrates a god to Philip a King Proud Simon in Lucian having got a little wealth changed his name from Simon to Simonides for that there were so many beggers of his kinne and set the house on fire wherein hee was born because no body should point at it What sad evils Pharachs pride and Hamans pride and Herods pride and Belshazzars pride put them upon I shall not now mention Ah young men young men had others a window to look into your breasts 〈◊〉 an old woman â—â—â—ing 〈…〉 â—ormity 〈◊〉 a glass went mad c. or did your hearts stand where your faces do you would even bee affraid of your selves you would loathe and abhor your selves Ah! young men young men as you would have God to keep house with you as you would have his minde and secrets made known to you as you would have Christ to delight in you and the spirit to dwell in you as you would bee honoured among Saints and attended and guarded by Angels get humble and keep humble Tertullians Councell to the young Gallants of those times was excellent Tert. de Gult Jam. Cap. 13. cloath your selves said hee with the silk of piety with the sattin of sanctity and with the purple of modesty So shall you have God himself to bee your Sutor The second evil that Youth is subject to is Eccl. 11.9 2 Sam. 13.23 â—â—â— 29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleasure is the bait of sin saith Plato sensual pleasures and delights Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes The wise man by an Ironical concession bids him rejoyce c. Sin c. thou art wilful and resolved upon taking thy pleasure go on take thy course this hee speaks by way of mockage and bitter scoffe c. but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement So Sampson made a feast Judg. 14.10 for so used the Young men to do the hearts of young men usually are much given up to pleasure I have read of a young man who was very much given up to pleasures hee standing by St. Ambrose and seeing his excellent death turned to other young men by him and said Oh! that I might live with you and dye with him Sensual pleasures are like to those Locusts Rev. 9.7 the crowns upon whose heads are said to bee onely as it were such or such in appearance and like Gold but vers 10 it is said there were not as it were They were much out that held pleasure to bee mans sumâ—um bonum but stings in their tails Sensual pleasures are but seeming and appearing pleasures but the pains that attend them are true and reall he that delights in sensuall pleasures shall finde his greatest pleasures become his bitterest pains The Heathens look't upon the back parts of pleasure and saw it going away from them and leaving a sling behind Pleasures passe away as soon as they have wearied out the bodie and leave it as a bunch of grapes whose juice hath been pressed out which made one to say Nulla major voluptas quam voluptatis fastidium I see no greater pleasure in this world than the contempt of pleasure Julian though an Apostate yet professed that the pleasures of the body were far below a great spirit And Tully saith he is not worthy of the name of man qui unum diem velit esse in voluptate that would entirely spend one whole day in pleasures it is better not to desire pleasures than to enjoy them Eccl. 2.2 I said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what dost thou The interrogation bids a challenge to all the masters of mirth to produce any one satisfactory fruit which it affordeth if they could Xerxes being weary of all pleasures promised rewards to the inventers of new pleasures which being invented hee nevertheless remained unsatisfied As a Bee flyeth from flower to flower and is not satisfied and as a sick man removes from one bed to another from one seat to another from one chamber to another for ease and findes none So men given up to sensual pleasures go from one pleasure to another but can find no content no satisfaction in their pleasures The eye is not satisfied with seeing Eccl. 1. â— nor the ear filled with hearing There is a curse of unsatisfiableness lies upon the creature honours cannot satisfy the ambitious man nor riches the covetous man nor pleasures the voluptuous man man cannot take off the weariness of one pleasure by another for after a few evaporated minutes are spent in pleasures the body presently fails the minde and the minde the desire and the desire the satisfaction and all the man Pleasures are Junos in the pursuit and but clouds in the enjoyment Pleasure is a beautifull Harlot sitting in her chariot whose four wheeles are Pride Gluttony lust and idleness the two horses are prosperity and abundance the two drivers are Idleness and Security her attendants and followers are guilt grief late repentance if any and oft death and ruine many great men and many strong men and many rich men and many hopefull men Becanus saith that the fruit of the tree of knowledge is sweet but in the end it breeds choler so do worldly pleasures and many young men have come to their ends by her but never any enjoyed full satisfaction and content in her Ah! Young men Young men avoid this harlot and come not neer the door of her house And as for lawful pleasures let me onely say this t is your Wisdome onely to touch them to taste them and to use them as Mithridates used poyson to fortify your selves against casuall extremities and maladies when Mr. Roger Ascham asked the Lady Jane Grey how shee could loose such pastime her father with the Dutchess being a hunting in the Park Smilingly answered all the sport in the Park is
made all Israel to sin who was naught who was very naught who was stark naught and yet Abijah as the fishes which live in the salt Sea are fresh so though hee lived in a sink a sea of wickedness yet hee retained his goodnesse towards the Lord. They say Roses grows the sweeter when they are planted by Garlick they are sweet and rare Christians indeed who hold their goodness and grow in goodnesse where wickedness sits on the throne and such a one the Young man in the text was To bee Wheat among Tares Corn among Chaffe Pearls among Cockles and Roses among Thorns is excellent To bee a Jonathan in Sauls Court to be an Obadiah in Ahabs Court to be an Abedmelech in Zedechias Court and to bee an Abijah in Jeroboams Court is a wonder a miracle To bee a Lot in Sodome to bee an Abraham in Chaldaea to bee a Daniel in Babylon to bee a Nehemiah in Damasco and to bee a Job in the land of Husse is to be a Saint among Devils and such a one the young man in the Text was The Poets affirm that Venus never appeared so beautious as whē shee sate by black Vnlcans side Gracious souls shine most clear when they bee set by black conditioned persons Stephens face never shin'd so Angelically so gloriously in the Church where all were vertuous as before the Councill where all were vitious and malicious So Abijah was a bright Star a shining Sun in Jeroboams Court which for prophanness and wickedness was a very hell The words that I have chosen to insist upon will afford us several observations but I shall onely name one which I intend to prosecute at this time and that is this viz. Doct. That t is a very desirable and commendable thing for young men to bee really good betimes Other Scriptures speak out this to be a truth Job 32.4 5 6 7. besides what you have in the Text to confirm it as that of the second of Chronicles Chap. 34.1 2 3. verses Josiah was eight years old when hee beganne to reign and hee reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years And hee did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the wayes of David his father and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left for in the eighth year of his reign while hee was yet young hee beganne to seek after the God of David his father and in the twelfth year he beganne to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the Groves and the carved Images and the molten Images T was Obadiahs honor that hee feared the Lord from his youth 1 King 18.12 2 Tim. 3.15 And Tymothys crown that he knew the Scripture from a child and Johns joy 2 Epist 4. v. that hee found Children walking in the truth this revived his good old heart and made it dance for joy in his bosome to spend further time in the proving of this truth would bee but to light candles to see the Sunne at noon The grounds and Reasons of this point viz. That it is a very desirable and commendable thing for young men to bee really good betimes are these that follow First Because the Lord commands it and divine commands are not to bee disputed but obeyed Deut. 6.5 ch 11.13 v. Augustine beginneth one of his Sermons thus Ad vos mibi Sermo O juvenes flos etatis periculum mentis August de tempore Ser. 246 to you is my speech O young men the flower of age the danger of the mind In the 12 Chapter of Ecclesiastes and the 1 verse Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Remember now I say now now is an Alarm it will puzzle the wisdome of a Philosopher the skill of an Angel to divide Now is a Monosyllable in all learned Languages Remember now thy Creator Remember him presently instantly for thou dost not know what a day what an hour may bring forth thou canst not tell what deadly sin what deadly temptation what deadly Judgement may over-take thee if thou dost not now even now remember thy Creator Remember now thy Creator Remember to know him remember to love him remember to desire him remember to delight in him remember to depend upon him remember to get an interest in him remember to live to him and remember to walk with him Remember now thy Creator the Hebrew is Creatours Father Son and Spirit To the making of man a Council was called in Heaven in the 1. of Genesis and 29 vers Remember thy Creatours remember the Father so as to know him so as to bee inwardly acquainted with him Remember the Son so as to beleeve in him so as to rest upon him so as to imbrace him and so as to make a compleat resignation of thy self to him Remember the Spirit so as to hear his voice so as to obey his voice so as to feel his presence and so as to experience his influence c. Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth hee doth not say in the time of thy youth but in the dayes of thy youth to note that our life is but as a few dayes t is but a vapour a span a flower a shadow a dream and therefore Seneca saith well that though death bee before the old mans face yet hee may bee as near the young mans back c. Mans life is the shadow of smoak Aug. l. 1. Confess the dream of a shadow one doubteth whether to call it a dying life or a living death ah young men God commands you to bee good betimes Remember young men that it is a dangerous thing to neglect one of his commands who by another is able to command you into nothing or into Hell To act or run crosse to Gods expresse command though under pretence of Revelation from God is as much as a mans life is worth as you may see in that sad story 1 King 13. ch 24. verse c. Let young men put all their carnal reasons though never so many and weighty into one scale and Gods absolute command in the other and then write Tekel upon all their reasons They are weighed in the ballance and found too light Ah sirs what God commands must bee put in speedy execution Obedientia non discutis Dei mandata sed facit Prosper without denying or delaying or disputing the difficulties that attend it Most young men in these dayes do as the Heathens when their gods called for a man they offered a candle or as Hercules offered up a painted man in stead of a living When God calls upon young men to serve him with the Primrose of their youth they usually put him off till they are overtaken with trembling joynts dazled eyes fainting hearts failing hands and feeble knees but this will bee bitternesse in the end
c. Secondly Young men must bee really good betimes because they have means and opportunities of being good betimes Never had men better means and greater opportunities of being good of doing good and of receiving good than now Ah Lord how knowing how beleeving how holy how heavenly how humble might young men bee were they not wanting to their own souls Young men might bee good very good yea eminently good would they but improve the means of grace the tenders of mercy and the knocking 's of Christ by his Word Works and Spirit The Ancients painted Opportunity with a hairy forehead Erasmus but bald behinde to signifie that while a man hath opportunity before him hee may lay hold on it but if hee suffer it to slip away hee cannot pull it back again How many young men are now in everlasting chains who would give ten thousand worlds had they so many in their hands to give to injoy but an opportunity to hear one sermon more to make one prayer more to keep one Sabbath more but cannot this is their hell their torment this is the Scorpion that is still biting this is the Worm that is alwayes gnawing Wo wo to us that wee have neglected and trifled away those golden opportunities that once wee had to get our sins pardoned our natures changed our hearts bettered our consciences purged and our souls saved c. * Bellarm. In concione de cruciatibus Gehennae I have read of a King who having no issue to succeed him espying one day a well-favoured youth took him to Court and committed him to Tutors to instruct him providing by his will that if hee proved fit for government hee should bee crowned King if not hee should bee bound in chains and made a Gally-slave Now when hee grew to years the Kings executors perceiving that hee had sadly neglected those means and opportunities whereby hee might have been fit for State government called him before them and declared the Kings will and pleasure concerning him which was accordingly performed for they caused him to bee fettered and committed to the Gallies Now what tongue can expresse how much hee was affected and afflicted with his sad and miserable state especially when hee considered with himself that now hee is chained who might have walked at liberty Now hee is a slave who might have been a King now hee is over-ruled by Turks who might once have ruled over Christians the application is easie Ah young men young men T is storied of Charles King of Sicily and Jerusalem that hee was called Carolus Cunctator Charles the lingerer this age affords many such lingerers c. shall Satan take all opportunities to tempt you shall the world take all opportunities to allure you shall wicked men take all opportunities to ensnare you and to undo you and shall Christian friends take all opportunities to better you and shall Gods faithful Messengers take all opportunities to save you and will you will you neglect so great salvation Plutarch writes of Hannibal that when hee could have taken Rome hee would not and when hee would have taken Rome hee could not Many in their youthful dayes when they might have mercy Christ pardon Heaven they will not and in old age when they would have Christ pardon peace Heaven they cannot they may not God seems to say as Thesius said once go sayes hee and tell Creon Thesius offers thee a gracious offer yet I am pleased to bee friends if thou wilt submit this is my first message but if this offer prevail not look for mee to bee up in arms The third Reason why Young men should bee really good betimes Lord saith Austin I have loved thee late the greater was his sins and the more were his sorrows is because then they will have fewer and lesser sins to answer for and repent of multitudes of sins and sorrows are prevented by being good betimes The more wee number our dayes the fewer sins wee shall have to number As a coppy is then safest from blotting when dust is put upon it so are wee from sinning when in the time of our youth wee remember that wee are but dust The tears of young penitents do more scorch the Devils than all the flames of Hell for hereby all their hopes are blasted and the great underminer countermined and blown up Mane is the Devils Verb hee bids tarry time enough to repent but Mane is Gods Adverb hee bids repent early in the morning of thy youth for then thy sins will bee fewer and lesser Well young men remember this hee that will not at the first hand buy good council cheap shall at the second hand buy repentance over dear Ah young men young men if you do not begin to bee good betimes those sins that are now as Jewels sparkling in your eyes Psal 25.7 Job 13.26 will at last bee milstones about your necks to sink you for ever Among many things that Beza in his last will and Testament gave God thanks for this was the first and chief that hee at the age of sixteen years had called him to the knowledge of the truth and so prevented many sins and sorrows that otherwise would have overtaken him and have made his life lesse happy and more miserable Young Saints often prove old Angels There is nothing puts a more serious frame into a mans spirit than to know the worth of his time but old sinners seldome prove good Saints c. The fourth ground why young men should bee really good betimes is this viz. because time is a precious Talent that young men must be countable for the sooner they begin to bee good the more easy will bee their accounts especially as to that great Talent of time Cato and other heathens held that account must bee given not only of our labour but also of our leisure at the great day it will appear that they that have spent their time in mourning have done better than they that have spent their time in dancing and they that have spent many dayes in humiliation than they that have spent many dayes in idle recreations I have read of a devout man who when hee heard a clock strike hee would say here is one hour more past that I have to answer for Ah young men as time is very precious so it is very short time is very swift it is suddenly gone in the 9. of Job and the 25. vers My dayes are swifter than a Post they flee away they see no good The Hebrew word Kalal translated swifter than a Post signifies any thing that is light because light things are quick in motion The Ancients emblem'd time with wings as it were Sophocles Phocilides not running but flying Time is like the Sun that never stands still but is still a running her race the Sun did once stand still yea went back but so did never Time Time is still running and flying it is a bubble a shadow
simple young man among many whereas late times afford greater store Ah! too many of the youths of this age in stead of flying from youthful lusts they post and pursue after youthful lusts Chrysostome speaking of youth saith it is difficilem jactabilem Chrysost Homil. 1. Ad populum fallibilem vehementissimisque egentem fraenis hard to bee ruled easy to bee drawn away apt to bee deceived and standing in need of very violent reines The Ancients did picture youth like a young man naked Lapide with a vail over his face his right hand bound behinde him his left hand loose and Time behinde him pulling one thread out of his vail every day intimating that young men are void of knowledge and blinde unfit to do good ready to do evil till Time by little and little make them wiser Well young man remember this that the least sparklings and kindlings of lusts will first or last cost thee groans and griefs tears and terrors enough These five are the sins that usually are waiting and attending on youth but from these the young man in the text was by grace preserved and secured which is more than I dare affirm of all into whose hands this treatise shall fall But though these five are the sins of youth yet they are not all the sins of youth for youth is capable of Other sins attends youth as 1 Ignorance 1 Cor. 14 20. 2 Falshood Psal 58.3 3 Excessive love of liberty 4 Impatience of councils and reproofs Jer. 31.18 19. 5 Impudency Isa 3.5 6 A trifling spirit Eccles 11.10 7 Prodigality Use and subject to all other sins whatsoever but these are the special sins that most usually waits and attends on young men when they are in the spring and morning of their youth I shall now hasten to the main use that I intend to stand upon and that is an use of Exhortation to all young persons Ah sirs as you tender the glory of God the good of your bodies the joy of your Christian friends and the salvation of your own souls bee exhorted and perswaded to bee really good betimes It was the praise and honour of Abijah that there was found in him some good thing towards the Lord in the Primrose of his child-hood Oh that it might bee your honour and happinesse to bee really good betimes that it might bee to you a praise and a name that in the morning of your youth you have begun to seek the Lord and to know and love the Lord and to get an interest and propriety in the Lord now that this Exhortation may stick and take Encouragements to Young men I beseech you seriously to weigh and ponder these following motives or considerations First 1. Motive consider It is an honour to bee good betimes A young Saint is like the morning star hee is like a pearl in a gold Ring It is mentioned as a singular honour to the beleeving Jews that they first trusted in Christ that wee should bee to the praise of his glory Ephes 1.12 who first trusted in Christ this was their praise their crown that they were first converted and turned to Christ and Christianity So Paul mentioning Andronicus and Junia doth not omit this circumstance of praise and honour Rom. 16.7 that they were in Christ before him Salute Andronicus and Junia my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners who are of note among the Apostles who also were in Christ before me And so it was the honor of the house of Stephanas 1 Cor. 16.15 that they were the first fruits of Achaia it was their glory that they were the first that received and wellcomed the Gospell in Achaia T is a greater honor for a young man to out-wrastle sinne Satan temptation the world and lusts than ever Alexander the Great could attain unto 2 Sam. 19.15 It was Judah his praise and honor that they were first in fetching home David their King Ah! Young men and women it will bee your eternal praise and honor if you shall before others if you shall bee the first among many who shall know the Lord and seek the Lord who shall receive the Lord and imbrace him who shall cleave to the Lord and serve him who shall honor the Lord and obey him who shall delight in the Lord and walk with him The Romans built Vertues and Honours Temple close together to shew that the way to honor was by vertue and indeed there is no crown to that which goodness sets upon a mans head all other honour is fading and withering Adonibezeck a mighty Prince Judg. 1.7 is suddenly made fellow commoner with the Dogs Dan. 4.28 And Nebuchadnezzar a mighty conqueror turned a grazing among the oxen And Herod reduced from a conceited God Act. 12.23 to bee the most loathsome of men living carrion arrested by the vilest of creatures upon the suit of his affronted Creatour Est 7.10 And Haman feasted with the King one day and made a feast for Crows the next I might tell you of Bajazet and Belisarius two of the greatest Commanders in the world and many others who have suddenly fallen from the top of worldly honor and felicity into the greatest contempt and misery but I shall not at this time But that honour that arises from mens being gracious betimes is such honour that the world can neither give nor take it is honour it is a Crown that will still bee green and flourishing it is honour that will bed and board with a man that will abide with a man under all tryals and changes that will to the grave that will to heaven with a man Ah Sirs It is no small honour to you who are in the spring and morning of your days that the Lord hath left upon record several instances of his Love and delight in young men 1 Sam. 16.11 12 13 hee chose David a younger brother and passes by his elder brothers hee frowns upon Esau Rom. 9.12 13 and passes by his door and sets his love and delight upon Jacob the younger brother he kindly and lovingly accepts of Abels person and sacrifice Gen. 4.3 4 5 6 and rejects both Cains person and sacrifice though hee was the elder brother Among all the Disciples John 13.23 John was the youngest and the most and best beloved There was but one young man that came to Christ Mar. 10.19 20 21. and hee came not aright and all the good that was in him was but some moral good and yet Christ loved him with a love of pitty and compassion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifies to speak friendly and deal gently with one and so did Christ with him all which should exceedingly encourage young men to be good betimes to be gracious in the morning of their youth no way to true honour like this but Secondly The sacrifices in the Law were young Lambs and young Kids to shew that Christ our
gives is a Kingdome that shakes not the treasures that he gives are treasures that corrupt not and the glory that hee gives is glory that fadeth not away but the rewards that men give are like themselves fickle and unconstant they are withering and fading Xerxes crowned his steers-man in the morning and beheaded him in the evening of the same day And Andronicus the Greek Emperor crowned his admiral in the morning and then took off his head in the afternoon Rofensis had a Cardinals hat sent him but his head was cut off before it came to him most may say of their Crowns as that King said of his O Crown more noble than happy It was a just complaint which long ago was made against the Heathen gods O faciles dare summa deos eademque tueri difficiles they could give their favourits great gifts but they could not maintain them in the possession of them the World may give you great things but the World cannot maintain you in the possession of them but the great things the great rewards that Christ gives his hee will for ever maintain them in the possession of them otherwise heaven would not bee heaven Glory would not bee glory Now by all these things you see that it is a very great honour to bee an Old Disciple an old Christian and this honour you will never attain to except you beginne to bee really good betimes except in the morning of your youth you return to the Lord and get an interest in him I shall now come to make some Use and Application of this weighty truth to our selves You see beloved that it is the great Duty and concernment of Young men To be really good betimes if this be so Then The Vanity of Youth Vse 1. First This truth looks sowerly and sadly upon such Young men that are only seemingly good that makes some shews of goodnesse but are not right towards God at the root As Joash when hee was young 2 Chron. 24.1 2 3 4 5 6 13 14 15 16. hee seemed to have good things in him towards the Lord whilst good Jehoiada liv'd but when Jehoiada was dead Neroes first five years are famous but afterwards who more cruel Joash his goodness was buried with him Ah how many in these dayes that have been seemingly good have turned to bee naught very naught yea stark naught It is said of Tiberius that whilst Augustus ruled hee was no wayes tainted in his reputation and that whilst Drusus and Germanicus were alive hee feigned those vertues which hee had not to maintain a good opinion of himself in the hearts of the people but after hee had got himself out of the reach of contradiction and controulment There are some that write that after Demas had forsaken Paul hee became a Priest in an Idol Temple there was no fact in which hee was not faulty no crime to which hee was not accessary Oh that this were not applicable to many young persons in these dayes who have made great shews and taken upon them a great name who have begun to outshine the stars but are now gone out like so many snuffs to the dishonour of God the reproach of the Gospel the grief of others and the hazzard of their own souls It was a custome of old when any was baptized the Minister delivered a white garment to bee put on saying take thou this white vestment and see thou bring it forth without spot at the Judgement seat of Jesus Christ whereupon one Maritta baptizing one Elpidophorus who when hee was grown up proved a prophane wretch hee brings forth the white garment and holding it up Crabs that go backward are reakoned among the unclean creatures Levit. 11.10 shakes it against him saying this linnen garment Elpidophorus shall accuse thee at the comming of Christ which I have kept by mee as a witnesse of thy Apostacy Ah young men and women your former professions will bee a sad witnesse against you in the great day of our Lord Jesus except you repent and return in good earnest to the Lord. Pro. 14.14 Oh it had been better that you had never made profession that you had never set your faces towards Heaven that you had never pretended to God and Christ that you had never known the way of Righteousnesse 2 Pet. 2.21 than after you have known it to turn from the holy commandement Cyprian in his Sermon de lapsis reporteth of divers who forsaking the Faith were given over to evil spirits and dyed fearfully Oh the delusions and the Christ-dethroning conscience-wasting and soul-undoing opinions and principles that many young ones who once were hopeful ones are given up to That dreadful Scripture seems to bee made good in power upon them Jer. 17.13 All you that forsake the Lord shall come to bee ashamed and they that depart from him shall bee written upon the dust to begin well and not to proceed is but to aspire to a higher pitch that the fall may bee the more desperate Hos 14.4 Backsliding is a wounding sin Eph. 6.11 18 You read of no arms for the back though you do for the breast Hee that is but seemingly good will prove at last exceeding bad 2 Tim. 3.13 they wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived The Wolf though hee often dissembles and closely hides his nature yet hee will one time or other shew himself to bee a Wolf Commers make a greater blaze than fixed stars In the dayes of Hadrian the Emperour there was one Bencosby who gathering a multitude of Jews together called himself Ben-cocuba the son of a star applying that prophesie to himself Num. 23.17 but his mask was taken off his Hypocrisy discovered and he found to bee Burchosaba the son of a lye this age hath afforded many such monsters but their folly is discovered and their practises ahborred This was the young mans commendation in the text That there was found in him some real good towards the Lord. Vse 2. 2 This truth looks sowerly and sadly upon such young men who are so far from having good things in them towards the Lord that they give themselves up to those youthful lusts and vanities that are â—â—monouring provoking and displeasing to the Lord who roar and revel and gad and game and dice and drink and drab and what 〈◊〉 these make work with a witness for repentance or Hell or the Physitian of souls I shall but touch upon the evils of youth and then come to that which is mostly intended 1 The first evil that most properly attends youth 〈◊〉 3.6 is pride pride of heart pride of apparrel pride of parts young men are apt to â—e proud of health strength friends relations wit wealth wisdome two things are very rare the one is to see a young man humble and watchful and the other is to see an old man contented and chearful Bernard saith that pride is the rich mans couzen and
Rom. 13.13 14 Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse not in strife and envying But put yee on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof This Scripture so sunk into his heart as that it proved the means of his conversion as himself reports Lib. 8. conf cap. 12. this Augustin as hee was once Preaching his memory failing of him contrary to his purpose he fell upon reproving the Manicheans and by a scripture or two not before thought of Poffidon de vita Augustin to confute their heresies he converted Firmus a Manichaean as he after acknowledged to Augustin blessing God for that sermon It is reported of one Adrianus who seeing the Martyrs suffer such grievous things in the cause of God hee asked what was that which caused them to suffer such things and one of them named that text Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him and this text was set home with such a power upon him as that it converted him and made him to profess Religion and not onely to profess it but to dye a martyr for it Cyprian was converted by reading the Prophecy of Jonah Junius was converted by reading the 1 Chapter of John the Evangelist I have read of a scandalous Minister that was struck at the heart and converted in reading that scripture Rom. 2.21 Thou which teachest another teachest thou not thy self c Wee read that Paphnutius converted Thais and Ephron two famous strumpets from uncleannesse only with this Scripture Argument That God seeth all things in the dark Heb. 4.13 when the doors are fast the windows shut the Curtains drawn c. I have read of a poor man who perswaded a young Scholler to leave reading of Poetry c. and fall upon reading of the Scripture which accordingly hee did and it pleased the Lord before hee had read out Genesis to change his heart and to turn him to the Lord in the Primrose of his daies hee being then but twenty years of age I have read of a young Lady Origen was her Schoolmaster called Potamia of a very illustrious family who endured very much in her Martyrdome by the extream cruelty of Basilides her executioner yet after her death hee bethinking himself of the holy words and Scripture expressions that were uttered by her during her cruel torments became a Christian and within few daies after was himself likewise crowned with Martyrdome James Andreas a godly Minister hearing of a Jew that for theft was hanged by the heels with his head downward having not seen that kinde of punishment hee went to the place where hee was hanging between two Dogs that were alwaies snatching at him to eat his flesh the poor wretch repeated in Hebrew some verses of the Psalms wherein hee cryed to God for mercy whereupon Andreas went near to him and instructed him in the Principles of Christian Religion about Christ the Messiah c. Exhorting him to beleeve in him A miracle of mercy and it pleased God so to blesse his Scripture exhortations to him that the Dogs gave over tearing of his flesh and the poor Jew desired him to procure that hee might bee taken down and baptized and hung by the neck for the quicker dispatch which was done accordingly I might produce other instances but let these suffice to provoke all young persons to a speedy serious diligent and constant study of the Scripture Much in the word is wrap't up in a little It is more to bee admired than to have Homers Iliads comprized in a nut shel Heb. 9.4 Ah sirs you do not know how soon your blinde mindes may bee enlightened your hard hearts softened your proud spirits humbled your sinful natures changed your defiled consciences purged your distempered affections regulated and your poor souls saved by searching into the Scriptures by reading the Scripture and by pondering upon the Scripture you should lay up the Manna of Gods word in your hearts as Moses laid up the Manna in the golden pot And as Tamar did with the staff and signet that shee received from Judah Gen. 38.18 36. shee laid them up till shee came to save her life and did save her life by it as you may see in holy story The laying up of the word now may bee the saving of your souls another day I have read of little Bees that when they go out in stormy weather they will carry a little of their comb or gravel with them that they may bee ballanced and not carried away with the winde Ah young men young men you had need to have your thoughts and hearts ballanced with the precious word that you may not bee carried away with every winde of Doctrin as many have been in these daies to their destruction and confusion Narcissus a beautiful youth though hee would not love them that loved him yet afterwards fell in love with his own shadow Ah! how may young men in these daies 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. who were once lovely and hopeful are now fallen in love with their own and others shadows with high empty aiery notions and with strange monstrous speculations to their own damnation Holy Melancthon being newly converted thought it impossible for his hearers to withstand the evidence of the Gospel but soon after hee complained that old Adam was too hard for young Melancthon Ah young men young men if you do not in good earnest give up your selves to the reading to the studying to the pondering to the beleeving to the affecting to the applying and to the living up to the Scripture Satan will bee too hard for you the world will bee too hard for you your lusts will bee too hard for you temptations will bee too hard for you and deceivers will bee too hard for you and in the end you will bee miserable and thus much for the first thing c. Secondly if you would bee good betimes then you must acquaint your selves with your selves betimes if you would bee gracious in the spring and morning of your daies then you must see betimes how bad you are how vile how sinful how wretched you are no man begins to bee good till hee sees himself to bee bad the young Prodigal never began to mend Luk. 15.12 â—â— 22. hee never thought of returning to his Father till hee came to himself till hee began to return into his own soul and saw himself in an undone condition Ah! Young men Young men you must see your selves to bee children of Wrath Ephes 2.1 2 3.12 13. Rom. 6.16 John 8.44 2 Tim. 2.26 to bee Enemies to bee Strangers to bee afar off from God from Christ from the Covenant from heaven to bee Sinnes servants and Satans bond slaves the ready way to