Judas What is that to us look thou to that Such is the Strength and Power of Sense and Fancy in the Days of our Youth such is the Weakness of our Reason as not having attained to any great Consistency of Judgment which must be ripened by Consideration and Experience such is the violence of our Passions and the Inconstancy of our Resolutions so variable and uncertain the Objects of our Affections and Choice such the venomous Influence of Self-Flattery and that of others about us such the force of Examples and so great the number of ill ones so deep the Impressions we receive by the Company we converse with especially if Atheistical or Licentious Youths are the Instruments of the Devil to entice us so little command have we of our selves to bridle those Impetuous Lusts that are easily Fired by every Spark of Temptation and so intolerable is the Reproach imagined of being singular of not complying with the Customs of those of the same Age with our selves that on these and the like Accounts the Devil hath a mighty Advantage against us in that Portion of our Time For the most part Young Men are Changeable and Unsteady Heedless and Unwary are but little Fortified against the Wiles of the Devil are little used to consider things with any Strength and Intensness of Thought and prone to flatter themselves with foolish hopes and projects of the wonderful things which they shall be able to compass to do and be and enjoy and reach before they leave the World c. That 't is no wonder that the Principal because most hopeful Attempts of the Devil are directed against such to deceive and destroy them by Youthful Lusts Children are not capable of doing him such Service or themselves such Prejudice or of being employed to so many ill-purposes And commonly Old Men are already fix'd in their way The Minds of Youth are more flexible and withal sharper for any Undertaking their Bodies stronger and more active for most kinds of Wickedness their Blood more warm their Spirits more Vigorous as their Sinful Desires are more Raging and all their Passions more vehement On which account the Wisdom of the Ancients would not admit Persons very Young to the Lectures of Moral Arist Ethic Lib. 1. Chap. 1. or Civil Philosophy as supposing them to be so very much under the Government of their Passions that good Counsel would be lost upon them and all such Discourses prove in vain But though the Philosophers despaired of being able to reclaim and reduce Young Men by their weak and naked Rules of Morality we need not do so who are under the dispensation of a Gospel of Grace and are acquainted with the power of the Divine Word The Precepts of Philosophy may assist our Recovery from the grosser Immoralities in practice such as violate the plain Sentiments of natural Conscience or are Scandalous in the view of Men. But the Divine Word accompanied with the power of the Spirit can work an effectual Cure in Heart and Life by healing our Corrupt Nature and making us partakers of the Divine This is one special Priviledge of the Gospel State and is much for the honour of Divine Grace recommending at the same time the Excellency of the Word of God as the holy means of it Which leads us to consider Thirdly That the Word of God is the sufficient and only means of Cleansing and Reforming the sinful ways of Youth This Enlightens the Eyes Psal 19.6 7 8. Psal 17.4 Psal 37.31 Prov. 6.23 Converts the Soul makes Wise the Simple shews us the way of Life and keeps us from the Paths of the Destroyer It was for this end that our Blessed Lord gave himself that we might be Sanctified and Cleansed with the Washing of Water by the Word Eph. 5.26 He declared that his Disciples were Clean by the Word he had spoken to them John 15.3 He prays that they might be Sanctified by the Truth which Truth is his Word and makes the same Request for all those who should afterwards believe John 17.20 And here we might distinctly consider that hereby we are made acquainted with the Nature and Necessity of this Sanctification and Cleansing And that by Divine Appointment this is the ordinary Means of effecting it And farther that herein the Wisdom of God is honoured by its exceeding Fitness to that end 1. Without the knowledge of this Word we could not fully have understood the loathsom Depravity and Corruption of our Hearts or the manifold Transgressions of our Lives How wretchedly we are Polluted and how often we Offend how Defective are our best Duties how short we come of our Rule and Pattern and what need there is of seeking to recover the Divine Image and Life This Blessed Word instructs us how the Ground of our Sanctification is laid in the Satisfaction of Christ how it is procured Acts 3.26 and how we may partake of it What we owe to the Blood of the Cross and what to the influence of the Divine Spirit The Treasury of Heaven was opened by the Sacrifice of Christ that the Holy Spirit might be given to Convince and Convert the World His Departure or going away John 15. which comprehend his Death and Ascension was necessary and expedient unto this We are also here instructed how this Sanctification is carried on by our perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God For this Water of the Spirit hath a continual Cleansing Virtue upon all true Christians until their Purified Souls ascend to Heaven He that pitied them when they were in their Pollution will not leave them after they are Cleansed till he hath finished his Work It is from this Word that we are acquainted with the Necessity and Extent of this Sanctification as reaching to Soul Body and Spirit It tells us the very Mind and Conscience are defiled and that there needs not only the Cleansing of our Hands but the Purifying of our Hearts Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. For the Doctrin of the Grace of God teacheth us to deny all Vngodliness and Wordly Lusts James 4.8 to kill the Lusts of the Eyes to mortifie the Pride of Life to crucifie the Desires of the Flesh and bring the Understanding and Conscience and every Thought into Subjection to the Laws of Christ 2 Cor. 7.1 This tells us what the Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit is from which we must be Cleansed and how indispensably necessary this is to our Acceptance with God and our Communion with him This represents the Divine Purity which we are to imitate and resemble as every way Amiable and Excellent As that the Blessed God essentially hates every Sin earnestly forbids it and terribly threatens it and patiently dissuades us from it and severely punishes it and hath mercifully sent his Son to destroy this Work of the Devil Therefore that he cannot tempt any man to evil or necessitate and cause the Sins of Men which he warns them against on pain
Holy Scriptures While the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading in the Prophet Isaiah Acts 8.26 though he understood it not God did so far reward and bless him that he sent Philip to instruct him farther and his Conversion to the Faith was the Issue of it When ever you hear the Word Preached remember in whose Name and upon what Arrand the Message comes Therefore lay aside every Prejudice Jam. 1.21 Luk. 8.18 Act. 10.33 and place your selves as under the Eye of your All-seeing Judge We that speak to you in the name of the Lord have very much to blame our selves for God knows that we are not Serious enough and Compassionate enough to the Souls of Men not adapting our selves to the Capacities and Necessities of the Younger and more Ignorant sort Alas we see and know but little and feel less of the great important things we speak of And though we hope we find Mercy to be Faithful yet how short do we come of that Affection and Vigor and serious Importunity which the case of Sinful Perishing Souls doth need How unlike those that know the Terrors of the Lord the value of an Immortal Soul and the nearness of Eternity How unbecoming those who speak every Lord's Day unto Men and Women unto whom we may never speak more And it may be such and such of you shall never hear a Sermon more take heed therefore how you hear Fourthly Be most Importunate with God for the Spirit of Holiness and Sanctification He alone can restore Life to thy Dead Soul and conquer the Enmity of thy Heart against Holiness For we are Saved by the Washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost 3 Tit. 5. Beg the Holy Spirit with an Earnestness answerable to your Necessity of what you ask that he may be a Living Principle to cause you to walk in his Statutes and keep his Commandments Ezek. 36.26 27. Forgiveness of Sin is not all that you need you are Diseased and Defiled and need to be Cured and Cleansed If you ask the Holy Spirit with an apprehension and feeling of your need of his powerful Influence you may supplicate and plead the Promise in Hope that God will more readily grant you than any Father upon Earth gives Bread to his Children Mat. 5.6 Chap. 7.11 They that seek him early and earnestly shall find him Our Lord is exalted to give Repentance and Saving Faith his Powerful Grace can subdue the most Impetuous Lusts of Youth You may be earnest and importunate with God for these things he does not require or expect you should be contented to perish in your Filthiness and Unbelief despairing of Helo as if the case of Man were like that of Devils He requires you to Hope and is pleased with it See Mr. How 's Redeemer's Tears p. 118. And if you find any Motions and Strivings of this Blessed Spirit in answer to Prayer cherish every Beginning of it as an Earnest of more Be thankful for every Beam of Heavenly Light from the God of all Grace it may prove the dawning of a more perfect Day Beg that this mighty Spirit would open your Eyes and Hearts that being convinced of the certainty and reality of the Gospel Revelation by the view of its suitableness to your case and the many glorious advantages that are offered by it you may be brought to love it as Amiable and yield up your selves entirely in compliance with it Fifthly Take heed of Declining after good and hopeful Beginnings How many Young Persons have begun in the Spirit and ended in the Flesh Light hath shone in upon their Minds they have been under awakning Convictions by the Word strong Affections have been excited by it they delighted to hear and read it they kept up a course of secret Prayer for some time c. and yet have afterwards fallen away to a Vicious Life It may be they had not considered and counted the cost of being Resolved Christians what they must abandon and forsake what pleasing Temptations they must avoid and resist what instances of Self-denial they must consent to c. And therefore by the Sollicitation or Sophistry or Jears of their Old Companions through the Subtilty of Satan and the Power of Youthful Lusts they have been intangled again with the Pollutions of the World and the Strong Man hath re-enter'd the House with Seven Evil-Spirits worse than himself How Miserable is the case of such after they have been enlightned and in part delivered 2 Tim. 2.26 who return to their former Bondage and are led Captive by the Devil at his Will They were not far from the Kingdom of God they seemed to consent to be the Lord's they were almost perswaded to take the Yoke of Christ upon them as his resolved Followers but now have taken leave of him and are at the Command of Satan his Will is theirs If he bid them think as little of God as they can despise the Holy Scripture make light of Sabbaths and Sermons and all good Counsel they do it If he bid them gratifie their Carnal Appetites indulge their Sensual Inclinations and frequent such and such ensnaring Company they do it They are led Captive by him at his Will With what Hearty Compassion should we think and speak of the case of such and many such there be But if you are not harden'd through the deceitfulness of sin past all feeling I would feign ask you whether you are not yet willing to return If Mercy may be had and you may yet be recovered out of the Snare of the Devil Dare you solemnly and expresly in so many Words take leave of Christ and bid him farewel for ever Are you content to forfeit his Favour and throw up all hopes of it and venture his Eternal Displeasure Would you not yet return if God would receive you If there be Balm in Gilead and a Physician there that you may be healed May I not tell you in the Name of Christ that there is and that if you return with your whole Heart you especially who are the Children of Holy Parents he will yet receive you He will meet you half-way and bid you welcom Hos 14.1 2 3. Isa 55.6 7 8. He will heal your Backslidings and blot out your Transgressions and remember your Iniquities no more He pawns the Authority of his own great Name for this Three several times in one Verse to assure you of it Zach. 1.3 Prov. 1.23 Turn ye at my Reproof and I will pour out my Spirit upon you is the Voice of Wisdom I might likewise direct you in your Addresses to God for his Purifying Grace to Eye the Blood of * Christ as the procuring cause of your Sanctification and the Holy Spirit the Purchase of that Blood as the great Sanctifier of Souls I might urge you farther * that with an hearty abhorrence of every Sin you would penitently and thankfully renew the Covenant you made with God in
their particular Constitutions and Tempers The most principal Duties and Institutions of Christianity do suppose this Degeneracy and Corruption of Human Nature and in this and many other Scriptures it is manifestly implyed The Subject of this Text is not Pure and Unbiassed equally indifferent unto Good or Evil but 't is supposed that he needs to be purified as well as guided Wherewithal shall a Young Man cleanse his way His way cleansed There is hardly any Metaphor whereby the Affections and Conversations of Men are more usually expressed than by this of their Way and Walk But there are some particular ways of Wickedness more appropriate unto Youth than to Elder Persons The Instructions Counsels and Exhortations of the Holy Scriptures besides those of common and universal Concern are therefore all suited to the various Classes under which Men may be severally considered There are some corrupt Inclinations and Practices some ways of Sin to which Young Men are more inclined and tempted than before or after that Age which in Childhood they are not arrived unto and in Riper Years are commonly exchanged for others I say commonly because sometimes Gray Hairs are deformed by the Vices and Follies of Youth and sometimes the Wisdom and Virtue of Old Age may be Eminently the Ornament of Young Men. Old Age may sometimes flourish in Youth and be as often perished in those that are well stricken in Years Covetousness for instance is not so much the Peculiar Vice of the Age but may be the Fault of Young Persons The Rich Young Man in the Gospel is an Instance who told our Lord that he had kept the Commandments But he had Houses and Lands and Bags of Mony which stood in his way to Heaven those he observed and kept as well as the Commandments Particular Countries and Places particular Callings and Relations particular Seasons and Times may have their special Sins and so have the different Ages of Men. The Ignorance of Youth is commonly attended with Pride and Conceitedness For they who know but a few things are always most presumptuous of their own Understanding and so are commonly more Rash and Hasty Giddy and Inconstant fond of Liberty and Impatient of Restraint Affecters of Novelty and Lovers of Pleasure of Company Pastime and sensual Mirth c. There are some youthful Lusts which young Timothy is warned against 2 Tim. 2.22 such as Ambition and Vain-glory Curiosity and Envy to appear Great and considerable before others as the Scope of the Place and three or four following Verses seem to manifest Not Drunkenness and Vncleanness or such carnal Lusts For tho' all Men have the Seeds of these yet the Modesty and Frugality the Weakness of Constitution and often Infirmities of Timothy make it very improbable they should here be principally meant The Corruption of Human Nature 't is true doth usually and with great Violence discover it self in unsanctified Youth by these Lusts of the Flesh These are some of the ways of their Heart according to which they form their Lives Where the Restraint of Bodily Temper special Providence Religious Education and Divine Grace do not make the difference I need not go about to prove that Childhood and Youth are Vanity or Sinful Folly considering the many Examples in Scripture and the multitude of such in every Age and in none more than our own considering the frequent Warnings given us by God against such Lusts considering the bitter Remorses and penitent Confessions of many who are truly Converted or but Awakned by the prospect of Death and Judgment considering the earnest Supplications even of Good Men that God would not Remember the Sins of their Youth Even David thought he had cause for such a Request Psal 25.7 whose Poverty and Piety whose Industry and Afflictive Trials in his Younger Years were a very great Restraint from those Lusts which are more Unbridled in others of another Education and Condition Not to mention how many in Riper Years are made to passess the Sins of their Youth Job 13.26 and their very Bones are full of them Job 20.11 For a Young Sinner hath himself for his Heir and Successor when he is Old and that which he receives for his Inheritance is only the sorrowful remembrance and bitter Fruits of his Youthful Follies It is sad to consider how many Young Men of hopeful Parts and promising Capacities are taken in the Devils Snares in the pursuit of Sensual Pleasures and lay up Matter for future Diseases and bodily Pains how they poison their Blood and weaken their Constitutions how they hasten or antedate the Infirmities of Old Age and do what they can to dig their own Graves But it is a more Melancholly Reflection to consider how they provoke God and incense his Almighty Vengeance how they wound and wrong their own Souls and treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath how they provide Fuel for everlasting Fire and consign their Bodies and Souls to Hell for ever To see them run headlong to their own destruction by walking in the way of their Hearts and in the sight of their own Eyes To consider how easily they are led into destructive Paths and made a cheap and hasty Prey by the Tempter till they are hardned past Recovery or cut off in the midst of their days by a sudden Arrest of Judgment And so for the short and vain Pleasures of Youth they perish to Eternity unless some few of them by an extraordinary Grace are recovered at the last Hour and renewed unto Saving Repentance But it is much to be feared that very few Death-Bed Penitents are so Secondly It is supposed to be a matter of no small Difficulty for a Young Man to Reform and Cleanse his Ways This in part appears from what hath been said already of the Corruption of Human Nature and the Vicious Inclinations of Youth Their Ignorance and Rashness and want of Experience their Aversion to serious Thoughts for fear of Melancholy with the apprehended unsuitableness of Restraint and Retirement unto Persons of their Age do all increase the Difficulty They usually reckon that they have the World before them they have Time enough hereafter and are now in the Age of Liberty and Pleasure and that both God and Man will indulge a great deal to them because of their Youth Presuming at the same time that a great while hence they shall have Opportunity and Heart and Help to work out their Salvation when ever they please For when they Calculate their own Nativities they reckon to the longest Term of Human Life that any are wont to reach to Their Sun is climbing higher they have a great while to Night and so are far removed from the Thoughts of Death Accordingly when ever they are advised by those who are Elder to look forward to the Grave and beyond it to bethink themselves of their Everlasting State and provide for an Endless Life their inward Thought is agreeable to the High-Priests Answer unto
and powerful sharper than a Two-Edged Sword to pierce and wound by Conviction It is the Word of God's Grace to heal those Wounds Act. 20.32 1 Tim. 2.3 able to build us up and give us an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified What Sins are to be avoided how Temptations are to be resisted how Bosom Lusts are to be Mortified and a Pure Acceptable Worship to be performed and what otherwise is necessary to the pleasing of God and Communion with him is taught us in this Word Hereby we are acquainted with our Sin and Misery and told the only way of our Recovery and Happiness The Malicious Arts and Stratagems of the Devil are here unfolded hence we are instructed how to conceive of God how to approach to him converse with him and resemble him Our Steps are hereby directed by unerring Light our Purposes setled and our Course stated and Directions given us how to use our Selves and all we have for the Service of our Maker Redeemer and Sanctifier By taking heed to this Light we are safely led out of those Labyrinths where others have lost their way and may prevent stumbling into the Pit of Destruction into which others fall All the Doctrins and Precepts of this Word tend to our Healing and Recovery to promote the perfection and felicity of our Nature to bring us to the best kind of Life for the present in respect of duty to God comfort to our Selves and usefulness unto others And this in the expectation of the Heavenly Reward enabling us in some measure to partake of the Earnest and enjoy the Fore-tastes of it In short It is by this Word that we believe in Christ and have hope towards God and are enabled to love him and so to dwell in Love Our Faith our Hope our Love to God and Christ are all begun cherished and maintained by the influence of this Word To this we owe that Faith whereby we are vitally united to the Son of God that Hope whereby all our Grace flourisheth and that Love whereby we are Fruitful For as by Faith we have a Spiritual Life by Hope we gather Strength and by Love we become active in all the Fruits of Holy Obedience 2. This will justifie the extraordinary Esteem and Affection that Good Men have for the Word of God Who after such experience of its cleansing Virtue but must profess that the Sayings of this Book are Faithful and True and Worthy of all Acceptation more to be desired than Gold than much Fine Gold sweeter than the Hony and the Hony-Comb Psal 119.93 97. O how love I thy Law saith David It is my Meditation all the Day I will never forget thy Precepts for by them thou hast quickened me O that this Law might be continually within my Heart to enlighten counsel and refresh me that it may dwell richly in me be always an Ornament of Grace to my Head and a Chain of Gold about my Neck Health to my Navel and Marrow to my Bones I heard its Voice I felt its Power and beheld its glorious Beauty and so have been changed into the same Image and shall I not love it If any should seem to wonder and think such Estimations and Affections strange you may answer with the Man born Blind John 9.30 This is a marvellous thing that you know not what it is or why I so much prize and love it when it hath opened my Eyes I was Spiritually Dead and Defiled and by this Word I received quickning and cleansing No wonder therefore if I account all things but Dross and Dung in comparison of this Knowledge Phil. 3.7 8. 3. What Thankfulness should they express whose Hearts have been seasoned with Holy Principles and Affections betimes and their Way cleansed by the Word of God If through the Knowledge of Christ you have escaped the Pollutions that are in the World through Youthful Lusts when so many others are thereby Drowned in the Gulph of Perdition should you not be very Thankful When you behold Multitudes who wallow in the Mire and take Pleasure in the ways of Sin are regardless of God and Christ and the Eternal World you may say I was as Mad as they or should certainly have been so if Free Grace had not prevented What Gratitude do I owe to my Redeemer and his Mighty Spirit who makes me thus to differ Many of you can look back with Joy and Praise upon the Early Experience you have had of this kind You can reflect how early God began with your Souls so early that your Baptism seemed to have had its effects and influence presently so early with some that you cannot tell the very time when God first began Others can remember the special Instruments whom God imployed from time to time to do them good by what careful and prudent Education Prov. 4.4 by what useful Examples of Holy and Affectionate Relations by what convincing Sermons Ch. 5.3 4. by what awak'ning Providences by what repeated Motions and Strivings of the Spirit of the Grace you were brought to the knowledg of your Sin and Duty and enabled to own and avow your Baptismal Covenant and seriously out of choice come under the Bond of it To which Purpose David acknowledgeth God Psal 16.2 7. O my Soul thou hast said to the Lord thou art my Lord therefore I will bless thee who hast given me Counsel and enabled me to receive it who hast enlightened my Darkness removed my Prejudices cleansed me from my Pollutions softned my hard Heart subdued my Enmity and Disaffection to thee and made me willing in the Day of thy Power to come to Christ that I might have Life and Healing by him Lord how is it that thou dost manifest thy Self to me and not unto the World That I should be quickned and cleansed while others are left under Spiritual Defilement and Death 4. What need have Superiors to be careful and diligent to bring Young Persons under their Charge acquainted with the Word of God It is mentioned not only to the Praise of Young Timothy but of those who were concerned in his Education that he knew the Holy Scriptures from his Childhood 2 Tim. 3.15 i.e. those of the Old Testament for scarce any other were then written when he was a Child He was also acquainted with what was necessary to be known concerning Christ as is mentioned in the same Verse under the Expression of the Faith which is in Christ Jesus Women and Children had then the Scriptures in a Language they understood for his Grandmother Lois and his Mother Eunice instructed him very early in the knowledge of God and Christ The Debauchery of Youth is very much owing to the want of good Principles instilled into their Minds in their Tender Years By that means they are a more easie Prey to the Devil having little or nothing to oppose to the Snares he lays for them or to their own corrupt Inclinations You therefore that
your Baptism yielding your Selves to the Lord as the most solemn and Important Transaction of your whole Lives And be sure * keep out of the way of Temptation as much as you can endeavouring to avoid those particular Snares by which you are most easily overcome Pretend not a Resolution against the Sin if you are willing to look upon the Temptation to walk upon the brink of the River and to come near the door of that House into which you know you must not enter It is impossible a Man should love to abide by a Temptation for a good end or without unspeakable Hazard It is vain Confidence on your own Strength to come as near Sin as you durst and the Event does commonly prove it so Especially * see that you well imploy your Time upon the Lords Day and take heed to your * Company all the Week Few of the Younger sort Miscarry but date their Sin and Ruin from the neglect of this Counsel * Begin with God every Morning by serious Prayer and Reading some part of the Holy Scriptures with some Practical Affectionate Book if but for a quarter of an Hour it would leave a serious Tincture on the Mind and a good Savour on the Heart and be of use to antidote you against Temptation and to preserve a Holy frame all the Day But * never desist your diligent Endeavours till you come to walk with God in his Love and Fear and as under his Eye all the Day long That the pleasing of God may become the Business and Pleasure of your Lives Lastly Do not delay Compliance with these Counsels but presently set about it can you begin too soon to cleanse your Hearts and Ways Is it too soon to be reconciled to God and delivered from the danger of Damnation Can you attain Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost and a well grounded Hope of Eternal Life too soon If you languish'd under a noisom Distemper that threatned your Life would you imagin you could be healed too soon And how much Sin and Mischief Shame and Sorrow and bitter Repentance may you prevent by taking heed unto the Word of God betimes How much larger Opportunities for the glorifying of God have Young Converts than late Penitents though they be Sincere What Advantages never to be retrieved have they lost who have out-sinned their Youth because their Time is gone and can never be recalled What Honour may you bring to God who remember your Creator in the days of your Youth What Ornaments to your Profession may you prove Of what usefulness unto others in this World being filled with the Spirit of God What attainments in Grace and the knowledge of Christ See Mr. Charnock Vol. 2. p. 57 58. and what additional degrees of Glory may you reach You may grow to a greater Stature being new born in Youth and bring forth more and better Fruit in Old Age You will have a longer time of Peace of Conscience and of the Comforts of the Spirit much sweeter fore-tastes of Heaven and improved meetness for it You may lay up Treasures of Experience to confute the Devil if he assault you on a Death-Bed c. And is it nothing to despise all these advantages of an Early Piety to secure the comfort and usefulness for the future part of your Lives Is it nothing to be prepared for a sudden Death and to provide against the Pangs and Sorrowful Reflections of a Death-bed Is it nothing when you come to Die to review your former Life with Joy saying Lord remember how I have served thee the God of my Fathers from my Childhood and Youth Is it nothing to bring God greater Glory in this World and receive a more weighty and sparkling Crown of Glory in the next Have you not been often told how much more difficult your Repentance and Conversion to God will hereafter be than now if you should be spared some Years longer Are your Hearts like to be better by longer continuance in Sin Will the Justice of God be less provoked will it not be more Will the Devil have less advantage against you when he hath had so much longer Possession To Day while it is called to Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts It is some hardning of your Hearts not to hearken to his Voice this day It is one step more towards final Impenitence and Unbelief against which there is no Remedy provided in the Gospel How hardly was that Man Cured Mark 9.29 who was possessed with a Devil from his Childhood The more you are alienated from the Life of God the harder will be your Recovery And how much greater is the provocation against God by every such Delay How aggravated and displeasing is your base ingratitude against the Blessed God and a Merciful Redeemer You reject his present Call slight his Kindness and refuse his Love and in effect tell him that though you have no mind to perish but that one time or other before you die you will accept it that yet you have other Business for the present to mind it will be time enough for that when you are more at leisure Your Youthful Lusts now call you your Secular Affairs and Settlement in the World now call you to other Thoughts and these shal l be first minded and served Your Compassionate Physician offers his Help and promises a Cure if you will but hearken and submit to him You tell him in effect that you like your Leprosie and are in love with your Disease You care not to be recovered to Health you will not as yet be Purged and Healed though one time or other you intend to call for his Assistance May he not most justly say unto you Let him that is filthy be filthy still You would not be purged from your filthiness therefore you shall not till you die How bitter will be the Thoughts of these repeated Calls neglected What cold Horror and Shivering Dread shall seize thee on a Bed of Languishing which some may take for true Repentance But Oh how little of that which by a large Charity we hope is so may the Righteous God accept and who can tell whether he does or no For such Men see themselves upon the brink of the Grave and stepping into Hell and know it is as much as their Souls are worth presently to make Peace with God by unfeigned Repentance No wonder then if they let fall some little Drops of a beginning Sorrow if they have some extorted Resolutions of Living better some sudden Remorse and Regret for those Sins that they are now like to be Damned for some quick and rash Vows of an Awaken'd Conscience with some Confusion of Face under the Fears of Death and Judgment But at such a time it is hard to distinguish between Religious Sighs and Natural Groans or separate their Repenting Cries for Mercy from their Howlings on their Beds through Bodily Pain 'T is true God