The Young Man Spoken to Another ESSAY, TO Recommend & Inculcate the Maxims OF Early Religion, UNTO YOUNG PERSONS; And Especially the Religion of the Closet. In a SERMON Preached unto them on a Special Occasion.
By COTTON MATHER, D. D.
BOSTON, Printed by T. Green, for Samuel Gerrish, at the Sign of the Buck in Marlborough Street, over against the South-Meeting-House, 1712.
Preface.
THE Publication of this ESSAY, to Quicken Early Piety, after so many that have gone before it, needs no Apology; for it is not Possible to make too many. The Subject is Copious; the Object is Numerous; the Occasions are Infinite.
The SERMON which is now laid before the Reader, has nothing Extraordinary in the Composure of it. He has indeed here only the First, Rude, Untranscribed and so Unpolished Notes of the Sermon, Written and Preached by One, who is pretty tolerably Employ'd at Constant, and Frequent Preaching. But the Importance of it is Extraordinary; and sometimes the less of Polishment, the more does [Page] the Sovereign Grace of Heaven give Success to our Plain Discourses. Before the Sermon is out, the Reader will see why & whence it comes unto him; yea, surely he will Hear, when he finds, That One comes unto him from the Dead.
Instead of going to Tullies Offices, I will go to Ambrose's for a brief Recital of the Ornaments with which we would Fain see our Young People Beautified▪ Honor Adoluscentum est, Timorem Dei habere; Parent thus deferre; Honorem habere senioribus; Castitatem non aspernari; diligere Clementiam et Verecundiam quae Ornamenta sunt Juvenilis Aetatis. Oh! Let 'em Fear God, Honour their Parents and their Betters; Preserve Chastity, Clemency, and Modesty. This is all wee'll ask for.
THE YOUNG MAN Spoken to. In a SERMON Preached upon the Devout and Dying Desire of a Religious Young Man. BOSTON. 4 D. 3 M. 1712.
Run, Speak to this Young Man.
IT is then an Angelical Service which I am upon. To bring the Messages of Heaven to Young Men, is an Angelical Service. It seems there is not an Angel in the Blessed Realms of Light, but what would rejoice to arrive among you, on the Service & the Errand [Page 2] wherein the Chief of Sinners is now Engaged. If I keep close to my Instructions, and bring to you nothing but what is Propounded and Supported, from the Oracles of God, which I shall Endeavour to do, you will hear nothing, but what will call for as much Regard, as if it were bro't by an Angel from Heaven. Sirs, What if you should this Day see, what the Beloved John saw upon a Lords-Day of old; An Angel flying among you, with the Everlasting Gospel to Preach unto you; and saying with a Loud Voice; ‘O all People, and very Particularly O Young People, Fear God, and give Glory to Him!’ Certainly, You would hear with much Attention, with much Affection, with a most awful Reverence. Behold, A very Sinful Man, but coming in the Name of the most Glorious LORD, brings to you, the Everlasting Gospel; He Runs to bring it, unto the Young People in the Neighbourhood. It is no other than what an Angel from Heaven, would be willing to bring among you; and it is as awfully to be Regarded!
Our Prophet Zechariah, was favoured with an Apparition of an Angel unto him; and the Angel in this Exhibition, gave him [Page 3] a Prospect of Jerusalem going to be laid out, and rebuilt, under the Influences of the God, who sets Bounds to our Habitations. This Angel is met by another Angel, who brings him an Order from God, immediately to Run unto that Young Man, and speak unto him something that it would be very Profitable and very Comfortable for him to be acquainted withal.
In Imitation of that Good Angel; and who can be better imitated? — I will now Run and Speak unto those Young Persons whom I have now before me, some very Observable Things: And you will see anon, perhaps with some Surprize, my Text admirably supplying me, with all my Observations.
There is first a General Doctrine, which I shall bring unto you; and make it a most agreeable Preliminary & Introduction, unto the more Particular Instructions, that are to Ensue upon it. And this is,
The DOCTRINE. There are things of no small Importance, which the Great GOD orders to be spoken unto Young Persons; yea, to be Earnestly spoken unto them.
[Page 4]There is not a Young Man among us, but the Great GOD has given Order, Speak to this Young Man. Yea, My Child, The Great GOD Himself speaks unto thee The Maxims of Piety are those Important Things, which the Great GOD Orders to be spoken, unto all the Children of Men. The Maxims are addressed in those very Terms; Psal. XLIX. 1. Hear this All ye People, give ear All ye Inhabitants of the World. But they that are Children in Age, are very Particularly to look on themselves, as concerned in the Address of such Things. Young Persons must not look on themselves unconcerned in he Maxims of Piety; Those Things are of as much Importance unto Young Persons, as unto any in the World; The Voice of God which utters those Things, is as much Directed unto Young Persons as unto any in the World.
We will at once Enquire; How tis that the Great GOD Speaks unto Young Persons: and, What are the most Important Things that He would have to be Spoken unto them?
Our Answer to these Complicated Enquiries, is this.
First. There are Important Things, which the Great GOD speaks unto Young [Page 5] Persons, in the Light of Nature, the Light of Natural Reason, that which Enlightneth every Man that comes into the World. It is of all things, the most Evident; There is a Spirit in man, and the Inspiration of the Almighty has given him an Ʋnderstanding, of much Duty which he owes to his Almighty Maker. The Rational Spirit of man, is apprized of, and furnished with, certain Principles, which are instamped thereon, by the God who forms the Spirit of man within him. The Inwrought, the Innate Principles, in the Rational Spirit of man, dispose him to acknowledge Things Good & Evil, Things Right & Wrong; as well as Things True & False. Tho' he may not always make the Actual Acknowledgment, yet if the Light be brought unto him, or things be set in their due Light before him, he is quickly Compell'd unto it. We read, Prov. XX. 27. The Spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord. Young People, The Great GOD has Lighted His Candle in your Souls. You Know, and you cannot but Own, That there is a GOD, unto whom you owe all possible Homage and Obedience. You Know, and you cannot but Own, That you are base Wretches, if you [Page 6] don't Honour, and Obey, and Requite your Parents. You Know, and you cannot but Own, That in your Dealings with your Neighbours, you ought to do as you would be done unto. These Three things are as Plain, as that Three and Three make Six. If you do but behold, the Works of God, in the Creation and Government of the World, these will Proclaim such Things unto you; God speaks unto you such Things as these by all the Works of His Hands. The Dictates of the Conscience within you, are awakened, are inferred, are confirmed, from all the Works of God about you. You may Reasonably Gather many Lessons of Piety, from all the Works of God; yea, There is no Speech nor Language, where their Voice is not heard. Alas, if you Forget God, or if you Abuse one another, you Rebel against the Light, with which the God that Made you, and Form'd you, has accommodated you. God speaks unto you, and you stop your Ears against the Voice, that should make the Pillars of Heaven to tremble. You have a Conscience which terribly Condemns you for your Wickedness. If you Go on still in doing Wickedly, you may Rationally Conclude, that the Great God speaks this [Page 7] also unto you; Rebel, He that Made thee will not have Mercy on thee, & He that Form'd thee, will shew thee no Favour.
Secondly. There are Important Things which the Great GOD speaks unto Young Persons, in the Spectacles, which they have before them, in the Dispensations of His Providence. There are Two sorts of Spectacles, wherewith Young Persons are continually Entertained by the Providence of God. One thing daily to be seen by Young Persons, is that; Prov XIII. 21. Evil pursueth Sinners. Children, You see such as are Wicked Overmuch, Dy before their Time. You see, Such as won't keep their Tongues from Evil, don't see Many Days, or much Good in their Days. You see Profane, Vitious, Debauched Children, soon Plung'd into woful Miseries. You see Ʋndutiful Children Cut off by the tremendous Vengeance of God. You see Heaven Discharging its Thunderbolts on the Heads of them that will Go on still in their Trespasses. The Great God speaks to you in what you see. The Thundring Voice of God unto you, in such Spectacles, is, O take heed of all Impiety. O don't by work of Darkness, pull down upon your [Page 8] selves the Strange Punishments reserved in outer Darkness, for the Workers of Iniquity! Another thing daily to be seen by Young Persons, is that: Job XXXVI. 14. They Dy in Youth. Children, You see all Ages liable to the stroke of Death. You see Children Dy as well as Old Men; Ten times more Dy before Twenty than After Sixty. You see Children carried from the Cradle to the Sepulchre; and Graves in the Burying-place, that are shorter than the Youngest of you. You see Children Dy as well as they that are an Hundred years old; Infants Lock'd up in Coffins; and as they use to say, Skulls of all Sizes in Golgotha. You see, Some with whom the Sun goes down at Noon, and some with whom the Morning is turn'd into the Shadow of Death. The Great God speaks to you, in what you see. The Lively Voice of God unto you in such Spectacles, is; O don't vainly Promise a long Life unto your selves. O do not upon a vain Presumption of a long Life, put off your Preparations for Death, and your laying hold on Eternal Life!
Thirdly. There are Important Things, which the Great GOD speaks unto Young Persons, in His Glorious Gospel; that Grace [Page 9] of His, which does bring Salvation; that Voice of Him that speaks from Heaven. Young Persons have the Bible in their Hands, the Book of God, and of Life; the Scripture given by Inspiration of God. It may be said of our Children, as 2 Tim III. 15. From a Child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation. The Parents will be inexcusable, and more Uncompassionate unto their Offspring than Ostriches and Sea-monsters, and must not be called, Christian Parents, if they do not what they can, that their Children may have the Bible in their Hands, and in their Minds. Children, You have the Great GOD speaking to you in the Bible. When ever you look into the Bible, it should be with this Perswasion; you should often look into the Bible on this Intention; I will hear what God will speak unto me! The Voice of the Great God unto you in your Bible is that; Psal. XXXIV. 11. Come ye Children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the Fear of the Lord. The Bible is a Letter from Heaven as much unto you, as if your very Name, were in the Superscription of it. And that you may be the more sensible of God speaking unto you here, [Page 10] you are here yet more distinguishingly call'd upon. So you are, Eccl XII. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. So you are, Psal. CXLVIII. 12, 13. Both young Men and Maidens, old Men & Children. Let them Praise the Name of the Lord. So you are, in all the Scriptural Examples of Early Piety. But besides this; When the Word of God is Opened and Applied in the Sermons of His Ministers; young Persons make a part of our Auditory. Young Persons are to take their Portion in all the Sermons of the Evangelical Ministry, wherein Wisdom says unto them, Ʋnto you, O Men, I Call, and my Voice is to the Sons of Men. Yea, the Prudent and Faithful Stewards in the House of God, will sometimes Carve out a Special Portion for the Young Persons in their Auditory. The Servants of God will be careful to avoid that Character of the Foolish Shepherd; Zach▪ XI. 16▪ Which shall not seek the young one. Children, When Sermons are Preaching, you have the Great GOD speaking to you in them. Instead of Sporting, or Sleeping, or any Irreverent Carriage here, Oh, with what Reverence and Godly Fear ought you to behave your selves; [Page 11] and think, How dreadful is this Place? Tis the House of God, and the Gate of Heaven! Tis not a weak Man, but the Great GOD, who is now speaking to me! It is the Great GOD, who tells you in our Sermons, That you need a Saviour; and that you will find the Lovely JESUS, a Mighty, a Ready, and an Only Saviour. It is the Great GOD who tells you, That you must Walk in His Fear, and in all Holiness and Righteousness before Him. It is the Great GOD, who tells you, That He will bring every Work into Judgment, and Reward every man according to His Work. You are Deaf to GOD, if you hear us not!
There is an Improvement, which the Great GOD has Ordered me to make of these things. There is this thing to be spoken, yea, to be Earnestly Spoken, unto the Young People in this Assembly of Zion: Oh! Take a due Notice of the Things, which the Great GOD Orders to be spoken to you; Children, Pay a due Respect unto those things! Methinks, I overhear the Holy One saying to me, Run, Speak to these Young People. To Run, is the Motion of one in Earnest. I must now be in Earnest with you. Children, That which I am Earnestly [Page 12] to speak unto you, is this; GOD has been speaking to you; The Mighty GOD, even the LORD hath Spoken to you. Now, Oh! Mind what He speaks; Let the Voice of God have a due, and a deep Impression upon you. What a Blessed Intercourse was that between the Great GOD, and the Child Samuel! 1 Sam. III. 10. And the Lord came, & stood & called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak for thy Servant Heareth. O Young People, The Great GOD comes, & stands, & calls unto thee very many times over; Sinner, Sinner, Soul Perishing in thy Sin, O Forsake thy Sin, and Embrace thy Saviour! Under the Admonitions of God, O Children, Be able to answer; Lord, I hear what thou speakest; and I desire to be thy Servant. The Commands, the Comforts, the Reproofs of thy Word, Lord, Thy Servant would hearken to them.
The Thing which I have to demand of you, is; That you cast no Scorn upon the Word of God; but that you Comply with the Voice of God speaking to you in His Word. The Demand is, That you Mind, and that you Do those things, which God shall speak unto you; and be ashamed [Page 13] of not having Respect unto all His Commandments. Child, He is thy Father, and He should be, Oh! Let thy Choice make Him, the Guide of thy Youth. We read of some Young People, 1 Joh. II. 14. Ye are Strong, and the Word of God abideth in you. Oh! Give a due Reception to the Word of God. Lodge it in your Understandings, your Memories, your Affections. Hide it in your Hearts, with dispositions to be thereby Preserved and Rescued from your Sins.
To Enforce this Early Piety on our Children, I will Run, and Earnestly Speak these two things unto them. Yea, you shall presently see, that the Great GOD has Ordered me to speak these things.
The First Thing is, That the Great GOD will deal with you, as you deal with His Word. Children, Love the Word of God, and God will Place His Love upon you. Treasure up the Word of God, and God will make you His Peculiar Treasure. Contain the Word of God, and your Portion from God shall be Shame and Everlasting Contempt. O that your Ears were open to this Discipline, and that such an Instruction as this from and for the Word of God were Sealed unto you. It speaks thus; [Page 14] Them that Honour me, the GOD that speaks in me will Honour; they who Despise me, shall be lightly Esteemed of the GOD who shines & breathes in me.
I remember a Remarkable Passage, 2 Tim. I. 12, 14. He is able to keep, that which I have committed unto Him. And, That good thing which was committed unto thee, do thou keep. The Jews mention Two Depositums of God; The Lamp within us, or, the Soul; And the Lamp without us, or, the Law; and they introduce the Great GOD speaking thus unto us; My Lamp which is my Law, is in thy Hand; and thy Lamp, which is thy Soul, is in Mine. If thou diligently keep My Lamp, I will keep thine; if thou put out, if thou tread on, My Lamp, I will deal so with thine. Our Apostle seems to have an Eye on both of these, Deposita. GOD will Require it, when His Word is Well-treated with Young People; will Revenge it, when His Word is ill-treated: Ye have done it unto me, saith the Lord.
The Second Thing is like unto it; indeed but a Continuation & Amplification of it. It is, That the Great GOD will hear you, Speaking and Praying to Him, as you hear Him Speaking to you. Children, Be you [Page 15] never so Prayerless now, there will come a Time, when you will pour out your Prayer unto the Almighty. In the Trouble that will at some Time come upon you, you will Visit Him on your Knees, and Pour out a Prayer, when His Chastening shall be upon you, and drive you to it. Now, be advised. The Lord God hath Spoken this, and who can but Prophesy it? The Word of God comes to you, with such a Pathetical Warning as that wherewith Jotham once began his Parable; Hearken unto me, that God may hearken unto you! If you will hear the Counsels of God, God will hear your Prayers. It was a sweet Word, Joh: XV. 7. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. When the Great GOD sees, That you set your selves to Do, whatever He shall Speak to you, and Ask of you, Lo, He says upon it; This is a dear Child; I will do for Him for above all that he can ask or think; yea, before he calls, I will answer, and whiles he is yet speaking, I will hear. But I am to step into Mount Ebal, for the other part of my Prophecy; If God Speak, and you Disregard what He Speaks, and if you turn away from Him that [Page 16] speaks from Heaven, and if you Reject the Counsels of God; Such, even such will be the Disregard that your Prayer to Him shall meet withal. Can any thing be more Dreadful, but can any thing be more Equal, than that Indignation of Heaven Zech. VI. 13. Therefore it is come to pass, that as He Cried, and they would not hear,; so they Cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of Hosts. Oh! Tremble before the terrible Threatning of God; and forget not that Young People are Peculiarly Threatned in it; Prov. I. 24, 25 28. Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my Counsel, and would none of my Reproof: Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me Early, but they shall not find me. Hear this, O all you Children of Unperswadeableness, that will not Hear. You will One Day lift up the Cries of a Distressed Soul unto the Lord; When the Griefs of Death compass you, and the Pains of Hell get hold on you, with what Agony of Soul, will you then Cry unto the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee to deliver my Soul! But, O the Confusion which you are providing and bespeaking [Page 17] for your selves! O the Wrath which you are heaping up! When God speaks to you in His Wrath, what will it be but this? Wretch, Thou wouldest not hear me; I spake unto thee in thy Prosperity, and thou wouldst not hear; Now, I know thee not, O worker of Iniquity! Children, Consider these things, which at the Order of God, I have thus Run to speak unto you.
Having thus Employ'd and even with a Running Dispatch Apply'd a General Doctrine; I will proceed unto certain more Particular Instructions. Things, that God Orders to be spoken unto you. And they shall be only such Instructions as the Tendency and Intention of my Text shall give me a clear Commission to offer unto you. My Text clearly says unto me, Run, Speak to the Young People such things as these!
The First Instruction.
Young Persons may be Servants of God; Sincere, Faithful, Useful Servants of God; Yea, do Noble Services for the most Glorious Lord.
Run, Speak to this Young Man. Who, and what was this Young Man? A Zechariah, who, tho' a Young Man, yet was a Servant of God; yea, a Prophet of God, [Page 18] One improved in Eminent Service for Him. A Young Man, and yet sent by God unto His People, to say unto them, Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord. It is very sure, he had himself then in his Youth turned unto the Lord. It is the Note of a North-British Expositor upon it, God may Employ Young Men to Serve Him. Upon the bare Proposal of the matter, Oh! How can any Young Man in the Congregation, forbear that Exclamation; Isa. VI. 8. Lord, Here am I; Send me! Hard-hearted Youth, who can hear of Serving such a Lord, and not long to become a Servant of that Glorious One! There were Services to be done for God, among His People of Old; But, who were used in those Excellent Services? We read, Exod. XXIV. 5. He sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings unto the Lord. There are Young Persons, who come and Chearfully put their Necks under the Golden Yoke of a most Gracious Redeemer. There are Young Persons, who are Inclin'd, and have Begun, to Live unto God, & make the Will of God, the Rule of their Lives; and Submit unto the Will of God in disposing their whole Condition for them [Page 19] There are Young Persons, who are Zealous of, and Fruitful in, Good Works; and have their Eye so much on the [...] & Kingdom of God; that it may be said of them, They are every day at work for Him, yea, always abounding in the work of the Lord: Young Persons, Inquisitive to Known their Duty, Solicitous to Do it; Ever saying, Lord, What wouldest thou have me to do? And making this their main Business in the World. Yea, sometimes a Young Jeremiah, is used by the God of Heaven, to speak for Him unto Multitudes; A Young Josiah, to make whole Provinces and Nations the better for him.
My Hearers, Require not of me, a Demonstration of this Assertion. I Require it of YOU, That You be your selves the Demonstration of it. I come to you with that Exhortation; 2 Chron: XXX. 8. Yield your selves unto the Lord. Children, It is required of you, that you become the Servants of God, and Bind your selves this Day unto the Service of your Glorious Lord. It is pity, that you should be Bound out unto any Temporal Service, until the Indentures of your Service to the Great GOD, and your Saviour JESUS CHRIST, be settled. [Page 20] O Servants of all sorts in the Neighbourhood; You have put off the Service of the most Glorious One too Long, if you are gone into any Service before you have come into His. They that are too Young for any other Indentures, are Old enough to mind this Grand Concern: They that count themselves of a Quality too High for any other Indentures, cannot be too Big for these. But what am I saying? The Indentures are already Sealed. O all ye Baptised ones; Your Baptism was the Seal of your Indentures, wherein you were Bound unto the Service of your Incomparable Saviour. The Thing required of you, is, That you now Renew the Consent of your Souls, unto your Baptismal Covenant. Let it be done in those Terms; Psal. CXIX. 94. I am thine, Save me. Let it be done with such Wishes; Oh! That I may be a Vessel of Honour for God the Father, a Loyal Subject of God the Son, a Living Temple of God the Spirit, for evermore! A Young Servant of God could say, O Lord, Truly I am thy Servant, (and over again,) I am thy Servant; I am the Son of thy Handmaid. The Church, whereof you are the Children, is the Handmaid of the Lord. Once has it [Page 21] been said over you, at your Baptism, in the arms of the Handmaid of God; This is a Servant of the Lord. Now, do you say it over again; O Lord, Truly I am thy Servant. And never, never seek to be Loos'd from these Bonds. It is herewithal required of you, That you come this Day into Resolutions for the Service of God. Oh! that you would heartily, and presently come unto them! Say; 'I Resolve to Renounce the Lords that have heretofore held me in my Sins! I will not allow my Flesh any Sinful Delight. I will do no Sinful Action to gain the World. I will maintain a Perpetual Warfare against the Temptations of the Devil. I Resolve to Live Godlily, & Soberly, & Righteously; and in the way of Patient Continuance in Well-doing, seek for Eternal Life. But, O my Saviour, I Rely upon Thee, to assist me in keeping these Resolutions. Children, The Service of the Glorious LORD, Oh! Count it your Glory. It will bring you to Heavenly and Immortal Glory!
The Second Instruction.
Young People may be those Children of God, who even while they are yet in their Youth, may be singularly dear unto the Angels of God.
[Page 22]We have here a Young Man, who had one Angel talking in a most familiar Conversation, with him, and at the same time another Angel hastening a point of Information to him. The Angels of God have often appeared like Young Men; The Angels of God have much oftner had Pleasure in Religious Young Men. We read Mat. XVIII. 10. Even Little Ones have their Angels. There are Little Ones, for whose Welfare the Angels of God are concerned; Little Ones they are for their Growth, and still in their Youth; but yet the Angels of God are with unspeakable Pleasure, Ministring Spirits for them, and go forth to Minister for those young Heirs of Salvation. Young Persons there are, who are become very agreeable to the Angels of God; The Angels of God are their Friends, and gladly take the Charge of them, and become their Friendly Guardians; The Angels of God gladly do Kind Offices for them, & multiply their Kindnesses to them. Yea, they Run, and are upon the Wing, in a Benign Ministry for them. There are Young Persons, for whom the Angels of God rejoyce to fulfil that Promise; Psal. XCI. 11. He shall give His Angels charge over thee, to keep [Page 23] thee in all thy ways. And that Promise; Psal. XXXIV. 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them. The Young Persons are, Deliciae Angelici Generis; the Favourites of Heaven, and the Darlings of the Angelical World.
But, Oh! Who are those Happy Children? You shall have a brief Description of them.
First, A Thorough and an Early Conversion to God; This will be necessary. We read, Luk XV. 10. There is Joy in the presence of the Angels of God, over one Sinner that Repenteth. A Young Person becoming a New Creature, the Angels of God are the Joyful Spectators of it; The Morning Stars do sing together at it, and the Sons of God shout for Joy. O Enemies of God, which His Angels with Abhorrence look upon; Repent of your Enmity; Become the Converts of Zion; Then those Angels will come to be Glad that they have such New-born Children of God under their Tuition.
I go on. You must betimes be the Lovers of the Glorious JESUS. Nothing, Nothing must be so Precious to you, as the Glorious JESUS. The Angels of God [Page 24] Love Him; and Love those who do so; There is this Favour for them who Love Him in Sincerity. Those winged Inhabitants of Heaven, are the Wings of your Saviour. Oh! Make your continual Flights unto Him; Then those Wings will with Alacrity stretch out themselves unto you; Take you under their Protection. The intense Lovers of JESUS, are the Disciples whom JESUS Loves. Have you not been told of a Young Man who came under this Denomination? Child, If JESUS Love thee, His Angels will do so too!
Once more; They are Holy Angels. Children, Don't Vex them, with Ʋnholy Practices. Ʋnholiness will disoblige them wonderfully. Urged unto any Wickedness, Oh! Refuse it, Avoid it, with Young Joseph's Detestation, How shall I do this Wickedness, and Sin against God? You will Please God, if you Walk with Him; and this will be marvellously Pleasing unto His Angels too. The Holy Angels are Glad, when they see a Young Man Holy in all manner of Conversation.
But, Lastly; Shall we not bring in Goodness too? The Angels of God are Good Angels. They are Glad, when they see Young [Page 25] People Good. Children, Be full of Goodness. Do no Wrong, Do no Harm, to any one in the World. Make the Prosperity of others your own, and Promote it what you can; and Sympathise with them in their Adversity. Wish well to every one, and Do all the Good that ever you can. The Good Angels are Yours, O Greatly Beloved Ones, if you come to this!
In fine; We read of a wondrous Thing befalling a Young Man; 2 King. VI. 17. And Elisha Prayed, and said, Lord, I Pray thee, open his Eyes, that he may see, and the Lord opened the Eyes of the young man, and he saw: and behold the Mountain was full of Horses, and Chariots of Fire round about Elisha.
I will only Pray, Lord, Open the Eyes of every Young Man among us, to see the things of his Everlasting Peace; Turn the Young Man from Darkness to Light, with a Sanctifying work of thy Spirit upon Him! Then O Young Man, thou mightest see Fiery Chariots of Angels, with a most Heavenly Gladness attending on thee! Ah! the Folly, Ah! the Madness, in the Heart of the Young Man, if this Consolation of God be Small unto Him!
The Third Instruction.
Young Persons may be Admitted and Advanced unto an Intimate Communion with Heaven; Heaven may hold a most Gracious and Intimate Communion with them.
He was a Young Man, who had Heaven Opened unto him; who had the Angels of Heaven made very sensible unto him; who had the Great GOD of Heaven favouring of him with marvellous Communications. A Young Man may Dy and go to Heaven; yea, a Young Man may go to Heaven before he Dies; be well acquainted with the Heavenly World. Heaven is accessible for Young People as well as others. There are Young People, who are no strangers to Communion with Heaven: Young People to whom the Great GOD Communicates Himself with most Entertaining, most Astonishing Condescensions.
The CASE which remains now to be insisted on, is this.
What is Communion with Heaven; and in what methods may Young Persons arrive to that Communion?
[Page 27] Communion with God; It is a Thing much Talked of; less Ʋnderstood, much less Pursued, least of all Attained. Children, I would have you betimes take up Right Notions of this Blessedness, and Right Methods of attaining it.
Briefly, Communion with God, lies in Receiving from God, and in Rendering to Him.
First. The Great GOD holds Communion with Young Persons, in what they Receive from Him. He holds Communion with them, in Communicating to them: You shall see this go on by Two Steps, unto a very Special Intimacy.
First, Young Persons come to Communion with God, in the Communications of His Holy Word unto them. When God makes known His Mind & Will unto Young Persons, then He has Communion with them. When He had Communion with Moses, it was in that; Exod. XXV. 22. I will Commune with thee; or, Confer with thee. When God Speaks to you, Children, then He has Communion with you. Part of His Communion with you, is, His Revealing of Himself unto you, and His Acquainting you with what He would have you [Page 28] to Know and to Do, that so you may Glorify Him and Enjoy Him for ever. O Reader of the Sacred Oracles, and of what Opens them; O Hearer of the Discourses which Explain and Apply the Sacred Oracles; O Mind Consulting the Will of God, as Written in thy own Soul, and Proclamed by what He has done in Heaven and in Earth, in the Seas and in all deep Places; The Great GOD has Communion with thee, in all the Light, which by these things He Conveys unto thee. And the more Full, the more Clear, the more Irradiating and Satisfactory the Light is, the more Communion the Great GOD has with thee in the Conveyance of it. But then,
Secondly, Children, You shall come yet nearer than so. Young Persons are taken into Communion with God, by the Communications of His Holy Spirit unto them. The Communion that God has with them, is that; 2 Cor. XIII. 14. The communion of the Holy Spirit. In the impressions of the Holy Spirit on Young Persons, God has Communion with them. Children, Sometimes the Spirit of God, will make unto you, most grateful Discoveries. He [Page 29] will Open your Eyes to behold the wondrous Things in His Law; He will Unfold unto you the Mysteries of His Gospel; He will cause you to Discern the Things that are spiritually to be discerned. More than so; The Spirit of God will go on to Sanctify you; and Purify you, and impart a Principle of Grace unto you, and Strengthen that Principle in you, and Revive the Image of God in your Souls, and make you more Conformable to the Image of His Jesus, and Enkindle the Life of God in you, and Quicken you in Living unto God. This is not all; The Spirit of God will Excite you to the Things that are Well-pleasing to Him; Will Incline you to the Things that Please Him; Will Inspire you with Purposes of Well-doing, With Contrivances to Do Good; Will Animate you to Services, and put you upon Abounding in the Fruits of Righteousness. In fine; The Spirit of God, will bring Home the Love of God into your Hearts; Will assure you of His Everlasting Love; Will comfort you with His Encouraging Promises; Will Seal you to the Day of Redemption; Will fill you with His Great Consolations; Will abolish your Griefs, extiguish your [Page 30] Fears, enliven your Hopes, and cause you to Rejoyce with Joy Ʋnspeakable and full of Glory. Now in all these things, the Great GOD has Communion with you. O Soul Panting after Communion with GOD, mistake not the matter. Do not confine the Communion unto any one of these Fruitions. Child, Thy God has Communion with thee, when He Awakens thee, when He Abases thee, when He brings Contritions upon thee, as well as when He Ravishes thee with His Consolations which are not Small.
Secondly. Young Persons hold Communion with the Great GOD, in what they Render to Him. The Returns, which Young Persons make unto God by His Assistence, these are their Communion with Him. Children, Your God calls for your Heart; He says; Prov. XXIII. 26. My Son, Give me thy Heart. You hold Communion with Him, when you give Him your Heart; when your Heart is filled with suitable Thoughts of Him; when you place the Desire of your Heart, the Delight of your Heart, the Dependence of your Heart upon Him. To Pray unto God, is to Commons with Him; When [Page 31] Young Persons Repair to the Great GOD with the Request of their Heart, then they hold Communion with Him. If their Heart be in the Request, then tis an Hearty, a Real, a Proper Communion. Young Persons have Communion with the Great GOD, in every Acknowledgment they make of Him. They have Communion with Him in all their Ways, when they Acknowledge Him in all their Ways. Indeed, Young Persons have Communion with God, in all their Obedience to Him. When God Requires and they Obey, there is a most amiable Communion between Him and Them. In short, To be Sensible of God, is to have Communion with Him. Young Persons Converse with God, when they Think of Him: when they Set the Lord before them; when they are Sensible of Him Speaking to them, or Dealing with them.
This is that Communion with Heaven whereto Young People may be admitted.
And, in what Ways may they now Seek and Gain Admission to it?
Children; The First Thing which I must mind you of, and Charge you to be ever mindful of, is this: Don't forget the Mercy-Seat.
[Page 32]In the Blessed JESUS, thro' whom God becomes Propitious to us, you have the Mercy-Seat, whereof that on the Ark of old, was a Figure. In Him you see GOD Sitting on the Throne of Grace! Remember then; ‘Without a Glorious JESUS, what Oh! What, would the Holy GOD be unto me? What, but a Consuming Fire and Everlasting Burnings! Ah, How could Sinful Stubble Draw near unto Him! It is my Glorious JESUS, who Reconciles me to God. Without such a Reconciliation, certainly, He could have no Communion with me; none, but in Thunder and Lightning, to Destroy me among His Adversaries! It is my Glorious JESUS, that makes all my Homage to God be what it is: All my Offerings, tis He that enables me to bring them all. Tis in His Name that I bring them all: Tis thro' Him that I have Access unto the Father. Tis on His Account that they find Acceptance with God; We are Accepted in that Beloved One. O my Dear JESUS, To Thee am I beholden for all my Communion with God. How Dear, how Dear, ought this Glorious JESUS to be unto me!’ Children, The more of [Page 33] CHRIST you have with you, the more you may Expect of Communion with GOD.
Secondly; Tis in the Wayes and Means of His own Appointment, that God will hold that Communion with Young Persons, for which He has appointed them. There are,
First, Ordinances of a more Publick Celebration, wherein Young Persons may have Communion with God; Such Ordinances as are Celebrated in the Assemblies of Zion. The End why the All-wise God, has Instituted these things, is not meerly, that there may be the Work done; Tis not meerly to impose a Task upon us; No, They are Wayes and Means; and His End in them, is, That He may hold Communion with His People in them. [See, Psal. XXVII. 4. And, 2 Cor. III. 18.] Yea, and He has Engaged Himself to hold Communion with His People in them. He hath said; Mat. XVIII. 20. Where Two or Three are Gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them. Concerning these Ordinances of the Lord, I shall advise our Children, with this Nurture & Admonition of the Lord.
[Page 34] First; You can't Reasonably Expect such Communion with God, in any other Wayes and Means, as you may in those which Himself has Appointed. It is true; Such is the Compassion of GOD, that He has had Respect unto the Sincere Designs of some Good Men, when they used Indirect Wayes and Means for Communion with Him. He has regarded their Sincerity, and overlook'd their Superstition, and Visited their Souls, in the use of Liturgies, and of Holidays, which yet He has not approved. But men have no ground for any such Expectation, That God should Own them, when they go to put upon Him their own Wayes and Means of Communion with Him; That God should Own and Bless Humane Inventions; That God should come to us in the Modes wherewith we go to Prescribe unto the Holy One of Israel. The Second Commandment binds us up, to such Ways and Means of Communion with Him, as He Himself hath appointed. Now in that Commandment there is that awful Clause; Exod. XX. 5. I am a Jealous God. The Jealousy of the Holy God will burn against your Will-worship. Your Substitutions of, I know not what, in the room [Page 35] of the Divine Institutions, They will Enkindle the Jealousy of the Holy God. They will Provoke the Holy One to say, Who has required these things at your Hands? They are Vain Oblations: They are an Abomination to me; I cannot away with 'em! Children of GOD, and, O Children of NEW-ENGLAND, if you would have Communion with God as your Father, and with the God of your Fathers, keep close to the Ways & Means of His Appointment. Have His Warrant for all you do in His Worship. Then will He Commune with you.
Secondly; You should Prize and Use all Opportunities of coming to the Sanctuary, and count it a Lamentable Thing to be Banished from the Opportunities to Bless God in His Congregations. Children, To make a Small Matter serve you, as an Excuse for your Absence from the Sanctuary, truly, this were a very Bad Symptom upon you. Oh! Deprive not your selves, of this Token for Good on your Souls; Lord, I have Loved the Habitation of thy House! When any Calamity keeps you from the Sanctuary, reckon this as a Considerable Article of the Calamity; Psal. XLII. 4. [Page 36] I had gone with the Multitude, I went with them to the House of God. Oh! Let it be a Sorrowful thing unto you, when you can't Go with the Multitude unto the House of God. Let it broach your Tears, to think; I am now Banished from Communion with God! This Lamentation should be accompanied with some Essay, to fetch Good out of Evil. Wherefore, when you are kept at Home, O Humble your selves before God at Home. Humbly Search and Try your Wayes; And Humbly Confess; Lord, I did not Prize and Ʋse my Opportunities for Communion with thee in thy Sanctuary, as I should have done, when I had those Opportunities. O Pardon me for the sake of the Great Sacrifice. Then Ruminate on what you have been in the Sanctuary formerly Entertained withal; and Resolve, with the Help of God, that if ever you come to the Sanctuary again, it shall be more Holily, more Livelily, more Fruitfully than ever in your Lives before.
Thirdly; Come to the Sanctuary always upon the true Intention; always intending and propounding of Communion with God. When you come to the Sanctuary, let it not [Page 37] be from Custom, for Credit, or any inferiour Account. Be able to give the Genuine Answer to that Question; What went you out for? Let it be, For Communion with God. In coming up to the Sanctuary, Children, Let the Cry of your Souls be that; Psal. LXIII. 1, 2. O God, Thou art my God, Early will I seek thee; To see thy Power and thy Glory in the Sanctuary. These, These must be the Dispositions of your Souls. It is good for me to draw near to God, and I am now going to draw near unto Him. In Precious Interviews with God there is laid up the Life of my Soul; and I am going to those Interviews. God is willing to hold Communion with me, at the Wells of Salvation; and I am going with Joy to draw water out of those Wells of Salvation. Child, Go, and God be with thee.
But I may now pass on to say, There are also Devotions of a more Private Character, which our God has Appointed. And in these also Young Persons may and should have Communion with Him.
Among the Devotions of a greater Privacy, The Religion of the Closet, calls for the greatest Regards imaginable. Children, Behold, This House is a [Page 38] Witness, how many Scores, and Hundreds of Times, the Young People here have had this Religion Pressed upon them. Verily, You are left altogether without Apology, if this Religion remain still Disregarded with any of you. But I have now a New, and a Fresh, Occasion for the Pressing of it.
There has newly Dyed among us, an Hopeful, and a Pious Young Man, Note: [ Mr. Peter Oliver.] One Well Beloved in the Vicinity; who, a few Hours before he Dyed, Expressed these Desires to me; with Repetition, and Importunity he Expressed them. ‘Sir, I Pray you to Exhort mightily the Young People of this Place, that they would spend much Time in Secret Prayer, and be much in the Religion of the Closet. It is what I have, thro' the Grace of God, my self not been a Stranger to, and I now Enjoy the Benefit and Comfort of it.’ Behold, I am this Day fulfilling the Will of the Dead; and inviting you to Everlasting Life. If a Spirit Cloathed in Garments of Light might come down unto yet, from the Paradise of God, or, if the Angel, who was Charged, Run, Speak to the Young [Page 39] Man, were this Day to speak unto you, what Exhortation could he bring of more Importance than this? Children, Be prevailed withal, to Delay no longer; to Dally no longer; to make no more Excuses; But Set upon the Exercise of Secret Prayer immediately. Begin this Day to Retire for Secret Prayer, and uphold the Exercise all your Dayes. Chuse a fit Retirement, like Nathanael, under his Fig-tree; and make it your daily Exercise to pour out your Supplications unto the Lord. You can't be at a Loss what you shall say. The CXIXth. Psalm; the whole Book of Psalms; all the whole Bible; the whole State of your own Soul, and of all that you have any Relation to, will afford you Materials for your Supplications.
How much do those Young Men Consult their own Welfare, who can say with him; Psal. CXIX. 47▪ I prevented the Dawning of the Morning, and I Cried! Oh! that ours, would go alone every Day; and first Consult the Word of God, and then turn it into Cries unto Him! First find out the Wants and Cares and Loads of their own Souls, and put them into Cries unto the Lord.
[Page 40] Young People of both Sexes, you are all Concerned. We read concerning the Chariot of Solomon; Cant. III. 10. It was Paved with Love by the Daughters of Jerusalem. The Carpet laid under his Feet in his Chariot, was it seems, wrought with Lovely Figures, by the Ingenuity of these Young Gentlewomen. Oh! that ours would by Weeping Supplications to their Saviour, Kneeling on the Floor of their Secret Chambers, as it were lay a Well-wrought Carpet of their Love unto Him!
I Expect it of you, that you Consider Two or Three Questions on this Occasion.
Quest. I. Is it not the Positive Command of your Saviour? Mat. VI. 6. Enter into thy Closet, and when thou hast shut thy Door, Pray to thy Father which is in Secret. And can he Challenge the Name of a Christian, who tramples on such a Positive Command of our Saviour? Or, What will such an one do, when God riseth up; when He visits, what shall such an one answer Him?
Quest. II. Are not the Blessings to be [Page 41] Gained by Secret Prayer, well worth all your Labours for the Gaining of them? Reconciliation with God, and all the Blessings of Goodness, bestow'd by the Infinite GOD, in Both Worlds, on those to whom He is Reconciled; Are not such Things worth a little Praying for?
Quest. III. When you are come to the Time of your Death, and the End of your Time, will the Time that you have spent in Secret Prayer be then Repented of? In your Last Hours, will you not then Wish, Oh! That I had spent fewer Hours in other Things, but many more, many more, in Praying to God, and Preparing for Eternity?
Quest. IV. If after such Solemn and Frequent and Various Warnings as you have had, you will still continue Prayerless, and Fearless, may you not be justly Afraid, that the Holy GOD may by His Judgments upon you fulfil that Word; He that being often Reproved, hardeneth his Neck, shall be suddenly Destroyed, and that without Remedy?
[Page 42]And now, as the Angel siad, Run, Speak to this Young Man; I will so invert it; Young Man, Run, Run into thy Closet, and there Speak, and Pray, and Weep unto thy Saviour. Take up that Purpose therewithal; Psal. CXIX. 32. Lord, I will Run the way of thy Commandments, when thou shalt Enlarge my Heart.
Children, I Demand your Immediate Compliance. Your Duty has been set before you: The Demand is, That you Run into it. The Terms of it are, To Day, lest any of you be hardened through the Deceitfulness of Sin.
I remember a Passage in Deut. VII. 11. The Commandments which I Command thee This Day. And I remember the Gloss which the Jewish Rabbi's have upon it; Hodie ea sum facunda, non-cras; Tis, Because they are Things to be done To Day; they must not be put off till, To morrow. And indeed it was a common saying among the Jews, a Saying of the Fathers among them, relating to the Resolutions of Piety; Si non Nunc, Quando? That is, If not Now, When? Alas, If you will not Now, it may be fear'd, it may be fear'd, you Never will.
[Page 43]Our Saviour mentions it, as His Glory and His Delight; Psal. XVIII. 44. As soon as they Hear of me, they shall Obey me. Oh! Deny not unto a Dear Saviour, this Glory and this Delight; But now, As soon as you have Heard, that He Expects your Secret Addresses to Him, and Serious Endeavours after Communion with Him, Immediately Obey Him. And, Oh! Lift up that Cry unto Him, Draw me, O my Saviour, and I shall Run unto thee!