The Pastors Charge and the Peoples Duty, Chapter 6
CAP. VI. A few words of Counſel and Incouragement to the Lambs, the younger ſort.
I Am now come to the laſt part of my preſent Task; to ſpeak a little to the Flock, over which our LORD hath ſet us; and
1. Will begin, as he himſelf hath taught me, with the Lambs: And O that I could now pour out my Soul into their boſoms, and offer ſomething that may awaken and engage their chaſt affections to an early and ſerious minding of Chriſt, and of their own Souls! I am not ſpeaking to thoſe, who thro' want of years are uncapable, but to ſuch as are able to apprehend the words and counſels of God from the Pulpit, or the Preſs. My dear Lambs, you ſee what care our LORD Jeſus Chriſt hath taken of you.
1. He calls you His, what an Honour, what a Happineſs is this? If you be his, duplicate page duplicate page he will be yours, yours to all gracious ends and purpoſes; yours to love you, yours to provide for you, yours to protect you, yours to bleſs, to guide, to inſtruct, to own, to ſanctifie, to ſave you. He will be a Friend, a Father, a Huſband, an All, and better than all to you. Let who will forſake you, your God is unchangeable, he will never forſake you; yea, when all others forſake, then will he be every way beſt to you; you ſhall never want a Friend, while you have a Friend in Heaven. But remember, you cannot be ſo His, nor He Yours, without your voluntary, hearty, unreſerved ſelf-dedication to him. He will not be yours, without your deliberate choice, and free and full conſent. If he be yours, it muſt be by Covenant, and by a Covenant of Salt, you muſt be his Covenant-Servants, and that for ever. He that putteth his hand to Gods Plough muſt not look back. Yea, you muſt be ſo his, as to be no more your own. If Chriſt be yours, he muſt be your LORD to rule and command you; his Will muſt be your Will, and his Word your Rule, and his Work your delight. O that this may help now to oblige and incourage you to offer your firſt, your beſt, your Bodies, your Souls, your all to the LORD!
2. He calls upon his Lambs. The Lambs are the Hope of the Flock, and the Joy of the Shepherd. None ſo welcome to him, as thoſe that ſeek him betimes, that devote the firſt fruits of their youth, and ſtrength, and affections to him. It was John, the youngeſt Diſciple that was the beloved one. I remember thee, the kindneſs of thy youth, the love of thine eſpouſals, Jer. 2.2. Sirs, this is the day of your Viſitation, behold now is the accepted time foreign, tempus complacentiae, & gratuitae receptionis: Behold now is the Day of Salvation. This is your ſeaſon, the day of Gods ſpecial Grace; which is true, not only of the day of the Goſpel in general, but eſpecially of the day of youth; this is the day of your greateſt advantage, on very many accounts. Now is your time to lay the Foundations of your future Eternal happineſs. If you loſe this Seaſon, you are, for ought you know, loſt for ever. If you now be before hand with the Tempter, you will the more eaſily have him under your feet as long as you live. I have written unto you young men, ſays the Apoſtle, becauſe ye are strong, and have overcome the wicked one, 1 John 2.13, 14. if you do not now overcome him, you will be worſe able to do it hereafter. As the Enemy grows ſtronger, you will find your ſelves grow weaker; yea, the more calls of God you reject in your youth, the nearer you are to that Curſe, Prov. 29.1. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, ſhall ſuddenly be deſtroyed, and that without remedy. O do not preſume on the leiſure of Old Age! how many thouſands are there that once refuſed to give God their youth, that are now ſpending their wretched old age in Hell? 'Tis as damnable a piece of Atheiſm as any, to account the dregs of our time and ſtrength good enough for God, and for our own Souls. Be not deceived; tho' there were ſome called at the ninth, and at the eleventh hour, they were only ſuch as had not been called before. Certainly 'tis a moſt dangerous, and almoſt deſperate adventure to neglect the offers of Grace that are made in the days of youth. And O what care ſhould you now take, how you lay your foundations! Youth is in this reſpect, the moſt critical part of our lives; as the foundation is that is then laid, ſuch is the ſuperſtructure like to be. O 'twill be hard plucking up old Foundations, when once they are ſetled! What is begun in Hypocriſie, is wont to end in Apoſtacy. Let not that reproachful Proverb be verifi'd in you, to the ſhame of your Profeſſion, and the eternal ruine of your own Souls, Young Saints, and old Devils. If your firſt works be not ſound as to the Principles both of Faith and Love, your end is like to be very ſad and ſhameful. My dear Lambs! are you Chriſts? how ſhould this oblige you to carry your ſelves, in all things, as becomes your relation to him? Hath he pick'd and choſen you out of the World, and ſet his love upon you, and made a difference between you, and others? O do not walk, nor talk, nor attire your ſelves then like the vain ones of the World! if the difference between you and others, as to your Spiritual Eſtates be real, let it be viſible too in your Carriage and whole Converſation. As obedient Children, not faſhioning your ſelves according to the for me luſts in your ignorance. 1 Pet. 7.14. foreign; not decking and moding your ſelves according to the humours and manners of thoſe, whoſe luſts are their rule, and whoſe exalted heads do but proclaim the folly and pride of their hearts. O let not Chriſt's lambs be the world's apes! Let the world behold your chaſt converſation coupled with fear, 1 Pet. 3.2. The 7th Commandment is violated by the unchaſtity of habit and geſture, as well as by words or actions: there is a whoriſh Attire, as well as a whoriſh eye and a whoriſh tongue, and a whoriſh heart. 'Tis not enough for Chriſt's lambs, not to be ſuch, but they muſt not be like them. Abſtain from all appearance of evil, 1 Theſ. 5.22. Hating even the garment ſpotted by the fleſh, Jud. 23. As the Menſtruous Garment was ceremonially unclean under the Law, ſo is the Meretricious Garment much more ſpiritually, or morally unclean under the Goſpel; Whoſe adorning let it not be that outward adorning of pleating the hair, and of wearing of gold, and of putting on of apparel; but let it he the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet ſpirit, which is in the ſight of God of great price, 1 Pet. 3.3, 4. I do not think that the Apoſtle doth here declaim againſt the uſe of theſe things, nor that he doth adviſe that Chriſtians, or Profeſſors ſhould have a mode or faſhion in their Apparel different from all others. Cloathing is appointed of God, not only for covering, but for decency and ornament, and for diſtinction of Sexes and Callings, and degrees amongſt men; but he forbids and condemns that immoderate care, and coſt, and carioſity that is uſed in theſe things, to the neglect of the better part, which is of infinitely higher concern: And he forbids too, their imitating and ſymbolizing with the world in the cuts and faſhions, and gallantry of their immodeſt pride and vanity; as the Lord did of old forbid his people to be like the Idolatrous Heathen, in the trimings of their heads and Beards, Levit. 19.27. Ye ſhall not round the corners of your heads; neither ſhalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Not but that this faſhion was in it ſelfindifferent, but becauſe it was the manner of the Idolatrous Nations, and particularly of the Egyptians, from whom he had now delivered them; therefore he would not ſuffer his Iſrael to be herein like them. 'Tis not ſimply the faſhion, but the height and extremity of it, wherein the pride and levity, and conſequently the ſin doth lye.
I am loth to raiſe Objections for you; but perhaps you have heard ſome that are willing to plead for this Idol, ſay, that there is evidently as great a pride in thoſe, that are at the wideſt diſtance from the Modes and Faſhions of the Times, as in thoſe that are fondeſt of them. It may be ſo; but alas, is this Argument, or Recrimination? How unreaſonable is it to think to juſtify the pride, and ſin of one extream by that of another? Or, would you ſay, That you have herein the Example of many very pious, ferious and knowing Chriſtians? I ſhall only reply thus; The more pity. But that which I doubt more of, is this; You are afraid you ſhall be cenſur'd and talk'd of; yet how poor a thing is this? let thoſe that will laugh at you now, laugh if they can at laſt, when you ſhall ſtand on the right hand, and they on the left. But he or ſhe that can't bear a flout, or a jear, or ſcorn for Chriſt, from the Fools of the World; that will not be perſwaded to part with a pin, or a rag for him, is very unworthy of him. O let not the Daughters, nor the Sons of Zion, in ſuch a day as this, wherein God hath been ſo long, and ſo many ways humbling us; when his hand is lifted up, and his Sword drawn, and bath'd in the blood of the ſlain; when he is ſo loudly calling us to Sackcloth and Aſhes, and deep humiliation, tempt him to execute the Threatnings of Iſa. 3. upon the Wantons of this Generation. Let not the Foreheads, that ſhould be mark'd with weeping and mourning, be mark'd with the provocations of divine indignation.
3. He hath charg'd us to feed his Lambs. And in obedience to his commands, and compaſſion to your ſouls, we are willing, and always ready to draw out our Breaſts to you. O how pleaſant is it to ſuckle our little ones! what a comfort is it to hear you enquiring after God, and asking us the ferious queſtions, that ſavour of a work of grace upon your hearts! How doth this endear you to us, and make us even proud of you? of whom we may ſay, as the Apoſtle of his beloved Theſſalonians, Eph. 2.19, 20. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoycing, are not even ye, in the preſence of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt at his coming? For ye are our glory, I ſay. 'Tis a comfort to us to hear you ſo readily and cheerfully anſwering our queſtions, in what you have learnt, either from your Catechiſes, or from our Sermons; but it would be a greater comfort to us to anſwer your Queſtions; either for the information and rectifying of your Judgments; the regulation of your Practice, or the ſatisfaction of your doubting Conſciences. By this we ſhould ſee how you grow and improve in the Faith, and that our Labours with, and for you, are not in vain in the Lord.
4. He hath charg'd us, as we love him' to have an eſpecial care of you. May not this aſſure you how dear you are to him? and ſhould not this both engage, and encourage you in your work? My dear Children, 'Tis our love to Chriſt, and to your ſouls, that alone is able to ſweeten our work to us. Tho we travel in birth again with you, till Chriſt be formed in you, yet never did your Mothers more willingly endure the pains of their Travel for you, nor more joyfully embrace you, from the Womb of the natural birth, than we would do from the Womb of the New-birth. As there is joy in a Family at the living birth of a Son, or of a Daughter, ſo there is joy both in Heaven above, and in the Heaven of the Church here below, at the converſion of a ſinner unto God. O let us ſhare in this heavenly joy over you, and be able to ſay, in the day of his coming; Behold, we, and the children whom the Lord hath given us. But I muſt not inſiſt here.