Words of Advice to Young Men, Sermon 2 · Section
1. Young men labour to be strong.
| And here I shall shew | 1. In what | ye should be strong. |
| 2. To what | ||
| 3. In whom |
(1.) In what ye should be strong. In generall, labour to be strong in Grace: Read the Exhortation of the Apostle unto his Son Timothy, 2 Tim. 2. 1. Thou therefore my Son be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. Labour whilest you are young to get grace; above all gettings to gain this riches which is of far more value than all earthly treasures; some of you are of one trade, and some of another, and you endeavour to get an Estate hereby; let me advise you all to trade for grace, which will be an Estate it self during your abode here, and will be the earnest to you of an Inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter: Labour to get grace in the truth of it; take heed that you be not mistaken, and deceive your selves with dross and brass in stead of true gold, I mean with counterfeit instead of true grace: And labour to get grace in the strength ofit; Grace is strong in it self; it can do more than all the wisdom and learning in the world; let it be strong in you; the Fountain is in Christ, let the Stream be in you; in him is the Ocean, labour that as full and strong tides as may be, may flow from him into your hearts. Let the habits of Grace be deeply and strongly rooted in you, and live in the powerfull exercise of those habits.
| Particularly labour for strength | 1. Of Faith. |
| 2. Of Love. | |
| 3. Of Desire. | |
| 4. Of Hope. | |
| 5. Of Joy. |
1. Young men, labour for strength of Faith: some of you have strong bodies, others have strong memories, others have strong fancies; labour all of you to get a strong faith. Faith is an excellent grace, it is more precious than gold, 1 Pet. 1. 7. labour to get faith, and a strong faith. Abraham was strong in faith, and hereby he brought glory to God, Rom. 4. 20. shew your selves to be children of faithfull Abraham, by getting such a faith as he had for kinde, and such a faith as he had for measure; this will be for Gods glory and for your honour. Let your faith have a strong bottom, a firm and sure footing; build it not upon the sand, or earth, much less upon the waters, but build it upon the Rock, upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Rock of Ages; build it upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone; build it upon the Word of God in the Scriptures, and build it upon Christ who is held forth in the Word. Let your faith have a strong bottom, and let your faith put forth it self in strong actings; let your assent be strong unto divine Truths; and let your recumbance be strong upon Christ and the Promises of the Gospel. Get a strong eye of Faith to discern those spiritual objects which cannot be seen with the eye of sense, to look upward to God, and the glory which is about his Throne, to look downward to Hell, and the torments which the damned do there endure for sin, to look forward to the coming of Christ, and the general Judgement of the World at his appearance; and get a strong hand of faith to lay fast hold on Christ, to apply his righteousness for the remission of sin, and to receive his Spirit for the cleansing you from filthiness, and perfecting holiness which is begun in you. Let your trust and confidence be strong in God through his Son: Young men are apt to be too credulous, too ready to believe and put confidence in men, when the Scripture telleth us, that all men are Lyars, if not actually so, yet they may be so, and the most are so; young ones before they have tryed the world are apt to trust in men, old ones that are more experienced, are more cautious; but you cannot put too much confidence in God; he cannot lye, he never deceived any, he never will fail them that put their trust in him. Some trust in Chariots, and some in Horses, but let your trust be in the Lord; some trust in Princes and great persons, others in Hosts and strong Forces, most in arms of flesh, which are weak, and cannot give that help as is expected; but let your confidence be in the Name of the Lord, who is a shield and buckler, and present help to his people in the time of trouble; whose Name is a strong. Tower into which the righteous may flye and be safe, in times of the greatest danger, Prov. 10. 18. Be strong in Faith, according to the strength of this grace, all your other graces will receive strength, Faith being the Nurse of them all.
2. Young men, labour for strong Love. In the time of youth affections do spring, and they put forth themselves with more strength and vigour than in the cold winter of Old age: Dear Youths, endeavour that your affections may be directed to the right objects, that you may not defile your affections with fin, nor debase your affections with the world; that you may not by misplacing your Love, lose your Love, and with the loss of your Love, lose your Souls and your happiness. You may love, and that with the greatest strength you have a capacity for, and it is your duty to be strong in Love, but then let it be carryed forth in this order,
1. To God,
2. To one another.
1. Be strong in love to God; your hearts now will settle upon something; they will work some way; if they do not work upward, they will work downward; if they be not placed upon God, they will be placed upon the Creature. You have now many suitors for your love; all the sensitive alluring objects which are about you would entice and ravish your hearts; but these things if they seem fair, will wither and prove deceitfull, they are unworthy of your love. Give me leave to be a suitor for your love; let me beg your Love for God and his dear Son. This is the first and great Commandement, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your minde, Matth. 22. 37, 38. God commandeth you to love him, it is your duty; God alloweth you to love him, it is your priviledge; God doth chiefly require your love; My Son, give me thy heart. If you give any thing, every thing you have besides, and keep back your heart, it will not be accepted: And God doth best deserve your love; he is the most suitable object for your love; other objects will debase your love, God will ennoble and dignifie your love: you cannot bestow your love better; none so amiable as God, especially as he represents himself in his Son: If you look for greatness, he is the most great and glorious Majesty of Heaven and Earth: If you look for power, he is Omnipotent, hath done, and can do whatever he pleaseth: If wisdom hath a beauty in it in your esteem, his understanding and wisdom is infinite: If truth, faithfulness, mercy, goodness be amiable in your eyes, he is truth it self, and cannot lye; he is full of mercy and kindness, he hath most tender bowels, he hath riches and treasures of grace and goodness: If love be an attractive of love, his love is beyond comparison, beyond conception; there is a heighth in his love which cannot be reached; a depth in his love which cannot be fathomed; a breadth and length in his love, which cannot be comprehended; his love is first, without any beginning; his love is free, without our deserving; his love is constant, without any changing; his love is eternal, without any ending: He is most lovely, this should draw forth your love much; he is most loving, this should draw forth your love more; he is love it self, 1 J…h. 4. 8. God is love, not only hath love, but is love; he is all beauty and sweetness, all goodness and kindness, all bowels and love, O what an incentive should this be to your love! whither are your hearts wandring? O gather in all your scattcred affections, and fix them upon this most beautiful object! place your love upon God now, before it be too far engaged to something else, from whence it may be very difficult to withdraw; love him with all your heart; love him truly, and love him strongly; love him sincerely, and love him servently; love him supreamly, and love him constantly; let the fire of your love ascend to him, as to its sphere; let the stream of your love run to him, and lose it self in the Ocean of his goodness, where alone it can finde suitableness and satisfaction; here you may bathe your selves without fear of drowning; here you may expatiate without fear of exceeding; here you can never transgress the bounds of love; love him strongly whom you can never love too strongly. Be strong in love one to another; you may love one another, and you ought to love one another; love is the summ of the Law, the first Table is fulfilled in love to God; the second Table is fulfilled in love to your neighbour. See how the Apostle expresseth it, Kom. 13. 8, 9, 10. Owe na man any thing, but to love one another; for be that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steal: Thou shalt not bear false witness: And if there be any other Commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law. There is a common love which you should bear to all, even to the wicked and your enemies, which should not only with-hold you from offering any injury unto them, or rendring evil for evil; but also should put you upon doing good offices for them in reference to their reputation, estate, relations, bodies, as the Lord doth put opportunities into your hands, and they stand in need of your help: You should be pitiful towards the worst in their distress; if your enemy hunger, you should feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: You should bless them that curse and revile you; do good unto them that hate you; pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you: You should be loving and courteous in your converse and behaviour towards all men; you should grieve at their afflictions, rejoyce in their good, and be glad of occasions wherein you may sh…w a real affection to them you have acquaintance with; chiefly you should express your love to their souls in your prayers, friendly admonitions, hearty counsels; you should endeavor to awaken them, whom you see sleeping on the brink of the bottomless pit; to reduce them that are hastening in the broad way of sin towards their own destruction; you should use arguments with them to leave their sins, and to close with Jesus Christ; especially if any of your relations and …eer friends in whom you have interest, be in a state of nature, you should use all possible endeavours to perswade them to draw in the easie yoke of Christ with your selves: Thus you must love all strongly: …ut you must love them that bear the Image of God …pon them, that love and fear the Lord most strong…y: Your love to the Brethren must be unfeigued, …are and fervent, as the Apostle directs, 1 Pet. 1. 22. This will be an evidence to you that you are D…sciples …f Christ, Joh. 13. 35. By this shall all men know, much …ore may yourselves know, that ye are my Disciples, …ye love one another. This will be an evidence that ye are passed from death to life, 1 John 3. 14. We know that we are passed from death to life, because we love the Brethren. This will be an evidence that ye are born of God, and have a true knowledge of him, 1 Joh. 4. 7, 8. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God; he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. You should mingle your converse with Gods people, with hearty and fervent love, which will be pleasing to God, sweet to your own spirit, and advantagious to them you converse withall: You should be made up of love and kindness; pass by injuries, bear reproaches, cover infirmities, sympathize with sorrows, relieve necessities, joy in the good of others as if your own, and be ready to do good to all, especially to them who are of the houshold of faith. This is the second grace you should abound in, namely, the grace of Love.
3. Young men, labour for strong desires; not after riches, and honours, and pleasures, and friends, though these things in their place, and order, and measure, may be desired; but if they be desired chiefly, if they be desired too strongly, the fruit will be, not the looked for good and satisfaction, but disappoint and vexation to your selves, besides the displeasing of God hereby: But let your desires follow your love; let them be carried forth chiefly, and most strongly towards God, and the things which concern his Kingdom and Glory, your own peace and salvation. Because you lie under the guilt and power of sin without a Christ, labour in the first place af…er strong, earn…st, thirsting desires after Jesus Christ and his Righteousness, that you may have your sins pardoned, and hearts renewed: Cry out, None but Christ, none but Christ; give us a Saviour, or else we are lost; give us Christ, or else we die and perish eternally: Let your strong wishes be, O that we had an interest in Christ! O that our hearts were united and joyned to Christ! O for a drop of his blood to sprinkle our consciences! O that he would undertake for us! that he would be our Advocate to plead for us, and reconcile us unto the Father! Let your prayers be, Lord, thou hast given thy Son for us, give thy Son to us; thou holdest forth thy Son, help us to lay hold on him; thou callest us to thy Son by thy Word, draw us to thy Son by thy Spirit; thou hast put thy Son to death for sin, and accepted of the sacrifice which he hath offered, O that our sins might be forgiven upon his account! Let your desires go forth strongly after the favour of God; there are many that say, Who will shew us any good! Lord, shew us thy face! Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us! Desire earnestly with David, the presence and communion with God in his Ordinances, as Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the daies of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, &c. And Psal. 42. 1, 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee O God; my soul thirsteth for God, for the Living God, when shall I come and appear before God! Many young men have earnest desires after the company of their friends, that are of pleasant conversation; let your desires be carried forth most earnestly after the company and communion with God in his Ordinances, wherein the chiefest pleasure is to be found: Therefore prize and desire Ordinances for the sake of God; because they are the means of bringing you and God together; of joyning your hearts unto the chief good; and if you desire the company of men, let it be the company of Gods Children, who are the excellent of the Earth. Labour for strong desires after the Image of God, that you may be holy as he is holy; after conformity to Christ, in his death by dying to sin, and readiness to suffer for his sake; in his Resurrection, by your newness of life: Let your d… sires be strong after the Spirit, that he might be given to you, and abide in you; desire every grace of the Spirit in the highest measure, and content not your selves with any degree; desire the comforts of the Spirit, the joyes of the Holy Ghost; desire strength for every duty, that you might be made use of to glorifie God in your generation; that you might be kept from sin, rather than from any evil; that you might be made victorious over all your spiritual enemies; especially let your desires be carried forth with the greatest strength after the Crown of glory, the undefiled and never-fading inheritance in Heav…n, after the beatifical Vision, and full fruition of God in the New Jerusalem; the perfection of holiness and happiness which is reserved for hereafter; the fulness and eternity of joy in Gods glorious presence; and desire the hastening of Christs second appearance, that he would come quickly and put you into the possession of that Inheritance which he hath purchased and prepared for you.
4. Young men, labour for strong Hope. Young men usually are big with hope and expectation of some great things in the world; they hope for such an …state, and then that they shall be content; such de…ights and sensual enjoyments, and then they shall be …appy, and satisfied; but they that are elder, and have …ad greatest experience, finde the world, and all …hings in it, to be empty and vain, and their hopes …ave been frustrated: however, being unacquainted …ith higher things, their hearts are still most irra…ionally set upon the world; but I would exhort …ou young men to have higher hopes than world…ings, and let your hopes be strong. Do not hope for …ch in the creature, it hath not what you hope for, …ut let your hope be in God, let your expectation be …rom him only: Do not hope for much here below; …his is not the place of your rest and happiness; but …et your great hopes be of things above; as your …esires should be strong after them, so your hopes …hould be strong of them. Hypocrites have some …ind of hopes, but they are thin weak hopes; like …he Spiders web, Job 8. 14. which is easily torn in …ieces by the wind; the wind of affliction doth rend …he hopes of Hypocrites from them; they have hopes, …ut such as quickly perish and are cut off, Job 13. 14. They are like the giving up the Ghost, Job 11. 20. When they give up the Ghost, their hopes give up …he Ghost; they and their hopes perish together, be…ause they are groundless and presumptuous. Labour …herefore for a strong hope; such a hope as is well grounded, which will end in fruition, and never in disappointment, and make ashamed. Let the object of your hopes be God, and the things which are above; and let the bottom, the foundation of your …opes, be those two immutable things the Apostle …peaketh of, Heb. 8. 17, 18, 19, 20. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of Promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oatb; that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; which hope we have, as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entreth into that within the Vail, whither the fore-runner is for us entred. The two immutable things which are the foundation of our hope, are Gods Promise, and Gods Oath; his Promise, This is the Promise which he hath promised, even eternal life, Job. 2. 25. His Oath which he sware by himself to Abraham, and in him to all his children: Surely blessing, I will bless thee, Heb. 6. 13, 14. which doth include eternal blessedness. God who cannot lye giveth his Promise and his Oath: God who can do whatever he will, and will do whatever he hath promised; here is a good ground for your hope to build upon; let your hope be strong, let it be a strong anchor to your soul, sure and stedfast; and that it may be so, it must not be cast downwards, like those of ships, which are cast to the bottom of the waters; but they must be cast upwards into Heaven, into that within the Vail, whither the Lord Jesus Christ the fore-runner is for us entred to prepare Mansions for us. Let your hope of Heaven be strong and lively.
5. Young men, labour for strong Joy; if your hopes be strong, and well grounded, you may thence have strong consolation, Heb. 6. 18, That which discourageth many young men and women from putting their feet into the waies of God, is the apprehensions which they have, that should they engage in this way, they must bid farewell to all mirth and chearfulness, to all delights and pleasures, and make tears and sorrows their companions, which they are loth to do at least too soon, whatever necessity they see there is of being religious: Whereas, although grief and sorrow be needful to sinners at their first engagement in the waies of God, to imbitter sin, and prepare them for the more ready closure with Jesus Christ; and a mixture of sorrow is needful after, because of the mixture of sin in their lives, and the better to ballance and temper the spirit; yet the Lord doth call his people to higher delights and pleasures in his waies, than can be found in the waies of sin. God doth not require that his people should lay aside all delights, but change their sinful delights for those that are spiritual and heavenly: God giveth them leave to rejoyce, and he commandeth them to rejoyce; not in waies of sin, he forbiddeth the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season; not excessively in the creature (though moderately and subordinately they may) but they may and ought to rejoyce in himself. Read what Solomon saith to young men, Eccles. 11. 9. Rej…yce O young man in thy youth, and let thine heart cheer thee in the daies of thy youth, and walk in the waies of thine heart; and in the sight of thine eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement. Young men, you may rejoyce and be cheerful in your youthful daies, but if your joyes be in the waies of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; if your joyes be in the waies of sin, in the lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, if it be in satisfying the desires of your flesh, and pleasing your senses unto the dishonour and displeasing of God; know, that God will bring you into judgement, and then all your sinful, sensual delights wil be turned into bitterness and terrour; but you may be cheerful in the waies of God; and if you are reconciled unto God through his Son, and have an interest in his favour; if you are renewed after his Image, and have a Title to his Kingdom; you have reason to rejoyce more than any wicked persons in their greatest outward prosperity. Shall the slaves of Satan rejoyce, and have not the children of God more grounds? Shall the wicked rejoyce that are dancing upon the brink of Hell, and are ready every moment to tumble into the burning lake? and should not you rejoyce that are come to the borders of the heavenly Canaan, and live in hopes of the glory of the New Jerusalem? Rejoyce in the Lord continually, Phil. 4. 4. Rejoyce in the Lord alwaies, and again I say rejoyce. And rejoyce in the Lord greatly: Strong joy will be your strength, it will be a means to quicken all your affections towards God, and make you shine brightly in the sphere where the Lord hath placed you.
Thus I have shewed in what you should be strong.