Solemn Advice to Young Men

Solemn Advice to Young Men.

Ecclesiastes 11:9. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know you, that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment.

In these words we have (1.) an ironical concession. Do you (says Solomon) who are a young man, live as merry as heart can wish: indulge yourself in the most vicious courses and see what will come of it, or on you for [illegible]. He had just before intimated that life in this world is but short, and then a long eternity follows. If a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be [illegible]. The longest [illegible] upon earth is here but a very short [illegible] compared with the days which his body must be in the dark grave, and if he continues walking in the way of his heart and in the sight of his eyes, his soul in a darker hell. The use which an atheist or an epicure would make of this doctrine concerning the brevity of man's life is: then let us live a short life and a merry one; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Do so (says Solomon) do so, young man, and see what you will bring yourself to at last. He does not speak in earnest, but in a holy disdain. His words are like those of the prophet to Ahab, whose heart was set upon going to fight against the Syrians hoping to come off a conqueror: Go and prosper (says he) for the Lord shall deliver your enemies into your hands — when he intended the contrary. Thus does Solomon by way of irony and derision permit young men to do that which they most willingly and commonly practice. Therefore (2.) the latter part of the words read contains a sad and serious admonition to young men. Know, young man, that for all these things — that is, for all the sins, vanities, and extravagances of your youth — God will bring you into judgment. You shall one day be brought before the tribunal of the great God, there to have your trial; and [illegible] in your sinful courses, a dismal day it will be to you. You shall be condemned and punished for all that you have done in compliance with the ways of your heart, and the sight of your eyes. So then the doctrine now before us is: that young men who continue to walk in the ways of their heart, and in the sight of their eyes, will have a sad account to give to God at the day of judgment.

The particulars contained in this doctrine may be set before us in several propositions.

Proposition 1. Men ought not to walk in the ways of their heart, and in the sight of their eyes. There is in the Scripture an express prohibition to the contrary; which is (as a learned interpreter has well and [illegible] observed) a clear demonstration that Solomon does not speak in earnest but ironically, when he bids young men walk in the ways of their heart and in the sight of their eyes. Otherwise Solomon would contradict Moses, who says: seek not after your own heart, and your own eyes, after which you use to [illegible] (Numbers 15:39). Nor are these expressions ever used in the Scripture in a good sense. The way of the heart and sight of the eyes of men is always evil. But the truth of the proposition before us is further evident.

First, in that original sin has depraved the whole man. It is a woeful leprosy whereby every member of the body, and all the powers of the soul are tainted and disordered. The heart is put for the most excellent faculties with which the souls of men are adorned. Sometimes for the mind or understanding. Now sin has defiled and depraved that power of the rational soul. The mind and conscience (which is the practical understanding, or the soul reflecting upon itself and judging of a man's own ways) — these are defiled (Titus 1:15). Therefore men are apt to judge [illegible] to be truth, and evil to be good; the light in them is darkness, and how great is that darkness? So that if they walk after the blind dictates of their own dark and deluded understanding, they may miserably perish. Sometimes the heart is put for the will and affections, which are also corrupted and perverted by Adam's fall and original sin. Hence men do naturally choose and delight in those things which the Lord abhors. Zechariah 8:17: Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against your neighbors, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, says the Lord. So then the things which God hates, the vile and carnal hearts of men love and embrace. And as the chief powers of the soul, so the most excellent members of the body are corrupted by sin. The eye is the most excellent member of the body, but it is now a very sinful member. The Scripture does therefore speak of eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin (2 Peter 2:14).

2. The natural inclinations of the hearts of men are corrupt and evil inclinations. The hearts of men are naturally averse from and indisposed to that which is good. They have neither wit nor will for a good matter. Jer. 4:22. They are sottish children, they have none understanding, they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. That which the Prophet there speaks, concerning the Jews, is no less true of all men considered as what they are by nature. Heart does answer heart, as in the water, face does answer face. The Jews spoke what was in their hearts, when they said to the Prophet, as for the word which you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, We will not hearken to you (Jeremiah 44:16). Let a good motion be presented, and the carnal heart can find an hundred excuses, evasions, and objections against it; but let an evil motion present itself, and the heart is ready to close with it immediately. Sinners are not only uninclined to that which is good, but wofully inclined to that which is evil. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11). The heart of a sinner is wickedly bent. 'Tis set for evil, no, fully set to do evil. The truth is (and a sad truth it is) there is no evil so bad, no sin so abominable, but there is a natural propensity in the unregenerate heart to close with it. Well does the Scripture say, that the heart of man (and what worse could be said of the heart of a devil) is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). 'Tis not only false, but deceitful above all things; not only a subject of sin, but wicked and desperately so. There is not an unregenerate man in the world, but if the holy God should wholly remove from him the restraints of His grace and providence, and give him up to the natural inclinations of his own heart; there is no wickedness so great, no sin so bloody, but he would soon become guilty of it. Therefore the Apostle speaking concerning what men are by nature; he says, their feet are swift to shed blood (Romans 3:15). Every man has by nature the heart of a murderer in him. Is he not subject to rash and undue anger? That's a degree of murder, and would end there, did not special or common grace prevent it. From this consideration it was that an holy man when he heard of any prodigious wickedness done by the vilest sons of Belial (suppose blasphemy, sorcery, adultery, murder) would strike upon his breast and say, In this heart of mine is that which would have caused me to have been guilty of the same evil, if the grace of God had not made a difference. Yes, such is the depravation of men's nature, as that their hearts are set upon an evil the rather and the more because God has forbidden it. The heathen could observe that there is such a perverse temper and inclination in men. They could say, Nitimur in vetitum semper, men are always desiring forbidden fruit. Truly since the sin of Adam, it has ever been so. The holy Apostle was very sensible of this; we hear him bewailing it sadly. Sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (Romans 7:8). So it was with him before his conversion, because the commandment said, you shall not do such a thing, he was the more set upon doing it. There is many an unregenerate man that would not do such and such things, did not God in His Word say, you shall not do them. I remember Austin in his Confession, mourns over the corruption of his nature in this respect. He says, that when he was an ungodly youth, he did sometimes steal apples out of his neighbours orchard, when he might take as many as he desired of the very same sort of apples in his fathers orchard, but where he might have them without sin he cared not for them, only in a place where he could not come by them without transgressing the eighth commandment; his eyes and heart were set upon the forbidden fruit. The truth is, that no inclinations besides what have sin attending them are natural to the carnal hearts of men. If there be good inclinations, they are supernatural. For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing (Romans 7:18). Since it is thus, men ought not to walk after the inclinations of their own hearts.

3. The thoughts and imaginations of the heart of a sinner are vain and vile (Job 11:12). Vain man would be wise, though man is born like a wild ass's colt. Men bring hearts into the world with them that are full of vanity. They are born foolish creatures. Therefore has the wise man said, that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child (Proverbs 22:15). A child carries a bundle up and down with him wherever he goes, and this bundle in his heart. But a bundle of what? Truly, a bundle of folly. Children can no sooner exercise their thoughts about any matter, but there are a world of foolish imaginations naturally springing up in the [illegible]. And as they grow up from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, their imaginations are vain still, yes, as vain as vanity itself; the Lord knows that it is so (Psalm 94:11). The Lord knows the thoughts of man that they are vanity. The thoughts of young men in a peculiar manner are very vain (Genesis 8:21). The imaginations of man's heart is evil from his youth. It cannot be expressed what an infinite number of vain thoughts and imaginations are in the heart of poor unconverted youth: his heart is like a mint which is always framing and coining vain imaginations. Atheistical thoughts are the foolishest that can be imagined. Yet his vain heart is full of them. He imagines that God does not observe him so as to bring him into judgment, that those he sins against he shall escape punishment. Deuteronomy 29:19: It shall come to pass if when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst; the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke against that man. Thus are sinners apt vainly to imagine that they shall have peace though they walk in the ways of [illegible] hearts, notwithstanding God has said [illegible] he will make his anger to smoke against them. Not only vain but vile thoughts are natural to the sinful hearts of men. Unclean thoughts, revengeful thoughts, bloody and blasphemous thoughts; if there were no Devil to tempt them or to cast such thoughts into their minds, their hearts would naturally of themselves produce them. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies (Matthew 15:19).

4. The eyes of men are oftentimes an occasion, and an inlet to very much sin. David was very sensible of this, and it had been well for him if he had always remembered it. The knowledge and sense of this truth in his heart, made him pray as in Psalm 119:37: Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. The eyes are the windows through which many sins creep into the heart. No sooner does a sinful eye behold any thing which is vain, but the corrupt heart is stirred up to lust after it. Holy Job made a covenant with his eyes, and he would not suffer his heart to walk after his eyes (Job 31:1, 7). But the heart of an unregenerate unholy man does walk after his eyes. He is led by sense and not by right reason, or by religion. Where sin bears rule (as [illegible] in the hearts of all that are in their [illegible] estate) sense bears rule too, and does captivate the will, affections, understanding and all, so as that which way soever the eye goes the heart walks after it. Though sin is originally in the heart, 'tis there before it is in the eye; nevertheless, the eye allures the heart, and occasions the stirrings of that corruption which is there as the fountain of sin. There are very pernicious evils which get into the heart by the eye: when once the eye lets them in, the heart is like tinder to sparks of fire presently inflamed. The eye does occasion the heart to become guilty of uncleannesses in the sight of God. Joseph's mistress cast her eyes upon him, and then her ungodly heart was inflamed with wicked desires (Genesis 39:7). When Achan saw a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold, then he coveted them (Joshua 7:21). Covetous desires after silver or gold or goods, or any thing which is another man's, are occasioned by the sight of the eyes. Hence covetousness is called the lust of the eye (1 John 2:16), because the sight of the eyes blows up covetous desires. Therefore [illegible] (and in particular young men) ought [illegible] careful not to walk after the sight of [illegible]. This notwithstanding, the second proposition before us, is,

Propos. II That young men whose natures are not changed by the regenerating grace of God, walk in the ways of their heart and in the sight of their eyes. It is true that among unconverted young men there is a great difference: all are not alike as to viciousness. There are young men that have been kept from scandalous sins all their days, who are nevertheless in their natural estate, strangers to a work of regeneration. Such a young man do we read of in the Gospel, who came to Christ desiring to know what good thing he should do that he might have eternal life: when the Lord said to him, keep the Commandments, you shall do no murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, the young man said to him, all these things have I kept from my youth up (Matthew 19:20). And yet that young man had not saving grace in his soul: he wanted that one thing necessary to salvation: he loved the world more than he loved Christ: he had not faith, and therefore could not overcome the world: he would rather part with Christ, and lose eternal life, than part with his estate when the Lord called for it. And such a young man was Paul while he was yet in his natural estate: no man could accuse him with any scandalous sin; nor could he accuse himself: he had lived honestly according to the religion in the which he had been educated: he could say to the Council, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day (Acts 23:1). And he tells the Philippians that touching the righteousness which is in the Law he was blameless. This notwithstanding, had he died in that estate he must have perished eternally. But although an unconverted person may be free from scandalous immoralities in the sight of men, yet he does indulge himself in some lust or other, some way of his own heart; some sin or other does not only at times prevail over him (as it may be with a true believer) but has a standing power and dominion over him. And there are evils which youth is in a peculiar manner subject to. Hence is that caution (2 Timothy 2:22): Flee youthful lusts, that is, those lusts which young men more than others are generally addicted to. We see this also in that expression of the Psalmist, Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way (Psalm 119:9), intimating that the ways of young men are commonly unclean, unholy ways, ways of their own heart, very impure in the sight of God who will bring them into judgment. The confessions and supplications made by holy men long after their conversion do likewise manifest this. Job bitterly complains of the [illegible] of his youth (Job 13:26). And David prays that the Lord would not remember the sins of his youth, nor his transgressions (Psalm 25:7).

The enquiry here may be, What are those ways of their own heart which unregenerate young men use to walk in?

Ans. 1. The way of pride is the way of a man's own heart. Man is naturally ever since Adam sinned a proud creature. The Devil who is made up of pride, infused that poison into Adam's heart. When once the Serpent of hell had bitten him, his heart was swollen with pride: and Adam did propagate that poison to his children: he was in the day that God created him in the likeness of God; but when once he had sinned he did not beget a son in the likeness of God, but in his own likeness and after his image, that is to say, he begat a son with a proud heart like his father (Genesis 5:3). Nor is there any unregenerate man, but he is under the dominion of that sin of pride. It may be other sins may have dominion over him. Men are serving divers lusts: but whatever lust besides there may be, pride reigns in the unregenerate soul. Hence such persons are in the Scripture called the proud (Malachi 4). There is no sin more natural than that of pride: we see it in children who discover that corruption to be in them before they can speak. And this is the sin which uses to reign in young men: if they are descended of better parents than others, they are proud of their birth and parentage: if they have good natural parts, wit and memory; or acquired parts above others, they are on these accounts lifted up with pride. The Apostle says that knowledge puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1). Where there is not grace to keep the heart humble it does so. And vain young men do often times conceit their knowledge to be much greater than it is, not being sensible of that abyss of ignorance which [illegible] in their dark minds. It is from pride that young men do not show that respect to their superiors, or to aged ones, which God commands them to do. The child will behave himself proudly against the ancient (Isaiah 3:5). Such especially whose parts and abilities are through age decayed: proud youth despises them. And hence it is that young men regard not the counsels and instructions which are administered to them (Jeremiah 22:21). I spake to you in your prosperity, but you said, I will not hear, this has been your manner from your youth, that you obey not my voice. Young men are usually impatient of advice and reproof; let the reprover have never so much authority with him, they regard it not. [illegible] gravely reprove and admonish his sons, he told them that he had been informed of their evil doings, and why do you such things? But it is noted concerning those haughty young men, that they hearkened not to the voice of their father (1 Samuel 2:25). It is from pride that young men are not willing to be under government: children will not be ruled by their parents, nor servants by their masters; and the reason is because they are ruled by the pride of their own hearts. An inordinate affectation of liberty, is the sin which reigns in youth commonly. What is said concerning the young prodigal is a description of the spirit which uses to prevail in unconverted young men. He was not willing to continue in his father's family, nor to be under his father's inspection and government, but would be gone into far countries (Luke 15:12, 13). Do we not see it just so in many young men among ourselves? Nothing will serve them, but to be going far from their father's house, that so they may without control walk in the way of their heart, and after the sight of their eyes. An humble and dutiful respect to their parents would make them think themselves happy in being near them. Again, the Scripture speaks of the pride of life (1 John 2:18). Vanity in apparel is one particular intended by that expression: for the [illegible] of life discovers itself very much in the outward garb which persons appear in. We see daily that young people are very much addicted to such vanities. They are ready to follow every proud fashion as soon as it comes into the land, and it may be regard neither God nor man that shall testify against them. Because of the bravery of their tinkling ornaments, the chains, and bracelets, and changeable suits of apparel, the daughters of Zion are haughty (Isaiah 3:16, etc.). They that walk in pride, walk in the way of their own hearts, and in the sight of their eyes. This young people too generally do.

Unruly unmortified passions are the ways of a man's own heart. As for those graces of meekness, and patience, and a forbearing forgiving spirit, they do not grow in nature's garden: they are supernatural fruits produced and planted in the heart by the holy Spirit of God: but for men to be passionate and revengeful is natural. We see it in little children who if any one cross them, will presently strike again and revenge themselves. The carnal unregenerate hearts of men esteem those holy commandments which require the mortification of passions to be severe and unreasonable. Julian the Apostate would scoff and deride the Christian religion because of those holy precepts which our Savior Christ has taught his disciples, in Matthew 5:39, 40: "Resist you not evil, but whoever shall smite you on the right cheek, [illegible] to him the other also," etc. The philosophers among the Gentiles have taught that in great injuries men ought to revenge themselves, which is directly contrary to the express word of God (Proverbs 24:29): "Say not I will do to him as he has done to me, I will render to him according to his work." Nothing is more natural for men than to say so, and to do so. "I'll be even with him," says the unregenerate heart, "I'll give him as good as he brings." They think it a disgrace for them to put up an affront, or to pass by an injury without revenge or satisfaction, notwithstanding the Lord charges them to forgive those that have done them wrong as ever they desire pardoning mercy at the hands of God. And thus it is with young men until the grace of God has made a mighty change in them: they are ruled not by the word of God, but by their own passions; when once they are provoked because they have not grace in their hearts, they cannot command their own spirits. Hence it is usual with young men in their anger to speak rashly and wickedly. There are young men so devoid of all fear of God and the judgment to come, as that in their mad wrath and rage, they will curse and swear, and wish damnation to themselves and others. Ungodly young men are apt to proceed from wrathful words to revengeful blows: in their passion they'll make bloody work of it. There were a number of young men (above twenty of them) that every one thrust his sword in his fellow's side until they fell down together (2 Samuel 2:16). Sometimes their sinful anger does degenerate into hatred and revenge: so it was with Cain and Absalom, wicked young men both of them. And Simeon and Levi were young men that in their passion and revenge did a bloody fact, concerning whom their father on his death bed said, in their anger they slew a man, cursed be their anger for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was cruel (Genesis 49:6, 7).

When men indulge themselves in sensual pleasures, they walk in the way of their own hearts. The Scripture foretells (and we see it verified) that in the latter days of the world, some will be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:4). This is that which men do naturally: they study more how to gratify their senses than how to please a holy God. Hence the Apostle describing the natural estate of the Ephesians, and so of all other men, says, they did walk after the course of this world, fulfilling the desires of the flesh. And this is that which young men are in a peculiar manner addicted to, and their souls endangered by. "Walk in the ways of your heart," that is, take your fill of those sensual pleasures which your heart is set upon: this is that which young men would have, not considering that when death and judgment comes, those will prove bitter pleasures to them. We see that young men for the most part are servants, yes, slaves to some sensual lust or other: drink and vain company is dearer to them than the salvation of their own souls. And many times there is some unclean lust or other which they live in; Elihu observed concerning the youth in former ages, that their life was among the unclean. There are many sad instances which stand upon record in the book of God concerning this. Onan, a young man but abominably unclean in the sight of God, for which wickedness the Lord slew him and sent him to hell in his youth. The sons of Eli were guilty of vile uncleanness to the great dishonor of God and of their father also; of them it is said, that the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord (1 Samuel 2:17). Amnon, a young man, was (though the son of a very holy father) a monster of uncleanness; he set his eyes on his own sister, and then did wickedly after the sight of his eyes, by which means he made himself one of the fools in Israel, and came to an unhappy and untimely death at last. Solomon says that one evening he looked out of his window, and discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding (Proverbs 7:7). And where was that young man going? To a wicked house there to debauch himself, not considering that it would cost him the life of his soul. And there are few young men in a state of unregeneracy, but there is some unclean lust or other which they do indulge themselves in: if not in the grosser acts of wickedness, yet in chambering and wantonness, which will as certainly keep their souls out of the Kingdom of God as any other sins whatever (Galatians 5:19).

Persons that live in idleness walk in the ways of their own hearts. The flesh had rather live an easy than a laborious life. Much study is a weariness of the flesh (Ecclesiastes 12:12). And so is other hard labor irksome to the flesh. But to live at heart's ease and idle is that which corrupt nature desires: and this is oftentimes the sin which youth is guilty of; and when they are so, they seldom prove famous and eminent in their generation. They receive an irrecoverable hurt and wound by the misspending of precious time in their youth, which makes them forever incapable of doing great things for God and for his people. Do we not see many spend their youthful days in little else but sports and pastimes? It was said by Abner, Let the young men arise and play (2 Samuel 2:14). That is what young men would be at; they are for their play and sports. As for lawful recreations which moderately and seasonably used are good and in some cases a duty, they too often spend more time therein than God allows of. And too many of them indulge themselves in sinful sports and pastimes; and when once they have tasted of that forbidden fruit, they are enchanted and intoxicated with it so as that they can know no bounds therein. Augustine relates concerning Alipius who was his companion and comrade when they were both young men, that he was by some [illegible] persuaded to go to behold a sword play, and he says that (though he was before a very hopeful young man) when once he had been made a spectator in that bloody sport, he was with very much ado recovered out of that snare. Thus when young men indulge themselves in any scandalous games, such as those of cards and dice (which the more sober heathen have condemned), they know no measure therein. The wrath of God gives them up to such [illegible] until they have sinned away the day of grace, and when once their souls are dropped into Hell, they would give a thousand worlds (if they had them) for those precious hours which they have lost in such vanities, never to be recovered again.

Proposition 3. Young men [as well as others] shall be brought into judgment. This is a truth necessary for young men to know and believe — know, O young man, that God will bring you into judgment: and if God will bring you into it, it is a vain thing for you to hope that you shall escape the judgment. But when will this be?

Know this: young men (as well as others) are subject to death (Job [illegible]); they die in youth. The truth is, that most of those that are born into the world die before they come to old age; where there is one that lives to old age, there are many that die before gray [illegible] are upon them. Indeed young men are commonly unwilling to die, and so to come into judgment: the terrors of death are amazing to them. I remember a young man on his death bed, who perceiving that his soul was [illegible] into the other world, cried out, I am amazed! I am amazed! Nevertheless, when God sends death, the youngest and strongest cannot stand before it. One dies in his full strength, when his breasts are full of milk and his bones moistened with marrow. That messenger death will take no bribes. You read in the Gospel of one that said to his soul, Soul take your ease, eat, drink, just as if he had no more than the soul of a swine in him: that was a man that walked in the ways of his own heart; but there is a terrible thunder clap a coming, God said to him, you fool, this night your soul shall be required of you (Luke 12:19, 20). Death comes like a bailiff, and lays an arrest on the young man, and away his soul is carried before God the judge of all. In [illegible] case especially, death often seizes young men: one is, in case their parents have sinned and provoked God. What a fearful end did Ahab and Jezebel's children come to when all their heads were cut off, and laid in bloody heaps for every body to [illegible] on; a dismal and a horrid spectacle, and this as a punishment of their parents' wickedness; with allusion to this, it was said of Jezebel, I will kill her children with death (Revelation 2:23). Again, if children do themselves prove very wicked, many times they die in youth: therefore it is said by Ecclesiastes, be not overmuch wicked, neither be you foolish, for why should you die before your time (Ecclesiastes 7:17). Many years since there was a sad occasion for me to insist on that scripture, and to show that excess in wickedness brings untimely death: we have with our eyes seen woeful examples of it. Especially if the children of godly parents exceed in wickedness, they make haste into hell. This we see in several of David's children, and in the sons of Eli: inasmuch as they had been brought up in such families, but sinned heinously against the religious education God had favored them with, while they were young men they became ripe for everlasting destruction. And most of all it is so as to such as live under the Gospel: God uses to make quick work with such sinners. That scripture relates to Gospel times (Malachi 3:5), where the Lord says, he will come near to judgment, and that he will be a swift witness against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, etc. If young men that have the Gospel shall be profane swearers, and unclean debauched wretches, the Lord will be a swift witness against them; he will not suffer them to be long out of hell. How rare is it to see a profane young man that has enjoyed the means of grace powerfully dispensed to live to old age? No; but God brings them to death, and when they are brought to death they are brought to judgment also. For judgment follows at the heels of death (Hebrews 9:27): it is appointed to men once to die, and after this the judgment. At the hour of death there is a particular judgment passed on the soul: the soul of a sinner is no sooner out of his body, but the next moment he knows most certainly where he must be, and what will become of him throughout eternal ages. Young men (as well as others) that shall die in their sins will then be judged and condemned to perpetual imprisonment: to lie in a dungeon among hellish serpents, where is blackness of darkness for ever. Then will the days of darkness which are many come upon them. It is said concerning the sinners of the old world (among whom there were many young men) that their spirits, their souls are in prison (1 Peter 3:19). Miserable souls! they have been in prison now near upon four thousand years: and prisoners they must be another thousand years until they shall be brought to their trial before all the world at the last day; and after that to a worse prison, there to abide for ever and ever. Before the dead body of a man or woman that dies in a state of sin is put into the prison of the grave, their souls are in a worse grave, in an eternal prison, in an everlasting hell of misery.

Young men (as well as others) shall be brought into judgment at the great day. This is that which is chiefly intended in the text before us. It is a truth which has been known and believed in all ages, that there will a day come, when He that made the world, will bring all the men that ever have been, are, or ever shall be, before His tribunal. The Jews have a tradition among them, that this was the controversy between Cain and Abel: it is said that Cain talked with Abel (Genesis 4:8). The Scripture mentions not what the discourse was that passed between them, only in the Hebrew there is an extraordinary pause, intimating that they had more talk than is there expressed. The Jews have it traditionally among them, that the thing which Cain said, was, that there is no other world but this, that there is no immortal soul, and that men shall not after this world is come to its end, be brought before God to judgment, but that Abel contradicted him, saying, there is an immortal soul in every man, and there will be a great day of judgment, when every man must give an account to God, of all that he has done in this life. Whether the Jews say true or no concerning such discourse between Cain and Abel, the thing itself is most certainly true: a day of judgment will come, and the beginning of it is now very near; not one man in all the world shall escape the trial of that dreadful day. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done whether it be good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10). And in particular young men who have walked in the ways of their own hearts, must hold up their guilty hands before the bar of divine justice in that day. I saw the dead small and great stand before God, and the dead were judged according to their works (Revelation 20:12). So then the small as well as the great, young ones as well as elder ones, must stand before God, they must and shall appear before Jesus Christ the Son of God, who is God and not man, and be judged either to [illegible] everlasting death, according as their way [illegible] works shall in that day [illegible]. And in the mean while [illegible] young men who walk in [illegible] hearts arrest them with sad convictions at times, that there is such a day approaching: when they have committed a great sin, suppose uncleanness or lying, or the like, sins against the light of nature, there is that in their breasts which says to each one of them, God will bring them into judgment for that sin. Where is there a young man, that can say he never at all found it so? We proceed then to a fourth proposition, which is,

Propos. IV. The day of judgment will be a sad day to those young men that shall live and die in their sins. It will be to every man either the most joyful or the most doleful day. To the righteous it will be the most happy day that ever was, but to them that have walked in the way of their hearts, and in the sight of their eyes, a bitter and a miserable day. A day of wrath: a day of perdition. That it will be a sad day to all (be they young or old) that shall be found in their sins and out of Christ, appears from several things.

1. In that they have not improved their talents committed to them as they might and ought to have done. There is no man but some talent or other is committed to him, which he ought to make a good use of. He who is the Lord of us all, has given to every man his work (Mark 13:34). One man has this work, and another man has that work, in the doing of which he must improve his talent. Young men are favoured with several peculiar talents: time is a precious talent; health, and strength, and those vigorous affections which are commonly in young men, are great talents which they must be accountable for. A day of reckoning will come. It is said in the parable concerning the talents, After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them (Matthew 25:19). It is now a long time since our Lord ascended into heaven, but He will come quickly to judge the earth, and then will reckon with His servants: He will know of them how they have lived, and what they done in the world. A servant that has been set to work, but spends his time in idleness all the day, will have a miserable account to give to his master when night cometh. A servant that has been trusted with money or goods to improve for his master's use, if he shall embezzle or mispend them can expect nothing but severity. Thus when God shall say to a young man at the day of judgment, I gave you space to repent in, I suffered you to live on the earth, twenty years, thirty years; I put many advantages into your hands, to be working out your salvation but instead of attending to my counsels, you did walk in the ways of your own heart — and what account can you give for this now? What will your judgment! What your sentence be then? God in His Word has told all unprofitable servants, what their doom shall be: Cast you the unprofitable servant into utter darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). Though a young man, if he has been an unprofitable servant, he must be cast into utter darkness, and the sad remembrance of lost opportunities never to be recovered again will cause weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When God shall bring them into judgment, all the secret sins of men will be revealed before the whole world. Foolish sinful creatures are apt to think themselves safe, if they can but hide their sins from the knowledge of men, not considering that the eye of God is upon them in all their ways. Children and young men that live in secret sins, their chief care is that the magistrates or their parents or masters may know of what they do; but at the day of judgment all will come out; and the whole world will hear of what they have done. (Ecclesiastes 12:14) God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. As the secret good deeds of pious young men that follow the Lord in secret will then be openly revealed and rewarded, the same is to be said of the secret transgressions and abominations which ungodly youths will be found guilty of at that day. Therefore the day of judgment must needs be a day of horror and confusion to them. Where is there an ungodly young man, but if all his secret sins (yes, the sins of his heart and all) should be revealed before the world, he would be ready to say as Thamar when solicited by a wicked young man to commit folly with him, Whither shall I cause my shame to go (2 Samuel 13:13). The day of judgment will be to them that die in their sins a day of the greatest shame that ever was or that can be: then will God fulfill that threatening against sinners (Jeremiah 23:40), I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten. Now they seek to cover their sins by denials, fictions, and false-hoods, but it will be in vain for them to think to do so then. Witnesses to their conviction will appear against them in that day. The Judge himself will be a witness against them: he will then say, My eyes saw what you did, and My ears heard every word that was spoken by you. (Jeremiah 29:23) They have committed villainy in Israel, they have committed adultery — even I know and am a witness, says the Lord. And angels will come in as witnesses against them. The devils who now tempt them to do wickedly will then be their accusers: yes, and holy angels whose eyes have been upon them, and whose testimony will be received, shall be witnesses against them. And so will conscience, which is more than a thousand witnesses. For the remembrance of their sins remains in their consciences for ever. (Jeremiah 17) The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: where is it written? It is graven upon the table of their heart. It has made such impressions upon conscience as cannot be gotten out. A sin which a young man commits now, he will remember it after he is dead, and at the day of judgment, and throughout the days of eternity. We see that men of a hundred years old will remember what they did fourscore years ago more perfectly than what they did but four weeks since; a clear demonstration that the immortal souls of men will never forget what was done by them while in their bodies, though never so long ago since. Therefore in the parable concerning the rich man and Lazarus, it was said to him, Remember that in your life time you received your good things (Luke 16:25). Sinners in the world to come have a perfect remembrance of all that they did while in this world: when therefore they shall be told of their secret sins, they will remember them all, and a dreadful remembrance it will be.

3. A sentence which will be exceeding terrible, and the execution thereof certain and unavoidable, will in the day of Judgment be pronounced on such as shall die in their sins. They will then suffer a sentence of banishment, never to see the face of God any more, never to come within the glorious palace of the great King, which is a sad sentence indeed, considering that in God's favor there is life, and His loving kindness is better than life itself. Woe to them (says God) when I depart from them (Hosea 9:12). This woe will come upon every sinner at the day of Judgment. Sinners must then go away from the glorious and gracious presence of God for ever: He will say to them depart. And the place which they shall be banished into will be the most dismal that can be imagined: into a place where they must never see the light of the sun; even into outer darkness, where there is nothing but a perpetual night. Psalm 49:19: They shall never see light. And in that place they must die. It was said to Shebna, that with a mighty captivity he should be carried into Babylon, and there you shall die (Isaiah 22:18). So at the day of Judgment, the Chaldeans of Hell will carry sinners with them into an everlasting captivity, and there they must die. They shall then suffer not only a sentence of banishment but of death too, and that the most dreadful that can be thought of: they shall be sentenced to be burnt to death; to be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone. The Scripture expresses the punishment of sinners in the world to come by such metaphors because it will be more intolerable than those things really and literally done would be; as one in horror of conscience looking on the fire, said, To burn in that fire is nothing to what I feel. And as certainly as the sentence shall be pronounced, execution will follow. For it is a judgment never to be reversed, a sentence never to be repealed. In this life sinners may by repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ obtain a pardon, so as that the sentence of condemnation which they are under shall not be executed upon them, but at the day of Judgment it is otherwise: for the day of grace is then at an end; there will not be one offer of grace more then: Christ the Judge that now offers to obtain a pardon from God His Father for those that will humble themselves and repent of their iniquity, will then be inexorable. No cries, no tears, no prayers, no entreaties will prevail with Him for mercy. Let sinners hear what He says and tremble: for His words are these, Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but you have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof, I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear comes; when your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish comes upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer, they shall then seek me early, but they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge, and would not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices (Proverbs 1:24, etc.). How should sinners escape in that day? They will fall into the hands of holy Angels, who are powerful and will be faithful executioners of the just and holy wrath of God (Matthew 13:41–42). Yes, they shall fall into the omnipotent hands of the eternal God. None can deliver out of his angry and almighty hands: when the eternal God shall strike you with those very hands with which He made Heaven and Earth, it is impossible for you to escape destruction.

4. The misery of sinners at the day of Judgment will be eternal. It is called eternal judgment (Hebrews 6:2), because men are then adjudged to an eternal estate either of happiness or of misery. Whoever shall be found in their sins at that day must die not only by a tormenting but an everlasting death. To be long in dying is a dismal thing. The pangs and agonies of the second death will never be over. Revelation 14:11: The smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night. The pleasures of sin will then prove dear bought pleasures indeed. It was a sad word which a man that had lived an ungodly life uttered on a death bed, I (said he) have enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a few years, and now I must be in torment for it, more than a thousand million of ages. Sin has a short pleasure attending it, but a long, an everlasting pain. It were well if young men who walk in the ways of their own heart would think of this. A man that is in great pain and misery, suppose by some tormenting disease, as by the stone, gout, cancer or the like, is comforted with thinking this will not last always; but when misery is endless as well as easeless, when there is eternity added to extremity of dolors, most woeful is the condition of such forlorn creatures. Yet all this will young men that continue to walk in the ways of their own heart bring themselves to at the day of Judgment. Hell fire is a fire that never can be quenched: the breath of the Lord which is like a stream of brimstone kindles that fire, and makes it to burn for ever.

We proceed to make some improvement of the doctrine which has been thus far insisted on. The first USE may be of INFORMATION in two or three particulars.

Hence we may assuredly conclude that God will certainly bless those young men that do not walk in the way of their own hearts. Isaac said concerning his son Jacob, I have blessed him, yes, and he shall be blessed. Thus may we say of young men whose hearts are changed and mortified to sin, self, and the world, God has blessed them, yes, and they shall be blessed. Indeed such a young man is a rare sight. The philosopher of old laid it down for a maxim, that wisdom was incompatible to youth, that a young man could not be a wise man, because wisdom requires experience and experience requires time and age. This notwithstanding, the grace of God may and it will make a young man wise. The Scripture speaks of a wise child (Ecclesiastes 4:13), and of a child that is a hundred years old (Isaiah 65:20), and of young men that have the Spirit of God poured on them (Joel 2:28). The young man that has saving grace in his soul will attend diligently to the Word of God; and whoever does so will be blessed with that wisdom, which will make him eternally happy. David was a young man when he wrote the 119th Psalm. But hear how he speaks in verse 98–99: You through your commandments, has made me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me, I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation: I understand more than the ancients, because [illegible] keep your precepts. Here now was a blessed young man. The God of Heaven takes a singular delight in young persons who truly fear and serve Him. If men see young trees in their orchards full of fruit they are pleased with it; so the Lord when He sees young plants in His Church abounding in works of piety and righteousness. When He beholds young men apart, and young women apart fasting and praying, and mourning together because of the sins of the times and places where they live; oh how exceeding dear are such young gracious souls to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ. John was the youngest of all the Apostles, scarce twenty years old as ecclesiastical writers report when he began his public ministry, and he was the disciple whom Jesus loved in a peculiar manner. They that honor God in their youth, He is wont to honor them; many times He makes them blessed instruments of much good in their generations, which is the greatest happiness that men on earth are capable of. How many instances are there in the Scripture concerning this, that so young men might be encouraged to seek and serve the Lord. Joseph a godly young man, and what a blessing was he not only to his father's family, but to a whole nation besides? Joshua was a pious young man, and the Lord magnified him in the sight of all Israel. Samuel, David, Solomon, Obadiah, Josiah, Timothy, were all of them godly in their youth, and what blessed instruments were they in their several generations, to promote the glory of God, and the good of His people? What a crown of glory shall such young men receive at the day of judgment? I write to you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:13). Ordinarily it is so, that young men are singled out to be soldiers. As for those young men that have approved themselves faithful soldiers of Jesus Christ in fighting against, and overcoming the flesh, the world, and the devil, the Lord Jesus will reward them in that day. Christ will then say to them, I know all your works, I know that when others did serve their lusts, and promote the devil's interest, you did serve God, and promote His interest in the world. Here is a crown for you: now all angels and men shall see how I have loved you.

INFOR. 2. Hence such young men as continue to walk in the ways of their heart, and in the sight of their eyes, are very foolish creatures. The Scripture calls them fools, and therefore they are so. Prov. 17:21. He that begets a fool does it to his sorrow; and the father of a fool has no joy. A profane young man is that fool, whose father has sorrow and no joy in him; one such son is enough to damp the joy which he may have in his other children, who are not such wicked fools as that son is. Such youngsters are simple ones indeed. Hear what the wisest of men says (Prov. 7:7): "I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding." Consider a little if it be not so. Fools are easily deceived, and so are young men that have not grace in their hearts; sin deceives them; the Devil deceives them; vain companions deceive them. They are easily drawn into the snares of temptation: like silly birds they hasten to the snare not knowing that it is for their life. Persons are known to be either wise or foolish by the choice which they make. One that does prefer pebbles to pearls, trifles to the richest treasure, is judged to be a fool. Thus it is with young men that walk in the ways of their own heart, especially if they do so under the light of the Gospel, like fools as they are they refuse a good offer; with the young man in the Gospel, they refuse the treasures which are in Heaven: and what do they choose instead thereof? but the vanities of this present world, no, sin which is the vilest thing that can be chosen. They that exchange things of the greatest value, for those that are worth nothing are accounted fools. What folly was that of profane Esau to sell his birthright to gratify his carnal appetite. Thus do profane young men do: they have immortal souls which are more worth than all the world, these do they exchange for sensual and brutish lusts. To part with pleasures for evermore, to enjoy those that are but for a season, is infinite folly. He that runs into the fire is either a fool or a mad man: what fools then are they, that will cast their own bodies and souls into the fire that never shall be quenched? If it should be said to a man, you shall enjoy all the pleasures which your heart can desire for a year together, on condition that after that you shall be in most inexpressible torment for an hundred years; no one but a fool or a mad man would accept of the proposal. Are not they then, the greatest fools who to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a few years will go into everlasting punishment. I remember one of the ancients speaks of a chaste woman who being solicited by a profane vile wretch to sin against God, desired him for her sake, to hold his hand in the fire but one quarter of an hour: That (said he) is an unreasonable desire, but ask any thing of me that is reasonable and I'll do it for your sake: to whom she replied, Is it unreasonable for you to hold your finger in the fire one quarter of an hour for my sake, and do you think that it is reasonable for me for your sake to consent to that, for which my body and soul must burn for ever in the fire that cannot be quenched. Therefore young men that continue to walk in the ways of their own hearts, and so bring themselves to this at last, are foolish creatures.

INFOR. 3. What a sad account will they have to give to God at the day of judgment, who have outlived their youth, and yet shall die in their sins. If a young man that has not lived thirty years dying in his sins must be eternally miserable, what must they be that have lived forty, it may be fifty years or more, and shall at last go out of the world in an unconverted estate? It is said that the sinner of an hundred years old shall be cursed (Isa. 65:20). O how cursed! O how damned will the sinner of an hundred years old be! The Scripture speaks of those that are old in adulteries (Ezek. 23:43). An old wanton, an old drunkard must needs fall under a heavy sentence in the day when God shall bring them into judgment. The longer men continue in sin, the heavier will their judgment be at last. There are mountains of guilt on their sinful souls, and therefore mountains of wrath will break upon them in the great and terrible day of the Lord. What have such sinners been doing all their lives long? They have been treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath; such a treasure as will never be spent throughout the days of eternity. What an infinite number of sins have they to answer for? And that not only as to commissions of evil, but as to omissions of duty? It will be said to many a sinner at the day of judgment, you did live without prayer in your family: and you [illegible] without prayer in secret: you did live so many thousand days without any prayer to God, and now will God pour out his fury upon you. For many years together you did despise the offers of grace in the Gospel. No thought will cut and kill the heart of a sinner at the judgment day like that. I remember I knew a man that was executed for an horrid crime; and he did to me in private confess his guilt in other capital offences which the world knew nothing of, acknowledging that God was righteous in bringing him to such a death; that poor wretch when he came to die, declared to all the spectators that nothing troubled him so much, as that of his having disregarded the many sermons which he heard preached in the name of the Lord: these were his sentiments when his immortal soul was going to appear before God the judge of all. So will it be with sinners at the last day. Suppose a man had heard but one sermon in all his life in which he was called upon to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but shall neglect so great salvation; this will make his account dreadful in that day. But what then will become of those that have heard a thousand sermons, and yet live and die in their sins? The remembrance of every neglect of Christ will be a terrible thing at the day of judgment.

USE. 2. Let young men be exhorted and persuaded to turn from the ways of their own hearts, and to walk in the ways of God.