Part 19

_Secondly_, The qualities which might attract our Saviour’s love, were such as these: He was young and sprightly, and it was probable that he had something very agreeable in his aspect: His carriage was courteous and obliging for he kneeled before our Lord, and saluted him with much civility: He had a religious education, much outward sobriety and virtue, so that he was ready to think himself a complete saint. _All these commands_, says he, _have I kept from my youth_; yet he was willing to receive further instructions, if any thing else were necessary, in order to eternal life. Add to all this, that he was rich and powerful, he was a ruler among the Jews, and had large possessions, which made his humility and other virtues appear the more amiable, because they so seldom are found in persons of an exalted station.

_Thirdly_, The remarks that were made upon a person that had so many good qualities, and yet missed of heaven, might instruct us not to disclaim any thing that is worthy and excellent, though it is mingled with much iniquity; but to pay respect and love, as our Lord Jesus did, to persons that have any thing valuable in them, though their virtues are imperfect, and fall short of saving grace. We may learn also, that God chuses not as man would chuse, nor saves all those that a wise and good man may well bestow his love upon. We are taught further, that many lovely accomplishments, joined together, are not sufficient to attain eternal life, unless we renounce this world, and follow Christ: and we are divinely warned of the danger of riches, how great a snare they sometimes prove to persons of a hopeful character.

_Fourthly_, We proceed now to the last thing proposed, and that is, to make an address to three sorts of persons, taking the occasion from the character in my text.

I. Those who have any thing lovely or excellent in them, but through the power of a carnal mind, are kept at a distance from God, and have no title to heaven; such are beloved of men, but not beloved of God.—II. Those who are weaned in some good measure from this world, and have treasures in heaven, but are defective in those qualities that might render them amiable on earth; such are beloved of God, but not of men.—III. Those that are furnished with every good quality, and every grace, that are the objects of the special love of God, and almost every man loves them too.

I. Let me address myself to those who have any thing lovely or excellent in them, but, through the power of a carnal mind, are kept at a distance from God, and have no title to heaven. Such was the young man in the gospel; and according to the several good qualities that he possessed, I shall divide my exhortation to several persons.

1. To such as are endowed with any natural excellencies of body or mind. Youth and beauty, strength and health, wit and reason, judgment, memory, or sweet disposition; all these are the gifts of God in the world of nature, and render persons so far amiable as they are possessed of them. You that flourish in the vigour and glory of youth, and yet have no saving acquaintance with God in Christ, no right to eternal life; while I behold you, I mourn over you with much compassion. What pity it is that the flower of your age should be employed only to sooth your vanity! to adorn your guilty passions, and to dress up the scenes of sin! That flower will wither in old age, and it leaves no perfume behind, but what arises from virtue and goodness: or, perhaps, you will give it up to untimely decay: by indulgence of irregular pleasures, you devote it to be blasted by the breath of Satan, and in the smoke of hell. But is it not a pity, that a strong and healthy constitution should be wasted in slavery to your appetites, and in making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it? Why should not the powers of nature, in their first bloom and glory, adorn the kingdom of grace? Why should not our sprightly days, and the warmest hours of life, be employed in some useful activity for the interest of God! What a decency and honour is added to religion, by its fairest and youngest votaries! With what peculiar praises does the word of God recommend the character of youthful piety? How is the young king Josiah celebrated in the sacred records? that _while he was yet young he began to seek after the God of David his Father, &c._ 2 Chron. xxiv. 3. How is Timothy commended, _who had known the holy scriptures from his very childhood_: 2 Tim. iii. 15. And there are some young in years, to whom the apostle John might address himself with the same pleasure as he does to the christian converts, whom he calls young men, strong in grace, who had the love of God abiding in them, and had overcome the wicked one; 1 John ii. 14. And he gives them in the next verse a most needful and friendly caution against the _love of the world, and the things of it_, lest they shut the love of the Father out of their hearts. What an abuse and waste of life are ye guilty of, when ye lay out the brightest moments of it upon the works of darkness? and treasure up to yourselves everlasting darkness and fire!

I pity the young, the vigorous, the comely figures of human nature, that neglect to seek after divine grace, that are ruined and made wretched to all eternity, by their excessive love of the pleasures, or the pomp, or the riches of this vain world. A thousand such sinners that were once the hope of their families, and the lovely ornaments of the place they lived in, are now cursing the day of their birth, and raging with despair in the midst of the wrath of God.

Let me speak a word to those also that have rich endowments of mind. Where we behold a sprightly genius, solid reason, and deep judgment, we cannot forbear loving the possessors of them: We cannot forbear to say, “It is a pity that so much wit should be abused to ridicule religion, and do honour to foul iniquity; that it should be enslaved to all the arts of lewdness, and dress up the shame of nature in the charms of language.” Or if it be not debased to so exceeding vile purposes, yet at best, it is a pity it should be all employed in jesting and trifling, in mirth and raillery, and vain amusement. Might it not have been laid out infinitely better, to allure sinners to the love of God, to adorn the truths of our holy profession, and give credit to the gospel of Christ, even in the eyes of the witty and profane?

I pity the man of lively imagination without sanctifying grace. What a lovely wilderness of blooming weeds! fair indeed in various colours, but useless and unsavoury, and it must be burnt up with unquenchable fire. You are the persons whose happy talents give a relish to the common comforts of life; you diffuse joy and pleasure through all the company, and enliven the dullest hours; your presence is coveted by all men, and you are beloved of all: But how dismal is your state, if you neglect holiness and are not beloved of God! Can you imagine that your gay fancy will brighten the gloom of hell? or give airs to yourselves or your companions, in those hideous regions of sorrow? It is a most melancholy reflection to consider, that persons of your accomplishments should increase the number of the damned; and there is no sport or amusement admitted there, to divert the anguish of the tortured mind, or to relieve that heavy and everlasting heart-ache.

I pity the man of strong reason and great sagacity of judgment, that hath traced nature in her most secret recesses; that has sounded the depths of the sea, and measured the heavens; but has spent no time in searching the deep things of God, and lets the mysteries of religion lie unregarded as obscure and useless things. He has never sounded the depth of his own misery and guilt, as he is a son of Adam: Nor is he acquainted with the way of climbing to heaven by the cross of the Son of God. Reason is a faculty of supreme excellence among the gifts of nature, and it is dreadful to think that it should ever be engaged in opposition to divine grace. How great and wretched are the men of reason, who strain the nerves of their soul to overturn the doctrine of Christ! who labour with all their intellectual powers to shake the foundations of the gospel, to diminish the authority of the scriptures, and to unsettle the hope of feeble christians!

There are others who employ the best powers of the soul in pursuing the interests of this life; they are wise in contriving to gratify their appetites, to fill their coffers, and to heap up to themselves wealth and honours; and wise to secure all these to their posterity after death: _They call their lands by their own names_, and perpetuate their memory to the latest generation, but make no provision for their own souls: they are wise to set in order their houses in the day of their health, and all things prepared for their dying hour, besides the concerns of their own eternity; these are delayed from day to day, and left at the utmost hazard; and still they think the next month, or the next year, it is time enough to prepare for heaven, when perhaps a summons is sent suddenly from on high; _Thou fool this night is thy soul required of thee_; Luke xii. 20. What confusion and fear, what hurry and distress of spirit will seize you in that hour? You that have laid out all your wisdom upon the little businesses of this life, and trifled with affairs of everlasting importance; you must go down to the chambers of death in surprize and anguish; you must leave all the fruits of your wisdom behind you, and be branded for eternal fools.

I pity those who are blest with a large memory, and would plead with you this day for the sake of your souls. The memory, it is a noble repository of the mind, it is made to receive divine truths, to be stored with the ideas of God and his grace, with the glories of Christ and heaven; it is given us to furnish and supply the heart and tongue upon all occasions, for worship, for conference, and for holy joy. What pity it is so wondrous a capacity should be crowded with vile images, with wanton scenes, with profane jests, and idle stories! Or, at best, it is filled with gold and silver, and merchandize; with lands and houses, ships and insurances; it is all inscribed with stocks, annuities, and purchases, and turned into a mere book of accounts, a trading shop, or an everlasting exchange: Night and day, the buyers and sellers are passing through this temple, which should be consecrated to God; and there is no room left for the thoughts of heaven there. Shall these busy swarms of cares and vanities for ever fill up so large a chamber of the soul? Shall impertinencies be for ever thrust into this treasury? such as will stand you in no stead, when you are dismissed from the body, but shall vanish all at once in that hour, and shall leave your spirits poor and naked; or if they follow you to the world of spirits, it will be but as so much fuel gathered for your future burning.

Think a little with yourselves, ye possessors of these rich endowments of the mind when you have been honoured here on earth, can you bear to be doomed to eternal shame and punishment in hell? Shall this wit and this reason be there employed to express your hatred against God, and to forge perpetual blasphemies against the Majesty of heaven? are you willing to be joined to the society of devils, and be engaged in their abominable work? Shall this sprightly fancy, this subtle reason, this large memory, serve for no purpose, but to aggravate your guilt, and your damnation? Shall these fine talents sharpen your misery, and give edge to the keenest reflections of conscience: conscience, that inward sting of the mind; conscience, that immortal tormentor? Yet this must be the certain portion of those who spend their life, and lie down in death, with these talents unsanctified: for the anguish and torture of sinful souls, must rise, and grow for ever, in proportion to the glory of their abused endowments.

Though, perhaps I have been tedious already under this head, yet before I part with it, I must address myself to those who are born with a sweet disposition, that seem to be cast in a softer mould than the rest of men. I love and pity those of my acquaintance who are blessed with so divine a temper; who have tenderness and good-will in their very form and aspect, and I mourn to think that any of these should perish for ever. You are the favourites of all men, and beloved by all who enjoy the pleasure of your acquaintance; do ye not long to be the favourites of God too! You seem to be made for the delight and comfort of mankind: but shall this be all your portion? Good-humour is the composition of your nature, _and the law of kindness is on your lips! when the ear hears_ you, _then it blesses you; and when the eye sees_ you, _it gives witness to you_. But is this enough to depend upon for eternal life? Perhaps you have borrowed part of the valuable qualities of that good man Job, _you have delivered the poor that cry, and the fatherless that had none to help him_; you _have caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy, and the blessing of him that was ready to perish, has come often upon you_; Job xxix. 11, 12, 13. There is so much natural goodness in your constitution, that leads you on, by a sweet instinct, to the practice of many charities: but this is not saving grace. If Jesus Christ himself were upon earth in this humbled state, he would look upon you as man, and love you; but the Holy God looks down from heaven, and beholds you as the object of his just and divine hatred, while you live in a state of vanity and sin, drunken with sensual pleasures, and at enmity with God.

This sweetness of temper, that springs from your blood, and the happy mixture of humours; or, at best, from the mere natural frame of your spirits, will never pass, upon the great tribunal, for holiness and inward religion. With all this charming appearance of virtues, these colours that look like heaven, you will be doomed to hell and perpetual misery, unless there be found in you some nobler qualities, such as love to God, mortification to this world, the knowledge and faith of Jesus Christ. If these be not the springs of your charity and love to men, you will not be secured from the condemning sentence of the Judge, nor from the company of devils in the future world.

But, oh! how will your soft and gentle natures bear the insult and rage of those malicious spirits? How will your temper, that had something so lovely in it, sustain to be banished for ever from the world of love? to be for ever excluded from all the regions of peace and concord? How will your souls endure the madness and contention, the envy and spite of wicked angels? You that delighted on earth in the works of peace, what will ye do when your tender dispositions shall be hourly ruffled by the uproar and confusion of those dark regions? and instead of the society of God and blessed spirits, ye shall be eternally vexed with the perverse tempers of your fellow sinners, the sons of darkness? O that I could speak in melting language, or in the language of effectual terror, that I might by any means awaken your souls to jealousy and timely fear! That so many natural excellencies, as God has distributed amongst you, might not be wasted in sin, abused to dishonour, and aggravate your everlasting misery.

[This sermon may be divided here.]

2. My next exhortation shall be addressed to those youths who have been trained up in all the arts of civility, and have acquired a courteous and becoming carriage. There is something lovely in such an appearance, and it commands the love even of the rude and uncivil. It so nearly resembles the sweetness of natural temper, and imitates good humour so much to the life, that it often passes upon company instead of nature, and attains many valuable ends in human society. But where both these are happily joined, how shining is that character, and universally beloved? We are pleased and charmed with your conversation, whose manners are polished, and whose language is refined from the rude and vulgar ways of speech. You know how to speak civil things, without flattery, upon all occasions; to instruct, without assuming a superior air, and to reprove without a frown, or forbidding countenance. You have learned when to speak and when to be silent, and to perform every act of life with its proper graces; and can ye be content with all this good breeding to be thrust down to hell? Is it not pity that you should be taught to pay all your honours to men, and practise none to the living God? Have you not read those duties in connexion; 1 Pet. ii. 17. _Honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honour the king._ And why will you divide what God has joined, and give every one their due, besides God your Maker? how dare you treat the creatures with decency and ceremony, and treat God the Creator with neglect; salute all men with their proper titles of distinction, and not learn how to address God in prayer? pay due visits to all your acquaintance, and yet scarce ever make a visit to the mercy-seat, or bow your knees before the Majesty of Heaven.

I pity those who have all the arts of complaisance in perfection, and practise civility in every form; but are very little acquainted with the forms of godliness, and never yet felt any thing of the life of religion, or the powers of the world to come. How mournful a sight is it to behold a well-accomplished gentleman, yet a vile sinner! A pretty obliging youth among men, but deaf and obstinate to all the calls of God, and the intreaties of a dying Saviour! A person of a free and ingenuous deportment, yet in chains of slavery to corruption and death! and how unspeakably sorrowful will it be at the last day, to see such as these, the gay, the affable, the fair-spoken, and the well-bred sinner, in the utmost agonies of horror and despair, mourning a lost God, a lost soul, and a lost heaven!

Let me speak once more and try to provoke you to jealousy. Shall the rugged and clownish part of mankind press forward into that kingdom which ye despise? Will ye be patient to see some of the unbred and unpolished set at the right hand of the Judge, and yourselves with shame, be divided to the left? How will ye endure to see the honours of heaven put upon those whom you have so often despised in your hearts upon earth? Can you imagine that that tribunal will be bribed with fair speeches? or that any thing will be accepted in that court, besides solid and hearty religion? Suffer this exhortation then, and then receive this advice, you that are not used to deny any thing to your friends, you that love to oblige those who ask any reasonable favour at your hands; nor let me plead this day in vain.

3. To those that have enjoyed the blessing of religious parents, and a pious education; that have been bred up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, in the knowledge and practice of the moral law, and in the outward performance of religion, according to the appointments of the gospel. Children, we love you for your fathers’ sakes: we love to look upon you, for you are the little living images of our dearest friends: we have loved to ask you the younger questions that your parents have taught you, and to see the first-fruits of their instruction and holy care; but we pity you, from our very souls, when we behold you break the bars of your education, and making haste to ruin: or when, at best, ye go on and tread the circle of outward duties; as ye are led by custom and form, with a neglect of inward christianity, and hearty godliness.

Did your parents love God above all earthly things, and will ye prefer the love of this world above all things heavenly and divine? Have ye had such shining examples of holiness brought so near you to no purpose? Do they pray for you daily? Do they daily mourn over you, and hope, and wish, and exhort you to take care of your souls? And are you resolved that their counsels, their prayers, and their tears, shall be laid out upon you in vain? Is this the return you make for all their care and compassion? They tell you daily that they can have _no greater joy than to see their children walking in the truth_, and will you cruelly disappoint their pleasures, and bring down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave? Perhaps there are some of you, who already have parted with your parents, and their spirits are at rest; and has neither their life, nor their death, made serious and lasting impressions upon you; have they entreated you in their last dying moments, by all that is dear and sacred, to make sure of heaven? And will you abandon these entreaties, and sell your souls to the world, and to death, for a few perishing temptations? Have they laid a solemn charge upon you at their last farewell, to travel in the paths of piety, and meet them on mount Sion in the great day? and have you wandered already from this high road of holiness, and forgot the solemnity and the charge? Shall your parents dwell for ever with their God, and shall their children for ever dwell in fire prepared for the devil and his angels?

You cannot sin at so easy and so cheap a rate as others. You must break through stronger bonds, and do bolder violence to your consciences, before you can indulge iniquity, and pursue wickedness. Your temptations to sin have been less than others, and your advantages for salvation have been much greater. Our hearts bleed within us, to think of your double guilt, and your aggravated damnation: to think that you should not only be separated from your parents, and their God, for ever, but that your place of torment shall be the hottest also, amongst all your companions in misery.