tempered, declining, dying body; his heart was in heaven, and his foot in the grave: and yet youth is such a slippery age, that Paul commands him to flee, to post from youthful lusts. Though Timothy was a good man, a weak, sickly man, a marvellous temperate man, drinking water rather than wine, yet he was but a man, yea, a young man; and therefore Paul's counsel and command is, that he "flee youthful lusts." And Solomon, who had sadly experienced the slipperiness of youth, gives this counsel, "Put away the evil of thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity," Eccl. xi. 10. He was a young man that followed the harlot to her house; he was young in years and young in knowledge. Salazer, upon the words, saith, "That was an happy age that afforded but one simple young man among many; whereas late times afford greater store." Ah, too many of the youths of this age, instead of flying from youthful lusts, post and pursue after youthful lusts. Chrysostom, speaking of youth, saith it is "difficilem, jactabilem, fallibilem, vehementissimisque egentem frænis," "hard to be ruled, easy to be drawn away, apt to be deceived, and standing in need of very violent reins."

The ancients did picture Youth like a young man naked, with a veil over his face, his right hand bound behind him, his left hand loose; and Time behind him, pulling one thread out of his veil every day; intimating that young men are void of know

ledge and blind, unfit to do good, ready to do evil, till time, by little and little, makes them wiser. Well, young man, remember this, that the least sparkling and kindling of lusts will first or last cost thee groans and griefs, tears and terrors enough. These five are the sins that usually are waiting and attending on youth; but from these the young man in the text was by grace preserved and secured; which is more than I dare affirm of all into whose hands this treatise shall fall. But though these five are the sins of youth; yet they are not all the sins of youth; for youth is capable of, and subject to, all other sins whatsoever; but these are the special sins that most usually wait and attend on young men when they are in the spring and morning of their youth.

CHAPTER IV.

Exhortation to young persons to be good betimes, and motives moving thereto.

I SHALL now hasten to the main use that I do intend to stand upon, and that is, an use of exhortation to all young persons.

Ah, sirs! as you tender the glory of God, the good of your bodies, the joy of your Christian friends, and the salvation of your own souls, be exhorted and persuaded to be really good! It was the praise and honour of Abijah, that there was found in him some good thing towards the Lord in the primrose of his childhood. Oh, that it might be your honour and happiness to be really good, that it might be to you a praise and a name, that in the morning of your youth you have begun to seek the Lord, and to know and love the Lord, and to get an interest and propriety in the Lord.

Now, that this exhortation may stick and take, I beseech you seriously to weigh and ponder these following motives or considerations:

I. Consider, it is an honour to be good betimes. A young saint is like the morning star; he is like a

pearl in a gold ring. It is mentioned as a singular honour to the believing Jews, that they first trusted in Christ: Eph. i. 12, "That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ." This was their praise, their crown, that they were first converted and turned to Christ and Christianity. So St. Paul, mentioning Andronicus and Junia, doth not omit this circumstance of praise and honour, that they were in Christ before him: Rom. xvi. 7, "Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me." And so it was the honour of the house of Stephanas that they were the first-fruits of Achaia; it was their glory, that they were the first that received and welcomed the gospel in Achaia. It is a greater honour for a young man to outwrestle sin, Satan, temptation, the world, and lust, than ever Alexander the Great could attain unto. It was Judah's praise and honour that they were first in fetching home David their king.

Ah! young men and women, it will be your eternal praise and honour, if you shall be before others, if you shall be the first among many who shall know the Lord, and seek the Lord; who shall receive the Lord, and embrace Him; who shall cleave to the Lord, and serve Him; who shall honour the Lord, and obey Him; who shall delight in the Lord, and walk with Him. The Romans built Virtue's and Honour's temples close together, to show that

the way to honour was by virtue. And, indeed, there is no crown to that which goodness sets upon a man's head; all other honour is fading and withering. Adonibesek, a mighty prince, is suddenly made fellow-companion with the dogs; and Nebuchadnezzar, a mighty conqueror, turned a-grazing among the oxen; and Herod, reduced from a conceited god to be the loathsomest of men, living carrion, arrested by the vilest of creatures, upon the suit of his affronted Creator; and Haman, feasted with the king one day, and made a feast for crows the next. I might tell you of Baljazet and Bellisarius, two of the greatest commanders in the world, and many others, who have suddenly fallen from the top of worldly honour and felicity into the greatest contempt and misery; but I shall not at this time. But that honour that rises from men's being gracious betimes, is such honour that the world can neither give nor take; it is honour, it is a crown that will still be green and flourishing; it is honour that will bed and board with a man, that will abide with a man under all trials and changes, that will to the grave, that will to heaven with a man.

Ah, sirs! it is no small honour to you who are in the spring and morning of your days, that the Lord hath left upon record several instances of His love and delight in young men. He chose David, a younger brother, and passed by his elder brothers;

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