A CAUTION AGAINST VARIOUS TEMPTATIONS, BY WHICH THE YOUNG CONVERT MAY BE DRAWN ASIDE FROM THE COURAGE RECOMMENDED ABOVE.
1. Dangers continue, after the first difficulties (considered Chap. xvi.) are broken through.--2. Particular cautions--against a sluggish and indolent temper.--3. Against the excessive love of sensitive pleasure.--4. Leading to a neglect of business and needless expense.--5. Against the snares of evil company.--6. Against excessive hurry of worldly business.--7. Which is enforced by the fatal consequences these have had in many cases.--8. The chapter concludes with an exhortation to die to this world, and to live to another. And the young Convert's prayer for Divine protection against the dangers arising from these snares.
1. THIS representation I have been making of the pleasure and advantage of a
life spent in devotedness to God and communion with him, as I have described it
above, will, I hope, engage you, my dear reader, to form some purposes, and
make some attempt to obtain it. But from considering the nature, and observing
the course of things, it appears exceedingly evident, that, besides the general
opposition which I formerly mentioned as like to attend you in your first
entrance on a religious life, you will find even that, after you have
resolutely broke through this, a variety of hindrances in any attempts or
exemplary piety, and in the prosecution of a remarkably strict and edifying
course, will present themselves daily in your path; and whereas you may, by a
few resolute efforts, baffle some of the former sorts of enemies, these will be
perpetually renewing their onsets, and a vigorous struggle must be continually
maintained with them. Give me leave now, therefore, to be particular in my
cautions against some of the chief of them. And here I would insist upon the
difficulties which will arise from indolence and the love of pleasure from vain
company, and worldly cares. Each of these may prove ensnaring to any, and
especially to young persons, to whom I would now have some particular regard.
2. I entreat you, therefore, in the first
place, that you will guard against a sluggish and indolent temper. The love of
ease insinuates itself into the heart under a variety of plausible pretences,
which are often allowed to pass, when temptations of a grosser nature would not
be admitted. The misspending a little time seems to wise and good men a small
matter; yet this sometimes runs them in into great inconveniencies. It often
leads them to break in upon the seasons regularly allotted to devotion, and to
defer business which might immediately be done, but being put off from day to
day, is not done at all, and thereby the services of life are at least
diminished, and the rewards of eternity diminished proportionably: not to
insist upon it, that very frequently this lays the soul open to farther
temptations, by which it falls, in consequence of being found unemployed. Be
therefore suspicious of the first approaches of this kind. Remember that the
soul of man is an active being, and that it must find its pleasure in activity.
"Gird up," therefore, "the loins of your mind." (1 Pet. 1:13) Endeavor to keep
yourself always well employed. Be exact, if I may with humble reverence use the
expression, in your appointments with God. Meet him early in the morning; and
say not with the sluggard, when the proper hour of rising is come, "A little
more sleep, a little more slumber." (Prov. 6:10) That time which prudence shall
advise you, give to conversation and to other recreations. But when that is
elapsed, and no unforeseen and important engagement prevents, rise and begone.
Quit the company of your dearest friends, and retire to your proper business,
whether it be in the field, the shop, or the closet. For by acting contrary to
the secret dictates of your mind as to what it is just at the present moment
best to do, though it be but in the manner of spending half an hour, some
degree of guilt is contracted, and a habit is cherished, which may draw after
it much worse consequences. Consider, therefore, what duties are to be
dispatched, and in what seasons. Form your plan as prudently as you can, and
pursue it resolutely; unless an unexpected incident arises, which leads you to
conclude that duty calls you another way. Allowances for such unthought-of
interruptions must be made; but if, in consequence of this, you are obliged to
omit any thing of importance which you proposed behave done to-day, do it if
possible to-morrow; and do not cut yourself out new work, till the former plan
be dispatched; unless you really judge it, not merely more amusing, but more
important. And always remember, that a servant of Christ should see to it, that
he determine on these occasions as in his Master's presence.
3. Guard also against an excessive love of
sensitive and animal pleasure, as that which will be a great hindrance to you
in that religious course which I have now been urging. You cannot but know that
Christ has told us, "that a man must deny himself, and take up his cross
daily," (Luke 9:23) if he desire to become his disciple. Christ, the Son of
God, "the former and the heir of all things, pleased not himself," (Rom. 15:3)
but submitted to want, to difficulties, and hardships, in the way of duty, and
some of them of the extremest kind and degree, for the glory of God and the
salvation of men. In this way we are to follow him; and as we know not how soon
we may be called, even to "resist unto blood, striving against sin," (Heb.
12:4) it is certainly best to accustom ourselves to that discipline which we
may possibly be called out to exercise, even in such rigorous heights. A soft
and delicate life will give force to temptations, which might easily be subdued
by one who has habituated himself to "endure hardships as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ." (2 Tim. 2:3) It also produces an attachment to this world, and
an unwillingness to leave it, which ill becomes those who are strangers and
pilgrims on earth, and who expect so soon to be called away to that better
country which they "profess to seek." (Heb. 11:13,16) Add to this, that, what
the world calls a life of pleasure, is necessarily a life of expense too, and
may perhaps lead you, as it has many others, and especially many who have been
setting out in the world, beyond the limits which Providence has assigned; and
so, after a course of indulgence, may produce a proportionable want. And while
in other cases it is true that pity should be shown to the poor, this is a
poverty that is justly contemptible, because it is the effect of a man's own
folly; and when your "want thus comes upon you as an armed man," (Prov. 6:11)
you will not only find yourself striped of the capacity you might otherwise
have secured for performing those works of charity which are so ornamental to a
Christian profession, but probably will be under strong temptations to some low
artifice or mean compliance, quite beneath the Christian character and that of
an upright man. Many, who once made a high profession, after a series of such
sorry and scandalous shifts, have fallen into the infamy of the worst kind of
bankrupts; I mean such as have lavished away on themselves what was indeed the
property of others, and so have injured, and perhaps ruined, the industrious,
to feed a foolish, luxurious, or ostentatious humor, which, while indulged, was
the shame of their own families, and when it can be indulged no longer, is
their torment. This will be a terrible reproach to religion: such a reproach to
it, that a good man would rather choose to live on bread and water, or indeed
to die for want of them, than to occasion it
4. Guard, therefore, I beseech you, against any
thing which might tend that way, especially by diligence in business, and by
prudence and frugality in expense, which, by the Divine blessing, may have a
very happy influence to make your affairs prosperous, your health vigorous, and
your mind easy. But this cannot be attained without keeping a resolute watch
over yourself, and strenuously refusing to comply with many proposals which
indolence and sensuality will offer in very plausible forms, and for which it
will plead, "that it asks but very little." Take heed, lest in this respect you
imitate those fond parents, who, by indulging their children in every little
thing they have a mind to, encourage them, by insensible degrees, to grow still
more encroaching and imperious in their demands; as if they chose to be ruined
with them, rather than to check them in what seems a trifle. Remember, and
consider that excellent remark, sealed by the ruin of so many thousands: "He
that despiseth small things, shall fall by little and litt1e."
5. In this view, give me leave also seriously and
tenderly to caution you, my dear reader, against the snares of vain company. I
speak not, as before, of that company which is openly licentious and profane. I
hope there is something now in your temper and views, which would engage you to
turn away from such with detestation and horror. But I beseech you to consider,
that those companions may be very dangerous, who might at first give you but
very little alarm: I mean those who, though not the declared enemies of
religion, and professed followers of vice and disorder, yet nevertheless have
no practical sense of divine things on their hearts, so far as can be judged by
their conversation and behavior. You must often of necessity be with such
persons; and Christianity not only allows, but requires, that you should, on
all expedient occasions of intercourse with them, treat them with civility and
respect; but choose not such for your most intimate friends, and do not
contrive to spend most of your leisure moments among them. For such converse
has a sensible tendency to alienate the soul from God, and to render it unfit
for all spiritual communion with him. To convince you of this, do but reflect
on your own experience, when you have been for many hours together among
persons of such a character. Do you not find yourself more indisposed for
devotional exercises? Do you not find your heart, by insensible degrees, more
and more inclined to a conformity to this world, and to look with a secret
disrelish on those objects and employments to which reason directs as the
noblest and best? Observe the first symptoms, and guard against the snare in
time: and for this purpose, endeavor to form friendships founded in piety, and
supported by it. "Be a companion of them that fear God, and of them that keep
his precepts." (Psa. 119:63) You well know, that in the sight of God "they are
the excellent of the earth;" let them therefore "be all your delight." (Psa.
16:3) And that the peculiar benefit of their friendship may not be lost,
endeavor to make the best of the hours you spend with them. The wisest of men
has observed that when "counsel in the heart of a man is like deep waters,"
that is, when it lies low and concealed, `a man of understanding will draw it
out.' (Prov. 20:5)
5. Endeavor, therefore, on such occasions, so far
as you can do it with decency and convenience, give the conversation a
religious turn. And when serious and useful subjects are started in your
presence, lay hold of them, and cultivate them; and for that purpose "let the
word of Christ dwell richly in you," (Col. 3:1) and be continually made "the
man of your counsel." (Psa. 119:24)
6. If it be so, it will secure you not only from
the snares of idleness and luxury, but from the contagion of every bad example.
And it will also engage you to guard against those excessive hurries of worldly
business, which would fill up all your time and thoughts, and thereby "choke
the good word" of God, and render it in a great measure, if not quite,
unfruitful. (Matt. 13:22) Young people are generally of an enterprising
disposition: having experienced comparatively little of the fatigue of
business, and of the disappointments and incumbrances of life, they easily
swallow them up and annihilate them in their imagination, and fancy that their
spirit, their application, and address, will be able to encounter and, surmount
every obstacle or hinderance. But the event proves it otherwise. Let me entreat
you, therefore, to be cautious how you plunge yourself into a greater variety
of business than you are capable of managing as you ought, that is, in
consistency with the care of your soul and the service of God, which certainly
ought not on any pretence to be neglected. It is true indeed, that a prudent
regard to your worldly interest would require such a caution; as it is obvious
to every careful observer, that multitudes are undone by grasping at more than
they can conveniently manage. Hence it has frequently been seen, that, while
they have seemed resolved to be rich, they have "pierced themselves through
with many sorrows," (1 Tim. 6:10) have ruined their own families, and drawn
down many others into desolation with them. Whereas, could they have been
contented with moderate employments and moderate gains, they might have
prospered in their business, and might, by sure degrees, under a divine
blessing, have advanced to great and honorable increase. But if there were no
danger at all to be apprehended on this bend, if you were as certain of
becoming rich and great, as you are of perplexing and fatiguing yourself in the
attempt, consider, I beseech you, how precarious these enjoyments are. Consider
how often "a plentiful table becomes a snare, and that which should have been
for a man's welfare, becomes a trap." (Psa. 69:22) Forget not that short
lesson, which is so comprehensive of the highest wisdom: "One thing is
needful." (Luke 10:42) Be daily thinking, while the gay and the great things of
life are glittering before your eyes, how soon death will come, and impoverish
you at once: how soon it will strip you of all possessions but those which a
naked soul can carry along with it into eternity, when it drops the body into
the grave. ETERNITY! ETERNITY! ETERNITY! Carry the view of it about with you;
if it be possible, through every hour of waking life; and be fully persuaded
that you have no business, no interest in life, that is inconsistent with it;
for whatsoever would be injurious in view of eternity. is not your business, is
not your interest. You see indeed, that the generality of men act as if they
thought the great thing which God requires of them, in order to secure his
favor, was to get as much of the world as possible: at least as much us they
can without any gross immorality, and without risking the loss of all. Such
persons may tell others, and perhaps flatter themselves, that they only seek
opportunities of greater usefulness. But in effect, if they mean any thing more
by this than a capacity of usefulness, which, when they have it, they will not
exert, they generally deceive themselves; and, one way or another, it is a vain
pretence. In most instances men seek the world--either that they may hoard up
riches for the mean and scandalous satisfaction of looking upon them while they
are living, and of thinking, that, when they are dead, it will be said of them
that they have left so many hundreds or thousands of pounds behind them; very
probably, to ensnare their children, or their heirs, (for the vanity is not
peculiar to those who have children of their own)--or else that they may lavish
away their riches on their lusts, and drown themselves in a gulf of sensuality
in which, if reason be not lost, religion is soon swallowed up, and with it all
the noblest pleasures which can enter into the heart of man. In this view, the
generality of rich people appear to me objects of much greater compassion than
the poor: especially as, when both live (which is frequently the case) without
any fear of God before their eyes, the rich abuse the greater variety and
abundance of their favors, and therefore will probably feel, in that world of
future ruin which awaits impenitent sinners, a more exquisite sense of their
misery.
7. And let me observe to you, my dear reader,
lest you should think yourself secure from any such danger that we have great
reason to apprehend there are many now in a very wretched state, who once
thought seriously of religion, when they were first setting out, in lower
circumstances of life; but they have since forsaken God for Mammon and are now
priding themselves in those golden chains, which, in all probability. before it
be long, will leave them to remain in those of darkness. When, therefore, an
attachment to the world may be followed with such fatal consequences, "let not
thine heart envy sinners," (Prov. 23:17) and do not, out of a desire of gaining
what they have, be guilty of such folly as to expose yourself to this double
danger or failing in the attempt, or of being undone by the success of it.
Contract your desires; endeavor to be easy and content with a little; and if
Providence call you out to act in a larger sphere, submit to it in obedience to
Providence, but number it among the trials of life, which it will require a
larger proportion of grace to bear well. For be assured, that, as affairs and
interests multiply, cares and duties will certainly increase, and probably
disappointments and sorrows will increase in an equal proportion.
8. On the whole, learn, by divine grace, to die
to the present world: to look upon it as a low state of being, which God never
intended for the final and complete happiness, or the supreme care of any one
of his children: a world, where something is indeed to be enjoyed, but chiefly
from himself; where a great deal is to be borne with patience and resignation;
and where some important duties are to be performed, and a course of discipline
to be passed through, by which you are to be formed for a better state, to
which, as a Christian, you are near, and to which God will call you, perhaps on
a sudden, but undoubtedly, if you hold on your way, in the fittest time and the
most convenient manner. Refer, therefore, all this to him. Let your hopes and
fears, your expectations and desires, with regard to this world, be kept as low
as possible; and all your thoughts be united, as much as may be, in this one
centre: what is it that God would, in present have you to be: and what is that
method of conduct by which you may most effectually please and glorify him.
The Young Convert's Prayer for Divine Protection against the Danger of these Snares.
