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132
A
HOPEFUL YOUTH
[BERM.
VIII.
blasted
by
the
breath of
Satan, and
in
the smoke
of
hell.
But
is
it not
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
sbould
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 in-
terest of God
!
What
a
decency
and honour
is
added
to
religion,
by
its
fairest and youngest votaries
?
With
what peculiar praise 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.
xxxiv.
3.
How
is
Timothy
commended,
who
had
known
the
holy
scriptures
from
his very
childhood
;
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
Chris-
tian 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 cau-
tion against the
love
of
the
world,
and the
things
of
it,
lest
they should
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
ever-
lasting 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 also to
those
that
have
rich en-
dowments
of
mind.
Where
we
behold
a
sprightly
genius,
solid
reason, and deep
judgment,
we
cannot
forbear
lov-
ing the possessors
of
them
:
We cannot forbear
to
say,
"
It
is
pity
that
so
much
wit
should
be
abused to
ridicule
6