Ah ! young men, young men, shall the very heathens thus shun and fly from the occasion of sin, and will not you ? will not you who sit under the sunshine of the gospel ? These will in the great day of ac- count be sad and sore witnesses against those that dally and play with the occasions of sin.
To prevent carnal carefulness, Christ sends his disciples to school, to the irrational creatures (Matt. vi. 26-32). And to prevent your closing with the occasions of sin, let me send you to school to the like creatures, that you may learn by them to shun and avoid the occasions of sin.
The Sepiai, a certain kind of fish, perceiving themselves in danger of taking, by an instinct which they have, they do darken the water, and so many times escape the net which is laid for them.
Geese, they say, when they fly over Taurus they keep stones in their mouths, lest by gaggling ' they should discover themselves to the eagles, which are amongst the mountains waiting for them.2 Now, if all these considerations put together will not work you to decline the occasions of sin, I know not what will. There is a truth in that old saying —
He that will no evil do,
Must do nothing belongs thereto.
The Israelites must have no leaven in their houses till the Passover be done, lest they should be tempted to eat of it, Exod. xiii.
Direction (3). Thirdly, If you would be good betimes, then you must remember the eye of God betimes.
If you would seek and serve the Lord in the spring and morning of your days, then you must study God's omnipresence betimes. ' Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps V ' For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide them- selves,' Ps. cxxxix. 2-14 ; Job xxxi. 4, 21, 22.
I have read that Paphnutius converted two famous young strumpets, Thais and Ephron, from uncleanness only with this argument, that God seeth all things in the dark, when the doors are fast, the windows shut, and the curtains drawn.3 By this very argument Solomon labours to take off his young men from carnal and sinful courses : ' And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger ! For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings,' Prov. v. 20, 21. Thou mayest deceive all the world, like that counterfeit Alexander in Josephus his
s Pliny has much curious lore on the ' goose ' which Brooks here and elsewhere re- cords. Bee sub voce. — G.
8 Non se patent adulter i noctis tenebris vel parietum obtegi. — Bede.
1 Kings XIV. 13.] apples of gold. 251
story, but Augustus will not be deceived ; he hath quicker and sharper eyes.1
Ah ! young men, young men, you may deceive this man and that, and as easily deceive yourselves, but you cannot deceive him, who is irav6$6a\[Log, totus oculus, all-eye. As the eyes of a well drawn picture are fastened upon thee which way soever thou turnest, so are the eyes of the Lord. I have read of one who, being tempted to adultery, said they could not be private enough, and being carried from room to room, answered, We are not yet private enough, God is here.
Ah, friends ! His eyes, which are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, compasseth thy words, thy ways, thy works, thy thoughts, thy bed, thy board, thy bench. The Egyptian hieroglyphic for God was an eye on a sceptre, shewing that he sees and rules all things, Jer. xiii. 27, xxix. 23.
Ah, friends ! All thoughts, words, hopes, and hearts, are naked, opened, dissected and quartered before that God with whom you have to do. God is very curious and exact in marking and observing what is done by men, that he may render to every man according to his works.2
Augustine speaks of an old comedian, when having no other specta- tors, went usually into the theatre, and acted before the statues of the gods.3
Ah ! young men and women, the eye of God should be more to you than all the world besides. Oh that the Scripture might be written with the pen of a diamond upon your hearts. ' Hear ye not me,' saith the Lord, ' and will you not tremble at my presence ?' Jer. v. 21, 22. There is a great truth in that saying of his, Magna nobis ex hoc indita est probitatis necessitas, quia omnia ante oculos judicis facimus cuncta cerne7itis.i A great necessity of goodness is from hence put into us, because we do all things before the eyes of a judge that sees all things.
Direction (4). Fourthly, If you would be good betimes, then you must hearken to the voice of conscience betimes, 2 Tim. i. 3.
A man will never begin to be good till he begins to hearken to what conscience speaks. So long as a man turns a deaf ear to conscience, he is a safe prisoner to Satan, and a sure enemy to good, Ps. lviii. 4, John iii. 20, 21.
Ah ! how good might many have been had they but begun betimes to hearken to conscience !
Ah ! young men, do not dally with conscience, do not play, do not trifle with conscience, do not stop your ears against conscience. He that will not in his youth give conscience audience, shall at last be forced to hear such lectures from conscience, as shall make his life a very hell. A sleepy conscience is like a sleepy lion, when he awakes, he roars and tears ; so will conscience, Mark ix. 22. Conscience is mille testes, a thousand witnesses for or against a man.5 He that hath long turned the deaf ear to conscience, shall at last find his conscience like Prome-
1 Nolipeccare ; Deus videt, angeli astant, $c. Take heed what thou doest, God beholds thee, angels observe thee.
2 Heb. IV. 13, Ter^a^nA/ir^/va.
3 Aug. de civ. Dei. 1. vi. c. x. 4 Boetius de consol. 1. v. 6 Such shall find conscience to be judex, index, vindex.
252 APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KlXGS XIV. 13.
theus's vulture, that lies ever a-gnawing. Judas found it so, and Spira found it so, and Blair, a great councillor of Scotland, found it so.
1 have read of one John Hofmeister, that fell sick in his inn, as he was travelling towards Auspurge in Germany, and grew to that horror of conscience, that they were fain to bind him in his bed with chains, where he cried out, that he was for ever cast off by God, and that the promises that were set before him would do him no good, and all be- cause he had wounded his conscience, and turned a deaf ear to con- science.1