made to the Most High God ! But we need not collect this in a way of inference ; for God himself has expressly told us, that we vmst pay our vows to him ; that we must do it ivithoiit delay ; that if we defer to pay them, it will be imputed to us as a most heinous sin; and that he will surely require it at our hands". And in the text itself he tells us, that however criminal it must be to feel such alienation of heart from God as not to vow any vow to him, " it were better for us never to vow at all than to vow and not pay."]
Address —
1. The young who have been just confirmed —
[Remember, I beseech you, that " the vows of God are upon you." And now hear what Almighty God says unto you : " If a man vow a vow imto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word ; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth p." Now you, my Beloved, have " bound your souls with a bond;" you have " sworn unto the Lord, and cannot go back :" remem- ber then that you " must not break your word ; " you must, you " shall do according to all that has proceeded out of your mouths." O bear in mind the particular vows which you have madei, and set yourselves diligently to the performance of them. See how determined David was, under your circum- stances'"; and make him the model of your conduct. And begin now without delay to prepare for attending on the Lord's Supper. Your Covfirmation is hut a step to something beyond, even to a dedication of yourselves to God at the table of the Lord. I mean not that you are to be hasty in taking this fur- ther step ; because you ought doubtless to be well instructed in the nature of that ordinance before you partake of it ; and to be fully determined through grace to live, not unto your- selves, but unto Him who died for you. But that you should keep this in view, and with all convenient speed renew at the Lord's table the vows which you have now made, the holy Psalmist informs you^: and his resolutions on the subject I earnestly recommend for your adoption.]
2. The elder part of this audience —
[To you the younger will look for instruction and en- couragement in the ways of God. But many who desire to have their children confirmed, would actually oppose them if they should begin to execute their vows. If a young person should begin to renounce the world, to mortify the flesh, and to live by faith on the Son of God, the generality of persons
0 Deut. xxiii. 21 — 23. p Numb. xxx. 2,
1 See the Catechism. ^ ps_ cxix. 106.
s Ps. cxvi. 12 — 14, 16 — 19. Particularly notice ver. 16.