'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'—Hosea 4:6
Q. How will godly acquaintance greaten my sin?—A. When you sin against their counsels, warnings, or persuasions to the contrary; also when their lives and conversations are a reproof to you, and yet against all, you will sin. Thus sinned Ishmael, Esau, Eli's sons, Absalom, and Judas; they had good company, good counsels, and a good life set before them by their godly acquaintance, but they sinned against all, and their judgment was the greater. Ishmael was cast away (Gen 21:10), Esau hated (Gal 4:30), Eli's sons died suddenly (Mal 1:2; 1 Sam 2:25,34, 4:11), Absalom and Judas were both strangely hanged (2 Sam 18; Matt 27).
Q. Are sins thus heightened, distinguished from others by any special name?—A. Yes, they are called rebellion, and are compared to the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam 15:23), they are called willful sins (Heb 10:26), they are called briars and thorns, and they that bring them forth are 'nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned' (6:7,8).
Q. Are there any other things that can make little sins great ones?—A. Yes, as when you sin against the judgments of God. For example, you see the judgments of God come upon some for their transgressions, and you go on in their iniquities; as also when you sin against the patience, long-suffering, and forbearance of God, this will make little sins great ones (Dan 5:21-24; Rom 2:4,5).
Q. Did God ever punish little children for sin against him?—A. Yes; when the flood came, he drowned all the little children that were in the old world: he also burned up all the little children which were in Sodom; and because upon a time the little children at Bethel mocked the prophet as he was a going to worship God, God let loose two she-bears upon them, which tore forty and two of them to pieces (2 Kings 2:23,24).
Q. Alas! what shall we little children do?[10]—A. Either go on in your sins, or remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come (Eccl 12:1).
Q. Why do you mock us, to bid us go on in our sins? You had need to pray for us that God would save us.—A. I do not mock you, but as the wise man doth; and besides, I pray for you and wish your salvation.
Q. How doth the wise man mock us?—A. Thus, 'Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment' (Eccl 11:9).
Q. What a kind of mocking is this?—A. Such a one as is mixed with the greatest seriousness; as if he should say, Ay, do, sinners, go on in your sins if you dare; do, live in your vanities, but God will have a time to judge you for them.
Q. Is not this just as when my father bids me be naught if I will: but if I be naught, he will beat me for it?—A. Yes, or like that saying of Joshua, 'If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve'; serve your sins at your peril (Josh 24:15).
Q. Is it not best then for me to serve God?—A. Yes, for they that serve the devil must be where he is, and they that serve God and Christ must be where they are (John 12:26; Matt 25:41).
Q. But when had I best begin to serve God?—A. Just now: 'Remember NOW thy Creator,' NOW thou hast the gospel before thee, NOW thy heart is tender and will be soonest broken.
Q. But if I follow my play and sports a little longer, may I not come in time enough?—A. I cannot promise thee that, for there be little graves in the churchyard; and who can tell but that thy young life is short; or if thou dost live, perhaps thy day of grace may be as short as was Ishmael's of old: read also Proverbs 1:24-26.
Q. But if I stay a little longer before I turn, I may have more wit to serve God than now I have, may I not?—A. If thou stayest longer, thou wilt have more sin, and perhaps less wit: for the bigger sinner, the bigger fool (Prov 1:22).
Q. If I serve God sometimes, and my sin sometimes, how then?—A. 'No man can serve two masters.' Thou canst not serve God and thy sins (Matt 6:24). God saith, 'My Son, give me thine heart' (Prov 23:26). Also thy soul and body are his; but the double-minded man is forbidden to think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord (1 Cor 6:20; James 1:7,8).
Q. Do you find many such little children as I am, serve God?—A. Not many; yet some I do, Samuel served him being a child (1 Sam 3:1). When Josiah was young he began to seek after the God of his father David (2 Chron 34:3). And how kindly did our Lord Jesus take it, to see the little children run tripping before him, and crying, Hosannah to the Son of David? (Matt 21:15,16).
Q. Then I am not likely to have many companions if I thus young begin to serve God, am I?—A. 'Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it' (Matt 7:14). Yet some companions thou wilt have. David counted himself a companion of all those that love God's testimonies (Psa 119:63). All the godly, though grey-headed, will be thy companions; yea, and thou shalt have either one or more of the angels of God in heaven to attend on, and minister for thee (Matt 18:10).
Q. But I am likely to be slighted and despised by other little children, if I begin already to serve God, am I not?—A. If children be so rude as to mock the prophets and ministers of God, no marvel if they also mock thee; but it is a poor heaven that is not worth enduring worse things than to be mocked for the seeking and obtaining of (2 Kings 2:23,24).
Q. But how should I serve God? I do not know how to worship him.—A.
The true worshippers, worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24;
Phil 3:3).
Q. What is meant by worshipping him in the spirit?—A. To worship him in God's Spirit and in mine own; that is, to worship him, being wrought over in my very heart by the good Spirit of God, to a hearty compliance with his will (Rom 1:9, 6:17; Psa 101:1-3).
Q. What is it to worship him in truth?—A. To do all that we do in his worship according to his word, for his word is truth, and to do it without dissimulation (Heb 8:5; John 17:17; Psa 26:6, 108:19,20). You may take the whole thus, then do you worship God aright, when in heart and life you walk according to his word.
Q. How must I do to worship him with my spirit and heart?—A. Thou must first get a good knowledge of him. 'And thou, Solomon my son,' said David,' know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart' (1 Chron 28:9). Mind you, he first bids know him, and then serve him with a perfect heart.
Q. Is it easy to get a true knowledge of God?—A. No; Thou must cry after knowledge, and lift up thy voice for understanding. 'If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God' (Prov 2:4,5).
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