The Pleasures of Religion

I dare appeal to those young people who have in a great measure neglected religion, given the reigns to their inclinations, and who have spent a great deal of their time in vain mirth and those diversions that are inconsistent with a serious religious, devout, and strict life. Judge and consider whether you have gotten anything by it, all things considered; have you enjoyed yourselves any better than if you had avoided all and maintained a strict conversation on Sabbath days and every other day?

The pleasures of religion are such as will not die with youth; with respect to this life and and its exercises and enjoyment, they shall not decay. Rather, their bloom and vigor will increase until they are perfected in glory.

Now, therefore, let me exhort and beseech you who are the young people of the congregation to walk in the ways of virtue and piety. Let this pleasant and beautiful sight be beheld in this town. It is pleasant not only in the eyes of men, but in the sight of angels and of God Himself.

This will be for the honor of the town of Northampton, and it will be greatly for your honor, and in every way for your good and prosperity. A life of virtue and piety is the way to be honorable; it is the way to be useful and a blessing to mankind; it is the way to be comfortable to parents and to all around you; it is the way for you to be a blessing in the world, and it is the way to be happy. In these things I dare to appeal to your own reason, as I am speaking to reasonable creatures.

Jonathan Edwards

(To the Rising Generation, pp. 137-138)

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Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them"

Ecclesiastes 12:1