several Speeches Declarations Tryals and Transactions occasion'd by the late unhappy Wars in England wherein you 'l find more natural and useful Knowledge than is ordinarily to be met with in all the mouldy Records of antient Statists and Polititians Eighthly There will be no need to advise you what Authors you shall read in Divinity for I know sufficient care is taken for that already yet in my Opinion next to the Holy Scriptures and our Churches Catechism Dr. Hammonds Practical Catechism and those Books by the Author of the Whole Duty of Man are the best And indeed all our modern Writers of the Church of England for the last fifty or sixty years who have imploy'd their Parts Faculties and Time in treating de omni ente and out-done the greatest part of the World if accurately read and well digested will furnish you with variety of Matter all sorts of Methods and a delicate Style But then you should take Advice in the choice of such Books as are approved and most authentick upon every Subject that the whole Time of your Study may be profitably imployed for a few Books well read and throughly digested will more improve your Reason and Judgment than hundreds superficially turned over as many young Students do Yet there 's abundance of Pleasure in variety of Books for when your Faculties grow dull and weary of one you may pass to another as your own Genius and Inclination shall direct whereby the whole Time and Business of your Study will become a delight and benefit rather than a burthen to you Nor can any Recreation be so pleasant this I find by experience nor any Labour so profitable to a Scholar as Study And Lastly You 'l find it of singular use and advantage for the improvement of your Parts to imploy and exercise your Pen upon every Occasion Write often to your Relations and Friends for the neglect of that is a general fault in young Students Have always a Common-Place Book by you your Tutor will direct you to the most useful Heads and note therein the most remarkable quaint and ingenuous Passages you meet with in any Author which you may afterwards have recourse to immediately upon every occasion Observe likewise and note in writing all the Remarkable Occurrences in your Travel particularly the Situation of Places the Customs and Manners of the People their Religion Government Policies Traffique c. This will be of great ease to your Memory and of singular use and advantage in the whole Progress of your Life besides you 'l find that your Parts Style and Method will be the best improved by much Writing All Learned Men can witness this from their own Experience and is very remarkable in all our English Worthies insomuch that I dare be confident if you 'l apply your self to this method your Reason and Judgment will by degrees attain to such a Habit as will not dare to present you with any thing but what 's very curious and excellent Yet I would not hereby engage you to be so earnest in the pursuit of your Studies as to prejudice your own Constitution for there 's a Time for all things and too much reading may prevent the Access of a newer nearer and quicker Invention of your own Besides if your Body be strong as you 'l rather complain of the shortness of the Day than be wearied with Study so if it be weak and feeble the Decays of Nature may be repaired being also allowed to the strongest Constitutions either First By a sutable Conversation or Secondly By moderate and innocent Recreations For the first of these namely a sutable Conversation When you are wearied and indisposed with your Studies a door of Conference is open and the Conversation of learned wise and good Men is a greater Refiner of the Spirit than Books Yet let not this tempt you from your Studies in the Forenoon which is the most proper Time to be reserved and at your Book however whilst you continue in the Vniversity And herein let me advise you to lay down such Rules to your self in observing those stated Hours as no Man shall be able to persuade you to recede from them for that when your Resolutions are once known as no Person of Ingenuity will disturb you so you 'l find this Method of keeping this best part of the Day to your self will become not only practicable but very commendable and of singular benefit to you in more instances than I can readily mention But when Dinner is over so soon as you can with convenience and civility to the Company retire to your Closet and pray as in the Morning always concluding your Devotions in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the Lords Prayer Again read some portion of the Holy Scripture in the Old Testament and the Psalms for the Day and as before with attentive Observation And be as careful in performing your Evening Devotions with Thanksgivings for the Blessings of the Day and earnest Prayer for your Safety and Protection that night and for ever I do not doubt but you have good * As Common Prayer Book Patrick's Devotions c. Helps and particular Devotions by you for Morning and Evening which you may use with your own as God shall be pleas'd to enable you But be sure that you never lie down to rest till you have made your Evening Oblation that whether you sleep or wake you may be always safe under the shelter and protection of a gracious Providence But to return having performed your Devotions after Dinner then you may either go to or send for such Companions as you think fit and see that they be always choice and few for as the vitious and unlearned are not worthy of your Company and Acquaintance so too many of the more learned wiser and better sort will but increase the expence both of your Time and Money besides the Examples of others do usually prevail more and have a greater Influence than their Precepts and Counsels and by the opportunities of Converse either good or bad we commonly imbibe all the Tinctures of Vice or Vertue insomuch that 't is almost impossible for the most prudent Man to hold out long against the forcible Batteries of Custom and Opportunity But There are no certain Rules to be prescribed for Converse seeing all Discourses of that Kind are Occasional and depend much upon the Circumstances of Time Place Persons c. yet a Gentleman has usually the freedom to be as inquisitive as he pleases and what would be censured in others as humorous Moroseness or pragmatical Sawciness will be interpreted in you as an ingenuous desire and thirst after Knowledge Therefore 't is a singular and extraordinary Priviledge you have in this Kind above Persons of a lower Rank which being improved to the best Advantages may very much conduce to your Interest and Satisfaction for he 's a very weak Companion from whom you may not receive some benefit and
return wiser But then if you correspond with Learned Men and Communicative they 'l freely impart to you those Secrets in a little time which have cost them and would have put you to the expence of much Pains and Travel and if the Company be below you in Parts and Learning in being free open and discursive of what you know and the oftner you repeat them they 'l be more riveted and confirmed to you and impress them upon your Mind and Memory in more durable and indeleble Characters Yet give me leave to caution you in two things And First See that you be innocently free and chearful in your Conversation Let hoc age be your constant Motto for if a Man be sullen morose mopish and unseasonably poring upon his Book or Business he loses the Fruits and Benefits of Converse nor will his Company be looked upon by others to be either profitable or diversive And Secondly Avoid the other Extreme of talking too much as troublesome and absurd for every Man that can be a fit Companion for you will expect to have a share in the Discourse It must needs then be a great Vanity in many Gentlemen who having some little smatterings of Learning for empty Vessels have the loudest Sound do make all Places eccho with their Latin Italian French c. and Citations out of the most celebrated Authors for the more that any Man seems to borrow from Books he do's thereby proclaim the meanness of his own natural Parts which only and properly can be call'd his own Be reserved in passing your Judgment especially in what may concern the Reputations or Interests of other Men your Business will be rather to enquire as before and that too with all possible Candor and Modesty into the Policies and Forms of Government all sorts of Learning c. And therefore to this End endeavour to be acquainted and converse with Men of the greatest Parts Sobriety and Experience from whom you 'l always receive Benefit and note something worthy your Observation I would not advise you to avoid wholly the Conversation of your Country-men yet correspond as little with them as possible for you would find it very unprofitable upon several accounts which I leave to your own Consideration Thus every thing is beautiful in its Season And we have seen hitherto how the chief part of your Time should be imployed at your Book Lectures and Exercises in the Schools and Conversation with others whilst you continue in the Vniversity or when setled in any other Place For upon Travel the Methods must be altered and order'd according to the Laws and Dictates of Prudence and Discretion And tho neither Birth nor Quality nor Estate can give any Man a Priviledge or Patent to be idle Yet Secondly There must be some convenient Time set apart which should always be in the Afternoon for seasonable and innocent Refreshments the Diversion and Reparation of your weary Thoughts as well as the Ease and Support of your Body But herein I must caution you that your Recreations be moderate endeavouring always to confine your self to these following Rules and Measures Therefore your bodily Pleasures should not be expensive of too much Time nor Money both which may be very well imployed to better Purposes nor cruel nor bloody nor sinful as when Pastimes and Sports are mixed with Anger Passion Violence Fury Cursing Swearing Quarrelling Covetousness and the like For we should use our Diversion and Merriments as we do Sawces to our Meats to delight and refresh Us that we may hereby become more active and vigorous when we return to our necessary Business and Studies which cannot by any means serve those good and necessary Ends unless they be always conducted with Reason and Sobriety Hitherto of those Arguments and Motives Rules and Methods which I hope may be of some use not only to allure and invite tho most agreeable to your own temper and therefore more attractive but direct you too in the successful Management of your Studies We pass on now to the Second Head which will more immediately respect your Manners and Deportment as they dispose to Religion The End of the First Part. ADVICE TO A YOUNG GENTLEMAN Of an Honourable FAMILY Now in His TRAVELS Beyond the SEA'S c. PART II. Of Manners and Deportment THE tender Care of your Worthy Parents in your vertuous and religious as well as learned Education and your own natural Genius and Temper might spare me the trouble of writing a large Essay of Morality and Civil Deportment Yet because Wickedness and Vice is always more insinuative than Vertue and Goodness which by several repeated Acts grows gradually to a custom and becomes habitual and because Persons in your Station are usually exposed to more and greater Temptations than those who move in a lower Orbe Therefore without any further Apology you 'l be pleas'd to indulge me the liberty and freedom to become your Remembrancer or rather Monitor in a few Things And First It will be a great Argument of Parts and Discretion to be modest and reserved in speaking of your Self Family and Affairs lest by a sanciful and over-weaning Conceit of your own Quality and Merits you deservedly incur the the Censure of Pragmaticalness and Ostentation from which Precipice many have dangerously fallen For we know that Pride was the Sin of the fallen Angels and Foundress of Hell the ruine of Mankind from the beginning of the Creation and ever since hateful in it self and abominable to God and all good Men But besides the Evil such is the Folly and Vanity of this Vice that tho the humorous and self-conceited Man has seldom any thing to boast of yet he 's usually so transported with an Opinion and tow'ring Ambition of what he has as to neglect a Supply of what is wanting and being always attended with Insolence and Contempt of others do's effectually blast and disparage all other Vertues For every Man is more inquisitive after the Blemishes than Beauties of a proud Person whereas the humble and modest Man may pass silently and uncensured with more real Faults and Indiscretions Therefore have always a lowly and modest Opinion of your own Person Quality Acquisitions Merits and Endowments both of Body and Mind and be content that others should have so too For why should any Man admire those little Pittances of Learning Knowledge c. seeing they are not properly our own but are either begg'd or borrow'd from others or have been purchased and acquired by dear-bought Experience Besides if we seriously reflect upon and consider all the Desiciences Follies and Indiscretions of our best Performances the Ignorance and Errors of our Judgments the Perverseness and Obstinacy of our Wills the many Sins and Infirmities we are daily guilty of and that every thing we have may be taken away or blasted in a moment Such Considerations as these would humble the proudest Man alive and subdue all the vain and insolent Conceits of our haughty
't is not the Province nor in the power of private Men to reform Religion this being wholly lest to the prudent management of those Governours whom the divine Providence has constituted and appointed to rule over Us. Wherefore that precipitant and rash Zeal which some miscall Puty will more disturb the Peace of their own Consciences and prejudice the Interest of the Church than their charitable and peaceable Compliance with those seeming Error and Defects which they so much cavil at and complain of 7. 'T is the greatest Argument then of Imprudence and Indiscretion to run upon manifest and real Evils upon those Fears and Jealousies which are meerly groundless and only imagin'd to be so Will any Man of Reason and Religion dare to forsake Gods publick Ordinances and make a Schism in the Church of Christ because perhaps there may be some probable Defects in her Communion For Gods Commands to attend his Publick Worship and endeavour the Peace of the Church are plain and positive whereas the Errors objected against us are dubious and disputable And now to cast the Scales the far greater number of pious learned judicious Men are on our side so that for any thing they know they may be mistaken But granting 'em that we do err let our Governours see to it we have a sufficient Rule for our Obedience nor dare we substract it for the sake of an Inconvenience only if their Commands be not sinful but they have none for their Disobedience And therefore seeing they have no lawful Authority to reform the least Error or Mistake in Government it would be the greater Prudence and more Christian like to pray mourn in secret for what they apprehend amiss than to disobey and exasperate their Governours stir up Divisions in the Church run upon the dangerous Hazzards of a licentious and unwarrantable Separation 8. We should be always more concern'd for promoting the Interest of the Gospel and our own National Church than the gratifying of our own personal and private Fancies and Opinions For it has been a great fault in most of our Brethren of the Non-conformity who have been so wedded to their own private Humours and Conceits that they have almost quite forgot the Peace of the Church and the true Interest of the Protestant Reform'd Religion Hence have sprung those Heresies and Schisms and that Atheism and Prophaneness which have so strangely over-spread the whole Nation to the great scandal of our Religion and Government and have done what in their power lies to yield up themselves and us a Prey to our cruel and merciless Enemies Whereas if they had the least sense of their Duty and Interest they would keep close at this Time especially to our Communion which under God would be their chief Refuge and yield in some small Matters tho less agreeable to their own private Sentiments and Opinions for the greater Benefit of the Publick 9. No Prejudice should prevail with any Man so far as to make him unwilling to recant and disclaim his Errors upon a through Conviction and return to the ways of Truth and Peace from which he has formerly erred And therefore 't is a great Fault in many who are unwilling to retract those Errors which they have espoused lest they should be censured by their Party as Renegadoes and Apostates from their Religion Whereas if they would but seriously consider it 't will be their greatest Honour as well as Interest and a special Evidence of their Integrity to acknowledg recant their Errors Mistakes nor need any Man be asham'd or afraid to confess he has erred St. Aug. writ a whole Book of Retractations for which he was deservedly as much esteem'd as for any of his other Works Nor can any Man come under the vile imputation and scandal of an Apostate who changes only some mistaken Errors and Opinions not his Religion And Lastly Others have been extreamly to blame in setting up their own private Glosses and Interpretations of the Holy Scriptures as infallible Maxims and necessary Conclusions insomuch that they I rather disturb the Peace of the Community than be persuaded to recede from them For being ignorant of the scope and meaning of those sacred and lively Oracles they presently sancy without the least true ground that every Passage founding that Way must be a strong and forcible Argument to prove and confirm their Opinion The Scriptures indeed be allowed and are of important and necessary use for the Conduct of their Faith and Manners in the ways of Religion But then shall every Mechanick presume to be an Interpreter and Judge and think himself as infallible as the Pope in Cathedra of all the abstruse and difficult Passages in Holy Writ Now what can it be but meer Enthusiasm and Delusion in any one to pretend to interpret the dark Points of Scripture which neither concern Mens Faith nor Manners without the use of those Means which are out of the reach of the Vulgar They 'l readily grant that in all other Professions Arts and Sciences a Man must be a considerable time and take great pains to gain Experience ere he can be capable of managing and must be an approved Artist before any one will entrust him with Business in his way of Dealings in the World. Shall every Novice then who can scarce read a Chapter distinctly in the Bible presume to have as much Skill in Divinity and the Holy Scriptures as he that has been train'd up all his life in the Schools of the Prophets has the advantage of all useful Books understands the Languages wherein the Scriptures were originally written and makes this Study his whole Business and Profession These are such wild and extravagant Conceits as one would think that no Man of common Reason and Prudence should once pretend to And yet there are several illiterate country Hobs and conceited Tradesmen in Market Towns and of my acquaintance as there are in most places of this Kingdom who 'l undertake to interpret the Scripture and preach according to their way and yet with more boldness and confidence than the greatest Doctors of the Chair But we leave such to their own Fancies and Delusions which can neither concern you nor me more at present than to pity and pray for them that they may come in due time to a true sense of their unaccomtable Errors and whilst unretracted unpardonable Mistakes These I am persuaded are such Reasons as will puzzle our Dissenting Brethren to answer and obviate all their Pleay and Pretences to a warrantable Separation from the Church of England However Sir such as they are are humbly offer'd to your serious Perusal and probably they may be useful to you in your present Circumstances having calculated them primarily for that Meridian Yet let not these or any other so bind you up as to neglect greater and better of your own For it will be your great Interest and Advantage to weigh and measure the Drift and Design of all Counsels by the Dictates of your own Reason and Judgment I doubt I have wearied your Patience with a tedious Epistle the Subjects being so copious have drawn it out to an undue Proportion Yet when you have seriously consider'd the Scope and Design of it in its full Latitude and Importance I hope you 'l candidly excuse not only the Length but all other Mistakes and Defects in it without any further Apology Whatever Indiscretions I have been guilty of either in the Undertaking or management and composure of this Discourse are wholly imputable to my Self none of your Relations or Friends being yet acquainted with it For all which I do most earnestly and humbly beg your Pardon Now that God Almighty may ever bless preserve succeed and prosper you in your Progress and Return and that all your Endeavours may be acceptable to Him well-pleasing to your Friends and a comfort and benefit to your Self shall be the most earnest hearty and constant Prayer of Prayer of Honoured SIR Your humble devoted Servant March 6h Stylo vetere 1687 / 8.