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A66355
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The vanity of childhood & youth wherein the depraved nature of young people is represented and means for their reformation proposed : being some sermons preached in Hand-Alley at the request of several young men, to which is added a catechism for youth / by Daniel Williams.
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Williams, Daniel, 1643?-1716.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing W2657; ESTC R31018
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71,103
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147
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Therefore press thy Soul with the sence of it's want and with the loveliness and necessity of Wisdom This will help thee to strong desires which are fervent Prayers Oh Child wilt thou be a Fool for want of praying Shall God say Here 's a Youth void of Wisdom because he would not ask it 2. Study and believe the Scriptures If thy Judgment bedirected by the Word it will be sound that gives understanding unto the simple Psal. 119. 130. Be sure you learn to read and when you can read read the Scriptures most there you must learn to think aright of God they will teach thee what the Will of God is the way of Salvation is there discovered from them thou hast the truest account of Sin and Holiness In the written Promises thou wilt know what to hope for in the Threatnings what thou shouldst fear in the Commandments what thou must do in the revealed Doctrines what thou shouldst believe Come Children you are allowed to learn the Scriptures Timothy is commended for knowing the Scriptures from a Child 2 Tim. 2. 15. Study you these there is nothing needfull for a Christian which is not contained therein Every thing as to Salvation is doubtful which is not deduced from these 3. Suspect thy first thoughts and never be governed by thy Fancy If thy sudden imaginations be right they will bear enquiry if they be wrong they need amendment Ordinarily the first dictates proceed from Vanity and shall that prescribe when Life and Death depend on thy Resolves nay how knowest thou but that they be Satans whispers which thou executest when Fancy is thy Guide for he speaks to the Soul by impressing the Imagination 4. Converse with the Godly Wise and strictly observe and lay up their Sayings and Examples The Word tells us He that walketh with wise men shall be wise but the Companion of fools shall be destroyed Prov. 13. 20. Their Speeches will instruct their practice will allure imitation whereas ill Company will debauch thy Mind and nourish thy Lusts. Prudent Persons will judge thy temper by thy associates well knowing thou art already or wilt certainly be what thy chosen Companions are 5. Design all knowledge in order to practice and live up to the light thou receivest He that in Sacred things takes up with Notions for notions sake is as truly a Fool as if he knew nothing It 's a practical Judgment that makes us spiritually wise when other knowledge will aggravate our sin and woe Oh Young Man wilt thou say unto Wisdom Thou art my Sister Prov. 7. 4. wilt thou cast off Folly with Indignation as thy great Disease should you be fond of that which sin introduced and will obstruct your healing whiles it prevails Folly is the bane of intellectual Beings and that 's of the worst sort which guides our practice Folly is the root of all your other Sins Wer 't thou spiritually wise thy work were more than half done and methinks thou shouldst not be hardly perswaded to get Wisdom Child wouldst thou be willing to be an Ideot Surely no every one pitieth such a one and is too apt to laugh at him But I tell thee to be a Fool as to Eternal things is much worse than to be an Ideot The Ideot hath few if any actual Sins to answer for but thou hast many There may be hopes of an Ideots Salvation especially if he be the Child of a Believer but if thou remain spiritually a Fool there 's no hope of thee tho' both thy Parents were the best of People All Folly is the blemish of Humane Nature but Spiritual Folly most of any 2. Young People are subject to Inconsiderateness and rashness How hard is it to make you think or lay the greatest things to heart neither Danger nor Duty do Young Ones apply to themselves Would not the Consciences of most of you agree with my accusation if I tell thee Child and thee Young Man or Woman Thou art under God's Wrath but wilt not consider it Thou dost not meditate on the way of recovery tho it be at great expence provided Christ dyed for thee but thou hast not spent one hour in the Contemplation of him Thou art loth to think what thy wayes are whether good or bad nor thy State whether safe or dangerous How few Young Ones here have seriously asked themselves Am I born again or no what will my sins bring me to what evil is there in my Sins when I must stand at Gods Tribunal to be judged what shall I answer what is like to be the issue how shall I dwell with everlasting burnings It 's too commonly with others as it was with that Young Man He goeth after her straightway or suddenly as an Oxe goeth to the slaughter till a dart strike through his Liver As a Bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life Prov. 7. 22 23. He took not time to think what would be the issue of Sin unavoibable Torment gives the first prospect of his danger when consideration would have represented this Misery as a guard against Sin even whiles Temptation solicited Quest. What shall I a Young one do to deliliver me from this inconsiderateness Answ. In general strive to consider and bind thy mind to suitable and fixed Thoughts To this end 1. Do not at any time allow thy Thoughts to wander unaccountably It 's hard to confine them at any time when they usually rove It 's a great help for this World and for another to have our thoughts manageable and our Souls capable of being easily fixed in their Contemplations When ever thou thinkest be able to say What I think of it is worth a thought 2. Awe thy Soul with the importance of the things thou oughtest to consider If they be Soul-matters they be of the highest nature and they be of greatest concern to thee Tell thy self Life and Death depends on these If Sin have dominion over me I shall dye If I am not born again I cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3. 5. And shall I lightly think of these what 's all the World to me if I perish for ever Things Divine things on which Eternity depends must be considered Oh my Soul wilt yea darest thou refuse to dwell on these which thou wert made for which thou must shortly converse with as the only realities whether thou wilt or no. 3. Get so much Knowledge of what thou shouldst consider as that thou mayst be able to represent it to thy Mind in some evidence It 's hard to consider long of what we little know if it be of God be not unacquainted with his Nature if it be of Sin be not ignorant of arguments to disswade from it and a sence of what aggravates it c. 4. Learn to discourse with thy self and to urge things upon thy Heart This will fix thy thoughts and bring things with some due impression on the Heart If thou canst not debate the matters
mind as one determined to run thy Christian Race with intenseness and haste 1 Pet. 1. 13. 6. Young People are subject to Levity and inordinate Mirth This is a common distemper your talk is frothy and unsavoury How far from grave are you in your Carriage or Dress Vain Books thou lovest to read idle Tales thou likest to hear foolish Sights thou art best pleased with foolish Songs thou greedily learnest what airy Conceits is thy Imagination filled with These thou indulgest till they become the Guides of thy practice and chief Object of thy thoughts and Discourse To say nothing of thy Instability excessive Laughter vain Jestings Merriments c. Oh young ones is this a Temper to be allowed it is condemned by all prudence it 's contrary to all that is serious and obstructs all improvement in wisdom How odious is the character of a vain Fellow 2 Sam. 6. 20. How do God and Angels despise thee How do the Good and Wise compassionate thee Yea canst thou refuse to be angry with thy self Reason a little with thy own Soul Have I not better things to think of than these silly matters which tend to no good for Soul or Body Do not these antique gestures make me ridiculous What hurt to others what a wound to my self comes by this frothy talk Is not my mind grosly vain that I can relish such fooleries Can it ever be bettered whiles I employ my self in nothing but what is foolish Dost not thou find that this lightness is even risen to prophaneness Thou canst ridicule the Scriptures sport with the Divinest Subjects and turn the most serious matters into Fuel to thy childish Conceits Poor Wretch God will force thee to be ferious by the Torments hee 'l shortly inflict Thou wilt be convinced that thy Atheistick thoughts have not put God out of his Throne though they cast thee out of his Favour Thy ridiculing of Religion hath not made it less real or necessary though it hath excluded thee from all the blessings of it Thy making a mock of sin Prov. 14. 9. hath not a jot lessened its evil but exposed thee more to the Vengeaance due to it Thy jocular temper shall not delay the awful recompense of that Contempt wherewith thou hast treated the gravest Matters What is more fit to make a serious Heart bleed than to see thee jest and fool thy self into eternal Flames how surprizing will those Torments be to a poor Creature that always disdained a sober thought Luk. 12. 46. Q. How shall a young Person be healed of this Levity and inordinate Mirth Ans. In general follow after Sobriety and Discretion 1 Pet. 4. 7. The want of these is evident in thy frothy Behaviour and a total want of them is unbecoming thee in the early exercise of thy Reason much more in improved Age. The gravity of an old Man cannot be expected in a Child but a degree of it is necessary to the youngest that is capable of acting by the notices of a discerning mind What is thy Reason for but to discern what is meet direct thee to what is fit and govern thee in thy Carriage according to the Rules of thy Condition Discretion will tell thee a godly Book is more profitable than a Play-Book the Soul deserveth more Care than a perishing Body that will shortly be Meat for Worms that silly Tales edifie not as wise Discourses Sobriety will direct thee to endeavour a demeanour becoming a Man rather than an Ape it will check thee in those Jests which discovers thy Vanity as well as expose a Christian Name it will urge thee to refrain matter of future sorrow for the sake of that contemptible pleasure which thou takest in indulging a light Fancy whiles more important things are not regarded To this end 1. Oft represent to thy self thy Condition in this life Sure it must conduce to seriousness when thy mind is accustomed to such thoughts as thy present State suggest Oh young Man thou art born a Child of Wrath Eph. 2. 3. thy Nature is vicious the condemning Sentence was pass'd on thee by the Law of Innocency Rom. 5. 18. Death is justly fearful thou art in a state of Trial and on thy good Behaviour for an endless Joy or Misery Thou hast contracted much guilt by thy actual Enormities and Omissions Satan the World and thy own Lusts are active to fix the Curse and prevent thy reconciliation with God by keeping thee in a state of Infidelity Impenitency and Disobedience to the Gospel Thy Exercies as a Christian are difficult if thou art saved it must be scarcely 1 Pet. 4. 18. and many endeavours for Salvation do prove ineffectual because a perseverance in so many things are essential to determine thy State Alas of many called how few are chosen multitudes of Professors miscarry seemingly strong hopes are oft delusive The Heart is above all things deceitful and so desperately wicked that it may well be asked who can know it Jer. 17. 9. These and the like things may call thee to mind thy self and lay that froth which argueth small sense of thy bleeding Wounds slippery Paths disadvantages and dangers attending thy Case in this Life as it leadeth to Eternity 2. Deliberately propose a becoming End in all thy Words and Actions and let them be conducive to that end To speak or act thou knowest not why is a reproach to thy Prudence and so it is to speak or do things to an end which they are not fit to serve Neither is it becoming a serious Person to intend that which will put him to the blush whiles he deliberates of it I can hardly think thou darest say to thy self in thy Closet I 'le spend so many hours to day in shewing my own Folly or gratifying anothers Madness I 'll lay out my Pains to divert my own mind or anothers from all that is serious to make my Heart vainer than it is to furnish my self with those false Notions of things which I must with trouble unlearn before I be wise and to strengthen that levity to which I am already too prone Canst thou resolve I will spend this week in trimming a poor Carkass and neglect my Soul let this shift for it self as to any care of mine unless it be to add to its hurt by the snares which my vain conversation shall expose it to But if thy design be what 's edifying thou canst not imagin a course of Foolery will ever accomplish that design Yea this very fixing on warrantable Purposes will gradually dispose thee to seriousness 3. Remember thou art still under the observation of such as should awe thee to Sobriety and make thee ashamed and afraid of a frothy behaviour Thou wouldst be ashamed that a wise Friend were acquainted with all thy light Francies and talk but one day Oh! forget not that God trieth the reins and knows all thy thoughts Isa. 66. 18. Poor Youth is not the Eye of thy God and Judge more than