Jesus come quickly Having thus Conducted Young Persons to the Holy Altar which unless they are extreamly wanting to themselves is next to Conducting them to Heaven I shall leave them there to the blessing of God and our Saviour who is ready to embrace them with the Arms of his Mercy and seal them with his life-giving Spirit to the Day of Eternal Redemption Only to their own Pious Meditations and Prayers they may if they please add the following Litany A LITANY FOR Young Gentlemen O God the Father of Heaven of Angels and of Men have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners O God the Son who hast Redeem'd the World with thy most Precious Blood have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners O God the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Spiritual Heavenly Life have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity whose Wisdom and Power and Goodness is Infinite have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners Remember not Lord the Sins and Offences of our Youth nor be extream to mark what we have done amiss Spare us good Lord spare us a little that we may recover our strength and according to thy Mercy think thou upon us for thy goodness Spare us good Lord. From forgetting our Creator in the Days of our Youth from wasting the flower of our age in vanity and folly and reserving our decrepid Years for the Service of God Good Lord deliver us From valuing the Blessings we enjoy more than the Giver of them from trusting in any thing more than in Providence and from loving Pleasure more than thee our God Good Lord deliver us From dishonouring our Bodies with Intemperance and Vncleanness from polluting our Souls with impure Imaginations from defiling our Mouths with prophane and impious or obscene Discourses Good Lord deliver us From abusing our Reason in opposing Religion from debasing our Wit to the service of our Lusts from living like Beasts when thou hast made us Men and Christians Good Lord deliver us From excesses of Passion and a turbulent Spirit from tormenting our selves because others misuse us from the guilt and the misery of Malice and Revenge Good Lord deliver us From Conceit and Pride Envy and Ambition from foolish Rashness and inconsiderate Heat from despising our Guides and following our own Counsel only Good Lord deliver us From stubborn Obstinacy and deafness to Advice from contempt of Reproof and anger at the Reprover from a blinded Mind and a seared Conscience Good Lord deliver us From deadness in thy Service and a formal Religion from obedience that is fanciful humoursome and uncertain from a superstitious use or neglect of the Ornaments of Worship Good Lord deliver us From forgetting Thee or our selves in raptures of Enthusiasm from pretending to Piety for the sake of the World and from all the Paths that lead to the Portion of Hypocrites Good Lord deliver us From conforming to the World in the Arts of Deceit from fawning and flattery Censure and Detraction from false Smiles and treacherous Friendship Good Lord deliver us From impatience in Trouble and excessive Dejections from distrust of thy Providence and Desperate Courses from fretting against God for what we bring upon our selves Good Lord deliver us In all time of Temptation by Prosperity or Adversity in all sudden Surprizes and imminent Dangers in the hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment O Blessed Jesus by all that thou hast done and suffered for us then succour and deliver us And tho' unworthy as we are and miserable Sinners yet encouraged by thy boundless Mercy and Goodness we beseech thee farther to hear us and as the Guardian and guide of our Youth shew us the way that we should walk in for we lift up our Souls unto thee Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us O that our ways might be directed by thy Commandments and our footsteps never wander from them that we might meditate upon thy Precepts and delight our selves in thy Service and never forget thy Word Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us Thy Hands have made us what we are from thee comes all we have or hope for O give us the Vnderstanding that we may entirely Praise and Love thee and not be stupid and insensible as the Beasts that perish Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us That it may please thee to inspire us with Affections becoming Christians that we may live worthy of that most Holy Profession as Disciples of Jesus and design'd for Glory We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That our Saviours life may be the rule of ours that we may tread in his steps and become like him in temper and spend our days as he did in advancing thy Glory and doing good in our Generation We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That we may employ our Youth and our Strength in the great work of our Salvation and run the way of thy Commandments with vigour and spirit and the warmth and fervour of a chearful Mind We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That Religion may be esteem'd by us as our chief good that all things else may be subservient to it as the delight and the joy of our hearts Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us That our Faith may be irreproveable steady and modest such as may work by Love and purifie our Hearts and bring down every thing that exalts it self against obedience to Christ Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us That with our whole Heart we may devote our selves to thy Service and be sincerely what we do Profess and value the Joys of a quiet Conscience above thousands of Gold and Silver We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That our Baptismal Vow may be kept Inviolate the Promises we have since made to thee faithfully perform'd and all our Pious Resolutions made good We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. O let us not go wrong thou guide of our steps O let us not fall thou that art our Support Discover to us the snares that are laid for our Souls and grant that we may ever escape them Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us And when we are down Lord do thou raise us up When we go astray like Sheep that are lost O seek thy Servants pity our sad state and bring us back unto thy fold again Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us We will think on our ways and turn our feet unto thy Testimonies we will make haste without delay to keep thy righteous Judgments with thy assistance which we humbly beg and Beseech thee to hear us good Lord. But who can tell how often he offendeth Cleanse thou us therefore from our secret faults and keep us from presumptuous Sins lest they get the Dominion over us Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us May we never despise the Riches of thy long-suffering and forbearance nor by our continu'd impenitence treasure up Wrath against the day of Wrath but be intirely softned by thy goodness and speedily led to Repentance We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. And may it please thee
to give us that which is Repentance to Salvation a Godly sorrow working a thorough amendment of every evil Thought and Word and Work Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us That it may please thee to assist us in our Addresses to thy Holy Altar where we will again dedicate our selves intirely to thee and do thou verifie our Offering We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Pity our Infirmities and prepare our Hearts for the reception of our dearest Saviour hearken to the good desires which thou thy self hast put into our Minds and grant that by thy help they may be brought to good effect thro' Jesus Christ our Lord Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us And thou Eternal Son of God we most humbly beseech thee to hear us O spotless Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of a wretched wicked World have Mercy upon us and now and ever grant us thy Peace we are thine O therefore save us for thy Mercies sake Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us And lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen BOOKS newly Printed for and Sold by Richard Wellington at the Lute in St. Pauls Church-yard A Discourse of the Nature and Faculties of Man in several Essays with some Considerations of the Occurrences of Humane Life By Timothy Nourse Gent. price 4 Shillings A Treatise of Education especially of Young Gent. in 2 parts By Obadiah Walker D. D. the Sixth Edition much enlarged price 3 s. Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning the Second Edition with large Additions By William Wooton B. D. Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham price 6. s. A Brief and Easie Method to understand the Roman History with an exact Chronology of the Reigns of the Emperours an Account of the most Eminent Authors when they flourished and an Abridgment of the Roman Antiquities and Customs by way of Dialogue for the use of the Duke of Burgundy Translated from the French with large Additions By Mr. Tho. Brown Very proper to be read in Schools price 2 s. The whole Works of that Excellent Practical Physician Dr. Tho. Sydenham wherein not only the History of Acute Diseases are Treated of after a New and Acurate Method but also the shortest and safest way of Curing most Chronical Diseases Translated from the Original Latin By John Pechey of the College of Physicians Travels in and thro' Italy Describing the Libraries Monasteries Nunneries Temples and Palaces of Princes with an Account of their Habits Customs and Laws By Mr. Lassels Gent. The Second Edition enlarged price 5 s. The History of Polybius the Megalopolitan Containing an Account of the Transactions of the whole World but principally of the Roman People during the first and second Punick Wars in three Volumes Translated by Sir Henry Sheers and Mr. Dryden The third Volume never before Printed price 10 s. Sir Thomas Pope Blount's Essays upon several Important Subjects The third Edition enlarged To which is added a New Essay of Religion and an Alphebetical Index to the whole price 3 s. De Re Poetica Or Remarks upon Poetry with Characters and Censures of the most Considerable Poets whether Ancient or Modern By Sir Thomas Pope Blount price 5 s. A Natural History containing many not common Observations By Sir Thomas Pope Blount price 3 s. A short History of Monastical Orders in which the Primitive Institution of Monks their Temper Habits Rules and the Condition they are in at present are treated of by the Author of Frauds of the Monks The Art of Knowing ones Self or a Diligent search after the Springs of Morality price 2 s. 6 d. Lilly Improv'd Corrected and Explained with the Etymological part of the common Accidence By W. T. Master of a Boarding-School at Fulham above 22 years price 1 s. Five Love-Letters Written from a Nun to a Cavaleer with the Cavaleer's Answer Translated by Sir Roger L'Estrange price 1 s. 6 d. A Discourse of Plurality of Worlds Translated from the French price 1 s. 6 d. The Dialogues of the Dead in two parts Translated from the French The French Common-prayer in 12 s. or in large 8vo Mauger's French Grammar The Sixteenth Edition price 2 Shillings Where you may be Furnish'd with all sorts of Novels FINIS
of our own when we place our Devotion in them And no less unworthy of God and unbecoming our selves is the other Extreme of rejecting all Order and Decency in Religious Exercises It deprives him of that Publick Honour and Homage which 't is fit the Lord of Heaven and Earth should receive from his Creatures and his Vassals and quite takes away all Face of Religion out of the World Which yet when in Conjunction with the Religion of the Mind he has often declar'd himself well pleas'd with and expresly commanded his Peculiar People to pay him and was their Director in the manner how and never has forbid to any since And nothing certainly more unbecoming us poor Sinful Dust and Ashes and who had been extremely miserable but that the Mercies of our God were Infinite nothing more unbecoming us in our Addresses to him especially in Publick than to confine within our Breasts the Sence we have either of his Majesty or of his Mercy Rather with all humble Postures of our Bodies and grateful Expressions of our Lips should we declare to all the World and glad of an Opportunity to do so that there is an Infinitely Excellent tho' to us Invisible Being to whom we owe all that we are and have and hope for and to whom all possible Adoration and Praise is due And till of late this was the Sence and Practice of all the World But one Extreme generally produces another and too much of outward Religion in some has been the occasion of none at all in others Both equally unreasonable and far from true Devotion As for Familiarities and Intimacies with God they are likewise utterly condemn'd for the same Reasons as before being only an Argument of Mens unmeasurable Boldness and Confidence and that they very little understand or will not understand either God or themselves True Devotion is the most Humble Modest Decent thing in the World and is always attended with Reverence and Godly Fear And therefore such Men would do well to consider that Passage Luke 13.25 26. where we find the Door is shut upon those who with great Assurance could knock and cry Lord Lord open unto us and plead great Intimacy too We have eat and drunk in thy Presence and thou has taught in our Streets but still the Door continues shut and this Killing Answer given 'em Depart from me I know you not whence ye are ye workers of iniquity And then it follows There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets Persons peculiarly remarkable for their Great Modesty and Humility and profoundest Awe and Dread of the Divine Majesty and that tho' the Highest Favours were shown to them by God when ye shall see these in the Kingdom of Heaven who were far short of you in their Pretences to it and you your selves thrust out as Bold and Confident Intruders There is one more Mistake in this matter which it will not be amiss to take notice of and that is of those who are mightily for Blending Religion with common Conversation putting every thing into a Religious Dress and make this a great Argument of a Devout and Heavenly Mind Now tho' I readily grant that where there is True Devotion innumerable Hints and Opportunities will be taken to dart up Pious Thoughts to God and Holy Aspirations and nothing more acceptable to him nor a more becoming and grateful and beneficial Employment of a Christian's Mind and which I would therefore earnestly recommend to the Practice of all good People as the Beginning of their Heaven upon Earth Yet Devotion being a Rational thing all the outward Expressions of it to Men must be guided by Discretion and made use of only in proper Times and upon just Occasion But now every Time certainly is not proper nor every Occasion just for things of so Sacred a nature as is this we are speaking of And at every turn right or wrong to wedge in a Religious or Scripture-Sentence and affect to speak nothing but the Language of the Temple is the ready way to cloy Men with Religion and make them nauseate the most Holy Things And what has such a Tendency as this is a Strange kind of Devotion very Indiscreet if not much worse Having thus Consider'd the Description we gave of true Devotion in order to the preventing several great and dangerous Mistakes which are often made about it before I proceed to Recommend the Practice of it to young Persons from the great Benefit and Pleasure that attends it I can't but take notice how true the Devotion of the Church of England is and how infinitely to blame and without Excuse those of her Communion are if not truly devout Her Doctrine relating to it is what we have now explain'd and 't is founded on the Nature of God and the Nature of Man consisting in what is highly agreeable to each and excluding Mens Private Fancies and Humours Superstition and Enthusiasm and every thing that is unbefitting either God or our selves And as for the Manner of expressing it in Private we are left to our Liberty provided we keep within the Bounds of Decency and Reverence And in Publick there is every thing that is needful to raise and increase true Devotion and fix it upon its due Object and make it look like it self but nothing to divert the Mind from its Holy Employment and divide and weaken its Attention or make it degenerate either into Sordidness and cold Indifferency or an unbounded Liberty of Expression and Behaviour How few and how comely are her Ceremonies Such as an humble Devotion would choose were they not enjoyn'd such as express with Decency tho' without Pomp the Inward Sentiments of a Pious Mind and distinguish our Religious from Common Assemblies and that 's all So careful is our Church not to give Offence that altho' something more of this nature would not be too much yet less than she prescribes would be indeed too little Her Service I may truly call Divine it being for the main collected from the Holy Writings and the rest taken out of the best Liturgies of the Primitive Church Compil'd it is with excellent Judgment express'd in plain but very proper Language divided into short but comprehenfive Collects with variety enough to entertain the Mind and prevent its tiring but not so much as to scatter its Thoughts and tempt it to lose it self in unprofitable Wandrings And where all we have to do is to bear our part in it with all the Warmth and Fervour that we can and to which the Brevity of each particular Prayer does very much conduce As for the Musick of our Church in Declaiming against which many are so strangely Religious as to place a great part of their Devotion and Zeal who really are Objects of our Pity as well as Indignation no Man can express to what a Pitch it wings Devotion what Holy Flames and Ardors it excites how
prevent Mistakes in this matter which are very often made and of very fatal Consequence 't will be needful briefly to shew what true Repentance is 'T is such a Sense of Sin as fills the Soul with Shame and bitter Remorse for having Committed it utterly condemning it as the greatest Baseness Ingratitude and Folly Resolving for the Future no more to be Guilty of it and keeping that Resolution to the best of our Power Or in other Words 't is a Mans willing Amendment of his former Faults proceeding from a thorough Change of his Judgment concerning them attended with great Sorrow and compunction of Spirit for his acting so contrary to His own Reason and best Interest and violating the Just Commands of God whose innumerable Benefactions to Him make his utmost Services but a Just Debt Now from this Description of Repentance we may take Notice that 't is not every Religious fright occasion'd either by some awakening Discourses of the Dreadful Punishments that will overtake a Sinner in the other World back'd with the Terrors of his own guilty Conscience or by a fit of Sickness when the near Approaches of Death open His Eyes and give him a Sight of those Torments and never dying Flames which He is like to suffer and seem to be just ready to take hold of Him Much less is it a few forc'd Sighs and Tears a Lord have mercy upon us and a heedless unaffectionate Repetition of some Penitential Forms the Sense of which we do regard but little Notwithstanding all this a Man may retain the same Affection to Sin and be as Bad again as ever and such sort of Penitents always are so and very often Worse This sort of Sorrow for Sin is like that of a Traytor at the Gallows He Repents him it may be that He was engag'd in such and such Practices because they brought Him thither and the Time of his Execution is come but at the same time He is as much an Enemy to his Prince as ever and would gladly Repeat his Treason could He do it with Impunity Let every one therefore have a Care of taking any thing of this Nature for Repentance The greatest and most pungent remorse for Sin unless 't is follow'd by a thorough amendment of Life is nothing but what we call trouble of Mind and the lashes of Conscience which tho' they are apt to put Men upon making serious Reflections upon their ill Courses and by Degrees may bring them to a true sense of the Wickedness of their Sin which is a good step towards Repentance yet 't is but a Step And a great deal more must be done by him that will repent indeed His Mind and Judgment must be intirely chang'd his Temper and Disposition alter'd ill habits must be rooted out and the contrary good ones Established in their Room And his sorrow for Sin which at first was for his own sake and for fear he should suffer what God had threatned to inflict must be improv'd into a true godly sorrow such as respects that infinitely good Being who he so ungratefully rebell'd against and melts him down into all the passions of Shame and Confusion and self Abhorrence and Condemnation which attend a deep sense of doing basely by one who is infinitely kind and good to us 'T is this alone that will work Repentance to Salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 not to be repented of i. e. a constant Better Life Now from this short Account of the Nature of true Repentance we may see plainly that 't is a Work which must be set about Immediately if we would bring it to Perfection 'T is as Difficult as Necessary and requires very great Resolution Watchfulness and Diligence to carry it on succesfully and is indeed the proper business of Youth Mat. 5.25 Agree therefore with thine Adversary quickly as our Lord adviseth and with all the speed imaginable set about that great Work without which our Ruine will be inevitable And that young Persons may be the more effectually Perswaded to so ungrateful a Task so Melancholly an Employment they may please to attend to the following Considerations First Every deferring this great Duty to some other time is a resolv'd Continuance in a state which we know God infinitely hates and a new step to final Impenitency No Mans Conscience is sear'd and benum'd in an instant there must be frequent Acts of Violence done to it to silence its Clamours and make it stupid and insensible Now every time we put off our Repentance we renew that Violence our Conscience has less and less of feeling sin grows more and more habitual and therefore seems to sit lighter and easier upon us and that makes us still more Confident and Careless and so we go smoothly on in the way of Ruine till we become past feeling Ephes 4.19 as the Apostle Phrases it and then past Cure Thus the Sinner if let alone will certainly in the end become his own Executioner Every Permission of Sin to abide with us without Disturbance has it's Proportion of the Guilt and Misery of that hardned State which St. Austin thought was the sin against the Holy Ghost And the longer 't is Permitted the greater is that Guilt Rom. 1.28 and 't will insensibly grow into a Reprobate Mind and then without Remedy will follow the intollerable Punishment And therefore unless we can dwell with Everlasting Burnings it nearly concerns us without further delays to destroy Sin in its Embryo and very first Beginning lest before we think on 't it arrive to this fatal Perfection and bring forth this Death But Secondly tho' by God's special Care and Assistance a Sinner may be awaken'd before he comes to this sad Period which yet because no Man can be sure of 't is a very great Madness to trust to yet the longer we delay our Repentance the difficulty of it will Proportionably increase upon us When length of time has made Sin habitual to a Man and it becomes fix'd and rooted in his Nature it must needs be a very hard task to destroy those inveterate ingrain'd Habits and pluck up those spreading Roots of Bitterness which have so long over-run and taken Possession of the Soul The Prophet Jeremy says 't is as easie for an Ethiopion to change his skin and a Leopard his spots Jer. 13.23 as for those to do good that are accustomed to do evil which signifies at least that 't is the greatest Difficulty and requires an almost endless labour to perform Now what strange folly is it to suffer so fatal and spreading a Disease as Sin to go on for many Years without controul when even now at first 't is hardly to be cur'd and will give us a full Employment to keep under even to the last of our Days tho' we take it in time and begin with it immediately Besides as much as Youth is apt to depend upon the future and still defer till to Morrow how uncertain is it whether