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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	creature_n	young_a	youth_n	33	3	7.7939	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B05977	The map of the little world, illuminated with religion being a practical treatise, directing man to a religious scope, and right measure, in all the periods of his life; with devotion suitable. To which is added an appendix, containing a gospel ministers legacie, in some sermons, upon 2 Pet. 1. 12, &c. / By Patrick Strachan minister of the gospel at St. Vigeans.	Strachan, Patrick, fl. 1693.	1693 (1693)	Wing S5775A; ESTC R184656	117,746	314

teipsum know thy self The Heathens Lesson is very fit for a Christian The benefit of S● Acquaintance tends much to right Discretion and the Government of our Life● Which makes many invert that of S● Paul I know nothing by my self for want of reflection they can curse swear● lie and work abomination and their● heart never smites them So they are lef● to themselves and put under the sadd●● plague of getting success in sin Better 〈◊〉 have the Way hedged with Thorns lea●● thou run to ruine and labour so to guid● thy self that thy Heart condemn thee not and to exercise thy self with St. Paul to have 〈◊〉 Conscience void of Offence towards GOD and Man § 12. Many other things may be aded as rashness 〈…〉 and following vain customs 〈…〉 into a calling and course of life 〈◊〉 with no Deliberation but meerly from fondness and folly drive like Jehn in the pursuit of their carnal love and enter into a married sta●e so rashly and indiscreetly that thev may have leasure eneugh after to regrate and so youth runs himself into inextricable difficulties But quod faciendum semel deliberandum diu And he should engage in this warefare with good advice but of the most of these I may have occasion to speak to after this § 13. And so I come to the second thing to wit The directions and motives for his recoverie and the ordering this state of Age. 1. As long as Man climbs to the top of the Wheel and Ascends to the hight of his Temporary Horizon he should take leasure to look back on his bygone life and view well that he act contrary Good to these evils fore-mentioned that he be Considerate Knowing tender hearted busie in good Exercise rhat his Conscience be awak'd himself humble even cloathed with humility which layes a good foundation for the Reception of Grace in his after Age that he learn to change Vain thoughts● into Deliberation and Passions to rule them by a quiet Mind peaceable by patience and Moderation and the sooner he listens to the Call of GOD it will be easier for him that with great Aug he be alarmed with that of the Apostle Rom 13. 11. It is 〈◊〉 time to awake out of sleep Memory may decay in old Age. But Youth must remember hear Children the instruction of Wisdom Prov 6. 7. And since some a●● snatched away in their younger yea● some sin away and some play away their time Youth should not think i● too soon to be serious since posibly h● may not live till he think it time to b● serious § 14. It is Good for youth that is ready to stare upon rarities to take Wisdom from the example of such as miscarry least he himself become an Example and all sad accidents to others should make us listen to that of Solomon Follow the way of good men Better to be A monument of mercy than of wrath He must impartially correct● the errors of his bygon life and not be sparing in his own case to cry out with Judah against the Harlot and yet be the man himself that is defiled Gen. 38. 24. He must consider how he hath carried in all relations what sentiments he had of Religion what was his Temptation inclination humour and phansie what was his gift and what little good he hath done And if he Consider well he may acknowledge that he hath not obeyed the voice of his Teachers and that his Religion hath but Come by fi●s and that Possibly he hath harboured and does harbour some predominant sin and if he were serious he would find out the Dalilah that hath possessed his heart and know where the strength of his sin lyes and pray with the Psalmist LORD who knows his errors Psal 19. 12. § 15 It is high time then to smite thy thigh and knock thy breast and to be humble for thy bygon errors which thou may know to be a sincere repentance for them that if thou were placed in the former circumstances thou wouldst not react these follies And that thou doest not relish them with wonted affection And since they have not ruin'd thee show thy zeal revenge against these thy former Idols keep no reserve least thy Religion be Partial and Unpleasant look back with grief and redeem it with Duty sell not thy time for nought be no more beguild with toyes look back with Repentance and before thee with Prudence § 19. It is more then time also to consider thy Baptismal Engagement Whereby thou art sworn to GOD gets his mark and his Cognizance of Christianity Thou must renunce sin and Sata● GOD can make thy Baptism Effectual but 't is by Faith Repentance and Obedience that it works in the Adult Tho● must give the Answer of a good Conscienc● 1 Pet. 3. 21. to thy Baptism as St. Peter speak● thou must wash in the Laver of Regeneration till it produce the new Creature An● draw Vertue as a living Member from thy Blessed Head § 16. Who is now wise to consider these things look how the LORD trains thee in his Providence from Childhood to Youth GOD may bring thee hom● with the voice of the Rod look the● what Influence Providence hath upon thy Younger heart if it be humbled and 〈◊〉 to receive the Blessings of Religion § 17. And yet more particularly to direct this ingoverned Age that needs solidity to keep it from Reeling 〈◊〉 the Scripture teacheth thee 1 to remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth It is a part and a great part that layes the foundation of practical principles Memento 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vere memento Mori both to remember how to live and how to die And 2ly the Scripture bids thee flee youthfull lusts 2 Tim 2 2 1 What these lusts are thou reads not there but certainly youth hath its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proper lusts the vice of their age of their nature person and Nation Yet if thou look to the contrary Vertues which the Apostle there commends as Righteousness Grace Faith Love c. Thou shalt find Injustice Ambition Animosity Carnality Vnruliness Facileness Broils Tumults Contests and Duels that produceth dearfull deaths all which are against Charity which the Apostle there commends bnt thou must follow after Faith Love and Peace Secondly Shun idleness and evil Company beware of the Tavern and Stew If sinners entice thee consent thou not It is a Token that GOD hath called thee If thou choice a Right Calling It is time for thee now to think how to live Every minute of our short day has its Work Consider then well what Work thou puts thy Hand to and what Calling by the Advice of these that are Wiser than thy self may through GOD's Blessiing serve thee in this World and not Impede thy general Calling as a Christian Let thy Calling not be insnaring but approved propone not so much Gain as Contentedness And as I hinted before Oeteris paribus the Holy

Heart with the Salt of Grace and make me to grow in Grace Imprint O LORD upon the Table of my Heart the A B C of Christianity teach me to know Love Fear Choice and Obey Thee give me to savour something of Reason and Religion in my ruder Age that I may mind my moment not trifle my time away abou● things of no moment Pardon and heal the corruption of my nature and the Vices of my person give me the new Heart in my younger dayes take away all Impediments and prejudices at Vertue and Religion And so shape sharpen and Sanctifie me that I may become an Instrument of Thy Glory and be prepared for Duty in the following Periods of the Life that thou shalt grant me Amen Devotion in order to Youth to be Exercised on Tuesday NOw Blessed GOD thou hast enlarged me from the bondage of None-Age the yoak of Discipline Keep me under thy Discipline For thy yoak is easie and thy commands are not grievous I am now lifted up to the Prime of my Age LORD make me steddy by Thy Grace that I do not turn giddy and stagger When I look back I find I have been Childish in mind as well as body What dark conceptions have I had of thee And any little spark of Grace was smuthered with a Mass of corruption the Brute in me much mastered it How raw and rude were my Notions of Religion And how contracted and deadned was my Conscience I was almost in all evil and knew it not and much under the Senses and sensitive Appetite The root of all evil was in me and I was content with my pleasant Fetters and were not Thy Mercy Thou hadst fully cast me off the Stage as a miscreant unworthy to live Yet LORD thou hast brought through all this dark trance of Childhood 1 Kings 18. 26. Save me from youthful lusts and grant mewith Obadiab that I may fear thee from my youth purge me from the Dregs of Nature Let them not fix in my Bones least in fuller years I ●e made to possess the sins of my Youth Jo●● 20. 11. Make me vigorous to engage under the Banner of CHRIST to fight against the infernal Trinity the devil the world and the Flesh and own the Holy TRINITY Blessed for ever Give me to offer the first fruits of my Life to Thee LORD make me to relish the sweetnes● of Vertue above all the pleasures of the World and pardon the Errors of my Youth Psal 25 11. and so ballast and establish me with Grace that I may lanch out unto a longer Life and not make shipwrack of Faith and good Conscience but have Thy Word for my Pilote Thy Spirit for my Star Humility for my Ballast the Gail of Grace to fill the Soul of my Affections Thy Glory for my End and Eternal Life for my Harbour Through JESUS CHRIST My LORD Amen 3ly Devotion As to our Entrance to a ●alling and Relation to be exercised on Wednesday O GOD of Love the Father of all sweet Harmony and Peace and the great Proveditor of Man Thou hast made him a Sociable Creature and hast united Mankind in a Society as Members of one Body Thou hast ordained him to live by his own Industry in the use of the Means which by Thy Blessing tends to his Provision As Nature abhores Vacuity so Thou O LORD abhores Idleness and hath given a particular Vocation to Man for Vertue LORD make me religious in my general Calling as a Christian and frugall in my particular Calling grant me the composed Wisdom to make choice of a Helper like unto Me let neither Lightness ●ondness nor carnal phansie be the principle and measures of my Affection and choice let the Advice and council of those whom I ought to follow be consulted and bless me with such purity in my Design that if by Thy Allowance I enter into a conjugal State I may ascend that bed with Innocence and Whiteness without the very knowledge of the carnal Tricks of Sin and Satan And when entered● to entertain a constant Conjugal Affection to the wife or Husband of my Youth and if ever I have escaped in the least wash me throughly and Cement our Relation with the Endearments of the best Bond that our Family may be a Bet●el to Thee Make our Calling Honest and Creditable and wherein we may be usefull to Thee and if Thy Providence hath brought us to Fortunes give us to consider that Thou wilt only honour them that honour Thee make us usefull in our Generation in the Stations Thou hast put us and may we with all Descretion pursue the Ends of our General and particular Calling to Thy Glory and our Comfort Amen Fourthly Devotion for our Riper years to be exercised on Thursday O Eternal Life and Action who dwells in a perpetual Repose grant me in all my Actions to aim Thee and repose in Thee and since now I must resolve with Action having not only the charge of my self but of a Family grant me to be active to what is accountable and agreeable for the increase of my Talents and the Improvement of the opportunities of my Time and Station Save me from vexing cares and doubtful a●xiety but grant me rational and providential Ca●e in the diligent Use of the Means Help me to Cast all my Care upon Thee 1 Pet 5 7. And as to dist●ust to be careful for nothing Save me from all impertinent and destructive digresions and let me never be worse than an Infidel in not providing for my Family and grant me O LORD Thy Blessing without which my ●arly and late Endeavours will not profit us Save me from all wrong measures in the Improvement of my Stock knowing that A little that the Righteous Man hath is better th●n the Treasures of the wicked For thou can turn my Mite into Talents Give me to seek the Kingd●m of GOD and mind the one Thing necessary without which all bussiness is but trouble give me to win my Soul and do Good in my place and time that when I cease from my labours I may enter into the Repose of everlasting Rest Through JESUS CHRIST my LORD Amen 3ly Devotion For our Declining Age on Friday O Uncha●geable GOD the same to Day Yesterday for ever the whole Creation hath been is and will be under a Decay untill the Deliverance of the Children of GOD. Our Life is but a vapour and a shadow the World so weights us that man begins to Decline ere he well consider that he lives Help O LORD my bowing and declining age give me to ●loath my self against the Winter and fill me well against a troubled Sea LORD give me to superstruct well upon solid Foundations to build my House upon a Rock 'T is time for me now to be wise since I have seen and done so much folly I will not choice the World for my portion it is Thee O LORD and Thee only as the Cen●er and Repose of my

be diligent since we know not the hour § 7 It cann●t then be impertinent seriously to warn the World to look to the Periods of their Life Which is the great Scope and Design of the following Treatise to lead the Christian through the Labyrinth of Life that he may well consider how short his time is with the Psalmist Psal 86. 47. And follow the Threed of the Word of GOD to direct him in all the Stages and Periods of his Life which is here set before thee in the following Periods Period first Of our Beginning and bygone Life and the Stages thereof Period second Of our present Time and the State of Our Growing Age and the several Stages thereof Period third Of the future Age or what is to come in the Declensions of Nature and the Stages thereof With a Vale to the WORLD Period first Of our beginning and bygone life and the Stages thereof MAn's Age is but a Span and but an Instant 'twixt our birth and our death Man comes to the World and knows not how and goes to a World of Eternity and knows not when He lives he groans he acts awhile and dyes And it takes a great part of the short Span of his time ' ere he well know where he is how he is and what he hath to do He lives long the life of a Brute as it were without reason It 's fit then when he begins to reflect to act as a rational Creature that he consider what he is and review the bygone time Yesterday can not be brought back But time may be Redeemed His life is but a dream yet he may gather some good out of it When he awakes if he consider The Prayer ANd Thou O LORD who only Remains unchangeable in all the stages and Changes of time and the inexpressible permanence of Eternal ages World without end Fix the heart of unconstant Man upon thee alone Our Soul is the Daughter of an high House Give us Grace with the Psalmist to say unto thee LORD thou art my LORD Psal 16. 2. Keep us O GOD in thy Name and make us pure and clean to be fit for Thee Keep our Immortal Soul in life and still upon wing to Flee to its Center and repose for where shall it Flee to be happie but to Thee thou only has the words of Eternal Life O JESV the Powerful attractive of Hearts who makes all Generous Souls sigh after thee draw us to thee for this is our Rest and only repose which sweetneth all the acerbities of time and Bitterness of this World here will we dwell for ever and If we Change upon the Wheel of time we roll indeed but in Thee we can not be moved nor Removed Amen Come I now to consider the stages and several Tu●ns of the first Period of our Life STAGE First The Contents OF the Formation and Production of the Infant of the propagation of the Soul and of sin of Infant Baptism and the right that the Children of Church Members have unto it The duty to be extended to Infants as Care Provision Prayer for them to study their Nature and Humour and acting accordingly Grave example and a serious timeous dedication of them to GOD which for more distinct clear uptaking thereof shall be considered by a Particular account of the purpose and d●ctrine of the first Stage in the first period of our life § 1. Let Naturalists and Ancient or modern Masters of Medicine discourse of the Formation of the Child in the womb Job and the Royal Psalmist draweth this unseen Embryo best with a Divine Pencil Job 10. 8. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about thou hast fashioned me as the Clay Has thou not powred me out as Milk and croudled me as Chees Thou hast Clothed me with Skin and Flesh and fenced me with Bones and Sinews And Psal 139. from 13. Thou hast possessed my Reins thou hast covered me in my Mothers Womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made and Curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when yet there was none of them Man 's a wonder before the World see him lying in the dark Cells of the womb and if he consider from what he Flows and his little Chamber in the womb and how nourished there It may humble him he flows from Blood and lives on Blood and dwells amongst Blood and Ordurs Thy very nature may humble thee For as it proves the Wisdom and power of the GOD of Nature who can extract a quintessence out of Dullest matters so doth it bid thee look unto thy Original All the Earth being of one Blood Acts 17. 26. And there being no differance 'twixt the Prince and the Peasent and that GOD who teacheth Art to extract Rarities who by nature brings Silk from a Worm a Pearl from a Shell and precious Minerals from Dust and Rubbish doth make this Raritie Man Ex Humo Eccle. 12 7. For Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return thou comes from the womb and goes to thy long home the Grave If thou boast of thy Pedigree Go to the House of Rottenness and look to the worms that makes thy Flesh to shrink and learn to confess with Abraham that thou art Dust and Ashes Gen 17. 28. And with Job abhor thy self in Dust and Ashes Job 42. 6. And if thou shall consider that thou art not only Dust but fallen in the Dust and comes forth with a Contaminate Blood dying in thy sin and no Eye pitying thee Ezek 16. 1. it may further abase thee and not suffer thee to be proud when thou lyest in the Dunghill all besmeared with filth and uncleanness Consider then thy rise and thy fall and learn to be humble else thou art proud of nothing or worse than nothing § 2. Next As to the Propogation of the Soul and how the dust body comes to be animated not only with vital spirits but with a rational Soul I shall leave the curiousity of this also to Philosophers For altho some will have the Soul ex traduce because if not so Man doth not beget a perfect Man and commonly Children Patriscent follow the ill of the Parents and they are Father-like there is not only vitium Gentis familiae of the Nation and Family but also personae of the Person Yet its safest to joyn with the universal Church that the soul is infused according to that of St. Aug Creando infunditur infundendo Creature By creation it is infused and by the infusion of the Soul it is created And this common Vote is not infringed by the sentiments of some Private Men For although Man begetteth not a Soul yet he begets a spiritu● Organ and Embryo disposed for the Soul a● so doth he begett Man Virtually And the Scripture favours this Infusion as Solomon sayeth Dust shall return to Dust and the spirit to

with most natural and ●●easant inclinations For it 's hard to act ●gainst tide invita Minverva this makes ●ut ●oil and labour to little purpose and ●ithout proficiency And although Su●eriors are not fully to be concluded by ●●e swing of their Children's inclinations ●et are they carefully to observe their ●ay in their after Education and Act ●ccordingly in the Observing the methods of the Stage following STAGE Fourth From the 12 to the 18 Year of Man's Age. The Contents Resumeth the Doctrine and Instructions for Children And further presseth home the special concerns of their life w●● the Reinforcement of the Care and Du●● of Parents and Overseers with a Tra●●tion from Child hood to Growing A●● and entrance upon the Limits of You●● with some Rules and Motives direct●● and pressing this § 1. IT is now high time for the● O Man to lift up thy Eye● higher then the firmament and 〈◊〉 mind thy Creator look well then tha● thou consider thy bounden duty 〈◊〉 GOD the timous dedication and givin● up of thy name to Him and to po●der thy early engadgement and Baptismal Vow and as Baptism is the L●ver of Regeneration thou art to look 〈◊〉 it hath any influence upon thee and 〈◊〉 thou finds any thing of the motions of a● new life within thee if Baptism has ha●● lowed thee and if thou does seriously consider that thou art washed that thou mavest begin now to escape the polutious of the World through lust and that as new born Babes thou desire the sincere milk of the word that thou mayest grow thereby and if thou hast learned the Language of Canaan to speak with GOD and for GOD if thou hast attained to any discretion to put on Modesty humility and patience If thou hast learned to govern thy homour propassions and passions If thou yet knows any thing of the Vanity and Deceitfulness of the World and the necessity of renuncing the same If these things be in thee O Child of Man then thou layest a good foundation against the time to come and for thy progress in Piety and Vertue § 2. And for Parents and Overseers Let me in all modesty enquire of you if your heart approves you as to your Duty to your Children and Pupils in order to their Religious education Some are ready to boast of Blood and Kinred Friends and Riches and other worldly priviledges but the great bussiness is to look well they be illuminated with the Rayes of Grace and the beauties and properties of Religion As also if you have used the rod with discretion for he that spareth the rod hateth the Child sayeth Solomon Which must be used not out of passion but from good Principles to holy ends For this is an instance of your Tender love of them since GOD Himself the Father of us all hath said Whom I love I Chastise that we may be Zealous and Repent Rev. 3. 21. And ●e chastneth every 〈◊〉 whom He Receiveth Heb 12. 6. Folly is knit to the heart of the Child till the Rod of Correction take it out And it is far better for your Children to feel the Lash of your Rod then to be stricken and wounded with the effects of their own after miscarriage when their own Iniquity find them out § 3. And it is an excellent Mean for your Childrens happiness that you study their genius and proper Gift as I before hinted that so ye may prepare them to enter such Callings as may make them most useful in their Generation That their Calling be laudable and approved as little lyable to snares as possible a Calling that may most naturally dispose them for a course of Vertue And therefore they would be instructed to be Industrious Honest and diligent in the Exercise thereof And of whatever Rank they be it is a greater blemish then obscure blood to be idle in their Generation So that even the Noble and Rich as they have a High and Noble general Caling So must they act in some particular Calling and Exercise in these more Eminent Spheres GOD has placed them in And if ye find your Children's genius so disposed it may be very helpful and behoveful for their Comfort in this Life and that to come to give them to GOD and separate them for the Holy Tribe by the Holy and Honourable Calling of the Gospel Ministry Wherein if Men would answer their Character they might get Esteem and Respect and with their Master Grow in favour with GOD and Man § 4. Neither is the Femal Sex to be neglected as to this Religious Education The Daughters are to be directed as well as the Sons For as they have Interest in the Covenant 2 Cor 6. to the end I will be a Father unto you sayeth the LORD and ye shall be unto Me Sons and Daughters So when our Sons are as plants grown up in their Youth and our Daughters as Corner Stones polished after the similitude of a Palace it is a great token of the Happiness of a People Psal 144. 12. 15. Our Danghters are not born or bred to be idle For beside their General they have a particular Calling to be Employed in For which end and to illuminate their life they are to be very careful and such as Oversee them that they be neither like a gadding Dina nor a painted Jezebel or like the Daughter of Midian who were a stumbling block by the counsel of Balaam to the People of GOD They must shun the way of the prostitute Woman in the Prov and learn to do vertuously after the Copy of the gravest Matrons And to attire themselves with modesty and Vail themselves with shamefacedness and learn Humility which is a foundation Grace and to beware of pride and vanity since this may make them like the daughters of Zion Isa 2. 24. and bring baldness and a Scab upo● them in stead of Beauty They would labour also to refine Purifie all their Passions by giving Christ who is fairer than the So●● of Men The first and highest place in their love and to Espouse themselves to such a Blessed Husband ere they think upon their Nup●ials That when by the Approved methods of GOD and their Parents they begin a conjugal state they may enter the Marriage bed White as Swans and Purer then the Snow of Lebanon They would learn also to moderate all their affections speech and way with the Spirit of meekness for a meek and quiet Spirit is the Ornament of a Woman 1 Pet. 3. 4. And this being observed let them be as vertuous as they can both in a single and married life Let reason rather then Romances be their Study let them Deck their minds ere they adorn their Body Let them consider that they are the Weaker Vessel and under subjection and still think it to be unsuitable to their Sex and way to be Imperious and not to keep within the Sphere in which GOD hath placed them least they make Clamour Noise and in discretion which doth

much blot and Blur their delicacy § 5. And now by way of transition from the bygone time to the present For in this Stage of Mans life its high time for him to begin to reflect upon bygone and to consider where he is and that he ascends to an higher Horizon I shall leave all what I have said in order to the first Period of our life and the Stages thereof and take Man in his ascendant by the hand and lead him by Religion in this second Period of his life and the Various Circumstances and Stages thereof The Prayer AND thou O Great Father of the World who by the wise providence Carries Man from the Womb to Youth in the weak beginnings of his life and darker Rudeness of unjointed Judgement who pities his infirmities and provides for his healing and help b● the expresses of Purest reason Sanctifie this Period of his life Principle and ballast this new Vessel well with the sweet Odours of Religion that there be not any thing wrong in the first Region and no error and misdiet in the first concoction that so Man may be shaped and formed for thy self and Prepared for Felicity in the lustrous and lightsome Steps of thy holy Religion Amen Period second Of our Present time and the State of our Growing Age. STAGE I. Which commenceth from the 18 year of Mans age to twenty two or thereabout The Contents Considereth the portraiture and lineaments of Youth and the evils incident to that age with some directions and motives for the Right ordering of this circumstance of our age and some hints of particular Directions as to Our Natural Spiritual and Moral Capacitie for the help of youth Now entering more visible upon the Stage in the open View of the World With sutable Devotion § 1. NOw come I to consider a very turbulent and dangerous part of Man's Age Let man now consider what he is now arrived to almost at the top of the wheel and may be a little look back to the darker Region of his Childish years and how long he hath been buried in Oblivion without true sense solidity his many Unmanly and Unchristian Infirmities It hath been enquired concerning Childish follies See Dr. Taylors Ductor dubitantium Pag 800. How long they are excused as Inevitable Errors and Invincible Ignorance But since our Original sin makes us Culpable miserable before GOD I think it best to reflect with grief upon bygon infirmities and to labour in our growing Age nad Youth-hood which I have guessed to begin about the eighteen year of Man's Age to correct our selves of bygon infirmities and prepare to act more wisely and solidly in the more grave and settled state of Life § 2. Youth now i● his Morning Rise having the timous season to begin a course of Vertue and Duty having put off childish habits childish things being now dissintangled from these triffles must act like a Man God doth make some embrace his Yoke from their Youth by his Grace makes the motion and life of the New Creature appear in them and their way and such a Youth is like to be usefull in his Generation to GOD the World and himself and O how happy is such a 〈◊〉 whom GOD takes by the heart and by the hand betimes and fitteth him with good inclinations and warm tender Affections to love GOD and fear Him And to remember his Creator in his Youth Ecc 12. 1. Whereby much sin and folly in him is prevented and such corruptions as make the way to Life difficult if not impossible to Man Thus many seek to enter in at the strait gate and are not found able like that young Man in the Gospel Mat 19 6. Who probably had some good in him and came to CHRIST sincerely and not as the Pharisees did to tempt him Yet Because the Idol of the World was lurking in his heart he went away sorowfull from CHRIST But the Youth that hath reminded his Baptism Vow is put in a fair way to make progress in Vertue and Duty § 3. But alas Youth is in a sharp fever with a phrensie till GOD cool a●d c●re him some are rather Gazers then Discerne●s a sort of Animal that but stares on the World and knows not well what he is doing Like a Bullock or wild Colt unacquainted with the easie yoak of duty He Evaporates in Air and Vanity like an imaginary Prince thinks himself None such who but he he towers up in t the Air there to build a Castle and propose to get a name through phansie without the methods of Fame and Vertue No considering that he lyes like a silly fool exposed to all temptation § 4. The Wisdom of GOD pronunceth that Child-hood and Youth are Vanity Ec● 11. 10. And the Psalmist praveth tha● the Errors of his Youth be not Remembred Psal 25. 7. The most of Youth without Restrain are evil there may be some better natures and Humours but all have the Common Corrupt nature which makes it's Eruptions like Aetna and giveth Cause of Regrate all the following life-time Great Augustine who of a profligate youth became the Oracle of Doctors because of the extravagancie● of his younger Age is very full and particular in his confessions Youth is wise in it's own conceit and so the Greater Fool he 's a little Gay with warm blood strength and health so that he is ready to think himself invincible and being of uncertain Humour concludes himself without a change But what 's thy strength O Young Man to the strength of a horse Behemoth or Leviathan A Lion or a beast of Prey may soon devour thee a Feverish disease may soon consume thee and Death thou so little thinks upon may turn thy White and Red Complexion into Black and Pale Dust The strength of the horse may fail but such as trust in the LORD shall renew their strength Isa 40 29. It is good then for Youth to pray for the Influence of that CALL that raised Lazarus from the Dead For if Grace interveen not There is a Law in the Members which rebels against the law of the mind which leads the Youth Captive to the power of sin and Death Rom 7. 23. § 4. But I must descend to more minute Particulars concerning Youth For this is in many a very unruly part of their Age very confused in the Rational Part And man in this State is altogether lighter then Vanity Who lives much by Phansie and Imaginations and is not so careful to ●ress the Soul as to attire the Body Yet a Ro●e hath a greater gloss and beauty than all his artificial Decorement O it is sad to be proud of that which hides his nakedness and discovers that he is fallen Let this painted Spectacle appear in view he is like a Will● Ass snuffing up the wind Some are L●● quacious others Tongue-tyed Yet what is wanting in words is made up●● Vaunts and vain Glory they look 〈◊〉 high that they