be distinct from those sins which are committed against him whose spirit he is and if he were a Person created the sin could receive no such Aggravation beyond other Sins and blasphemies and consequently it remains that he is God But we are not only to believe this Spirit to be God but also that he is the Sanctifier of us and of all the elect People of God For what can be more positive and plain than that the Sanctification of God's people is ascrib'd to this Holy Spirit for thus it runs in the words of the Apostle Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the spirit 1 Pet. 1. 2. And therefore from this Principle of your Belief you cannot but infer this to be your Duty that since ye are a chosen Generation a Royal Priest-hood an Holy Nation a peculiar People you are oblig'd to shew forth his Praises who hath call'd you out of darkness into his marvelous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. Thus then in the Divine Essence which is but one there are three distinct Persons viz. the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost thus plainly distinguished by their peculiar Properties Nay the Scripture does not only mention these Properties but also proceeds to the exact numbring of these Agents or Persons in the Divine Essence For there are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one 1 John 5. 7. and so again Jesus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the Water and lo the Heavens were open'd unto him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him And lo a voice from Heaven saying This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. 3. 16. 17. I mention no more Places to this purpose tho' many occur lest I should swell this little piece beyond its designed bounds but that of St. Mathew Chap. 28. 19. Go ye therefore and teach all nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And yet notwithstanding this Distinction of Agents or Persons there is but one entire Essence for there is none other God but one 1 Cor. 8. 4. and the Lord our God is God only Deut. 6. 4. And now O young Man since here is a main Principle of thy Profession here comes in a main Rule fot thy Practice since there is a God since there is but one God therefore thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4. 10. But that the Father is God the Son God and the Holy Ghost God and yet that there is but one God how thus it is and as to the manner how these things can be this falls not within the Comprehension of thy Reason here on Earth but hereafter in Heaven will in all probability be the subject of a most pleasant and endless Entertainment Thou mayst with far more sence offer to contain all the Waters of the vast Ocean in the hollow of thine hand than pretend to measure such unfathomable and infinite Mysteries by thy dark and narrow and shallow Understanding No all that thou hast to do in this case is firmly to believe these and all other Divine Revelations and Principles of thy Holy Profession as the Resurrection of the Dead and eternal Life and the like and instead of prying too narrowly into these unfathomable Depths which the clearest and most enlarged Understanding of Mortals cannot bottom or find out thou art to proceed to Practice For secret things belong to God but reveal'd things to us and to our Children Deut. 29. 29. and if thou canst not take measure of one of the Divine Attributes nay if to unfold the manner of thine own Existence would puzzle thee O never pretend here to discover the exact manner of the Being of a God! And yet if upon the exercise of thy Sense and Reason thou believest the Existence of the one viz. thine own Being then upon the truth and goodness of God and the exercise of thy Faith believe the other and so I pass forward from Faith directly to Practice which is the Second thing I propos'd First Then let me advise all Young Persons as a main Spur to all Goodness as a strong Safe-guard to all their Vertues and as a powerful Antidote against and restraint upon all Vices to have an awful Regard and constant Remembrance of the Divine Omniscience and Omnipresence and the power of the Almighty O consider that God's eyes are over all your ways and that his eye-lids try the children of men Psal 11. 4. That he is about your Beds and about your Paths and spieth out all your ways and that there is not a word in your tongue nor a thought in your heart but he knoweth it altogether Alas 't is in vain for thee to offer to draw the Curtain betwixt this all-seeing eye and thy Deeds of Darkness for the Darkness with God is no Darkness at all but the night is as clear as the day the Darkness and light are to him both alike Ps 139. 12. All thy wanton and foolish Extravagancies and Rambles all thy stiffness and stubbornness to all thy natural and political Parents nay to thy spiritual Pastors and Teachers all thy head strong and untam'd Passions in the full career of Lust and Licentiousness all thy forgetfulness of thy God and thy Duty in the days of thy Youth all the strong Biasses that thou art ready to clap upon thy Soul bearing thee down to Sensuality and Sin all thy jests upon Religion and matters of the greatest moment and things of the most serious and an eternal Concern all thy trifling with and turning thy back upon the best of Friends Friends that offer thee the most wholsom Counsel and the safest Advice Advice that if follow'd will preserve thee from Danger and Evil and counsel that if observ'd will enrich thee to all Eternity all thy backwardness to do good and all thy promptness and aptness to do evil all the windings and foldings of thy heart all thy fig-leav'd excuses for thy past Iniquities and all thy pretences for and palliations of thy present Transgressions thy God plainly observes he clearly beholds Nay consider that as this all-searching Eye beholds and observes all these things so this all-powerful God is able to punish thee to the Uttermost and none can stand before him when he is angry He is able to consume thee with the least breath of his displeasure and to poste thee away to Hell in the midst of thy sins in the midst of thy strength when as Job speaks thy breasts are full of milk and thy bones are moistned with marrow Job 21. 24. And thou who canst not now endure the least of thy fingers to continue in a flame how wilt thou then abide the consuming Fire how wilt thou be able to dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. But then on
ADVICE TO Young Persons Relating both to Faith Practice Contain'd in some Plain Directions how to Demean themselves Together with some few Motives to the Observation of what is here recommended Wherewithal shall a Young Man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word Psal 119. 9. London Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pidgeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil Price 2d To his much Honour'd Patron The Author THo' it is our great Calamity to live in a most corrupt Age Yet by the Influence of the All-wise and All powerful God who can derive good out of Evil you are so Prudent as to make an Advantage of it and to raise the value of your Vertue and to add to the Lustre and Worth of your Reputation and Family by being untainted in the midst of most dangerous Temptations SIR I might tell the World that the following Lines were drawn as a faint Copy from the fair Original which you give and that the ensuing Precepts are taken from your Pattern But lest I should call up the Blood into your Cheeks by offering Violence to your singular Modesty or throw my self under the Suspicion of Flattery I will convert my just Praises of you into earnest Prayers for you that that good God who hath hitherto preserv'd you would still preserve you that you may go on by an Vnspotted Life still to glorify him and by your most agreeable Temper to win over others to Piety and Vertue and to answer the Care and Kindness of that Learned and Worthy Person by whom your tender Mind was inform'd and your early Manners cultivated from whom in your Minority I receiv'd the largest share of what I have and so stand perpetually oblig'd to return the most grateful Acknowledgment And lastly That you may grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ until you come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ This is the earnest Prayer of Sir Your most Obliged Most devoted and Most Humble Servant ADVICE TO Young Persons FOrasmuch as 't is generally acknowledg'd that to perswade Young Persons to be Dutiful and Good would prove an Effectual Means to recover Souls out of the hands of Satan to reform the World and to retrieve Religion and Vertue therefore this small Treatise is sent abroad on purpose to exhort and if it be possible for it to perswade those who in their younger days are more especially beset with Temptations and more easily invited into a compliance with them that they should by God's Grace preserve their standing Or if fal'n that they should speedily rescue themselves out of their Slavery and henceforward fear the Lord always and keep his Commandments And may that same Good God who puts into our hearts good Desires by his continual help make us to bring them to good Effect through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen First then Let me perswade young Persons to lay such a steady and Unshaken Foundation of Faith that the Gates of Hell may never prevail against it For them who design to answer the main End of Christianity this Advice is always seasonable But never was this Advice more seasonable than it is in our present Age An Age wherein almost every particular Person is ready to broach some particular Opinion Insomuch that the old Land-marks of Faith are removed and the main Principles of the Gospel of Grace and Salvation by Christ doubted of disputed and denied O let it be your great concern then First To believe in God the Father who hath made you and all the World Secondly in God the Son who hath redeemed you and all mankind Thirdly in God the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth you and all the Elect People of God First then let it be your Concern to believe in God the Father who by the Son Heb. 1. 2. and by the Efficacy of the Holy Ghost Gen. 1. 2. Made the whole World Heaven and Earth and all created Beings which are contained therein And upon this Belief let it be your Business to give God the Father that Reverence that is due unto him as our Wonderful Creator This is that great Lord who made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is Acts. 4. 24. This is our Father which is in Heaven Mat. 6. 9. In his Hand are all the Corners of the Earth and the strength of the Hills is his also the Sea is his and he made it and his hands prepar'd the dry Land And therefore O come let us Worship and fall down and kneel before him Psal 95. 3. And say with the Psalmist I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well Psal 139. 14. Secondly You are stedfastly to believe in God the Son For that he is truly God the Apostle expresly declares Rom. 9. 5. where speaking of Christ he saith that he is over all God Blessed for ever and so St. John we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and Eternal life 1 John 5. 20. But we are not only to believe this Son to be God but also that he redeem'd us and all mankind And that this Son of God paid the Price of Redemption for all Mankind who can doubt that believes the Scripture for there is one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. And again he tasted Death for every man Heb. 2. 9. And here common Gratitude prompts and directs you to your Duty For since ye were bought with a Price even with the Price of the most precious Blood of the Son of God You are strongly oblig'd to glorify God in your Bodies and in your Spirits which are his 1 Cor. 6. 20. Thirdly You are faithfully to believe in God the Holy Ghost who sanctifies you and all the elect People of God that the Holy Ghost is God is plain from Acts the 5th verses the 3 d. and the 4th in the 3 d. verse St Peter propos'd this Question Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and because Ananias thus lied to the Holy Ghost he tells him verse the 4th Thou hast not lied unto Men but unto God Nay before that when the Pharisees upon our Saviours casting out a Devil ascrib'd the operation to Belzebub the Prince of Devils our Saviour call'd this Sin that Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which shall never be forgiven By which words the most Learned and Reverend Bishop Pearson observ'd amongst several other Arguments to that purpose that it appeareth that there is a Sin or Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost distinct from all other Sins and Blasphemies committed against God the Father or the Son of God that this Sin hath an Aggravation added unto it beyond other Sins and Blasphemies But if the Holy Spirit were no Person the Sin could not
decent Apparel and instead of these florid Fashions Which one Flower in thy Garden one single Tulip far out-shines be clothed with Humility 1 Pet. 5. 5. and put on the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit Which is in the sight of God of great Price 1 Pet. 3. 4. And since Garments were given as a covering of Nakedness Gen. 3. 21. O Never make thy shame thy Glory and be not Proud of thy loss and want of Innocence and Perfection Seventhly Let me perswade Young Persons carefully to avoid evil Company And to joyn themselv's to the Society of such as Serve God As ever they value their Reputations as ever they tender the Welfare of their Souls and Bodies as ever they mean to secure their safety as ever they design to promote their temporal and their Eternal Interest this is a Duty which is principally to be regarded Evil Company is the very Bane and Rust of Religion and good morals And all the seeds of Vertue which Christian Parents have most carefully sown tho having taken Root and grown up into a Strong blade yet they have often been soon blasted and consum'd by a swarm of these worse than Egyptian Locusts O what but wicked Company hath made Young Persons who have afforded the most promising hopes of an enriching Crop and harvest most fatally to miscarry and to become twice the Children of Hell more than they that inveigled them O let the sad Misfortunes and lamentable Ruin's of such make thee to shun their steps since the end of those ways is Death And tho' their Conversation be never so accomplisht Witty and inviting yet shun their fellowship as much as thou Wouldest avoid his who tho' he may be smooth and seems endearing yet hath the spots of an infectious Plague upon him And that thou mayest do this effectually joyn thy self to and enter into close fellowship with them that love and serve God Where thou mayest be Religious at an easy Rate and gain not only plain precepts but also inviting Patterns to goodness which will silently slide into thy Soul and almost insensibly draw and carry thee on and convey thee into the Land of the Living These will whet thy Desires and sharpen thy Appetites and enflame thy longings after God and Goodness and strengthen thy Resolutions and abett and improve thy Christian Courage and shew thee how to be an hardy Souldier of Christ Jesus and make thee more than Conquerour through Christ that loves thee O keep that Company that shall be instilling some good Lesson some excellent Advice into thee and that shall prescribe a good Example But shun that Society that infuses Poison into thy very Vitals and corrupts thy precious Soul by their Words and Works by their ill Counsels and worse Conversations And always remember the Words which the Apostle recites â— Cor. 15. 33. Evil Communications corrupt good Manners Further Let me perswade Young Persons to be Courteous and Obliging in each Relation wherein they stand Are your Fortunes fair and your Estates large shew your selves to be such as are Free born by such a carriage as may loudly proclaim your Birth and Education Or are your Estates confin'd in a narrow Compass you have much less Reason to boast and to bear high to disoblige and to provoke since you know not how soon Poverty may steal in upon you and how soon you may stand in need of the help of the Relief of those very Neighbours whom you now despise Nay you own your selves to be Christians and therefore learn of the Holy Jesus to be meek and lowly Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffer'd he threatened not but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously Heb. 12. 3. He was so suffering and so kind in his sufferings that he died for his Enemies that they might live for ever And for those enemies which put him to Death he thus prayed Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke 23. 24. And now canst thou read canst thou hear this Passage with any Roughness or Impatience upon thy Spirit with any Anger or Indignation against those who affront or scourge thee O since the Holy Jesus my Innocent Saviour thus suffer'd mayst thou say who never did nor spake nor thought any thing amiss Well may I justly smart who act or speak or design few things well And since he bare his Burden patiently and pray'd even for his Persecutors for his murderers O 't is much more my bounden Duty to forgive as I have great and often need to be forgiven my self and to be obliging pitiful and Courteous 1 Pet. 3. 8. Lastly Let it be your daily Business as it is your Duty to pray earnestly to God to work in you both to Will and to do according to his good Pleasure Never think that either you or your Teachers are able to give you Grace or to secure your Vertues without the helping Hand of Heaven that giveth to all liberally that ask him Or without that Watchful Eye that neither slumbers nor sleeps No every good and Perfect Gift cometh down from above James 1. 17. And Paul may Plant and Apollos may Water But still it must be God that gives the encrease 1 Cor. 3. 6. And therefore that the hand of God may hold you up that his watchful Lye may be over you that he may Guide you into the ways of Truth and Peace and that he may Strengthen Stablish Settle you it is your Interest no less than your Duty to beg his Grace Nay it is your Honour no less than your Interest and Duty thus to repair to your God For you who are dust and Ashes to speak unto the Lord for you who are worthless Beings to have free Recourse to a Principle of absolute Perfection for you who are notorious Sinners to draw nigh unto the Holy Lord God of Hosts for you who are the meanest of Subjects to unbosom your selves to and to beg Boons and Favor's of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords this is so great a Priviledge and Hon'or that methinks it needs no further Motive to enforce it Only let me remind you that the manifold and great Temptations which your Age exposes and too often inclines you to may justly make you to cry mightily unto your God and often and earnestly to beg saying Save Lord or â—â—â— perish Mat. 8. 25. Often pray for the Pardon of your Sins past and for the Supplies of Gods Grace for the time to come And now in a Word that I may not omit recommending any important Duty which appertains to you Often consider and duly weigh those short but most comprehensive lessons drawn up for you in your Church Catechism which I desire you frequently to peruse and faithfully to remember now there you thus read My Duty toward God is to believe in him to fear him and to love him with all my heart with all my Mind with all my Soul and with all my strength