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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42886	The instruction of youth in Christian piety taken out of the sacred Scriptures, and Holy Fathers; divided into five parts. With a very profitable instruction for meditation, or mental prayer. By Charles Gobinet, Doctor of Divinity, of the House and Society of Sorbon, principal of the College of Plessis-Sorbon. The last edition in French, now render'd into English.; Instruction de la jeunesse en la piété chrétienne. English.	Gobinet, Charles, 1614-1690.	1687 (1687)	Wing G904D; ESTC R217420	333,500	593

to honor as representing his Place and whom he hath Establish'd for his Ministers in the Temporal Government of Men and to whom every one ows Respect Love Obedience and Fidelity CHAP. VI. Of Tractableness THIS is one of the first Tractableness necessary and chiefest Vertue of Youth which being blind subject to many Faults and not able to conduct it self hath an absolute necessity of being guided by others more knowing and submitting it self to their Conduct and this Submission is call'd Tractableness It is a Vertue which makes us love What it is willingly receive search after and put in practice the Instructions Counsels Reprehensions and Exhortations to Good. O what an excellent Vertue Theotime Its Commendations is this which we may call the Ornament of Youth the Instrument of good Education the Mother of all Vertues in young Persons the Source of all Good the Cause of their Salvation A tractable Mind is capable of all Good as an untractable Mind is subject to all Wickedness We have spoken sufficiently of this Vertue and the opposite Vice in Part 1. Chap. 3. Read attentively and often what we have said and labor to obtain this Vertue as that on which your Happiness depends CHAP. VII Of Obedience OBedience is the Daughter of Tractableness Obedience necessary A tractable Mind renders it self obedient to the Will of others who have any Authority over it It is a Vertue necessary for Youth a Fundamental Vertue and without which one can never arrive at any solid Piety which made the Wiseman say Mens justi meditabitur obedientiam Prov. 15.28 that The Mind of the Just will meditate Obedience because it is a most necessary and effectual Means to acquire Vertue to which it aspires It is not only necessary for Youth but also so convenient for that Age that it is always proper and as it were natural A disobedient Child is a Species of a Monster And an ancient Author numbring up the Disorders which are found in the World St. Cyprian puts in the third rank a disobedient Child which he says is a Disorder which brings many others after it Love then Practice Theotime this Vertue so agreeable to your Age and besides so necessary and so powerful to make you really vertuous all the rest your Life Obey humbly and willingly your Parents your Masters and all those who have Authority over you I say obey humbly and willingly because it is not enough to obey but you must obey well A constrain'd Obedience yielded unwillingly by fear or force is a slavish Obedience which hath no Merit nor any shadow of Vertue True Obedience proceeds from the acknowledgment of ones Duty and a desire to please God in performing it well The First makes it humble the Second makes it voluntary prompt and facil You must obey thus if you desire your Obedience should be vertuous and agreeable to God. And by obeying thus you learn in good time not to do your own proper Will but that of others Proper Will which is ordinarily the cause of the Destruction of Men and chiefly of young Persons is an ill Guide which leads them into Precipices and makes them fall into many Misfortunes O Theotime the Wiseman says Vir obediens loquetur victorias Prov. 21.28 that The obedient Man will recount his Victories If you obey well in your tender Age you will recount one day the Victories you have gain'd over your most dangerous Enemy with your own proper Will you will know how much this Vertue was useful and praise God for it all your Life CHAP. VIII Of Chastity TRactableness and Obedience hinder the Disorders of the Mind and Chastity those of the Body It is a Vertue which entirely flies the Pleasures of the Flesh What Chastity is and studies to stifle the Thoughts Desires and Feelings of unclean Delight because they displease God. It is necessary for all Men How necessary but particularly for young Persons who being more susceptible of immodest Pleasures have a most particular need of this Vertue as we have shewn in Part 3. But as there is no Age for which it is more necessary than for Youth How convenient so there is none to which it is more convenient and advantagious I would to God Theotime you and all those of your Age could comprehend the Beauty of this Vertue with the Ornament and Profit it brings you If Chastity renders Men like Angels It makes them like Angels according to the Judgment of the holy Fathers cited above in Part 2. because it makes them imitate the Purity of the Angels in a frail Body It is chiefly in young Persons where this Effect is found true because their Age being less corrupted by Sin their Chastity approaches nearer to the Purity of those celestial Spirits If Chastity doth partake something of the Glory of Martyrdom And Martyrs according to the Sense of S. Jerom Habet pudicitia servata Martyrium saum S. Hier. Epist ad Dem●●r by reason of the rude Combats it sustains which sometimes are no less than those of Torments It is chiefly to the Chastity of young Persons to whom that Glory doth appertain Quem tormenta non vicerant volaptas superabat Idem in vita B. Hilarion Adolescentia multa corporis bella sustinet Idem Acrior pugna juvenum S. Aug. Ser. 23. de verbis Domini Martyrium sine sanguine triplex est Parcitas in ubertate quam habuit David Job Largitas in paupertate quam exercuit Tobias vidua Castitas in juventute qua usus est Joseph in Aegypto S. Bern. in Sententiis because the Combats they suffer are ordinarily more violent and more frequent than those of others which made S. Bernard say that besides the Martyrdom which is undergone by the Effusion of Blood there are yet Three others that is Frugality practis'd in Plenty whereof David and Job shew'd a Pattern Liberality in Poverty exercis'd by Tobias and the Widow in the Gospel and Chastity in Youth preserv'd by Joseph in Egypt Lastly Theotime those excellent Commendations Pudicitia flos morum honor corporum decor sexuum fundamentum sanctitatis praesagium omnis bonae mentis S. Cyp. de bono pudicitiae In malevolam animam non introibit sapientia nec habitabit in corpore subdito peccatis Sap. 1. which the Fathers give to Chastity which they call the Flower and Ornament of Manners The Honor of the Body The Groundwork of Sanctity The Presage of all sort of Vertues chiefly belong to young Men For it is true that Chastity in young Persons is a great Foundation for Vertue and all manner of Good may be expected from a chast Youth Because as the Spirit of God cannot dwell in impure Hearts so it takes delight to inhabit in chast Souls and to heap upon them all sorts of Favors Ruffin recounts to this purpose that St. Gregory of Nazianzen being yet young had a Vision

more capable of Labor which it could not be able to undergo if it were always employ'd So that Labor is the End and Motive of Sport and Recreation From thence three Conditions follow Three Conditions to be observ'd which must be observ'd in Play that it may be good and vertuous The First Moderation To keep therein a civil Moderation for if it be taken in excess it is no more a Recreation but rather an Employment it is not to Play to be made more fit for Labor which is the sole End Pastime ought to have but only for Pleasure which is a vicious End yea it is to make one unsit for Labor because excess of Play dissipates the Spirits enfeebles the Forces of the Body and oftentimes considerably prejudices the Health by the Distempers it causes The Second Condition is An orderly Affection Not to have a disorderly Affection to Play as it happens frequently to young Persons This Affection makes them fall into the Excess we spoke of lose much Time think continually of the Means to divert themselves It is the cause that they almost never apply themselves seriously to Labor and when their Body is at Study their Mind is at their Sport and Divertisement The Third Condition is Avoiding the Cames of Hazard To fly as much as possible the Plays of Hazard such Plays keep the Mind too much ty'd to them principally young Peoples They serve not to recreate the Spirits but to give them more disturbance It is hard to observe therein a Moderation one is so engag'd either by Loss or Gain They Play there only out of Covetousness The bad Effects of Play. and to gain which is a wicked End Add the ordinary Losses one suffers which leave after them Displeasure Vexation and Despair Joyn to these the Cheats unjust Gains Choler Swearing Quarrels of which these sorts of Plays are ordinarily full The excessive loss of Time the dissipation of Mind and Goods the wicked Habits of Anger of Impatience of Swearing of Lying of Covetousness and many others which Play produces The disorderly Inclination to Play which continues all their Life and frequently ruins their Possessions and Honor and reduces them to extream Miseries as we daily see but by too many Examples and in fine makes a Man incapable of any Good. Avoid these Sports Theotime Practice as absolutely contrary to your Salvation and Happiness and addict not your self but to honest Pastimes which serve for the Divertisement of the Mind or Exercise of the Body observing therein the Conditions we have spoken of and chiefly keeping your self from Excesses which * Relaxabantur etiam mihi ad ludendum habenae ultra temperamentum severitatis in dissolutionem affectionum variarum S. Aug. lib. 2. Confes S. Augustin in his Confessions acknowledg'd to be one of the Causes of the depravation of his Youth Now this Excess is understood not only of the Time employ'd therein which ought to be well regulated but also of the Mony you Play which ought always to be very little otherwise you will Play for Gain and not for Recreation and the Sport will be a Hell and Disquiet rather than a Divertisement Besides the Mony you lose at Play would be better employ'd amongst the Poor whose Necessities will cry one day to God for your Excesses and against those of all Gamesters CHAP. XXI Of Liberality against Covetousness ALtho' it may seem that Covetousness is not an ordinary Vice amongst young Persons Youth must be arm'd against Covetousness yet it is very necessary to arm them against this Passion which easily taking root in young Souls is insensibly augmented and causes vast Disorders in their Life There are two sorts of Covetousness Two sorts of Covetousness The one which makes us love Mony to heap it up to get Treasures and Purchases The other which makes us affect it to dispose and employ it for our proper Pleasures The First is very rare amongst young People but the Second is very ordinary with them and highly prejudicial Experience makes appear that it is ordinary with them How ordinary among young Persons for as they earnestly love their Pleasures they seek after all Means to satisfie them which cannot be effected without Mony From hence it comes that they apply all their Endeavors to get it From hence the Cheats and Tricks they make use of towards their Parents to get it from them From hence their Cozening in Play their Hard-heartedness to the Poor and sometimes Robberies and unjust Ways to procure it From hence the love of Riches which we see in young Spirits the desires of great Fortunes the imaginary Designs they lay to purchase them This Passion having thus taken its beginning in Youth easily increases How prejudicial and strengthening it self by Age becomes so strangely rooted that it can never be pull'd up all the remainder of their Life And it causes that so general a Disorder which is found amongst Christians and which the Prophet deplores when he says that a A minore usque ad majorem omnes avaritiae student Jer. 16.13 From the least to the greatest all are given to Covetousness that is to the irregular love of the things of the World which b Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas 1 Tim. 6. S. Paul says is The root of all Evils This Vice takes its origin from three Causes in Youth The First is Three Causes of Avarice in young Men. what we have now spoken of The Second is the common Example of the World which they see loves and esteems Mony above all things and runs after it with insatiable greediness The Third is the Fault of Parents who inspire this Love into their Children from their tender Years Discoursing of nothing but the Care to get their Livelihood if they be Mean or Poor or of advancing and aspiring to a higher Fortune if they be Rich teaching thus their Children that which S. Cyprian reproaches them for that is Filios tuos doces patrimonium magis amare quam Christum S. Cypr. lib. de oper Eleem. To love more their Riches than Jesus Christ and to labor in such a manner for the Goods of this mortal Life that they think little or nothing on the Eternal This Evil dear Theotime must be prevented in good time It must be prevented betimes and hindred from taking possession of your Heart it being certain that there is no Vice which increases more with Age than this and which becomes more incapable of remedy For this Effect take notice of what I counsel you 1. First Means Being as we have said that the greatest Cause of this Covetousness in young People springs from the love of Pleasures use all your Endeavors to moderate that Passion which may be said to be one of the greatest Mischiefs of Youth the Cause of all the Misfortunes it commits and the chiefest Obstacle of all the Good

Esteem Value not your self for any thing whatsoever neither for your Riches nor for your Quality nor Beauty or good Behavior for the Glory one takes in these things is base and impertinent and belongs only to vain Spirits Nor for your Wit or Science for these are the Gifts of God and you offer him an Injury when you raise your self Esteem from thence Nor much less for Vertue for it springs far less from you and he who glories therein puts himself in danger of absolutely losing it Besides we often imagin we have Perfections which we have not and when we find in our selves any Advantage we ought to give the Glory to God who is the Author of it and not to our selves who have receiv'd it and say from our Heart Non nobis Domine Psal 113. non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam It is an excellent Maxim of S. Bernard Gloriam meam alteri non dabo quid ergo dabis Domine Quid dabis nobis Pacem inquit do vobis pacem relinquo vobis Sufficit mihi gratanter accipio quod relinquis relinquo quod retines sic placet sic mea interesse non dubito Abjuro gloriam prorsus ne forte si usurpavero non concessam perdam merito oblatam Pacem volo pacem desidero nihil amplius Cui non sufficit pax non sufficis tu tu es enim pax nostra qui secisti utraque unum Et infra Gloria in Excelsis Deo in terra Pax hominibus bonae voluntatis At vero non bonae sed planae iniquae voluntatis est qui nequaquam pace contentus superbo oculo insatiabili corde inquietus anhelat ad gloriam Dei nec pacem proinde retinens nec gloriam apprehendens S. Bern. Serm. 13. in Cant. which ought to be deeply engraven in your Mind That amongst all the Favors God hath bestow'd upon us he hath reserv'd nothing to himself but the Glory of being the Author of them and having committed to us the whole Fruit of them it is a very unjust and criminal thing that we should take to our selves the Profit and also the Glory of them retaining our Part and usurping that which belongs to God after he hath declar'd that he would give it to no one I will not give says he my Glory to another Weigh well this Reflection Theotime 2. 2. Towards God. Be humble towards God in consideration of his incomprehensible Greatness before which you are nothing in contemplation of that Power Substantia mea tanquam nihilum ante te Psal 38. of that Sovereign Majesty which makes the Angels themselves to tremble Acknowledge the Offences you have committed against this infinite Greatness the Favors which without number you have received from his Bounty the Abuses you have offer'd it the Account you must give in his Judgment the Necessity you have of his Graces for your Salvation with a thousand like things and you will find reason enough to humble your self or rather annihilate your self before God. 3. 3. Towards Men. Be humble towards Men. There are those who are humble towards God for how should not a wretched Creature abase it self before its Creator its Lord and its Judg but they are proud in respect of Men and so have not true Humility To practise this Humility be careful never to despise any Person and be ready to honor every one amongst Men Some are above you others equal to you others Inferiors As to the First Respect towards Superiors be Respectful Tractable and Obedient to all those who have any Authority over you Suffer humbly to be reprehended if you do otherwise you are proud Honor also all those who surpass you in any thing in Age in Science in Quality As for your Equals Towards Equals endeavor to treat them always with Esteem with Honor with Deference without being well-conceited of your self without being offended at his Rank of Honor nor desiring to precede you must leave these Vanities to those who affect them As for your Inferiors Towards Inferiors be mild and benign to all those who Serve you considering them as your Brethren a Et vos domini eadem facite illis remittentes minas scientes quia illorum vester Dominus est in coelis personarum acceptio non est a pud eum Ephes 6.9 And you Masters says the Apostle S. Paul treat sweetly your Servants refraining from Threats remembring that you have a common Master with them in Heaven who hath no respect of Persons Shew your self humble and affable to all others that are of a meaner Condition than you according to that excellent Precept of the Wiseman b Congregationi pauperum affabilem te facito Be affable to the company of the Poor be ready to serve and assist them in their Necessities In fine A great Means to repress Pride is to consider what Man is his Baseness his Miseries the shortness of Life and what follows after Death c Quid superbis terra cinis omnis Potentatus vita brevis Rex hodie est cras morietur cum morietur homo haereditabit serpentes bestias vermes Eccl. 10. Dust and Ashes what dost thou glory in says the Wiseman All Authority is but of a short continuance To day a King to morrow nothing and when Man shall be dead he will inherit Beasts Serpents and Worms O God what a Motive is this of Pride Respect not Theotime many exterior things which environ you and raise in you Pride and Vanity but consider what you are in your self and you will find reason enough to be humble It is the Advice S. Bernard gives you in those excellent Verses which I shall present to you to meditate attentively on Forma favor populi S. Bern. Medit. cap. 3. fervor juvenilis opesque Subripuere tibi noscere quid sit homo Vnde superbit homo Cujus conceptio culpa Nasci paena labor vita necesse Mori Post hominem vermis post vermem faetor horror Sic in non hominem vertitur omnis homo Youth and Beauty Wealth and th' Worlds Applause Make Man forget his Nature and her Laws His Life 's a Toil Conception Sin a Pain His Birth and needs must die Why then so vain His Crops will Worms possess and Stench and Dread Will Worms succeed See then what 's Man when dead The Meaning is That if Man will consider himself attentively he will find reason enough to repress his Pride he will find that his Conception casts him into Sin his Birth into Misery that his Life is a continu'd Chain of Labors that Death is an unavoidable Necessity and that after Death he shall possess nothing but Stench Corruption and Horror as to his Body But as for his Soul she is to be presented before the Judgment of God to receive there the Decree of her Eternal Happiness or Misery and this Judgment shall be terrible

into Error seeing the Idols of Gold and Silver with all their Ornaments And in telling them many such like things he exhorted them that they should never let the Law of God be remov'd from their Hearts What that holy Prophet did in that Occasion concerning the Jews I ought to perform here is respect of you dear Theotime and with as much necessity Having conducted you even to the end of Youth which ordinarily is spent in Studies or other Employments convenient for that Age and considering you in this time about to enter into some State of Life I am oblig'd to admonish you of many things at that Entrance and to arm you with good Advertisements against the Dangers you will find in the World where you will meet with no less Hazards than the Jews did in the Captivity of Babylon It is a Place where you will have many Occasions of forgetting God and of runing your self For this reason I exhort you with the Prophet to have a care of your self that the Law of God may never be taken out of your Heart For this end I have prepar'd for you the following Advices which I beseech you to read with much attention as most important for your Salvation ADVICE I. That the time of issuing out of Youth and entring into the World is the most dangerous of all the Life and many are shipwreckt therein This is the first Advertisement I give you and which I wish may be deeply engraven in the Minds of all young People to make them very much stand in fear of so slippery a Step and so dangerous a Place for their Age where many run misfortunately into Ruin. It is there where the Devil waits for them and where he hopes his Attempts will not be vain and unprofitable He finds then all the possible Advantages to withdraw them from Vertue if before they have been bred up therein or engage them more deeply in Vice The Liberty they begin to enjoy the Idleness whereinto they easily fall at that time the greater Occasions they have of committing III the easier Means they have to give themselves to Merriment and take their Pleasures the new Companies which they frequent where they soon learn the Spirit of the World Vanity Pride love of Pleasures the Maxims of the World the Imitation of the Wicked and the entire corruption of Manners the Sentiments of Vertue which they had learnt in their Youth are easily dislipated those seem now fit only for Children they think they must have a more refin'd and elevated Spirit they contemn what they esteem'd before the most pious Resolutions appear to them the Effects of Simplicity and from thence springs the ruin of Vertue and the entire corruption of their Manners which follows that of the Mind This Truth is very manifest Experience makes it daily appear to the great regret of those whom the Salvation of Youth moves never so little S. Augustin had made trial of this to his great Damage as he himself deplores it in his Confessions where he says That Domestick Affairs having made him leave off his Studies * Sed ubi sexto illo decimo anno interposito otio ex necessitate domestica feriatus ab omni schola cum parentibus esse coepi excesserunt caput meum vepres libidinum nulla erat eradicans manus S. Aug. lib. 2. Confess cap. 3. at the Age of Sixteen and return to his Fathers House Vices and wanton Pleasures began as he himself says to grow above his Head as Briers in a neglected Ground and to be multiply'd so much more as there was no discreet Hand to weed them out And I would to God he had not had so many Companions in his Misfortune but the multitude of them is innumerable particularly amongst young People who have any Advantage above others in their Condition or Fortune There are few found who imitate the holy Man Toby whom all young Persons ought to take for their Example and Model in that time concerning whom the Scripture observes so expresly and on purpose * Cumque esset junior omnibus in tribu Nephthali nihil tamen puerile gessit in opere Denique cum irent omnes ad vitulos aureos quos Jeroboam fecerat hic solus fugiebat consortia omnium pergebat in Jerusalem ad Templum Domini ibi adorabat Dominum Deum Israel Tob. 1. That in his Youth he acted nothing Childish and that all his Fellow-Citizens going to adore the Idols he withdrew himself from their Company and went alone to Jerusalem to adore the true God not permitting himself to be corrupted by the Example of others O what an excellent Pattern is this for young People who enter into the World and which they ought frequently to place before their Eyes as being propos'd by the Holy Ghost for that intent Altho' there are few who imitate this Example yet there are some God hath always his Servants he reserves some for himself who bend not their Knees before Baal who permit not themselves to be corrupted by the Contagion of the World. To the end Theotime you may be of that number do I give you this so necessary and little known Admonition and continue the following Advices ADVICE II. That the chief care of young Men who enter into the World ought to be to conserve the Sentiments and Practices of Piety which they have observ'd in their Youth The reason of this Advice is because the first source of the Disorder of young Persons in that time spring from the change of the Sentiments they have concerning Piety as we have said and abandoning the Practices they observ'd before as ordinary Prayer reading pious Books frequenting the Sacraments Conversation with vertuous Persons and chiefly Conference with a discreet Confessor Wherefore I tell you Theotime that the prime care you ought to have at that time is to conserve the Sentiments of Vertue which you have receiv'd and the practice of those you have been instructed in As for the Sentiments know that Vertue is always one and the same and in whatsoever Age or Occasion you be in you are still oblig'd to consecrate your self to God to obey and serve him faithfully As for the Practices remember that if you be oblig'd to Vertue you are also oblig'd in like manner to all the necessary Means to acquire and conserve it such are the Practices we have spoken of above Wherefore I advise you as a thing most important for your Salvation not to desist from them if you leave them off you ruin your self in Vice. Be diligent in Praying in Reading good Books in frequenting the Sacraments in Conversing with vertuous Persons and chiefly in discovering your Conscience to a discreet Ghostly Father whether to him who directed you before if you can have him for that is always best or to another It is in this that all young People are defective at that time From the time they begin to know themselves they will not