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A81791 Moral instructions of a father to his son upon his departure for a long voyage: or, An easie way to guide a young man towards all sorts of virtues. With an hundred maximes, Christian and moral.; Instruction morale d'un père à son fils. English Dufour, Philippe Sylvestre, 1622-1687. 1683 (1683) Wing D2455A; ESTC R231963 42,504 123

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to pray It was his custom in his Prayers to say thus O God grant me those things that are good when I ask them not and deny me when I ask for those things that are evil God often favours us by not hearing our Prayers and sometimes punisheth us by granting our requests when we pray for that which is pernicious to our welfare as we commonly do for as our Lord JESUS CHRIST said we often know not what we ask Physicians order those who have a weak Stomach to eat little and often If it be hard for you to keep up your Attention which is the Soul of Prayer do you after the same manner and following the Counsel of our Blessed Saviour when you pray use not vain repetitions as the Heathen do for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking If therefore your Prayers must be short let them be the more frequent but chiefly I shall once again exhort you to this Let neither your Zeal nor your Faith be wanting My Son if you remember I said we might pray to God in all Places though all places were not equally Proper for this Exercise Yet if we consider Prayer to be as we must not doubt a darting forth of our Soul towards God to unite it with his Holy Spirit why cannot we do this every Hour if not every Moment in the Day wheresoever we are at home or abroad And why cannot we often turn our Hearts to God though in the midst of our most important Affairs and in walking whether it be in the City or in the Country To do thus is to pray to him The Heart of Man is a moving Closet a Place of Retirement a holy Solitude where we may enter every Moment and from thence send such fervent though short Ejaculations as shall penetrate Heaven and be more acceptable to God than those long Prayers which too often want Attention These Ejaculations are without doubt what the Evangelist means when he exhorts us to pray always And why my Son should you not observe this good Custom of praying to God and praising him in your Bed whensoever you happen to awake since Prayer is so much the principal part of Divine Worship that the Scripture comprehends thereby all Religious Duties This my Son is the chiefest of what I had to say to you concerning Prayer in particular But take notice you cannot pray to God without putting your Trust in him neither can you put your trust in God without loving him Love him then if you expect his Love Fear him if you desire to be wise for the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom This fear as Solomon said is to hate and avoid all evil and consequently to do good If you fear God you will love him and if you love him you will keep his Commandements my Son you know all those Commandements let nothing then be an Obstacle to your Practice of them God is a Spirit and the Truth and he will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth This Religion wherein through his goodness you was born for the full and perfect Knowledge whereof I have throughly cultivated your Understanding This I say is the only natural Worship which he requires Adhere to this Worship and you will find it more advantageous to you than the Star was to those Shepherds whom it guided to Bethlehem for that only led them to JESUS CHRIST in his lowest Estate whereas this Worship shall conduct you to him in his Glory This Divine Saviour of the World speaking of himself to St. Thomas said I am the Way the Truth and the Life And 't is the only way through which we must go to the Father Stray not from it my Son whatsoever may befall you For instead of Springs which you will find in this Way flowing with living Water every where out of it you shall meet with puddles of Water both impure and loathsome You cannot go out of this Path wherein you have entred without departing from God and consequently from all those Joys whereof he is the Center Let neither Wealth Honour nor Pleasure lead you aside and though you suffer the most rigorous Persecutions yet be not disheartned Esteem it as a great Honour to bear the Cross after your Saviour it would be an honourable Reproach to you to have your Body marked and bruised for the sake of Christ This is the way through which all the Martyrs have passed to enter into those heavenly Joys If God should call you to such Proofs turn not away for the least Thron falling from our Saviour's Crown upon your Head will affix thereto a Crown of Glory If therefore you happen to suffer for Christs sake be not ashamed but rather praise and glorifie God for it Sickness Loss of Persons dear to us Loss of Goods Wealth and an infinite number more of unwelcome Accidents compose generally the Series of our Life My Son do not think you can avoid them The Afflictions of this World are most certain Characters of the Children of God wherewith he corrects those he loves as a Father useth a rod to chastise the Child whom he tenderly cherisheth 'T is true the Flesh takes no delight in being chastised neither are we to hearken to Fleshly Sentiments when we would put in practice what is necessary to our Salvation If it is God's good Pleasure you should undergo Afflictions of what nature or how sharp soever murmur not Take heed when you suffer it be not deservedly And remember in your sufferings though exceeding great that they cannot be equal to the Glory which will be your reward hereafter These afflictions which if the right use be made of them immediately pass away will produce in your Mind the Brightness of that transcendent Glory Moral Philosophy teacheth us that Vices of all sorts spring from Passions disorder'd whereas from regulated Passions do proceed all Vertues And Christian Divinity doth verifie by experience that afflictions which in Reprobates occasion nothing but Despair are to the Faithful so many inexhaustible Fountains of Joy The Rods which God makes use of to punish the Wicked are like that of Moses which turned into a Serpent and those wherewith he chastiseth his Children have a resemblance to that of Aaron which brought forth Flowers and Fruit. Make good use of them My Son Kiss those Rods wherewith he corrects you adore the secret Vertue in them and even in the most Severe Chastisements acknowledge his Divine Goodness in raising you out of that heavy Sleep wherein Sin may have cast you If they are more sharp than Flesh could wish for believe that it is for your good to be thus afflicted for a little time that the trial of your Faith being much more precious than of Gold that perisheth tho it be tried with Fire might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of JESUS CHRIST My Son you ought to have observed that I have reduced under four Heads all the
the Beginning of some Disorder Man was created to be always acting and of necessity he must always be employed therefore if his Actions are not good they infallibly tend to Evil And Idleness has this Resemblance with Standing Waters that if these breed Serpents t'other breeds Vices There are many People who are extreme eager to know what is done in their Neighbour's House and at the same time are ignorant of most things that happen in their own This Curiosity has always seem'd to me to be pityful and base and unworthy of an honest Man Therefore to avoid it consider with your self that he into whose affairs you are prying is ether a Friend or else is indifferent to you If he is indifferent what satisfaction can you propose by knowing what he aims at And if he is your Friend why would you search into a Secret which his Silence signifies he has a Mind to keep from you It belongs only to Kings to say that he who cannot dissemble knows not how to reign Dissimulation tho sometimes a Vertue in a Soverain Prince is always a Vice in the Subject Yet there are some Cases wherein it is a part of Prudence not to publish and make known all we think But upon such like Occasions as these be so much reserved that by your speaking you may not be taxed with Indiscretion nor by your Silence with Dissimulation When you happen into Company where there are some that you don't know be careful not to fall into that vulgar Errour of passing your Judgment upon the Merit of Persons by their rich Clothes or the fine Style of their Discourse These Appearances are very doubtful and it is often manifested by Experience that those Persons are not the most worthy because they are the best clothed nor are the most Vertuous always the most eloquent Therefore my Son in such a Case let not your Mind be anticipated let your Judgment decide nothing without your Knowledge and be sure you Penetrate beyond the outward Parts of a Man before you judge well or ill of him Flattery is the same to the Mind as Poison is to the Body with this only difference that all People hate Poison yet they all love Flattery The passionate Love that every one bears toward it is a sort of Leprosie which has infected all the Earth You shall find it in Shepherds poor Cottages as well as in the Palaces of Kings 'T is true it reigns among Kings and Princes with more Ostentation then among the People which produceth Events so much the more pernicious according to the Power of that Person whom it affects Prosperity is the Mother of Flattery as Interest is the sole Object of Flatterers and for this Reason alone there are more in the Courts of Princes than among private Families who yet are not wholly exempt the most miserable of all Men having at least one who keeps hin company all his Life-time and who becomes so Familiar to him that insensibly he ushers in all forreign Flaterrers My Son I find that you eagerly expect to know the Name of this Flatterer I will tell it you then 'T is Self-love who introduces all our Errours who corrupts our Judgment darkens our Understanding and lastly disfigures Truth so strangely that it is impossible for us to know her Let therefore this Description I have given you of the Effects produced by Flattery cause in you a mistrust as well of the Domestick as the Forreign Flatterrer let this foreknowledg of them break all their Measures and thereby preserve you from being enchanted with those poison'd sweets which being once instill'd into you will infallibly carry it's Venom to your very Heart I am now my Son come to an Article delicate important and difficult to handle which I would not willingly omit that it might not be said I had passed over in Silence any thing that could contribute to your Instruction 'T is then concerning how you must carry your self if in unlucky and unexpected differences you are obliger to declare your self of any Party If I went about to treat of this one Point to it's greatest Extent it would require a Volume much larger than the whole Treatise I design for you which is contrary to the Purpose I intended of rendring you rather an Honest than a Learned Man 'T is enough for you to observe these two or three Rules which I am going to give you The Differences of this Nature are either publick or private of which sort soever they are 't is best for you not to meddle if you can choose unless you see apparently that you can be so happy as to contribute towards a Re-union But if you cannot possibly stand Neuter and that an unavoidable Necessity obligeth you to side with a Party in that Case I earnestly exhort you to take this Counsel I now give you If the Business in question be publick and that the Prince's Interest is concerned adhere immediately without any manner of Scruple to his Party You preserve God's Right in defending the lawful Authority of Kings who are his Vicegerents and the Holy Ghost has so interwoven the Interests of those that reign with the Interests of him by whom they reign that he saith Whosoever resisteth Power resisteth God It is far better to dye for your Prince than by usurping to reign in his Place In this Case fail not to follow your Duty without reflecting in the least upon what would be most for your Advantage and venture all that you have in the World if there is any Probability that it will produce advantageous Effects for the Royal Interest But if on the other side it is only a private Grudge or Animosity between some few before you declare your self for either Party consider impartially whose Cause is most just which you may easily perceive for without any doubt the Right is on their Side with whom the greatest Number of Persons of Honour Integrity and Discretion take part Espouse therefore that Cause nevertheless keep within the Bounds of Moderation and be not too forward in meddling with their Affairs especially when they proceed to Heat and Violence and have no Hand in any Disorders or injurious Attempts which they might possibly commit But rather labour all you can to mollifie those passionate and turbulent Spirits to allay their Heats and to reduce them to such a Temper of Mind as might prevent the evil Consequences which would infallibly follow from their Dis-union with the opposite Party I am sensible that neither your Birth nor Merit can make a Party any whit the more considerable but as Accidents may occur wherein we shall be constrained of what Quality soever we are to declare our Intentions tho never so much against our Will I thought in such a Rencounter these Instructions would be not a little necessary One of the most pleasing Satisfactions that we can have in this World is to be in good Esteem and Reputation with those of our