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truth_n lord_n people_n way_n 3,983 5 4.6149 4 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A35129 An epistle to young people professing the truth Crook, John, 1617-1699. 1686 (1686) Wing C7210; ESTC R29663 4,926 8

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AN EPISTLE TO Young People Professing the TRUTH Dear Friends KNowing that many which fear the Lord and think upon his Name have had for some time a concern upon their minds for the declining Conditions of many Young People that are amongst us saying often one to another What will become of the next Generation considering the Youth of this are so degenerated from those that received the Truth at the beginning Whereupon it came into my Heart according to the Examples of Christ and his Apostle who to rectifie abuses in Marriage and other things saith but it was not so from the beginning intimating that the best way to amend things amiss is to bring People to the beginning that as they received Christ Jesus the Lord so to walk in him which is the Drift and End of this Epistle to Young People and others professing the Truth Many are yet alive who from their own knowledge can testifie the Humility Mortification and Self-Denyal of the Youth at the beginning together with their centempt of all youthful Vanities c. their Words Few and Savory their Countenances Grave and Serious in their places Diligent and Faithful being Examples of Temperance and Sobriety to Neighbours and Acquaintance in the Worship and Service of God Attentive and Watchful carefully improving all opportunities to encrease their Communion and Acquintance with God in Christ Jesus the Light All which were as blessed signes of those times of refreshment from Gods Presence that the Souls of the Faithful were then made partakers of Let Children inquire of their Parents that were Eye Witnesses from the beginning and they can tell them let Servants ask their faithful Masters and they can inform them what manner of People the younger sort of Quakers so called were at the beginning Nay there were few such Strangers in the places where the Truth first took place but they could declare these things by all which as in a Glass many now professing the same Truth may see themselves bearing another Image therefore ought diligently to make inquiry what is the Cause and whence the disparity ariseth for if the Gospel at the beginning proved it self to be preached again by the forementioned and many more blessed Effects upon all that received the Truth in the love of it What is the matter is not the Gospel an Everlasting Gospel and Christ the Way the Truth and the Life the same Yesterday to Day and forever and doth not his works still in the hearts of the Called Chosen and Faithful bear witness of him Therefore it s to be feared those that are thus fallen have received another Gospel or the Gospel perverted or turned upside down as the Apostle speaks seeing those at the beginning began in the Spirit but since that many that began well think to be made perfect by the Flesh where too many hold the Truth in unrighteousness But my design is not to accuse but to inform those that are out of the way if possible they may be reclaimed before the evil day overtake them I know some of the Younger are ready to blame the Elder and some Children their Parents and some Servants their Masters Examples to all which I say that such as are justly guilty thereof shall bear their own Barden and shall not escape the Righteous Judgment of God but you that make this Plea know that the Soul that sins shall dye and the Witness of God in your own Consciences if hearkened unto will convince you of the vanity of this Fig-leaf Covering and the deceitfulness of your own hearts in thinking that the evil example of others will be an excuse for your backsliding For those that in their Youth received the Truth at the beginning were surrounded with Evil Examples on every hand so that if Examples could have prevailed to continue them in Worldly Vanities they could never have broken through those oppositions from Accquaintance and nearest Relations for if they had looked outward all hopes of Preferment in this World were wholy gone and looking inward there appeared such strong holds of Sathan as seemed impossible ever to be overcome the Truth it self being such a Stranger in the Earth that almost every Body was backward to give it Entertainment Especially if they had any thing in this World to loose for harbouring of it Whereas the Youth and others of latter times found the Truth both ready proved and succesfully defended against the subtil Arguments Wits of those professing times in which it at first break forth and that not by the might and power of Wit or outward Learning but by Simplicity and Godly Sincerity accompanied with Holiness of Life and Conversation which was a great confirmation to the first publishing of it together with the Meek and Patient yet Bold and Valiant suffering the loss of all for the Truth as it is in Jesus by which in a great measure the rough way was worn smooth and the passage made much more easie to those that followed then it was at the beginning for those that were as gazing stocks at the beginning of latter times came to be well known and that estrangedness to Persons and Principles came to vanish away a good esteem of the Truth and of those that profest it spring up in divers Persons so mightily grew the Word of God and prospered at the beginning But alas of latter times the wild Boar of the Forrest hath got into the Vineyard and rooted up many hopeful Plants others are fallen into the World Customs Ways and Fashions who are become as Spots in the true Christian Assemblies and Blemishes to the Truth as it was at the beginning as if the Sins of Sodom which were Pride Carelesness Excess and Contempt of the Poor were become the Vices of Sion many young People and others getting into those things again which their Parents Relations and Acquaintances for good Conscience sake were forced to lay aside as it in these latter times the Efficacy of Truth was not the same as at the beginning and as if the Cross of Christ that was so powerful then was now become of none Effect Little doth the wanton Youth of this Age think what Sighs and Tears their godly Parents and Friends that love them pour out in secret for them both because of their Eternal Estates hereafter and the dishonour they bring here unto the blessed Name and Truth of God whereby it s become a saying amongst Antient People That the Quakers now adayes are not like those at the beginning What Watchfulness what Carefulness what Diligence therefore ought every one to use least by bad Company and Examples they should be ensnared before they are aware and so by degrees be drawn to such Inconveniences as afterward they will find very hard to withstand untill they are brought to that degree of stupidity and hardness of heart that all Exhortations unto Virtue and Godliness find so little entertainment that even Strangers in our Meetings are more