and ambitious Spirits for such proud and supercilious Humours are more sutable to the Court of Spain where Men seem wifer than they are than this of England where our Patriots are usually wiser than at first sight they seem to be Therefore as you are obliged to subdue and abandon all aspiring and lofty Conceits of what you are or what you have so the Practice of Modesty and Humility will recommend you to the Acceptance and procure you a good Esteem and Opinion from all you converse with Secondly Be prudently reserved in censuring or ridiculing the Faults and Indiscretions of other Men For a prudent Carriage is highly esteemed by all but strangers especially Besides Prudence and Discretion will teach and direct you how to subjugate all the Appetites Passions Affections and Inclinations both of Soul and Body to the Empire of Reason and sound Judgment so that when you have reduced all your lower Faculties to this Order and Harmony your Vnderstanding will direct aright and your Will and Affections become conformable to the Laws and Rules of right Reason and Religion Then you 'l manage all your Affairs prudently with the greatest Calmness and Tranquillity and be always in the pursuit of generous Ends and the most effectual Means and Methods of obtaining them And thus Thirdly By acting according to these Rules of Prudence and Discretion you 'l come by degrees to an excellent Temper and Habit of Sobriety and Moderation For you 'l hereby prevail with your self not to indulge your Appetite to the disturbance and disquiet of your rational Powers Nor will any Man of Prudence and Sobriety endeavour to please and gratifie his Palate with delicate Meats and Drinks nor his Touch with Softness and Effeminacy nor his Eye with fair and gaudy Show's nor his Smell with costly Perfumes For an immoderate Complyance with all or any of these would not only force your Reason to quit her Dominion and Authority and thereby hurry you into all manner of sin and wickedness but continually distract your Thoughts with a fruitless variety of Expectations and Disappointments The ready way then to be at peace with God and Man and your own Conscience will be to govern your self according to the sober Dictates of Prudence and Moderation as Gods Holy Word and the Dictates of right Reason shall direct you Now these Vertues and their opposite Vices having the most considerable Aspect upon Gentlemen as the greatest Examples either of Good or Evil I shall therefore be more particular in the handling of this Point of Sobriety And for the prevention of a Shipwrack of your Interest and Honour many thousands having split their Vessels upon this Rock give me leave to advise you in the First place To be very sober and temperate in Eating Have recourse always to the foregoing Rules of Prudence and they 'l teach you to consult the Health Preservation of the Body that so it may be the fitter Mansion for your Soul For 't is always observable that ungovern'd Lusts are the inseparable Companions of intemperate Eating and all other Sins are indulg'd and encourag'd by this Kind of Excess whereas on the contrary those that live temperately and according to Rule are seldom tempted or troubled as the intemperate are with sickly and ill Humours or deprived of the comforts and benefits of Health by raging and violent Distempers For as a good Conscience is the best Divinity so Temperance is the best Physick and a good Expedient thro' Gods Blessing to preserve mentem sanam in Corpore sano And therefore if thro' inadvertency you should transgress at any one Meal let no Temptation allure you to a second Repast till by a fierce Hunger and Fasting you find your self discharg'd of the former Excess By which means your Understanding will be always clear and your Constitution firm and unshaken especially if you take care Secondly To use the like moderation in Drinking for your Health and Refreshment both as to the Quality and Quantity of Liquors Your Prudence will observe that this is one of the reigning and epidemical Sins of the Nation and an Inlet to most other Sins which many thousands and those generally none of the meanest Rank make their chief Trade and Business and is of late Years become so modish and fashionable in all Entertainments that the many will scarce think themselves welcome unless the Liquor and Freedom be allowed them to make Beasts of themselves One would think that their Quality and Education should reach 'em better Manners But alas they 'l go further yet and the most which is yet a higher Aggravation of their Sin and Villany become the Devils Factors for Damnation and use the most base and sordid Methods not only to debauch themselves but knock down others But for the prevention of all Excess in this Kind be pleased to consider That intemperate Drinking is the incentive to and fewel of all filthy Lusts For Chambering and Wantonness is the usual Effect of Rioting and Drukenness as the most Debauchees find and feel by woful experience This puts Men upon desperate Projects and engages 'em in all sorts of Wickedness and Villany insomuch that the very most in their drunken Fits will blaspheme swear curse lie backbite and rail against their innocent Neighbours and do often kill and destroy one another For some of 'em are cut off by sudden Accidents others in Duels occasion'd thro' Drinking and not a few of those guzling Hectors have summ'd up their Days at the end of a Watchmans Bill In a word intemperate Drinking lays a sure Foundation for all sorts of lingring Diseases makes the most not only Beasts but Mad-men and either brings them as I have noted to you to a swift untimely and cruel Death or a detestable and infamous Old Age which not one in a thousand ever attains to and those that do are offensive to all honest and vertuous Company and to God the most of all And besides these temporal Punishments see their eternal Doom is detain'd already if they live and die in this Sin unrepented of and unreform'd Isa 5.11 12. Luke 21.34 Gal. 5.21 Whereunto might be added many other parallel Passages to the same purpose These Considerations well weighed might persuade any Man to be master of his Appetite and keep himself within the due bounds of Temperance and Moderation which would not only be an extraordinary Blessing to private Persons and Families but conduce very much to the Interest of the Publick For I am confident there 's more Money spent in one year in excessive Drinking than would very well provide for and maintain all the truly poor and indigent People in England Therefore as you tender the Welfare of your Person and Family and Interest of your Soul and Body in this and a suture Life avoid and abandon the Conversation and Company of all dissolute debauched and intemperate Persons Let not their Allurements nor Scoffings nor Railings persuade you to a compliance with
of Grace and other vertuous Accomplishments as full of Words Vanity and other vitious Habits and Inclinations Now Sir if you should unhappily Miscarry which the Lord of his great Mercy prevent as it would be the greatest mischief to your self so not only your Parents hopes of your Youth but the Staff and Comfort of their Age will lie a bleeding to their unexpressible Grief and Sorrow These Considerations have very much affected me which I took the freedom to mention to some of your Friends when I first heard of their Design of sending you beyond Sea and upon more due and serious deliberation do now with more considence yet humbly communicate my Thoughts to you upon these Subjects For I am very well assured that considering me as a Divine and True Friend I shall not incur the least suspicion of being herein too bold or presumptuous and will think my self sufficiently apaid if thro God's Blessing I may be an happy Instrument in doing the least good to your Soul. I know it would be the greatest Happiness to your self as well as a Comfort to all your Friends if you be persuaded by any means to fall in love with Religion betimes and remember your Creator in the Days of your Youth Eccles 12.1 This has been for many Ages the glory and support of your Family which has been always eminent for Religion and Loyalty nor could there ever be less Danger of a degenerous Heir not to slatter you Sir nor puff you up nor greater Hopes of its establishment to future Generations But before we come to the Point give me leave to note to you for your greater Security That you 'l be in danger of meeting with many Brokers of Villany whose Trade and Business it is to pervert and do live upon the Spoils and Ruins of Young Gentlemen insomuch that scarce any Person of your Quality can travel into Foreign Parts but he shall be mightily caress'd and treated with so much respect and civility as if it were a pleasure to be seduced We know very well what Stratagems are used by some Men to undermine the sacred Foundations of the Doctrin and Worship of the Church of England insomuch that before his Majesties Declaration of Indulgence neither Laws nor Penalties could restrain them What then will they not dare to attempt within their own Territories and Jurisdictions especially when they meet with Persons of Temper and Quality who are inclin'd and dispos'd as you are to Religion And seeing also they have not only free scope and priviledge but encouragement to seduce so that 't is next to impossible not to be assaulted at least by their close and cunning Insinuations There have been alass too many perverted already the loss of whom joyned with the Churches we have sufficient cause to lament And indeed 't is a great wonder we have lost no more and let us praise God for it considering the importunate Methods and Plausibleness of our Adversaries on the right hand and on the left who like those infected with the Plague have always an itching desire of tainting others Wherefore none can blame the Clergy of the Church of England if we be as zealous for Truth as our Adversaries of Falshood which Argument alone might be a sufficient Apology for this Undertaking I have read Sir of some Countries I wish your Curiosity may not carry you thither whose chief Vertues modestly speaking do very much border either on Impiety or Superstition and yet those very Places as Travellers observe which are most worth seeing are of all others the most contagious Now 't is no small difficulty for a Young Gentleman to be chast and vertuous in the midst of Sodom and few have travell'd thither however they may please themselves with variety of Objects and returned home without some dangerous Tincture either of Sin and Wickedness or Schism and Sedition Thus I have noted in general what Temptations and Hazards you are exposed to amongst Foreigners and the greatest of all is the danger of being corrupted and contaminated in your Religion and Manners And 't is certain tho your Tutors be never so careful yet much must be left to your own Temper and Inclination how to sever Good from Evil For there 's no Man proves Factious Superstitious or extreamly Wicked on a sudden but thro several Declinations falls by degrees from Vertue and Religion Seeing then so many Temptations and Snares may await you in every Place where you come which no Mans Prudence can foresee and your own Heart prove deceitful and forward to betray you Therefore I beseech you be constantly upon your Guard and if your Tutors should either be negligent or persidious as many have been in the like Trust and I could name some of them yet thro the Assistance of God's Grace you may secure your Religion and Conscience inviolable But for the further prevention of their Machinations who lie in wait to deceive and your Establishment and Confirmation in the Religion of the Church of England I offer these Three following Particulars to your serious and impartial Consideration And First I shall give you a true tho short Account of the Constitution of the Church of England both as to her Doctrin and Worship or Discipline which I hope may for ever oblige you to continue in her Communion Secondly We shall enquire a little into the Principles and Practices of the Romish Church and Religion wherein they chiefly differ from Vs A Religion of all others within the Pail of the Christian Church the most pleasing and delightful to Flesh and Blood A Religion which no Man scarce can comply with especially if he has been bred up in the Church of England but must offer violence to his own Reason and Conscience if he pretends to either Thirdly We shall consider the Pretensions Reasons and Arguments which our Brethren of the Non-conformity have urged in their own Defence to palliate their Separation from our Communion and seduce others By all which I hope 't will evidently appear that there cannot be the least colour of Reason nor any thing like Argument to tempt much less to persuade you or any other Person of Parts and Education who is not blinded with Passion Interest or Prejudice to separate from the most truly Orthodox and best constituted Church in the whole World I mean the Church of England Of all these severally And First Of the Religion of our Church both as to its Doctrin and Worship or Discipline And First Concerning her Doctrin Wherein 't is most plain and evident That we have a clear Profession of all Fundamental Truths and Duties both to God and Man in our Creeds Commandments Lords Prayer and the Doctrin of the Two Sacraments which every Orthodox and Believing Christian in the whole World will readily subscribe and say Amen to Our Sabbaths are duly observed and kept with the greatest Reverence and Solemnity God's Holy Word is purely and faithfully preach'd his Sacraments duly
administred according to our Blessed Saviours own Institution We worship God viz. the One Divine Essence and Trinity of Persons in Spirit and Truth in and thro' Christ without the Mediation of Saints and Angels We hope for and believe the Remission of Sins and Salvation of our Souls and Bodies by the Merits of Christ alone thro' the Mercies of God and upon the condition of a sincere and unseigned Repentance Which Repentance in the Judgment of our Church implies a true Sight and Confession of hearty arrow for and the hatred and forsaking of all our former Sins with a stedfast Resolution never to return to them again with any consent delight or approbation and the use of all possible Endeavours to put these Resolutions in practice even to our Lives End So that if we shall at any time fall into the commission of the least Sin or the neglect of any Duty either wilfully or by infirmity and surprize we do again seriously and solemnly renew our Repentance and are never at peace with our Selves and in our Consciences till we be again reconciled unto God or our Neighbour whom we have offended And this we do as well after as before our Conversion not daring to continue in any one sin unrepented of unreformed When we have thus renounced and abandon'd Sin the World and the Devil as our deadly Enemies we think our selves further oblig'd to magnifie and adorn our Profession by the Works and Fruits of Piety and true Holiness Justice and Charity Purity and Sobriety Tit. 2.12 and to perform all and every one of these Duties both to God and Man without Partiality without Hypocrisie This is a short Specimen of the Doctrin and Fundamentals of our Religion which in all and every particular are warranted and recommended to Us by God's infallible Word and the concurrent Suffrages and Confessions of all the Churches of Christ in the Primitive and Purest Ages of the Gospel And as the Doctrin of our Church is Sound and Orthodox so Secondly Our Worship and Discipline is truly Antient and Apostolical For there 's not one single Passage in our Liturgy and Church Service and Circumstantials of Worship our most rigid Adversaries being Judges that is either Anti-Scriptural or Sinful but do all very much conduce to Decency Order Vniformity and the Edification of its Members All which I could easily make appear to you by an Induction of Particulars insomuch that there 's not one National Church under the Cope of Heaven that 's more Orthodox than Ours in Her whole Worship and Politie Consult and examine our Liturgy Articles Homilies Canons and Constitutions Ceremonies c. and there you 'l find a truly Primitive and Apostolical Spirit in the disposition of the several Parts for the Honour and Glory of God and Advancement of his true Religion and Worship amongst Vs And for a further Testimony hereof and your own particular Satisfaction read when you can have the convenience of those Books and leisure to read 'em Hookers Ecclesiastical Politie Dr. Comber's large Volume on our Church Liturgy and Dr. Falkner's Libertas Ecclesiastica which Triumvirate are sufficiently able to answer all the Doubts and Scruples of any unbiast and unprejudiced Reader Besides I can give you a Catalogue of such Books when you please to command it as have treated so learnedly judiciously and convincingly of the Religion of the Church of England in all the Points of Faith Worship and Discipline as will furnish you with such Reasons and Arguments as neither Papist nor Phanatick were ever yet able to answer Let your Religion then and that Church into which you were admitted and initiated by Baptism and in whose Communion you have been hitherto educated be as dear to you as your Estate and Life Remit nothing of your Love and Affection Zeal and Courage to defend it when you are thereunto lawfully called For the Doctrin and Worship of our Church has been transmitted to Us by our pious Ancestors with all the Sanctions both of divine and humane Authority and as sure as there is a God the Religion which you profess came down from Heaven For the everlasting Prince of Peace has consign'd and confirm'd it to Us by the Effusion of his own precious Blood and the Suffrage of many Saints and Martyrs in this Kingdom so that you have not the least reason to scruple your Compliance with and Conformity to it If therefore an Angel or Devil or any ill Men should at any time suggest the contrary to you have no Communication with him but reject him as an utter Enemy and Impostor And when you have more leisure opportunity and experience your Curiosity may lead you to read over and consider the Canons and Constitutions of the Greek and Latin Churches wherein you 'l find the true State of Things and Times the Beginnings Proceedings Increases Encounters Yieldings and Restaurations of the Gospel and what the Primitive Fathers did and suffer'd for the propagation of the Christian Religion and the interest of the Church And herein you 'l also see the Conformity of our Church of England Men since the beginning of the Reformation to the Primitive Pattern And when you have thus made some considerable Progress in inquiring into the Fundamentals and Superstructures of our Religion you 'l be better able to judge of the Opinions and Errors of those that differ from Us. But till you have more time and convenience to inform your self as to the Particulars I shall present you Secondly With a true and brief Account of Popery or the Doctrin and Practices of the Church of Rome as to those Particulars wherein they differ from the Church of England For which cause we are forced to separate from them since we cannot communicate with them without sin nor have we departed further from 'em than they have departed from Themselves and the Truth Now for Method's sake we shall consider also First The Principles or Doctrin And Secondly The Practices of the pretended Catholicks of the Romish Church Whereby 't will evidently appear that Popery if rightly understood is no such beautiful and charming Object as to allure any Man of Reason and Conscience to fall in love with it And First For the Principles of Popery and we are obliged to call them so because they are so esteem'd and accounted by their own Church For since their Council of Trent no Man can properly be admitted into the Romish Communion however in Popish Countries but shall be censured and condemned as a damn'd Heretick unless he believes as followeth viz. That a Mortal Man as the Pope in Cathedra or as some say with his Council of Cardinals is infallible knows all things and can err in nothing that he directs informs animates and commands both in Earth and Purgatory expounds Scripture forgives Sins canonizeth Saints creates new Articles of Faith and in all these and many other of the same Stamp and Character is as absolute and infallible as his Maker But