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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A29178 A minister's counsel to the youth of his parish when arriv'd to years of discretion : recommended to the societies in and about London / by Francis Bragge ... Bragge, Francis, 1664-1728. 1699 (1699) Wing B4199; ESTC R32860 70,334 248

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'em for the Happiness of Heaven when this short Life shall end Thus the Apostle 2 Tit. 11. c. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation to all Men hath appear'd teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Looking for that Blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a Peculiar People zealous of good Works For this purpose then our Holy Religion was taught us by the Son of God and True Religion no doubt will effectually bring to pass that for which it was design'd And he that is Religious indeed is therefore so that the design'd Effect may throughly be wrought upon him in full perswasion that unless it is so his Pretences to Christianity however warm and forward they may be will signify nothing and he must never expect to be really Happy here or to give a good Account of himself at the day of Judgment And consequently his great Care is to be Master of the Power and Substance of Religion without which the Form of it tho' manag'd with never so much Decency and Constancy and seeming Zeal and Earnestness is really but a Piece of Mimickry a Holy Stage-play an excellent Part Acted by an Ill Man in Masquerade Which tho' perform'd never so much to the Life is still without Reality and therefore indeed puts an Abuse upon Religion and robs God of his Honour defeats all his Gracious Intentions for our Happiness and will be very Tragical in the Conclusion This in General But more particularly in the first Place Let young People have a care of putting on Religion either as a thing of Custom only an Ornamental Dress to recommend them to the Good Esteem of the World and get them Reputation or to bring on Business and Preferment or which is still worse as a Cover to vile Practices which must be disguis'd before they can be put in excution If only the first of these be a Man's End in his Religion Math. 6.2 our Saviour assure us He has his reward a few empty Commendations will be all his Recompence But what a strange Religion is he of who values the Praise of Men more than the Applauses of his own Conscience and the Praise of God! Our Lord's Directions are quite otherwise Thou says he to every one of his Disciples shalt not be as the Hypocrites are whose Character we have Matthew 6. Take heed let Secresie and Sincerity be mingled with all thy Religious Performances which is the Sum of what is there diliver'd in this matter and then Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly But if he further designs it as an Instrument of Wordly Gain and Advancement or a Disguise for those Ill Methods which he intends to take in order to them this is rank Hipocrisie indeed And not only the Pharisees of Old but very many since have ruin'd Kingdoms as well as private Persons by Prayer and Fasting and the Semblance of an extraordinary Devotion In short he whose Religion is not at least as great in secret in his Closet and his Bed when only God can see it as 't is in Publick when in the Eye of Men ought to look upon himself as a Diessmbler in it especially if Gain he his Godliness and Religion only made use of as a Hook to draw it to him Secondly Let the employing our Zeal about the Circumstantials of Religion only be carefully avoided whether in observing or not observing 'em is all one as was touched before when we neglect and it may be violate the Greatest Duties of it For can any Man be so weak as to believe that the observing or not observing such and such Modes of Worship can cleanse the Soul and make it like to God and fit for Heaven They serve indeed for Decency and Order when used with Judgment and Moderation and ought not to be slighted and neglected when enjoyn'd by Lawful Authority but 't is those Duties that will renew us in the Spirit of our Mind and work our Souls into a Divine Frame and Temper which should be a Christian's chief Care to practise in Sincerity of Heart Was it not Gross Hypocrisie in the Pharisees to be more careful and diligent in Titheing Mint and Cummin and Annise in their Washings and Fastings and Attendance at the Publick Offices in the Temple and the like than in performing the weightest matters of the Law Justice Mercy and Fidelity nay indeed to Act quite contrary to them Would not the cleansing themselves from Extortion and Excess have been a much more becoming Employment for them than to be always taken up with washing their Hands and their Garments and Scouring the Cup and the Platter These things ought ye to have done says our Lord and not to have left the other undone Let us beware therefore of Depending too much upon our being of this or that Party for or against such and such Ceremonies going so often to Prayers hearing so many Sermons and the like For 't is not this that will stand us in any stead unless we follow the Example of the Holy Jesus walk as he walk● and adorn our Souls with the Graces of his most excellent Religion And if we still are Envious and Malicious Furious and Revengeful Intemperate and Unchaste Unjust and Uncharitable and the like and find our selves very little careful to mortify these vile Affections spending our Zeal and Warmth upon things of infinitely less Consequence it must be concluded that we are not yet Christians in Sincerity Our best Performances at this rate are but as a Sacrifice without a Heart which was always esteem'd as one of the worst of Omens and an Argument of God's great Displeasure Thirdly 'T is a very Ill sign when People pick and choose the Instances of their Obedience to the Christian Law and make a great Shew of and Stir about some Particular Duties which are agreeable to their Natural Temper and which they have no Temptation or it may be Ability to Transgress and all the while Indulge themselves in the Sins they Love and Delight in tho' never so expresly forbidden in the Gospel As if for Instance Because a Man's Constitution inclines him to be Temperate and Chaste he should therefore place the greatest Part of his Religion in Chastity and Temperance and in the mean time allow himself to be Censorious Malicious Covetous Unjust or the like or on the Contrary because he is honest and good natur'd tho' he Whores and Drinks and lives like a Brute yet shall imagine he may fare well enough because he has no Gall in him wishes no body any Harm and is no ones Enemy but his own But this is a Religion of every Man 's own making not that which our Saviour taught the World 't is as various as Mens Tempers and at