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A41668
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The young man's guide through the wilderness of this world to the heavenly Canaan shewing him how to carry himself Christian-like in the whole course of his life / by Tho. Gouge ...
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Gouge, Thomas, 1605-1681.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing G1387; ESTC R32454
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122,357
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176
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to Christ be the main Spring that sets all thy Wheels a going this will both give vigour and a sweet relish to all thou dost and according to this according to what love there is in thy duties so will thy acceptance be with God 2. Let the Word and Will of God be the Rule of thy life Psal. 119. 9. Wherewithal shall a Young Man cleanse his way The question may be inlarged wherewâ—…thal shall a Young or Old Man cleanse and order his way And the Answer will be the same By taking heed thereto according to thy Word This Word is a Light to the feet and a Lanthorn to the steps it sheweth thee what is good and that good must be done it sheweth thee what is evil and what evil is to be avoided it sheweth thee what good is to be done and how what evils are to be eschewed and how thou mayst avoid them Young Man do not as the most of thine Age use to do be unruly live not according to thy unruly head or heart according to thy unruly lusts and passions but live by rule live not by the rule of Custom or by the rule of example after the course of this World but let God be thy Ruler and his Law be thy Rule As many as walk according to this rule peace shall be on them and mercy Gal. 6. 16. Enquire diligently what would God have me do How would God have me live Would God have me live an idle life Would God have me to swear or to lye or to covet Is not this it that the Lord would have me do to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and soberly and godly in this present world Tit. 2. 12. And if this be it that the Lord would have go and live accordingly 3. Let the glorifying and enjoying of God be the end of thy life and of all the duties and actions of it Let this be the scope of thy life the mark at which thou aimest that thou mayst honour God and be happy in him And that thou mayst eye and pursue both these in one let this be the aim and intent of thine heart in thy whole course To work out thine own Salvation Phil. 2. 12. In this one work is included all that thou hast to do or mind In this thou wilt best glorifie God and secure his everlasting love to thine own Soul Therefore upon this set thine eye and thine heart in all thy ways So that if the question be put wherefore livest thou wherefore livest thou thus thus holily thus humbly thus watchfully thus self-denyingly that thou mayst be able to answer Why I live thus that herein I may work out my Salvation Resolve to set thy self about nothing nor to allow thy self in any thing concerning which thou art not able to say I am herein working out my Salvation I am herein serving the Lord and endeavouring the saving mine own Soul Young Man dost thou live to this end what goest thou so often to the Alehouse or the Tavern for Is that to serve God and save thy Soul what is the intent of thy greediness upon the world of thy sensual licentious life of thy scoffing at the strictness of Religion dost thou all this also for the pleasing of God and working out thine own Salvation Canst thou say when thou art Drinking and Revelling when thou art swearing and Lying or when thou art loytering and playing away thy time canst thou then say Now I am serving of God herein I am working out my Salvation Or when thou art playing the Hypocrite and Formalist professing and praying and hearing and talking of God and the matters of Religion deceitfully out of pride or for ostentation or so coldly and negligently as thou ordinarily dost canst thou then say I am now praying for my life bearing for my life Will thy pride and thy hypocrisie bring thee to Heaven Are these false Duties that have nothing but a Lye at the bottom that are the Covert of a rotten heart are these they on which thou meanest to adventure thy Salvation Young Man if thou wouldst in earnest make this thine aim indeed the serving of God and saving thy Soul and have thine eye and thine heart much upon it this would both discover to thee whether thy way were right or wrong and also fetch thee off from all thy vain and wicked ways and quicken thee on in and hold thee close to that righteousness sobriety and godliness of life which is indeed the way to blessedness Thus much for General Directions CHAP. XXI Containeth particular Directions for the ordering our lives and actions according to Godliness IN the next place I shall give thee some particular Directions I. Beware of living in the wilful omission of any known duty The omission of good maketh us as liable to eternal vengeance as the committing of evil The unprofitable servant we read was â—…ast into outer darkness where was nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth not for mispending his Talent but for not improving it to his Masters advantage Matth. 25. 24 30. And Luk. 16. 20 25. We read how Dives was tormented in Hell not for taking away from Lazarus but for not relieving him in his wants And at the day of Judgment the Reprobate are condemned not for oppressing the Poor but for not feeding them not for stripping them of their Apparel but for not cloathing the naked Mat. 25. 42 43. And no marvel considering the omitting of a known Duty ariseth from a wicked heart and from a mind averse from God and unwilling to his service Besides sins of Omission are always accompanied with sins of Commission when we cease to do good immediately we begin to do evil Bless not then thy self O Young Man in thine harmless condition thinking thou art as good a Christian as the best because thou art not as bad as the worst but canst thank God with the Pharisee thou art neither Adulterer nor Drunkard nor Extortioner it were to be wished that some could say so much but know that this is not sufficient A man may truly say this I am not as bad as others and yet suffer with them in the same Lake of fire Thy Omissions may be thy undoing Yea not only a total omission of all that 's good but an ordinary and wilful and allowed omission of any one thing thou knowest to be thy Duty This cannot stand with sincerity which however it may be at some time will in ordinary certainly have respect to all the Commandments of God Psal. 116. 9. O how sadly doth this speak to thee thou halting and trifling Soul Many things thou dost and therein thou comfortest thy self but are there not many things also which thou knowest thou shouldst do but wilt not Thou knowest it is thy duty to pray to pray in thy Family in secret in thy Closet to be constant to be instant in prayer Dost thou so Thou knowest it to be thy duty to
words are to be understood not only as a Curse or Judgment but also as a Charge and Command Answerable thereunto is that Precept in the Moral Law Six days shalt thou labour So that no man hath a priviledge to live idly but either by the sweat of his Brow or of his Brain ought to be serviceable in his Generation For thine incouragement unto diligence in thy Calling Solomon tells thee Prov. 10. 4. The â—…and of the diligent maketh rich And Prov. 13. 4. That the Soul of the diligent shall be made sat Whereas Idleness is the root both of Beggery and of all manner of wickedness yea the Devils chiefest opportunity and advantage for tempting men unto sin and therefore may be called the hour of temptation For when the Devil findeth men most idle he will be sure to set them on his work Therefore it was good counsel which Saint Ierom gave to one of his Friends Be thou always about some lawful business that when the Devil comes he may not find thee idle If Satan at any time find thee not about that which is good he will soon set thee about that which is evil Though thou must be diligent in thy Calling yet take these two Cautions 1 Caution Beware of laying out the strength of thy heart and spirit upon thy worldly businesses which ought to be reserved for communion with God Thou must so follow the works of thy Calling as one that hath other matters in thy head businesses of an higher nature lying upon thee even the great things of Eternity the salvation of thy precious and immortal Soul This the Apostle intendeth in 1 Cor. 7. 31. where he adviseth us so to use the World as if we used it not or as not abusing it by such an immoderate loving and inordinate seeking after it as takes off the heart from a due minding the great concernments of our Souls As Esau wasted his strength by overmuch Hunting and by his too greedy desire of Iacob's red Pottage lost his Birth-right Gen. 27. 29. so mayst thou by an over-eager hunting after Wealth waste the strength of thy body and indanger thine Heavenly Inheritance It will be therefore thy wisdom so to mind and follow after things Temporal that thou mayst not lose no nor abate thy care of things Eternal I deny not but the World may and must be minded by thee but still in its place secondarily and subordinately What is the World to thy Soul What is Bread or Cloaths or Money or an House or Lands to the Everlasting Kingdom Let that word be still in thine ears and upon thine heart whatever thou art about First seek the Kingdom of God First that is not only before all things but chiefly and above all things seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness let thine heart be ever more intent upon God than upon all things in the world besides 2 Caution Though thou must be diligent in thy Calling yet beware that thy worldly businesses and imployments do not ingross thy whole time but allow thy Religious Duties their proper and sufficient season Be sure thou observe thy praying and thy reading times yea and thy seasons for meditating on God and communing with thine own heart Oh let not thy Worldly Imployments prove Heavenly Impediments Put not off thy serving God for any earthly advantage whatsoever Happily thou wilt say I must provide necessaries for my Family I must have bread for my self and them True and must thou not have Grace and Christ too Is not thy Soul more than thy Body Is not Christ and Grace more necessary than thy daily bread If thou wilt not raise thy Estate upon the ruines of thy Soul if thou wilt not sell thine hopes for hereafter for thy present commodity and undo thy self for ever for fear thou shouldst be undone here then look to it that whatever wants thy Soul may have its due share of thy time Let not holy duties give place to the world let the world give place to them I know it is the practice of too many upon a pretence of much business either wholly to omit their private devotions or else to run over them so hastily that they are lost in the doing as good do nothing as nothing to purpose God will not be so put off nor can thy Soul subsist upon the Income of hasty duties If thou wilt find no more leisure to pray God will find as little leisure to answer 2 Follow thy Worldly businesses with an Heavenly mind as a Citizen of Heaven and a Pilgrim on Earth Though thou hast thy hand in the Earth yet let thine eye and thine heart be towards Heaven often meditating on heavenly things and setting thy thoughts and affections on things above As S. Paul when he was at Rome in his body yet was at Coloss in his Spirit Col. 2. 5. So though as yet we are absent from Heaven in our bodies yet in our Spirits we may be continually present there and there let us daily be both searching into the blessedness of that better Country and studying our way thither and laying up a treasure for our selves there There is scarce any worldly business which calls for the continual intention of thy thoughts upon it but some spare time may be gained from it for spiritual thoughts and heavenly meditations And great care and watchfulness there should be against such an over-intention of mind upon whatever earthly affairs as does shut the Lord out of doors and throw Heaven under our feet Let our whole life be a walking with God as Enochs was Gen. 5. 22. Let us learn the skill to serve the Lord in our serving the necessities of our bodies and let us often catch at opportunities for more immediate converses with him Learn particularly these two things 1. To spiritualize all outward objects and occurrences by raising matter of heavenly meditations from the same There is no creature in which there are not manifest footsteps of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God Every flower or spire of grass every worm or fly declare the power of our great Creator How much more the curious Fabrick of mans Body and the glorious Host of Heaven from each of which thou mayst take occasion to think of God with admiration As a Christian seeth all things in God so may he see God in all things and thereby make some spiritual use and improvement of them He may with the Bee suck sweetness out of every flower not only for sensual delight but also for spiritual profit And truly the benefit of the Creature is half lost if there be nothing but an outward use made oâ—… them The bruit Beasts can behold the outward things if man see and learn no more what is his Excellency above the Beasts A wise Physitian can extract some good out of those Herbs that ignorant persons cast away as useless In like manner wise Christians can and ought to extract some spiritual profit to themselves