as the Prophet Zachariah speak Zach. 9.17 How great is his Goodness and how great is his Beauty And as the Author of the Book of Wisdom Chap. 11. Verse 23 24 26. sets forth the Goodness and Excellency of God But thou saith he hast Mercy upon all and winkest at the Sins of Men because they should amend for thou lovest all things that are and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made How could any thing have endured if it had not been thy Will or been preserved by thee But thou sparest all for they are thine O Lord thou lover of Souls Now if under the Law God appeared so good and Gracious that he was stiled the Lover of Souls how Resplendent and Illustrious must needs appear the divine Goodness to us under the Gospel when God spared not his own Son but hath given him up for us all Rom. 8.32 Yea so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son into the World that whosoever believeth in him should not Perish but have eternal Life How should we Christians love God with the strongest and greatest Affections imaginable And in an ecstacy of Joy loudly proclaim him to be the Lover of Souls indeed and cry out with holy David O love the Lord ye his Saints c. Psal 31.23 In the next place as to our Neighbour our Religion teaches us to do unto all Men as we would they should do to us that is to say to honour and reverence our Parents to be Humble towards all our Superiours to be Loyal and Faithful to our Prince and Sovereign obedient to his Laws and Government to submit our selves to all our Governours Teachers spiritual Pastors and Masters To be Just and Honest in all our Dealings friendly and peaceable towards all our Neighbours to be Charitable and ready to do all the Good we are able both to the Bodies and Souls of those who stand in need of it To be Sober Temperate and Chast and to follow Peace with all Men and Holiness And in respect to the Duties both of the First and Second Table to follow the Apostles comprehensive Direction Philip. 4.8 Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good Report if there be any Vertue and if there be any Praise think on these things So that this most excellent Religion must needs make its Votaries the best the most lovely Persons in all the Earth even like unto their Lord and Master the ever blessed Jesus who himself was the express Image of his Father God blessed for ever For this is the great End of Religion as a late Author discourseth viz. The purifying and refining the Nature of Man correcting the wild Exorbitances of Passion and Lust by which he is so estranged from God and disabled to arrive at the Life of Vertue and Goodness it restores us to that primitive State of Happiness that we lost in Adam Thus in short you have the true Representation of the Christian Religion than which nothing can be more excellent as to its Laws and Rules of Life And altho' it is true it is a Yoke and Restraint yet as our Lord and Master testifies his Yoke is easy and his Burthen light His excellent Religion is not a sowre melancholy Thing as is falsly represented by ignorant and wicked Men It is not an Enemy to your Mirth Pleasure and Delight in this Life as one hath well observed you may Sing Rejoice and be Merry God denies you nothing but Sin which spoils your Joys and dasheth your Mirth and sooner or later must be sadly accounted for As the Pious Mr. George Herbert used to say Religion doth not banish Mirth but only moderates and sets Bounds to it it is the only way to render our Delights pure and real and satisfactory For do you imagine that any one can so heartily sing and rejoice as he that hath God his Friend who lives under the Smiles of Heaven Indeed it is the Voice of all Men who will shew us any Good Omnes tendunt ad gaudium sed unde magnum stabile consequantur ignorant saith the Heathen Seneca Every Man would arrive at Joy and Contentment but how to obtain that which is great stable and lasting they know not All Men seek Happiness and Satisfaction and Tranquility of Mind in this Life Now behold here it is only to be had in a vertuous and christian Life for if we search the whole Universe where else shall we find it For we see by daily Experience that when Men have run through all the Felicities this World can afford them Riches Honours Pleasures at last when they come to be Wise and Serious at their Deaths for Death being a serious thing indeed it makes them that have played the Fool all their Lives to become then serious wise Then they all if they have their Senses loudly proclaim with Solomon That all is Vanity and vexation of Spirit And as the wise Man discourseth Wisdom 5.7 8 9. They will say We alas wearied our selves in the Way of Wickedness and Destruction What hath Pride profited us Or what good hath Riches with our Vaunting brought us All these things are passed away like a Shadow and as a Post that hasteth by c. And they repenting and groaning for Anguish of Spirit shall say within themselves of the Righteous Man This is he whom we had sometimes in Derision and a Proverb of Reproach we Fools accounted his Life Madness and his End to be without Honour How is he numbred among the Children of God and his Lot is among the Saints 3 4 5. Verses of the same Chapter But certainly true Happiness and Satisfaction and Pleasure is to be had only in a good vertuous and christian Life which leads us to and fixeth us upon that summum bonum God A good Conscience being a continual Feast that only a good Man a good Christian always carries about him For as Solomon says truly God's Ways are Ways of Pleasantness and all his Paths are Peace Prov. 3.17 A good Christian is the only Man that can with an humble and chearful Confidence look up to God as his almighty Protector and Defender as his gracious Father under the Light of whose Countenance he doth every day Rejoice For as one well observes Vertue is the Tenure by which we hold of Heaven without this we are but as Out-laws who cannot claim Protection Thus as to the Provision for a Christian's Welfare in this World And as the Wicked at their latter End see altho' too late their Folly and then Lament and Bewail their Rebellions and Wickedness against God with great Horrour and Consternation of Heart and then not being able to fly from themselves lie down in Sorrow forewarning others of their Follies So on the other Hand these faithful Disciples of their blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when they come to die if you should
SInce the former Impression of this Book meting with the Judgment and Opinion of a great Statesman in the Reign of King Henry VIII and his Vice-Roy in Ireland Sir Anthony St. Leiger by Name who used to say That there were three things would settle a State or Kingdom 1st Good God fathers and God-mothers performing their Vows 2dly Good Housholders overlooking their Families 3dly Good School-masters Educating of Youth And this last the most useful although the most contemptible I am the more encouraged to a Second Impression of the same hoping it may somewhat contribute to the same good End before-mentioned which is the hearty Prayers of the Author A New-Years Gift OR ADVICE TO A GOD-SON Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. 22.6 Religio est omnium moralium Virtutum nobilissima The Second Edition By P. A. Gent. LONDON Printed by J. L. for Luke Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696 IMPRIMATUR Liber cui Titulus A New-Years Gift or Advice to a God son Nov. 26. 1687. Guil. Needham TO THE Hopeful young Gentleman T. C. Esquire THE serious consideration of the dreadful danger to mens souls by reason of vicious and sinful Customs and Habits contracted in youth which being confirmed by a long continuance in a debauched course of Life renders their Conversion and Reformation very difficult if not next to impossible as the Prophet speaks Jer. xiij 23. Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil made me sensible that the only way to prevent this great Mischief must be by engaging Persons betimes in their young and tender Years in Vertue and true Goodness by means of religious and prudent Education Instruction and Advice And therefore I conceived it not to be besides my Duty next to my own Children to indeavour to prevent this Evil and Danger falling upon my only God-son now remaining alive and capable of Advice and that therein I acting within my own Province it could not be imputed to me as a Crime But Sir now seeing this Discourse is likely to be made more publick than was at first intended I could not well find out one more suitable to whom to dedicate it than your self who are a Gentleman of such great Hopes as to be in time one of the Vertuosi of the Age you live in who I doubt not will make it your Study and Care by your Life and Conversation to refute that bold Assertion of him who once said O virtus quaesivi te ut rem sed tantum merum nomen es For certainly there is true Gold in the World although there is a great deal of counterfeit Metal like it I shall say no more least it may prove Offensive to you whose Care I verily believe will be to be rather Good than Great who will have a greater Desire to be useful in your Generation to serve your Prince and Country than to be talk'd of in the World Thus heartily wishing to you the Completion of all Happiness which only consists in a religious and vertuous Life here and at Death to be made more Happy translated hence into heavenly Mansions those Receptacles of Vertuous Noble and Purified Souls in the highest Heavens there to be taken up with the holy and excellent Imployments of the blessed Angels for evermore I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and humble Servant P. A. Decemb. 10. 1687. A New-Years Gift OR ADVICE TO A GOD-SON God son IN regard you have own'd me your God-father I think therefore you do not doubt but that I performed that Office for you in the Face of the Christian Congregation So that if that kind of Right and Interest I have in you do it not yet at least the Obligation of Christian Duty puts me upon this present Trouble of tendering to you my Christian Advice and Counsel which being out of my Love to you I hope it will not be ungrateful and unpleasing for none but ill Natures can be so unworthy as to reject the Advices of an affectionate Friend You are to know God-son That I was your Proxie in your place and stead to answer for you you being not able to answer for your self That you did renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World the sinful Lusts of the Flesh That you did believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And that you would keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the Days of your Life as you have acknowledged in your Catechism in which I was instrumental in the solemn Dedication of you to God and his Service to be the Disciple of the ever blessed Jesus to your Entrance upon your holy Christian Profession and the initiating you in his holy Catholick Church of which the present Church of England is a Part in which Church you being born were baptized Now God son although I question not but by the Christian Care of your Parents you have been already instructed in the First Principles of your holy Religion contained in our Church-Catechism who doubtless are no less obliged to promote your Christianity than if you had had no God-fathers and God-mothers But nevertheless it many times falls out that our Parents are remiss and negligent herein therefore our Mother the Church of England hath strictly imposed this Duty of catechising and instructing all young Persons her Children in their Christianity upon all her Priests and Ministers Therefore for your Welfare God-son after my hearty Prayers to God for you give me leave with Freedom and Earnestness to exhort you to account this happy Privilege of your Christianity to be the greatest Blessing and Happiness that a Man or Woman born into the World are capable of for the Gospel or glad Tidings of Salvation by Jesus Christ was the great Redemption and Happiness to a sinful degenerate and miserable World Now you must know God son That God having created Man made a Covenant and Agreement with him to this purpose That if he continued in Obedience to God That both that Knowledge of his Duty and that Strength of Soul and Mind he then enjoyed in his Estate of Innocency and Happiness should be continued to him and that he should never die but be happy for ever But on the other side if he sinn'd and disobeyed God then both he and all his Posterity should lose that Knowledge and that perfect Strength and be subject to Death both Temporal and Eternal But our First Parent Adam disobeyeth God and so brings a Curse on himself and all his Posterity they losing both their Knowledge of and Strength to perform their Duty being both ignorant and weak having a Backwardness to all Good and an Aptness to all Evil and also Death Temporal and Eternal at last All Mankind being now in this miserable Condition of Bondage and
Slavery to Sin and Satan Death and Hell God was pleased to make a Second Covenant of Grace and Mercy with lost Man and therein promises to send his Son that Seed of the Woman which should break the Serpents Head who should be a King Priest and Prophet to us A King to rule us a Priest to make an Atonement for us with his Father and to intercede for us and a Prophet to teach and instruct us in all things necessary to our Happiness in the whole Will and Mind of God Accordingly the Blessed Jesus in fulness of Time was sent into the World from Heaven to take our Nature upon him to become Man and so in our stead as our Surety then paid the Price of our Redemption by shedding his most precious Blood upon the Cross offering up his Soul a Sacrifice to God to satisfy his Father's Justice of which great Sacrifice all the legal Sacrifices were Types and as such were acceptable with God for he was the Lamb of God slain from the Beginning of the World and by this means to reconcile us to God to procure to us the sinful Offspring of sinful Adam upon our true Repentance a Pardon of all our Sins For he purchased a general Pardon to all the Rebellious Sons of Adam upon their Submission and laying down their Arms and ceasing their Hostilities against Heaven and becoming dutiful and obedient Subjects and of the Servants of Sin and Slaves of Satan the greatest Slavery in the World to be made the Sons and Servants of God whose Service is perfect Freedom to be in some Measure restored to their first State of Innocence and Happiness to be made vertuous and holy conformed to the Image of their heavenly Father to enjoy his Friendship and Favour and to be blessed by him here in this Life and at Death to be translated into the blessed Regions of Happiness above in Heaven there to behold love contemplate praise and admire Him to all Eternity with all his holy Angels Now consider seriously God-son Was not this great Love and good Will of God in this great Contrivance and Work of our Redemption And in his sending his beloved Son into the World for the effecting the same And was it not also great Love and condescending Goodness in the Son of God the blessed Jesus to stoop from Heaven to Earth to take upon him the Nature of sinful Man To be born of a Woman to live here upon Earth a mean and despicable Life to be hated reviled persecuted even while he went about designing and doing all the Good he could both to the Bodies and Souls of Men and publishing the glad Tydings of Salvation to all the World and by his divine Doctrine rectifying the great Errors Mistakes and Delusions that the World lay under making a clear and full Discovery of what was Truth and being the great Exemplar of all Vertue Holiness true Worth and Goodness to all the World Being notwithstanding herein exposed to all the Malice and Rage of Men and Devils And at last to lay down his precious Life by a shameful ignominious painful and cruel Death of Crucifixion Hereby perfecting the Work of our Redemption That whosoever would accept of this Salvation and would believe in him repent and be baptized and so become his faithful Disciple should be saved Now God-son you being happily born of Christian Parents were according to the holy Institution of this blessed Jesus our Lord and Master and the constant Practice of his Church baptized and thereby initiated in his Church and made a Member of the same as I mentioned before and so made not only capable of but really partaker of this great Redemption and Salvation It very much concerns you now you are come to a competent Age of Understanding to consider how you stand obliged to God and to be true and faithful to your baptismal Vow and Covenant which now you must renew in your own Person except you will renounce your Christianity and think that you were obliged also to them who were assistant and instrumental in this charitable Work of bringing you to this holy Baptism and devoting and dedicating you to God and to be the Disciple of the blessed Jesus Christ you being thereby Partaker of all the Privileges and Benefits of the Gospel Now I beseech you with all Chearfulness and Alacrity of Soul resolve forthwith to ratify and confirm this Advantageous Contract and Vow made for you by your God-fathers and God-mothers in your Minority and Nonage and perform the same in your own Person now you are of Capacity and abhor to profess what you do not intend to practise In pursuance thereof be modest and humble and teachable be very sollicitous to know and understand fully what your Christianity means and also what it requires of you And abhor to be of the Number of them too many in the World who neglect that most wherein their chiefest and greatest Care should be viz. Their Religion and by that means know little more of their Christianity but the Name First therefore God-son have recourse with humble Reverence of Heart and Body to God in Prayer and with great Fervency beg the Guidance of his Grace and Spirit wherein your blessed Lord and Saviour hath furnished you with the most excellent Form composed by himself which should be a Pattern to all our Prayers and always to accompany them But herein also your Mother the Church hath furnished you as also other pious Men especially that most excellent Book the whole Duty of Man which now I have mentioned to you let me recommend it to you as an Attendant to the sacred Scriptures in which in the next place I would advise you to be very Conversant I mean the Scriptures with a spiritual Guide to direct you and take you by the Hand especially in doubtful and difficult places and hearkening to good Sermons and the learning and understanding the Principles of your Religion contained in our Church Catechism in which you should request your Parents and Friends to assist and help you And consider God-son Whereas in your Baptismal Vow you renounced The Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh That is to say all Acts of Sin and Disobedience to the Divine Laws for Sin is the Transgression of God's Law as also all the vain and evil Customs of the World the Pride Excess and Vanity of worldly and wicked Men together with the gratifying of your carnal and sensual Desires and Appetites in opposition to those Restrictions and Rules God hath set us And whereas in the next place you promise to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith briefly summed up in the Apostles Creed in which is comprehended the Knowledge and Belief of all those Truths of Christianity necessary to be known by us to be the Guide of our Lives it being the Foundation of all Christian Practice It is very needful