Compassionate counsel to all young men especially I. London apprentices, II. students of divinity,…

5. Either you will Repent and live to God, or not; if not, you are undone for ever: Oh how much less miserable is a Dog, or a Toad, than such a sinner! But if God will show you so great mercy, oh how will it grieve you to think of the precious time of Youth, which you madly cast away in sin! Then you will think, O what Knowledge, what Holiness might I then have got! What a comfortable life might I have lived! O what days and years of mercy did I cast away for nothing! Yea, when God hath given you the pardon of your sin, the taste of his love, and the hopes of Heaven, it will wound your hearts to think that you should so long, so unthankfully, so heinously offend so good a God, and neglect so merciful a Saviour, and trample upon Infinite Divine Love, for the love of so base a freshly pleasure. That ⟨p. 8⟩ever you should be so bad, as to find more pleasure in sinning, than in living unto God.

5. Either you will Repent and live to God, or not; if not, you are undone for ever: Oh how much less miserable is a Dog, or a Toad, than such a sinner! But if God will shew you so great mercy, oh how will it grieve you to think of the precious time of Youth, which you madly cast away in sin! Then you will think, O what Knowledge, what Holiness might I then have got! What a comfortable life might I have lived! O what daies and years of mercy did I cast away for nothing! Yea, when God hath given you the pardon of your sin, the tast of his love, and the hopes of Heaven, it will wound your hearts to think that you should so long, so unthankfully, so heinously offend so good a God, and neglect so merciful a Saviour, and trample upon Infinite Divine Love, for the love of so base a freshly pleasure. That ⟨p. 8⟩ever you should be so bad, as to find more pleasure in sinning, than in living unto God.

6. And be it known to you, if God in mercy convert and save you, yet the bitter fruit of your youthful folly may follow you in this World to the grave. God may forgive the pains of Hell to a penitent sinner, and not forgive the temporal chastisement to his flesh. If you waste your Estate in Youth, you may be poor at Age: If you marry a wicked Wife, you may feel it till death, notwithstanding your Repentance: If by drinking, gluttony, idleness, or filthy lust, you contract any uncurable Diseases in Youth, Repentance may not cure them till death. All this might easily have been prevented, if you had but had fore-seeing Wisdom. Beggary, Prisons, Shame, Consumptions, Dropsies, Stone, Gout, Pox, which make the lives of many miserable, are usually caused by youthful sins.