A26903:284
Compassionate counsel to all young men especially I. London apprentices, II. students of divinity,…
Compassionate counsel to all young men especially I. London apprentices, II. students of divinity, physic, and law, III. the sons of magistrates and rich men / by Richard Baxter.Compassionate counsel to all young men especially I. London apprentices, II. students of divinity, physick, and law, III. the sons of magistrates and rich men / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed by T.S., 1681
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
§. 26. VII. Above all therefore choose like real Christians, and take God and Heaven for your hope, your all.
If you do not so you are not Christians indeed, nor stand to your baptismal Covenant, and if you be here fixed by the Grace of God, and your sober consideration and belief, you will then know what to choose and do. It will teach you to refer all worldly things to spiritual and heavenly ends and uses; and to count all things loss and dung for Christ, and to choose the one thing needful, which shall never be taken from you; even that which will guide you in just and safe ways, and save you from the greatest evil, and give your minds continual peace, even that which passeth understanding, and will be best at last, when sinners are forsaken.
If you do not so you are not Christians indeed, nor stand to your baptismal Covenant, and if you be here fixed by the Grace of God, and your sober consideration and belief, you will then know what to choose and do. It will teach you to referre all worldly things to spiritual and heavenly ends and uses; and to count all things loss and dung for Christ, and to choose the one thing needful, which shall never be taken from you; even that which will guide you in just and safe ways, and save you from the greatest evil, and give your minds continual peace, even that which passeth understanding, and will be best at last, when sinners are forsaken.
§. 27. VIII. My next Counsel therefore is for the order of your Studies; Begin then with your Catechism and practical Divinity, to settle your own Souls in a safe condition for Life or Death. And deal not so foolishly as to wast many years in inferior Arts and ⟨p. 136⟩