A26903:330
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
Chapter 12: Counsel to the Sons of the Nobility and Magistrates.
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.
Your dangers are much greater than other mens; or else Christ had never so often told us, how hard it is for Rich men to be saved; and how few such escape the Idolatrous damning Love of the World, and become sincere believers and followers of a Crucified Saviour, Luke 12. and 16. &c.
I. One part of your great danger is, that you are commonly bred up among the baits of sensuality. It is not for nothing that fullness of bread is made one of the sins of Sodom, Ezek. 16.49. and that he that after lay in the flames of Hell is described, as richly clothed and faring sumptuously every day. Not that all rich Clothes or sumptuous seasonable Feasting is a sin, but that these use both to signify sensuality and to cherish it. Its the sure brand of the ungodly, to be Lovers of Pleasure more than of God. They that but seldom come where tempting plenty is, of delicious meats and drinks are too often overcome: But they that are bred up, where plenty of both these is daily before them, are in greater danger, lest their Table and their Drink become a snare.
I. One part of your great danger is, that you are commonly bred up among the baits of sensuality. It is not for nothing that fulness of bread is made one of the sins of Sodom, Ezek. 16.49. and that he that after lay in the flames of Hell is described, as richly cloathed and faring sumptuously every day. Not that all rich Cloathes or sumptuous seasonable Feasting is a sin, but that these use both to signifie sensuality and to cherish it. Its the sure brand of the ungodly, to be Lovers of Pleasure more than of God. They that but seldom come where tempting plenty is, of delicious meats and drinks are too often overcome: But they that are bred up, where plenty of both these is daily before them, are in greater danger, lest their Table and their Drink become a snare.