A26903:47
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 4: How the Case standeth with our Youth in matter of Fact.
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.
1. Some are so corrupted with the Love of sport, that gaming or Stage-plays, or one such foolery or another, becometh so pleasant to them, that they can understand or believe nothing that is said against it by God or man; their diseased Fantasy hath so conquered reason, that they cannot restrain themselves; but in their callings and in religious Exercises they are weary, and long to be at their sports, and must be gone; neither God, nor Holiness, nor the Joys of Heaven are half so sweet to their thoughts as these are: For they have that ⟨p. 27⟩mark of misery, 2 Tim. 3 4. They are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
1. Some are so corrupted with the Love of sport, that gaming or Stage-plays, or one such foolery or another, becometh so pleasant to them, that they can understand or believe nothing that is said against it by God or man; their diseased Phantasie hath so conquered reason, that they cannot restrain themselves; but in their callings and in religious Exercises they are weary, and long to be at their sports, and must be gone; neither God, nor Holiness, nor the Joys of Heaven are half so sweet to their thoughts as these are: For they have that ⟨p. 27⟩mark of misery, 2 Tim. 3 4. They are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
The same I say of sinful mirth, and the company which doth cherish it. Little do they believe Solomon, Eccles. 7.2, 3, 4. It is better to go to the House of Mourning, than to go to the House of Feasting: For that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than Laughter: For by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better: The Heart of the wise is in the House of Mourning, but the Heart of fools is in the House of Mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the Song of fools: For as the crackling of Thorns under a Pot, so is the Laughter of Fools.