Words of advice to young men delivered in two sermons at two conventions of…

4. Young men, take heed of Gaming. Some sports are lawful, and innocent, and needful at some times for the health of the body, but take ⟨p. 98⟩heed your affections be not set upon any Sports, and than you spend not more time in them than is needful. But there are other. Games that are useless and hurtful, that are thieves of money and time, and unlawful; such as Carding and Dicing, which being pure Lottery, and Lottery being a sacred thing should not be made use of in Games, (as I conceive) no more than Oaths in common discourse. Cards may well be termed the Devils Books, and Dice the Devils Game; look not into those books, though they have no sense in them, yet they will strangely bewitch you to spend hours and nights together in turning them over: Throw not away your time with the Dye, you can never recover what you lose, I mean your precious time; not to say any thing of the danger you will be in of spending all you have, as some who have been worth many thousand pounds at night, have not been worth a thousand pence by the morning. There is no exercise of the body in th•se Games, and I am sure there is a corrupting of the Mind, and a loss of the precious time; and what plea can you have for such Games? Have you no employment for your time? Is it not pity that so many golden hours should run waste? Be not enticed to this sin by Friends; be not persuaded to it by custom; if you will do as the most do, you must go where the most go, and that is to Hell. Think, if you lay upon your death bed, whether this sin of Gaming would not trouble you; and whether those will not have more peace, that our of Conscience have forborne to touch a Card or Dye all their life-time.

4. Young men, take heed of Gaming. Some sports are lawfull, and innocent, and needfull at some times for the health of the body, but take ⟨p. 98⟩heed your affections be not set upon any Sports, and than you spend not more time in them than is needfull. But there are other. Games that are useless and hurtfull, that are thieves of money and time, and unlawfull; such as Carding and Dicing, which being pure Lottery, and Lottery being a sacred thing should not be made use of in Games, (as I conceive) no more than Oaths in common discourse. Cards may well be termed the Devils Books, and Dice the Devils Game; look not into those books, though they have no sense in them, yet they will strangely bewitch you to spend hours and nights together in turning them over: Throw not away your time with the Dye, you can never recover what you lose, I mean your precious time; not to say any thing of the danger you will be in of spending all you have, as some who have been worth many thousand pounds at night, have not been worth a thousand pence by the morning. There is no exercise of the body in thse Games, and I am sure there is a corrupting of the Minde, and a loss of the precious time; and what plea can you have for such Games? Have you no employment for your time? Is it not pity that so many golden hours should run waste? Be not enticed to this sin by Friends; be not perswaded to it by custome; if you will do as the most do, you must go where the most goe, and that is to Hell. Think, if you lay upon your death bed, whether this sin of Gaming would not trouble you; and whether those will not have more peace, that our of Conscience have forborn to touch a Card or Dye all their life-time.