N01010:442
War with the devil, or, The young man's conflict with the powers of darkness,…
War with the devil, or, The young man's conflict with the powers of darkness, in a dialogue discovering the corruption and vanity of youth, the horrible nature of sin, and deplorable condition of fallen man, also, a description of the power and rule of conscience, and the nature of true conversion. : To which is added, an appendix, containing a dialogue between an old apostate and a young professor, worthy the perusal of all, but chiefly intended for the instruction of the younger sort. / By B.K. author of Zion in distress, or The groans of the Protestant church.War with the devil, or, The young man's conflict with the powers of darkness, in a dialogue discovering the corruption and vanity of youth, the horrible nature of sin, and deplorable condition of fallen man, also, a description of the power and rule of conscience, and the nature of true conversion. : To which is added, an appendix, containing a dialogue between an old apostate and a young professor, worthy the perusal of all, but chiefly intended for the instruction of the younger sort. / By B.K. author of Sion in distress, or The groans of the Protestant church.
New York: printed by William Bradford, 1707
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Apostate. What! my old Friend E. R. Sir, I am glad To see you once again, yet I am sad, And grieved sore to see you look so ill; What evil, Sir, I pray has you befell? What is the cause of this your present grief? If I can give or help you to relief, Or comfort you in the' least, I willing am, And shall rejoice also I hither came.
Apostate. What! my old Friend E. R. Sir, I am glad To see you once again, yet I am sad, And grieved sore to see you look so ill; What evil, Sir, I pray has you befell? What is the cause of this your present grief? If I can give or help you to relief, Or comfort you i'th' least, I willing am, And shall rejoyce also I hither came.
•enr. Ah, Sir, my Son, my Heir, doth grieve my mind, He from whom I most comfort hoped to find, Contrariwise will prove a plague to me, Unless he can with speed recovered be. He'll be a Preacher, I do think, ere long, He's such a Bookish-fool, and so headstrong, That I have little hopes he'll e'er be good; Here's cause of grief, if rightly understood. He is become such a vile Heretic, That Rome's good Church, and the true Catholic Most vilely, I perceive he doth disdain, And doth, forsooth, tell me, he's born again. I do beseech you, Sir, do what you can, If you can't change his mind, there's not a Man I think, in truth, that ever prevail will; O arm your self therefore, and try your skill; ⟨p. 111⟩If you can turn him from those ways, then I Shall be engaged to you until I dye. You were deceived your self some time ago▪ And therefore now more able are to show The vanity of these devised ways, And Bookish Fables of these silly days, Having the Scripture in our Mother-Tongue Has been the ruin of us all along; For, since men did our holy Church forsake, And up new Notions of Religion take, Nought but confusion in the World we see, And otherwise, in Truth, 'twill never be, Until their Books in the' fire all do burn, And they unto the Ancient Church do turn.