The Travels of True Godliness, Chapter 5
CHAP. V.
Shewing how True Godlineſs finding Riches and Poverty had rejected him, in his Travels came to a great City, where dwelt a brave Young Gallant, with whom he had a mind to be Acquainted, and to take up his Lodging; ſhewing alſo how baſely he was dealt withal by him.
ONE might think by this time 'twas in vain for True Godlineſs to Travel any further, not being like to find Entertainment any where, ſince Riches and Poverty both had refuſed to receive him; yet he was reſolved to purſue his Journey, not being without hopes of finding his dear Friend at laſt, called Conſideration, whom he ſought for; and coming into a famous City, where one Youth dwelt, could not tell but he might meet with him at his Houſe, calling to mind what kindneſs Young Joſeph, Moſes, Samuel, David, Obadiah, Joſias, John, and Timothy of Old, and many others had ſhewed him, and therefore came boldly to his Door, and deſired Entertainment. Now, it appears this Youngster was a great Gallant, but though he had been brought up to Learning, and lived in a place where the Goſpel was powerfully preached, yet was very ignorant as touching the beſt things, though very compliſant. And after Godlineſs had in a grave and ſober manner deſired a Lodging with him he aſked him what he was, as alſo his Name.
Godli.
Sir, I am a Perſon of Noble Deſcent, being nearly All…ed to a great and mighty Prince, and my Name is True Godlineſs, being by him ſent to Travel hither to commend his Soveraign Grace and Clemency unto the Inhabitants of th… City; and I have alſo brought along with me (as Tokens of his Eternal Favour and good Will, to ſuch who will receive me) very rich Preſents, and I ſhall beſtow them on you, if you will be pleaſed to Entertain me.
Youth,
Your moſt Humble Servant; I muſt confeſs I have read and heard much of you, but why do you chooſe to take up your lodging in my Houſe, there being many Grave and Ancient Gentlemen near? I know not but you ſeem to be one whoſe Company would better ſuit Men of Riper Years.
Godli.
Sir, my Maſter gave me orders to commend his Princely Grace and Favour unto you (if your Name is Youth,) beſides, he hath choſen your Houſe for my Lodging above others; nay and he hath made more Bleſſed Promiſes upon your kind and loving Reception of me, than he hath to any beſides in the World. Have you not read that Word, I love them that love me, and they that ſeek me early, Prov. 8. 17.ſhall find me. And that Word, Seek firſt the Kingdom of God and his Righteouſneſs, and all other things ſhall be added unto you, Matth. 6. 33.
Youth.
As for thoſe other things, I need them not, I have enough of the World.
Godli.
Aye, Sir, but you want my Maſters *Rev. 3.17.18.Righteouſneſs, and alſo a part in his Kingdom, and thoſe are ſome of thoſe Glorious Commodities I have to beſtow upon you, if you will Entertain me.
Youth.
Aye, there it is, I perceive, I muſt Entertain you if I would have them; but I tell you plainly, your Company does not ſuit with my Age, why ſhould you force your ſelf upon me?
Godlineſs,
Why would you have a part in the Righteouſneſs of Chriſt, and in his Kingdom, and not receive True Godlineſs? No, Sir, that will never be, you muſt believe in him, and lead a Godly Life, or you will have no Lot nor Part in this Matter: He that believeth not, ſhall be Damned, Mark 16.16.
Youth,
Pray Sir, do not trouble me, you are going to preach.
Godlineſs,
'Tis ſad you ſhould think I trouble you, becauſe I deſire you to let me have a Lodging with you.
Yo…th.
Sir, you will ſpoil all my pleaſure and ſenſual delights if I entertain you; I know your Manners well enough. You will cauſe me alſo to turn out of my Houſe my familiar Friends and Conſorts, that rejoyce my heart in theſe youthful daies of mine. Now thoſe he called his Friends were theſe following,The chief Vices that attend Youth. Pride, Wanton, Vain-glory, Love-luſt, Ambition, Gay-clothes, Toſs-pot, Gameſter Pleaſe-friend, Time-ſerver, Scornful, Hate-good and Scoffer.
Godlineſs,
Young man, believe me, thoſe pleaſures and delights which your heart is ſo much ſet upon, are bruitiſh and very hateful to God, and do alſo debaſe your noble Soul, which is of a ſublime Extraction. Nay, furthermore hear what wiſe Solomon ſaith, *Eccleſ. 11. 9.Rejoice, O Young-man, in the daies of thy Youth, and walk in the waies of thy heart, and in the ſight of thine eyes. May be you will ſay, O this is brave. I, but after the flaſh of Lightning, comes a clap of Thunder, enough to make you quake: But know, that for all theſe things, God will bring thee to Judgment. Your ſweet Meat, young man, is like to have ſowr Sauce; you will pay dear at laſt for all your ſenſual pleaſures and vanities.
Youth,
But for all your haſte, wiſe Solomon made trial of all the delights of the Children of men before he condemned them, and ſo will I too, as far as I can.
Godlineſs,
'Tis true, Solomon did ſo; and doth he not by the ſad experience he had of them tell you, all was vanity and vexation of Spirit. Come, Sir, you had better believe the Poyſon in the Cup is deadly, than to taſte of it.
Youth,
Sir, pray ſpeak no more, I have not ſowed all my Wild Oats yet, let me alone.
Godlineſs,
Wild Oats indeed: Come let me perſwade you to ſow no more of them, for 'tis but ſowing to the Fleſh,and he that ſoweth to the Fleſh, Gal. 6.8.ſhall of the Fleſh reap Corruption. *Prov. 14.34.You had better far to ſow to the Spirit. And now I will tell you what a kind of Crop you will have at Harveſt by ſowing that curſed Seed, which you call Wild Oats, unleſs by Repentance you pluck them all up again.
Youth,
Why, Sir, what a Crop ſhall I reap?
Godlineſs,
You are like, in the firſt place, to reap here in this World, a Crop of loathſome Diſeaſes; for Drunkenneſs, Rioting, and Whoring, doth commonly produce that. Secondly, you will reap a Crop of Infamy and Reproach; for ſin is the *Prov. 18.14ſhame of any People or particular Soul; and it will be much if you reap not a Crop of Want and Beggary too in the end. Thirdly, You will reap a Crop of horrible and unſupportable Guilt, by which means your Conſcience will torment and laſh you after ſuch a ſort, that you will not be able to endure it, unleſs you go on in theſe ungodly courſes ſo long until he is feared with a hot Iron, and then you will reap a Crop of a hard, obdurate, and impenitent Heart. Fourthly, You will reap a full Crop of all manner of foul and deteſtable Filth and Pollution; yea, ſuch Corruption, that will cauſe God to loath your Soul. Fifthly,*Deut. 29.19, 20, 21. You will reap alſo a Crop of all the fearful Plagues and Curſes that are in the Book of God, pronounced againſt wicked and ungodly Sinners.
Sixthly and laſtly, At the great and terrible day of Judgment, you will reap a full Crop of Gods eternal Wrath and Vengeance, a Crop of briniſh, though fruitleſs Tears, Groans, and endleſs Torments in Hell *Matt. 25.41.fire. Now, if you like to gather in at Harveſt ſuch Crops as theſe, go on and ſow your Wild Oats plentifully.
Youth.
Sir, I intend to ſow other Seed hereafter; I deſire only liberty for the Fleſh in theſe my Youthful daies: If you ſhould chance to call at my Door when I am Old, I may then poſſibly ſee cauſe to Entertain you; nay, Sir, I promiſe you I will then open my Doors to you.
Godli.
Alas, Sir, preſent Promiſes to open hereafter to God and True Godlineſs, ſeldom ever ends in real performance: He who promiſed to go and work in his Maſters Vineyard,Matth. 21.30. went not,*Matt. 25.41. ſuch who put me off with promiſes to become Godly hereafter, 'tis evident do purpoſe to be wicked for the preſent, beſides do you know you ſhall live to be Old? Or if you ſhould, that God will ſend me then to knock at your Door? Nay, and let me tell you, if I ſhould then viſit you, I fear it will be to no purpoſe, becauſe, Sir, you ripen apace already in Wickedneſs, and Sin is of an hardening Nature, evil Habits are not eaſily changed,Jer. 13.23. the * Blackamore may as ſoon change his ſkin, or the Leopard his ſpots, as you may learn to do well, and open to me when you have been a long time accuſtomed to do evil: Therefore open to me now.
Youth,
Sir you will raiſe my Spirits anon, if you leave not off your Canting the ſooner; you are a Gentleman, I am ſure, few or none cares for. Have any of the *John 7.48.Rulers and Nobles of the Nations embraced you, I mean ſtrict Godlineſs? Why do you not ſee if they will entertain you?
Godlineſs,
Nay, pray be not offended with me, I ſeek your profit▪ I will do you no wrong; you ſhall not loſe any thing by me, if you will let me have a Lodging with you, though poſſibly you may loſe ſomething for my ſake, but if you do, I will repay you again an hundred *Matt. 19, 29.fold in this World, and in the World to come you ſhall have Life Everlaſting. And what though not many Mighty, and not many Noble*1 Cor. 1.26. ones do love me, or will entertain me: 'Tis not becauſe I do not deſerve eſteem from them, but becauſe they are incenſed againſt me by the Devil, and are ſo in love with Vice, my Mortal Enemy. Sir, I am abuſed, and rendred very odious by wicked men, as if I were a *Acts 24.25.factious, reſtleſs, and ſediteous Fellow, and this is one Reaſon why I am ſo ſlighted and contemned.
Youth,
I, (and to ſpeak the truth) I cannot believe but you are the cauſe of all the preſent Diſcord Animoſities and Confuſions that are amongſt us, for ſince you came into this Countrey, what Diſputes, Contentions, and Diſtractions hath there been? when ſweet Popery was generally received in this Land it was not thus.
Godlineſs,
I and my *Iſa. 8.18.Children ever, I muſt confeſs, were thus cenſured and falſely accuſed, though never ſo ſtigmatized as now of late. Jeruſalem of Old was called a Rebellious and *John 10.20.bad City,Ezra 4.12.15. becauſe I dwelt in it, and my Enemies ſaid of Old Time, Sedition had been there, and that it was a great Enemy to Kings and Governments. But it is no marvel I am thus abuſed, conſidering my Lord and Maſter himſelf was loaded with like *John 10.20.Calumnies, being accuſed with Sedition, and called an Enemy to Caeſar likewiſe. But let not this diſcourage you from receiving me into your Houſe, for all theſe things are utterly contrary to my Nature, and abhorred by me and all my good Friends, and therefore pray let me come in.
Youth,
It will not be for my Honour, I ſhall be derided and ſcoffed at, ſhould I do it, and be looked upon as a dangerous perſon: Therefore pray be gone from my Door.
Godlineſs,
What if you loſe the Honour of this World, I will raiſe you to far greater; For Honour and Riches are with me? yea, Prov. 8.18. John 12.26.durable Riches and Righteouſneſs. They that receive me, and ſerve Chriſt, God will Honour.
Youth,
Pray let me alone till another time, until I am a little older.
Godlineſs,
Sir, my Maſter commands you to remember him now in the daies of your Youth;Eccleſ. 12.21. and to remember him is to embrace me: And let me tell you, to *John 12.48.reject me, is Rebellion againſt him who is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; ſhall not what he requires you to do, be done?
Youth,
I have other buſineſs at preſent of greater Concern than to attend on ſuch a Gueſt, take an anſwer therefore, and be gone.
Godlineſs,
Nay, do not miſtake your ſelf, for to attend upon me, and to lead a Godly Life, is buſineſs of the greateſt Concernment in the World: Were you not made and ſent hither on purpoſe *Iſa. 43.21. Acts 17.27.to ſerve and honour your Creator, and not to live like a Bruit to ſatisfie your Luſt, and ſerve the Devil as heretofore you have done; and if you do perſiſt in theſe Courſes, be ſure you will periſh in Hell at laſt for evermore.
Upon this, the Young Gallant was in a great Rage, and ſwore Damn him, he would be revenged on him, and on all his Friends, and never endure True Godlineſs more. Nay, and preſently all his Companions and Attendants who were in his Houſe (mentioned before) ſtirred him up to fall upon Godlineſs immediately, and force him away. Pride ſwelled like a Toad, Vain-glory vaunted himſelf, and both bid him diſdain the very motion Godlineſs had made. Time-ſerver and Pleaſe-friends bid him mind what was the All-a-mode of the Times, and do as other Young Gallants did. Scornful looked with Contempt upon True Godlineſs, Toſs-pot had the Young Man away to the Tavern, and Gameſter, after he came there, ſet him to play at Cards, Dice, &c. Love-luſt enticed him to a Whore-houſe, Scoffer and Scornful loll'd out their Tongues at Godlineſs, jearing and deriding him ſhamefully: Nay, and not only ſo, but alſo made baſe Songs of him, crying, Hie Boyes, up go we. And Hate-good commanded them all to fall upon him, and rid him out of the World; and had it not been for fear of ſome Neighbours (who though they were but Moral People) he had doubtleſs been utterly trod down under their Feet: But Bleſſed be God, he eſcaped this time alſo, and got away, leaving the poor Debauched Youth to himſelf, to gratifie his own Senſual and Luxurious Appetite.
O how perverſe is Fleſh and Blood, in whom
All Vice abounds, and Bloſſoms from the Womb:
What God commands, Youth is adverſe unto;
But what Hell bids, O that! 'tis that he'll do.
The Rich, the Poor, with Youth I do eſpy
Act in their Parts in Life's ſhort Tragedy:
But are they Men, or Beaſts? See, view them well;
Souls they have, but what in them does dwell,
You may perceive if you do caſt your Eyes
On what they chooſe and love, and what deſpiſe.