Early Religion, Title page – Dedication
Early Religion: OR, The Way for a Young Man to remember his Creator.
Propoſed in a SERMON Preach'd upon the Death of Mr. Robert Linager, A Young Gentleman, Who left this World, Octob. 26. 1682.
With an account of ſome Paſſages of his Life and Death.
By T. ROGERS, M. A.
London, Printed for J. Robinſon, at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard, and J. Dunton at the Black-Raven in the Poultrey. M.DC.LXXXIII.
To thoſe Young Men that were the Fellow Students, and the particular and intimate Acquaintance of the deceaſed Mr. Robert Linager.
Much Reſpected Sirs,
AS at your Requeſt the following Sermon was preach'd; ſo to gratify your further Deſire, in the poor and mean Dreſs that you now ſee it, it ventures into the World. Which Deſire of yours, I attribute rather to have proceeded from the willingneſs that you had to keep up the remembrance of your Friend, and what was memorable in his Example, than from any thing elſe that could appear to your Judgments as worthy of the publick view. And I hope to that it may be ſerviceable, tho' not ſo much, nor ſo well, as if it had been managed by others of greater skill in Affairs of this nature than I pretend to have. I intend not, as you ſee, to uſher it in with the Titles of the Worſhipful, the Honourable, or the Reverend, nor to court the Protection of the Great; all the ambition of my Diſcourſe is, to bear the Titles of ſuch to whom it was peculiarly addreſs'd, among whom you are the chief.
I have no other aim in the whole Sermon, nor in the printing of it, than to ſhew the neceſſity of a ſerious remembrance of God in Youth. And 'tis all my deſire, that He who i… wont to bleſs ſincere, though weak, Endeavours, would make it ſucceſsful to ſuch an End. And tho' I expect to meet with ill treatment from the Cenſorious and the Critical, yet if I may, by complying with your Deſires, be in the leaſt helpful to the furtherance of your Holy Faith, or the Good of others, I ſhall not be much concern'd with all the Aſperſions and the Calumnies that may be thrown upon me. Theſe my Firſt-Fruits I humbly offer to my Creator, by the High Prieſt of the moſt Noble Order, his own Son, by whom I hope this poor Oblation may meet with a favourable acceptance, and, as it is deſign'd, be made (through his Bleſſing) ſomewhat uſeful to the Service of the Sanctuary, and to you whom I believe to be the Temples of the Holy Ghoſt.
Pardon me, if I preſume to be your Monitor in this, that as you are engaged in a contemplative ſtudious Courſe of Life, ſo you would ſo well provide for your own Eaſe and Pleaſure, and for your good progreſs in Learning, as amidſt all your Studies, to contemplate God. The frequent Thoughts of Him will be a great relief to your Minds, when they are apt to be weary, and faint, with the multitude of other Thoughts. When you are perplex'd, he can ſhew you the right way to Satisfaction; he can ſolve your Doubts, and render thoſe things obvious and plain, which to Men that lean upon their own Ʋnderſtandings, will continue to be myſterious and unfathomable. 'Tis the great Father of Lights that can alone chaſe away that darkneſs which is the natural grievance and trouble of the Soul. When you dig for Knowledg as for hidden Treaſure, he can tell you where the rich Vein lies, that others miſs of after a long and tedious ſearch; for without his aſſiſtance and direction 'tis never to be found. Thoſe glorious Truths that enlarge and beautify the Soul, are not the Portion of the Careleſs and Irreligious, but of the Meek, the Humble, and Devout, for ſuch, he that hath his Chair in Heaven, will guide in Judgment, and teach his Way. Forget not to converſe with your God, while you converſe with others; nor while you read other Books, ſlight thoſe that he made. You have the Scriptures, and the Volume of the Creation both to read and ſtudy, and theſe will not be, as Solomon ſpeaks of the reſt, a wearineſs to the Fleſh; for every time you look upon them, you will have new degrees of pleaſure; only you muſt ſo order your Meditations, that one may help the other, and that your Philoſophy may miniſter to Divinity, and your Reaſon to Faith.
As you enjoy the great Priviledg of a learned ingenuous Education, ſo God expects more from you than from others. You have more leiſure to think of him, than thoſe that are employed in Trades, and ſervile Offices. And beſides, your know very well, that the beſt way to improve your ſhort abode on Earth, is to be undreſſing, to leave off by degrees an over-great indulgence to the Body, that ſo you may, with great willingneſs and patience, lay it quite aſide when your Maker calls you to go ſtrip'd of this Garment, into the Spiritual and Eternal State. You ſhould always be in a prepared poſture, that when the Night (or rather the day) of your deliverance comes, you may travel with courage from this Houſe of Bondage, into the joyful and happy Land.
The frequent remembrance of your Creator, will take away from Death its frightful and ghaſtly ſhape. Nor will it ſeem a diſmal thing for you to remove to him whom you have often thought upon. To die then, will be only as if you ſhould croſs the Narrow Seas with a fair gale, and go and ſee a Friend with whom you have held a good correſpondence; who hath ſent you many rich Preſents, and with whom you have long wiſh'd to be. While you are young, pleaſe him by a conſtant oppoſing of your Sins, and then you will fight your laſt Battel with admirable skill, and be crowned with a ſure Conqueſt: for this will be the lot of all thoſe that were engag'd betimes in this Holy War.
There be many erroneous by paths, and you muſt deliberate and act wiſely when you are firſt ſetting out, leſt you wander in a wrong way, and be forc'd, after you have endur'd much hard labour, to return back again. I queſtion not but you will, by your blameleſs and holy carriage, let others ſee that there is a great beauty and luſtre in Religion, and by your practice preſent it to their Obſervation, as a very ſweet amiable thing. In this ſenſe you may be Preachers, without being obnoxious to Penalties, to Fines or Impriſonment, even the Preachers of Righteouſneſs in a corrupt and wicked Age. This honourable Temper will be uſeful to your ſelves and others too; it will yield you ſtore of quiet comfortable Thoughts, that others muſt never have, that make it late e're they begin their Maſter's Work. This will make you unwearied in all Holy Duties, and conſtant to your own Vows and Promiſes, in the days of Evil, ſuch as ours are. And if (as our Sins have given ſober and conſiderate Men too much cauſe to fear) the thick darkneſs of Popery ſhould over-ſpread our Land again, it will be ſome comfort (if there can be any left in ſo ſad a Caſe) for you to think that you did not (as others by their brutiſh Luſts) even deſire our Saviour to depart out of our Coaſts, that you did not haſten the loſs of the Goſpel, nor the ſetting of the Sun.
And if at any time you find your ſelves indiſpos'd to the performance of this important neceſſary Work, call to mind the example of this young Gentleman, your late Companion and Fellow-Student. Think with what earneſtneſs and fervour he prayed, and do you the ſame. But I am afraid I ſhall but encreaſe the ſorrow that you have for ſo great a Loſs, and make your Wounds bleed afreſh, while I mention the Name of your dear Friend. It is I know a trouble to you, when you conſider that he is dead; who, had he liv'd, might have been a great comfort to the now diſconſolate Lady his Mother, and to you an Inſtance of a more than ordinary Zeal and Piety, and by his Example a great help to you in your way to Heaven. He might have been a great Bleſſing to this Nation, that needs the Prayers of many ſuch as he was. But God ſaw it fit to put a period to his Life. In his early days he arrived to thoſe bounds that were appointed for his abode here: And tho' his Maker and yours thought fit ſoon to remove him, yet you may conclude that it was even then the moſt proper and ſenſonable time for him to die. And I am ſure you will not be ſo diſloyal, nor ſo traiterouſly enclin'd, as to call the King of the World to your Bar, nor to queſtion the Supream Ruler (that was never guilty of any miſcarriage in Government) for what he hath done with his own. It may be he is removed from thoſe Evils that you muſt live to ſee; and will you, that loved him ſo well, envy him the peculiar favour and regard of God? or be vex'd that your Friend is ſafe, while you are in the danger; or that he is in the Harbour, while you are yet to ſail upon the rough ſtormy Waves? It has been obſerv'd, that Jeſus when he knew that Lazarus was dead, was not much concern'd, but when he was to be rais'd, and to come into this miſerable World again, then he wept. And indeed conſidering the Sorrows and Troubles, the Diſappointments and Vexations of this ſhort uneaſy Life, how uncertain and how frail are its Joys, and how ſure its Griefs, we may well think it was not without the higheſt Reaſon that the Wiſe Man ſaid, Eccleſ. 7.1. The day of Death is better than the day of ones Birth; to the Religious I am ſure it is greatly ſo. The one is as the entring into a noiſom Priſon, the other as the going out into a ſtately Palace, and a clear Air. The one is the way to Labour, and the other is the way to Reſt. The one a paſſage to a dark troubled Condition, the other to a perpetual Calmneſs and Serenity.
If our Holy Friends that were better prepared have gone faſter than we, and have bid us farewel, let us remember they are but gone as our Saviour did (upon higher accounts) to their Father and Ours, and it is not a farewel for ever. They are in the Houſe not made with Hands, and we are in this Tabernacle, yet we ſhall meet again, tho' not to eat and drink together as we did here, yet to live as Angels do, upon the ſweet Emanations of the Deity, and the Joys that follow thereupon, which is a far more glorious honourable Life. If many of our good Friends are in Heaven already, this World ſhould ſeem to us all, leſs deſirable than it was; and we that are young, ſhould upon this Conſideration run with the greater chearfulneſs, and long to be there, where none are complaining they died too ſoon. Let us now be Religious, and then the time will come, when you and I, and all the good People, both young and old, that we have known on Earth, ſhall meet together in the preſence of our Lord, who with the ſhouts of his attending Angels, and Saints, will congratulate our Happineſs, and bid us welcome to the ſecure poſſeſſion of that glorious Crown for which we now ſtrive and pray. Then ſhall we diſcourſe of our Creator, and of all things that are great and comfortable, in a far better manner, and with much more pleaſure than we can below. And that we may, when this Life ſhall end, obtain ſo great a Bleſſing, ſhall be the continued and ſincere deſire of,
London, Nov. 15. 1682. Reſpected SIRS, Your real Friend, and humble Servant,Timothy Rogers.