in the Common-Law of England to which purpose some advise I. Fortescue de Laudibus Legum Angliae II. Terms of the Law III. Smith de Republicà Anglorum IV. Doctor and Student V. Sir Francis Bacon's Introduction to the Laws of England at the end of his Maxims VI. Wingat's Abridgement VII Coke upon Littleton His Institutes and some of his Reports occasionally read VIII Bracton IX Fleta with Selden's Notes consult the Learned Directions for the beginning a compleat Course in the Study of Divinity by the help of the Apparatus ad Theologiam Written for that purpose and sold by Walter Kettilby and Sam. Smith in St. Paul ' s-Church-yard and the Booksellers in Oxford 1. SInce the different Perswasions in Religion and Controversies shelter themselves mainly under the Authority of Scripture the first Step and I am certain the surest Footing for a young Divine must be on a sound Knowledge of the Language and Text Sence and Context of Scripture and a sincere search after Truth must exclude all prejudice in the Application 2. The Hebrew Language being narrow and therefore obscure I advise that the close Study of that Tongue be deferred for the first Two or Three Years because it may discourage and stop the beginnings of the Study 3. For perfecting his Knowledge in the Greek it will be requisite to buy the Septuagint and a Greek Testament the larger the better and get them Interleaved to write down the explication of such Words he knows not with their various Significations and Authors who use them 3. He must also have an English Bible Interleaved of a large Size and if bound up in two Volumes no matter wherein he may put down the Interpretations of all difficult places which he either Casually or Industriously finds to he constantly in his Study differing from the Bible he is afterwards to use in the Pulpit 4. He must get the Art of Writing down his Observations and Explications very briefly otherwise his Transcriptions will be infinite and tedious A Method of Marking difficult places See Apparat pag. 120. 5. Several Observations to be made in reading the Scriptures concerning I. The Chronology so far as till the Heathen Computation of time begins to have certainty II. The History of the illustrious Examples of Good and Bad Men of Deliverances and Judgments c. III. The Geography especially as far as concorns the Holy Land and bordering places mentioned IV. Weights Measures and Distances and what Proportion they bear to ours now V. The English Phrase and Rhetorick which will be of great use hereafter in the Pulpit VI. Such Texts as are a kind of Common-place Texts either of good Life and Manners or to Preach on upon occasion VII Next to the Study of Scripture he must acquaint himself with the Doctrine of his own Church out of the Articles Homilies and especially the Collects as also to be well vers'd in Canons and Rubricks VIII The various opinions dissenting from the Doctrine and Practices dissenting from the Canons of his own Church Arch-Hereticks Scismaticks Ancient and Modern c. IX Then to read the Lives of the Apostles Apostolical Men Fathers Heads and Founders of differing Opinions the Eives of the Emperors with a Chronological Series to be learned without-Book and frequently repeated this will help the knowledge of church-Church-History X. Two great paper-Paper-Books for Heads and Common places the first for things Theological See Apparatus pag. 45. The second for some other promiscuous matters See pag. 13. cap. 6. this will be useful all his life-time to set down or referr to what he reads but with brief and contract writing mentioned before XI A short Catalogue of the best Books for his purpose which for the first Two or Three Years are absolutely necessary he must be directed to and then what private Tracts are most Orthodox and Learned on any part in his Divinity Head-Book XII He must seriously consider to which part in the Study of Divinity his Nature inclines him for the main bent of his Indistry according to that Division Apparatus pag. 1. As for Preaching both Method Materials and Delivery it is not convenient to be published it is best taught by Discourse and Example when the Person 's Capacity Knowledge and Temper is known This I think is a safer Course for a young Divine than to begin with Systems and suck in Opinions before he understands them If the Divine be a Person of Condition and Quality I would advise him the Assistance and Tutorage of some experienced Person it would turn to great Account by easing Difficulty shortening the Course and effectually obtaining the Design Something like this Project I approve of very well which a very worthy Gentleman of good Sence and Fortune is now putting in Practise He hath one only Child Heir to a very considerable Condition in the World and who for Personals might make as fair pretensions to the Vanity and Courtship of it as Men of less Discretion do but his Parents are resolved that the World shall not have him for they will give him back again to God and which is something more strange the young Gentleman himself is as willing as they can be to be lent unto the Lord so Hannah called her Son Samuel's Ministry And I perswade my self that a dutiful Compliance with so pious a design at the rate of God's Mercifulness can hardly fail of the desired Blessing The Method the Father intends to go by is this After the Advice of Tutors in a round Course of University-Studies he intends to provide his Son a Tutor for Divinity which by the the way is as necessary as for Logick and Philosophy and so I might say for Physick and Civil Law too His great aim is to find a Man knowing in the Studies and experienced in the Practice of a Divine And the advantage may prove very great For what is written in Books is dead and stiff in comparison of what is delivered Viva Voce When Friendship and Familiarity beside solid and fundamental Instruction shall draw out a Thousand little Advices of great moment though not fit to be Printed neither doth any Man care to publish to all the World what himself knows and hath practised in his Function Two Years of such an Institution rightly managed and intelligently received would give so great a lift into the Pulpit and to Preferment also if that were wanted or aimed at as is not to be valued New Instructions TO THE GUARDIAN The Third Part. THE CONCLUSION In behalf of Holy Orders London Printed in the Year 1694. THE CONCLUSION In behalf of Holy Orders WHY may not a Man be bold to perswade the Nobility and Gentry after such an Education of their Children as hath been prescrib'd to make more of them Clergy-men 1. From the Nature of the Profession Certainly every good Man must needs own that it is a singular Blessing to have that for a Man 's peculiar Business and Calling which is the greatest concern
enclined to hearken to these Good Wishes In the Second Part I will prescribe him such a Method from the very beginning of his Adventure as by God's Blessing upon his Abilities shall give him very great Insight if he can take Pains enough A Catalogue of several Great Families whose Relations have been Church Men. AGelnothus Bishop of Canterbury Son of Earl Agelmare Athelmarus Bishop of Winton Son to Hugh Earl of March Henry de Bloys Bishop of Winchester Brother to King Stephen Hugh de Pudsey Bishop of Durham Earl of Northumberland Boniface of Savoy Bishop of Cant. Uncle to Queen Eleanor Wife to Henry III. Richard Talbot Bishop of London Allied to the Talbot's after Earls of Shrewsbury Henry Beaufort Bishop of Lincoln and Winton Son to John of Gaunt William Courtney Bishop of Canterb. Son of Hugh Courtney Earl of Devon Giles de Bruce Bishop of Hereford Son of William Lord de Bruce George Nevil Bishop of Exon and York Brother to Richard Nevil Earl of Warwick Thomas Piercy Bishop of Norwich Allied to the Piercy's Earls of Northumberland Lionel Woodvil Bishop of Sarum Son to Earl Rivers Thomas Vipont Bishop of Carirsle Allied to Viponts then Earls of Westmorland Marmaduke Lumley Bishop of Carlisle Allied to the House of Lumley's Walter Bishop of Durham Earl of Northumberland Julius de Medices Bishop of Worcester Allied to the House of Medices in Italy Nicholas de Longespee Bishop of Sarum Son to William Earl of Salisbury William Dudley Bishop of Durham Son of John Lord Dudley Walter de Cantilupo Bishop of Worcester of a Great House in Normandy Lewes Beaumont Bishop of Durham of the Blood-Royal of France Thomas Arundel Bishop of Canterb. Son to Robert Earl of Arundel and Warren James Berkley Bishop of Exon Son to the Lord Berkley Richard Scroope Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield Brother to William Scroope Earl of Wiltshire Thomas Bourchier Bishop of Cant. Son to Henry Bourchler Earl of Essex Roger de Clinton Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield of the same Family with Geofry de Clinton John Stafford Bishop of Canterbury Son to the Earl of Stafford William de Vere Bishop of Hereford Richard Beauchamp Bishop of Hereford and Sarum John Orandison Bishop of Exon of the House of Grandison Dukes of Burgundy Edmund Audley Bishop of Hereford Allied to the Lord Audley Henry 〈◊〉 Bishop of Lincoln 〈…〉 Baron of Lords John Zouâ—h Bishop of Landaff Brother to the Lord Zouch Fulco Basset Bishop of London Lord Basset James Stanley Bishop of Ely Brother to the Eacl of Derby Simon Montacute Bishop of Ely Allied to the Montacutes then Earls Salisbury What Clergy have sprung from the Gentry Lawyers and Merchants you may see in a very large Catalogue annexed to the Charter of the Corporation for Widows and Children of Clergy-men Printed July 1. 1678. for John Playford in Little-Britain To speak my mind more plainly 1. A strict Education of the young Nobility and Gentry would be a great Advantage to the Publick It is a great Wrong to the National Concerns that we lose the Service and Assistance which the Parts of so many excellent Persons might afford What great variety would the King have to fill up all void Places of Trust and Honour What choice of Privy-Councellors Ambassadors Judges and Justices of the Peace What a glorious shew of Military Officers at Land and Sea We may learn from an Enemy How mightily doth the French King serve himself of the Nobility there What an Emulation makes them contend to deserve best And though God be thanked the Arbitrary Command of our Service is not so great as theirs yet the Love of our Country ought to be And what a noble Resolution would it be for all Persons of Quality to Consecrate the several Inclinations of their Children to the respective Services of the Kingdom Civil Ecclesiastical or Military according as Sedentariness and Books or Activity and Business is their Talent How many Honourable Conditions doth great skill in the Law prepare a Man for How many Lives doth a good Physician save And what a Calamitous want is there in many places where many a Gentleman miscarries because the Quack cannot write a good Bill or because the Apothecary cannot read a bad Hand There are great Dignities in the Church which no doubt the King had rather bestow on a Man of Birth If his Temper be for Action in the Field he will scarce ever want an opportunity to be as Stout as he pleaseth And he must have a care of mistaking the Employment It is not now as in the time of Peace when being good for little was Qualification enough for a Soldiers Life which is often chosen because it is most like to Idleness Now Industry Hardiness Vigilancy Skill and Conduct is required and Courage to venture the Lottery of Death or Honour 2. A strict Education of the Nobility and Gentry would be of great Advantage to their own Private Families The Eldest Son would keep up the Honour and wisely manage the Estate of his Ancestors and be likely to add to both But on the contrary if he value himself by the customary liberty of Heirs to be Loose and Idle he may Hunt Hoop and Hallow for some Years but in a little time thou shalt look and behold he is not thou shalt seek him but he shall no where be found And besides the danger of running out an Estate a loose and fond Education of a Son and Heir is the ready way to make him self-will'd Humoursome and Proud For having been gratifyed in all he desired when young he expects the same Fondness from all People when he grows up and for want of it grows Peevish Sowre and Unconversable And I believe many Mothers Wives Sisters and Servants have often found such a Man prove the most imperious Son Husband Brother Master and Neighbour in all the Kingdom As for the Younger Sons if they are not bred up to some Profession their case is not indifferent They are left to the dieting of a moderate Condition Their Parentage makes them aim at Great Fortunes but the hard word Jointure spoils all Sobriety in such Persons is a great Vertue and it must be a great share of preventing Grace that can keep them within bounds it being a very hard matter not to do ill when a Man hath nothing else to do Whereas were they bred good Scholars what might not they promise themselves I would have every younger Son dream as Joseph did That Father Mother and eldest Brother should bow to his Wealth and Power There have been Honourable Families in this Kingdom which have made this good By undertaking one of the forementioned Professions as they may do great service to the Nation so in the end they may be very well paid The Kingdom is not niggardly to such as deserve if they are not wanting to themselves by Modesty No Nation in Europe hath better rewards for Industry and I verily believe they are generally as well
Imprimatur Geo. Royse March 6. 1691 4. Advertisement THE Pages of the Guardian 's Instruction and the Apparatus ad Theologiam which are so often referred to in this Book are according to the first and best Impression sold by Walter Kettilby and Sam. Smith in St. Paul's Church-yard and Henry Clements in Oxford New Instructions TO THE GUARDIAN SHEWING That the last Remedy to Prevent the Ruin Advance the Interest and Recover the Honour of this Nation is I. A more Serious and Strict Education of the Nobility and Gentry II. To breed up all their younger Sons to some Calling and Employment III. More of them to Holy Orders WITH A Method of Institution from Three Years of Age to Twenty One. LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1694. TO CHARLES Lord BRVCE Son and Heir to the Right Honourable the Earl of Ailesbury My LORD I Am very willing it should be known how great a share of the Guardian 's Instruction was Influenc'd by the Prospect of your good Lordship's Education and also the just Regard these Second Thoughts have both to your Lordship and the Splendid Families of Saresden Barton and Glympton I look'd on my self your Debtor in the Result of all my Experience and Observation from the time when Sickliness made me Retire from Business and that Retirement made Reflection the main use of my Being and Notions of Education so familiar as to become the very Property of my thinking Faculty This I intend for an Excuse to those Persons who are so kind as to think that I am able to deal with a greater Subject They think Letters Syllables and Spelling beneath the venturous Pretension of the Title-Page They are beneath it indeed but no otherwise than the Foundation is beneath the Building which though it be low and unregarded dirty and less Polished yet the least neglect and slightness in that is fatal to the Pomp and Pride of what looks higher Some are so kind as to wish that it were not so short whereas it seems I mistook when I thought that a Civility and Bribe to the Reader There are those who know that a while since it was much larger and why it is not so now among several Reasons I will name but one If I should have written all that I could have said on the Subject I am satisfied it would never have made a Fool a Wiser Man and what wrong is it to the Tutor to presume him able to Improve and Practise upon a few plain general Directions I am not tempted to think the Directions I give the best and wisest in their kind But to justifie my Choice whatever becomes of my Judgment I must own that they are such as I would use my self in hopes of Success as thinking them most plain and easie and most agreeable to the Infancy of Thought which ought mainly to be considered in the business of Institution That the Knowlege I wish your Lordship may more effectually serve this Life and a better I pray God to Water with Dew from above the Seeds of Virtue and Religion in you For Knowledge in a Person of great Quality without Grace and good Manners is a sight rather Ominous than Delighting it is like the mighty Blazing Comet the more Glorious the more Terrible and the Influence of the former on the Ruin of this Kingdom is much more certain than the Prediction of it from the latter can reasonably be pretended My Lord I speak not this out of any distrust I know the just Temperament of Authority and Affection which cannot but turn to Account so sweet a Disposition For though I will not stand by all the suppositions which have been made yet I think it is safe to believe that God will not Deny Grace where Parents and Tutors do their Duty And now my Lord the great Prejudice of a long Preface to a Book which hath nothing in it to command a Reader 's Favour makes me short in mine own Defence and conceal many things which the World would willingly know concerning your Illustrious Ancestors and must depend upon the experienced Good-Nature of your Noble Family to accept of a general Acknowledgment how much I am Your most Obliged and Affectionate STEPHEN PENTON THE CONTENTS The First Part. A Word to the Wise lamenting the great Degeneracy of Manners from the Gallantry of our Ancestors page 1 2 Caused by too much Indulgence and Fondness in the Education of Persons born to Greatness and Places of Trust p. 3 4 Frugality recommended p. 5 6 Prodigality condemned p. 7 Covetousness censured p. 8 Some Calling and Profession absolutely necessary for the younger Sons of Nobility and Gentry p. 10 The reason why so few of them undertake any Calling is an Error in their Breeding p. 10 11 A Reason for a distinction in the Breeding the Eldest Son from the Younger p. 11 12 Divinity recommended to the Younger Sons of Nobility and Gentry p. 13 A Catalogue of Nobles who have been Church-men p. 14 The damage the Publick suffers for want of the Service young Gentlemen's Parts might do in some Profession or other p. 18 The great Advantage their own Private Families might reap thereby as to the Riches of this World p. 20 And as to the Happiness of the next in the Salvation of their Souls p. 23 The looseness of Manners in the Sons of the Gentry is to be ascribed to the carelesness of the Fathers when they grow up p. 24 The Advantages which Parents have above Strangers in Breeding up their own Children p. 25 Good Education would fortifie them against Temptations by the help of God's Grace p. 28 And prevent the Horror of a guilty Conscience p. 29 The Earl of Marleborough's Pious Letter before he was killed at Sea p. 33 The famous Earl of Rochester's conversion the Restections on his Life and Mr. Robert Parson 's very useful Sermon at his Funeral recommended to young Gentlemen p. 35 36 c. The Second Part. A Method of Teaching from Three Years of Age to Twenty One. A Vindication of the Guardian 's Instructions in an answer to a Letter p. 44 First Stage for learning English p. 52 Lord's Prayer Creed and Ten Commandments p. 57 Second Stage from Six to Fourteen p. 63 A Method proposed to exercise the Child's Memory so that at the same time he may have a general View by the Division of the Old Testament History p. 63 A familiar way of feeding his thinking Faculty with variety of Matter p. 67 Solomon's Proverbs digested under several Heads with the Addition of the Proverbs of all civilized Countries recommended as a good Foundation for Prudence and Goodness p. 70 Learning to Write early proposed p. 71 Placing Children of much differing Ages and Capacities in the same Class at School discommended p. 72 The Admirable effect of constantly accustoming a Child to read a Chapter Morning and Evening in the Bible p. 73 and also p. 36 What sort of
sharpness was as great as when the greatest mixture of Madness composed the best Verse he ever wrote Therefore let his Memory be precious let the Wicked take the Ptatern and let the Spirit of God have the Praises of a sound and sincere Conversion which the mournful Courses of his Life set off as shades do the Picture and as the Dark side of the Cloud in Aegypt without which the bright side had been no Miracle And now 't is full time to take my leave of the Gentry asking Pardon for becoming their Adviser and begging that a good Intention may atone for what ever is eagerly and weakly spoken I am sure they would forgive me did they but know how much I think an English Gentleman Religiously Vertuously and Wisely bred the finest sight in the World New Instructions TO THE GUARDIAN The Second Part. Containing an Easie METHOD FOR TEACHING A Young Gentleman FROM Three Years Old to Twenty One. London Printed in the Year 1694. An Answer to a Letter from a Person of Quality Madam I Received your Censure of the Guardian 's Instructions with a Duty becoming the Favour and would have Printed it before this Second Part but that this Performance will not endure such Neighbourhood I am sorry that your Ladiship who is the One only great Exception to all I have written should fancy that You and your Son were in my Thoughts when my Pen drop'd the Vinegar Part of the Book as you Phrase whatever Intrencheth on the Jurisdiction of the Women's Court. I am very willing to own that your Ladiship is often in my Thoughts but I take care that it be when I am disposed to think wisest which I fear the Ladies will never say was when I wrote such a Book as that However being neither Old nor Rich enough to set up for an Humour and pretend to despise what Gentlewomen think of me I do but beg the reasonable liberty of a common Criminal to explain my own meaning and then it shall be found that the worst of my Design is to save fine shap'd Gentlemen from having their Backs broken by too much Hugging Your Ladiship Indicts me in the name of all your Sex for Insinuating that the Fondness of the Mother spoils the Son as much as the Fondness of the Father spoils the Mother or which is all one where the Husband dotes that is thinks every one wise who is handsom and leaves his Wife to do what she will with the Son the Wife leaves the Son to do what he will with himself and so prepares the young Man to set up his Horse at the Stews or a Tavern To get rid of this Objection as well as I can it is too late to repent of having discovered an Opinion which Scripture and Reason enclines me to That the Man should guide the Woman he is Head and a Man would think the Understanding should be there 'T is true Men in England have parted with this Prerogative for you Ladies have Compounded for it with so much Beauty that you have gotten an Empire over Husbands here unheard of in other Nations I do not envy you this Power or think it unjustly gotten for I wish I were under the Dominion of it my self But since this Monarchy Occonomical is a mix'd Monarchy I would have due Limits adjusted and proper Shares allotted I would not have the Husband be carefully looking after the roasting of Eggs in the Kitchin while the Wife is reading Lectures of Politicks in the Parlor to the Son neither would I have the Son sent for three times in the Week from School to do nothing else but make Babies in his Mother's Eyes for two hours together I shall not here describe all the various Shapes in which this Fondship appears alas that is the mortal Sin in the Guardian 's Instructions which hath offered so much violence to the Chast Eyes of the Fair Sex that this Sheet is the Penance for And though I cannot with a safe Conscience allow Mothers so much liberty to spoil their Children as I would yet I will make them amends for it with an Aequivalent I will bring the best Reasons they can have to plead for their Breeding up their Children and show that they cannot help being too Fond and the more there is of Necessity the less they are culpable and if this doth not make my Peace then I must conclude to live and die a Batchellor Thus then I will suppose you to argue The Tenderness of our Sex the great pain in Breeding and Torments of our Travail the delight of being eased of those Pains and seeing the Fruit of our Labour the infinite Care and Trouble necestitous Infancy requires from the Mother whilst the Father walks about and Whistles with his hands in his Pockets the Pleasure of seeing the growing little Actions and first Essays of Knowledge these things cannot but heighten our Affection and make it too loud for Reason and we may claim as the Mother's due the comfort of his Tatling for the trouble of his Crying and unanswerably conclude that no Person can be sitter to manage the Child when he can speak than she which taught him first to do so I confess How an Husband who is as fond of his Lady as he ought to be can deal with such Logick as this is beyond my Experience And to make you amends once for all I will frankly confess that Women's natural Wit is as brisk as ours I will not say Brisker The sharpness of a Daughter is beyond that of a Son of more Years Indeed afterwards the greater freedom of Conversation Hearding in Societies and Feeding one another with Observation and Experience in the World give our Sex those Advantages which Women want But since the Law of the Creation doth not think you fit to be trusted with this Improvement for fear you should manage your Knowledge as ill as you first obtained it You must excuse me if I cannot force my self to believe that the Husband ought not to be wiser than the Wife My Service to Mr. William and tell him I hope to see him prove a more material Objection to the Guardian 's Instructions than I have met withal yet And now Madam I know the length of that Apology which ought to be made for treating so much Excellency with a Style thus Familiar But that I am confident it is impossible for your Ladiship to be discovered without your own Consent For I have compelled my self to a Vow of foregoing the satisfaction which I could easily make my self envied for by Publishing the Honour of Corresponding with so much Worth and subscribing Your Ladiship 's most Affectionately Devoted The First Stage New Instructions to the Guardian 1. THE Two things to be practised upon in the Breeding up a Gentleman are Good Manners and Knowledge It is not my design in this small Tract to meddle with Morality and the Dutiful or Adviseable Practices of the Respective Behaviour of Childhood Youth and
be-fore before me II. Thou shalt not make un-to unto thy self a-ny any Graven Graven I-mage Image or the like-ness likeness of a-ny any thing that is in Hea-ven Heaven a-bove above or that is in the Earth be-neath beneath or that is in the Wa-ter Water un-der under the Earth thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jea-lous jealous God vi-si-ting visiting the I-ni-qui-ty Iniquity of the Fa-thers Fathers up-on upon the Chil-dren Children un-to unto the Third and Fourth Ge-ne-ra-ti-on Generation of them that hate me and shew-ing shewing Meâ—cy Mercy un-to unto Thouâ—sâ—nds Thorsands of them that love me and keep my Com-mand-ments Commandments III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guilt-less guiltless that ta-keth taeth his Name in vain IV. Re-mem-ber Remember the Sab-bath Sabbath day to keep it Ho-ly Holy Six Days shalt thou la-bour labour and do all thy Work but the Se-venth Seventh Day is the Sab-bath Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do a-ny any Work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daugh-ter Daughter thy Man-Ser-vant Man-servant nor thy Maid-ser-vant Maid-servant nor thy Cat-tel Cattel nor the Stran-ger Stranger that is with-in within thy Gates for in Six Days the Lord made Hea-ven Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and re-sted rested the Seventh Seventh Day where-fore wherefore the Lord bles-sed blessed the Se-venth Seventh Day and Hal-low-ed it V. Ho-nour Honour thy Fa-ther Father and thy Mo-ther Mother that thy Days may be long up-on upon the Land which the Lord thy God gi-veth giveth thee VI. Thou shalt not kill VII Thou shalt not com-mit commit A-dul-te-ry Adultery VIII Thou shalt not Steal IX Thou shalt not bear false Wit-ness Witness a-gainst against thy Neigh-bour Neighbour X. Thou shalt not co-vet covet thy Neigh-bour's Neighbour's House thou shalt not co-vet covet thy Neigh-bour's Neighbour's Wife nor his Man-ser-vant Man-servant nor his Maid-ser-vant Maid-servant nor his Ox nor his Ass nor a-ny any thing that is thy Neigh-bours Neighbours Glo-ry Glory be to the Fa-ther Father and to the Son and to the Ho-ly Holy Ghost As it was in the be-gin-ning beginning is now and e-ver ever shall be World with-out without end A-men Amen The Grace of our Lord Je-sus Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fel-low-ship Fellowship of the Ho-ly Holy Ghost be with us all e-ver-more evermore A-men Amen The Church Catechism after this This is a method the easiest I could think of for a Child at first to be taught in And here I leave him to be farther perfected in this Language by useful Books to this purpose If any Man complain that I might have spent my time on bigger and louder Subjects let him read the Catalogues of Famous Men collected by Elzevir Crenius Morhofus and others And then he will pardon a Man of my Size The second Stage From Six to Fourteen AFter the Child can read the Bible which may be presumed about six Years of Age let him immediately fall to Latin And because Latin cannot go down so easily as English which is the familiar Language of the whole Family and which the Childs Necessities make him earnest to understand I therefore think it convenient that this dry and tough Diet be larded now and then with some English Exercises which may be diverting and useful also which I thought fit to prefix before the Rules for learning Latin and Greek 1. It will be fit now to fix his Memory by some such like Method as this which follows repeating the things over once every day From the Creation of the World to the great Flood of Noah The First Chapter of Genesis to the Seventh From Noah's Flood to Abraham's going into the promised Land Genesis the seventh Chapter to the twelfth From Abraham's going into the promised Land to Jacob's going into Aegypt to Joseph his Son Genesis the Twelfth Chapter to the Forty sixth From Jacob's going down into Aegypt to the deliverance of the Israelites from Aegypt by Moses Genesis the forty sixth Chapter to the thirteenth Chapter of Exodus From Moses carrying the Israelites out of Aegypt to Joshua's bringing them into the promised Land over the River Jordan The thirteenth Chapter of Exodus to the fourth Chapter of the Book of Joshua From Joshua's carrying the Israclites into the promised Land to Saul the first King of the Israelites anointed by Samuel The fourth Chapter of the Book of Joshua to the first Book of Samuel and the tenth Chapter From Saul's being annointed King of Isnael to the Dividing of the Kingdom by the Ten Tribes running away to Jeroboam the first Book of Samuel and the tenth Chapter to the first Book of Kings and the twelfth Chapter From the Division of the Kingdom under Jeroboam to the Destruction of the Israelites and Samaria by the King of Assyria The first Book of Kings the twelfth Chapter to the second Book of Kings and the eighteenth Chapter From the Destruction of the Israelites to the the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews The second Book of Kings the eightteenth Chapter to the second of Kings the twenty fifth Chapter From the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews to Cyrus delivering the Jews from Captivity The second Book of the Kings the twenty fifth Chapter to the first Chapter of the Book of Ezra From the Deliverance of the Jews from Captivity by Cyrus King of the Persians to the Destruction of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great The first Chapter of the Book of Ezra to the first Chapter of the first Book of Maccabes From the Destruction of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great to Judas Maccabaeus The first Chapter of the first Book of Maccabes to the first Book of Maccabes and the third Chapter From Judas Maccabaeus to Jesus Christ The first of Maccabees the third to the first Chapter of St. Mattew As the Child grows up and Memory ripens you may add the Years from time to time and fill up these distances with more or fewer Particulars according to the Method of the Apparatus ad Theologiam pag. 102. And practice him in the Years after Christ by Centuries only from one Emperor to another 2. Because nothing more contributes to the enlarging of a Childs Capacity than variety of Matter though in things at first not fully understood it may be useful between whiles to pratle with him at such a rate as this Take the Figures from 1 2 3 c. to 12. and place under each Figure such things promiscuously as fall under every Number As for Example I. One World One God One Mediator c. II. Two Testaments Two Tables in the Commandments Two Sacraments in the New Testament III. Three Persons in the Blessed Trinity Three Creeds or Summs of Faith in the Trinity Three Offices of Christ King Priest Prophet IV. Four Parts of the World Four Great
Monarchies of the World Four Elements V. Five Books of Moses Five Senses Five Declensions of Nouns VI. Six Days for the Creation Six Days in the Week for Labour VII Seven Churches of Asia Seven Wise Men of Greece Seven Kings of Rome VIII Eight Persons saved in Noah's Ark. Eight Days for Circumcision Eight Parts of Speech in Latin IX Nine Muses X. Ten Commandments XI XII Twelve Patriarchs Twelve Tribes of Israel Twelve Apostles More under each Figure you may add and occasionally explain the Particulars As for instance under the Figure 1 One World because some pleaded for infinite Worlds One God because the Heathen worshipped many false Gods One Mediator because the Papists have many 3. Because of all instruction there is nothing so much to be considered as the Morals of a Child both for true Happiness here and hereafter besides the Directions every where in the Guardians Instructions As soon as ever the Child seems to stare about that is as soon as ever he is capable of Observation and Reflection I would have the Tutor take Solomon's Proverbs especially such as respect God Religion Good Manners Civil Breeding and Duty in all Relations and Enlarge on and explain them according to the Lord Bacon's method in his Advancement on the Sundays and Holydays Perhaps it may be wondered at why I distinguish this Exercise by the particular time of performing it Truly it is to beget an early veneration for the Sabbath and holy Festivals For when a Child is accustomed to a more Solemn and Religious Instruction upon some days than others he will in time begin to consider why so and being taught the Occasion and the Reason perhaps may love and observe such times the better for it as long as he lives 4. Another diverting exercise for a Child is that of Writing which will profitably fill up some idle Hours a Muscular Motion the sooner the better it is begun Though it be allmost Proverbial That Scholars Write ill yet three Parts of the Kingdom take a good Hand to be some degree of Learning and it is no disparagement to good Sence to be written in a fair Character and read with pleasure especially if he prove an Author and write Books it will save many a curse from the Compositor These and the following Directions may serve private Schools as well as Families especially if true care be taken to place Children of near the same Age and the same Capacities in one Class wherein the Instructions being equally intelligible may beget a laudable Aemulation and brisk the Spirits which by carelesness would stagnat and lie unactive And on the other side when a Youth of less Age though perhaps as good Natural Parts shall be forced every Hour to do the pennance of Admiring the great Performances and Commendations of the Scholar who sits next him The first effect of this is he often wishes he could do the same but afterward sighs because he cannot this begets a kind of shame and discontent which makes his little Soul retire and hide it self he acts what he could do with less of Spirit and quarrels the Stars for not being born as wise as he who is Five Years older I would have the Immoralities and Negligence of Youth punished severely but as to their Meer Parts and Natural Abilities all the kindness and encouragement in the World is but enough There are many more particulars very proper to have been Added here but I referr the Tutor to the general directions for the better breeding a Child of great Quality in the Guardian 's Instruction pag. 65. One Advice I must conclude the Child's English Exercises with After he hath paid his Devotion in the Morning and before he doth it at Night let him constantly read a Chapter Great is the Influence of such a Practice I have been told of Persons noted for extravagance of Atheism and Immorality who have yielded to the Impressions of such a Custom retired to say their Prayers and read a Chapter whenas before and after this they would dispute God's Being and Providence and return with the Dog to their Vomit and with the Sow to their wallowing in the Mire It is expedient that those Chapters be frequently read which may fix in the Memory such great Examples as make God's Providence illustrious either for miraculous Deliverances of good Men such as are Joseph Moses Hezechiah Daniel or for Punishing notorious Sins as the Rebellion of Corah Oppression of Ahab Pride of Nebuchadnezzar Sacrilege of Belshazzar Cruelty of Haman Lying of Ananias and Saphira c. The Pleasure of such kind of Readings will make a Child mind the Sense and perhaps may render the Remembrance very instructive Directions for Learning Latin and Greek THE Rules of Grammar for learning Latin and the Explication of those Rules have been performed well already and it is not for me to pretend to that Art I shall Master my Design if I can but suggest any thing that may be useful to make the Practice of those Rules easier for the Gentry For I have often heard from Gentlemen who have travailed that Children in the Schools abroad come sooner much to understand Latin than here in England I know better than to question the truth of what comes well attested I only wish to be able to prevent some of those Impediments which make the difference 1. Some alleage for an occasion of it the Foggyness of our Air and foul Feeding as if forsooth the Soul of an English Child were mired and so stuck as it were in a Muddy Carcase as to move more heavily But this I will never endure for a reason of the thing because our Youths would then never be able to overtake these hasty Sparks which 't is certain they do when they grow and if I were not an Englishman I would assert that they out-go them generally in that Language And what Nation in Europe need we envy the Professors in all Arts and Sciences Divinity Mathematicks Civil Law Physick Critical and Philological Learning So that let not our good Beef and Mutton be thought ill of or the Air impregnated with our Ignorance and Dulness Unless in favour of Musick an Italian should put in a Cavent against all Tramontanes and with a keener Judgment split our gross Sounds and seem to want the delicate touch upon the Drum which beats in his Climate 2. Others therefore ascribe it to the differing Method in teaching as is said in the Apparatus de Grantmaticâ pag. 28. which if true us there seems more sense in it then it were to be wish'd that whosoever is hereafter so Piously and Publickly enclin'd as to Build and Endow a School before he tye up the School and Schoolmaster by strict and unalterable Statutes of Method he would scan the courses that are taken beyond Sea and fashion his own Institution to the Advantage and Honour of our Nation For the common Rules of Teaching here either by Custom or particular Injunction of