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A15695
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A childes patrimony laid out upon the good culture or tilling over his whole man. The first part, respecting a childe in his first and second age.
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Woodward, Ezekias, 1590-1675.
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1640
(1640)
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STC 25971; ESTC S120251
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379,238
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456
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12 cap. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Câ—rys Tom. 6. ser 1. in Gâ—â— Exod. 28. 36. Psal 17. 15. Geneva Tran. things below us finde us still hungring lusting desiring and so they leave us still more unsatisfi'd But He who hath stampt this a excellent image upon us which should shew forth as that engraving upon the plate Holinesse unto the Lord He can fit the same He can fill it up and fully satisfie So that me thinks and with that I conclude David hath a full expression when he saith When I awake that is I think in the day that I shall rise again I shall be satisfied with thy Image God can satisfie David and God onely and then but not till then fully untill he awake out of the dust of death for that is the time when God is all in all Let us at length shew our selves men and look up to heaven that thence we may receive that which is after our Image Chrys Hâ—m 9. â—n Epist ad Cor. â— When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy Image And so much touching thy Image that thou maist look on it and behold His goodnesse that so engraved thee and then as thy Image directeth thee look up to Him till thou art loosed from that spirit of infirmity and filled with His goodnesse with His Image which onely can fit and fill up which onely can satisfie thine § 4. There is yet another remnant of Gods goodnesse towards this Image of thine and thou must remember it to His praise for it makes up the summe of His mercies to thy outward man and very much it makes for che beauty and comelinesse thereof which consisteth but in the full number of parts and in their comely order wherein they are placed holding conformity and proportion with the whole For the beauty and comelinesse of the body stands in an onenesse and fit agreement of many parts to one I call this goodnesse of God a remnant of His mercy or fagge-end thereof not that it is so for the mercy I shall remember thee of is the verie beauty of His work the excellency of thy outward glory it sets it off to the eye and declares the excellent skill of the Worker But it is as a remnant or fagge-end in our esteeme we look upon it as the list of a fine piece of cloth we too commonly either behold it not at all or account not of it at all and all because we have this mercy we want it not Assuredly the commonnesse of a mercy and the not knowing the want of that mercy is the cause we set no estimate upon it at all Had the Lord dealt thus with thee as He might there are many monstrous births in the world many in whom His Image at the first not taken but cast away is doubly defac'd Had He made any part of thee double which is single or single which are double Had He for one face which no creature in the world hath but a Faciâ—s homini tantum Plin. Nat. Hist li. 11. ca. 37. man given thee two for one tongue two or for two eyes two eares two hands two feet but one I will not instance in those so beautifying ornaments Had the Lord for two eye brows which are but a few haires and they excrements of the body yet had He of them given thee but one that want had taken nothing at all from the bulke of thy body but very much from the ornament thereof so much that Si unum radatur supercilium c. August de Civit. Dei li. 11. c. 22. thou canst not well think or imagine But thou canst imagine that if any thing might have been spared then an excrement might and if not an excrement but deformitie would have followed then much more if thou hadst wanted some excellent or more usefull part Thou hast thy parts childe in weight and in number and in their order too and due place comelinesse and proportion in all Thou art not wanting And why think'st thou David that King and Prophet tells thee Because the Lord had written all thy parts in Psal 139. 16. Our book is our Remembrancer Fidelissimus ad jutor memoriae Brightm Reve â— 1. pa. 91. His common place book He speaks to informe man and therefore to his capacity for he is dull and slow to understand That which we will not have forgotten nor omitted nor slipt over we will note in a book and set it before our eye In thy book all my members were written Had the Lord left out of His book thy eye thou hadst wanted it and then thou wouldst have said Oh what a mercy it is to have windows to look out of for now my body is to me a dungeon and the world a prison Had he left out thy tongue thou hadst wanted it and then as thou maist use it thou hadst wanted thy glory though otherwise and by abuse it is a world of wickednesse But had'st thou wanted it thou wouldst have said Oh what a mercy is it what an happinesse to have whereby to expresse my self Whereas now a Shepheard takes more content with his dogge then with me one that cannot deliver my meaning a Aug. de Civ Dei l. 19 c. 7. It is so with the eare too had it been left out thou hadst stood amidst the people like a Statue or walked with them but converse thou couldst not In His book were all thy members written and thou mayest say as follows How great is the summe of them how great thinkst thou put them all together as they are and behold them and thy self an epitome of the whole world the Index of all the creatures and therefore well mayest thou take the following words speaking them to His praise How great is the summe of them Nay should I call Man the great world and the visible world before us the little world I should say no more but what a Greek Father Nazianâ—e hath said before me So excellent and beautified a creature is man when he hath all his parts comelinesse and proportion in all I could be large here but praise would be the summe of all and praise is comely Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodnesse and the wonderfulnesse of his works even in this behalf touching our outward frame Consider now and so I conclude this also Hath God written all thy members in His book not one is left out Hath He set them in a comely and decent rank and posture And is this order and uniformity comely and goodly to behold as Souldiers well disciplined or as an Army with Banners We must needs grant it is so it is gracefull in the eyes as the contrary an inconformity and disorder in parts would have been as unseemly as to see Souldiers breaking their Ranks or an Army routed Then consider but this what then is the beauty of a well-ordered soule Think but so and certainly thou wilt think that
nothing in this world is of sufficient worth to put us out of frame This thought set home may carry the soul like the Sunne which worketh upon all inferiour things but is not wrought upon by them above forms and stormes too in an uniform way in a constant course and tenor like it self sutable to its own dignitie and keeping its distance We take a view now of the way we have gone and of the observations in our passage This first that it was the Lord who curiously formed thee in the wombe He brought thee thence and yet thy engagement to thy parents no whit the lesse He gave thee a being amongst the creatures and those of the highest ranke He put thee into an house like a rich Heire ready furnished a See Chrysost Hom 8. in Gen. He crowned thee with honour and gave thee dominion over the works of his Hands In His book were all thy members written thou doest not want one of them and how great is the summe thereof so great that thou art the epitome of this great world the Index of all the creatures which sets deep upon thy score thou hast much to return unto the Lord if thou doest return according to that thou hast received So God hath exalted thee so shouldst thou exalt the Lord and all this from thy outward frame the site and posture thereof And so farre we are gone and before we go further we must take fuller notice of things we have passed briefly over for they are observable § 1. We are Gods workmanship His building wonderfully were we made by b Isa 45. 11. Him accordingly should we strive to live unto Him if we ask more grace He will not deny us it A strong argument it is c Psal 138. 8. We are the workmanship of thy hands and as strong is this Created in Christ Iesus unto good d Ephes 2. 10. works †1. 2. He brought us forth thence where many miscarried because there was no power that our praise might be alwayes of Him And He gave our parents charge over us and them a strong affection to discharge that trust though we were froward and like perverse children which engageth mightily to honour the parents to obey them in the Lord. And to do what possibly we can and all too little for their good if they shall need it and for the promoting their comfort in the childes well-doing the very garland of their hope and sore travell under the Sunne and a very cordiall to their drouping spirits § 2. His exceeding patience to us-ward in sparing us so long and His good providence over us all this time but specially then when we could have none for our selves when we foresaw nothing no not a pit before us For mark I pray you that little thing such an one I was so wast thou and let us not carelesly behold him If now he be out of the cradle and the armes and can do more then creep by the wall we shall see it still in harmes-way now puddering in the fire then in the pot of seething liquour then up the stairs it will creep and down again it tumbles with little or no harm And if it can break the mothers prison we shall see it marching in the streets presently in the Carts way or under the horses heels perhaps as his strength is upon their backs or upon some Ladder or some Tree where he ventreth his necke for an apple or a lesse matter Like a Lapwing it is Squerill headed still skipping into danger not so quicke to get from it Such like and many more dangers attend that silly age So that this is a sure thing which I shall tell you It was not the care of the earthly Father though he was carefull with all his care nor the tender hand and eye of the Mother though both still helpfull and wakefull neither this nor that was it which provided for the childe and secured its safety but the providence of the Almighties eye 2. Kin. 4. 13. His good hand upon the childe that kept it That that was it and to that we must sacrifice that we have been preserved where so many have fallen and escaped those snares and dangers wherein so many have been taken Make this use we must of the casualties And forget we must not the many diseases this vile body is subject to which we have been kept from or delivered in Plinie reckons no fewer then 300. from top to toe I mention but two and they be capitall ones the Evill and the Falling sicknesse very incident to children and makes their life but a death to themselves and friends That we have been preserved and delivered thus and thus what a mercie herein what praise therefore 3. He hath ranked us in His highest form amidst His chiefest creatures that our thoughts should be on high and our wayes on high Noble creatures we are of an heavenly stamp impresse and superscription that our carriage and deportment should be answerable Oh then how is it that the horse and the mule which have no understanding should teach their Lord and this Lord so brutish that he will not be taught by them We put bits in our horses mouths and they obey us The doâ—ge follows our foot and will be struck by our hand the d Jer. 8. 7. Stork the Crane the Swallow know their season The e Isai 1. 3. Ox knoweth his Master and the Asse his Crib but man is become brutish he considers not Every f Jam. 3. 7. kinde of beasts and of birds and of Serpents and things in the Sea is tamed and have been tamed of mankinde But man is the unruly creature the ungoverned person yet hath he reason to guide him Reason I say the crown and dignitie of a person when the naturall powers and noble faculties are entire and sound a great good mercy go to Bedlam else and enquire we there but that we need not do we need but go sit down and hearken there and then we must needs say Oh what a blessing is it what a mercy that we have the use of reason that our understanding-part is sound and perfect He hath reason I say to guide him the fear of the Lord to awe him His word to instruct him and if he be not guided reclaimed taught he will have no excuse no pretext for himself for saith g In Gen. Hom. Chrysostome man tameth the Lion and he leads the Beare and he frays the 9 p. 85. Serpent that he hurts him not thou art unexcusable then O man if thou art an ungoverned creature so the Father reproves man made in Gods image And Elihu to h Job 35. 10. 11. Iob gives us as full a reproofe and concludes the use saying But none saith where is God my Maker who giveth songs in the night Who teacheth us more then the Beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser then the fowls of heaven 4. Lastly he