Every thing must be taken in his meet time Let this bladder alone till it be dry and all the winde in the world cannot raise it up whereas now it Meditat. 106. is new and moist the least breath fills and enlarges it It is no otherwise in ages and dispositions Informe the childe in precepts of learning and vertue while yeeres make him capable how plyably he yeeldeth how happily is he replenished with knowledge and goodnesse Let him alone till time and ill example have hardened him till he be setled in an habite of evill and contracted and clung together with sensuall delights now he becomes utterly indocible sooner may that bladder be broken then distended Quintilians first Chapter shall put a close to this It is very usefull all and tends to this purpose If we looke to reape comfort from our children we must lay the ground-worke of vertue and religion betimes in them while as yet they are without any tainture at all We mould and fashion the mould of the head then when it is softest so must we the mould of the heart and affections This is the summe of that Chapter The conclusion is We are curious what we put into a new vessell and what mould we lay about a young plant for the weakest Termes and Times See Advanc lib. 1 p. 25. of all things use to have the best applications and helps And so much may teach us what infancy is and that those innocent yeers as some have called them are not innocent Min â—elix p. 1. vers 20. in fol. vide Com. They do shew forth many ill and peccant humours luâ—king within like poyson in a chilled * Non desunt â—i venena sed torpent Sâ—n. serpent which must be looked unto betimes by keeping our eyes wakefull over the first three and foure yeeres An allowance of yeeres large enough for that Age yet some have allowed more following the notation of the word because so long it is and sometime longer before the childe can speake articulately and so as it may be understood Though we be not so exact in observing our distinct periods it matters not if we can time our beginnings CHAP. II. Childhood and youth how neglected by Parents though their seed-time The maine businesse therein twofold I Suppose now This Infancy this harmlesse Annis adhuc innocentibus Min Fel. p. 1. Tert. Simplices Annos Hilar. Insontem infantiam Cyp. Innocentem aetatulam Pâ—ud Simplicem turbam Martial innocent age as some have called it in the simplicitie of their hearts and in reference to the next age wherein our hereditary evill more declares it selfe and is more Active and stirring this I say I suppose passed over And as one Age passeth so another succeedeth none stayeth Child-hood and youth come next into the place thereof I put them together because they differ but in some degree of heat And they agree because what may be said of each which is but little agrees to both and that is That the childes eare as we say of the horse his Equi fraenati est auris in oâ—e Hor. eare is in his snaffâ—le is in his governours hand as he holds the reines â—o it goes or as he lets them loose so it runs like a wilde Colt that hath cast his Rider And for the Youth it knowes â—o other Law but the Law in his members leading him captive to the Law of sinne So we may know these Ages to be more unhappy and lessâ— innocent then the former Age for so the usuall saying is and we finde ours as we were unhappy children it is not to be doubted So I am slipt into another Age and what is the just period and limit thereof I cannot define The time of Child-hood and Youth is much as the Parenes can time the beginnings as was said As they order and handle the childe so they shall finde it As it is disciplined it may quickly and seasonably with Gods blessing out-grow Childishnesse and then Child-hood and as it may be neglected you may know that by its Childishnesse it is a Boy still So the limits of this age I count are in the Parents hand according as their care is more or lesse according will this time of child-hood be longer or shorter It matters much therefore how the childe is disciplin'd and taught 2. Here then is worke for the Father also whom we have not hitherto exempted and for the Mother no lesse worke then she had before Father and Mother both little enough and for the fathers spare houres a full employment but none more necessary or whereunto he can be more engaged The childe is now out of hand as we say and quickly out of sight and as busie as an Ant in the Summer but it is not out of minde The Mother is quickly calling after it and seeking for it for she knows the childe will be in harmes-way for though it be a little more out of the Mothers hand it was never lesse in its own 3. I cannot question the Parents care concerning the childes out-side the body and there care doth well but there may be too much and preposterous that care may be and inordinate We adorne the out-side commonly saith Clem. of Alexandria as the Egyptians their Temples outwardly Paed. 3. cap. 2. very specious and beautifull but if you looke inward there was an ugly beast so we adorne the body when the soul the All of a man is neglected The soul â—alls for its due also we cloth the childes body the soul should not be naked we feed the body and cherish it the soul should be cared for and cherished also and in the chiefe place for the soul is the cause that the body is regarded suppose the soul taken from the body but one houre and â—ow loth are we to cast an eye toward the body which before was so lovely in our eye A great reason this though there is a greater then that as the preciousnesse of the soul and the price was paid for it why the soul should be regarded and in the first place All is then what the Parents care is concerning that which is the man indeed And therein the care is commonly too little no way answerable to the hopes they have of their childe They will say yes They intend the childes good nothing more and the way they intend also conducing thereunto But what ever they say it must appeare by what they do for good intents are no better then good dreames except they be put in execution So their care is upon tryall what they do in way of promoting the childes good must evidence it as the surest witnesse Now that the childe can go and speake it can imploy its minde and body now the faculties of both are awakened and declare themselves Now must the Parents be doing if they will evidence their care and they must consider well what they do The childe imitates strangely it is taken
therefore it was but coldly proceeded in then and is like to lie now as a thing not thought upon or forgotten And therefore the forementioned Mr Horne hath taken the best and safest course and but according to the advice of his Elders he hath laboured for himself and is setting forth a work of his own whereby he leades on the childe to Rhetorick Oratorie Grammar is touched upon too in passage in a clearer way then any man yet hath goâ—e before him in So Schollers like wells are the fuller the more they are drained Pag. 71. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Tom. 5. serm 55 â— The more they let out themselves for the good of others the more they are filled And a fulnesse this man hath if the skill in the languages and arts may be accounted so and which is the crown of all he hath an heart to lay forth his treasure and to spend himself for the common good And that is the way to encrease even to a fulnesse to empty our selves continually for the publick good as Chrysostome writes very usefully I have spoken this at this point in a zeal I have to promote the childes good my subject now and he who gives another his due doth not in so doing detract from any other I know there are many able and faithfull Ministers this way and the Lord encrease the number of them But I consider Schollers must be wound-up within the same common winding-sheet and laid to the same mould In that very day though their works follow them for their labour cannot be in vain in the Lord yet their thoughts perish It is good to know them and to use them while we have them Thus farre touching the way the Master must go and such helps which serve very much to promote the Scholler in the same way The Masters duty follows and that is to do his work throughly and fully in point of reformation and information before the childe passe from under his hand And Parents must have patience and suffer both to be done before the childe be other-where disposed of It proves no small disadvantage to the childe and Church that he is hasted to an higher Forme or place while his minde is empty and unfurnisht of such matter whereof before he came thither he should be well furnished or that he is posted into a strange countrey to learn the language before he hath learnt his Religion or attained any stayed or fixed carriage or command over himself The successe must needs be answerable for the childe is then most left to himself when he is least himself when he is in the most slipperie age and place y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys in Gen. Hom. 44. â— Reade Ascham â—â—hol p. 13. I mean when the furnace of concupiscence is most heated as the Father speaks when affections are strongest from within and provocations more stirring from without Therefore till the childe hath some good understanding of himself and book till he can command the one and well use the other what should he do abroad either at the Vniversitie Innes of Court or in a farre Countrey We can neither teach nor learn how to weigh measure or point the winde as the Noble Advancer speaketh against the sending of children abroad too soon and too unripe Humanitie will not down nor Logick neither and Littleton worse then either of the former They that go too unripe to those places quickly grow rotten In all probabilitie and we cannot easily conceive otherwise youth will leave that they understand not and can finde no sweetnesse in And they will to that which they can do and their natures must needs relish They will to such companions their books they understand not whose language they can skill off and when they cannot draw at the fountain they will to the sinke in those places and you may sent them as strongly that there they have been as if they had fell into a vessell wherein is no pleasure There is great cause we should labour to set our children as upright as we can and to fix their carriage before we send them forth from us else there is great danger of miscarrying considering what our natures are as was said z Pag. 44. The summe then touching this point is That there be a Graduat proceeding with the childe as up a paire of staires That the childes seed-time be improved to the utmost And for the daughter that she have generall instructions all qualities the parent can bestow which may set off and yet stand with decency and sobrietie more specially that she be accustomed to the essentialls of huswifery unto all that may make her rejoyce in time to come And when the Parent in his house and the Master in the Schoole shall have thus fully discharged this care touching the childe then may the Parents have thoughts touching the disposing of it to some lawfull calling whereof as followeth CHAP. X. Of Callings what the dignitie of some what the main end and use of all how to judge of their lawfulnesse Our faithfulnesse and abiding therein Doing the proper works thereof Designing the childe thereunto THE Lord hath disposed us in the civill Body as He hath the members in the naturall one needing another and serving for the good of another and all for the common good The foot saith not if I had been the hand I had served the body nor saith the hand if I had been the head I had served the body every member in his proper place doth his proper office for therefore hath the wise Disposer placed it so God hath set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him a 1 Cor. 12. 17. 19 20 21 22. And if they were all one member where were the body But now are they many members yet but one body And the eye cannot say unto the hand I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost Ibid. Hom. 32. juxta cap. â— have no need of you Nay much more those members of the body which seeme to be more feeble are necessary The Lord so tempering the body together that there should be no schisme in the body Even so in the body politique God hath given to some the preheminence and principalitie of the head They must look to their influence They are resembled to the head for weightie causes who can conceive the manifold instruments of the soul which are placed in the head the consideration whereof instructeth very much It is an high point of honour to be head and Lord over others so is it an high point of service It will not be impertinent to remember the words of a great Divine and devout Spaniard to his great Lord b Avila's Spirituall epistles 15. pag. 130. which are these Looke upon the Lord of men and angels whose person you represent He that sits in the place of another it is but reason that he have the properties
the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of hell Great cause to look unto it to guard it well as nature teacheth us with all our care But he that can master his passion and this master passion can master his tongue also that is supposed For the tongue as we heard is but angers first weapon And if we can binde the strong-man we can spoile him of his weapons that 's out of question for it is first done I will say but this then for I have spoken to it before in the first part It is the wisdome of a man to see himselfe speake That is well first to observe the way his tongue is travelling in That he may be sure and certaine that the way is safe Remembring still what was said too That a man hath falne more 1. 〈◊〉 dangerously by his tongue then he hath by his foot § 5. Of Censure I would charm the tongue here before I leave it but so it is hard for man to do nay impossible yet I will lesson it in point of Censure Which is a bold libertie the tongue takes as if it had a a K. â— Daemono-Log lib. 3. cap. 1. patent for prating or had received another edict that all the world should be taxed The lessons are these 1. Take no evidence from heare-say It is the greatest liar in the world Report will sully the whitest name upon earth and when it hath done and you would finde the authour you cannot he walks as undiscerneable as if he had his head in the clouds b Caput inter nubila condit vide Scal. Poâ—â— lib. 5. cap. 3. pag. 524. Report nothing upon bare report especially nothing touching any ones good-name which the purer it is like a white ball the more sullied with tossing 2. Where thou wantest certaintie judge charitably the best and leave that thou canst not know to the Searcher of hearts Indeed sometimes a mans out-side actions words gestures do make an easie and plain Commentary upon the heart we may expound the heart by them There is a speaking with the feet and a teaching with the c Prov. 6. 13. 14. fingers The organ or instrument of speech is the tongue What can the feet speak What can the fingers teach why the feet can speak and the fingers can teach what is in the heart Their commentary is so plain that a man may reade frowardnesse is there But now when a mans actions his meaning and intent are of as doubtfull construction as some old Characters worn out and decayed Take we heed now that we reade them not according to our sense unlesse it be most agreeable to charitie It is a good rule d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must shew all the favour that may be We must stretch out charities mantle as wide as we can that is as wide as heaven is wide saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Acta Apost 21. Hom. 44 Chrysostome and we must note it We are bound to give the fairest and most candid interpretations of actions and meaning as possible may be It is Mr Perkins rule and but the rule of charitie Be as tender of a mans meaning as with his eye so of his actions as perhaps he did not so as it is suggested if he did it then not with a minde to do me hurt or if with that purpose then by some temptation which might have carried my self too and upon a worse evil Still deale tenderly we should with our brothers Name with his Conscience with his meaning as tender of all this we must be as we are of our eye or of a glasse of Chrystall 3. Speak well of the dead or nothing at all It is for such to trouble them that are at rest who are of his generation who did pursue his brother with the sword and did cast off all pitie and his anger did tear perpetually and kept his wrath for ever f Amos â— 11. Mark well how sadly and confidently Job speakes touching the securitie of the dead mark it I can but point to it g Job 3. from 13 to the 20 verse And learn we may something from the devil when he feigned himself Samuel That it is no point of Civilitie to disquiet the dead h 1. Sam. 28. 15. 4. No nor to disquiet those that are absent in conjuring up their names for they are dead to us and cannot speak for themselves Stay a little till Mephibosheth i 2 Sam. 16. 2. Chap. 19. 27. He hath slandered thy servant verse 27. Not slanderers 1. Tim. 3. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can be heard to tell his own tale he will prove himself as sound at the heart as he is lame in his feet and Ziba shall be counted as he is a Devil 5 If the name of thy neighbour be in question and thou canst relieve it by a word and that word but the very truth Take heed now Let not that pretious name of thy neighbour faint and die under thy hearing for want of a word thy speaking what thou knowest and standest bound to speak by the bond of charitie If thou shalt be faulty in this point of charitie it is a privative censure I keep the chief lesson last I take it from a rule in Herauldry this it is 6. All k Joh. Guil. display of Herauldry pag. 163. Animalls born in Armes or Ensignes must in blazoning be interpreted in the best sense according to their generous and noble qualities if a fox be the charge of an Escutchen we must conceive his qualitie represented to be wit and cunning not pilfering and stealing c. I may finde bad qualities in the King of beasts I must in blazoning take the most noble Then much more in blazoning my brothers Name I must finde-out his good qualities So the Apostle with Iob l James 5. 11. we have heard of the patience of Iob not a word of his impatience And observeable it is how David fills his mouth with Sauls m 2. Sam. 1. vertues But how if my brother have not one good qualitie I must not think so not that any one is so buried under the rubbish of his own and Adams ruines but some good may be found in him if with the Chymist we would set the fire of our charitie on work some good might be extracted for as there is some rubbish in the best of men so there is some ore too something of God some good in the very Worst doubt it not while thou canst see a poore woman puddering in the dust-heap and finding some good there And let this teach us how we deale with our brother not worse then with a dust-heap I hope pick-out his good and let go the bad But if thou must fix upon the bad as so the case may require do it tenderly like a brother as one knowing thy self and thy common nature in love in meeknesse in the spirit
or can And answerable is our delight in them and our sorrow for them when they wither Therefore we should know what ever our mountaine or gourd is I meane our comfort in what kinde soever it is Gods favour His influence through it that gives strength unto it and us comfort in it And if He withdraw His favour and restraine His influence as doubtlesse He will if we are too confident of our setling and firme standing thereon as if we could never be mooved then trouble follows and the more our trouble will be the stronger our confidence was and our contentment in the same It is the greatnesse of our affections which causeth the sharpnesse of our afflictions They that love too much will alwaies grieve too much a The presence of a comfort is not more comfortable then will be the absence thereof grievous If we suffer the childe that is the creature we are now upon to shoot too farre into our hearts when the time of severing cometh we part with so much of our hearts by that rent Oh how good is it and how great a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz epist 125. point of wisedome to carry the creature as we do a loose garment apart and loose from the heart easily parted with That when God calls for it as He may with more libertiâ— then we may fetch our childe from nurse yet we take libertie there we may willingly part with it saying here Lord thou gavest it to me Thou maist fetch it from me Blessed be thy name in taking as in giving The Heathen gives a Rule and it is of easie construction Love so as thou maist hate Ama tanquam osurus That is Love your friend so that if hatred should grow betwixt you yet no hurt can follow for you have not so unbrested and opened your self unto him that he can hurt you It is a good rule for a Parent Love thy childe so as one Amatanquam amissurus that is parting with it That is love thy childe so that if thou losest it yet thou doest not lose thy treasure nor thy heart Thou hast not so opened thy self towards it nor is it laid up so close Then thou canst be content with thy losse and submit to His mightie hand That tooke it from thee He was a wise Heathen and one instruction from him comes double to a Christian I kisse my childe to day and then I think it may M. Aâ—â— Aâ—â— Med. lib. 11. 21. 30. p. 148. be dead to morrow It is ominous some will say No that remembrance keeps it loose and apart from the heart and the surer in our possession whereas the common conceits and opinions that our comforts shall not be taken from us nor we moved are as one saith the common lamiae or bug-beares of the world the cause of our trouble and sorrow That we may not be carried by conceits and opinions our desire should be the same that Agurs was That God Prov. 30. Soules conflict pag. 48. would remove from us vanitie and lyes That is from a vain and false apprehension pitching upon things that are vaine and lying and promising that contentment to our selves from them which they cannot yeeld Confidence in vaine things makes a vaine heart and fills it with sorrow for vexation ever follows vanitie when vanitie is not apprehended to be where it is This the second consideration The third this †3. That childe whom we do inordinately set our hearts upon doth seldome or never answer our wished for expectations no not in any measure As the Parent hath widened and opened his heart towards it in a largenesse of expectation and hope so doth that childe commonly contract straiten and close up it self towards the Parent God doth often strike that childe of whom we fondly conceive the greatest hope with the greatest barrennesse Cain proves lighter then vanity and Abel a possession I have observed and much I have observed when the parent hath carelesly neglected one childe and like the ape hugged and fondly cockered another I have observed too that the hated childe proved fruitfull and the fondling barren and withall that childe which the parent did tender most regarded the parent least God ever shortens our account when we reckon without Him and as He commonly blasteth our bold and confident attempts so doth He wither extraordinary hopes in earthly things That we may open our mouthes wide towards Him that can fill them We may note the connexion we finde Gen. 29. 30 31. Iacob loved Rachel more then Leah When the Lord saw that He made Rachel barren The more love the more barrennesse To make differences betwixt childe and childe is not safe a Gen. 37. 3 4. Accedebat invidia quod mater promptior Neroâ—â— esset Tacit. An. 4. 13. It causeth great differences and to make fondlings of any is a dangerous presage That this fondling is the childe who will prove as a barren soile like a parched heath or a salt land I could wish that were the worst It is commonly much worse for which is the last consideration 4. It commonly falls out That the childe we so doted upon proves the heaviest crosse That 's the childe commonly which like a backe winde hastens the Parent to the pit making him speake in very bitternesse of soule Why dyed Job 3. 11. it not from the wombe c. They whose experience is but as yesterday can tell us That the bloudy knife it is Mr. Boultons expression of Parents unconscionable and cruell Direct p. 19 20. negligence in training up of their children religiously doth stick full deepe in their souls Nay they can tell us more then so even that these childreÌ„ so loosely train'd up have cut their parents hearts with sorrow yea and their throats too they have stuck the knife in their own parents bowels such bloudie and unnaturall acts might be instanced in and urged I shall onely relate three examples two whereof fell under mine own observation I could relate two and twentie so ordinary they are as we in our way finde them the third example is extraordinary and yeelds a sad story The first was the mothers onely childe therefore her darling as fondly handled by her and disordered as we need imagine To schoole he came that he might be out of the dirt So the rod was spared the mother had her desire and expectation The childe proved accordingly not answerable to the mothers hope but very answerable to her manner of breeding About a yeere after the childe angred the mother and the mother struck the childe he runs to the fire and up with the fire forke and at the mother he makes at least he threatned The mother hastens to me as much displeased with the childe as ever before she was pleased with it It was well for the childe for it made him stand in awe though in no great feare of the mother More depends on it but I must
of those beames what then can be hid from the Creator of them He hath not beheld iniquitie in Iacob neither hath He seene perversenesse in Israel e Num. 23. 21. No He beholdeth them in His beloved Sonne in whom He is well pleased and for His sake with them He doth not behold sinne in them to condemne to punish them for it for by His sonnes stripes they are healed And this is that rich mystery of grace f Mysterium opulentumgratiae admirabile commercium peccata nostra non nostrae sed Christi sunt justitia Christi non Christi sed nostra est Ex nanivit c. Quomodo in peccatis nostris dolet conâ—unditur hoc modo nos in illius justitia laetamur gloriamur c. Luther in Psal 22. So Luther spake who spake out of experience that admirable exchange when Christ took our sins and gave us His righteousnesse emptied Himself that He might fill us stript Himself that He might invest us sorrowed Himself and was confounded with our sins that we might rejoyce and glory in His righteousnesse An admirable exchange indeed a rich mystery which magnifyeth the riches of Gods love giving His Sonne to the world and of Christ giving Himself for the world of beleevers But this doth not take off from Gods knowledge what He seeth not to condemne and punish He doth see even in His Israel to reprove and correct And when He shall correct for sinne His Israel shall confesse against this vanitie tossed to and fro Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance g Psal 90. 8. 2. From the different operations of the beames I note That the diversitie of subjects the Sun worketh upon diversifies the effects And this is but a conclusion of experience also how unclean soever the place is where they come they alter not but work diversly according to the matter they work upon If upon clay it is hardned If upon waxe it is softned if upon a dung-hill the stinking vapours more offend if upon a garden of sweet herbs the sweet savour more refresheth if upon good fruits they grow for the use of man if upon weeds they grow to humble him The alteration is here below in sublunary creatures the Sunne changeth not Hence we learn how unreasonable that dealing is which the Wise-man telleth us of The foolishnesse of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord h Prov. 19. 3. This should not be so but clean contrary For when a man perverteth his own way and then fretteth against God It is as if the dung-hill should blame the Sun from whence nothing can come but light as from a dung-hill an unsavoury smell which is the more sensible and offensive the clearer and more piercing that light is or as if a man through inconsideratenesse taking a fall should fret against the stone If God leaveth us to walke in our own wayes or recompenseth our wayes upon us we ought not to charge Him foolishly but to charge our selves with folly and if we have learnt so much we have learnt a short but a great lesson For it will make us continually to walk humbly with our God and a continued humilitie is a continued adoration of His Majestie and the ground-work of an holy life which is a continued prayer i Vera humilitas perpetua adoratio pia vita perpetua oratio 3. We may note again That these beames of the Sun in its circuit do passe through many pollutions and yet not polluted therewith but remaine pure and cleane The Sun worketh upon inferiour bodies and cherisheth them by light and influence yet is not wrought upon by them but keepeth its owne lustre and distance The Father maketh this use hereof How much more then saith he could the Sun of righteousnesse dwell with flesh and pitch His tabernacle with us k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 1. 14. and yet not be polluted by us Howmuch more could that Son of righteousnesse communicate with man and take unto Him the infirmities of mankinde I mean such which accompany the whole nature As hungring thirsting wearinesse griefe paine and mortalitie yet without any touch or tincture of sinne from all these because what ever were the effects here-from were in Christ like the stirring of Chrystall water in a Chrystall glasse whereof we have no sedament no dregs in the bottom l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Tom. 5. Ser. 31. Chrys â— This shews us also who are heavenly and the beautie of a well ordered soul It thinks nothing in the world of sufficient worth to put it out of frame such a soul is instructed what it should be It should rule over things beneath and not be ruled by them like the Sunne it should be under the power of nothing beneath it self But this intire estate this freedome from pollution is reserved for an higher place where all corruption shall be done away for now the soul having so much earth about it and so much of earth within it which is the cause of defilement it cannot mixe with things of the earth and not be polluted it cannot but receive some tainture there-from But yet still the soul that is heavenly striveth after perfection and in desire would be in some proportion like the Sun in his race which works upon inferiour things but is not wrought upon by them It desires to carry it selfe like the Sunne above formes and stormes in an uniforme way in a constant course and tenour like it self sutable to its own dignitie and keeping its distance Thus we are instructed by the Sun-beames 3. The brightnesse and splendour of the Sun instructs also for it is admirable and the more admirable it is the lesse my eye is able to behold it But such is his brightnesse which I do see that I have a fulnesse in my vision and from thence comfort and satisfaction if I behold it wisely and as I am able But if I should be prying into it and gazing on it I shall then see nothing at all The Sun is the cause that I do see but it will not give me leave to see into it The clearnesse of that great eye will darken mine and put it cleane out m Solem qui videndi omnibus causa est videre non possâ—mus radâ—s aâ—â—â—s submovetur obtutus inâ—uentis hebetatur sidiutiâ—s in spicias omnis visus extinquitur M. Minuâ— Felic pag. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clâ—m Alex. ad Gentes p. 39. We must not measure an infinite God by a finite understanding Lege Cal. Inst lib. 1. cap. 13. sect 21. And this leads me into a great secret and high and commands me not to search it out nor to stand and gaze thereon for thus I reason from that I do see How little a part of the Sun is it which I see yet is it so bigge as we have heard and yet
of Him Whose place he represents A Lord of vassals is a Lieutenant of God There is nothing to which great Lords ought to attend so much as truly and cordially and like men who live in the presence of God to remaine ever faithfull and firme to Him without hanging either to this way or to that And this will be easily performed by that great man who shall attentively consider That he is but the Minister of God as one who but meerely executes and must not exceed the Commission which is given to him God places not great Lords in the world to the end that they may do and undo what they list but to execute the laws of His holy will And though they may account themselves Lords yet are they still under the universall Lord of all in comparison of whom they are more truly vassalls then their vassalls are theirs and their power is as truly limited as their vassalls power is for as much as concernes the dispensing with what they ought to do So much to his dutie whose office is to be the head of the body how great that office is and how strong the engagement for the answerable discharge of the same Others He hath made Seers as the eyes of the body such grace and excellency He hath given them They must look to it that their eye be single single towards their Masters glory These considerations will help much hereunto first That they are called His holy ones upon whom the Lord hath put the Vrim and the Thummim such excellencies we can neither expresse nor conceive c Exod. 28. 30. Quae qual a fuerint non consla◠2. That the higher their place is the lower their service The eye must observe how the feet walk The more proper and peculiar their persons are the more common servants they are They must observe how the hands work nor so only they are a leading hand look on me and do likewise d Judg. 7. 17. for they are as the Ship Admirall that carryeth the Lanthorn but of this a little after The third consideration is That the Apostles were sent forth as if they had neither bellies to feed nor backs to cloath yet neither did want as men of another world divided betwixt two and faithfull Stewards for both Their Lord and His Church Publique persons these are they must serve others not themselves the eye sees not for it self not yours but you e 2 Cor. 12. 14. is a standing rule At that instant saith that devout Spaniard doth that person cease to be publique when he hangs never so little towards the particular he must stand like a stalke of a ballance no wayes bending Lastly then I will remember for it is very usefull how that grave Divine f Avila's Spirituall epist Ibid 131. writes to him whom God had set as an eye in the body Your Lordship must consider that as you are set as an eye in the body so hath He placed you in the eyes of many who take that to be a rule of their lives which they see you do make account that you are seated in a high place and that your speech and fashions are seen by all and followed by the most men Take it for a point of greatnesse to obey the laws of Christ our Lord without doubt inferiour men would hold it an honour to do that which they saw practised by great persons And for this reason I beleeve that the Prelates of the Church and the Lords of the world are a cause of perdition to the most part of souls I beseech your Lordship that as you are a particular man you will look into your self with a hundred eyes and that you will look into your self with a hundred thousand as you are a person upon whom many look and whom many follow And take care to carry both your person and your house so orderly as the Law of Christ requires that he who shal imitate your Lordship may also imitate Christ our Lord therein and may meet with nothing to stumble at The vulgar is without doubt but a kinde of Ape Let great men consider what they do for in fine that will be followed either to their salvation if they give good example or for their condemnation if it be evill I will adde one thing more and it shall be the speech of Sarpedon to his brother Glaucus it is worth all mens knowledge Come on brother we are Lords over others accounted Gods upon earth Let us shew that we are so in deed and not in name Our work must evidence our worth They who are the highest Lords must in point of good service to their countrey be the lowest servants They that are above others in place must shine before others in vertue They that eat of the fattest and drink of the sweetest and so have the best wages must by the rule of propertion do the best work And this that our underlings such who are inferiour unto us may have cause to say these are honourable persons and they walk honourably they are prime first and principall men amongst us and they are as their preheminence in place imports the first and formost in every good and honourable action So Sarpedon g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hom. Iliad ◠12. encourageth his brother That as two worthy persons they might do worthily and it is worthy every mans knowledge that hath preheminence above others And so much to assure us what the dutie of those great officers is who are set as the head over the body and as guides and lights thereunto They guide all They must be be well able well to guide and command themselves for as they guide so the people follow their example is a command h Cogi eos dicit qui exemplo Petri Judaizabant Galat. 2. 14. Bez. if well they follow well Being like sheep a A cuRious and delicate fabrick so precious for use that it seemes to be made of finer mould then the rest of the body But that it should be made of the same matter wherof Bricks and Tyles are sheweth that God is admirable in working Chrys to the people of Antioch Hom 11. wandring cattle which will drive well in a flock but not single and alone i Advanc B. 2. 272. And as this may instruct us touching the dignity of those persons who are as the head and eyes in the body so may it informe us touching our obedience to both for from this little empire in this world obedience to the head is strongly inforced The beginning of all motion all the knots and conjugations of sinews are in and from the head they have their head there which teacheth that the bodies motion is by law from the head And for the eye it is notable which one observeth how observant all are of it and to it k Asch Fox p. 62. So much to those principall officers so fitly resembled to those principall
thee †1. And thou childe I suppose thee the eldest though I would make no difference here for whether the next in yeers or the youngest it will fit very well and instruct alike in the maine for which I intend it hast as much cause toconsider this as any other because of the sore travell thy mother had with thee I will not mention the travell of her soul for thee that Christ might be formed in thee though a travell it was also she was in hard labour with the greatest danger of her own life before thou didst such in the ayre of this She might have called thy name Iabesh 1. Chron 4. 9. because she bare thee with sorrow Such were the pains upon her and so heavy was that burthen which was laid of old upon that Sex that it pressed her out of measure above strength as if she must first go out of this world before thou couldest come in A strong engagement this to look up to Him with thankfulnesse who brought thee to the She sickned the 17. of August and died the 30. at 9. in the morning 163 1 when thou wast 4. yeers and 7. dayes old wombe and took thee thence and to thy parent in all due observance and it is as strong as ever though thy mother is not here I suppose thee the eldest she was taken from me and thee when thy fift yeer was currant and yet not seven dayes runne out of it Me thinks a childe grown up and reflecting on it selfe lying in the wombe and taken thence should observe a love in the mother as strong as Death All these turnings of stomack part of the mothers sorrow those throwghs afterwards as so many deaths such waters could not quench this love nor such floods of sorrow drown it nay all these were but like the Smithes water cast upon his fire which makes it burn the hotter and the clearer for all these sorrows are out of minde when the childe is in sight and serve but to encrease the love and to inhance the price of that sweet commodity the mother hath so dearly bought In one place of sacred Writ the mother is placed before the father Feare every man his mother and his a Lev. 19. 3. father It may be because the Mother is generally so neglected or because she so neglects her self I may not hit upon the true reason but I can tell a strong reason why at sometime the mother may be put as it were upon the right hand and why she should at all times be of high and honorable account with the childe for she hath bought it deare as they use to say so deare that evâ—n for her sorrow in Child-birth the childe must ever be her debter Suppose we the most dutifull and observant childe standing forth that ever yet was clothed with sinfull flesh telling the reciprocation of his duty and mutuall workings thereof towards The name and nature of the Stork Heb. his mother that he hath done towards â—er as the young Stork to the old the same say the Naturalists which once the old did to the young suppose all this the Mother could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod c. Quinta aetas Homer Iliad 4. Lege Hex Baâ—ilii Hom. 8. answer all in few words Remember childe if thou canst the turnings of my stomacke not the least part of my sorrows the pains I felt every one as so many daggers to the heart sinking my spirits and throwing up my tyred breath as if I should never take it in again Should the mother say no more but this what she suffered for the childe though much sâ—e did for it afterwards And there is more then nature in it say some that so much she did unto it when it lay like a b Hom Odys l. 6. â—â—cretius man after a shipwrack cast up upon the shoare the most forlorne and helplesse creature that can be thought of in the world Should she I say but tell what she suffered for the childe when in the wombe and bringing thence she hath answered all the childe can say and left it farre in her books so farre that it can never get out death only cancells that bond The parent and the childe can never cut scores or strike tallyes for they can never lye even And so much that thou may est honour thy Mother for then thou art as a Ecclus. 3. 4. one that layeth up a blessing Mark that for by the rule of contraries he that dishonours the Mother is as one that layeth up a curse Honour thy Mother and forget it not †2. Thy Father too look to it thou dost not set light by A se migrat ab â—â—mine totus transit in bestianâ— patâ—â—â— pietatis â—â—memor gratiae gâ—aitoris oblius Chrysol de prodego Ser. 2. him so thou dost do it thou dost set light by his admonitions For that is a sinne which calleth down a curse from the Almightie And though I should not plead my right and thy dutie yet the Lord would do both Nay it I should pray against the curse as God forbid I should forbeare to do yet would it according to Gods ordinary dispensation certainly fall the arme of flesh being too short to keep it off He is the God of Recompences He looks up on the breach of that sacred band betwixt parents and children a Si gravaris â—â—scultare paâ— ontibus esto dicto audious carâ—sici quod si neque haic obedire suâ—â—â— â—bcâ—liâ—o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Cataâ—hâ—s Lutâ— and will require it That which Luther speaks is very notable and may winne much upon a stubborn childe if any thing will If thy neck be so stiffe that thou wilt not bow nor bend nor relent by all the perswasions entreaties of thy parents then expect that the Executioner shall bend thee If thou wilt not heare what thy parents say for thy instruction thou art like to heare what the Hangman saith for thy cutting off and destruction b Prov. 17. 11. Caâ—nâ—fâ—x Trâ—m Ephes 6. 1. Sicut â—ost Dâ—â—â— deligere parâ—â—tes 〈◊〉 est sic pâ—â—s quà m Deum impietas Châ—ysâ—st in Mat. Lat. tantum Hom 26. A cruell messenger shall be seâ—t to a Son of rebellion If thou wilt not put thy necke under the yoke thy parents would put upon thee which is no other but what God enjoyneth and for thy good annexing a large blessing thereunto If thou wiâ—t not submit to this easie and sweet yoke In the Lord for this is right thou must then submit to an iron yoke in putting thy neck into the executioners halter for that is but just So Doctor Lu. speaks in our plain English and addes thereto That the experience of all Ages have evidenced the Truth thereof And for the yet clearer evidencing the same This I adde further I have been young and am not farre from being old but never saw I a dutifull childe that went away
and Brasse And it is as was said the acting sinning brooding sinne the fountaine and inlet of all we can call evill The first matter of all our misery The tinder of lust disposing us to evill and causing an aversnesse to all good This is the treasury thus we have look'd into the aboundance that is in the heart of every mothers childe In all it doth not breake out alike God in mercy to mankinde and for preservation of society restraining the dominion and over-ruling it in some And some again having received more grace prevailing over the same with the wrestling of God strong wrestlings Å¿ Gen. 30. 8. But within us this aboundance is I meane this sinne dwels within the best of men The life thereof is prolong'd t Dan. 7. 12. though the dominion is taken away And its kingdome to allude to that place is partly strong and partly broken u Dan. 2. 42. And hence is that which ever hath and ever will make the people of God vile in their own eyes and to loath themselves witnesse their low and base account of themselves Dust * Gen. 19. 27. and ashes saith Abraham we may say that and more even what was said of a bloudy persecutor we are earth mingled with bloud and to the same fiercenesse we should proceed were we not renewed or restrained x Gen. 32. 10. Lesse then the least of Gods mercies said Iacob What am I a dog fit to lye under the table a dead y 1 Sam. 24. 14. dog fit for the ditch It was the lowest expression of humilitie and we know whose it was It is Thy z Lam. 3. 22. mercy we are not consum'd so the Church makes her acknowledgement when she was brought even to the dust of death Though the Church be smitten to the place of Dragons yet if it be above hell it is mercy so she accounts Nothing saith Paul not worthy to be accounted an Apostle a Cor. 15 9. And to mention but one neerer our own times a true b Antipapas Bright on Rev. 2. 13. Antipas a faithfull witnesse a holy-man yet thus vile and abased in his own eyes and feeling I am as dry as a stone a most miserable hard-hearted man an unthankfull sinner Thus subscribed he his letters Humble Iohn Bradford And this is the reason why I would have thee childe look back to the rock whence thou wast taken and stay thy thoughts there even to humble thee and to make thee see how vile thou art that thou mayst exalt Christ Certainly there is no such ground for humiliation that can be thought of Search then this nature of thine and search it to the bottome There is no quick flesh till we come as low in our search as David did to our conception and birth The plough must go so deep as to strike at that root whereto sinne is fastned else we sow among thornes Slight not sinne here b S. C. pag. 226. Corruption the lesse we see it and lament it the more it is sighes and groanes of the soule are like the pores of the body out of which the sick humours spend and become lesse Here thou must begin thy repentance for this sin thou must be humbled more then for actuall sinnes for this is the acting brooding sinne this as was said is that which breeds and foments all our trouble It is c Soules conflict pag. 192. good to follow sinne to the first Hold and Castle which is corrupt nature Indeed the most apparent discovery of sinne is in the outward carriage we see it in the fruit before in the root as we see grace in the expression before in the affection But yet we shall never hate sinne throughly untill we consider it in the poysoned root from whence it ariseth That which least troubles a naturall man doth most of all trouble a true Christian A naturall man is sometimes troubled with the fruit of his corruption and the consequents of guilt and punishment that attend it but a true-hearted Christian with corruption it self this drives him to complaine with Saint Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me not from the members only but from this body of death We must be humbled for actuall sinne but that is not low enough he that goes no lower doth but as if a man should rub his nose to make it leave bleeding As in good things the cause is better then the effect so in ill things the cause is worse There is more heat in the furnace then in the spark more poyson in the root then in the branch more bitternesse in the spring then in the streame It is not actuall sinne that only or primarily defiles me I must look back to my first originall I was tainted in the spring of my Nature that is worse then any of those filthy streames that come from it my Nature is subject to break out continually upon any upon all occasions pray we then Lord strike at the root dry up the fountain in me Oh d Dr. S 8. Câ—p. 195. 196. if we could but one whole houre seriously think of the impure issue of our hearts it would bring us down upon our knees in humiliation before God But we can never whilst we live see so throughly as we should into this depth nor yet be humbled enough for what we see How should it humble us that the seeds of the vilest sinne even of the sinne against the holy-Ghost is in us And to heare of any great enormous sinne in another man considering what our own nature would proceed unto if it were not restrained we may see our own nature in them as face answering face If God should take His Spirit from us there is enough in us to defile a whole world We cannot see the Dregs in the bottome before we see the vessell shaken Sinne may lye dormant like a dog asleep for want of an occasion to jog it and all that while we may keep clean as a swine in a faire meadow We know not our own hearts till an occasion be offer'd nor then neither unlesse we plough with Gods Heifer till His spirit bringeth a light to ours I hold thee the longer at this point Because it is the maine point The more we consider the height the depth the breadth the length of this misery the more shal we be humblâ—d in our selves and magnifie the height the depth the breadth and the length of Gods mercy in Christ e Pag. 213. The favourers of Nature are alwayes the enemies of Grace This which some thinke and speake so weakely and faintly off is a more enemy to us then the divell himselfe a more neere a more restlesse a more traiterous enemy for by intelligence with it the divell doth us all the hurt he doth and by it maintains forts in us against goodnesse Therefore slight not sinne here nor thy misery by sinne According to those steps thou canst
go down into this depth of thy misery by sinne thou shalt rise upward again to the greatnesse of Gods love in Christ and so fetch happinesse out of that depth also Here it is most true one depth calleth unto another depth If every step or Article in the first which is misery by sinne do not more and more humble us in the sight of our misery no Article in the second part which is our redemption by Christ can comfort us Enlarge thy sinne to the uttermost that thou may'st magnifie the grace of Christ Lessen not mince not sin in hope of pardon Little sinne to forgive will make Christ little loved The height and depth of mercy cannot be sounded but by the measuring line of misery We must be brought to Davids acknowledgement f Psal 38. 7. There is no soundnesse in this flesh no part of health or life in our sinfull nature which was most fully signified in that which was most remarkable saith Mr. Ainsworth g Ainsw Levit 13. 15. Plurimum profecit qui sibi plurimum displicere didicit Cal. Inst 3 3. 20. in the Law of Leprosie That quick or sound flesh in the sore should be judged leprosie and the man uncleane whereas if the leprosie covered all his flesh he was pronounced clean Hope not then in small sinne but in great mercy and that it may not seeme small for that is the feare think thus Can that pollution be small which hath past through so many Iordans yet cannot be cleansed Can that root be any other then a root of gall and bitternesse which hath defiled all and all parts and faculties of All Can that Stump be small that hath thrust out such strong branches and those so often cut and hewed at and yet growing again Can any sparke be little that comes from such a Treasury Think on this and think seriously whether here be not cause of loathing take it actively that thou shouldst loath thy self or passively that thy person should be loathed Cause of loathing there is of despairing also in thy self but not in another Cause to go out of thy self for mercy no cause to despaire of mercy A great sinner hath a mighty Redeemer but he wil not roul himself upon Him That is mighty till he feeles himself to be such a sinner as we heard a great sinner which consideration will drive the soule upon another rock if we observe not how the Prophet pleads for mercy upon this very ground Because his sin is great h Psal 25. 11. The glory of God is great in the salvation of great sinners And by putting confidence in Him Who is mightie we lay Glory and Majesty upon HIm for to those words we may properly allude i Psal 21. 5. His glory is great in thy salvation honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon Him Our thoughts are straitened now yet think we on the riches of His mercy Who when we were as out-casts to the loathing of our persons in the day that we were born when we lay polluted in our own bloud said unto us at such a time as that Ezek. 16. Live If we think k on this we think on a Love which passeth knowledge on a mercy whose height and depth and breadth cannot be measured but if we can spread it upon our sinne as the the Prophet himself upon the childe we shall finde it equall to all dimensions And this is the Love of Him who gave His Sonne and the obedience of that Sonne who gave Him-self for our ransome a price that cannot be valued for it went to the worth of souls And this He did being made as Luther said well the greatest sinner in the World suffering what was due to such a sinner eternall wrath not in respect of its duration for it was of a short continuance but yet eternall in respect of the excellent dignitie of the person suffering who was the eternall Sonne of God And this He suffer'd even such a weight of wrath that He might free us from the same I mean that wrath which is to come which hath in it the very life and spirits of wrath The present wrath though it lye heavy for sinne yet it is but for present but the wrath to-come seizeth upon the soul and lyeth upon it to all eternitie l Omnis peccator peccat in siâ—o aeterno And this is the life and spirit of this wrath the thought whereof swallows us up as a drop is swallowed in the wide Ocean This weight He suffered as the greatest sinner that He might save to the utmost those that come unto Him Mark it for the houre may come saith m Disc of Just pag. 519. Mr. Hooker when we shall think it a blessed thing to heare That if our sins were the sins of Popes and Cardinals ours are very great having had a clear sun-shine of grace so long yet not walked as children of the Light the bowels of the mercie of God are larger I must reade his following words too I do not propose unto you a Pope with the neck of an Emperour under his feet A Cardinall riding his horse to the bridle in the bloud of Saints but a Pope or Cardinall sorrowfull penitent disrobed stript not only of usurped power but also deliver'd and recalled from errour Antichrist converted and lying prostrate at the foot of Christ And shall I think that Christ will spurn at him No He suffered to the utmost that he might save to the utmost those that beleeve whom he maketh the righteousnesse of God re-inâ—tateth in the Paradise which they lost that there they may live ever with their Lord partaking with Him of an exceeding weight of glory And here for the time would fail me my understanding both I would fix thy thoughts even at this well of Salvation On this Rock I would settle thee but that my hands are too short but under the shadow of thy wings my heartie desire is that thou mayest trust and dwell for ever then happie art thou and for ever happie for this Rocke is Christ from Him issueth water of life healing sinne washing away guilt sweetning sorrow swallowing up such a Death before mentioned with all its issues Christ I say get Him thou hast all a Sea an Ocean of good things as Clemens cals Him cleave to Him He hath strength enough enough 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Protrep p. 51. against all assaults from within from without He and His righteousnesse answers all makes us firme and stedfast like an everlasting foundation the gates of hell nor policie nor strength shall prevail All in Him all of Him all from Him And all this as it is fully discovered in his Word therefore let it be thy delight and thy counsellour and pray that His Spirit still would be thy Interpreter for without Him it is as a Book sealed so was it figured out and sealed unto us in Baptisme But before I come to that