fild with a thick yellow watry substance that arose upon many parts of our bodyes which when they brake did even burn and corrode our skins as it ran down upon them For my part I had a Calenture before at Mandoa which brought me even into the very Jawes of Death from whence it pleased God then to rescue and deliver me which amongst thousands and millions of mercies more received from him hath and shall for ever give me cause to speak good of his Name There are very few English which come thither but have some violent sicknes which if they escape and live temperately they usually enjoy very much health afterward But death made many breaches into my Lord Ambassadors family for of four and twenty wayters besides his Secretary and my self there was not above the fourth man returned home And he himself by violent Fluxes was twice brought even to the very brink of the Grave The Natives of East India in all their violent hot diseases make very little use of Physicians unless in be to breâ—th a veine sometimes after which they use much fasting as their most hopefull remedy That foul disease a most into consequence of filthy incontinency is too common in those hot climates where the people that have it are much more affected with the trouble it brings than with the sin or shame thereof As many amongst us who care not for issue but lust and after pay dear for their filthines which many times rotts or else makes bare the bones of them that are thus filthy For as vertue and goodnes rewards it self so to it self wickednes is a punishment poena peccati peccasse saith Seneca this is cleer in the sad consequences of many other sins cui â—hu cui vae who hath wo who hath sorrow Solomon askes the question and resolves it too Prov. 23. 29. they that tarry long at the wine c. for it will bite like a Serpent and sting like an Adâ—er How many sad diseases are contracted to mens bodyes by this kind of intemperancy who can recount the hurts that by this means come to the whole body especially to the Head Stomack Liver and the more noble párts who can recite the Rheumes Gouts Dropsies Appoplexies Inflamations and other distempers hence arising Drunkennes being like that Serpent Amphisbaena which hath a sting in the mouth and a sting in the tail for it kills two wayes first the Body and after that the Soul How were the thoughts of Amnon rackt about the compassing of that incestuous unnatural and brutish lust with his Sister Tamar for first he is sick for her and after he had reaped the bitter fruit of his beastly desires his lust ending in loathing he was sick of her and hated her exceedingly and said unto her arise be gone 2 Sam. 13. 15. Brutus and Cassius were traytors which Julius Caesar fear'd Macilenti pallidi men pal'd with Anger whose thoughts to do mischief drank up all their own sap and moisture Envy â—aith Solomon is the rottennes of the bones Prov. 14. 30. hence the heart of the malicious and envious man is never without torment for it boyles continually as it were in Brine And therefore this sin is said to have much justice in it self Justius invidia nihil est because it eateth the heart and marrow of her master as he desireth to have the heart of another to be eaten up And thus may it be said of Anger when it boyles up to rage as many times it doth in se sâ—mper armatur furor that it is always in Armes against it self The people in East India live up to our greatest ages but without all question they have more old people than we a thing not to be wondred at if we consider the great Temperance of that people in general in their eating and drinking But to proceed The Hindooes or Heathens there begin their year the first day of March The Mahometans begin theirs the tenth at the very instant as the Astrologers there ghess that the Sun enters into Aries their year as ours is divided into twelve Months or rather into thirteen Moons for according to them they make many payments They distinguish their time in a much different manner from us dividing the day into four and the night into as many parts which they call Pores which again they subdivide each of them into eight parts which they call Grees measured according to the ancient custome by water dropping out of one vessell into another by which there alwayes stands a man appointed for that service to turn that vessell up again when it is all dropped out and then to strike with an hammer upon the brim of a concave peece of Metal like the inner part of a large platter hanging by the brim on a wire the number of those Pores and Grees as they pass It hath a deep sound and may be heard very far but these are not common amongst them Neither have they any Clocks or Sun-Dials to shew them further how their time passeth We lived there some part of our time a little within or under the Tropick of Cancer and then the Sun was our Zenith or Verticle at noon day directly over our heads at his return to his Northern bounds of which I have spoken something before The Sun-rising there was about six houres in the Morning before its appearing here so that it is twelve of the clock with them when it is but six with us We had the Sun there above the Horizon in December when the dayes are shortest neer eleven houres and in June when they are at their fullest length somewhat more than thirteen houres which long absence of the Sun there from the face of the earth was very advantagious to cool both the Earth and Air. I proceed to speak SECTION XIV Of the most excellent moralities which are to be observed amongst the People of those Nations NExt to those things which are Spiritually good there is nothing which may more challenge a due and deserved commendation than those things which are Morally and Materially so and many of these may be drawn out â—o life from the examples of great numbers amongst that people For the Temperance of very many by far the greatest part of the Mahometans and Gentiles it is such as that they will rather choose to dye like the Mother and her seven Sons mentioned in the second of Machabees and seventh Chapter then eat or drink any thing their Law forbidds them Or like those Rechabites mentioned Jer. 35. Where Jonadab their father commanded them to drink no wine and they did forbear it for the Commandement sake Such meat and drink as their Law allowes them they take only to satisfie Nature as before not appetite strictly observing Solomons Rule Proy 23. 2. in keeping a knife to their throats that they may not transgress in taking too much of the Creature hating Gluttony and esteeming drunkennes as indeed it is another Madnes and
extenuated by the multitude of offenders which live under the guilt thereof that nothing can more aggravate it With men commoness pleads for favour with God it pleads for judgment the Leprosie of the whole body being by far more loathsome then that which appears but in a part thereof and so much of this I will now proceed to take notice of other particulars which follow in this relation As SECTION XII Of their Language their Books their Learning c. THE Language of this Empire I mean the Vulgar bears the name of it and is called Indostan it hath much affinitie with the Persian and Arabian tongues but the Indostan is a smoother language and more easy to be pronounced than the other a language which is very significant and speaks much in few words They write it as we to the right hand It is expressed by letters which are very much different from those Alphabets by which the Persian and Arabian tongues are formed The Persian there is spoken as their more quaint and Court-tongue The Arabian is their learned language both written backward to the left hand like the Hebrew from whence they borrow many words which come so neer it as that he who is a good Critick in the Hebrew may very well guess at the meaning of much in both those languages The Persian is a language as if it consisted all of Guttur all letters as some in the Hebrew Alphabet are called filling the mouth in the Pronunciation of them for as the words in that language are full of sense so in their speaking they are full of sound For the Latin and Greek by which there hath been so much knowledge conveyed into the world they are as ignorant of them both as if they had never been and this may be one great reason why there is so little learning amongst them But for the people themselves they are men of very strong reason and will speak ex re natâ upon any offered occasion very exceeding well and doubtless they are a people of such strong Capacities that were there literature amongst them they might be the Authors of many excellent works but as the case stands with them all that is there attainable towards learning is but to read and write And here by the way let me insert this that I never saw any Idiot or natural Fool nor any deformed person amongst them in any of those parts For Logick and Rhetorick which are so instrumental the first to enlarge and the second to polish discourses they have none but what is Natural They say that they write some witty Poems and compose many handsome Annals and Stories of their own and other adjacent Countreys They delight much in Musick and have some stringed but many more winde Instruments They have the use of Timbrils likewise but for want of pleasing Airs their Musick in my ears never seemed to be any thing but discord Their Books are not many and those are Manuscripts That rare and happie invention of Printing which hath been the advancement of so much learning within Christendom is not known without it They have heard of Aristotle whom they call Aplis and have some of his books as they say in the Arabian tongue in which language they further say they have many books written by Avicenna that ancient Physician who was born in Samarchandia one of the most fam'd places within the Tartarian Empire the Countrey as they believe where Tamberlain the Mogols great Ancestor drew his first breath Some parts or fragments they have of the old Testament of which more when I shall come to speak of their Religion Many amongst them profess themselves to have great skill in judicial Astrologie that great Cheat which hath been very anciently and often put upon as the Sacred Storie witnesseth the people inhabiting the East and South parts of the world I call it a Cheat because there is and must needs be so much uncertainty in it all things here below being ordered and overruled by the secret and unerring providence of Almighty God which frustrateth the tokens of the Lyars and maketh Diviners mad that turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish Esay 44. 25. First these Diviners are mad when things fall not out according to their bold predictions And secondly they have been and not without cause esteemed as mad-men in foretelling things which they could not know and much less bring to pass And therefore I have heard a great Master in and a publick Professor of Astronomie who could see as far into Constellations and observe as much from them as any other often say that he would go by the very selfesame rules that others did to predict things to come and would write that which was quite contrary to what they observed yet what he wrote should as often fall to be as true as what they 〈…〉 old Yet notwithstanding the truth of these premises the great Mogol puts so much confidence in his Astrologers that he will not undertake a journey nor yet resolve to do any thing besides of the least consequence unless his wizards tell him it is a good and a prosperous hour to begin and set upon such an undertaking and at the very instant he hath his directions from them he sets upon the thing he undertakes and not before It is strange to consider what ignorance or despair in this â—case may not put men upon may not put men into ignorance in that King thus besotted with an high opinion of his Astrologers So despair in Saul another King long before him who after he had lost the favour of God grew desperate and resolved that if God would not answer him Sathan should And therefore he said in his distress unto his servants 1 Sam. 28. 7. Seek me out one that hath a familiar spirit The condition of Saul was at this time exceeding sad as appears by his complaint v. 15. The Philistins make war against me and God is departed from me and answers me no more either by Prophets or Dreams and what shall I do I confess that the loss of God is the greatest of all losses For as his favour to a believing Soul in the want of every thing besides is enough because his loving kindnes is better than life it self Psal 63. 3. So the gaining of every thing the world can afford with the loss of Gods Countenance makes profit loss a Chaire of State uneasy an hereditary and much more a usurped Scepter so unweildy as that it cannot be managed with comfort Here Saul a King is so perplexed in his thoughts when as Almighty God had taken his loving kindnes from him that he asks the question what shall I do Not what thou did'st wretched Saul against the streame of thine own Conscience to seek unto those whom thou had'st but of late condemned and punished to take a course which thou knowest to be divellish Miserable Saul how couldst thou hope to find God at thy Command
and Gold over-lading an heart for the Man stowing so much about him as that he could not stir with it forfeited what he might have had and was turned out of the Treasury as poor and empty as he came into it He is a rich man whatever he hath be it more or lesse that is contented He is a poor man who still wants more in becoming poor by plenty wanting what he hath as well as much as what he hath not and so do very many who are the greatest engrossers of the worlds wealth But certainly there is no heart more poor and barren than that which is set upon abundance and as a the ground wherein there are Mines of Gold and Silver and the most precious Stones is most barren so the hearts of such as are most violently carried on after the desire of these things are most barren likewise Therfore almighty God in wisdom hath laid up Treasures in the bowels of the earth secretly and basely secretly that they should not be to much sought after and basely that they should not be too much desired nor valued Hence the Prophet Habak 2 6. speaks thus to covetous men woe be to him that lades himself with thick clay how long where riches are compared to thick clay because they are but the very self-same earth we tread on better hardened and coloured and because they are many times a burden unto him that hath them how long saith the Prophet is there no end of encreasing how long hath the Sea bars and bounds and the desires of man in this case without all moderation how long can any ever hope to fill and satisfie their hearts with this let them know that the barren womb and the unmercifull grave and unsatiable death will sooner be satisfied than the hearts set upon riches find satisfaction from them for he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver Eccles 5. 10. and therefore they who can come up to a right understanding of themselves in this case will have a far greater cause to fear than to desire abundance Which that great Emperour hath yet still would have more This covetousnesse carries men very far and ambition which is a refin'd or rather an heightned covetousnesse still further I have observed much of the Riches and Pomp and Greatnesse and Glory of the great Mogol So in the book of Esth Chap. 1. we may read of the goodly Tabernacle of King Ahasuerus in the Garden of his Palace where were white green and blue hangings fastned with Coards of fine linnen and purple and silver rings and pillars of Marble the Beds were of Gold and Silver upon a Pavement of Porphyre and Alabaster and Stone of blue-colour and he gave those whom he there feasted drink in changes of vessels of Gold royal wine in abundance according to the state of the King We may further read there of his hundred and seven and twenty Provinces and his Princes and Captains thereof his Throne and his Palace at Shushan c. So of the Treasures of Hezekiah Esa 39. his Silver and Gold his spices and precious Oyntments and Armory and all the store of his house which he and his Fathers had laid up c. So of Belshazzar his thousand Princes Wives and Concubines Dan. 5. O what shadows do these hundreds and thousands cast over the heads of men to give comfort unto them for the present and to make them say under these coverts will we sit and be at rest and forget that some sudden messenger from the Lord either sicknesse or death or the like can presently deprive them of all their present enjoyments and comforts But the Mogol takes a course to put the remembrance of death as far from him as possibly he can and therefore there is no man that at any time wears any blue thing in that Kings presence which is there the colour of mourners neither is the name of death at any time mentioned in that Kings ears but when any one is dead of whom his Majesty must have intelligence the message is delivered unto him in milde soft flattering terms to this purpose such or such a one hath made himself a Sacrifice at your Majesties feet ô Mors quam acerba est memoria tua homini Pacem habenti in Possessionibus suis O death how bitter are thy thoughts to one Who â—ase enjoyes in his possession No losse he deemes so great as losse of breath Death 't is to such a one to think of death Certainly if death when it comes to strike would take money be gone it would in short time engross the wealth of the whole world but it will not for no wit nor wisdom nor wealth nor policy nor strength nor any thing beside can keep off the impartial wounding hand of death That mighty Prince we speak off who did all he could to stave off the thought of dying and since dead though while he lived he denied himself nothing that might please his corrupted nature not high richly compounded wines not strange flesh nor any thing beside that might for the present give some seeming content to his brutish sensual appetite ut ipsum voluptas potius quam ipse voluptatem c. that pleasures did possesse him rather than he pleasures which will further appear if we consider more SECT XXV Of his pastimes at home and abroad and where something of his quality and disposition NOw what he doth and how he behaves himself amongst his house-full of Wives and Women cannot be known and therefore not related but when he shews himself as before thrice openly to his people every day he had alwayes something or other presented before him to make him sport and to give him present content As sometimes he delighted himself in seeing Horses ridden the Natives there as before being very excellent in their well managing of them Sometimes he saw his great Elephants fight And at other times he pleased himself in seeing wrestling or dauncing or jugling and what else he liked And it happened that but a few years before our abode there a Juggler of Bengala a Kingdom famous for Witches and men of that profession brought an Ape before the King who was ever greedy to please himself with Novelties professing that he would do many strange feats the Mogol was ready presently to make a trial of this and forthwith called some boyes about him which he was conceived to keep for such a use as I dare not name plucking a Ring from his finger gave it one of them to hide that he might make a trial whither or no the Ape could finde it out who presently went to the boy that had it The Mogol made some further trials like this where the Ape did his part as before And before the Ape was taken out of his presence this strange following and unexpected thing came into the Kings thought There are said he many disputes in the World about that true Prophet which
the palm of his hand long by a mistake took the poysoned Piâ—â— himself and gave him the other which Pill put the King immediately into a mortal flux of bloud which in few dayes put an end to his life in his â—itie Lahore Neque enim lex justior ulla est Quam necis artifices arte perire sua When some to kill most deadly engines frame 'T is just that they themselves be caught it 'h same Achabar Sha thus dead Sultan Coobsurroo his Grand-Childe then aged about twenty years took his opportunity at the first bound and ascended the Regal Throne at Lahore where by a general Acclamation of that very great and populous City he was pronounced and acknowledged King His Father the late Mogol was thus acknowledged at Agra Two great Armies were presently levied and meet together to decide the controversie and the generality of the people within that Empire thinking it meet that the Father should be King before the Son clave by far more to him then to his Son by which means Sultan Coobsurroo was defeated and taken prisoner and a very great many of young Gallants with him whereof his Father immediately after caused to be impaled or put upon Stakes that most cruell and tormenting death eight hundred in two severall ranks in one day without the City Lahore and then carried his Son most disgracefully through them bidding him to behold the men in whom he trusted His Son told him that he should have serv'd him so and spared the other who did nothing in that action but upon his command his Father replyed that he could serve him so presently if he so pleased his Son wild and desired him so to do telling his Father that he had no joy at all to live after the beholding of so many gallant men dead Notwithastanding the King spared his life casting him into Prison where his eyes were sealed up by something put before them which might not be taken of for the space of three years after what time that seal was taken away that he might with freedom enjoy the Light though not his Liberty And after his Father had taken him out of Prison he kept him alwaies near about him but with a very strong guard upon him so that he following the King his Father in his Progresses we sometimes saw him And once he called my Lord Ambassadour to him as we passed by him asking him many questions as how far distant our Country was from them and what we brought thither and what we carried thence and how the King his Father had used him since his arrive there whither or no he had not bestowed upon him some great gifts The Ambassadour told him that his business there was to obtain a free trade for his Nation the English and that being granted him he had reward enough The Prince replyed that this could not be denyed us we coming so far to trade there with him and the Prince further asked him how long he had been there the Ambassadour told him about two years the Prince replyed again that it was a very great shame for the successor of Tamberlane who had such infinite Rules to suffer a man of his quality to come so far unto him and to live so long about him and not to give him some Royall gift and he further added that for himself he was a Prisoner and therefore could do him no good but he would pray for him and so he departed For that Prince he was a Gentleman of a very lovely presence and fine carriage so exceedingly beloved of the common people that as Sâ—â—tonius writes of Titus he was Amor Deliciae c. the very love and delight of them Aged then about thirty and five years He was a man who contented himself with one wife which with all love and care accompanied him in all his streights and therefore he would never take any wife but her self though the liberty of his Religion did admit of Plurality It was generally beleeved to be the intent of his Father for he would often presage so to make this Prince his first-born his successor though for the present out of some jealousie his being so much beloved of the people he denyed his liberty His Fathers love brings upon him the extream hatred of his Brother Caroom the Mogals third Son who then lived in very great Pomp and splendor at that Court ayming at that Empire to which end he put many jealousies into his Fathers head now grown in years concerning his Brother Coobsurroo and that his Father might live more secure and out of all present fear of him if he so pleased upon which insinuations partly by force as I observed before and partly by intreaty of friends about the King he was by the King put into the Cruel hand of his Brother Caroom who told his Father that he would have both his eyes upon him and further so provide that he should never have cause to fear him any more and he was as good as his word for presently after he had gotten possession of him thoâ—gh his Father had given him as great a charge as possibly he could to use him well and to keep him honourably and by no means to hurt him which was all promised by Caroome to be faithfully observed he caused his second Brother Sultan Parveen to be poysoned and not long after that strangled that most gallant Prince his eldest Brother which did so trouble his Father that the grief thereof as it was strongly beleeved shortned his days who not long after this much against his mind made room for that murderer to succeed him in that Empire who layd the foundation of his high advancement in the blood of his Brothers and rather than he would have missed it would certainly made a way through the blood of his Father likewise All Laws of honesty of Nature by him thrown down trampled under foot forgotten and made void to compass and gain his most unjust ends as if he resolved to practise that language which Polynices out of the height of Ambition spake in the Tragedy Pro Regnovelim Patriam Penates Conjugem flammis dare Imperia Precio quolibet constant bene Sen. Trag. Fire on my Gods Wise Country for a Crown An Empire can the dearest price weigh down But whatsoever he might think I am sure that the holy Scriptures are stored with examples that have fallen heavy upon usurpers and resisters of lawfull Authority as upon Corah and his Confederates swallowed up quick into the Earth Upon Zimri burnt in his Palace which he had but immediatly before usurped Upon Absolon hangd by his hairy Scalp As Achitophel in an halter Certainly they who ever they be that come to rule upon hard and unjust tearms shall first or last live to rue and to repent their bargain as Ahab did in another case after he had kild and taken possession And as the Emperours of this large spreading and far extended Monarchy have been
commands or not to do it at their perill But secondly if in our whole course we manifest Zeal for God Zeal joyned with knowledge and carried on with discretion If we propose the honour of God as our principal aim and end and make Love Charity Long-suffering Gentlenesse Goodnesse meeknesse modesty temperance to shine in our lives that it may be said of us in Particular non tantum praedicat sed vivit that we live as well as preach for then do we preach the truths of God as we should when we endeavour to live up unto those duties our selves which in our exhortations we commend to others Briefly if we live though not without failings yet without scandal in not giving any just cause of offence unto others whatsoever they may say or think of us and thus we must labour to live we deserve to suffer without pitty if we do not so that we may be inculpabiles though not inculpati not meriting the least blame though we must look to be blamed by some who will not passe a right judgment of us how good soever our deservings are the way to heaven being as well through evil as good report and hence it comes to pass that many times while we are most faithful we are most foully used by scornes and contumelies put upon us which we must gather up and keep together as so many jewels hereafter to adorn our Crowns In the mean time be very well content to be the drunkards songs rather then their Companions To suffer any wrongs from others rather then do the least unto any To carry chearfully the reproaches of wicked men to heaven rather then their applauses to hell In a word if we be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blamolesse though not sinlesse for so we cannot be while our bodies are cloathed with flesh but if we walk by rule evenly carefully Circumspectly we are most injuriously dealt withal if we be denyed any of those respects and encouragements which are due unto us And further if there be no way to attain Salvation but only in and through the merits of Jesus Christ all those who presume to name the Name of the Lord Jesus should behold much beauty in the face of them which proclame these glad tydings especially if they consider what fair Characters are put upon them by Almighty God both in the old and new Testament In the Old Testament called the strength of a Kingdom and the excellency of their strength The Chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof 2 King 13. 14. see Ezek. 24. 21. so it is said of the godly Levites the Ministers of that time that they strengthned the Kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam strong 2 Chron. 11. 17. and so they do all places besides wheresoever they are In the new Testament they are called Ministers of Christ and stewards of the Mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4. 1. Ambassadors for Christ 2 Cor. 5. 20. c. and God hath promised to be with his faithful Ministers and Messengers alway unto the end of the world Mat. 28. 20 to be with them in respect of themselvs by his presence and assistance and to be with them either in mercy or judgement in respect of others which do or do not entertain their Messages and he that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ Luk. 10. 16. All which promises well considered and duly regarded might remove far from us many causes of just complaining which now we have and may make us take up the complaints of one of the Ancients and say ad quae tempora reservati sumus and to repeat it over and over again Oh to what times are we reserved In what daies do we live For that people in East India two principal causes of their more accurat walking compared with others may be these First because they keep close unto those principles most of them founded in the book of Nature which are given them in charge to walk by And secondly because the currant of justice run very quick in these parts as I have observed before But for us of this Nation I need not enquire into the causes and reasons of the most fearful miscarriages and of the many many evils committed amongst us they lye so open unto every knowing and observing mans understanding and therefore they want no great discovery Only I shall take liberty to repeat some of them which are first more general and then those which are more special and particular And first the general and Principal cause of all the evil in this and consequently of every nation under heaven hath its Original from that masse of Corruption that poysoned fountain which hath infected the whole world or from that leaven which hath sowred the whole lumps of mankind Ne mali fiant times Nascuntur Every one is born bad as well as becomes soâ— Sin sticking more close to mans nature then his skin doth to his flesh And that Original guilt like a fretting leprosie hath eaten into the manners of all corrupting the whole man in all the parts of his body and in all the faculties of his Soul The Persons of our first Parents defiled their Nature But ever since the Nature of every one defiles his person Whence the hearts of all are evil from their youth estranged from the womb and go astray assoon as they are born Now secondly for those causes which are more special and particular of the increase and groweth of wickednesse in this Nation they proceed much from the want of restraint upon people who are so naturally apt to wander out of the way that dare take any unfit and unlawful liberty they please to take An eye and a sword make a fit embleme to expresse Magistracy an eye to observe and watch and a sword to chastise some and to support and defend others But when this eye is dim or sleepy then justice must needs faintly draw her breath When Canker and râ—st growes upon the sword of Authority for want of use and thence cries out against him who should otherwaies manage it for bearing the sword in vain as Canker and rust doth from the covetous mans silver and Gold Ia. 5. 3. and is a witnesse against him it is a principal cause why the qualities and dispositions of so many people amongst us who cannot go without a Reine are so invaded and vitiated nay quite overthrown It is a good and a true saying Qui non vetat peccare cum possit jubet those which are in Power contract the guilt of all those sins upon themselves which they might restrain in others but do not The great sin of Eli otherwise a good man for which he paid dear because when his sens made themselves vile he restrained them not 1 Sam. 3. 13. All which the poor indulgent Father there saith unto his lâ—wde sons was why do ye such things for I hear of your evil doings by all the people nay my sons
who have been wise and faithfull in this their great trust and have done the utmost of their endeavours to do much good thereby although they have not gained a fair Seal to their Ministry by converting many souls to God they shall be sure of a full discharge who have been thus faithfull whatsoever their success hath been that when their careless and unprofiting hearers that he bound over unto the judgement seat of Christ with this sad testimony against them Noluerunt incantari this or that people would not be admonished they shall receive a Quietus est from that great and high Tribunal which shall speak thus well done good and faithfull servant A second great cause of the many growing evils amongst us proceeds very much from the great neglect and remisness of Masters or Governours of Families who do not take care as they might as they ought to keep in order those under their roofs and to nurture them up in the fear of the Lord. For examples herein have much power in them to sway either to good or evill And the greater the example is the greater hope if it be good but if evill the greater danger for greatness hath ever a train to follow it either in good or evill Abraham and Joshua and David were great examples of good herein as he that turns to their stories may clearly see But on the other side Jeroboam is seldom mentioned in the writers of Israel but he draws a tayl after him like a Blazing Star Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who did not onely sin himself but made Israel to sin 1 K. 14. 16. by whose high precedency but evil example he did exceeding much mischief so defiling his Throne that if ye look forward upon all the Kings of Israel his successors you shall not find amongst them all one good man Omnes ad unum from Jeroboam the first to Hoshea the last King of Israel they were all nought Now they who were so bad in the Government of a Kingdom without doubt could not be good in the well ordering of a family And hence let all know that as they may do much good and consequently reap much comfort in the true managing of their families so on the contrary they shall be sure one day to suffer and that heavily for the disorder of them when they shall be called to a strict account not onely for their own sins but sor the sins of others under their charge who by their precedency and example they have drawn into or else by their connivency suffered in wickedness A third and that shall be last cause I will name of so much increase of wickedness in this Nation and because it is so destructive and mischievous I shall speak more largely to it is the great carelesness of Parents in their not looking to their Children in their first institution and breeding for without all doubt the very sad miscarriages of all sorts of Children of higher and meaner extraction or descent proceed very much from their first ordering when many Parents quite undoe their Children stulto improbo amore by reason of their foolish indulgence the great sin of Eli before spoken of who brought up his Sons to bring down his house who for giving them their way too much was said to honour his Sons more than God So David after him was observed over much to indulge his Son Absolon when he was young and to requite him for this ill breeding Absolon lives heavily to vex his Father Davia when his Father was old The Children of many Parents especially of great ones bred when they are young at home or abroad are very often left too much unto their own will to learn or else to do almost what themselves please when getting few or no grounds of learning in their youth or non-age suddainly after many of them travell and then wanting for the most part good guides for their youth they being abroad first see nought and then be nought and after all this without speciall mercy they dye nought I do not deny but that there may be very many good experiences gaind by travell but very few do in respect of those which do not improve that advantage whence it often comes to pass when a great number of these come to write themselves men being unable to read Books for want of those principles of learning they might have gotten and unwilling to settle themselves in other good imployments whereby they might be enabled to give a fair account of their precious time they often learn to drink and swear and rant and game and Court Women to speak it in the modestest sense or to spoyl good Clothes they resolving to enjoy the pleasures that are present as if they had been born to no other end but to sit down and to eat and drink and to rise up to play Hence with â—hose mad youngsters mentioned in the book of Wisdom they say one to another Come let us enjoy the good things that are present let us fill our selves with costly wine and let not the flowr of the spring pass by us let us Crown our selves with rose buds before they be withered let none of us go without his part of vâ—lâ—ptuousness let us leave tokens of our joyfulness or jollity in every place for this is our portion and our lot is this leading such lives as the very Heathens do abhor For they will deny themselves nothing that may please their sensuall appetites not wine in bowls nor forbidden flesh nor any thing beside while they feed without â—ear and drink without measure and swear without feeling and live without God dauncing a round about the mouth of Hell into which they fall and perish everlastingly before they are aware not considering how others have sped which have so done before them As Adâ—niahs feast ended in horror So Belshazzars Banquet concluded with a Cup of wrath So the Philistines mirth in their unavoydable ruin And thus the peaceable days of the wicked are described who spend their lives in pleasure and suddainly they are in Hell all their whole mirth put together being but as the merry madness of one hour for they must assure themselves that when their meal is ended a great and heavy reckoning will follow Of all the Ages of men there is no time of life whereon we may ground more hope and more fear than in Child-hood and youth And therefore those Parents who would have comfort in their Children must look very carefully to their first seasoning For as it was the Policy of the King of Babylon Dan. 1. 4. to have the Children of the Jews and not the old men to be taught the language of the Chaldeans so it is the subtilty of the Divell to have Children while they are very young traynd up in strange language and to have them corrupted with evill habits which may make them like a vessell that hath ill liquor put into it at the first tast of their