not said that a Bishop must be such a one as hath been the husband of one wife in time past but he useth the present time both in Timothy and Titus The High Priest himself under the Law might have a wife after his first wife if she was dead if he married a maid which was a figure of Christs Spouse the Church which was to be presented holy and as a chaste Virgin to Christ By the same reason that they may drive Ministers from their wives they may also deprive them of all use of wine and they may deprive Ministers of all use of meat and command them to fast always that they may be fit to pray always as well as alway to abstain from their wives We never read that the Levites that taught in the Synagogues into the place of which our Churches succeed were barred from the company of their wives And consider it may be as necessary to marry the second time as the first and sometime and in some cases perhaps more necessary says Dr. Hamond The wife may dye presently after Marriage and without Children and the second Marriage in that case tending as much to the ends of Matrimony Comfort of life Propagation remedy of Lust as the former can be supposed to do it would then be strange to debar a Bishop or Presbyter in such a condition Chrysostome and Theodoret with divers others plainly and clearly teach this place to be understood as we do that a Bishop should not have two wives at once Erasmus upon the place disliked the then practice of the Church of Rome in forbidding Marriage to Bishops and Priests Admittitur saith he incestus admittitur homicida admittitur pirata admittitur Sodomita sacrilegus parricida denique quis non solus digamus excluditur ab hoc honore qui solus nihil admisit And further considering the times and the ill consequence of the single life amongst their Clergy and Monks he inclines to think they had better much to allow Matrimony to these persons Nunc caelibes habet Mundus quamplurimos castos perpaucos Grotius saith I confess that amongst all Nations second Marriages were less honoured and amongst some these were restrained by punishments And that Tertullian is fierce against second Marriages condemning them as unlawful and interprets this of the Apostle against a Bishops being twice married Notwithstanding which Authorities let the Scripture and right Reason be heard and what hath been premised on this Argument considered and you will have good ground and cause not to call good evil I meann not to condem second Marriages whether in Lay-men or Clergy And if a Bishop may without sin marry a second wife after he has buried his former surely then he may lawfully marry at first If he cannot contain let him marry he sinneth not only let him marry in the Lord an honest grave sober person that may adorn and not blemish his holy Function The Romanists say there are three special Crowns reserved in Heaven one for Martyrs a second for Virgins and a third for Doctors The Virgins overcome the flesh the Martyrs overcome the World and the Doctors overcome the Devil They have no such Crown for married persons but although they have none for them God hath laid up for them a Crown of Righteousness even the like Crown of Righteousness for every one that loves the appearing of Christ the Judge of quick and dead as that Virgin Apostle as most say the Doctor of the Gentiles and eminent Martyr St. Paul 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Virginity saith one is not a Virtue in it self and no more acceptable to God than Marriage is and this he proves Because all Virtues by Repentance may be restored But Virginity cannot be restored and therefore it is not a Virtue Again Because all Virtues in time and place are commanded But Virginity is left free and only Paul gives his advice to it 1 Cor. 7. therefore it is not a Virtue The same Author saith That Virginity is not good in it self but good for another end when a man having the gift of Continency lives a single life that he may be more fit or free to serve God The Papists glossing on the Parable of the Sower say That Virginity bringeth forth an hundred-fold Widowhood seventy fold and Marriage but thirty-fold Great is the difference 'twixt the Ancient Church of God amongst the Jews and the present Church of Rome in this matter there in Psalm 78.63 The Virgins were not given in Marriage or were not praised so the Hebrew signifies But in this Church the Virgins which are not married are most praised Celibacy is made here a state of Perfection or Supererogation and Meritorious but if but one half be true which we find in our Chronicles it had been happy for our Votaries very many of them at least that they had never known their Cells and Cloysters they might have gone as near a way to Heaven out of the World as out of their Monasteries Bale in his Book of the Acts of the Roman Bishops saith That when the Kings Visitors in England in the year 1538. visited the Abbies they found in some of their Styes rather than Religious Houses five in some ten in some twenty Sodomites and Adulterers of which some kept five some seven some twenty Harlots And a later Historian tells us That Barkley Nuns were all with child at once and how Sir Henry Colt caused a Buckstal to be set in the narrowest place of the Marsh from Cheshnut Nunnery to Waltham Abby and therein took the Monks of Waltham as they passed homewards in the night and the next morning he brought and presented them to the King namely to King Hen. 8. who had often seen sweeter but never fatter Venison D.F.H. 6 b. p. 317. And 't is reported that Dr. Smith who disputed at Oxford against Peter Martyr and who had written a Book for the Celibacy of Priests was taken himself at Oxford in the manner or in the very act This is enough to prove That 't is much easier to make an Eloquent Speech or write a Learned Book in Commendation of Single-life and of Chastity in that condition than to live so If you Object the practice and praise of the Monks of Antient times I answer That the Monks of old times and our present Votaries of the Church of Rome are very different 1. They lived single without any Vow of Continency these are Votaries 2. They had Callings and got their bread in the sweat of their brows these live idle most of them and like Drones consume the honey which others have gathered 3. They did not look upon that condition as a state of greater perfection and in it self Meritorious these do 4. Some of them as I take it had wives and these not but esteem it more lawful to have a Concubine than a Wife Those Monks were none of the Popes licensing or founding these are We read of 12000 Monks of Bangor that were destroyed by
to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children And therefore because the Patriarchs and Saints of the Lord were thus perswaded they made their humble addresses and petitions at the Throne of Grace for children The Jews tell us that Abraham and Sarah put up their joynt prayers to God for a Son so did Hannab the Mother of Samuel and we may probably guess Zachary the Father of John the Baptist whilst he ministred in the Temple and prayed for we read Luke 1.18 the Angel Gabriel said to him Fear not Zacharias for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John And truly if God give a child in answer to prayers 't is to be hoped that such child will answer the Parents prayers and prove a blessing and so did Isaac Samuel and John the Baptist I confess that sometimes wicked men who are described to be such as call not upon God have their fill of children Psal 17.14 and again that they send forth their children like a flock yea and their children dance Job 21.11 But yet I say that children that are the fruit of prayers are usually a double blessing when as children bestowed on wicked Parents who pray not for them oft-times prove a dismal curse to them In the one sort God as it were lights in his servants Families a Candle that their names be not put out in obscurity In the other he permits a fire to be kindled and that to a kind of wild-fire which soon consumes the whole house with the timber thereof and the stones thereof 'T is a blessing to be fruitful and to have our name continued on the contrary 't is a curse to be barren and to have our names blotted out and therefore God provided that if the elder Brother dyed childless the next Brother was to raise up seed unto his Brother and that was to be called after his Brothers name The causes of Barrenness are oft-times 1. Disobedience to Parents 'T is just and equal that they should dye childless that do not honour their Parents by whom under God they had their own Beings Births and Lives 2. Adultery and Vncleanness Those who lie with other mens wives are punished with Barrenness in their own wives 3. Notorious Wickedness and obstinate Rebellion against God When a man is wicked overmuch well may God in wrath say Write this man Childless or there shall no more of this mans seed be sown and Job 18.19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people not any remaining in his dwelling 4. An inordinate desire of great things in this world and of the continuance of our Name and Family Psal 49. 5. Persecuting of Gods Saints and Servants or afflicting the poor and needy Psal 109.13 Let his posterity be cut off let his name be wiped out Certainly on the other side Fruitfulness is a blessing and as a good Wife is the best Earthly blessing without us so are Children a special gift of God See Psal 113.9 Psal 127.3 4. Children are an heritage of Jehovah the fruit of the womb his reward or wages Hebr. As Barrenness is threatned and inflicted sometimes as a curse so is Fruitfulness promised and bestowed as a blessing and yet God will be sought unto for this blessing So did Abraham seek God for a Son and obtained him After Isaac had lived with his wife twenty years childless they both say the Jews went to the Mount Moriah and prayed there for a child and God heard them I should not advise Polygamy as a means to be fruitful and to multiply our Progeny One wife seems enough and often too much for one man to govern and 't is observed that some who have allowed or indulged themselves the liberty or licence of many Wives have had the fewest Children Solomon's Wives and Concubines made up a thousand and yet we read but of three Children he had by them all 2. Next to Prayer for Children let me advise a serious resolution to bring up your Children which God shall bestow on you in the nurture and admonition of the Lord resolve you and your Children will serve the Lord. Endeavour to be able to say to God at last when you come to give account of these Talents Of all thou hast given me have I lost none There is never a son or daughter of perdition amongst them not a profane Esau or a cursed Cham nor a scoffing Ishmael never a wandering Dinah nor a mocking Michal Lo here am I and the Children thou hast given me 3. Love God's Worship the place of his Worship and those that minister about holy things It was to Hannah praying at Shiloh to Zachary ministring in the Temple and to the Shunamitish woman that so courteously entertained the Prophet Elijah and to the Mariner and his Wife that in Q Maries Reign hid that eminent Doctor and Confessor Dr. Sands after Archbishop of York to whom God gave Sons after they had been childless a long time 4. Be you your selves God's Children his Sons and his Daughters and he will give you Children Sons and Daughters or at least a name better then of Sons and Daughters Isa 58. Psal 128. Blessed are all they that fear God and walk in his way Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine upon the walls of thine house Thy children like Olive plants round about thy table Yea thou shalt see thy childrens children and peace upon Israel And this last Clause brings to mind that saying of our Saviour Luke 21.23 Wo unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days If you ask why it follows For there shall be great distress in the land namely of Israel and wrath upon this people Else save in case of war and desolation or in case of trouble and persecution as the times were like to be when St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians 1 Cor. c. 7. Else I say Blessed are those wombs that bear and the paps that give suck the blessings of the breasts and of the womb are the language of the Holy Tongue And though in troublous times it is not good i.e. expedient to touch a woman yet in Serene times and of Adam in Innocency God said it is not good for the man to be alone And as we have a wo in Luke to those that are with child so have we a Ve soli a wo to him that is alone in Ecclesiastes distingue tempora salves difficultatem distinguish the times when or of which these things were spoken and you will easily reconcile our Saviour's words and his Apostles with those of Solomon's The Hebrew word Ben which signifies a Son comes from Banah to build and those Mothers who bring forth children are said in Scripture to build up the house So 〈…〉 prayed for Boaz his wife Ruth in this manner The Lord make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like
Leah which two did build up the house of Israel and I may say also Which two did build up the Church of God And if they built up God's Church on Earth they made ready a people prepared for the Lord in Heaven And as Jerusalem which is above is said to be the Mother of us all so in another respect Jerusalem that is below I mean the Church on Earth doth bring forth Sons and Daughters to God and is the Mother of all the Children of men that are indeed also the Children of God and Members of the new Jerusalem in Heaven or above CHAP. V. Of the Education of Children CHildren of themselves a blessing prove a cross and a curse too unto their Parents if not cultivated or well managed by a good Education Teach a Child the way he should go and he 'll not forsake it when he is old Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit â—dorem Testa diu Although ragged Colts prove often good horses yet let the horses run till they are six or seven years old wild and unbroken it will be a hard matter to tame and manage them 'T is good that a man bear the yoke in his youth Blaspheme not saying A young Saint will prove an old Devil rather a young Devil is like to prove an old Beelzebub You may bend the Oak as well as the Osier whilst it is young and tender Now now is the time the season the very nick article and joynt of time when you may turn your Children which way you please Oh then now teach them mind them to remember their Creator in the days of their youth bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Let God have the first-fruits of their time the flower of their age dedicate them to God betimes by engaging them to him and his service in the first place God would have Children presented to him in the Temple at forty days old our Saviour saith Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God And our Lord was pleased with the Childrens Hosanna's as he rode in Triumph to Jerusalem Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained or perfected praise saith the Psalmist Psal 8. God of old call'd to young Samuel again and again whilst he was a Child rather than to old Eli. We keep a day to Commemorate the young Infants of about two years old that were murthered for the cause of Christ as well as of St. Stephen the Protomartyr and of St. Paul the aged that were put to death for the name of the Lord Jesus God of old seal'd the males amongst the Israelites at eight days old for his own his peculiar Treasure And if God will own your Children why do not ye Parents present them to him Children within the pale of the Church God looks on as his Children And if ye take his Children your Sons and Daughters which you brought unto him and offer them to Molock to Baal to Idols or bring them forth and up to the Murtherer or the Abaddon the Destroyer of souls by evil or careless Education a thousand times better had it been they had never been born How will Children in Hell curse their Parents that by their evil counsel or evil example or want of good Precepts and good Paterns brought them to the place of torment Oh therefore teach them by instilling good Principles into them betimes and guide them by your good example always be able to say to them Be ye followers of us as we are of Christ or Walk so as ye have us for an example drop good and precious instructions daily into these narrow mouth'd Vessels and when they are old they will retain the good infused into them in their young days Chasten them if they offend if you love them but in measure that it may appear you love them Correct them but not in anger lest they be discouraged lest you provoke them to wrath also lest your bitterness to them imbitter their spirits towards you Teach them Affability Courtesie Gentleness Humility that as you love them so may every body else that so they may pass their time in peace and quietness both at home in their own bosoms and abroad in the world Next after they are fitted by a competency of Learning for some honest and suitable Calling be sure you dispose of them accordingly considering what Bishop Sanderson hath left on Record in one of his Sermons that Idle Gentlemen and idle Beggars are the pests of the Commonwealth Let yours therefore be careful to maintain some honest Trades or Callings that they be not unfruitful These things are good and profitable unto men Whereas the Grecians would have all Children to be bound to keep their Parents when old the Athenians put in this Exception Vnless their Parents had taught them no Trade whereby to get their living Every man saith Mr. Perkins besides his general Calling as a Christian must have some personal particular Calling to walk in either publick or private either in the Church or Commonwealth or Family Adam his personal Calling assigned him by God was to dress and keep the Garden and Christ the second Adam lived with Joseph saith Mr. Perkins in the calling of a Carpenter And hereupon it was that the Jews said Is not this the Carpenter the son of Mary Mark 6.3 Nor is it a calling to devote your Sons and Daughters to be Monks and Nuns in the Monasteries beyond Seas The ancient Church saith the same Author condemned all Monks for Thieves and Robbers that besides the general duties of Prayer and Fasting did not withal employ themselves in some other Calling for their better maintenance Give your Children then Callings If you ask what Callings I answer 1. according to their Natural inclinations And secondly according to their Natural parts and gifts Those Children which excel in the gifts of the body bring them up to Mechanical Arts those Children which excel in gifts of the mind bring them up to the Liberal Sciences to Academical Learning that they may be serviceable thereby in Church or Commonwealth Athanasius that famous Bishop was first put to Learning because he was found by the Sea side doing the part of a Minister amongst a company of little Children like himself examining and baptizing them according to the solemn Order used in the Congregation The Athenians before they placed their Children in any Calling did first bring them into a Publick Place where Instruments of all sorts were laid and they observ'd with what kind of Instrument they took delight to the like Art after did they apply them with good success Christians may do well to follow the example of the Heathens in this so rational a practice Choose Callings for your Children for which they are fitted and to which they are inclined they then will delight in ther Employment and their lives will be comfortable to them their very