by many and the reason is because they do and will contradict it we have cause therefore to bless God for good Laws to direct and lead some as to constrain and bind others for there is no hope in this case to work Convictions upon many such as the Psalmist calls the beasts of the people who would defraud us if they could of all our just rights For doubtless if we were left wholy to their curtesie we might expect no more probably not so much from them as Micha gave his Levite Judg. 17. 10. ten Shekels of Slver by the year and a little clothing and victuals Now those Shekels were rated diversly some at fifteen pence others at twenty pence and the highest rate of them was two shillings and six pence the Shekel but which of these Micha gave his Chaplen I cannot tell neither can I say what our people in this Nation left to themselves would generally give their Minister by a voluntary gift But doubtless it would go very hard with many with most who if they were left altogether unto their peoples feeding would speed little better than a yong Welsh-man of the university of Oxford somtimes did and I am very certain that the relation is true who after he had gotten a lambe-skin upon his Shoulders being Bacheler of Arts presently went into the Countrey for preferments as he said and what he found was but four Pounds a year as he told me for reading prayers in a Church with liberty in the Belfary to teach a few Children out of which he was to provide himself of food and cloathing and all other necessaries I meeting him some half year after he told me how he sped and that it was but small but small I asked the poor man further how he did make a shift to live he told me that he had been sick of an Ague the greatest part of that time could take but little food and if it had not been so with him his preferment would have starved him And thus certainly would it be with many others if they were left for their livelihood meerly to mens curtesies Who think the bread of the Church sweet and therefore would eat it up all from us and leave us with their good will no part thereof and happily they may find or imagine it sweet in their mouths but in their stomacks it will proove hard of digestion Honey in the one Gravel in the other we leave these to God the righteous judge who complaines that he is rob'd and wrong'd in the injury done to us Mat. 3. 8. And will find a time to reckon with men for all these arrerages and therefore if repentance and restitution in this case when wrong hath been done and after-reformation prevent it not they will one day find enough mould in the grave and enough fire in Hell The Athenians as Valerius reports though they were Heathens yet when Phydias was to make for them the jmage of Minerva which Goddesse as they call'd her was in very high esteem amongst them and when that work-man told them that he would make it for them either in Marble or Ivory they heard him thus far but when he further advised them to have it made in Marble because that would be cheapest they presently commanded him silence and put him out of doores And if Heathens could not endure to entertain the thoughts of cheapness though but in the making of an Idoll let them of this Nation blush and have their faces covered with shame whosoever they be that love to serve God as they call it but to be at as little cost in that service as possibly they can as if they studied Jeroboams Politicks whose Policie eat up his Religion who after he had usurped his Kingdom did invent this taking snare to fasten the people unto him in giving them some seeming immunity in the profession of Religion telling them that it was too much for them to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice 1 King 12. 28. though they were commanded so to do by Almighty God and therefore he set up Calves one in Dan and the other in Bethel that they might stay at home and serve God better cheap with more ease and doubtlesse as they were perswaded with no less safety Again further for that people they do so highly prize those books in which their lawes are written that they know not how sufficiently to esteem and value them and therefore will not presume to touch them without much reverence What shall I say as to this unto very-very many of this Nation and such as have long lived under the Ministry of the word but having profited nothing by it know not how to put any valuation on it and therefore esteem it a trouble a burden rather then a blessing or benefit and consequently would be very well content so they might be freed from all charge to the publishers thereof if the whole book of God were served as that roll was written by Baruch from the mouth of Jeremiah the Prophet Jer. 36. Cut all in peaces and burnt in the fire Such as these will never be perswaded to follow that most excellent counsel which Solomon gives Prov. 23. 23. Buy the truth but sell it not Buy it of God by Prayer buy it of Books by reading buy it of Orthodox men by hearing buy it of other good Christians by conferring buy it over and over again you cannot over buy it Non Priamus tanti There is nothing in the world to be weighed against it to be compared with it But sell it not for a world Yet there are a great many dunghil men of the earth who with Aesops cock prefer a Barly Corne before the Pearle and therefore are most unwilling to part with a Penny for that most rich commodity It is strange further to consider as I observed before and is very true that Mahometans should never see their Alcoran though but a fardle of falshoods and fooleries or hear any part of it read without a shew of great attention affection and reverence and Heathens do so likewise at the hearing of their precepts and all of them give honour and maintenance which is comfortable and without grudging unto those that be their Teachers though they lead them quite out of the way and men dare to usurp the names of Christians and yet would be content I would not be uncharitable in this sad assertion would be content I say so they might be at no charge for hearing the truths of God If there were no book of God at all extant no Gospel no Minister to declare and publish it But the time will one day come when people if ever they return to a right knowledge of themselves who have manifested so much thrift in the profession of Religion shal rue and repent the time that ever they did so When they may desire to see one day more of the Son of man one day more of the Gospels which they so slighted
following discourse Mala mens malus animus an evil minde in it self is an evil minde to all others 'T was said of Diogenes that he was tuba convitiorum the Trumpet of reproaches and that when he accused Plato of pride he beat it down with greater pride The Gramarians were laughed at for taking so much pains to find out the faults of Ulysses and would not take notice of any of their own They are the worst of the Creatures that breed in and delight to be ever stirring up and down in corruption But I would have all who have an eye standing too far out of their heads and are therefore apt to see more in others than themselves and consequently may observe more than is meant from some passages of this book to bound all their conceivings aâ— to what they may finde here within the compasse of it by that rule which holds good in charity and law and is true in Divinity likewise in dubiis benigniora that when any thing delivered may bear two interpretations to take the fairest And now that this following relation may not appear to be a losse either of time or paper he that shall please to read it in our passage to East-India may observe very large foot-steps of the Almighty in his works of Creation Providence And when I have brought him thither on shore he may finde that there is not one question as before of any consequence concerning those parts I have undertaken to write of but it findes satisfaction in one part or other of this discourse For the Court there there is so much riches and splendour sometimes to be seen in it that it may draw up the meditations of those which behold it as the thoughts of Fulgentius sometimes were when he beheld the glorie of the Court of Rome raised up seriously to consider of the glorie of Heaven And for the soil it is exceeding pleasant rich and good as in some other parts of the world where the inhabitants are meer strangers to God and if Almighty God hath given such sweet places of abode here on the earth to very many whom he owns not how transcendently glorious is that place which he hath prepared for them that love him Yet for the Inhabitants there a man may clearly see the law of Nature to be so ingraved upon the hearts of very many both Pagans and Mahometans as that it may make multitudes who professe themselves Christians if they would but turn their eyes inward extreamly to wonder how it comes to be so much wor 〈…〉 out of theirs And then he may further behold such Temperance Justice unwearied devotion but in a wrong way with many other excellent Moralitics so to shine its them that by this very light he may see thousands of those whom before I nam'd that have means to know and therefore should do better in many things to come exceeding short of them who themselves are ready to conclude come short of Heaven But I shall not further anticipate my discourse in being like a vain-glorious entertainer who fills the ears of his guests with his dishes before they see or taste them Which if thou shall please to do read on and thou art very welcome however Farewell Edward Terry To his worthy friend Mr. Edward Terry on his Voyage to East-India I. WOrth will break prison though detain'd awhile To try its truth yet lends the World a smile At last the glorious all ey'd Sun though late Defies its cloud asserts its Native state And in a Sovereign Grandeur doth arise To scorn those mists that aim'd it to disguise So doth thine Indian Voyage after years In silence buried please our eyes and ears Not with Vtepian tancies nor with vain Delusions brought unto us from the main Invention backt with boldnesse so set out As if we must believe not dare to doubt No thou to those appeal'st whose knowledge can Upbray'd thee if thou over-act the man Thou seem'st to be thou by his light hast gone Who knows exactly what is wrote or done II. The World 's a Theatre in which each wight His part doth act The body to the Sprite But shadow Faces differ nothing more Than do the Souls which flesh hath cover'd ore On wedg'd is to the gain of homestayes when Another counts his home a Lazers Denn A third man proves so active that he knows No bounds but his vast phaâ—fie overflows With Alexander he to India flies Not it to Conquer but to please his eyes No Sea no danger no amazing foe Gives his brave Emulation overthrow Leviathan's a gudgeon he can vye With Behemoth no monster makes him fly Hurri'd he is from East to West and thence North South to compasse earths circumference Here picks he up a rarity anon Posts to some new discovered Horizon III. Yet fond they are who mak 't their greatest aim To rifle earth onely to purchase fame But you through hazards Torrid Zones arrive To bring some Honey to your Countreys hive No Spices Orient Peals no Tysseus are Thy traffick these with thee accounted ware For pedling dolts thy venture no return Admits but what enrich the mental Urne And makes thy Readers at thy pains appear Acquainted with that South-East Hemisphear Wherein rare secrets of Dame Nature lye Couch'd but discovered knowledge multiply Welfare thy Noble minde which gives us cause To view in it the force of Natures Laws Read in those Indians Proceed and let us know What other fruits within thâ—ne India grow And tell us what thou know'st A man 's not born To see and to observe For 's self alone But to succession we grow still in debt Worth lives when dead day lasts though sun be set Edward Waterhouse Esq To my ancient friend Mr. Edward Terry On his Indian Voyage GEographers present before mens eyes How every Land seated and bounded lies But the Historian and wise Traveller Desery what mindes and manners so journ there The common Merchant brings thee home such waâ—â— As makes thy Garment wanton or thy fare But this hath Traffick in a â—eâ—ter kinde To please and profit both thy virtuous minde He shews what reason finds in her dim night By groping after God with natures light Into what uncouth paths those Nations stray Whom God permits to walk in their own way And how the Sun a Lamp to seek God by Dazles some eyes into idolatry Read it and thou wâ—lt make this gain at least To love thy one true God and Countrey best Henry Ashwood To my ingenious friend and dear Kinsman the Author of these Relations THough most Geographers have the good hap To travel in a safe expencelesse Map And while the world to us they represent No further yet then Pilgrim Purchas went Past Dovers dreadfull cliffe afraid to go And took the Lands end for the worlds end too Spand Countreys at the fingers ends at case Crack'd with their nail all France turn'd blots to Seas Of whom this strong line we may ridling say They
a Roopee in our money two shillings and nine pence he thanked me for it and would have taken it with his right but I desired him to take it with his maym'd hand and so he did and could clinch it very well which I was glad of Then we did shew as we had cause all the dislike we could against that desperat act of him from whom he received his hurt telling him that we were all strangers and for our parts had done him no wrong at all and therefore hoped that we should not be made any way to suffer for the faults of another and we further told him that if he would be quiet till we came up to the Conâ—t he should have all the satisfaction he could desire He told us that we were good men and had done him no wrong and that he would til then rest contented but he did not so for about two houres after we met with a great man of that Countrey having a mighty train with him as al the Grandees there have when they travel of whom more afterward He presently went towards him that to him he might make his complaint and so did telling him that he was the Princes servant why he came to us and how he had been used by us shewing him his hand and his other breaches The great man replied that it was not well done of us but he had nothing to do with it and so departed on his way That night after we came to a strong large Town and placing our selves on the side of it he did what he could as we imagined to rayse up that people against us some of them comming about us to view us as we conceived but putting on the best confidence we could and standing then upon our guard and all of us watching that night but in a special manner by the good providence of God who kept us in all our journey we here felt none of that mischief we feared but early in the morning quietly departed without the least molestation After which with a little money and a great many good words we so quieted this man that we never after heard any more complaining from him So that as before I observed we were not at any time in any dangers of suffering by that people but some of our own Nation were the procuring causes of it For the people there they are generally very Civil and usually keep themselves so within the bounds of command received from their superiours over which they do not pass as that they are not apt to take fire and to throw off their voak that they might do mischief They happily considering that as in a natural so in a body Politick there must be hands and feet as well as head and shoulders all parts as well as any the defect of the least being so prejudicial to both those bodyes that they know not how to want it But for both when they are fitted with all their integral parts all members must do their several offices the foot not medling with the business of the Head further than to receive Commands from it And therefore that precept of the Apostle Ephes 6. 5. Servants be obedient unto them that are your Masters according to the flesh c. though they never learn'd it from S. Paul yet having found that lesson cleerly written even in the Law of Nature with all carefulness they remember and with all diligence they practise it as well knowing the absolute necessity of superiority and inferiority amongst men that some must give others must take command for were it not for those cords to lead some and to hamper and restrain others there were no living for men amongst men but one would destroy another as the Beasts of the field the Fowles of the Air and Fishes of the Sea do were it not for those ligaments and tyes the very sinewes and nerves of every Kingdom and Commonwealth would crack asunder and all would run into confusion I have often heard it observed of the Welsh that they are Optimi servi but Pessimi Domini ill Masters but good servants I shall not further enquire into the truth of that proverbial speech but for this people this I can affirm that they are excellent servants who are as much at the command of their Masters as the people of Israel after the death of Moses were unto Joshua Josh 1. 17. there telling him all that thou commandest us we will do or whithersoever thou sendest us we will goe Or as the Centurions servants in the Gospel were at the word of command to their Captain Matth. 8. 9. who if he bad them go they went if come they came if do this or that they did it So these if they be commanded to carry letters of a sudden many miles distant from one place to another they yield obedience in this as to all other the commands of their Masters without regret or dispute not objecting against but doing the wills of those that imploy them Before I observed that for the generality of this people they have very low and timorous spirits but there are some I named in my last Section who are stout daring men as the Baloches Patans and Rashbootes who as they have the honour above all the rest of the people in those large Provinces to be accounted valiant so as occasion is offered they will shew themselves so to be and therefore they are much hyred as Convoyes to secure mens Persons and goods from place to place For those Provinces they are not without Mountains of prey and Tabernacles of Robbers as David and Job speak where desperate men keep in some woods and deserts which are not far from great road-wayes most frequented used and there like the wild Arabs in Companies meet and spoyl and destroy poor passengers when they expect them not it being the cursed manner of those spoylers if they prevail against them whom they surprise to kill them before they rifle them and therefore the first thing heard from them is Mor mor mor that is Kill kill kill which they all speak out as loud as they can We were often told of them as we travelled sometimes in the night by reason of the extreme heat of the day after we had taken leave of the King and so wer jour journeying towards Surat that we should meet with those cruell villans but through Gods mercy we were never in danger of them but once and that was about midnight neer a large City called Brodera but we being a competent number of English men together about twenty and all of us resolved to fell our lives at as dear a rate as we could and having twice so many Indian servants with us which are very nimble with their Bows and Arrowes we with our Pistols and Carbines which we presently discharged amongst them and our Indians plying them with their arrowes made them suddenly to retreat we receiving little hurt from them but after this
and reade their language in written hand for as before they have no Printing Those Moolaas are more distinguished from the rest of the Mahometans by their Beards which they weare long then by any other of their habits Their calling gaines and gives them very much reverence and esteeme amongst the People as another sort of priests there have of an high order or ranke which live much retired but when they appeare openly are most highly reverenced they are called Seayds who derive themselves from Mahomet The Mahometans have faire Churches which as before are called Mosquits their Churches are built of Marble or Courser stone the broad side towards the West is made up close like a firme wall and so are both ends in which there are no lights the other broad side towards the East is erected upon Pillars where a man may take notice of excellent workemanship both in vaults and arches the spaces betwixt them pillars stand open Their Churches are built long and narrow standing North and South which way they lay up the bodies of their dead but none of them within their Churches At the four Corners of their Mosquits which stand in great Cityes or in other places much peopled theâ—e are high and round but small Turrets which are made open with lights every way wherein a man may be easily seene and heard their devout Moolaas five times every day ascend unto the tops of those high Turrets whence they proclaim as loudly as they can possibly speake their Prophet Mahomet thus in Arabian La alla illa alla Mahomet Resul-alla that is he re is no God but one God and Mahomet the messenger from God That voyce instead of Bells which they use not in their Churches puts the most devout in minde of the houres of their devotion those Priests being exceedingly zealous to promote the cause and to keep up the honour of their Mahomet as the men of Ephesus sometime were when they feared that the credit of their baggage Diana was like to be called into question they took up a Cry which continued for the space of two houres Crying out with one voyce greaet is Diana of the Ephesians Act. 19. 24. When a mans Religion is right he ought to be very zealous in the maintenance of it very fearefull of the hazard or loss thereof And therefore if these Mahometans or those men of Ephesus had had truth on their side they would both have deserved much commendation for what they did And so Micha too who thus complained when he had lost his jmages Judg. 18. 24. they have stol'n away my Gods and what have I more I confess that the loss of God is the greatest of all losses but those were proper Gods which Micha there bewayled that would be stol'n that could not save themselves who if the fire spare them rust or rottenness or time will consume them But those Mahometans though they doe not endure either Idoles or Images in their houses or Churches yet are they very forward to cry up their irreligion and to shew much zeale for it Zeale is derived from a word that signifies to burne it is a compound made up of many affections as of griefe joy love anger well tempered together and when it is so it hath its due commendation both of God and man and cursed is he that goes about to extinguish that holy fire that holy fire I say which hath light in it as well as Heat and heate as well as light The truth of Zeale may be further discovered of zeale that is good if we confider first the Roote from which it springs and that 's the knowledg and Love of God Secondly the Rule by which it is carryed on and acts and that 's the word and will of God and lastly the end it aymes at and intends and that 's the honour and glory of God and zeale thus ordered cannot be too violent but when for want of these it becomes irregular and shews it selfe over much in bad causes such as before were nam'd it is Cursus celerrimus sed praeter viam a swift violent motion but quite out of the way And if it be good to be zealous in a good cause then it is better to be zealous in the best and the best cause to shew zeale in is the cause of God Pro Aris Focis was the old good Proverb first to stand up for Gods rights and afterward for our owne and to believe that that vnum necessarium which our Saviour commends unto us Lu. 10 42. is that one thing principally and especially necessary though the Devill and our owne corruption will tell us if we will believe them that there is nothing more needless When Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and spake unto him about sacrificing unto the Lord their God Pharaoh replyes yee are idle yee are idle therefore yee say let us goe and sacrifice unto the Lord Ex. 5. 17. the same Devill that there spake in Pharaoh speaks in all ignorant and prophane people who call Religion idleness and hypocrisie a strict and even walking with God singularity or a doing more then God requires us to perform But however that is most true which was spoken by Philo judeus ubi de religione ibi quoque de vita agitur we must act for religion as we would strive for life Philosophy tels us that Tactus est fundamentum animae sensitivae that the very foundation of natural life is feeling so then no feeling no life and the want of spirituall feeling argues a want too of spirituall life The poore seduced Mahometans and many others in the world are very keene and sharp and forward to maintaine that which they call Religion the more shame for those who profess themselves Christians and have a sure word to build their hope upon yet are ferventissimi in terrenis in coelestibus frigidissimi as hot as fire in earthly as cold as ice in heavenly things A sad thing to consider that so many should have their tongues bent like Bowes for lyes as the prophet Jeremy complaines Jer. 9. 37. and Christians not valiant for the truth that others should drive like Jehu furiously madly and that in the waies of error injustice oppression prophaness as in all other kinds of wickedness and Christians in the cause of God more heavily slowly like the Egyptians in the Red-Sea when their chariot wheeles were off Shall Turks and Infidels solicit bad causes so earnestly and Christians those actions which are good so faintly Acrius ad pâ—rniciem quam nos ad vitam make more hast to destruction then Christians to life and happiness It was St. Jeromes complaint considerare pudet quantus feruor quae cura c. That he was asham'd to consider how soliciâ—ous some men were in earthly and how sluggish others in heavenly things as if they durst not so much as to owne the cause of God they were wont to say of cowards in Rome that there was nothing
warnings but would not take them before the woe took hold of it And therefore after all those monitions Titus the Son of Vespatian the Emperour was made instrumental to fulfill those many Prophesies which threatned Jerusalems 〈◊〉 overthrow But that Commander and Conqueror though a strangerâ— an adversary and a profest enemy to the Jews and sent to destroy them when he saw as Josephus reports the spoyl and slaughter which fell upon that wofull and most miserable City he calls his Gods to witnesse that he was exceedingly troubled at it He that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished Prov. 17. 5. And if an Heathen a forraign enemy sent to destroy could take no pleasure in executing of punishment though upon enemies but the contrary men which enjoy the light should be by much more troubled in the beholding of slaughters which happen among themselves or brethren And therefore Tully writing to Atticus speaks exceeding wisely in telling him thus extremum est malorum omnium bells civilis victoria His reason because men having done much mischief already in those unnatural engagements are flesh't and heartened to go on and to do more mischief still Hence it was that the very Heathens were not wont to make any triumphs for victories gain'd in their Civil Wars as Lucan speaks Bella geri placuit nullos habitura Triumphos And there is very much to this purpose in that sad but very remarkable story of the Israelites and Benjamites as we may observe in the of Judges Chapters 20. and â—1 Some Benjamites there at Gebiah had committed an abominable wickednesse the rest of that Tribe instead of punishing did patronize it and chose rather to die in the resisting of justice than live and prosper in the furthering thereof It is one of the mad principles of wickednesse that when men have once resolv'd to do a thing be it never so bad and to say they will do it it is very great weaknesse to relent therefore they will chuse to suffer to die rather then yield or go back from their resolutions thinking that causes whatsoever they be when they are once undertaken must be upheld although with bloud And from this false ground the Benjamits there put themselvesin Arms and will be Champions to defend the leudâ—â—ssâ— of their brethren and make themselves worse by the abâ—tting of a monstrous sin than the others were by the commission thereof Because the last was done upon resolution and so probably was not the other Now that no man may conclude a cause therefore good because the successe is so the Tribes of Israel that went against the Benjamits had by far the better of the cause But the Benjamits for the present the better in their success for the wickednesse of Benjamin sped better for a time than the honesty of Israel Twise was the better part foil'd by the lesse and worse the good cause was sent back with shame The evil returned with victory and Triumph But wickednesse could never brag of any long prosperity The triumphing of the wicked is short And wickednesse cannot complain of the lack of payment for still God is even with it at the last as we may observe in the story of those Benjamits who in conclusion were made to pay extreamly dear for their sin In whose example we may take notice that the retaliations of the Lord are sure and just But after all this when the rest of the Tribes of Israel being so highly provoked had slain such a very great number of the Benjamites almost to the utter ruine of their Tribe for acting and abetting such a monstrous wickednesse observe how the rest of Israel behaved themselves towards their Brethren they did not rejoyce and make Triumphs for that their victory but they weep over their dead bodies Judg. 21. 2. and study how that breach a mong the Benjamites which their sin and provocation had enforced the rest of Israel to make might be made up again The Prophet Oded gave good counsel in a case which was something parallel to this and it was well followed 2 Chr. 28. for when they of Samaria had taken a very great number of their brethren of Judah Jerusalem Captives two hundred thousand and much spoil and were carrying it and them to Samaria the Prophet I say gave this counsel that they should not strip and starve but put cloathing on their loins and shoes on their feet and meat and drink in their bellies and send them home again and so they did There are very many who walk quite contrary to these rules and dare do as those wicked ones mentioned in the second Chapter of the book of wisdom saying let us oppresse and let our strength be the rule of Justice as if there were no power either in Earth or Heaven to contradict them But however let others who observe the courses of Gods Providence and withall see the oppression of the poor and the violent perverting of judgement and justice in a Province not marvel at the matter for he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they In that Parable Luke 16. Dogs are mentioned and why so that their tongues might condemne the mercilesse bowels of their Master who shewed pity in their kinde When their Master had no Compassion on the poor Lazar he not considering that there is a mercy a pity and a care due unto the most despicable piece of humanity Frustra misericordiam petit qui misericordiam non facit in vain shall they one day hope for mercy and pity that will not now exercise it Undoubtedly there is nothing becomes power and greatnesse better than bowels and inwards of pity and mercy These make the faces of men in power to shine and themselves to resemble God who is most properly called optimum maximum first by the name of his goodnesse and then by the name of his greatnesse first by the name of his mercy and then by the name of his might But the ignorance of those Indians before spoken off makes them more pitifull than they need to be and if they had knowledge to make doubt of and to scruple other things as they should I might have spared my next Section which will acquaint my Reader by telling him further SECT XXI Of other strange and groundlesse and very grosse opinions proceeding from the blacknesse and darknesse of ignorance in that people ALl error in the World proceeds either from ignorance commonly joyned with pride or else from wilfulnesse This is most true as in natural and moral so in spiritual things For as knowledge softens sweetens mens manners so it enricheth their mindes which knowledge is certainly a most divine a very excellent thing otherwise our first Parents would never have been so ambitious of it This makes a man here to live twice or to enjoy here a double life in respect of him that wants it But for this knowledge it certainly must be esteemed better or worse by
before but all in vain When distress and anguish commeth upon them then shall they call upon God but he will not hear them c. the reason follows because they hated knowledg Prov. 1. 27 28. c. because they hated and despised knowledge as Esau was said to despise his birth-right because he put no greater valuation on it I confesse that if we whose businesse it is to teach and direct others do not in the first place labour to teach and instruct our selves If we be like the statue of Mercury which pointed the way to others while it stood still it selfe Or like Watermen that look forward while they Row and move backward If we seduce or mislead our people by Error or Example If we do not manifest love and mercy and pitty to our Congregations but while we undertake the oversight of their souls either silently or else in passion or discontent tell their persons that we care not for them If we be not ready according to our abilities for to open our hands to releive the poor and having ability our doors to let in others that they may know we do not desire to eat all our bread alone If we open not our mouths to pray for and instruct all If we desire not to carry our people in our bosoms as God commanded Moses Numb 11. 12. that those under our charge may be tender and near and dear unto our affections and to this end use all winning carriages towards them that may draw their affections unto us and by loving us may be won to the love of him in whose stead we stand and whose messages we deliver If we observe not all Gospel Principles to order us as well when we are out of as when we are in our Pulpits If we study as some did in daies of persecution to defend evil actions in evil times and by depraved reason or perverted Scripture could make any thing appear lawful that might please either our selves or others If we desire more of the Serpent then the Dove and know better to flatter then to reprove If we resolve as some have done in all ages to close unto that side on which the Purse hangs as it was said of Josephs brethren but in a different case that when they opened their sacks mouths they saw their 〈…〉 ey so if it may be said of us Sacco so 〈…〉 app 〈…〉 num 〈…〉 that if the knot of our designes and endeavours be undâ—â—e 〈◊〉 advantage worldly profit will appear and so voluntarily hamper our selves in those s 〈…〉 es the world casts in our way to e 〈…〉 ap us which in a special manner we must â—arne others to take heed of If we study wealth more then books and appear to be Bubulci potius quam pastores neatherds husbandmen horscoursers rather then shepherds and being basely and sordidly covetous care for our fleeces more then our flocâ—s Or if by being any other way negligent or scandalous we forfeit that respect and honour and love we might challenge and receive from others we have no cause at all to complain if we finde iâ— not But yet the high calling of a Minister of the Gospel deserves honour even then when the person that dishonoureth it above all others offending deserves punishment On the contrary if we the Messengers of God labour in our whole course to walk in wisedom As first by shewing all diligence in our calling that by Gods blessing upon our endeavours we may do our work with joy and not with grieâ— if we study to shew our selves approved unto God whatever we appear to others workmen that need not to be ashamed and so make a full proof of our ministry by speaking and pressing truths in season rightly dividing the word of God Not putting honey in the Sacrifice when we should put salt nor salt when we should put honey But wisely temper and mixe together Law and Gospel Mercy and Judgment as occasion is offered If we dare be good in bad in the worst times as those blessed Martyrs and Confessors of whom the world was not worthy in their generations were some of them making their faith to shine cleare through their flames who I say durst be good when others durst not be so but out of cowardise though they call'd it prudence did not speak out speak home speak all but betrayed the cause of God while they undertook to maintain it and were ready to censure and judge and condemn others for want of wisedom and discretion who did but their duty herein while they spoke by the pound and talent words of weight and neither knew nor in this case feared the faces of men but did boldly reprove any that durst boldly sin against God by setting up a standard in the Name of the Lord against the Abominable Pride the bold prophaness the swinish drunkeness the beastly filthynesse against the Arm'd Injustice the crying oppressions against the gross errors the damnable heresies the horrid Blasphemies as against all other provoking sins that the envy of Satan could tempt unto or the corrupt nature of man yeild unto committed in the times and places wherein they lived crying loud against them by lifting up their voyces like Trumpets and if their cries could not pierce their deafe ears that they might be left unto that cry at midnight which will one day awaken sinners with a witnesse For as Jericho was overthrown with a noise Josh 6. so every carnal heart is like a Jericho shut up it must be spoken loud unto or else it will not down The gentle spirit of Eli is not sufficient to amend children that are ungratious nor mild and gentle proceeding men that are so and therefore we must be bold when sin grows impudent and cannot blush A little more by the way Where I would have my Reader to believe that I desire to retain and manifest as many Bowels of mercy and pitty towards others as any can shew Yet howsoever I do believe this to be a truth and I am not alone in this judgement that Hereticks and dangerous Scismaticks must be compelled to do their duties if allurement wil not serve When people are and will be obstinate they must not alwaies be prayed and intreated He that hath a Phrensie must be bound And he that hath a Letbargie must be prickt up A member that is rotten must be cut off least it indanger the whole body He that hath strengthned himselfe in Heresie or Schism must violently be puld from it For some must be pulled out of the fire saved by fear discipline correction and these they whose sins proceed from wilfulnesse others must finde compassion whose faylings take their rise meerly from weaknesse Some things must be commanded as well as taught these things Command and teach 1 Tim. 4. 11. Command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word is used Act. 5. 40. and it is a Metaphor taken from a Judge giving a charge unto others to do what he
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
bosomes will spit in their faces of the wild beasts by their detractions slanders censures prejudices contradictions and what not who make their tongues worse than the tongues of doggs for they are medicinable they cure they heal but the tongues of these are sharpe they wound they kill But in regard that it is the nature of these beast thus to do a wise and a good man who deserves well yet heares ill hath no more cause to be troubled at it than the bright and full Moon going on her course hath at the barking of many doggs And as some speak evill of us because we do not run with them to the same excess of riot to distemper and overthrow our bodies so others will not abide us because we cannot come up to them in a like luxuriency and rankness of opinions to disturb our brains and to destroy our souls Now further how have the Ministers of the Gospel in these last times wherein the world grows worse and worse been discouraged in the neglect that many find for the paines taken in their great work their own proper means and maintenance withheld from them by the fraud and deceit of some and forceably taken away by the power and violence of others and grudgingly paid them by many more as if that greatest of all works the work of the ministry deserved no wages And lastly which is more and worse what grevious heart-breakings do the faithfull Ministers of the Gospell meet withall in their paines a very great abundance of that spirituall seed of the word they sow so continually miscarrying upon the thorny hard rockey barren hearts of their hearers It was an excellent commendation that Quintilian gave of Vespasian the Emperour that he was Patientissimus veri most patient to heare and to entertain truths how happie should we be if our hearers in general deserved the like praise But truth is not for every ones nay for few mens turn Ergo inimâ—â—i a strange conclusion therefore and for this reason this very reason are we esteemed many mens enemies because we tell them the truth as Saint Paul was long since accounted Gal. 4. 16. Some that live in great and grosse sinns cannot endure to have those their sinns ripp'd up or laid open dealing with us herein as a mad-man doth with a Chyrurgiaâ— flying in his face when he goes about to open a Vein that might recover him out of his Madness Or like a deformed person who breaks the Looking-glass that shews him his deformity When our Blessed Saviour fed the people they resolved presently to make him a King John 6. but after when he rebuked their vile manners they cryed Crucifie him Crucifie him let him be crucified John 19. I have formerly heard from many of the Scotish Nation and I do believe the Report is very true that if a man did preach against their Bishops while they were haling them down they would hear him with a great deal of seeming attention it did so please their humour but if the same man told the people afterward of their Swearing Drunkenness Whoring or the like they would cry Wha wha what doth the man ail what would the man have There are very few or none but will be very well content that we should meddle with other mens matters with other mens faults while we let theirs alone as Herod seemed to heare John the Baptist gladly till he mentioned Herodias Thus the Priest of Bethel though he could not abide that Amos in his prophesie should grate upon the house of Israel yet if he would fly into the land of Judah and prophesie there he was not against that And though that the Jewes could not endure that Jeremy should meddle with the burden of Judah and Jerusalem yet if he would prophesie against Edom and Moab and Ammon he might for all them Mens dainty eares cannot endure to have their own sins touch'd because truth like light is of a discerning nature and makes things manifest Hence evill men love darkness more than light because their works are evill As dark-shops are best for bad wares Light is good but to bad eyes offensive Honey is sweet but to wounds smarting So truth is wholesome but to guilty men distastfull like the bloody waters in Egypt sweet and potable to the Hebrews as Josephus reports but so unsavoury to the Egyptians as that they would not down As they write of some creatures that they have gallu in their eare fell in aure so the hearing of some truths distasts many like waters of wormwood which may make a new proverb bitter as truth for this many times puts some men into the Gal of bitterness angers nettles them as ulcerous men use to shrink at the lightest touch yea sometimes to cry out at the very suspition of touching So that we are often driven unto this Dilemma if we desire to please we must not speak truth for if we tell truth we cannot please Tell a Politician this truth that Summaratio est quae pro Religione facit that that 's the best the strongest reason which makes most for Religion and that the best policie which makes most for Piety this truth crosseth his purposes projects designes and therefore he cannot abide it Acquaint a covetous man with that truth spoken by St. Paul that the love of money is the root of all evil because every sin either directly or consequently springs from Covetousness you offer him losse you are a â—respasser to his trade an Enemy And let that truth spoken by St. Peter be pressed upon a filthy voluptuous person that fleshly lusts war against the soul he regards you not but though he perish in his lust he will enjoy the pleasures that are present Thus other sinners either question or quarrell at the truths that are told them Censure and Hatred being the ancient lot of truth Censure of the message and Hatred to the bearer When Lot came unto his Sons in Law then liveing in Sodome and acquainted them with Gods purpose immediately to burn that and other adjacents Cities though he warned them as a prophet and admonished them as a father that if they loved their lives they must presently quit that place they would not harken unto him but as Livie observes of others though in another case nec morbum ferre â—ossunt nec remedium that they were troubled both at their sickness and cure so these sons in lawof Lot might happily be a little startled at the report that Sodome should be destroyed but more troubled at the thought of leaving Sodome which was as the Garden of the Lord before it was destroyed and that special love they did beare to that place might share up their infidelity to question the truth of that threat and to reason the case hap 〈…〉 ily thus Who ever yet knew it to rain fire and whence should that Brimstone come and if it must rain fire and Brimstone why rather upon Sodome and Gomorrah than upon other places
first seasoning while life remaineth That dangerous time of youth by the envy and cunning and help of Satan carries very many young men left too much unto themselves into most shameful courses They being of themselves like a Ship on the maine Ocean that hath neither Helm nor compass and therefore moves it knows not whither Or in this like weak limb'd Children who if they be suffered to go too much and to soon lame themselves for ever Yet many think that in that time of life their youth gives them some liberty and priviledge aliquid aetati juvenum est concedendum they say which words abused make them the Divels dispensation and not Gods though they may fondly and falsly suppose that because they are young they may be borne withall in any thing they do as if Pride Drunkenness Whoredome and the like most fearfull exorbitances were not faults in youth they not considering that want of years and want of judgement which judgement enables to put a right difference 'twixt good and evill usually go together And that youth is like unto green wood which is ever shrinking and warping for as with the antient there is wisdom Job 12. 12. so pampered and ungoverned youth is commonly rash heady insolent wedded to its own will led by humour a rebell to reason a subject to passion fitter to execute than to advise and because youth cannot consider as it should it is no marvell if it so often miscarry The ways of youth being steep and slippery wherein it is very hard to stand as very easy to fall and to run into most fearful exorbitances It being the usual manner of young men so much to intend as they falsly think the love of themselves in the love of their pleasures as that they cannot attend the love of God And therefore that man may much better hope to come safely and happily unto the end of his course who hath passed over his first journey I mean his youth well But which is a very great hinderance unto many young men when they do but begin to enter upon their way there are many Parents which do not desire that their Children should be good betimes they being misled by one of the Devils Proverbs which is a young Saint an old Devill It is true that some who have been wild and wicked in youth have proved good in age But it is a most tryed truth to encourage the groth of early holiness which hath been made good by much experience that a Saint in youth an Angell in age And truly very many Children may thank their Parents for much of the evill that is in them beside their Birth-sin poysoning them as they do by their evill examples Children confidently believing that they may lawfully do any thing they see their Parents do before them hence Juvenal speaks well Maxima debetur pueris reverentia Therefore Parents should take heed what they do or what they speâ—k before their Children As 't is writâ—en of wise Cato though an Heathen that he was wont to carry himself with as much gravâ—ty before his Children as if he had been before the Senate of Rome The neglect of which care shall give Children cause one day to speak that in truth unto their Parents which Zippâ—rah sometimes spâ—ke unadvisedly unto her husband Moses when he had Circumcised her son Ex 4. 25. Surely a bloody Husband art thou unto me so these will say to their Parents that they have been bloody Fathers and bloody Mothers unto them in giving them a Serpent when they should have given them a Fish a stone when they should have given them bread in teaching them to swear when they should have taught them to pray unâ—oing them by their evill when they might have done them much good by their holy and unblameable examples as also by their early instruction and their timely correction which might have prevented through Gods blessing their rushing into the pit of ruin But why Parents thus generally fail in their duties we need not much marvell if we consider the carelesness or rather inability of most Parents to instruct their Children Scilicet expectas ut tradet mater honestes Aut alios mores quam quos habet Ju. No Mother can good precepts give Who hath not learn'd her self to live It is not to be hoped that Parents should give their Children better precepts than they have learn'd themselves But here I must prevent an objection and 't is this That if Parents be not wanting in their duty herein it is not al the care they can possibly have which of it self can make good Children For how many good Children have fall'n from bad Loins And how many gracious Parents to their greatest grief have been the Fathers and Mothers of most untoward Children The reason is because goodness doth not like lands and goods descend from Parents to Children for God will be the free giver and bestower of all his Graces and will have mercy on whom he will have mercy So then if our Children be good we must thank God for that if evill they may thank us and themselves us for their birth-sin and many times for more of their evill then so as before themselves for the improvement of that evill in the ways of wickedness However we may conclude this as a rule that those Children of all others in all probabilities are like to prove best who have been best seasoned in their young years for train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Pr. 22. 6. In the wars 'twixt Syria and Israel there was a little Maid of Israel taken by the Syrians 2 Kings 5. and she was put to wait upon the wife of Naaman the Syrian That Naaman was a great man with his Master the King of Syria and honourable saith the story c. but he was a Leaper and that stain of Leprosie sauced all his greatness so much that the poorest man in Syria would not have changed place with him to have had his skin to boot There is no greatness that can exempt a man from the most loathsome and wearisome conditions doubtless that Leprosie must needs be a grievous burden to that great Peer The Maid of Israel tells her Mistriss would God my Lord were with the Prophet which is in Samaria for he would recover him of his Leprosie Her Mistriss presently tells her Lord who upon this report immediately repayr unto that Prophet and is healed of his disease I report that storie to this end that it is very good for Parents to acquaint their Children while they be young with the knowledge of God and of his Prophets for we do not know what great good they may do by it The generall neglect of which and of many other duties of Parents for the good and welfare of their Children as the great faylings of others I have named in their severall relations are principal and most apparent
causes of the distemper and sickness of the whole Body of this Nation even from the sole of the foot unto the Crown of the head Never such liberty taken by youth of all sorts of both sexes as now How generally do they forget God the guide of youth for how do they sligâ—t him by that irreverence they shew in religious duties they being seduced in ways that carry them from Religion and consequently from God What lightness looseness pride drunkenness and prophaneness may be observed in too too many of them What a generall debauchery expressed by wickedness in life â—ath eaten into the manners of such multitudes of the younger sort of people more by far in the present than in foregoing times whence it comes to pass that there never was such a scarcity of good servants So that if Almighty God that can do what he will do do not please to put â—uâ—bs on them that may reform or restrain them the succeeding age is like to prove a monstrous generation How much uncharitableness and censoriousness that is accompanied in some with blindness of mind and consequently with error about the things of God hath taken up the thoughts of many more of riper years And lastly there is so much covetousness which turns so many wholy into themselves without respect had unto any others which makes so many steer their course for wealth esteeming any thing that may be gotten to be good gain being resolved to be rich however they come by wealth though that they get be like the waters of Bethelem 2 Sam. 23 17. Which David there calls blood because gotten with so much hazard and jeopardy of their lives that got those Waters So of the lives and souls too of those that get this wealth and yet for all this for Judas his wages they will do Judas his work they want peices of silver must have them as Judas had though they earn them as dearly and suffer for them as deeply as Judas did Esteeming gain godliness when it is godliness that is gain the hearts of so many are so bent upon and run after their covetousness in these present untoward and self seeking times The Prophet Esay once cryed Es 45. 8. O yee Heavens drop down Righteousness when righteousness was taken up into the Clouds So may we say Oh! yee Heavens drop down kindness Love Charity in our times that people may know that they were not borne onely for themselves that they came not into the world to laugh and joy and rejoyce to themselves nor to eat and drink or to thrive and grow rich and to live alone to themselves and to their own private relations but for others who stand in need of them who by the very Prerogative of mankind may challenge an interest in their succour and service The consideration whereof bids me turn back mine eyes again upon some forementioned passages in this relation that set forth the most excellent Moralities which shine in those Indians and by reflexion do very much shame us And this doth further make me call to mind a passage of Erasmus in that Colloquie of his called convivium Religiosum where admiring Soorates an heathen upon the same account said that he could hardly forbear sometimes to cry out Sancte Soorates Ora pronobis Now as before I have observed againe and again that heathens should out-go us in any way that is safe and good that they should out-strip us as they do us that have so much advantage of them in the way us that have so much assurance if we run well in the race set before us and chalk'd out to us to get the better of them in the end Thaâ— heathens I say should walk in many things so exactly and being but heathens do so as it marvelously condemnes so it may deeply humble many of us who bear the names of Christians and make us passionately to cry out and say Oh Religion thou when thou art professed in purity and power which bindest God to man and man to God! Where art thou What is become of thee Whither art thou gone Whither departed Where shall we seek thee where find thee If not very much amongst those which profess thee some and they the greatest number by far lay thee altogether aside some make thee to consist too much in forms and others as much in affected Phrases which are made by many a new Shibboleth to distingush one man from another A very great Number make this a Complement as others a cloak Some slight thee and others think themselves above thee some make thee an any thing and some an every thing and some a nothing And yet for all this it is true of very many by reason of their great unsetledness That while they run into these wide extreames Religion and conscience are their Theams Without all doubt Machevils position is no good Divinity which adviseth men to take up the profession of Religion but to slight the practice and power thereof Da justum sanctum que videri As if they resolved to make the Church of Christ a Theater or stage to act a part on as if it were enough for a man to seeme good and not to be so But let all assure themselves that their sin their own sin will first or last discover them find them out When they shall further by sad experience feel that the revenges of Almighty God are never so deadly never fall so heavily upon sinners as after they have had most way in sinning And that God will find a time to pull off all peoples vizards Thamar muffles her selfe to take a short pleasure Gen. 38. 15. And others muffle their consciences for a time but as Thamar was discovered so shall all hearts be laid open and pull'd out of their thickets wherein they would hide themselves as Adam when he had sinn'd would have done Gen. 3. when a man shall say to his conscience as Ahab sometimes spake unto Elias hast thou found me O mine enemy certainly if the brests of many were ript up the wounds and rents and breaches which guilt hath made there would most visibly appear Tuta esse scelera secura non possunt A man may think to sin without danger for a time but never without fear Oh this conscience when it is throughly awakned will appear to be a very strange a terrible thing if it be full of guilt for then it will swell so big as that it will be ready to break open the brest of him that bears it And it would do so but for these Reasons first because it is many times hoodwink't mask't or seared as with an hot iron having the mouth of it as before bung'd up or hooft over and this makes it not to see or to be sensible of its present condition And 2. a man by the malice and cunning of Satan may be brought to esteem the doing of things good which in themselves are most horrid damnable Now conscience is