Clarke Mayor Martis decimo die Novembâ— 1696. Annoque Regni Regis Willielini tertii Angliae c.. Octovo THis Court doth desire Mr. Fleetwood to Print his Sermon 〈◊〉 before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen 〈◊〉 this City at the Guild-Hall Chapâ—el on Sunday the First Day of this â—â—â—ant November Gooâ—â—…llow A SERMON OF THE Education of Children Preach'd before the RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR AND Court of Aldermen AT GUILD-HALL CHAPEL On SUNDAY Novemb. 1. 1696. By WILLIAM FLEETWOOD Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed for Thomas Newborough at the Golden-Ball in St. Paul's Church Yard 1696. TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE United Parishes OF S. AUSTIN and S. FAITH HAving frequently intended with my self something of this Nature for Your particular Use and Service to whom You know I am more immediately related It was the easier to me to comply with Their Desires who were willing to have this Discourse publish'd because I knew I should thereby satisfie in part my own Intentions and Design of doing You good in this Instance and therefore though it be now Common yet I desire You earnestly to make it more particularly Yours by a close Application of it to Your selves I can't tell how a Minister can promise himself any Success in his Endeavours if the Parents will not believe themselves obliged as certainly they are by God's Commands to educate their Children well and bring them up in the Fear and Nurture of the Lord and by their Care at home in private fit them for those farthèr Instructions they are to receive in publick at the appointed Opportunities They are to sow the Seeds of Christ's Religion in the Childrens Minds and He must wisely cultivate improve and nourish them They are to lay the first Foundations in their Hearts and He must build thereon as God enables him That this might not be a Work of Difficulty either to Parents or to Children nor either of them left at an Uncertainty the One of Teaching and the Other of Learning what they ought the Church in Her great Wisdom hath collected in Her Catechism a short but full and comprehensive Summary of whatsoever a Christian is to believe and practise to his Soul's Health which all her Children are to learn remember and consider according to their Age and Understanding This is delivered in so clear a Method in Words and Sense so easie and intelligible that it is not above a very mean Capacity and yet the Matter is so solid and substantial that it is fit for the strongest Understanding the oldest Christian in the World need know no more than what he is to learn there in his Youth though he will know it better and more fully the longer he considers it so that the Parent whilst he is instructing the Children in it will be himself a gainful Learner more and more edified and grow continually in the Knowledge of his Faith and Duty The Neglect of this prescrib'd Course has been one great Occasion I believe of that wide Difference there appears of Private Peoples Judgments and Opinions in Matters of Religion they have taken in different Principles in their Youth and therefore as their Age advanc'd have drawn different Conclusions srom them the Effects of which have been exceedingly mischievous I do therefore advise and desire you all to teach your Children this judicious sound and truly Christian Catechism that savours nothing of a Party or private Spirit but is what they may and must depend upon to their Lives end When this good Ground-work is well laid you may with much more Ease form and fashion them to Vertue and Religion by putting them in mind of the Covenant they have made with God in Baptism by which they stand oblig'd to give themselves entirely up to Christ to look upon him as their only Lord and Law-Giver their Saviour and their Judge to believe whatever he reveals and to fulfil whatever he commands There also you will find the two Tables that contain their Duty towards God and towards their Neighbour and both of them explained with the clearest Brevity that can be found from whence you are to take occasion of exciting them to a most diligent Performance of them as also to rebuke and punish the Neglect or the Transgression of them There also they will learn the Lord's Prayer the Prayer that Christ himself the Son of God who knew the Father's Will and Man's Necessities the best of all Men living taught his Followers to use and therefore it is such you may be sure as is best fitted for our Purpose and such as is both for the Matter and the Manner acceptable to God the Father After this follows a short but full Account of the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper by which they learn the Manner how they themselves and all true Christians ever since our Saviour's Institution of it were initiated into Christ's Religion namely by being baptized in Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost according to Christ's Command explain'd by the Universal Practice of the Church insomuch that they who have at any time denied or refused the Matter and the Form of this Sacrament have not been accounted Christians Here they see also what is signified by being thus baptized in Water namely the dying unto Sin and living a new to Righteousness i. e. the repenting of and forsaking all their past Sins and living for the time to come a Righteous and a Holy Life which is also the Meaning of becoming a New Man a New Creature a Regenerate Person and the like all which is engag'd for by every one at his Baptism and is to be remembred and perform'd for ever after Here lastly they will come to see the End of the Institution of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper the Cause and Purpose of its being ordained namely For the continual Remembrance of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ and of the Benefits which we receive thereby i. e. to put them constantly in mind that Christ the Lord was crucified upon the Cross that this his Death was an attoning expiatory Sacrifice and accepted by God as such that for its Sake and Merit his Anger is appeas'd he is now reconcileable to all that will repent them of their Sins and forsake them and obey the Gospel he will forgive them the Penalty they had incurr'd and will moreover crown them in the World to come with Everlasting Happiness The Remembrance of this salutary Death and Sacrifice and the great Benefits deriv'd to us from and by it is the End of this Sacrament's being instituted by Christ and therefore to answer the End of this Institution they must come to the Sacrament and when they come the Bread broken is to remind them of the Body of Christ torn and suffering on the Cross and the Wine poured out is to remind them of the Blood of Christ that was there shed and then they are to
call to mind the inâ—xpressible Benefits of this Death the Pardon and Forgiveâ—ess of all the Sins which they repent of and forsake the Hope and good Assurance of which Pardon and Peace and God's Favour is as much the Life the Strength and Comâ—rt of the Soul as Bread and Wine are the Support and Comfort of the Body Upon this Knowledge of the End of the Institution and of the Benefits that we receive by Christ's Death it remains only that the young ones be acquainted with the Preparation that is necessary to their coming to the Lord's Supper which they will find in the Answer to the last Question of the Catechism which contains the whole of what they are to do They are to examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former Sins whether they steadfastly purpose to lead a new and better Life for the time to come whether they have a lively Faith in God's Mercy through Christ i. e. Whether they verily believe that God was so exceeding Merciful and Gracious to Mankind that for the Sake of Christ's Obedience Death and Sufferings he will certainly forgive the Sins of such as shall repent and leave them and whether in full perswasion of this Mercy and these Gracious Promises they set about Repentance Whether they thankfully remember Christ's Death i. e. Whether upon the consideration and remembrance of the mighty and amazing Miseries to which their Sins exposed them and from which the Death of Christ alone has freed them they do not call to mind this great Deliverance with the greatest Joy and Thankfulness and bless and magnifie the Name of God who hath wrought this wouderful Redemption for them by the Death of Christ his dear and only begotten Son And Lastly whether they are in Charity with all Men. This is the Preparation and all the Preparation that is necessary to the coming to the Lord's Supper And if People would be content to learn wherein this Duty consists in the shortest plainest and the surest Method they would go no farher than the Church-Catechism or if a little farther it should be but to the Communion-Service in which they will be sure to find all that is needful or convenient for them to know or do before and at and after this Holy Sacrament I have neither Authority nor Intention to discommend or disallow the use of other Books that treat of these Matters but you will take it on my Word I hope that the shortest and the plainest Rules of Direction are still the best that wherein soever other Books differ from this they are not to be depended on And that multiplicity of Books is apt to beget Confusion As far therefore as you will let my Judgment weigh with you I recommend it to your Care that you let the Church Catechism be the Ground and Foundation of what your Children are to know of the Christian Religion and that other good Books be call'd in as Helps to their Devotion only or to explain the Particulars contain'd therein if they be difficult Whilst you are teaching and your Children learning all these Things you must be sure of all Things in the World to go before them with a good Example that is to recommend impress and make your Lessons Credible They will understand believe and practice better if they see you live as you teach them to live Let them know you pray to God constantly with your Family that you love and exercise Truth and Honesty and Justice in all your Dealings let them hear and see you chide your Servants and Dependents for every Lye they tell and every Fraud and Falshood they are guilty of let them never hear you swear or curse or speak any Thing disrespectfully of God or Providence or Holy Scriptures or any thing of Religion and they will then believe you are in earnest and be more careful of doing as you bid them and more fearful of offending Let them see you go your self to Church upon the Lord's Day and as many of the Family as can be spar'd with your Convenience and there behave themselves as becomes the Servants of God in his own House and more immediate Presence And let them never see even in the after Part of that good Day any thing Light Extravagant or Rude but something of Respect and Honour shewn to the good Exercises that are over and to the Day devoted by the Church of Christ to God's Service Away with that severe sullen morose Religion with which some Judaizing and mistaken Christians pass that Day on one Hand and that prophane contemptuous court-like Observation of it on the other but let a decent Christian and good natur'd Carriage temper these Extreams that your Children may neither dread the approach of Sunday above other Days nor yet long for it as a Day of Sloth and Idleness I hope I may without Offence take this Occasion to desire such of the Separation as are within my Parish to take all Care they can that both their Children and their Servants go along with them to the Places where they serve God themselves or to some other certainly and require an Account of their so doing that the Liberty of absenting themselves from their Parish-Churches indulg'd to them by Man's Law be not turn'd to the Libertinism of serving God no where and Irreligion and Prophaneness find those People whom the Church looses We must indeed on all sides be sollicitous lest he who sowes Division amongst us reap the Fruits thereof and be the greatest Gainer of this in earnest there was never greater need than now for Christianity and good Morality had never more or greater Enemies and therefore all our joint Endeavours will be little enough to oppose the soft Insinuations of their secret Underminers and the most impudent and bold Attacks of their avowed and open Adversaries I am sorry we can date the mighty Growth and Progress of these Mischiefs within the Compass of so few Years when we were hoping still for better Things But let this evil State provoke us to a greater Care and Zeal in the Defence of Vertue and Religion for the future You must all of you help to make this ugly Digression pertinent and useful by taking all imaginable Care to breed up a Generation better than the present and such as may do these wicked Days all the Disgrace and Shame they can by a most firm adherence to the Christian Faith by a lively Sense of Virtue and Religion in the Soul made manifest by a most Virtuous and Religious outward Practice I have done you see an unusual Thing in fixing a Preface to a Sermon but it was to make the Sermon more yours than any one 's else and if the Sermon be better read for the Sake of the Preface or if the Preface gain its end without the Sermon I shall obtain the Point I aim at and will answer for the absurdity or newness of the Method You know I am every way your Debtor in
Religious Matters and I assure you I am otherwise Your Affectionate Humble Servant W. Fleetwood PROVERBS xiii 24. He that spareth the rod hateth his son but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes THE Education of Children is and hath always been accounted a thing of such Importance that all who have at any time discoursed or written of Government have found themselves obliged to dwell particularly on that Subject Aristotle thinks it a matter of such moment that he positively determines it ought not to be left to the Parents choice but that the Publick whose especially the Children are should be entrusted only with that Charge and Plato lays down such severe Rules that 't is a question whether they were ever practicable or only fitted to his fansied Commonwealth And indeed considering that they are the Seed of Empires Kingdoms Corporations and Families and that the Good and Wellfare of them all depends entirely on them there can't be too much care employed about their bringing up there are so many hazards from the sensible and tender dispositions of these nice Plants from noxious Airs inclement Seasons and their own natural Luxuriancy that it requires a great deal of skill to cultivate them as they should and as they well deserve And it is with this prospect and a larger one besides the World to come that the Spirit of God hath inserted so many positive Commands and so many wise Rules of training Children up into the Holy Scriptures For though One were enough when found there to make it our Duty yet there are Many to enforce it farther and though the Spirit of God inspir'd a-like the Herdsman's Son with Solomon the King's and made them a like infallible in what they should deliver to the World yet in compliance may be with our Weakness and the fond Conceits we have of human Reason and Understanding it is so contriv'd that there are more Precepts concerning Childrens Education found in Solomon alone than all the Scriptures else that they who take no notice of the Inspiration might yet be moved by the Authority of the greatest Wisdom and the best Experience and the thing however done I am to confine my self to that of my Text which is as comprehensive as any and will First Explain the Terms of it And Secondly Shew the Truth of the Propositions contain'd therein And Lastly Make what Application may be seasonable and useful And First of the Terms To spare the Rod in the first Clause being oppos'd to chastening in the second by the Rod must needs be meant not only that particular Instrument of Punishment but every thing besides that may prove the Means of our Correction and Amendment And so in Job 33. 19. He is chastened with pain upon his bed And so in Psal 69. 10. I wept and chastened my soul with fasting And so in Isa 53. 5. The chastisement of our peace was on him by which is meant the Miseries Afflictions Pains and Torments that our Lord endured both in Life and Death for our sakes and so in a great many other places So that by Chastisement is here intended every Instrument of Correction every Means of effecting what we intend by chastising And to spare the Rod is not to use those Means not to employ those Instruments for the correcting and amending what we see amiss in Children which are proper to their Age suited to their Dispositions and proportion'd to their Faults whether it be Reproof and sharp Admonition Restraint of Liberty Disappointment of their Wills or corporal Punishment to do in a word whatever is necessary convenient or becoming the Children and the Parents in their respective circumstances is to chasten and to neglect the doing it is to spare the Rod. Let us see in the next place what it is to love and hate one's Son which are the rest of the Terms By loving and by hating is not here meant the exerting actually those Passions in the Heart for then the Text would be untrue it is by no means likely that an indulgent Parent sparing of his Child should actually hate it in his Heart or that the punishing it should be the Effect or Sign of natural Love for the contrary to this is mostly true the Sparing it is the Fruits of natural Fondness and Affection and the Correcting it is not the choice of the Heart but the effects of a Necessity impos'd by Prudence and Consideration and Hopes and Fears of what may come to pass By loving and by hating therefore is to be understood the acting agreeably to the Reason and not the Blindness of those Passions the producing such effects as are in God's Accounts and wise Mens too and in our own when freed from partial Prejudices the Consequence and Fruits of Love and Hatred acting regularly such as are commonly esteemed the Effects of those two Causes whether they indeed proceed from them or no So that to love and hate ones Children is to behave ones self so towards them that they and others may be convinc'd we love or hate them by such Fruits as reasonably and ordinarily are the Products of those two Passions whether those Passions actually possess the Heart or no of which we can convince none but our selves From the Terms thus explain'd it will not be difficult to shew in the second Place the the Truth of the two Propositions how and in what Sense he may be said to hate his Son that spares the Chastisement of him and how he loves him who chastiseth him betimes For if we are to reckon of Love and Hatred by the Effects then it is easie to discern when Parents hate their Children namely when either through Neglect or Fondness they permit them to enter on at first or afterwards continue in such Courses as will bring them to inevitable Ruine when by their want of Care Instruction or Correction those Children fall into such Miseries as the utmost Hatred of their most profest inveterate Enemies could neither wish nor make them greater whatever Love there may be at the bottom What signifies the crowning of a Victim with a Garland when it is still drest up to Death That Mother is as much a Murtheress who stifles her Child in a Bed of Roses as she that does it with a Pillow-bear The End and Mischief is as great tho' the Means and Instrument be not the same And where two Causes will produce the same Effect with equal Certainty 't is no great Matter which of them it is nor whether you give it a hard or gentle Name It is all one as if a Parent truly hated his Child if through his Default he fall into those Evils which will naturally work his Mischief or Undoing that Fault has the same effect that downright Hatred would have had And then for the Will tho' he can't be said to will downright the Evil of his Children yet if he will the Means which have a natural tendency to produce that End he is understood in