LECTVRES Or Readings vpon the 6. verse of the 22. chapter of the Prouerbs concerning the vertuous education of Youth A treatise very necessarie for all parents in this corrupt and declining age of the world AT LONDON Printed by Felix Kingston for Thomas Man 1602. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR THOMAS EGERTON Knight Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England and one of her Maiesties priuie Councell my very good Lord health and prosperitie with the increase of grace in this life and eternall happines in the life to come NOn datur beneficium nisi propter officium saith a learned Father Wherefore hauing performed this small part of my dutie in the house of God now at last I am bold to offer it to your good Lordship first as a signe of my dutie for your good Benefice in Suffolke lately bestowed vpon me and secondly for patronage For whereas since my going into Suffolke by meanes of some of my friends I was discouered to my enemies in the flesh but not in the Lord to be the author of this booke which at the first came forth like a fatherlesse orphan vnworthily I was cast vpon the obloquie of all men they seeing in me nothing worthie of this meanenes and behinde my backe was bought and sold for a vaine glorious man Thus while I shunned the title of vaineglorie and would not be like those Philosophers which as Tully saith put their names to the bookes which they make in contempt of glory ere I wist as Iob saith the thing which I feared fell vpon me Notwithstanding taking patience for my buckler and a cleare conscience for my defence I satisfied my selfe though I could not satisfie mine aduersaries Now so it is come to passe that all the first fatherlesse edition is spent and the vertuous call vpon the Printer and the Printer calles vpon me for a second presse exhorting me to make some addition or correction if I were so disposed that so it might come forth the second time with a happier successe The which thing hauing performed according to my weake measure I am bold to present it to your Lordships patronage to couer my simplenes vnder the shadow of your wing and to craue protection both for the worke and my selfe which if your Lordships fauour shall vouchsafe you shall encourage a poore Minister beginning at low steps to ascend higher in religious duties the young infants which as yet sucke vpon their mothers breasts shall thanke God for you and my selfe shall be alwaies bound to pray for you Your Honours in all dutie most bounden ROBERT SHELFORD READINGS VPON THE SIXT VERSE OF THE 22. chapter of the Prouerbs for the vertuous education of Youth Teach a child in the trade of his way and when he is old he shall not depart from it THis verse of which wee are here to speake at this present naturally deuideth it selfe into two heads The first is a precept or commaundement The second is the reason of the precept The precept is contained in y e former part of the verse Teach a child in the trade of his way The reason followeth in the latter part and when he is old he shall not depart from it Now first for the precept because it is set downe indefinitly the question may be moued who should teach to whom this charge and commandement is here directed The Magistrate is not heere spoken vnto because his office is not to teach and instruct by word of mouth but to rule and gouerne by lawe neither euer haue wee heard of any ciuill law giuen to childrē first for by reason of sooner instruction they are not yet fit and capable of it and secondly for that they are vnder the gouernment of those that are commaunded by it Againe these words doe not properly binde the Ministers of the Church first because this dutie is no where expresly commaunded vnto them in Gods word secondly because their duetie is to teach the parent how to bring his children vp and thirdly because the subiect of this teaching is more then belongeth to the profession of the Minister It is to teach a childe in the trade of his way which is not onely to instruct him vnto godlines but also vnto all other humane duties Wherefore this dutie then belongeth vnto parents and they are here bound by these words of this text and this we will proue both by reason and conference of holy Scripture For who should teach and informe the childe but they which haue the gouernment and commaunding of him But it is well knowne that parents only haue the gouernment and commaunding of their childrē or such as they shal procure for their better education and therefore this precept lieth vpon them and they must look vnto it Againe this is apparant euen by the generall law of nature which hath taught the very brute beasts to bring vp their owne young And further this duetie is yet enforced from the oportunitie of the thing commanded For euen as a plant will sooner take nourishment and thriue better in the soyle where it first grew sprong vp then in any other groūd because it liketh his owne soyle best so children will sooner take instruction and good nurture from their parents whom they best like and from whom they had their first being then from any other and therefore you parents are in fault if your children are not well taught For whatsoeuer good commeth from the parent to the childe is naturall and kindly no otherwise then the warme milke from the mothers dugge You shall sooner be heard of your children then either the sage counsell of the ancient or the forcible mouing speech of the learned Lastly the rule of iustice doth require that euen as the first parent Adam and so all other after him haue been a meane of falling to all their posteritie in begetting children in their own image which according to the law of creatiō should haue been borne in Gods image so now in lue of this al parents should lend their hands to lift them vp againe and neuer cease vntill they see in some measure the beautie of the first image and the vertue of the second Adam This is a thing so euident and so ingraffed in nature as that the holy Ghost thought it not a matter of necessitie to expresse here the name of parent But now let vs goe forward to confirme the same by testimonies of holy Scripture In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomie the Lord commandeth parents to teach their children the wonders of his law and that they might not trifle this ouer and make no great reckoning of it and thinke it but a childes matter the Lord there laieth a great weight vpon this charge in exhorting them to doe this with all diligence and carefulnes Take heede vnto thy selfe and keepe thy 〈◊〉 that thou doest not forget those things which thine eyes haue seene and that they doe not depart from thy heart all the
the wind pipe is for the life of the bodie For by this meane the breath of our new life is conueyed into vs as the Prophet Habacuck sayth chapter 2. The iust shall liue by faith And S. Paul in the 2. Corin. 1. sayth we stand by faith And againe in the fift chapter of the same Epistle we walke by faith so that now all is by faith all our life and all our actions and all our welfare and without faith there is no goodnes to be hoped for of vs because there is no other meane wherby Gods grace and mercie can bee conueyed into vs. And now next after this seeing our faith is such a speciall instrument for vs you must teach them the meanes how to preserue and maintaine it because all their life hangeth vpon this For our faith is to the soule euen as our hand is to the mouth and the mouth to the stomacke and the windpipe to the hart so that if thou hast not a hand to feed thy mouth and a mouth to feed thy stomacke thy bodie must needs soone perish and againe if thy windpipe should be cut asunder presently thy heart dyeth and all thy members fall downe because they want the breath of life euen so if thy faith which is the only meane whereby thou receiuest the breath of Christs spirit into thy soule and whereby thou liuest that new life in Christ Iesus of which the Prophet Habacucke speaketh The iust shal liue by his faith if this pipe and conduit I say be perished or broken in thee by thine owne negligence or cut off by thine aduersarie the diuell who seeketh nothing else night nor day but thy euerlasting spoyle then certainly both thy soule bodie must needs perish too Wherefore maintaine and vpholde your holy faith by all meanes And these meanes are sixe in number the first is the hearing of the word preached with all diligence the second is the reading of the word with vnderstanding and carefull meditation the third is the instruction in the catechisme the fourth are deuour and heartie prayers for the continuance of Gods fauour and loue vnto the ende the fift are often meditations of Gods goodnes towards vs the sixt and last are continuall watchings in our soules ouer all our waies and euery particular action if these things bee in you and abound your faith shall neuer faile but it shall be vnto you a fountaine of liuing waters and Gods mercie shal stand vnto you and to your children for euer which God graunt vnto you all for his sonne Christ Iesus sake Now after that you haue taught your children first their owne miserie in themselues and secondly the remedie against their miserie which is Gods mercie in Christ Iesus whereby they are saued and redeemed the third thing now to bee taught them is what they should doe after they are saued and redeemed and that is to feare God which is as much to say as to serue him But with thee is mercie that thou maiest bee feared And here first that I might proue vnto you that this phrase in our text to feare God signifieth to serue God I will bring two places of holie Scripture for confirmation The first is in the first chapter of Malachy vers 6. A sonne honoureth his father and a seruant his master If I bee a father where is my honour and if I bee a master where is my feare that is as much to say as where is my seruice for wee knowe that the dutie of seruants is to serue their maister and that their feare towardes them is required not simply for it selfe but for their seruice sake that so they might the more diligently seeke to please them whom they feare to offend The second is in the first chapter of the Gospell of Saint Luke and is an argument drawne from the end of our redemption in these words That wee being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies might serue him without feare all the daies of our life in holines and righteousnes before him In which words wee are to learne foure instructions The first is that when wee are redeemed from the burthen of our miseries and set in the state of saluation then consequently wee should giue our selues wholy to Gods seruice because then wee haue nothing els to doe The second doctrine teacheth vs how long this seruice should continue that is not for a day or two but for all the dayes of our life For seeing Christ hath redeemed vs not for a day or two but for euer therefore it is iust that we should serue him for euer and seeing Christ hath thought no paines too much to suffer for our sakes so we should thinke no labour too long or wearisome for his sake again Our Sauiour in the tenth chapter of Matthew teacheth vs that he only shal be saued which continueth vnto the ende The third instruction teacheth vs the summe or chiefe partes of this seruice of GOD which are holines and righteousnesse holines towards GOD and righteousnesse towards our neighbour vpon which two hang all the lawe and the Prophets The fourth teacheth vs first the true and onely manner of performing this holines and righteousnes which is spirituall sincere and which is done and taken in hand with an eye vnto GOD before him So that if thou takest good dueties in hande and doest not looke vp vnto God with the eyes of thy mind and with the zealous affections of thine heart say Lord this is for thee and for thy sake I doe it thy holines and righteousnes is not before God and so no part of his seruice hee accepteth it not Secondly this teacheth vs to distinguish betweene the true holines and righteousnes and that which is false and counterfeit which is no part of his seruice If thy holines righteousnes bee of thine owne making and the fancies of thine owne braine as the toyes of poperie are then it is not before God and so shall neuer please him Wherfore if thou wilt seeke to shew thy selfe thankfull to God for thy great deliuerance thou must serue him with such holines and righteousnes as is before him and that is such as his worde onely commandeth Now let no man thinke that this place is contrary to that which we labour to make plaine by conference and consent which is our text the one affirming to feare God the other to serue God without feare In a word this clause without feare in the 1. of Luke is not contrary to our text Psalm 130. because the one is vnderstood of the feare of God which is his seruice and the other of the feare of our enemies and so the allegation is contained in the word seruice and not in the worde feare that wee being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies might serue him that is feare him and feare him that we might serue him Now hauing layd out vnto you the vndoubted sense and meaning of
art that wilt bee a good souldier of Christ Iesus and doe him true and faithfull seruice because he hath raunsomed thee from the tyrannie of the diuel thou must renounce and denie from thy heart all vngodlines and that is all that prophanenes of mind wherein before thou diddest liue whē thou regardedst not God nor religion and all worldly lustes that is all the lustes of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life as Saint Iohn teacheth vs 1. Epist. 2.16 all which are the verie armes ensignes which the deuill the prince of darknes beareth against thy deere Sauiour and redeemer Now after that thou hast washed thy hands from all vncleanenes and renounced the deuill with all his adherents the world the flesh art now become embāded in the Lords troups now thou must next learne how to stand in Gods aray what is the whole duety seruice which he requireth at thy handes This consisteth in these three parts as we are here taught in this text first in liuing soberlie to our selues secondly in liuing righteouslie to our neighbours and thirdly in liuing holily or godly towards god In these three points wholy standeth the seruice of God so much as of man is required The first second parts are contained in the second table of Gods law the third is contained in the first Now in the first part of Gods seruice following the order of our text beginning at our selues and rising as it were by steps from the lowest to the highest is to liue soberly towards our selues this is to gouern our own bodies and persons in such measure and comely behauiour as that the Lord who is the continuall beholder of all our actions as well priuate as publike and as well secrete as open bee not offended at vs. Wherefore here euery man must learne to temperate and moderate himselfe in his speech in his gesture in meate and drinke in apparell in pleasures in paines and labors and generally in whatsoeuer concerneth a mans owne person and in all his lawfull liberties so that our speech may not be too rough nor too ridiculous our gesture may not be too light nor too lowring our meate and drinke neither too much nor too delicate our apparell not too gay nor too sluttish our pleasures neither too long nor in bad causes our sorrowes not for euery vain losse nor in any defect or excesse and our labours such as may rather preserue life then quench it in all which we must alwaies hold this rule to consider not what we are able to doe but what is most meete to bee done agreeable with our estate wherein wee may not flatter our selues and seemelie both before God and man This sweete sobrietie is the honest grace and flower of our life which whosoeuer wanteth hee commeth too short of that duetie which God requireth at his handes being vnthankefull to God who hath redeemed him to liue in such an honorable estate offensiue to men and angels and hurtfull to his owne soule and body For what is the cause why our soules corrupt and stinke in the filthie lustes and pleasures of the flesh in al manner of excesse riotous kind of liuing but because they want this sale of sobriety wherby they shold be kept sweet why canst thou not endure to beare the labours of Gods seruice why dooest thou waxe faint in prayer why doest thou thinke it long to heare why doest thou thinke much to streine thy heart vnto God in the zeale of thankesgiuing and why canst thou not away to carie patiētly the easie yoke of Christ Iesus why thou hast not beene acquainted with sobrietie which is as it were the yoke to holde all men within their religious and vertuous endeuours Againe let vs come to the duties of the second table and aske what is the cause why wee cannot liue within the compasse of them Why doe some lift vp the heele against their gouernours like the vntamed horse why doe others liue in continual contentions and fightings like the sauage wolues and Tygers Why do some wast their strength in pleasures as the flame which consumeth the tallowe and why doe other neglecting the tender budde of their decaying stocke draw all through their owne throats while their wife and children starue for hunger and why doe other enuying the age to come gape vpon all things present like Behemoth as though they would make an end of the world with themselues and why do other some kindle such discord amongst their neighbours by that fire of the tongue as Saint Iames calleth it that it can neuer after bee quenched vnto the death and why is hell let loose within our selues to disturbe all the powers and sences about vs with wicked thoughtes lusts why this vertue of sobriety is absent from vs. So that take away sobriety and you vndoe all Religion Wherefore you good parentes you which haue a care of the posteritie and of the Church of God to come and you which thinke nothing too deere for the redemption of your own soules and the soules of your children shewe your thankefulnes vnto GOD in instructing your houshold teach them holines towards God and righteousnes towardes men and teach them not onely holines and righteousnes towardes God and men but also traine them vp in sobrietie towards themselues for this is the locke and key to religion it is the yoke of our life it is the salt of our soules it is the grace of all our actions O you good youth I call to you which loue the Lorde I call to you which honour all those which giue you good instruction and I call to you who had rather dye an honest and godly death while you are young then to liue in the filthie pleasures of sinne for a season and in the ende to bee cast awaye eternallie embrace this noble vertue of sobrietie if there bee anie vnderstanding if anie loue of vertue if anie zeale of chastitie if anie courage for good thinges fulfill my desires in the Lorde who loue your soules so deerely and God almightie raine downe a blessing vpon you 2. The second part of Gods seruice is to liue righteously towardes men and that is to giue euery man his due and right Giue to euerie man his due saith the Apostle Rom. 13. Tribute to whome yee owe tribute custome to whom custome feare to whome feare honour to whome vee owe honour Owe nothing to anie man but to loue one another for hee that loueth another hath fulfilled the lawe Nowe this whole duetie of louing our brethren and in giuing euery one his due we may generally comprehende in this diuision First in honouring and obeying our superiours and gouernours secondly in relieuing our inferiors and all such as stand in neede of our helpe and thirdly in being kinde to our equalles and louing to all For the dueties towardes our superiours the subiect must honour his magistrate with obedience
honorable and heauenly deseruings at our hands wee cannot doe it If our gracious Prince to shew her puissance against a forraine power should call forth one or two of her subiects who are most beholding vnto her to iust and turnie in her presence for her honour would they not straine all their strength in this seruice yea and their liues too Now shall wee doe more for our Prince then we would for God Hath not our God called vs out by name to fight for his honour to bee a chosen and peculiar people vnto himselfe to stand on his parts to shew foorth his vertues and to bee zealous of good workes yea and that wee might the better performe this seruice hee hath furnished vs with his owne armour and weapons yea and his owne hand is with vs too though all men see it not and shall not we now doe valiantly for our God and shall not wee nowe endeuour our best to answere the expectation of our heauenly King O my deare brethren see the ende of your calling You are not called to shewe your owne strength or your owne vertues or your own holines but you are called to shewe foorth the strength and the vertues and the holines of the almightie and to bee zealous of good workes But what is this zeale that we may know it and followe it This zeale as the Spouse in the last chapter of the Canticles teacheth vs is no small matter but a most ardent and burning loue vnspeakable ouercomming all the affections in man Loue is strong as death and zeale is cruell as the graue the coales thereof are fierie coales and a vehement flame yea the flame of God as the Hebrew worde signifieth Much water cannot quench loue neither can the flouds drowne it Now then beloued you see the end of your redemption and calling it is not only to do good works but to be zealous of good works you are called and redeemed to the heate and fire of good works you are called and redeemed to such a burning loue of them that nothing may quench it nay euen as death and the graue ouercome all things so this zeale in vs of good workes should ouercome and cast downe before vs all the lets and impediments which stand vp against vs in the seruice of our God for loue is strong as death zeale is cruell as the graue Wherefore O you redeemed of the Lorde not with golde and siluer as Saint Peter speaketh but with the pretious bloud of his owne sonne lay this vnto your hearts and stirre vp your selues vnto Gods seruice you that haue eares to heare heare and you that haue zeale within you bee inflamed for euery one cannot I call vpon you all as the Apostle Saint Iohn writeth I call vpon you little children because you are well acquainted with your fathers deare loue and tendernesse towards you I call vpon you young men because your affections are strong in you and you are best able to beare the Lordes burthen and I call vpon you olde men because you by reason of your long experience haue most knowledge of your dueties giue the Lorde his due and right and abound in all manner of good workes which he hath ordained for vs to walk in to the glorie of his holy name Teach a child in the trade of his way and when he is olde he shall not depart from it Pro. 22.6 When I began to read this verse vnto you I told you it consisted of two parts of a precept and the reason of the precept Hitherto I haue spoken of the precept and of the necessarie circumstances belonging vnto it and now I am come to speake of the reason of it that so I might stirre vp the life of the precept in his working in you And when he is olde he shall not depart from it that is if thou faithfully instructest him in his way while hee is young he shall haue the benefit of it all his life after But now that parents might bee compassed about with a cloude of exhortations I haue thought good here not onely to presse forth the principall scope of this text but also to sucke out of the bowels thereof the more hidden and abstruse collections and to gather the like arguments out of other scriptures because the whole scripture is one and lendeth hand to it selfe 1. The first reason which should moue parents to take in hand this dutie of instructing their children in this trade of their waye is drawne from the necessitie of the precept because euery child naturally is conceiued and borne out of the way as the Prophet Dauid teacheth vs Psal. 51.5 Behold I was borne in iniquitie and in sinne hath my mother conceiued me And the Apostle Saint Paule sayth Ephes. 2. That we are by nature the children of wrath And Moses in the 6. chapter of Gen. teacheth vs that all the thoughts and imaginations of mans hart are continually euill and the Apostle sayth 1. Cor. 2. that the naturall man cannot perceiue the thinges which are of the spirite of God And againe Rom. 8. hee telleth vs that the wisedome of the flesh is enimitie against God for it is not subiect to the lawe of God neither indeed can be Wherefore now you see plainely how euery mothers child is borne into the world blind in his vnderstanding froward in his will and affections corrupt in all the motions of his hart dead in the life of God wholy possessed with sin so that except now his nature be changed by good education hee cannot possibly applye himselfe vnto any good waye but hee must needs all his life long runne astray and in the end fall headlong into hell fire Wherefore O you parents as you haue giuen your children the worse so giue them the better also as you haue brought them forth the children of wrath and death so now teach them howe they may become the children of grace and life teach your children in the trade of their way they must needes bee taught for except their education and teaching bee better then their birth they are cast away for euer and they may curse their parents that euer they brought them into the world 2. The second reason to moue parents to this vertuous teaching of their children is taken from the oportunitie thereof For if euer they will doe their children good nowe they must doe it while they bee children The Smyth must strike wile the iron is hot and the Plowman must plowe while his ground will worke and the Sayler must saile when hee hath winde and tide and as you see euerie trade hath his proper oportunitie so this trade also of education hath childhood for his fittest time to worke vpon If you doe not teach your children and traine them vp in good nourture while they bee yong all your laboure shall bee but lost afterwardes you shall strike vpon the colde iron you shall plowe in the