wisdome Zachary and Elizabeth fearing the Lord receiued Iohn the Baptist forerunner of Christ. Looke what sinnes we haue receiued naturallie without GOD his great blessing without praier humbling of our selues we shall conuey them to posteritie and although the lord granteth sometimes ciuill gifts vnto the children of natural and carnal men yet for the most part they receiue their naturall sins But if the children of God by regeneration do sée in themselues and lament their sinnes of generation praying that their naturall corruptions may be preuented in their posterities they shal sée great mercies of god in some measure fréeing their children from the same Nowe when thou shalt sée such sinnes to bée in thy children enter into thy owne heart examine thy selfe whether they are not come from thée consider how iustly the hand of God may be vpon thée and when thou wouldest be angrie against thy child haue an holie anger with thy selfe and vse this and such like meditation with thy owne soule Lord shal I thus punish mine owne sinne and that in my owne childe shall I thus persecute the corruptions of my ancesters nay I sée O Lord proue that thou art displeased with me for the too carnall conception of my childe I lay then in some sinne I asked it not of thée by praier be mercifull vnto me O Lord and in thy good time shewe some pittie vpon my childe Thus thinking thou goest about to correct nature in thy childe which he could not helpe arming thy selfe with praier repenting with Iacob thou shalt be so affected as desirous to draw thy child out of sinne yet with the mildest meanes and least rigor And one thing is most wonderfull that some will teach their children to speake corruptlie and doe wickedly whilst they are yong and yet beat them for it when they are olde againe some will imbolden their litle ones to practise iniquitie towardes others which when by the iust iudgement of God they afterward exercise towardes the parents themselues they are corrected for it And yet deale with these and such like men for the euill education of their children and they will answere doe not wée as much as is of vs required wée sende our children to the Church to be instructed of the pastour and to the schoole to be taught of the maister if they learne it will be the better for them if not they haue the more to answere for what can we do more But remember O man consider O woman whosoeuer thus speaketh for that sinnes sake and the want of praier there may be a plague vpon the pastors paines and a cursse vpon the teachers trauell If parents would haue their children blessed at the Church and at the schoole let thē beware they giue their children no corrupt example at home by anie carelesnesse prophanesse or vngodlines otherwise parents wil do them more harm at home then both pastor and schoolmaister can doo good abroad for the corrupt example of the one fighteth with y e good doctrine of the other which is by so much the more dangerous because that corrupt walking is armed with nature and therefore more forcibly inclineth the affections of children to that side And further experience teacheth vs that children like or mislike more by countenance gesture and behauiour then by anie rule doctrine or precept what soeuer Some there be that will not haue their children taught vntill they be ten or twelue yeares old because as they say at that age they haue but an apish imitation To whom I answere that although they cannot then déepely discerne nor profoundlie conceiue things yet how manie things before these yeares will they both receiue and remember And I demaund if children be apish in imitating that whiles they be yong which they will haue the habit of when they be old may they not much better doe apishlie good whiles they are yong which they may do carefullie when they are olde besides let them goe so vntaught and they will grow so headstrong that they will sooner be broken then bended and sure it is that one stripe or two words will doe more good to a child in time then a hūdred stripes afterward And here let parents be admonished of their vndiscréete correction who doe their children more harme in shewing a merrie countenance after their discipline vsed then they do good by their chastisement of them whiles they do correct them Neither doe I purpose to take away naturall affections anda Christian kind of compassion in all our censures for it is my great complaint of the brutish vnmercifulnesse of manie parents herein but would wish Christians to correct their vndiscréete affections herein by heauenly wisedome Neither am I so Stoicall as to denie a more milde and affable kinde of speach to bée both lawfullie and conuenientlie vsed to children and yet I wish it to be void of all vnséemely lenitie and without all shew of foolish vaine and vnnecessarie behauiour To be briefe howe néedefull houshold gouernement towards our children is it may appeare by the slender thriuing and small profiting either of religion or vertue either in the church or common wealth Speake men of discipline neuer so much complaine they of the want of church gouernement neuer so loude preach they teach they neuer so much abroade vnlesse they will beginne discipline in reforming their houses and giue religion some rowme at home they shall trauaile much and profite little And surely if men be carefull to reforme themselues first and then their families if their charge be greater their circuites and prouinces wherein the Lorde hath placed them it were the best way to moue the Lord to bestow reformation and discipline on his church among vs and of all meanes that nowe may be hoped for this séemeth best for of particuler persons come families of families townes of townes prouinces of prouinces realmes so that conueighing discipline thus from one to another in time and that shortlie it would come into the church well I say let there be neuer so good lawes in cities neuer so pure orders in churches if there be no practise at home if fathers of families vse not doctrine and discipline in their houses ioyne their handes to magistrate and ministers they may indéede but vniustlie as manie haue done complaine that their children are corrupted abroad when they were before and are still corrupted at home Alas if parents to whome the comfort of their children well brought vp is a precious crown wil not informe and reforme their children in the feare of God howe would hope sustaine these men that others will performe this dutie for them to whome this charge doeth farre lesse appertaine Lastlie let parents remember that therefore they haue disordered and disobedient children to themselues because they haue béene disobedient children vnto the Lorde and disordered to their parents when they were young whereof because they haue not repented the Lorde punisheth their sinnes to others with
the like sinne to themselues Wilt thou know thou father howe thou maiest haue that blessing to bée the blessed father of a blessed séede wilt thou know thou mother howe to auoide that cursse to bée the curssed mother of a curssed séede bring thy children within the compasse of the couenant indeuour to make thy sonne the sonne of God and thy daughter by nature the daughter of god by grace and remember howe that God which on his part protested to father Abraham that he was all sufficient for the accomplishment of his promise in giuing him a blessed séede and requested also on father Abrahams part that he should walke before him and be vpright Wilt thou then haue the one part of this of the couenant that is that God should blesse thée in thy séede then remember also that thou walke before the Lord and be vpright wilt thou haue thy children as the blessed séede of Abraham teach them with Abraham the iudgements of the Lord pray for them with Abraham that they may liue in tho light of the Lord be readie to offer them with Abraham that they may be a holie sacrifice vnto the Lord It is thou O man O woman that mayest do thy childe the greatest good and the greatest harme if thou prayest for him and repentest for thy selfe the Lord will blesse thy care the pastors paines the teachers trauaile But if thou dispisest these dueties the Lorde will denie thée these blessings and the cursse of God will be vpon thy childe at home in thy house abroade in the Church and in schoole And séeing the Lorde hath promised that he will be thy God and blesse thy séede if thou béest faithfull thou mayest both hope that thou art of the faithfull if thou hast a blessed séede and feare that thou hast not as yet the blessing of the couenant when thy séede is accurssed But had not Iacob wicked children and Dauid godlesse sonnes and doeth not dayly experience teach vs that wicked men haue godly children yes for besides the secret counsell of the Lorde herein we must knowe that neither the promise of the Lord is so vniuersall that euerie particular child of a faithfull man should be within the couenant for if of many there be but one blessed the promise is performed yea which more is though the faithfull man haue neuer a good childe yet if vnto the thousand generation there be but one good the couenant is not broken neither must we tie the Lorde his worke so much to man that a good man may not haue an euill sonne séeing though the Lord visit not his sinnes yet he may visit the sinnes of some of the forefathers to the thirde and fourth generation going before To the second I say that an euill father hauing a good child though the Lord shew not mercie to that particular man therein yet he may remember his promise to some of the forefathers in the thousand generations going before and though that euill man haue no curssed child yet the cursse may be accomplished in the third and fourth generation following Wherefore not speaking of election or reprobation which wee leaue only to the Lord to make good or bad I exhort parentes to vse the ordinarie meanes to bring vp their childrē so as they either by some good tokens may sée them the children of God and heires of the couenant or at least be comforted in their owne conscience if their children for some cause vnknowne refuse it in that to their habilitie they haue vsed all good meanes to bring them vp well and offered them to God And if parents haue cause to be grieued when thus trauelling in good education they cannot sée good in their children how much more cause of griefe may they haue when they haue vsed no labour at all to bring them vp in the feare of the Lord And yet many will be grieued for the one that will not for the other wherfore let vs learne if we will conuey God his blessing to our posterities let vs vse y e duties there vnto let vs if we be loth to conuey God his iudgements to our children carefullie auoid the meanes vnto it and surely as it is a blessed thing in the houre of death with Simeon to depart in peace leauing our wife children and seruants members of Christ spouses to Christ childrē to God and seruants to the Lorde so in death no one thing will be more grieuous vnto a man then the Lord hauing giuen him the charge of so many soules to be furthered to saluation that his owne tormented conscience shall presse him howe in as much as he could he hath helped them forwarde to their damnation and so which is more fearefull he shall haue them spewing and foming out on his face continuall curses in hell accusing him for euer to bee a murtherer of their soules and a cutthrote of their saluation Howe be it in all this I doe not exempt Children from all blame so charging the parents as though the Children were frée from all guiltinesse herein for I am not ignorant that as in the time of Ezechiel so in our dayes youth is readie enough to take vp this prouerb the fathers haue eaten sower grapes and the Childrens téeth are set on edge but I affirme that though the occasion be offred of such wicked parents yet the cause of destruction is still in the children themselues And besides that it is sure that the soule which hath sinned shall die the death Séeing there bée some young men who notwithstanding the great prophanesse of the moste the manifolde corruptions offered abroade the vngodlie examples abounding at home are so mightilie preserued by the séede of grace that they escape safelie in an holie course of life lamenting when they sée the least occasion of euill reioycing in the least occasion of good things The rest who please themselues and hope to shelter their sinnes vnder their parents defaults are plainlie left without excuse and are iustlie guiltie of thebloud of their owne sinnes Labour therefore ye yong men to wipe away the teares of griefe from your fathers eies and stay the sorrowfull spirites of your tender mothers and consider in your selues if ye haue anie nature in you and haue not buried y e vse of common reason what a shame is it to be a shame vnto your fathers to whome ye ought to be a glorie thinke ye wanton wittes that haue not cast of all naturall affections what a contempt it is to be a contempt vnto your mothers to whome you haue offered as it were a despightfull violence in that ye are a corrosiue to hir griefe when as ye should haue bene a crowne vnto hir comforts The end of all this bréeflie is thus much that parents hauing fooles Children not walking either in knowledge or in a good cōscience must make some vse of so iust a cause of griefe examining themselues and accusing their owne soules before the Lord either for that their méeting was prophane to so holie an estate or brutishlie because they desired rather a séede like vnto them in flesh and bloud then such as might bée like to Christ by grace and new birth or that they begate their ofspring as mere naturall or verie carnall men or because they either prophanelie neglected all education or monstrouslie misliked that in their young children which they liked in themselues and punished in them their owne corrupt precepts or for that they suffered their Children iniuriouslie to doe euill to others which they could not suffer to doe to them selues or vntaught that at home which was taught abroad or in that they doe lie in some sinne vnrepented of or else because they neuer made conscience to bring their posteritie within the couenant of saluation but still loued the flesh of their children and not their soules And children here also must learne that it is one speciall propertie of a liberal and ingenious nature to be carefull so to liue that in time they may be a glorie to their fathers and a ioy to their mothers which the Lord grant to vs all for his owne glorie and our euerlasting comfort through Iesus Christ our Lord and onlie Sauiour Amen Imprinted at London by Ihon Windet and Thomas Iudson for Nicholas Lyng Anno domini 1584
A godlie Exhortation and fruitfull admonition to vertuous parents and modest Matrons Describing the holie vse and blessed institution of that most honorable state of Matrimonie and the encrease of godlie and happy children in training them vp in godly education and houshold discipline R.G. Imprinted at London for Nicholas Ling. 1584. 1 NEw or young married folkes ought not licentiouslie to go together before they haue first vpon their knees secretelie in their chamber commended themselues vnto God by praier after the good example of Tobias and Sara Tobit 7.17 8 4. 2 It is the duetie of parents to blesse their children and wish them all good a patterne whereof we haue in Genesis Chap. 4.8 vers 15.20 Iacob Numbers cap. 6. vers 24. 3 It is the mothers duetie so well as the fathers to instruct her children with precepts of good doctrine so did Bethsheba teach hir sonne Salomon as you may reade Prouerbs chap. 13.1 4 Pouertie and shame is to that child that refuseth Instruction and will not abide correction but that childe that regardeth discipline and giueth eare to the instruction of their parents shall come to honour Prouerbs 13.1.18 5 Who so laugheth their father to scorne and set their mothers commandement at naught the rauens of the vallie eate out their eyes and deuoured bee that child of the young eagles Prouerbs 30.17 6 A wise child maketh a glad father but a foolish and vndiscreete daughter is a heauinesse to hir mother Prouerbs 1.10 7 A well nurtured and mannerly maiden is as a polished stone of a Pallace and the honour of hir fathers house as appeareth by the prophet Dauid in his Psal. 114.12 THe holie Ghost speaking in the Scriptures of foolish sons as that he that begetteth such a one getteth himselfe sorrow and that the father of a foole hath no ioy Prouerb 17 21. Meaneth it not so much of naturall idiots and such as are destitute of common reason although it is true that is a lamentable iudgement of God and a heauinesse to the parents of such a child as of wicked children such as either are ignorant in the word nor knowing how to order one right step to the kingdome of God or else hauing some knowledge abuse it to maintaine their carnall lustes and appetite For this cause as it woulde grieue parents to haue naturall fooles to their children or such as either in some imperfection of nature are dismembred or deformed and misfigured in the partes of their bodie so much more shoulde it grieue them to haue such children as either for want of knowledge and heauenlie wisedome can not walke in the feare of God or abusing the knowledge giuen them prostitute themselues to al sinne and wickednesse it is maruellous howe greatly parents can bewaile the want of one natural gift procéeding of some imperfection and how easilie they can passe ouer without anie griefe the want of all spiritual graces springing from corrupt education In like manner is it strange that men can take the matter so heauilie when their children breake into such offences as either haue open shame or ciuill punishment folowing them and yet can make no bones but passe ouer such sinnes as are against the maiestie of God accompanied with euerlasting confusion and vnspeakeable torments wherein what doeth the most part of men bewray but their great hipocrisie in that neither their ioy nor their griefe is sound to their children and that they loue themselues more in their children then eyther their saluation or the glorie of GOD the tender loue and care whereof no doubt did increase the sorrow of Dauid for the death of his sonne Absolon who was not so much grieued for the losse of a sonne as for that vntimelie ende of his sonne to whom the time of repentance for his saluation and the glorie of God was denied which haply if he had liued his father Dauid might haue reioyced in Let vs learne therefore to correct our affections to our children and be grieued for their ignorance impietie sinnes whereof either our carnall copulation the not lamenting of our naturall corruption the want of prayer and holie séede or prophane education armed with the wrath of God maie bée a most iust occasion Can a man hope for a holie posteritie or doe we maruaile if the Lorde crosse vs in the children of our bodies when we make as bolde and brutish an entrance into that holie ordinance of the Lorde as is the méeting of the neighing horse with his mare when béeing ioyned in that honourable estate of matrimonie either as mere naturall men without all knowledge of GOD we beget our children or as too carnall men without the feare and reuerence of the Lord neither bewailing our corruptions which we receyued of our ancestrie nor praing against the infirmities which may descende to our posteritie wée abuse the marriage bedde Lastlie when hauing receiued the fruite of the wombe we haue no care by vertuous education to offer it to the Lorde that our childe by carnall generation may be the childe of God by spirituall regeneration Surelie no and yet men looking vp to God his prouidence and secrete councell without all bethinking themselues of their corrupt generation from which their children are descended without all looking backe into their wicked and godlesse bringing of them vp will freat agaynst their sinnes fume agaynst their children yea often they will correct them and that to serue their owne corruptions not so much grieued for that they haue sinned against God as that they haue offended them Christians therefore must knowe that when men and women raging with boyling luste méete togither as brute beastes hauing no other respects then to satisfie their owne carnall concupiscense when they make no conscience to sanctifie the mariage bedde with praier when they haue no care to increase the Church of Christ and the number of the elect it is the iust iudgement of God to send them either monsters or naturall fooles or else such as hauing good gifts of the mind and well proportioned bodies are most wicked gracelesse and prophane persons Againe on the contrarie we shal find in the word of God that noble and notable men commended vnto vs for rare examples of vertue and godlines were children asked and obteined of God by praier Our first parents Adam and Eue being humbled after the birth of their wicked sonne Caine obteyned a righteous Abell of whom when by his bloudie brother they were bereft they receiued that holie man Seth. Abraham begetting in the flesh had a cursed sonne Ismael but waiting by faith for the accomplishmēt of God his couenant he obtained a blessed Isaac Iacob not content with one wife according to the ordinance of God was punished in his children yet afterward being humbled he receiued faithfull Ioseph Elkanah Hannah praying and being cast downe had a Samuel that did minister before the Lord. Dauid and Bethsheba lamenting their sins obteined Salomon a man of excellent