stirred up to have great respect for the Clergy his Ministers that wait at his Altar if you contemn and despise them the whole world both Christians Pagans Turks and Infidels will condemn you and you know what our Saviour saith He that despiseth you despiseth me c. You cannot doubtless but esteem them highly for their works sake which hath been of old sometimes the imployment of Kings and Princes without question a noble and worthy imployment to attend the worship and service of the highest Lord who is the Sovereign of the whole world who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords It becomes your gentility to take them into your favour and protection that God may take you and yours into his Ecclus. 7.29 Fear the Lord Reverence his Priests Verse 30. Love him that made thee with all thy strength and forsake not his Ministers Abhor to slight and contemn them much less to attempt the corrupting and debauching of them Again Gentility consists in Loyalty to your Prince this is doubtless a principal part and duty of all Gentlemen strongly to endeavour to support the Crown and Government yea to to the utmost extent of your power to uphold him that is the best Gentleman of the Kingdom in whose veins runs Royal blood who is the Fountain of Honour and Gentility yours but derived from him consider therefore seriously what will be your Lot if your Prince and the Royal dignity should fall to the ground how can you and your Gentility possibly stand and subsist The splendor glory and prosperity of your Prince is yours take away the Sun out of the Firmament and what will become of the Stars Alas your lustre and light is but borrowed from him and therefore cannot consist without him if he fall your glory will certainly cease and you will be at last brought under the yoak of the meanest of the people Major Generals to Lord it over you as heretofore I need not put you in mind to be wise sober cereful and vigilant for you have sober and serious Adversaries if I may so call them who are your and your Princes implacable Enemies who are very demure and serious to do mischief and to work your and his ruin And I make no question you have heard how they triumph in the name of the Sober Party of the Nation and have it you may be assured of it in their design and intention if they can very soberly and devoutly with the face of Religion to raise up the Good old Cause again out of the dust and once more to dethrone Majesty and very soberly to set up their Common-wealth and overthrew both Church and State and cast your all with your Prince and Royal Family out as Dirt and Rubbish fit for nothing and to Lord it over you which is made now more apparent since the writing of this Discourse by the Discovery of the late horrid Plot wherefore doth it not think you very much concern you all to be wise and sober to be all firmly united among your selves and to adhere closely to your Gracious Prince and to endeavour to wipe off the stain of Intemperance and Debauchery from the English Gentry the Loyal Party which your Enemies would so earnestly fasten upon you Consider further wherein your Gentility consists that whereas you have a Wise Noble Mild Generous and Gracious Prince and Sovereign who is Wise and Gracious even to a Miracle who is Sober and Temperate who delights in Noble Just and Generous Actions who rules his people with Wisdom Moderation and Gentleness who designs our good and welfare Now therefore it will be harsh to you to say Regis ad Exemplum follow his Example of Wisdom Sobriety Temperance Patience and Goodness be you Wise Sober and Temperate Endeavour to promote the welfare of all under you seek the welfare of your poor Tenants and that they may not only subsist but thrive under you take heed of oppressing them consider that to Terrify and do wrong will waste Riches thus the house of Proud men shall be made desolate Ecclus. 21.4 To promote their welfare is your own interest and therefore I need to say little to perswade you to do good to your selves do not go about to vitiate and debauch them by Excess and Intemperance for to make them ill Husbands will be your loss in conclusion but do them good discountenance vice and prophaneness in them and all others under you and further let it be your design and care to do all the good that you are able in this consists Gentility for in this is your happiness and glory Let your mind be inlarged in some measure answerable to your fortunes be like the Sun who delights to to run his course and afford his benigne influence to the Earth and every Creature of the Universe So Honour the Lord with thy Substance and with the First Fruits of all thy Increase Prov. 3.9 In this also principally consists your Gentility that you abound in Charity towards the Poor they are eminently yours your Lot and Portion Cast thy Bread upon the Waters c. And Give therefore a Portion to Seven and to Eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the Earth as Solomon speaks Eccl. 11.1 2. And as to your direction in this great and necessary work let the Reverend and worthy Dr. Hammond be your guide who saith That as our Righteousness must exceed the Righteousness of the Iews so our Mercy their Mercy i. e. to be a Righteous Christian such a one as performs what the Law of Christ requires of him for Almsgiving it is necessary to set apart much more than a yearly thirtieth part of his Revenue or Increase and to be a merciful or benign or pious Christian much more again than that is necessary And whereas the Apostle in 2 Cor. 9.6 saith He that Soweth bountifully shall Reap bountifully by which the said worthy Author conceives is meant not only Gods abundant retributions of glory in another world but even his payments of temporal plenty and blessings here to those who have been willing to make that Christian use of that earthly Talent committed to their Stewarding And concludes with a Passage out of S. Hierom Non memini me legere mala morte mortuum qui liberaliter opera Charitatis exercuit He also further observes that Alms increaseth wealth because the giving Alms brings Gods blessings on wealth and further saith there is he conceives not any one thing temporal for which there are so many clear evident promises in the Scripture as this Therefore in the midst of those freedoms you take in the use of your abundance consider and remember the Poor and cut off at least somewhat of your Superfluities and Excesses and let the Poor Hungry and almost starved Families be refreshed therewith and let them rejoyce and drink your Healthy and bless you and pray for your Prosperity and Happiness for this is most certain it is the work of
become wise And Verse 25. And how can he get wisdom that holdeth the Plow c. You have Learning and good Education those great helps by which you are enabled if you will to improve your selves much in Learning in Wisdom and Prudence Ecclus. 14.20 Blessed is the man that doth meditate good things in wisdom that reasoneth of holy things with understanding This sure you have most of you great Estates and a great account to make to God for those many benefits and favours you enjoy from his bounty as I mentioned before you have therefore less time of leisure and vacancy than you imagine you have great things before you Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse Iovi Employ your selves your Parts and Learning and opportunity therefore to improve your Knowledg and Learning your Leisure and Time in the attainments of Wisdom and Vertue Keep sound wisdom and discretion so shall they be life unto thy Soul and Grace to thy Neck Prov. 3.21 22. And consider that Learning is unto a wise man as an Ornament of Gold and like a Bracelet upon his Right Arm Ecclus. 21.21 Make use of your capacious Souls and the great helps you have by Learning Leisure and your Education in improving of your selves who have the whole Universe before you stand not still and spend your time in idle speculation and gazing upon the variety of Created Beings like the Animals and Bruites but wisely contemplate and consider them There 's room enough for the greatest Wit the most penetrating exquisite and capacious Mind wherein to spend it self while it subsists in this life And from these Streams let them viz. your Solus have recourse to the Fountain to the Supream Wisdom the Original Being the Creator of all who hath made every thing very good yea hath made all things beautiful every one in their season Consider him and give him the honour of all his works And to help you herein take in the assistance of the Son of Syrach Ecclus. 43.26 By his word all things consist And Verse 27. We may speak much and yet come short wherefore in sum he is all Verse 28. How shall we be able to magnify him For he is great above all his works Verse 30. When you glorify the Lord exalt him as much as you can even yet will he far exceed and when you exalt him put forth all your strength and be not weary for you can never go far enough Consider you have the Sacred Scriptures to study the Life of the ever blessed Jesus to contemplate if you be Christians endeavour to adorn and beautify your Souls with Divine Knowledge with Virtue and Goodness mark what Solomon saith that Wisdom is good with an Inheritance Gentlemen be like your selves above other men in vertue and true worth and goodness make use of your Reason for in this consists mans great happiness and excellency above Bruits take that wise advice Ecclus. 18.30 Go not after thy Lusts but refrain thy self from thy Appetite And Chap. 19.5 Whoso taketh pleasure in wickedness shall he condemned but he that resisteth Pleasures Crowneth his Life Mind much the Education of your Children you on whom God hath bestowed that Blessing those that bear your Character and Image that are parts of your self in whom you will survive your selves in this world even after your are dead employ your selves much in the care of their future well-doing Ecclus. 7.23 Hast thou Children instruct them and bow down their Necks from their Youth Chap. 30.8 11.12 13. An Horse not broken becometh head-strong and a Child left to himself will be willful Give him no liberty in his youth and wink not at his follies Bow down his neck while he is young and beat him on the sides while he is a Child lest he wax stubborn and be disobedient to thee and so bring sorrow to thine heart Chastise thy Son and hold him to labour lest his lend behaviour be an offence to thee And be sure if ever you would have your Children Vertuous and Good be very careful not to give them ill example for more especially you will find this true in them that vivitur exemplis magis quam legibus therefore expect not Miracles and that your Children should be good when you your selves are daily examples before their eyes of Vice and Wickedness And be not too indulgent to your Children to their ruin and destruction for if you would have them worth any thing be content that they be under somewhat a severe Discipline if their tempers will bear it for as the Scriptures speaketh It is good for a man that he bear the yoak in his youth Lamen 3.27 It being most sure that Knowledge Wisdom and Virtue are not born with them but must be acquired by them and they must undergo some hardship and difficulty some pain and labour to acquire them for And it is better to dye without Children then to have them that are ungodly Ecclus. 16.3 Now by means of Religious and Vertuous Education they are kept from Habit and Custom in sin that second nature and so are more easily conducted to the ways of all vertue and goodness You have most of you great Estates to leave behind you to your Posterity it therefore very much concerns you to endeavour that by Education and Instruction they may be furnished with Religion Learning Vertue as well as with an estate else they are in great danger to prove like a Ship without ballast when she comes to bear a great Sail to be quickly overset and lost Instil into their young and tender minds Religion and Virtue by little and little wherein if you have not a better you may make use of this Scheme or brief draught of Religious and Vertuous Principles Let thy Thoughts Be Divine Awful Godly Let thy Talk Be Little Honest True Let thy Works Be Profitable Holy Charitable Let thy Manners Be Grave Courteous Chearful Let thy Diet Be Temperate Convenient Frugal Let thy Apparel Be Sober Neat Comely Let thy Will Be Constant Obedient Ready Let thy Sleep Be Moderate Quiet Seasonable Let thy Prayers Be Short Devout Often Let thy Recreations Be Lawful Brief Seldom Let thy Memory Be Of Death Punishment Glory Next to the improvement of your Children it will not be improper to mind the improving of your Estates for their future welfare a brave and noble imployment for Gentlemen to busy themselves in but chiefly consider that this is the happinesss of a great Fortune of a great Estate when it is an attendent to a Gentlemen of a Generous Noble and Vertuous mind a liberal and open hand when Gentlemen live like themselves are men of publick Spirits that look upon themselves not born only for themselves that delight in worthy designs in doing good who are of the temper of that famous Roman Titus who as it is storied of him used to say Hodie non regnavimus quia neminem affecimus beneficio Who are not themselves if they are not
ancient times that there was in the Air certain surly and malevolent Spirits and Demons who were endeavouring to do all the mischief possible to Mankind on Earth How much therefore doth it concern us that we do not by our sins and wicked lives forfeit our interest in the protection of the Almighty and his blessed Angels his Ministring Spirits who as the Learned Sir Thomas Brown observes have a friendly respect and good will to man and do many courteous Offices for us his words are these That having therefore no certain knowledge of their nature 't is no bad method of the Schools whatsoever perfection we find obscurely in our selves in a more compleat and absolute way to ascribe unto them He further goes on I could easily believe that not only whole Countries but particular persons have their Tutelary and Guardian Angels which is not a new opinion of the Church of Rome but an old one of Pythagoras and Plato that those Noble essences in Heaven bear a friendly regard unto their fellow nature on Earth and therefore he believes that those many prodigies and ominous prognosticks which forerun the ruins of State Princes and Persons are the charitable promonitions of good Angels which more careless enquiries term but the effects of chance Now God hath made a gracious promise That he will give his Angels charge over them that fear him it therefore doth not a little concern us to keep our selves from all pollution of sin that is so contrary to God and to their pure and holy natures and which will estrange them from us and as it were force them from our protection and will consequently invite to us the society of those Surly Wicked and Malevolent Spirits and Demons who design nothing but mischief and ruin to mankind both to tempt and further us in sin and then to afflict and hurt us so far as they are permitted to do by God for this is very much to be feared that where the Carcase of Debauchery and Wickedness is thither these Eagles will be gathered together What great cause have we to pray as our Church well directs us in the Collect upon Michaelmas day O everlasting God who hast Ordained and Constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order mercifully grant that as thy holy Angels alway do thee service in Heaven so by thy appointment they may succour and defend us on earth through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Vertue and true Goodness would not only render you truly Rich Honourable and Happy in the injoyment of that full satisfaction in the serenity calmness and quiet of Mind that tranquility of Soul that Proemium ante Proemium in which mans happiness and welfare in this life principally consists as the Son of Syrach witnesseth Ecclus. 2.26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight Wisdom and Knowledge and Ioy but would certainly place you under the protection of God and his holy Angels and at last will Crown you with Honour Glory and Immortality for ever in the highest Heavens CHAP. V. A word by the by to the Reverend Clergy of the Church of England as now by Law Establish'd MAy I add a word or two without offence as a digression to our Reverend and Worthy Clergy whom I hope I may place with Gentlemen being Scholars he that is a Scholar having one principal part if not the best part of a Gentleman their calling and imployment also high excellent and sacred if the service of the highest Lord be the highest and best service in the world having been sometimes as I intimated before the imployment of Kings and Princes who were both Kings and Priests which sacredness and dignity of Office will ever be acknowledged in the world while there is a God acknowledged and worshipped therein which will be without question to the end thereof in despight of all the Atheists and Debauchers with their great Patrons Pope Leo 10 th Ochinus with our English Leviathan I hope the Excellency Dignity Sacredness of their Office yea their very Vestures betokenning Purity and Innocency will put them in mind what they should be in their Conversations I hope therefore I need not mind any of them to have a special care of being carried away by the impetuous current of intemperance and excess so abounding in our days I hope I need not caution them to be resolute in vertue and goodness for as one said very well in honest Principles it is good to be Vir rigidae innocentiae which I have read Livy should say of Cato Debere inesse quandam moribus contumaciam to be pertinacious in goodness is commendable in them I need not wish them to endeavour to stop the tide or that they of all others would however add no fuel to these Flames but have a great care and watchfulness that they do not transgress the Divine Laws and offend God in any kind and thereby open the mouths of theirs and the Churches Enemies Oh that they if it were possible might be all great examples of Justice Righteousness Tempeperance and Moderation and all other Christian Graces that their Conversations might be ever Holy and Heavenly and their affections above earthly things that they would Ventri bellum indicere For they of all others should not forget that Rule of the Father Quantò facilùs illicita timebit qui etiam licita verebitur It is wisdom some times even to shun things that are lawful that we may not run into the unlawful And let that excellent and worthy saying of the famous Dr. Reynolds be ever in your hearts and minds who being too much intent upon his Studies to the prejudice of his Health as was thought and being advised by a friend Non perdere substantiam propter accidentia he presently replyed Nec propter vivendi vitam perdere Causam I hope you will be all as resolute for God and his Laws at least as wicked men are for the Devil and his works of darkness and that at all times with Wisdom and Courage you will own your Lord and Master the ever blessed Jesus and do your duties in Exhortation Admonition Reproof in Christian Advice and Counsel but more especially by your Conversations your constant deportment according to the holy Christian Religion discountenancing of all sin but more especially this Epidemical this growing sin of Swinish Drunkenness so much abounding among us in this Nation that so it may be truly said of every one of you Planxit ruinas animarum God requires this of you as you well know that you should be the Salt of the earth seasoning all places and all companies where you come with Religion and Goodness And although it will be your lot to converse sometimes with Publicans and Sinners as your Lord and Master did yet let it be always to reclaim them to do them good and more especially to give them good Example as he did but by no means to incourage them in their Sins by ill
Wisdom Religion Justice Temperance Loyalty and Charity that will exalt you and that must establish both you and your Family For unless a man hold himself diligently in the fear of the Lord his House shall soon be overthrown Ecclus. 27.3 So that if ever God should suffer the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation to be once more overthrown and trodden down as heretofore Atheism Contempt of God and Religion Wickedness and Dabauchery together with gross Hypocrisy will be the cause thereof from which fearful judgment let us pray Good Lord deliver us Gentlemen think seriously of those many dangers and Temptations that your Wealth Grandure and Superfluity of all things expose you to therefore the Son of Syrach saith Ecclus. 31.8.9 Blessed is the Rich that is found without blemish Who is he and we will call him blessed Who hath been tryed thereby and found perfect Then let him glory who might offend and hath not offended or done evil and hath not done it How hard a thing is it for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven saith our blessed Saviour although few ever in the World have believed him and it is recorded of Pelagius as a late Author hath it that grounding himself upon this Scripture It is impossible for a Rich man to enter into Heaven he would by no means grant that a Rich man could be saved but for this the Church noted him for an Heretick for among his Heresies this is scored up for one together with that That it is not lawful to swear but if Pelagius had never otherwise erred the Church might very well have pardoned him that heresy as the said Author observes and goes on thus For many times it falls out by reason of the hardness of our hearts that there is more danger in pressing some truths than in maintaining some errors many Rich and Covetous men by reason of the truth that Rich men may be saved flatter themselves in their sins whereof they dye well conceited from which they had been freed had it been their good fortune to have been thus far deceived and been Pelagians Let men therefore either quite refuse Riches if they offer themselves or if they will give them acceptance let them believe that if they be Rich they may be saved but let them so live as if they could not for the one shall keep them from error in their Faith the other from Sin in their Actions Therefore when ever thou seest God willing to bring the world upon thee to enrich thee to raise thee to honour Suspectum habe hanc Domini indulgentian which the said Author cites out of Tertullian In the midst of your fulness of all things consider seriously your danger and take this caution Go not after thy Lusts but refrain thy self from thine Appetite take not pleasure in much Good Cheer Ecclus. 18.30 32. And Chap. 19.2 5. Wine and Women will make men of understanding to fall away Whoso taketh pleasure in wickedness shall be condmned but he that resisteth pleasure crowneth his life It is true God vouchsafeth you abundance and you may pertake of the good Gifts of God and give him thanks for every Creature of God is good being sanctified by Prayer and as the wise man speaks Ecclus. 31.20 27. Sound Sleep cometh of moderate Eating he riseth early and his Wits are with him but the pain of Watching Choler and Pangs of the Belly are with an unsatiable man Wine is as good as life to a man if it be drunk moderately For it was made to make men glad The great danger is of sinning in the use of lawful things by Intemperance and Excess a Temptation to which lyes always before you and as a late Author hath it To be able to meet and check an Enemy to encounter occasions to act our parts in common life upon the common Stage and yet to keep our uprightness this is truly indeed to live and to serve God and Men and therefore God the more because Men On the contrary to avoid occcasions to follow that other Vincendi genus non pugnare to overcome the world by contemning and avoiding it this argues a wise indeed but a week fainting Spirit therefore it mainly concerns you in the midst of Temptations and Snares to be watchful over your selves And this you may please to take for your incouragement Ecclus. 33.1 There shall no evil happen unto him that feareth the Lord but in temptation even again he will deliver him Abound in conjugal affections to your Yoak Fellows Amor perennis Conjugis Casta manet Love them as your selves for they are a part of you and therefore as the Scripture speaketh No man ever yet hated his own Flesh render them their due benevolence let them be to you as the Loving Hind and Pleasant Roe as Solomon speaks And let her Breasts satisfy thee at all times and be content with her Loves Prov. 5.19 A Friend and a Companion never meet amiss but above both is a Wife and her Husband Ecclus. 4.23 Poverty is that which usually makes enjoyments comfortable and pleasant to us it is therefore certainly unnatural and unreasonable that it should be otherwise herein Let your affections run strongly to your own Drink Waters out of thine own Cistern c. Prov. 5.15 And abandon with abhorrence the wild Cattel leave them to the sordid base and ungentile leave them to your Slaves Drudges and Scullions And why wilt thou my Son be ravisht with a Ssrange woman saith the Wise man Prov. 5.20 And Can a man take Fire in his Bosom and his Cloaths not be burnt Can one go upon hot Coals and his Feet not be burnt Prov. 6.27 28. And Ecclus. 26.22 An Harlot shall be accounted as Spittle but a Married woman is a Tower against death to her Husband Lust not after her beauty in thine heart neither let her take thee with her eye-lids For by means of a Whorish Woman a man is brought to a piece of Bread c. Prov. 6.25 26. Consider also that in nothing more is Christianity to be esteemed than in the Laws of Conjugal Chastity The very Animals some of them observe a kind of Conjugal Covenant how much more should the Diviner Creature Man that he might not spring out of uncertain seed and so mutual affection that Nature hath kindled between the Parent and the Children be utterly extinguished as the Great Grotius hath observed Avoid Gentlemen as much as possible vacancy and to be unimployed for a man hath an active and Vigorous Soul and must be imployed and no man need in truth to complain of want and imployment that hath a mind and understanding to improve a Soul to save Now proper imployment for Gentlemen they being Scholars and having time and leisure also is the improvement of themselves in knowledge and wisdom as the Son of Syrach observeth Ecclus. 38.24 The wisdom of a Learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure and he that hath little business shall