man turning all his desires and his will towards his GOD GOD should fill his mind with his Divine knowledge and his Soul with His Joy and with His Felicitie and Eternal Glory but man having turned away his desire and his will from GOD and so having rendred his mind ignorant and his Soul unhappy and miserable for Eternitie GOD did assume our humane nature and live and die amongst us not only to merit for us the pardon of our wickedness and the Divine Grace but also to demonstrate unto us by his Doctrine and by the examples of his Life of his Death and of his Resurrection how we ought to renounce our evil desires to forsake and make to cease and die our own will and to resume new and Divine desires a will Holy and living unto GOD the which the Holy Spirit imparts unto the soul together with an illuminated Vnderstanding and a Divine Peace and Joy whereby we are reunited with all that which is Holy as well on Earth as in Heaven enjoying in this Holy Society and Communion the Spiritual Grace and benefites of JESUS CHRIST here in time to the end that after the death of the body and then after its Resurrection we may live together Eternalie and Gloriously with GOD. § 46. 2. A second thing which we ought to oblige them particularly to remember 46. 2. Another thing they must be made seriously to observe is the conversation of Jesus Christ in our humanitie as designed for our imitation is how JESUS CHRIST in His Birth in His Actions in His Life and His Death hath managed and conducted the faculties of his Soul and particularly his desires and his Will as well in turning them from evil from the natural inclinations of our mortal humanitie from the esteem of himself from the search of pleasures of the commodities and good things of this World by self denyal by disgrace by lowness by povertie by sufferings and an unrepining acquiescence in all as in turning and yeelding unto GOD these same Desires and will of his not desiring any thing but GOD doing nothing but his Divine will in every thing and adhering alwayes to him by praises and continual Prayer by which his Vnderstanding obtained all the Divine Lights which he demanded of his Father in whose good pleasure he also placed all his Joy 47. They must be taught that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost mentioned in the Belief are but one GOD and that this Glorious mystry is incomprehensible § 47. We may in the third place on the subject of the Holy Trinity tell them in a few words that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost whereof mention is made in the Belief and in the Scripture are not but One only and the same GOD as in us to give some resemblance of this great Mystrie the desire the understanding and the Joy or pleasure of the Soul are but one only Soul and not three That the difference that is among them doth not hinder the Unity of the Divine Nature which is the same and one in all but that this difference is such in GOD that no reason nor humane light neither can nor ought to endeavour to comprehend it That we must believe it with reverence on the Testimony of the word of GOD without knowing it otherwayes waiting untill it please GOD to make us see something of it that will be more clear whether in this life or the other and in the mean time contenting our selves to represent unto us according to our weak capacity GOD the Father as the Author of all good things the Father and Just Judge of our Souls GOD the Son as the Redeemer of the World and the inlightener of our Souls that are ignorant and fallen into darkness and the Holy Spirit as GOD the Sanctifier of hearts and filling with the love of GOD the Souls which had been corrupted by self-love and by sin Or yet moreover GOD the Father as good and the principle of goodness who hath Created all things by the communication of his goodness GOD the Son as Just and the principle of Justice who was incarnat to render us Just who were made unjust by sin GOD the Holy Ghost as the principle of Truth who opens and who illuminates the mind that it may comprehend the truth of Spiritual and Divine things 48. What it is to know the Holy Trinity in a Divine saving maneer § 48. In fine they ought to be made remember on this occasion that the true knowledge of Divine things depends on the living operations of the Holy Spirit in the inward man as hath been already asserted and consequently that the knowledge of the Holy Trinity to the end that it may be Divine and saving must be produced by him in us after the same manner And such it shall certainly be if this knowledge issues in a living representation of the most Holy Trinitie after the image of which we were likewise Created as also if the same knowledge terminates and results in the love and imitation of GOD so vigorously recommended by St. Paul Be ye followers of GOD as being his dear Children and walk in love even as CHRIST hath loved us Eph. 5.1 2. For every one that loveth saith St. John is born of GOD and knoweth GOD But he that loveth not knoweth not GOD nor consequently the Holy Trinity for GOD is love 1 Joh 4.7 8. So that whosoever saith that he knoweth JESVS CHRIST and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him saith the same Apostle Chap 2. V. 4. So then an infallible mark that we truely know the Holy Trinity and that we confess savingly the Father the Creator the good and the powerful is when we love him with fear obedience and respect when we confidently resign our selves to his Power and divine providence and when we represent and follow his Goodness towards all and in every thing We know and confess savingly the Son the Redeemer and the Just one when we live as being delivered by him from this present evil world Gal 1.4 And when we give up our selves to the practice of Righteousness 1 Joh 2.29 And we know and confess savingly the Holy Spirit the Sanctifier and the Spirit of Truth when we give up our selves to Holiness without which none shall see nor consequently ever know livingly the LORD Heb. 12.14 And when we follow the truth in Love Eph. 4.15 Such a knowledge of the Holy Trinity as this is is not an ideal operation of our Humane Reason but a true and real production of the Holy Spirit since the fruits of the Spirit saith St. Paul are goodness Righteousness and Truth Eph. 5.9 But when we reject either all these things or even some of them we do then in effect deny GOD and his Divine Trinity which we do not confess but with the mouth only or by some vain and dead acts of barren reason so as the
others by a Spirit of Humility without design or desire that men should esteem or Honour us and by a Spirit of Penitence without regarding our own satisfaction whither of Soul or of Body but aspiring after a conformitie to the Crucified JESVS and dying in our own account on the Cross without any consolation This is the true Spirit of the Christian Life and practice and of true Christianity a Spirit wholly opposite to that of corrupted nature by which alas Men suffer themselves to be drawn sweetly and as it were laughing unto Eternal perdition without ever thinking on it The will of GOD is that we should do nothing but in order to please him His pleasure is to be glorified by our Salvation His Glory ought to be our Soveraign absolute Universal end and we ought to look on our Salvation as a mean to advance this end of Blessing Praising and Glorifying for ever his Divine Majestie The Glory of GOD is advanced in this life when we give place in our hearts to the force and vertue of JESVS CHRIST and when we suffer his Power and his Energie to beget by us a great many Holy actions for which we have Just ground to Honour Bless and Praise the Divine cause that is the Power and the Efficacie of GOD whence such excellent things do issue which contains in it self infinitly more of them He who abides in me saith JESUS CHRIST and in whom I abide brings forth much Fruit for without me ye can do nothing And herein is my Father Glorified that ye bring forth much fruit Jo. 15.5 8. And elsewhere Let men see your good works that they may Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Matt. 5 16. This may and ought to be extended to all sorts of actions and things because whatever we do ought to be done for the Glory of GOD and because nothing can be well done but in the Name that is by the Power by the Blessing and by the Direction of JESUS CHRIST Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the Glorie of GOD. 1. Cor. 10.31 And whatsover ye do in word or in deed do all in the Name of our LORD JESVS CHRIST Col. 3.17 Thus for instance we eat and drink for the Glorie of GOD in the Name of JESUS CHRIST when we do it from a Principle and in a way communicate and taught us by him and which prompts us to say from our very heart Suffer me not O LORD To eat and drink only as do the Beasts by a meer brutal appetite and for a life only natural And much less in following the disorders of our corrupted natures But grant that by the Power and by the direction of the Holy Spirit of Thy Son JESVS CHRIST I may eat and drink according to thine appointment so much as is necessary for the maintaining of a life which I will imploy in loving thee in blessing thee and in obeying thee in following by thy grace the life of our Redeemer Just so we speak to the Glory of GOD and in the Name of JESUS CHRIST when we seek from him and receive from him the force and grace to say nothing but what is regulated by him but what is necessary and what is proper to suggest good thoughts to men and to turn them from evil and vain things In a word we do all in the Name of Jesus Christ and to the Glory of GOD when having sought before all things the Divine Grace and Vertue of Jesus Christ we do by it and according to the Will of GOD from a Divine Motive and to a Divine End whatsoever we have to do following that admirable lesson of St. Peter Let every one of you according as he hath received the Grace Gift of GOD make use of it for the Good of others as being faithful dispensers of the manifold Grace of GOD. If any man speak let him do it as delivering words flowing from the Virtue of GOD if any one doth service to others let him do it as acting by the Power which GOD gives To the end that in every thing we do God may be glorified by Jesus Christ to whom be Praise and Dominion for ever and ever 1 Pet. 4.10.11 § 63. The Will of GOD is marked in his Commandments 63. The Will of GOD which is the Rule of our Obedience is made known to us on his Precepts which must be taught Young Ones first in the literal then in the more Sublime and Spiritual Import of them which we must cause Young Ones learn and which we must explain unto them at first according to the Letters and as their Capacities will allow And afterwards when they are capable of it we must make them understand that the Law being Spiritual God by his Commands enjoyns us 1. That we love nothing but Himself alone and for His sake only 2. That we do not think that GOD is like to the thoughts and the imaginations that our dark reason and judgement make us apprehend of him Nor that the way of serving and pleasing of him is the work of our own will and of our own fancie 3. That we do not make use of his Name of his Covenant of his Knowledge of his Grace of being the Children of GOD in vain and without profiting by them and bringing foth Fruits agreeable to them and that we take head that we do not cloak our self will our passions our designs our carnal ways and even our wickedness and crimes under the sacred preteâ—ts of the Name of GOD of His Truth of His Justice of His Glory and of his Interest 4. That we must cease labouring acting and living by our own will to the End that GOD may Labour and Work and Live in us and by us 5. That we ought to Honour the Word the Will and the good Inspirations of GOD by which He would beget us Spiritually and make us new Creatures who may live long on the Land which He shall give us that is enjoy Life Eternal 6. That we ought not to Kill in us the Image of GOD take away the spiritual Life from our Souls by our sins nor kill the Soul of our neighbours by the examples of an Heathenish worldly and wicked life 7. That we ought not to serve our selves of any creature for meer pleasure without necessity and without having allowance from the will of GOD This is that which constitutes the Whooredom of of the heart Jam 4.3 4. 8. That we ought not to steal from GOD to whom every thing doth appertain either our affections or our life or our time or goods or labour in imploying them any other way then for him 9. That of our selves and without the Light of GOD we ought not to Judge of any person For otherwayes being as we are in darkness we will Judge falsly and sin grivously against GOD. 10. That being content with what we have we ought not to desire any more for
every desire of having more is that covetousness which is forbidden 64. Though what the Law commands be impossible to corrupted nature yet the Spirit of Jesus makes in an easie yoke § 64. And in fine although that which the Law requires be impossible to the flesh because of sin which hath weakened it nevertheless when GOD gives the Good Spirit of Jesus Christ to a Soul it doth then by his assistance or rather the Spirit of Jesus Christ doth then in that soul all that the Law requires Without doing which none can as yet pretend to the Spirit of Jesus Christ neither doth any as yet belong to him as his Child nor as justified by him Rom 8.3 4 9. Nor as having true faith which doth not make void the Law but establish it Rom 3.30 By which also we keep the Commandments of GOD in overcoming the World Joh 5.3 4. And which in fine admits us into a communion with GOD in the Light and into a state out of which we cannot partake in the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Death Since If we say than we haue fellowship with GOD and yet walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth But if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and then the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin saith St. John 1 John 1.6 7. § 65. The Will of GOD as to that we must practise 65. Portions of Scripture particularized which contain the Gospel Law the perusal whereof must be specially recommended to young ones is also set down very particularlie and in brief in the 5 6 and 7 Chap of St. Mat And in the 13 14 15 and 16 of St. John and in the first Epistle of St. John and St. Peter All which must be made very familiar to young ones together with the great Psalm of David by the reading one Section whereof we may alwayes shut up the reading of the mentioned portions of Holy Scripture To these we may also joyn Thomas a Kempis § 66. All the Laws of GOD which are so wholsome 66. An Abridgment or short summ of the Divine Laws which must be very carefully imprinted on the hearts of Young Ones and so admirable whereof David speaks so often with so much love and admiration which all the Scripture recommends as the source of life as the light of the heart as the Treasure of Souls which Jesus Christ calls Eternal Life Joh 12.50 And which in fine the Holy Spirit promised Writes in the heart where he dwels say all the Laws of GOD may be reduced to these four 1. To Love GOD. 2. To Love Jesus Christ Crucified that is not only himself but also his Cross and his Tribulations the fellowship of his Afflictions conformity to his Death and the fulfilling of what is behind of his Sufferings in our flesh 1 Cor 2.2 Phil 3.10 Col 1.24 3. To love our neighbour 4. And to hate our selves The whole of our duty is truely comprehended under these few heads Therefore it is that we must take pains to inspire the Veneration and love of them into the hearts of Children so to say into the Marrow of their bones from their tender years and to animate them thereto by Prayer by meditation and by the dayly reading of that incompareable Psalms of David which hath been already mentioned as also by the application of those excellent words of his in the 19 Psalm The Law of the Lord the Law of the love of God of the Cross of Jesus Christ the love of our Neighbour and the hatred of self This admirable Law when it is imprinted on the Heart by the Holy Ghost Is a Law that is intire perfect converts the Soul The Testimony of the Lord is sure and makes the simple even little Children wise The Commandments of God are right rejoycing the Heart The Statutes of the Lord are pure and they enlighten the eyes of our soul The fear of the Lord is the source of Holiness it is the only good that shall endure for ever The Judgement of the LORD are true and Righteous altogether more are they to be desired than Gold yea then much fine Gold sweeter also then Hony and the Hony-comb By them is thy servant enlightened and in keeping of them is a great reward § 67. It will be also very profitable 67. Children must be put in mind of the Baptismal Covenant as also of the advantages and duties of it and even necessary to represent unto Children that at their Baptism they entered into a Covenant with GOD who on His part hath promised to be their GOD that is to say to give himself Father Son and Holy Ghost unto them with all his good things and with all his graces whereof then they have received the first fruits which they should take care not to loose by their sins and by an Antichristian conversation especially considering that they also on their part have reciprocally promised unto GOD to be entirely his and to give and consecrate unto him for ever their Souls and their bodies their desires their understandings their pleasures and their Joyes their actions and their whole life together with a filial obedience to all the expressions of his most Holy will and an absolute and full renounciation of self and sin of the Devil and the World thus ratifieing in substance all those things which we have hitherto insisted on and which none can neglect without renouncing his Baptism and Christianitie § 68. I suppose that all the World knows well enough the most common rules concerning what Young Ones ought to practise with respect to God 68. What Young Ones must practise their Parents their Neighbours themselves things which ought to be inculcat very carefully on them by reason that such is the Will of God As § 69. 1. With regard to God 69. 1. With respect to God To live and to act as being alwayes in the presence of God who together with all his Holy Angels still looks on us and who will make to come into his Judgement whatsoever we have done spoke or thought whether Good or evil in order to be rewarded or punished for it for ever To pray unto God orderly Evening and Morning and before Meals To make them often lift up their heart to God particularly before any labour or imployment in order to obtain his Assistance and Blessing and after they have finished their work to return Thanks to God for it and offer it up to Him and to His Glory To hear with respect and Attention the Divine Truths whether in private or at Church without thinking that they have sufficiently discharged their Duty to God for having simply heard them or retained them in their Memories and that therefore they ought to pray unto God that he would give the true Understanding of them and by the Operations of his Good Spirit
1915 LAURISTON · CASTLE William Robert Reid THE True Principles OF THE CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF CHILDREN Briefly and Plainly Declared and Recommended to PARENTS and all Others Concerned in the Institution of YOUTH Very profitable for all Sorts of Persons as containing the Great and Fundamental Truths and Duties of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION Translated from the second Edition of the Original French For I know him Abraham that he will Command his Children and his Household after him and they shall keep the Way of the LORD to do Justice and Judgement that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him Gen 18.19 Edinburgh Printed by John Reid in the Year M.DC.XCV Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Eccles 12.1 THE TRANSLATOR TO THE Christian Reader THAT the Education of Children is of vast Moment and Consequence will I doubt not be readily acknowledged by all The truth is the Injunctions given to Parents on this score in Holy Scripture are so frequent and so solemn and the Advantages of a good Education are so many and so Valuable that no thinking Persons can be insensible of the Importance of it But in the mean time it is sad to observe that this great Concern is as universally either wholly neglected or but superficially and trifflingly mannaged as the Importance of it seems to be universally acknowledged Some Parents indulge themselves in a wretched and unnatural carelesness as to the Education of their Children Some are ignorant of the true Measures of accomplishing it And others do adopt and steer their course by either false or imperfect Maxims It is certain that Christians ought to madnage the Education of their Children according to the Prescripts of the Christian Religion This is the Blessed Magazin or Storehouse out of which they must take Tools and Materials for rendring their Souls agreeable to GOD and preparing them for the Glories of Eternity This is the Doctrine to use the Apostles Phrase Into which they must be delivered This is the Mould on which they must be Formed And hence must the Salt be fetched that ought to season these tender Hearts Young Ones must be timeously taught To determine to know nothing but JESUS CHRIST and Him Crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 The Example of His Holy Life His Cross His Sufferings and Death and conformity to Him in these and all other things are very seriously to be recommended to them They must be train'd up in the Love of self-denyal contempt of the World and resignation to the will of GOD. The Excellencie delightfulness and and necessity of these practices are to be carefully represented to them They must be early acquainted with the straite narrow way the way of the Cross of Sufferings and of Mortification as a way that 's Lovely pleasant and full of peace and comfort and leading unto Life Eternal They are further to be made sensible of the great Corruption of human nature of the necessity of the Spirit and Grace of Jesus Christ in order to Enlighten purifie heal the dark unclean and diseased Souls of Men The Spirit courses and practises of the wicked World as also the Motions Inclinations the Lusts and Passions of depraved nature must be defamed and disparaged to them For these prompt to the pursute of Carnal Ease and pleasure of self-satisfaction and vanity of Riches and Plenty of Honour and Greatness Which desires are unsuitable to a state of tryal such as is our condition in this World and in which we are oblidged to persevering and patient labour and watching fighting and wrestling running striving In a word to educate Children Christianly is to Disciple them to the Holy JESUS and to oblidge them to trace the foot-steps of their dear Redeemer to conform to so Divine a Patern in every thing to learn of him to be Meek lowly in heart to take his easy pleasant Yoke upon them and so they shall find rest to their Souls These are great and Noble things and such as are very proper to be instiled into young Hearts as soon as possible that so from their Infancie they may learn to know CHRIST and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his Death * Phil 3.10 These are things that Books which pretend to give an account of the Measures of a Chrishian Education should especially point at and direct unto And I cannot but look on it as an essential defect in Treatises of this nature when such matters as these are either not at all touched or but little and slightly insisted on in them The little tract that follows having accidentally or rather by a happy providence fallen into my hands I was after a serious and deliberate perusal soon convinced That it did not fall short of its Title that is that in my opinion it solidly judiciously layes down the great foundamental Principles of a Pious and Christian Education And this conviction prompted me for the common Good of Mankind to attempt a Translation of it being assured that in doing this I would do a considerable service and kindness to all serious and well disposed hearts I have endeavoured to put the Translation in as plain and simple a dress of Language and to keep as near the Original as possibly I could and without making any additions save only that for the benefit of the Reader I have presented him on the Margent With a brief and summary view of the Contents of each Section I perswade my self that all conscientious Parents and Instructers of Youth all that are tender of their own and their Childrens Spiritual concerns and Eternal Salvation will look on it as a very Fortunate rencountre that a Book is put in their hands which furnishes them with Excellent Advices for mannaging this Great Trust and that in a way that is Easie Familiar and Compendious and suited to the Capacities of all that are of Honest Candid and Serious Dispositions It is true none are here to expect to be taught the Rules of Civility Or to be instructed in the method of attaining Languages and Humane Learning No this was not in the Authors View Neither could he design it it being indeed wholly Forraign to the Concerns of a Christian Education All that is pretended to be done in this Performance is to affoord the best Directions for Fashioning and Dressing the Souls of Young Ones in order to partake in the Glories of Eternity This is the Butt and Mark at which a Christian Education should especially Level and all the directions that are offered should be suited and accomodated to this great end the measures here prescribed have visibly this Character being indeed the great essentials the Marrow and Substance of the Gospel which are here recommended first to the serious consideration and
practice of the Parents that so by means of their Holy examples and diligent instructions and by the Blessing of GOD upon their Pious Endeavours these great Truths may be savingly imparted to and inculcated on their Children The Pious Author having been importuned by a Great and Worthy Friend of his to give directions how to mannage aright the Education of Children though for some time he declined to comply to this request Yet in end he was prevailed with to impart his Thoughts but still without any design of making them publick till at last it was concluded that it would greatly serve the interests of all Conscientious Instructers of Youth to have such an excellent Help put in their hands The Author addressed these Directions to his Friend in the Form and confined himself to the Bounds of a Letter whereby he was obliged not to draw out his Thoughts to any great length and so gives but the Elements or first principles of a Christian Education However the principles which he hath laid down as they are True and Genuine so they are Fertile and Comprehensive and capable to suggest to all attentive and penetrating Minds whatever is necessary to be known on this head But since few will be at the pains to make such Improvements of them and because some do stand in need of more dilated and ample Accounts Therefore the Reader may e're long by the Divine Blessing and Assistance expect a full and Copious System of Directions on the Subject of a Christian Education Which however are but Deductions from and Enlargements on the Principles here laid down In this larger Account the faults and miscarriages committed in the Education of Youth are declared particular Directions are given how to mannage this great Concern in all the instances of it to the best Advantage Powerful Motives are adduced to perswade Parents and all others concerned in the Religious Education of Youth to put what is recommended to them on this head in practice And in fine a great many excellent necessary and yet little observed Truths are through the whole insisted on Mean while Christian Reader Converse with these Principles read and digest them They deserve some of thy most recollected Thoughts and thou shalt never I hope have cause to repent of imploying a few of thy moments in turning over the following pages and that thy Reading may profit and edifie thee I shall begg pardon before I close to entreat a few things of thee One is That thou Read with closs Attention and not content thy self with a superficial glance Next that thou do not reject what thou dost not at first understand but vouchsafe it a review And in fine and especially that thy Perusal be attended with a serious Disposition for otherwise all will be to little purpose nay I must plainly tell thee that if thou art not resolved to deny thy self to take up the Cross and follow Christ some things here will choak thee For corrupt Nature will fly in the Face of what grates hard upon it and pinches it And the old Man cannot endure to be roughly treated But on the other hand if thou designes to be a votary of the Spirit Cross of the Holy Jesus if thou art one that worships God in Spirit and places Religion not in outward Formes and Circumstances but in Righteousness Peace and Purity in Life and Power Then what is here offered to thee will prove savory and relishing and the more the Truths here presented to thee will choak and contradict thy corrupt self Still the more agreeable they will be And thou wilt find such solid pleasure and Tranquillity in the practice of them thy self that thou will be prompted to propagate and recommend them to all others on whom thou canst hope to have any influence And O may the Good GOD turn the Hearts of the Fathers unto the Children and the Hearts of the Children to their Fathers and the Disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just * Mal 4.6 Luke 1.17 And Second with his effectual Blessing and Grace whatever is sincerly designed to serve the Interest of Souls AMEN THE Authors Advertisement TO THE READER FAthers and Mothers and all you to whom the Education of Children is intrusted if you understood well the Importance of that Charge you would easily discern that all your other Affairs your Imployments your Businesses your Concerns your Goods and your Care to get them and to keep them are but nothings or but meer triffles in comparison of it The least of these Souls whereof you are oblidged to take care is of such a Value that the Son of GOD hath esteemed it more than his own Life Your work is to educate them for Heaven or for hell and accordingly if you educate them well you shall together with them as a Recompence of your Labours enjoy a happy Eternity or endless miseries if you neglect them even though otherwise you may have lived unblameably as to your own Persons without mentioning any thing of the curses of this Life which fall on such as do not fairly acquite themselves of this duty The holy Scripture lets us see that the high Priest Eli though otherwayes a Good Man yet not having effectually enough resisted and curbed the wicked inclinations of his Sons was punished for it with Death both he and his Children the whole people routed the Ark taken and all his priestly Family exterminated It is to be feared that the Callamities which overwhelm Christendome owe their Original also to this For Men do not take care to educate their Children by any other principle but that by which they have begotten them I mean by the impulse of a purely carnal Concupiscence whereas they ought to be acted in the whole from a Principle of Divine Love which prompts and influences us to desire that there may be yet other Creatures with us which might joyn and unite with us in Eternally Loving and Honouring the Majesty of GOD. But alace this is it of which Men take but very little thought and there are but few who seriously design to form Creatures who professing and living agreeably unto the great Name of Christian in this World should be worthy of GOD and his Eternity here after Since the following Letter Aims only at this design it was believed that to render it publick would be a beneficial Performance and greatly tend to the Advantage of whosoever will incline to make the designed Use and Improvement of it whether with respect to Children or also with respect to themselves how aged soever they may be Because in effect the Truths that are contained in it are of so comprehensive and extended an Use that at the bottom they do no less agree to the adult and aged for all their Life throughout than to Children for their first years And since according to the Words of JESUS CHRIST We must become little Children in order to inherit the Kingdom of GOD Since the Perfection which the
own nothingness from our weakness from our own injustice wickedness ignorance and such like For example wherefore did GOD Creat the World To manifest his Power his Wisdom and his Goodness Wherefore did he make Man For that very same end and withall to shew him and give him his Felicity and his Glory Wherefore doth man die By the Justice of GOD It being Just that since man did abuse his life it should be taken from him Wherefore are the good afflicted by sickness or any other way Because since they have been formerly guilty of some sins the Justice of GOD so orders it that they should be rather corrected for them in this temporal life then in the other which is Eternal Wherefore on the other hand doth good oftentimes befal the wicked here below By the goodness of GOD who sweetly invites them to his love or also by his Justice who will give them in this life the recompence of any little good they may have done in it Whereas in the other life they shall be Eternally punished for the sins in which they have lived without forsaking them And so as to all other things even the most material and visible We must make them understand for example that wars fall out because that GOD is Just and that men and their wickedness deserve to be punished We must tell them that the fire is warm by the reason that GOD is good and that knowing that man hath need of heat that he may live he hath by his goodness given him the fire with such a quality that the fire burns and causes pain by the Justice of GOD who makes use of this creature as a Rod for the chastising of men who have sinned And as to moral things we ought to do the same and tell them for instance that we must obey our Parents and Superiors in this and in that because it is the will of GOD That we must not value our selves nor desire that others should esteem us because GOD only deserves that as being only Wise and only good and that we are but Weakness but ignorance but folly and wickedness of our selves that we must not wish nor render evil to those who do evil to us because GOD wills that we should do as he doth who alwayes doth us good and even then when we offend him that we must not disesteem Judge nor dishonour our Neighbour because GOD alone will be his judge and that it is his Will that we should love others as our selves that we are too ignorant to know the hearts of others and too perverse to Judge favourably of them or without passion and so of the rest 40. The happy advantages of this Method § 40 If we did imploy every day some moments to exercise after this manner the reason of young Ones we would very soon accustom them to see GOD in every thing to have him alwayes before their eyes and to walk continually as in his presence There is nothing in this World whether Divine Humane Natural or Political Histories whether Sacred or prophane whereof we might not very easily make them reduce all the causes and all the particular events with their reasons to these admirable Principles of the Power Wisdom Goodness truth Justice Felicity Glory Holiness and Will of GOD and to the weakness ignorance inconstancie and malignitie of Man This besides that it would render GOD alwayes present to us would moreover wonderfully serve to rectifie reason after a most solid and saving manner providing that we did it imploring with sincerity and humility the Grace and Blessing of GOD. We might begin to make some Essay of it on an History of the Scripture For instance on the Historie of the selling of Joseph which is in the Book of Genesis or on some Historical Chapter of the Gospel § 41. III. Since the Imagiination 41. III. The imaginatione of Young Ones must be early improven as well as the Memorie is that which hath most strength and most activitie in Young Ones we shall do well to improve them very soon that by this way also we may communicate unto them as much of the knowledge of the things of their Salvation as is possible and as they are then capable of 42. A necessarie caution All the notices of Divine things which we receive by the imagination are but verie dark and imperfect images § 42. But it is good to let them understand before hand that all the knowledge they shall acquire after this manner is but very gross and very obscure Pictures of Divine things whereof they do not know by that the hundred thousandth part not even the least part as realie it is in it self because that the things of GOD have by millions of times more perfections then we are able to comprehend of them untill that in process of time and after that we have constantly prayed unto GOD and done his will he dispel and chase away our gross and dull way of knowing and then make us see the pure beautie of his truth This shall hinder these little Spirits from curuing their first thoughts unto obstinate prejudices and it will dispose them to teachableness and to the expectation of the Light of GOD. § 43. 43. This may be exercised in Young Ones three wayes 1 By reading and leting them see the resemblances of Sacred histories We may exercise their minds in this respect 1. By reading and even by the sight of some representations of the Histories of the Holy Scripture to the end that so their memorie and their imagination may be filled with Holy Images And we must at the same time accustom them to reduce that which they shall read or see at least the principal heads to the Divine principles which we have alreadie recommended § 44. 2. By the explication of the Creed 44. 2. By acquainting them with the importance and meaning of the Belief which they ought to learn by heart and on which we ought to discourse with them according to their capacitie 1. Of GOD the Father and the Creatour of his Perfections Power Wisdom Goodness and the rest of his Works as well Spiritual as Corporal as well these that are dureable and Eternal as these that are Temporal and transient 2. Of GOD Incarnat or of the Son of GOD JESUS CHRIST of his works which concern our redemption And 3. of the Holy Spirit whose works regard the restitution of man to his first Estate 45. Where three things must be recommended to their notices § 45. And on this head it will be profitable to oblige them to remarke two or three things of great importance 1. GODS Gracious designs and conduct with respect to man both in his Creation and Redemption which is the substance of the whole One is that all that is in the Creed doth issue and result in this principle Viz. that GOD the Almighty and the Creator of all things did make man to the end that
Capacities or Faculties and powers Over which we must very carefully watch that we may becommingly improve and mannage them For on this depends the Eternal well-fare and misery of Souls I. The first of these Capacities is the Power of Desiring or Willing II. The Second is that of Knowing III. The third is that of Rejoycing IV. And the fourth is that of Executing and puting in practice outwardly that which seems good to it These Faculties or Properties are so inter-woven with our Soul and so unseparable from it that one may justly look on them as constituting its nature And therefore we need not scruple to determine that the Soul is a being that desires to know the true good and to injoy it to the end that it may regulate thereby its life and its practice to the Glory of GOD and its own eternal wellfare When a Soul desires the true good and when it knows it Enjoyes it and puts it in practice it is happy Or at lest it is in the assured way of Salvation and Happyness If ye know these things saith JESUS CHRIST Happy are ye if ye do them John 13.17 But when a Soul is without all desires after the true good without the knowledge of it and without the Enjoyment and practice of it It is Infinitely unhappy and in the way to Eternal perdition Thus we see that all depends on the good or evil conduct of these four Faculties Our great business in this World is to mannage them well Let us think seriously on this for the consequences of it are Eternal Since we are corrupted by sin and since GOD alone is the cause of all good we must seriously endeavour that he come and take Possession of our Soule and there he may Assist and Govern our Desire our Mind our Vnderstanding our Jâ—â— and our Practice otherwayes without him we shall never do any thing to purpose 8. 2. The necessity of improving the faculties of Desire in Children betimes § 8. 1. The gate by which GOD comes unto us with his most Holy grace is the desire of the Soul which we otherwise call the Heart or the Will and this is it which we must excite cherish and improve in Children betimes and that without intermission When this part shall go well all the rest will easily follow it of their own accord But as long as a Soul capable to use this facultie is without a good will and a good Heart that is to say as long as it hath not in it sincere and serious desires after GOD it is really without life before him and shall never live with him if it shall come to depart this life in that state Without this Divine desire all sorts of knowledge and practices and even the greatest advantages of nature of birth and of Education shall serve for no other purpose but to make it so much the more like the Devil and as wicked acursed and unhappy before GOD as he is § 9. The use of the desire 9. The use and importance of the desire breifly declared by a familiar comparison and its importance with respect to the Soul may be very pertinently made manifest to a Child by a comparison suited to his capacitie Namely by telling him that the desire is to the Soul what the mouth and stomach are to the body It is by the mouth and by the stomach that the Body receives its food which when good doth nourish it but if unwholsome and poisonous indsposes and kills it Just so it is by the desire that the Soul is either Nourished or indisposed and killed Spiritually according to the nature of the things after which the desire is carried As then we must take good heed that we put not into the mouth or let down into the stomach but wholsome things So we must take very great care that we do not receive into our desire but good things if we would happily live the life of the Soul For this life shall of necessity be of such a constitution and temper as are our desires and the objects which which we admit unto them And so it is the duty of each one to consider seriously how he Nourishes his Soul or leaves it languishing and what nature the things are to which he gives access unto his desires 10. GOD and his Will the true and the only object of the Desire The consequences of this § 10. The power of desiring hath been made for that which is Good that is to say for GOD who is the only good and for his Will which only is the sourse of all good Therefore it is that we ought not to desire any thing but GOD and that which is agreeable to His Holy desire and to his Divine will and we must disingadge and turn away our desire from every other thing for every other thing but GOD and his will is evil And consequently 11. 1. Consequence to deny our own will and desires to do which Young Ones must be airely in § 11. 1. None ought to desire his own will nor cherish his own desires which are all evil corrupted and the sourse of all sin On the other hand the sole desire and sole will of GOD is the sourse of all good This is it to which Young Ones must be habituated as soon as is possible with the greatest care breaking and crossing their desire in every thing before they have contracted the fatal habit of following their own will But men must act here with discretion though they must never fail most vigorously to oppose and check this unhappy impression when once it hath taken root O how easie would the practice of Virtue become if this wicked habit did make no resistance to it And if while the Spirit is most flexible I mean if from their Infancie upwards men were formed to this great point the which is so necessary that no Soul shall ever be saved without having renounced their own desires The passages of the Gospel are express as to this particular And they ought to be rendered familiar to Children and so ought that Prayer of JESUS CHRIST My Father * Luke 22.42 not my will but Thine be done And that other protestation of his I am not come into the World to do mine own will but the will of my Father * John 6.38 When this unhappy byass or inclination of following our own desires and our own will is already become habitual as it is in those that are adult we must not give over resolving to make assaults on it and to eraze it with the Divine assistance which we must not fail to implore with much ardour and perseverance and having obtained it to imploy it with force and courage against the perverse tendencies of our desires this to be sure we must do if we would not perish Eternally It is on this account that JESUS CHRIST layes that the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and that the violent take it by
LORD the understanding of thy Law and I shall keep it yea I shall observe it with my whole Heart Psal 119.34 32. We must believe what we do not yet Divinely see § 32. As long as GOD hath not yet opened the Eye of our Soul to see by his Divine supernatural Light the Things above the grea◠Mysteries and Truths of our Religion it is necessary that we believe though we do not yet see all that GOD hath said to us of them or all that which the Saints who have the Spirit of GOD have told us of them But we must not believe what the Men of the World talk of them for they are blind and liars In this every man who hath not the Spirit of GOD is a liar said David Psal 116.11 § 33. This is the Principle or ground work of Faith 33. The Principle and Light of Faith Namely to believe and rely on that which GOD hath revealed to us of Divine Things which we do not as yet see and which we do not understand in the mean time waiting patiently and desiring that he would open unto us the Eyes of the Mind and give us his Light that by it we may see clearly when it shall please him This Light being come into the Soul is called The clear Light of Faith But when we have not as yet obtained particular clear discoverie of Divine Things and that nevertheless we believe them in confideing to the Testimonie and to the Conduct of GOD blindly and without comprehending any thing in them this is called the Obscuritie or the dark light of Faith which oftentimes is the most sure and most saving for us as being less subject to presumption and to pride To this may be applyed that Word of the Son is of GOD Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed Joh 20.29 § 34. 11. Although Young Ones be incapable to make use of Reason 34. 11. Young Ones are to be guarded against the abuse delusions of corrupted Reason much less of Reasoning we must nevertheless endeavour as soon as if possible to inculcate on them a Principle which will secure them from the Impostures and the Idolatrie of humane reason which is the grand evil the capital and common Idol And the almost universal Atheism of this Age especially among those who make profession of Learning and Science 35. How this may be best done is declared by a significant comparison § 35. This Principle may be rendred intelligible unto them by this comparison That as a blind man though he may think and discourse and reason the best in the World yet can he not by that mean either know or see either the Sun or other Creatures for at this rate he could not have but dark thoughts gross and wholly false apprehensions of them Just so though all the men of the World should think discourse and reason of Divine Things by all the force of their Spirit yet notwithstanding they could not know by that mean either GOD or the Things of GOD But only have wholly dark and even wholly impertinent thoughts of them It will be necessarie that GOD to the end he may be well known give other Eyes to the Mind as also another Light then that which comes to us from our own activity and as long as he doth not give them Humane Reason with respect to Spiritual Things is nothing but a very shop of ridiculous Chimera's and the pure Fictions of blind Men. § 36. But further that we may continue our comparison as when we have made a Sun or fruits in Effigie 36. The discoveries that corrupted reason makes of Divine things are languid faint in effectual these pictures of the Sun and of the fruits cannot enlighten us nor warm us nor nourish us nor give us any strength or vigor so as the true Sun and the real Fruits do Just so though by our reason we represent unto our selves God and Virtue and Divine things yet these Ideas these representations and these discourses of our Reasons touching God and the things of GOD cannot at all give us true Lights nor true Virtue nor administer nourishment and strength to our Souls to live according to God and to practise his Divine Will These are but cold empty lifeless and wholly barren and unfruitful images on which we cannot raise any other superstructure but wind and vanity which serve to no other purpose but to puff up the minds of Men and which put them in commotions the one against the other by dissentions by disputes and by continual combats until such time as they burst of themselves or split one against another 37. That the spirit of Man without the illuminations of GOD cannot discern Divine things is a truth that betimes must be setled and ever cherished in all hearts § 37. To prevent these inconveniencies behold the principal which we ought to ingrave betimes and preserve tenderly in all hearts The Spirit or reason of Man without the grace or supernatural light of GOD is but a blind man which makes vain and fantastick images of things which it hath not seen and which it can never see The natural man saith St. Paul cannot know the things of GOD He holds them for foolishness and he cannot comprehend them beeause they are known by a Spiritual light No man knows the things of GOD but the Spirit of GOD and he who hath received this Spirit 1 Cor 2.11 12 14. § 38. We must not then so much 38. And therefore renouncing the dark and glimmering notions of our own reason we must in ardent Prayers offer up our ingenuous and evacuated souls to GOD to be Enlightened by him and with such solicitous care endeavour to cultivate and dress our mind by our own force and by our own industrie as to turn it away from the fictions of our reasonings and from vanity and offer it up to GOD in simplicity and wholly emptied and naked with a vehement desire to do his will alone and with sincere Prayers beseeching him to give unto us his light to open our eyes For saith the Scripture It is GOD that gives eyes to the blind that opens them to see the wonders of his Law and of his will and enlightens the eyes of our understanding Psal 146. and 119. Eph 1. § 39. If we would nevertheless exercise in some sort the reason of young Ones 39. The right method of exercising the reason of Young Ones recommended and illustrated by some instances as in effect this we may and ought to do and if we incline to make them understand things by reasons or oblidge them to give a reason of any thing that we would we must accustom them to give on every particular Divine reasons My meaning is reasons drawn from the Power of GOD from his Wisdom from his Goodness from his Justice from his Will from his Felicity from his Glory as also from our
years let us endeavour to discover in a manner suited to their Capacity That is by an easie and significant Comparison how they ought to carry in this Affair We must consider GOD and His Grace under the notion of a vast Treasure and remark how a Man would do with a Treasure in different Circumstances and Rencounters When one possesses an immense Treasure fully and without danger of losing it any more his Joy is then wholly pure and perfect This it is that the Joys of the Blessed are since they possess GOD after this manner that is without any fear or danger of ever losing Him But when one doth possess such a◠Treasure but imperfectly and that every moment he may lose it as well by the malice of an infinitie of most cunning and perpetually restless enemies as by his own Actions by his negligence and by his presumption it is evident that the Joy which one hath in these Circumstances ought to be tempered with a most serious Fear This is it which even the best must do during this Life with respect to the Treasure of Divine Grace Hence St. Paul exhorting the Saints of Philippi to rejoyce in the LORD doth with the same breath enjoyn them To work out their Salvation with fear and trembling Phil 2.12 And St. Peter having commended in those who had a firm and steadie Faith in Jesus Christ That they rejoyced in Him with Joy unspeakable represents unto them that since he whom they invock as their Father shall also be their Judge and will tender unto them even as to all others according to their works and without having respect to the difference of persons they ought therefore to live in fear during the time that they sojourn on earth 1 Pet 1.17 And the Holy Ghost sayes on the same head That Blessed is he who feareth alwayes Prov 25.14 But if we after having lost this great Treasure by our own fault do see and possess nothing in its room but poverty and miseries but that nevertheless a promise should be made to us of having it again restored providing that we be sensibly touched with its loss and that afterwards we do manage our selves well in every thing that shall be intrusted to us there is then indeed very good Reason to rejoyce in this Hope though in the mean time we ought not to be less afflicted with the fault and with the loss of the time past and with the present miserie and desolation Neither ought we to be without a Holy Fear with respect to the time to come from the consideration of our own weakness and skillessless to govern our selves well This is it that we must still do with respect to GOD and His Divine Graces David sayes that when he thought on his sins and that he had lost his GOD he did nothing but lament and weep both day and night Psal 6.32.38.42 c. And GOD protests that He will not communicate himself to any but to those who shall have an Afflicted Heart for having lost him a contrite Spirit for having offended Him and who tremble at His Words fearing least they should not continue faithful to them To this man saith he will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite Spirit and trembleth at my Word Isa 66.2 And Jesus Christ saith very expresly that Consolation shall be given to those that Weep namely for their own sins and for the sins of others and he pronounces them Blessed Math 5.5 But when without these wholesome Precautions we would have nothing but feelings of Joy and Gladness this Joy becomes then easily the Nest of Self-love the ground of Self-satisfaction and the intertainment of a Blindness which hiding from us the greatness of our corruption hinders us from making enquirie after its cure and which makes us carnally presume that we possess the Divine Riches because that we perswade our selves that we have them though notwithstanding we are far removed from them as may be seen in the Church of Loadicea who being wholly content with it self and with its own state did say so presumptuously I am rich and increased in goods and have lake of nothing Whereas alas Jesus Christ in the mean time replyes to her But thou knowest not that thou art wretched miserable poor naked and blind Rev 3.17 And in his Gospel Luke 6.24 Denounces Woe and Famine mourning and tears against the Rich and the full that is who fancy themselves to be such without any just ground and against those inconsiderate wretches whom St. James calls upon to feel their miseries to weep and to lament to change their Laughter into tears and their Joyes into sadness James 4.9 Without which the Wise Man sayes That the hard and insensible heart shall fall into mischief Prov 28.14 And therefore it is an Effect of a Divine Wisdom to know well how to temper our Joy with fear and our sadness with Joy The Fear of the LORD is the beginning of Wisdom saith David and elsewhere Happy is the man that fears the LORD and that delighteth greatly in His Commandments Psal 111. and 112. The same Prophet advises those who would have either the Grace or the Glory of Jesus Christ exhibited unto them to set about it with a submission mingled with Fear and with Joy Serve the LORD with Fear and rejoyce with Trembling Psal ◠11 Whereas the false Prophets do nothing else but speak indistinctly and solely of Joy Peace and Assurance Ezek 13.16 c. 1 Thes 5.3 § 16. IV. 61. IV. the Divine Faculties of the Soul are well ordered action easily and naturallie follows but it must not be suspended till that be done since outward exercises have a good influence on the inward man When the Faculties of Vnderstanding Joy and Desire are set Right and well fashioned all the rest follows of its own accord But since it is necessary that we be active and doing even before that the inward man be yet well disposed and that moreover the inward man is ordinarly aided by the Outward it is needful to have at hand some particular Rules for Action and for the Conduct and Mannagement of the Outward Conversation § 62. Our bodies and our life belonging of Right to GOD 62. The General rule of action laid down seriously recommended and illustrated by some particular instances we must dispose of them not according to our own will but according to his Since our will is naturalie turned towards our selves towards our advantages towards our Honour and towards our pleasure and therefore doth beget in us the mortal vices of avarice Pride and sensuality which obstruct in us the operations of GOD and Rob us of the Salvation of our Souls we must in order to root them up practise self-denyal in every thing and we must be at pains to accustom Children betimes and as much as possibly we can with the Divine aid to do every thing by a Spirit of Charity and for the good of