Selected quad for the lemma: child_n
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A56510
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Oeconomica sacra, or, A parænetical discourse of marriage together with some particular remarks on the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca.
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J. P.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing P62; ESTC R6
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38,180
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146
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remembred his Covenant for ever the word which he commanded to a Thousand Generations which Covenant he made unto Abraham and his Oath unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a Law and to Israel for an everlasting Covenant saying Vnto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of your Inheritance And when God blessed Jacob I will pour my Spirit on thy seed Isa 44.3 and my blessing on thine Off-spring Now as these are the Promises and Blessings of God on the one hand so 't is the Parents Duty on the other to express their Obligations and Thankfulness in the Education and Care of their Children Prov 20.3 like Solomon's Just man who walketh in his Integrity and his Children are blessed after him How does he consult all wayes and methods to make his Children truly happy By Integrity we may understand that faithfulness a Father oweth to his Children in giving them a religious and sober Education Nurture is as necessary for Children as Nourishment which if Parents neglect they are Peremtores potius quam parentes Qûo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem testa diu Prov. 22.6 rather Paricides than Parents but the good Father takes Solomon's Advice and trains up his Child in the way he should goe and with that wise Spartan Prince when he was asked what he should teach his Children made Answer Agesilaus Xenoph. Those things that they should make use of when they became men For Youth is like soft Wax Tanquam abrasa tabula takes any Impression therefore it ought to be season'd with Religion and Learning as the Spring is the fittest seed-time for Grain and Planting so Youth is the most convenient season to scatter the Seeds of Knowledge upon the ground of the mind And this Integrity also takes in the good Example of the Parent for good Examples are very prevalent with Children It is recorded for the honour of Joshua Magis intuentur quod fecit Jupiter quam quid docuit Plato that he took care of his Children and 't was his good resolution That he and his House would serve the Lord Lycurgus commanded all his Citizens to dine publickly where their Children heard no idle Speeches but grave discourse about the Government of the Common-wealth The good Parent is an utter Enemy to evil Customs he well knows what arguments are brought from thence to support ill actions for Custome as the Lord Verulam calls it is the dumb Idol of the world Idolum Theatri the great Mart of Error wherein Men unthriftily take up on trust and at last break by too much relying on the bankrupt security of a Fashion the Ignis fatuus and blaze men play about as Flies about a Candle 'till they burn their wings He will therefore be sure to give his Children a good Example and abolish bad Customes Virgil brings in Aeneas advising his Son Ascanius Lib. 12. Disce puer virtutem ex me verosque labores Virtue and Patience learn of me my Son So Homer represents Hector Praying for his Son Let it be said here 's a good Son indeed That did his noble Father far exceed And if Heathens profest this sort of Piety how much more should Christian Parents bring up their Children in the Admonition and Fear of the Lord How much was it to the honour and glory of Abraham when God gives this Testimony of him For I know him Gen. 18.19 that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord and do justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him Which was that in him should all the Families of the Earth be blessed As if God should argue How shall I fulfill my promise to Abraham unless Abraham instruct his Children and what Parent will Wilfully obstruct his own and Childrens happiness 1 Kings 2.2 3. So David charged Solomon Be thou strong therefore and shew thy self a man And keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways to keep his Statutes his Judgements and his Testimonies as it is written in the Law of Moses and that he might the rather embrace his charge he adds the reason that thou maist prosper in all thou doest Majori sollicitudine me parturiebat Spiritu quam peperat carne parturiebat carne ut in hanc temporalem nascerer corde ut in aeternam lucem re nascerer Aug. Lib. 2. confes ch 3. and whithersoever thou turnest thy self And St. Austin reports of his Mother Monica that she ceased not do her endeavours every way that he might be truly religious and as well Gods Child by Grace as hers by Nature This is that Domestick care that is incumbent on all Parents to teach their Children their Duty to God himself to Honour their Parents to reverence their Superiours be courteous to their Equals and that in all their Actions they should have Oculi in Metam and so be recti in curiâ the Wise-man also tells us what Instructions he received from his Parents Prov. 4. To study Wisdom and to shun the path of the Wicked and further tells us that whoso loveth Wisdom rejoyceth his Father chap. 29. and this Wisdom is the fear of the Lord as we find afterwards The fear of the Lord Prov. 9.10 that is Wisdom and the Knowledge of the Holy is Vnderstanding The good Parent well considers Religion as most essential to his Childrens Happiness that in the end of their days when all other things fail then God may be the strength of their Heart and their Portion for ever That Antistes Sacrorum the Reverend Dr. Vsher used prayer in his Family four times a day and on Frydays Cathechized them as remembring that charge which God commanded the old Israelites These Words which I command thee this day shall be in thine Heart Deut. 6.6 7. And thou shalt teach them diligently to thy Children and thou shalt talk of of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up And next after Religion his care is manifest to learn them Arts and Sciences knowing that Ignorance brings Idleness Idleness brings ill Company which the Devil useth as an Engine to Dethrone men from the safe and honourable seat of Virtue to the precipice of ruine and destruction and so enchanting their Understanding their Misery attends them incognito whereas good and wise Associates are our second Genius to goodness Phil. de Comines Ab. 34. or as another expresseth it 'T is an Indication of a good and virtuous disposition to choose learned and virtuous Companions which made Alexander so highly esteem Aristotle Themistocles his Anaxagoras and Scipio his Canutius And he recommends virtue to them as the complement of a happy life and only Immortal thing that belongs to Mortality and represents it to
them with such Beauty and Majesty that it must needs conciliate Love and Veneration and being a Charm so powerful the affected Soul admires it as the Lady and Queen of an Intellectual Beauty He well knows that Nature has as it were of purpose left many things for Art and Industry to finish and make up and as 't is Arts duty to imitate Nature so 't is its dignity to perfect it Nature gives in the Oar but Industry refines it into Silver God hath bestowed on his Children the Light of Nature and the Understanding of a Reasonable Being and though by Original Sin this Light be eclipsed this Understanding and Reason wither'd there is the more need of supernatural accomplishments Arts and Sciences polish and improve Nature and confer a great help and furtherance thereunto and cure the diseases of our Minds as it was said of Demosthenes that Nature brought forth one Demosthenes and Learning another his Intellectuals were so improved by his studies He recommends therefore to his Children the study of the Scriptures and practical Divinity commends the devotion of a Numa the Justice of an Aristides the good Laws of a Solon the Prudence of a Cato the Courage of a Scipio the Moderation of a Fabius and the publick Spirit of a Cicero and commends Learning that is the only thing to enrich their minds with such precious furniture that Alexander profess'd he had rather excell in Wisdom than Power and as that which promotes the civil end of our Life Vt in honore cum dignitate vivamus and that a man without Understanding is like the Beasts that perish therefore he is highly sollicitous to instruct his Children with the Emanations of Divine Wisdom the Ideas of Morality the Simples of Science the Flowers of Rethorick Reason and Philosophy and to build them up into the Gallantry and Perfection of men How does he set before them that Learning was the Glory of Scipia Affricanus Charles the Great Titus Vespatian Charles the fifth and our late King James and how much Historians Poets and Philosophers have celebrated the Glories of the Learned and by this stir up the genius of his own Children to an Emulation of their virtues And we read of great Personages that taught their Children themselves Augustus Caesar read Cicero and Virgil to his Children and of a Grecian Emperour that taught his Daughter himself and Bishop Jewel cites her in his Apology as Author of a Church History so Paulus Aemilius instructed his Children in the Latin and Greek Tongues And Sir Tho. Moor when Lord Chancellour taught his three Daughters and Buchanal relates of the admirable Learning of Sir Anthony Cooks Children instructed by their Father And as these things are incumbent on Parents so 't is the Childrens happiness to have such Watches over them having touched at the Just mans Integrity the Wise man adds this His Children are blessed after him 'T is indeed a great blessing to Children to have Wise and Religious Parents and when they sit at the feet of such Gamaliels they enjoy that Happiness the Queen of Sheba pronounced on Solomon's Servants 1 Kings 10.8 Happy are thy Men happy are these thy Servants that stand continually before thee and hear thy Wisdom And as a grateful acknowledgement of their Obligations they ought to give their Parents all Duty Honour and Reverence 'T is the Apostles exhortation Honour thy Father and thy Mother this is the first commandment with Promise And what 's that That thy days may be long in the Land And this promise were sufficient if all duty were superseded And the wise man exhorts us Honour thy Father that begat thee and despise not thy Mother when old And indeed the Book of Proverbs is full of ghostly advice to Children and 't is but common gratitude to be thankful to them who gave them being and by Instruction in Religion and Learning they give them also well-being with what ardent affection and ambition ought they to answer the expectations of their Parents consonant to the Apostles exhortation Col. 3.20 Children obey your Parents in all things for this is well pleasing to God But we will pass on to prosecute our further discourse only let us hear Plato's opinion about the Government of Youth In the Foundation of Youth says he well ordered and taught consists the flourishing of a Common-wealth And indeed he is altogether in the right for the Education and Government of Youth is like the preparing and polishing Stones and Utensils for some magnificent Fabrick And here we could wish every Family a little Seminary of Religion and Learning for the service of Church and State as our Universities are for the accomplishment of Persons for Sacred and Civil Offices And we find Plutarch of the same Judgment and tells us that Education and Learning reform the Life and Manners and afford the best advice for the Government of a Common-wealth And we thence inferr that a reformed Life and Manners not only produce an Excellent Oeconomy and Institution of Government but are the most serviceable and adventitious helps to preserve the Unity and Beauty of such administrations and infallibly annex Happiness and Prosperity to such a People And if good Government and Discipline were observed in Families how much would it conduce to publick advantage As in an Army what glorious encounters are they sit for when the General understands his Interest and Station and all his Souldiers perfectly understand their Posts all expert and acute in Military undertakings So in a State when all are sit to rule and all willing to obey their Prince Imperatoris faelicitas in subditorum faelicitate consistat Grotius Lips Polit. whose happiness consists in the happiness of his People as Grotius tells us and Lipsius calls it Verum legitimum Imperium A true and lawful Empire so governed Now when the People are taught to be religious Religion must needs flourish and when they are instructed in Arts and Sciences Trades and Commerce it must needs conduce to their happiness profit honour and greatness We all know that those States thrived best that were most addicted to the service of their Gods Rome saw her best dayes when Religion flourisht there under a Numa Augustus Titus Constantine Theodosius and others And Bodin gives us the reasons of it Ab câ enim subditorum fides in Principes obedientia erga Majestratus pietas in Parentes charitas in singulos justititia in omnes pendet de Rebus Lib. 7. From hence says he they became Loyal to their Prince Obedient to the Magistrate Dutiful to Parents Charitable to all with an equal distribution of Justice and by these administrations they exceeded other Nations as Martial sets them out Terrarum Dea gentiumque Roma Cui par est nihil nihil secundum Rome of all Nations is the Lady Queen To which the like or second is not seen Hac enim sola Romana gens totam terrarum orbem