as Parents I beseech you saith the Apostle that you would take notice of them that take paines with you and that admonish you and that you would haue them in singular loue for their worke sake The Heathen themselues could say that to God a mans Parents and his Teachers sufficient requitall could neuer be made And no maruaile For if the Teachers do as they ought and the Schollers likewise make that vse of them that they should they may well say of them as Paul doth to Philemon Etiam animam mihi debes that they owe them their very soules as hauing bin a meanes euen to saue their soules And how ought they to loue them from the heart whom they owe their very soules vnto Far be it from any here then to be like those wicked wretches whom the Prophet inveigheth against that hate those that reproue them to hate their Instructors because they are sometime also necessarily Reprouers or Correctors to hate them for that for which they ought rather to loue them You must not as this our Psalmist speaketh be as Horse or Mule that are without vnderstanding Horses and Mules can well endure and are wont to take notice of those that feed them and stroake them and make much of them but they cannot endure those that come about them to drench them or bleed them or to meddle with their sores though they entend nothing therein but their good because they haue sense whereby they perceaue some present good in the one but they haue no reason to apprehend any future good in the other Creatures endued with reason must be wiser then they and loue their Teacher as well reproouing and correcting when just occasion is as speaking faire and commending as men were wont to esteeme themselues beholden to the Surgion as well for opening the vlcer and letting out the corrupt matter as for healing vp the wound againe They must remember what the wise man saith that he that hateth Instruction Correction and so he that hateth his Instructors and Correctors is a Foole yea he that hateth either shall die In the third place followeth Seria exhortatio a serious Exhortation Hearken vnto me Wherein is expressed the principall duty of Children Schollers and Learners to hearken vnto their Parents Instructors and Teachers That for which Salomon so oft calleth vpon those that hee dealeth with Heare O yee Children the instruction of a Father and giue eare to learne vnderstanding and My Son hearken vnto my words and encline thine eares to my sayings and Heare me now therefore O Children and hearken vnto the words of my mouth c. And great reason they so should For first it is their wisdome so to doe A wise Sonne saith Salomon will hearken to his Fathers instruction And Hee that hearkneth to good aduice is wise No greater folly in young people then to thinke themselues wise enough able enough to aduise and to guide themselues well enough and to stand in no neede of direction or aduice You know well what the famous sentence so oft cited saith He is the best man that can of himselfe discerne what is fit and meete to be done He is the next him that can hearken to good aduice giuen him by others But he that neither can see what is fit of himself nor will follow the good counsell that others shall giue such a one is as an vnprofitable limme in the bodie and a very burden to the earth that beareth him Children and young people since they cannot bee in the first ranke because age bringeth experience and skill requireth yeeres they must be content to be in the second least they come within compas of the third Secondly it is impiety in some sort to doe otherwise They will not heare thee saith God to the Prophet for they will not heare mee And surely the fift Commandement as Philo the Iew well obserueth who therefore also maketh it a branch of the first Table and so diuideth the Tables equally assigning fiue precepts to either it is a mixt Commandement and differeth somewhat from the rest of those in the Second Table they consider Man as our neighbour in nature like vs this as Gods Deputy standing in his steed by him set ouer vs and in his name and by his authority performing offices about vs. And therefore when such instruct and admonish God doth it by them When wee hearken to them we hearken to him in them when we refuse to regard them wee contemne him in them Neither can such contempt be cleered from some taint of impiety Let this briefely then admonish Children to hearken to and take to heart the good and wholesome admonitions of their Parents Instructors Tutors and Teachers Let the Eare saith Bernard that was once opened to let in death and destruction by hearkning to euill counsaile be now set wide open to let in life and Saluation by giuing eare to good aduice Let your eares with Vlysses to deale with you out of your owne learning bee close shut against the Sirens songs of such as shall by faire words and smooth language goe about to seduce you and to with-drawe you from that wherein consisteth your speciall good that shall seeke to bring you out of loue with your Instructors or with those courses that are by them taken with you for your good But let your eares bee open and your hearts pliable to attend vnto them their instructions and admonitions and yeeld your selues wholy vnto them to be ruled guided and directed by them There is a Blessing of God promised on those that so doe a Blessing of wisdome a Blessing of long Life The eare saith Salomon that hearkeneth to the instruction of life shall lodge among the wise And It is the first Commandement saith the Apostle in the Decalogue that hath a speciall promise annexed to it Honour thy Father and thy Mother and Instructors as we heard before are as Parents that it may goe well with thee and that thou maist be long-liued As on the other side there is a Curse of God denounced against those that do otherwise that stop their eares like the deafe Adder against good admonition and refuse to heare the Charmers voice charme he neuer so sweetly to be ruled by their Gouernors deale they neuer so kindly and louingly with them The eye that scorneth the Father or setteth light by the Mothers admonition let the rauens of the valley dig it out and the young Eagles devoure it They are cursed with a witnes whom the Holy Ghost thus curseth in such emphaticall manner in such exquisite termes as may well make ones heart quake to heare Yea to do otherwise it is made a note of a reprobate and a cast-away of one that God is fully determined euerlastingly to damne and
God and in these words he vndertaketh to teach them this Feare In the words there are these foure parts Invitatio Compellatio Exhortatio Pollicitatio 1. An Invitation Come 2. A Compellation Children 3. An Exhortation Hearken to me 4. A pollicitation or a promise and therein againe these foure particulars The Agent the Act the Obiect the Subiect 1. The Agent King Dauid himselfe the pen-man of this Psalme I. 2. The Act teaching or instructing I will teach 3. The Obiect or persons to be taught Children whom before he called vpon You. 4. The Subiect-matter of his teaching that wherein he would instruct them the Feare of the Lord. And of these parts and points in order as breifly as conueniently I may In the first place then there is prompta Invitatio a free Invitation affording vs this Lesson to omit all others that We had neede of all invitements incitements inticements and allurements to goodnes and godlines Hence so many mementoes in the word of God Remember thy Creator and Remember forget not c. so many Caveats Cave tibi Take heede to thy selfe and Cavete vobis Take yee heede to your selues c. so many Invitations Come let vs goe vp to Gods house and Come let let vs walke in the light of the Lord and in this place Come Children hearken to me c. All needfull and all litle enough 1. In regard of our naturall auersenes to good things Man by nature saith Zophar is like a wilde asses Colt as an Asses foale for rudenes a wilde Asses for vnrulinesse vntamed and vntractable as the wilde Asse in the wildernes 2. In regard of the difficultie of the worke The way of the wise saith wise Soloman is vpward We are bred in Hell by Nature vessels of wrath and we must climbe vp to Heauen a long way and a steepe We are like those that row against winde and tide we striue against the streame and current of corrupt nature of euill custome we struggle against the strong counterblasts of bitter scoffs and bad counsell We haue neede therefore of all kinde of incouragement 3. In regard of our pronenes to grow slacke And you my brethren saith the Apostle be not weary of well-doing We are too prone euen the best of vs to wax weary on this way to grow slacke at this worke It is true of vs that Alphius the Usurer sometime said of his Clients Euen good Debters will grow slacke Pay-masters if they be let alone if they be not now and than called vpon The consideration whereof may serue First to admonish vs of our dutie one to an other Let vs obserue either other saith the Apostle to whet on or to egge on to loue and good works So the Holy Ghost describeth the manner of Gods Saints quickning calling on and incouraging either other And many people shall goe and say Come and let vs goe vp to the Mountaine of the Lord to the House of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his wayes and we will walke in his paths And Come ô yee house of Iacob and let vs walke in the light of the Lord. And againe The people of one Citie shall go to another and say Vp and let vs pray before the Lord and seeke the Lord of hosts and I will goe my selfe too Now this as it is the dutie of all so more specially of those that conuerse familiarly togither most especially of those that haue care and charge of others Ministers and Magistrates in publike Parents Scholemasters and Masters of Families in priuate to whet vp their inferiors it is the terme that Moses vseth and the Apostle imitateth him in to be oft calling vpon those that be vnder their charge and enciting of them to those things that be good Remembring that as the Heathen man saith that those that correct but instruct not are like those that snuffe the light oft but put no oyle into the lampe so those that instruct but incite not are like those that put in oyle enough yea enough it may be to drowne the light that which may oft soone be done but are not carefull or mindfull to raise and pull vp the weeke which vnlesse it be in due time still done the light will of it selfe soone decay and wax dimme though there be no defect of liquor to feede it withall Secondly as we must our selues call vpon others so we must be content to be called vpon by others Inferiors especially and learners children seruants or others must not thinke much to be frequently called vpon by their Superiors they must not account it any disgrace or disparagement vnto them that they are oft admonished incited and called vpon in this kinde I will not be negligent saith Peter to put you in mind of these things though you haue knowledge though you know the truth already and be established in it Yea Though I be perswaded of you saith the Apostle Paul that you are full of goodnes and of all knowledge able to admonish one an other yet I am bold by writing to put you in minde of these things Yea It is not tedious to me to goe ouer the same things oft with you and it is the safest course for you So that euen those that are best grounded that haue aboundance of sound knowledge that are full of grace and goodnes that are the greatest proficients and forwardest Schollers in Christs Schoole yet may stand oft in neede of being whet vp and put on much more such as are but rude and raw as are but nouices and dullards as are scarce it may be yet of the first forme in Christs Schoole Tender plants and new planted haue neede oft to be watred they are in danger else to windle and wither away And Gods grace and good things in vs are like a dull sea-cole fire which if it be not now and then blowen or stirred vp though there be no want of fewell yet will of it selfe at length dye and goe out In the next place there is as promptâ— Inuitatio so blanda Compellatio as a free Inuitation so a sweete and louing Compellation Children The Name of Children is a most sweet Name sauouring strongly of Loue and vsed therefore so oft by that Disciple of Loue and of Christs loue in that Epistle of his that breatheth nothing but Loue â—ittle Children let vs loue one another not in word and tongue but in deede and truth and Little Children let no man deceaue you And Little Children keepe your selues from Idoles c. And it sheweth what louing affection ought to be betweene teacher and taught euen such as is betweene naturall Parents and Children That which the Apostle Paul so oft and in so liuely manner expresseth in himselfe when he compareth himselfe sometime
by setting apart and consecrating some part of their meanes to the furtherance and aduancement of religion and learning Hitherto of the Agent the Act followeth and that is Teaching or Instruction I will teach Here is the Scholemasters worke to teach to instruct I will instruct thee and teach thee saith our Psalmist els-where And when I was young and tender my Father taught me saith Salomon A worke and dutie of great necessitie For the soule of man is naturally instar tabulae abrasae as a cleane paire of tables that haue nothing at all written in them There is no grace or goodnes learning or art naturally written in it howsoeuer some grounds there are whereby these things may through industry Gods blessing be attained Yea in regard of grace and goodnes it is instar codicis depravati as a booke blurred and blotted or depraued and misprinted that must haue much rased and done out ere it can be well corrected or that written into it that it ought to haue It is instar agri inculti as an vntilled ground wherein weedes of all sorts come vp of themselues naturally but no good thing will grow without mucking manuring without much trauell toyle it is a mother as he said of the Earth sometime to the one it is but a stepdame to the other And first what a great mercy of God then is this to this Land and more specially to this place and many others that vouchsafeth such meanes and stirreth vp the hearts and mindes of worthy men to establish such courses whereby instruction and learning may be conveighed to vs and our Children may be wrought into vs and them that we may not be like sauage people no better then brute beasts yea in some regard worse since It is worse as that Auncient Father well saith to be like vnto a beast then to be a beast indeede O learne if you be wise to know your owne happines before many others to acknowledge Gods goodnes to you aboue many others and to shew your selues thankfull both to Him and to Those that he vseth as Instruments to prouide such things for you Againe let this admonish Teachers of their Dutie and encite them vnto the diligent performance of it as they beare the name so to execute the Office as they receiue the wages so to doe the worke as they haue vndertaken the charge of it so to vndergo the burden of it and discharge faithfully the trust of so great a weight that the Parents of their Children haue entrusted them withall euen the soules of those their Children not their bodies onely as deare to them as themselues Otherwise if they shall beare the name of Teachers and not execute the Office they shall be but Idols or as the Prophet saith Idol-shepherds so Idol-Teachers like Idols that haue the name but not the nature of God that haue limmes and lineaments of a man but no action nor life that haue mouths but speake not hands but feele not feet but stir not c. If they take the wages and do not the worke they shall be no better then Theeues As he said sometime in Socrates that the Monck that laboured not with his hands for his liuing was a Theife so the Scholemaster that laboureth not with his tongue in instructing his Schollers yea though he labour with his hands otherwise neuer so much yet if he tend not his Schole and the instruction of those vnder his charge in it he is as very a Theife as he that taketh a purse by the high-way side he might as well pick their Parents purses or pockets Yea if he be wholy carelesse of the discharge of his dutie herein he is litle better then a Murtherer he becommeth guilty of soule-murther as Bernard truly saith of Parents negligent in the education of their Children that they are rather Paricides then Parents For he is a murtherer not onely that knocketh a man on the head or cutteth his throat with a knife or runneth him through with a Rapier but he also that by detention or deniall of due foode starueth him whom he stood bound to feede and releeue and so suffreth him to perish through his default As therefore you are called Teachers and are called to teach so be you carefull to answer your Name to be that that you are termed Apply your selues with all alacritie sedulitie and diligence to this necessarie to this worthy worke Neither let it discourage you if you meete with some foolish and vnthankfull persons or Parents that shall either slenderly consider your trauell or con you litle thanke for your labour It is with you in this case as with Tailors that make garments for Children though the Children pay them not yet their Parents they are sure will Do you your dutie faithfully and constantly and as the Prophet said of himselfe Your worke shall be with God and your wages with him He will regard and reward you whither men do or no. For Euery man shall receiue his wages from him according to his worke Nor againe let it dishearten you if you meet with some vntoward ones whom notwithstanding all your paines and toyle you can do no good vpon It is the care not the cure of them that is required of you Do your best endeuour and let the euent be what it will you shall haue from God whose worke you do when you do conscionably what you do according to your paines not according to the issue or euent of it But who are they that King Dauid vndertaketh to teach And so passe we on from the Act to the Obiect the third particular in his promise the persons taught You. They are the Children that before he called vpon and invited vnto him Children are to be taught Teach a Childe saith Salomon And When I was a Childe my Father taught me And I write to you Children saith the Apostle Iohn among others And that not without good cause For 1. We are then aptest to learne The foale is easier broken and brought to a pace that is taken while it is yet young then that is let alone till it haue more yeeres The plant is easily bowed and bent any way while it is but a twig that will sooner breake then bend when it is growne a strong tree 2. What we then learne sticketh best by vs. Any vessell will retaine long the sauour of that liquor that it was seasoned first withall And the cloth best keepeth its color that was died in the wooll that it tooke in ere it came to the wheele or the woofe Teach a childe saith Salomon in the trade of his way and he will not depart from it when he is olde 3. We haue much to go through with and but litle time to learne a long taske and a short time Though we
is that that Gods blessing is entailed vnto euen all the good blessings both of this life and the next and Blessednesse it selfe not temporall onely but eternall For Blessed is the man that feareth God and Blessed is euery one that feareth the Lord and He is a blessed man that standeth alwayes in awe For Godlinesse that is the Feare of God hath the promises both of this life and of that that is to come Of this life For There shall be no want to those that feare him they shall lacke nothing that is good for them And of the life to come too For The louing kindnes of the Lord is for euer and euer vpon them that feare him and his bounty or mercy vpon their Childrens Children And therefore no maruaile if Salomon as in the Entrance into his Prouerbs he maketh the Feare of God the Beginning of all so in the Conclusion and shutting vp of his Ecclesiastes he maketh the same Feare of God the very Summe and the End of all Summa or Finis rei Will you heare saith he what is the Summe or the End of all Feare God and keepe his Commandements For that is the whole dutie of man and that is the only meanes to make man truly happy the maine matter that Salomon there intended to teach Now this First may teach you that be Parents Masters and Teachers what to labour in if you desire the true welfare and happinesse of those that be vnder your charge or Gods blessing vpon them and your labours and endeuours with them euen to teach them the feare of God You are not to thinke it enough that you haue taught them some trade that you haue giuen them learning humane learning I meane that they may liue by an other day but you must withall or else you come far short of that you should do teach them also to feare God and so to serue him here as they may liue with him eternally when they go hence To which purpose it is well obserued that the promise of a blessing to be continued to posteritie though made to the obseruance of all Gods precepts yet is more specially annexed to the second Commandement in the Decalogue which is concerning the seruice and worship of God God thereby intimating what Parents others should principally apply themselues to haue planted in their Families if they would haue Gods blessing entailed vpon their issue For as for other things euen Heathen and Infidels or meere Ciuill and naturall men will be ordinarily teaching and instructing their Children to forbeare and abhorre lying and stealing and loosenes of life and surfeting and excesse and the like because such things may make them vnfit for common and ciuill society or may be a meanes to waste them and that that they shall leaue them But God would haue vs and those that be truly godly will regard it to go a stâ—p further and to teach them a lesson beyond all this not ciuilitie alone but true piety too that we may be blessed in them and they inherit Gods blessing with vs. And surely what difference will there be betweene a Christian Parent and an Heathen a Christian Schole-master and a Pagane if the Parent or Schole-master teach his Children and Schollers matter of ciuilitie or humane learning alone Do not Heathen euen the same As the Apostle speaketh in an other case He that prouideth not for his Familie is worse then an Infidell So here that Parent that bringeth vp his Childe idly is worse then many an Infidell he that traineth him vp in some worldly trade onely is no better then they That Schole-master that teacheth them not at all that be committed vnto him is worse then many an Infidell he that giueth them humane learning onely is litle better then they That Parent or Teacher that doth not teach them Ciuilitie comes far short of many Heathen ones he that doth teach Ciuilitie and not Piety withall goeth no further then they haue gone Lastly Children also must learne to feare and to serue God If your Gouernors must teach you it then questionlesse you must learne it Remember thy Creator saith Salomon in the dayes of thy youth And Whereby shall a boy or a Child saith Dauid make his path pure but by taking heede to it according to Gods word It is an idle conceipt of many that Religion and Godlinesse is not for Children that such things concerne them not There is no age freed from it And therefore Iohn writeth vnto and directeth what he writeth vnto all not to olde men and young men strong growne men onely but to Children and litle ones also And surely most equall it is that as the first-fruits of other things so the first-fruits of our yeeres should go also to God It is but a Diuelish Prouerbe A young Saint and an old Diuell The Holy Ghost by Solomon assureth vs the contrary Teach a Childe saith he in the trade of his way and he will not depart from it when he is old It is true indeed that those that haue made most shew of piety when they fall away againe proue vsually most prophane But where it hath once truly taken roote in the heart there it will continue constantly euen to all eternity and neuer dye or decay againe Let this therefore good Children be your principall care and studie For what shall it availe you to be cunning in Tully Virgil Homer and other profane Writers if you be vnskilfull in Gods booke to haue learned Greeke and Latine if you learne not withall the language of Canaan to haue your speech agreeable to the rules of Priscian or Lilie if your liues and courses be not consonant to the rules and lawes of Christianitie to haue knowledge of the Creatures when you are ignorant of the Creator to haue learned that whereby you may liue a while here and neglect that whereby you may liue eternally hereafter Learne to feare God to serue God and then God will blesse you For He will blesse those that feare him be they great or small Yea he will take charge of you and prouide for you if your Parents be taken from you Though my Father and Mother saith Dauid should leaue me yet would God take me vp He will be a Father vnto you he will see you shall not want If your Parents haue wrought the Feare of God into you they shall be sure to leaue Gods blessing to you they may boldly bequeath it you and you shall be sure to partake with them in it To end where we began it is the commendation of Timothie and of his Parents withall that he had knowne the holy Scriptures from a Childe and had bin euen nursed vp in the words of faith and good doctrine sucking piety and godlines in with his Mothers milke and beginning to be acquainted with it euen at the