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 Doe you your duty faithfully and constantly and as the Prophet said of himselfe Å¿ Esai 49.5 Your worke shall be with God and your wages with him He will regard and reward you whether men doe or no. For t 1 Cor. 3.8 Every man shall receive his wages from him according to his worke Nor againe let it dishearten you if you meet with some untoward ones whom notwithstanding all your paines and toyle you can doe no good upon 2 Curam exigeris non curationem Bern. de Consid l. 4. It is the care not the cure of them that is required of you Doe your best endevour and 3 Securus labor quem nullus valet evacuare defectus Ibid. let the event bee what it will you shall have from God whose worke you doe when you doe conscionably what you doe 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundum laborem non secundum proventum Ber. ibid. 1 Cor. 3.8 according to your paines not according to the issue or event of it Branch 3 But who are they that King David undertaketh to teach And so passe we on from the Act to the Object the third particular in his promise the persons taught You. They are the Children that before he called upon and invited unto him Doctrine 6 Children are to bee taught x Prov. 22.6 Teach a Childe saith Salomon And y Prov. 4.3 4. When I was a Childe my Father taught mee And z 1 Ioh. 2.12 14. I write to you Children saith the Apostle Iohn among others And that not without good cause For Reason 1 1. We are then aptest to learne a Fingit equum docilem tenera cervice magister Ire viam quam monstrat eques Horat. epist 2. Vt corpora ad quosdam membrorum flexus formari nisi tenera non possunt sic animos quoque ad plaeraque duriores robur ipsum facit Quintil. inst l. 1. c. 1. In cunctis fere rebus citius assuescit omne quod tenerum est Novellas adhuc vix firmae radicis arbusculas dum ad omnem ductum sequaces sunt in quamlibet partem flecti facile est quae natura plaerumque curvata cito ad arbitrium colentis corriguntur Tenerae adhuc primae aetatis animalia sine labore domari solent quantoque citius à vagandi libertate dissueta sunt tanto sacilius vel colla jugo vel fraenis ora insuescunt Pelag. ad Demetr The foale is easier broken and brought to a pace that is taken while it is yet young than that is let alone till it have more yeares The plant is easily bowed and bent any way while it is but a twig that will sooner breake than bend when it is growne a strong tree Reason 2 2. b Altâ—us praecepta descendunt quae teneris imprimuntur aetatibus Senec. ad Helv. c. 16. Natura tenacissimi sumus eorum quae rudibus annis percipimus Vt sapor quo nova imbuas durat nec lanarum colores quibus simplex ille candor mutatus est elui possunt Quintil. institut l. 1. c. 1. What wee then learne sticketh best by us Any vessell will retaine long the c Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu Horat. epist 2. Difficulter eraditur quod rudes animi perhiberunt Lanarum conchylia quis in pristinum candorem revocet Recens iesta diu saporem obtinet odorem quo primum imbuta est Hieron ad Laet. savor of that liquor that it was seasoned first withall And the cloth best keepeth its colour that was died in the wooll that it tooke in ere it came to the wheele or the woofe d Prov. 12.6 Teach a childe saith Salomon in the trade of his way and hee will not depart from it when he is old Reason 3 3. Wee have much to goe through with and but little time to learne e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aâ—s longa vita brevis Hippocr aphor 1. a long taske and a short time f Perge propera ne tibi accidat ut senex discas imò ideò magis propera quoniam id juvenis aggressus es quod perdiscere vix senex possis Senec. epist 77. Though wee set upon it while we are young we can hardly attaine to any perfection in ought ere wee be old and therefore can never begin too soone nor soone enough neither Reason 4 4. g Turpis ridi ula res est elementarius senex Ibid. 36. Quid turpius quam senex vivere discere incipiens Ibid. 13. It is a shame for an old man to be then learning his first elements that that every Childe may and should know Not that they should not then learne that have not before learned * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. apud Stob tom 2. c. 29. It is better to learne late than never h Stultum est nolle discere quia diu non didiceris Sen. epist 36. It is a folly for a man to refuse to learne at all because a long time he hath not learned And if it be a shame for a man not to have learned till then it is much more a shame for him not to learne then neither But i Sed propera nec te venturas differ in horas Qui non est hodiè eras minus aptus erit Ovid. remed l. 1. Hoc est discendi tempus non quod aliquod sit quo non sit discendam sed quemadmodum omnibus annis studere honestum est ita non omnibus institui Sen. ep 36. the longer wee defer it the more paine it will be to us the more shame it will be for us not a shame I say so much that now wee learne as that before wee have not learned Reason 5 Lastly Children if they be taught no good thing they will of themselves learne evill things k Omni mobili mobilius consistere non potest sed molendini instar impigrè volvitur c. Bern. m dit cap. 9. The minde of man or childe is like a restlesse Mill that cannot stand still will never be without worke l Nihil agendo malè agere homines discunt Catonis oraculum quo nihil verius Colum. de re rustic lib. 11. cap. 1. By doing nothing saith the Heathen Man men soone learne to doe evill things And m Incultis urenda si ix innascitur agris Horat sat 3. evill weeds come up apace and grow soone over-rank in us if some diligent husbandry be not constantly used with us Vse 1 And here first Children are to be admonished to use their time and meanes well that Gods goodnesse and the care and bounty of Friends and Parents affordeth them n Nunc adhibe puro Pectore verba
liberally to his Grand Fathers gift hath increased the salaries of the Teachers and beside sundry yeerely pensions to the poore both of this place and of divers others neere about you to incourage Parents the rather to set their Children to learning and the Children to bend their minds and endevours thereunto hath given a e Seventy pounds per annum large and liberall exhibition for the maintainance of seven Scholers in one of the Universities to be chosen successively each yeere from your Schoole The Lord reward this his bounty and liberalitie abundantly into the bosome of Him and His give you grace to make a good use of it and stir up many more whom he hath blessed with abilitie to shew their thankfulnesse in like manner to him from whom they have it by setting apart and consecrating some part of their meanes to the furtherance and advancement of religion and learning Branch 2 Hitherto of the Agent the Act followeth and that is Teaching or Instruction I will teach Doctrine 5 Here is the Schoole-masters worke to teach to instruct f Psal 32.9 I will instruct thee and teach thee saith our Psalmist else-where And g Prov. 4.3 4. When I was young and tender my Father taught mee saith Salomon A worke and duty of great necessitie Reason 1 For the soule of man is naturally instar tabulae abrasae as a cleane paire of tables that have nothing at all written in them h Nemo nascitur artifer Non dat natura virtutem Ars est bonum fieri Virtus non contingit animo nisi instituto edocto ad summum assidua exercitatione perducto Ad hoc quidem sed non cum hoc nascimur Et in optimis etiam antequam erudiat virtutis materia non virtus est Senec. epist 9. There is no grace or goodnesse learning or art naturally written in it howsoever some grounds there are whereby these things may through industry and Gods blessing be attained Reason 2 Yea in regard of grace and goodnesse it is instar codicis depravati as a booke blurred and blotted or depraved and misprinted that must have much rased and done out ere it can be well corrected or that written into it that it ought to have It is l Vt ager quamvis fertilis sine cultura fructuosus esse non potest sic sine doctrina animus Cic. Tusc l. 2. Cultura animi philosophia est quae extrahit vitia radicitus praeparat animos ad satius accipiendos eaque mandat his serit quae adulia fructus uberrimos ferant Ibid. instar agri inculti as an untilled ground wherein * Incultis urenda filix innascitur agris Hor. sat 2. injussa virescunt Gramina Virg. Georg. l. 1. weeds of all sorts come up of themselves naturally but no good thing will grow without mucking and manuring without much travell and toyle it is a mother as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terra sponte nascentium mater consitorum est noverca Aesop apud Planudem in vita ipsius he said of the Earth sometime to the one it is but a stepdame to the other Vse 1 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 up the hearts and minds of worthy men to establish such courses whereby instruction and learning may be conveighed to us and our Children may be wrought into us and them that we may not be like savage people no better than brute beasts yea in some regard worse since k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pejus est comparari jumento quà m nasci jumentum Chrys homil in ascens Domini It is worse as that ancient Father well saith to bee like unto a beast than to bee a beast indeed O learne if you bee wise to know your owne happinesse before many others to acknowledge Gods goodnes to you above many others and to shew your selves thankfull both to Him and to Those that hee useth as Instruments to provide such things for you Vse 2 Againe let this admonish Teachers of their Dutie and incite them unto the diligent performance of it as they beare the name so to execute the Office as they receive the wages so to doe the worke as they have undertaken the charge of it so to undergoe the burden of it and discharge faithfully the trust of so great a weight that the Parents of their Children have entrusted them withall even the soules of those their Children not their bodies onely as deare to them as themselves Otherwise if they shall beare the name of Teachers and not execute the Office they shall bee but Idols or as the Prophet saith l Zech. 11.17 Idol-shepherds so Idol-Teachers like Idols that have m Psal 96.5 the name but n Galat. 4.8 not the nature of God that have limbs and lineaments of a man but no action nor life o Psal 115.5 6 7. that have mouths but speake not hands but feele not feet but stir not c. If they take the wages and doe not the worke they shall bee no better than Theeves As he said sometime in Socrates that p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. hist Eccles lib. 4. cap. 23. Monachus nisi operatus fuerit praedoni par censctur Cassiodor hist tripart l. 8 c. 1. the Monke that laboured not with his hands for his living was a Theefe so the School-master that laboureth not with his tongue in instructing his Scholers yea though he labour with his hands otherwise never so much yet if he tend not his Schoole and the instruction of those under his charge in it he is as very a Theefe as he that taketh apurse by the high-way side he might as well pick their Parents purses or pockets Yea if he be wholly carelesse of the discharge of his dutie herein he is little better than a Murtherer hee becommeth guilty of soule-murther as Bernard truly saith of Parents negligent in the education of their Children that they are q Peremptores potius quám parentes Bern. in Epist 111. rather Paricides than Parents For hee is a murtherer not onely that knocketh a man on the head or cutteth his throat with a knife or runneth him thorow with a Rapier but hee also that by detention or deniall of due food starveth him whom he stood bound to feed and releeve and so suffereth him to perish through his default As therefore you are called Teachers and are called to teach so bee you carefull to r Nomen tuum attende Esto quod diceris Hieron ad Paulin. answer your Name to be that that you are termed Apply your selves with all alacritie sedulitie and diligence to this necessary to this worthy worke Neither let it discourage you if you meet with some foolish and unthankfull persons or Parents that shall either slenderly consider your travell or con you little thanke for your
apud Greg. Naz. orat 31. Chrysost contra Anomaeos orat 5. Greg. Rom. in Pastore p. 3 c. 1. §. 1◠their inward sense of their wants and instant desire of having them supplied putting a great deale of spirit and life more than ordinary into them An hungrie belly an emptie maw will make a begger begge more earnestly than when hee hath beene feeding but a little before Reade but u Psal 42. 44. 63. 77. 84. 88. 89. 102. 119. c. the Psalmes and Prayers that the Saints of God have made and penned in such cases and upon such occasions and marke what a deale of spirituall vigour and vivacitie appeareth in them Not to stand I say upon this Even the weakest and the feeblest that are must for their comfort and encouragement in this kinde be informed that x Spinaeus de Iustit Christian translated into English by Mr I. Field A booke that I wish were reprinted againe as the broths and meats and medicines that sicke persons take though they delight not the taste nor doe they finde any good relish in them by reason of their present infirmity and weaknesse yet may doe them much good and be a means both to preserve life to keepe from fainting and further weaknesse and to strengthen also in some measure so holy actions though performed with much infirmity and weaknesse yet with an holy and religious diligence may much benefit the soule so performing the same albeit it finde little spirituall relish in them or feele no comfort from them for the present Yea howsoever it be true as I said a Motive 2. before that the want of alacrity and cheerfulnesse in performance of holy Duties especially procured by some wilfull neglect or by some peevish and wayward disposition framing matter of griefe to it selfe from idle toyes and trifles unto the disturbance of it selfe in such duties doth much diminish and take away much the grace of them yet it is no lesse true that b Quibusdam lac quibusdam vinum apponitur Lac suaviter bibitur dulciter liquatur sine laesione sine amaritudine vinum asperius est minus suave Lac bibunt qui in sancto proposito suaviter incedunt dulciter currunt c. Vinum bibunt qui vias vitae aggressi ingressi corporis animae que tribulationibus contorquentur sed non cedunt neque recedunt tamen Sed quis horum tibi videtur vel ille qui in suavitate vel ille qui in asperitate currit viam mandatorum Dei primus foelicior secundus fortior uterque tamen justus uterque pius Bern. de conscient c. 3. the constant and conscionable persisting in performance of such duties notwithstanding that all good means used the poore Christian soule cannot attaine to that alacrity that faine it would may make them no lesse acceptable if not more acceptable to God than if they were done even with the greatest delight Suppose two persons attend the King in his hunting or at his sports the one that taketh much delight in the game the other that hath little or no delight in it or the one lusty and healthy and that attendeth him therefore with ease the other weake and faint or lame or having some hurt about him in regard whereof he cannot follow him but with much paine and difficulty and yet will not give over but be hard at his heeles still as ready and forward as the former His c Voluntas est quae apud nos ponit officium Senec. de benef lib. 6. c. 12. will may bee every whit as good as the other and his Soveraigne is no lesse if not more for such his service beholden to him than to the other Nor may the service of such a poore soule therefore be the lesse acceptable to God because it cannot performe it with such alacrity and delight as d Quomodò de aegroto Aug. in Psal 118. conc 8. Aegrotus qui fastidio laborat vult evadere hoc malum concupiscit defiderare cibum dum concupiscit non habere fastidium Et appetit animus ut appetat corpus quando appetit animus nec appetit corpus it desireth And in like manner for Faith and dependance upon God It is not an argument of no Faith when a man cannot yet attaine to a full perswasion and assurance of Gods speciall favour towards him and of the free remission of his sinnes in Christ that many other faithfull e Galat. 2.20 1 Iohn 3.14 5.19 20. have had and many doubtlesse also ordinarily have This is a consequent rather of Faith that as f Non praecedunt justificandum sed sequuntur justificatum Aug. de fid oper c. 14. Augustine saith of workes rather followeth the person justified than precedeth and goeth before Iustification as Faith being g Rom. 3.28 3.1 an instrumentall cause of producing it as an effect doth It is a consequent I say of it deduced from it as the same Father well h Servator loquitur Veritas pollicetur Qui audit verba mea credit ei qui misit me habet vitam aeternam transiit de morte ad vitam in judicium non veniet Ego audivi credidi infidelis cùm essem factus sum fidelis Transii ergò à morte ad vitam in judicium non veniam non praesumptione mea sed ipsius promissione Aug. in Ioan. 5.24 sheweth by a Syllogisme wherein Faith is assumed and this perswasion concluded from it and that not simply and absolutely necessary neither but such as is by generall consent oft severed from it But for a man though he cannot yet attaine to it yea though he never should so long as he liveth yet to resolve i Act. 11.23 Hoc suaderi à verbo quaeri persuaderi inveniri est Bern. in Cant. 84. to cleave unto God with full purpose of heart to sticke close unto him to depend wholly upon him and not to give over still seeking and suing to him for it and the constant use of all good meanes to attaine it k Psal 13.1 5. 43.2 5. like a Courtier who though the King shew him no Countenance but seeme wholly to neglect him and not at all to regard him yet will still follow the Court and tender his service and resolve to give attendance hoping yet to find acceptance at length yea to doe it constantly whether he shall finde acceptance or no or like l Matth. 15 22-28 the woman of Canaan that would follow Christ still and would take no nay of him though he seemed not only not to regard her or any other that made suit for her but to reject and put her off with much disgrace it is a sound argument of a true and a lively Faith and of no small measure of the same Question Where if it be demanded how this trusting to and dependance upon God may stand with the want of such
In like manner some God thus forgetteth indeed As * Hosh 8.14 they forget him so he forgetteth them l Hosh 1.6 Call the childe Loruchamah saith God to Hoshea for I will have no more mercy on the house of Israel but as the Vulgar Latine hath it m Oblivione obliviscar Vulg. tanquam esset à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dextra quum sit à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sinistra I will utterly forget them or rather after the Originall n Vt omninò condonem Iun Livel Sed prorsus tollam eos Leo Iud. à facie scil me◠Vatabl. I will never forgive them but o Hosh 4.6 9. because they have forgotten the Law of their God I will forget them when I have visited their wayes on them and rewarded them for their deeds p Minatur memoriam damnandorum oblivionem damnatorum Ruffin in Hose God threatneth saith Ruffine both to remember to damne them and to forget ever to shew mercy upon them when he hath once condemned them Some hee seemeth to forget when he doth not q Deus bonos non negligit cùm negligit Nec obliviscitur sed quasi obliviscitur Ruffin in Psal He neglecteth not the godly no not when he neglecteth them Yea r Obscuris super nos dispositionibus Deus saepe undenos aestimatur deserere inde nos recipit unde nos recipere creditur inde derelinquit ut plarunque hoc fiat gratiâ quod ira dicitur hoc aliquando ira sit quod gratia putatur Gregor mor. l. 5. c. 5. hee remembreth them then best when he seemeth least to regard them when hee seemeth most of all to forget them Though the wicked when hee hath his will on the poore thinketh that ſ Psal 10.11 God hath forgotten them and doth not at all minde them yet t Psal 9.18 10.12 the poore saith the Psalmist shall not alwayes bee forgotten nor the hope of the afflicted perish for ever But u Psal 9.12 God when he maketh inquisition for blood will make it appeare then that he remembreth them and that he doth not forget the poore mans complaint nor will ever faile any of those that x Psal 9.10 seeke to him and trust in him And y Esa 49.14 though Zion complaine that her God had forgotten her yet the Lord telleth her and assureth her that even then z Esa 49.15 16. he had her as fresh in minde as if she were * In manibus sculpsi te Humanitus dictum Iun. written upon his hands and her present estate was never out of his eye yea that he could no more forget her than a woman could her childe or than the kindest and tenderest “ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg Naz. orat 31. Et si filius minus interdum quà m debeat filialem affectum exhibuit mater tamen pro suù visceribus maternum deserere non debet sed nec valet affectum Bern. ep 300. mother that is the fruit of her owne wombe Question But why doth God may some say then deale thus strangely with his deare ones and by seeming not to regard them yea by seeming to reject them suffer them to be in so wofull and rufull an estate that they are in a manner like persons utterly forlorne for the present Answer I answer God doth this for divers ends whereof these are some Reasons 8 of the principall Reason 1 First a Ad examen to trie their sinceritie their confidence in God their constancie with God whether their hearts be sincere toward him and upright with him or no whether they will keepe constantly in Gods wayes though God seeme to neglect them or seeke to indirect courses because God seemeth not to regard them b 2 Chron. 32.31 God left Hezekiah saith the holy Ghost to trie him and to know that is * Tentat Deus ut sciat i. ut scire nos faciat non ut sciatipse quem nil latet sine tentatione enim nemo satis probatus esse potest sive sibi ipsi sive alii Aug. in Gen. contr Manich. l. 1. c. 22. de Trinit l. 1. c. 12. ibid. l. 3. c. 11. in Genes quaest 57. 83. quaest 60. in Deut. quaest 19. in Psal 36. in Psal 58. in Psal 44. de serm Dom. in mont l. 2. to make knowne what was in his heart And c Deu. 8.2 13.3 the Lord tempteth you saith Moses to the Israelites to humble you and to prove you and to know what is in your heart whether you love him heartily and will constantly keepe his Commandements or no. As a Father will sometimes crosse his sonne to trie the childes disposition to see how hee will take it whether he will mutter and grumble at it and grow humorous and wayward neglect his duty to his Father because his Father seemeth to neglect him or make offer to runne away and withdraw himselfe from his Fathers obedience because he seemeth to carry himselfe harshly and roughly toward him and to provoke him thereunto So doth God likewise oft-times crosse his children and seemeth to neglect them to trie their disposition what metall they are made of how they stand affected toward him whether they will neglect God because God seemeth to neglect them forbeare to serve him because he seemeth to forget them cease to depend upon him because he seemeth not to looke after them to provide for them or to protect them like Iorams prophane Pursevant d 2 King 6.33 This evill saith he is of God and why should I depend then on God any longer Or whether they will still constantly cleave to him though he seeme not to regard them nor to have any care of them and say with Esay e Esa 8.17 Nec sit praebatus ab officio recessit Tu inquit avertis faciem tuam à me sed ego non sum aversus à te Ruffin in Psal 29. Yet will I wait upon God though hee have hid his face from us and I will looke for him though he looke not on us for f Esa 30.18 they are all blessed that wait on him and he will not faile in due time to shew mercy unto all them that doe so constantly wait on him As g 1 Sam. 13.8 10. Samuel dealt with Saul he kept away till the last houre to see what Saul would doe when Samuel seemed not to keepe touch with him So doth God with his Saints and with those that bee in league with him he withdraweth himselfe oft and h Psal 10.1 keepeth aloofe off for a long time together to trie what they will do and what courses they will take when i Psal 89.19 38 39 49. God seemeth to breake with them and to leave them in the suds as we say amids many difficulties much perplexed as it was with DAVID at this time Thus was Sauls hypocrisie