Chapters most useful for the Child's reading more particularly p. 74 Directions for learning Latin and Greek p. 74 Reasons considered why Children beyond Sea learn Latin sooner than here p. 75 The common Grammar and Accidence to be used tho' objected against by learned and judicious Men p. 77 Great Leisure and Patience advised to treat a Child with at the beginning p. 79 Directions for the next Eight Years Year after Year how to teach a Child Latin and Greek and fit him for the Vniversity by Fourteen not omitting between whiles the forementioned English Exercises p. 80 Dancing between whiles advised p. 91 The Third Stage From Fourteen to Twenty One p. 93 Short Directions for a Tutor to treat a young Gentleman newly brought to the Vniversity p. 93. The Practice of some Persons in sending their Sons to an Academy first and afterwards to the Vniversity discommended p. 100 To place him with a Country Minister instead of sending him to the Vniversity also discommended p. 100 As also sending him to some Protestant Vniversity with a foreign Tutor p. 101 The several Courses of Life young Gentlemen are to be grounded in according to their respective Talents and Conditions p. 102 Travailing with some Directions p. 102 Setling in the Country and acting there p. 108 Study of Physick p. 108 109 Civil-Law p. 110 Common-Law p. 111 Directions for a compleat Course in the Study of Divinity by the help of the Apparatus ad Theologiam written for that purpose p. 113 A Tutor to direct a young Nobleman or Gentleman in the study of Divinity advised as greatly useful p. 118 The Third Part. The Conclusion in behalf of Holy Orders ENcouragement for Persons of Quality to study Divinity p. 123 Objections why they do not study it answered p. 125 The Rural Clergy in many places neither beloved nor kindly used p. 126 Going to Law not a convenient Remedy p. 128 A Description of a Purs-proud Clown who oppresseth his Minister p. 130 131 Cheating the Parson thought no sin and the danger of it p. 133 Objection that many Clergy-men have much more than they deserve p. 134 135 That the Clergy live to high p. 136 That many of the Clergy are too Great p. 137 That the Inferiour Clergy are many of them Idle Ignorant Quarrel some and Loose p. 138 The Pattern of St. Ambrose and Theodosius p. 139 More Respect paid the Sacred Function all the World over than is here p. 140 If Noblemen's Sons were Clergy-Men their Interest would support the Function p. 142 Without some Amendment we must be ruined p. 143 A Word to the Wise THose English Gentlemen I mean whose Great Souls are griev'd when they consider how this Gallant Nation hath fool'd away that Honour which our Ancestors so dearly purchased We once made a greater noise in the World our Arms were Formidable where ever they came Conquest of whole Nations was easie We fed in Prison the Kings of those Countries we are afraid of Our assistance was often Courted and always Successful Happy were the People who could get the English on their side to Relieve distrested States and six tottering Crowns We rode in Pleasure-Boats on the Sea and knew no other Dangers but what were under Water In one Battle could make the Enemy send a Blank and give a Peace he was neither able to Force or Purchase Now what less than a Stoical Senseless Patience can bear a Reflection on the unhappy Change That in few Years I am ashamed to say how few from so great a steddiness of Gravity Honesty and Courage we were softned into Foppishness Dissembling and almost Cowardice To see Wisdom sold for Wit Veracity lost in Swearing To see Vice impudent and Vertue despised for singularity and almost as much Courage required to be a Good Man as would Take or Defend a Town To trace this Calamity through all its Causes is a subject too Melancholy for a thoughtful Man to be trusted with It must be confess'd the Hardships of the Civil War ruin'd the Fathers the Luxury following the Restauration spoiled the Sons and if a stricter Discipline doth not mend the Grandchildren we will resolve to be a By-word and an Hissing to French Dutch Scotch and all Mankind But perhaps Arguments from Honour may be too speculative I will try one taken from Interest and Force Self-Preservation at this time is very costly Wars thicken upon us and our Silver Mines run low A strict Education of Children is a good way to save and pay Taxes for Vertue is cheaper than Vice Tenderness and Indulgence feeds the Inclination to Gaiety which tends to Debauchery and ruine of a Family When you shall see the unsatiable Curiosity of a Child 's wanton Appetite everlastingly gratifi'd with whatsoever it craves and so craving thereby made infinite When Father and Mother shall fear to displease him as if the Child were wisest of all the three and were in good truth my Little Master without any Complement At Ten Years of Age when he should be formed to Wisdom he must once every day Hunt making his Horses and Dogs Companions instead of Servants and venture his Neek four or five hours at a time for Health's sake When perhaps this is a Person whom Providence designs for a Trustee in the Government of six Millions of People And what care can be enough for his Accomplishment What Wisdom History and Politicks what Integrity Oratory and Courage is required to understand and debate the true Interest of the Kingdom to discover and baffle the Fallacies of a designing Speecher to give the King seasonable and useful Counsel so serviceably to manage Foreign Ministers of State as to redeem us from the Scandal of that old true Jest of losing in a Treaty all we got in a Fight There are great Places of Trust and Profit in the Kingdom to be aimed at which Kings are many times forced to fill up with Persons of meaner Birth because forsooth Great Ones will not condescend to be Wise enough to manage them So that in conclusion besides the Service of the Publick the best way to keep up and encrease a Patrimony is to breed up Children Severely and fit them with Improvements suitable to their Quality This will make them able to live Wisely and within compass and bear the great Burtheâ—s the Publick Exigencies of our Affairs lay upon us And it will be worth all the Charges we are at for our present Defence if that Frugality and Wisdom which neither Morality nor Religion could teach Necessity at last should force us to And here I cannot pass by the Censure of an Humour too frequent among young Gentlemen mistaking Vanity and Profuseness for Generosity they despise and laugh at Parsimony and Thrift as qualities Sullen Sordid and Ungenteel those Qualities which are valued in other Countries and which made the Romans masters of the World and which have made the Venetians and the Dutch in Greatness equal to most Kingdoms in Europe And
cannot be worse Hear this o you who laugh at Vertue contemn Religion and yet must Dye whatever be your Wealth your Wit or your Honour Sometime after this was written coming to Oxford I show'd these Papers to a very Worthy Person of my Acquaintance who hearing this read told me there was a case now fresh upon the Stage like this and show'd me the Book call'd the Second Spira where I saw dreadfully exemplisi'ed what I had been describing whether the matter be true or no. It doth please God sometimes to glorisie the Power of his Grace by snatching a Brand out of the Fire and showing wicked Men a possibility of Salvation That though the Path be narrow the Gate streight and he must strive yet he may enter and be received if he will but knock hard enough I have here subscribed a Letter to my Purpose of the Earl of Marlborough a little before his Death in the Sea-Fight 1665. To the Honourable Sir Hugh Pollard Comptroler of His Majesty's Houshold SIR I Believe the Goodness of your Nature and the Friendship you have always born me will receive with kindness the last office of your Friend I am in Health enough of Body and through the Mercy of God in Jesus Christ well disposed in mind This I premise that you may be satisfied that what I write proceeds not from any Fantastick Terror of Mind but from a sober Resolution of what concerns my self and earnest desire to do you more Good after my Death than mine Example God of his Mercy pardon the Badness of it in my Life-time may do you harm I will not speak ought of the Vanity of this World your own Age and Experience will save that Labour But there is a certain thing that goeth up and down the World call'd Religion dress'd and pretended Fantastically and to Purposes bad enough which yet by such evil Dealing loseth not its Being The Great Good God hath not left it without Witness more or less sooner or later in every Man's Bosom to direct us in the pursuit of it and hath given us His Holy Word in which as there are many things hard to be understood so there is enough plain and easie to quiet our Minds and direct us concerning our future Being I confess to God and you I have been a great Neglecter and I fear Despiser of it God of His Infinite Mercy pardon me the dreadful Fault But when I retired my self from the noise and deceitful vanity of the World I found no true Comfort in any other Resolution than what I had from thence I commend from the bottom of my Heart the same to your I hope happy use Dear Sir Hugh let us be more Generous than to believe we die as the Beasts that Perish but with a Christian Manly Brave Resolution look to what is Eternal I will not trouble you further The only Great God and Holy God Father Son and Holy Ghost direct you to an happy end of your Life and send us a joyful Resurrection so prays Your true Friend Marleborough From the Old James near the Coast of Holland Apr. 24. 1665. The Quality of the Person the seriousness the Piety and designed usefulness of the Letter together with the remarkable circumstance of the Time in which it was written tacks it very well to the Subject I am upon It is Printed at the beginning of a small Tract called Fair Warning to a Careless World Published by Dr. Lloyd Printed for John Amery over-against St. Clement's-Church in the Strand 1673. The Author hath Collected Instances of all Conditions Emperors Kings Philosophers Statesmen c. of all Religions Jews Mahometans Heathens Christians and of Good and Bad Men in each to show the opinion they had of a Life to come and especially how warmly that Opinion worked when they came to die The Souls of young Gentlemen would feed upon such Instances gather Strength and grow able to call Carelesness Vice and Atheism the greatest Folly in the World And I think it were a good expedient to confirm the Good in their Love of Vertue to read the late Disquisition of the Law of Nature and the Confutation of Hobbs Published by Mr. Tyrrel And to convince the Bad of the danger of their Folly I wish every Gentleman would Command his Children seriously and frequently to read over the Reflections on the Life and the genteel and very useful Discourse at the Funeral of the late Famous Earl of Rochester a Man always wonderful whether Good or Bad I hope I shall not offend by Naming him since it is for the Glory of God's Mercy to Him and His and also since it was his own especial Command to the Orator to make the Best of him in the Pulpit at any Rate that Posterity might look upon him and learn to be Wise and all the Kingdom grow better by his Vncommon Example There are very good Reasons to believe that his Education in his Youth was as carefully managed as the Calamitous time he was Born in would permit and to show the power of Education some of his most Intimate Companions in the looser part of his Life have declared That before he slept he would continue the Custom he had been bred up in of reading a Chapter in the Bible But to say the truth His Eyes were too tender to bear the mighty Sun-shine he went out so early abroad into He was too too Young to be trusted with the sight of Vice and Atheisin Dressed up with Wit Beauty and Honour To see the Gantlet thrown against Heaven and the Philistine traversing the Ground to desie the Host of the living God His Youthful Curiosity gazed too long and went too near and at last he was taken Prisoner led away Captive And for a while made Slave to the Cruel Tyranny of Custom Fashion and Example But the great Shepherd of Israel would not suffer the Lamb to perish in the Paw of the Lyon or the Bear or the Devil to wear away a Jewel so rich as this God had great things to do by him and therefore darts a Ray from above into his Breast softens and Refines the Metal and purgeth the Dross and like Saint Paul makes him Preacher of the Cause he had so often assaulted though with more violence to his own reason than theirs whom he Thought to Baffle He now tells the World that the time must come when Mirth and Laughter shall say 't is not in me Honour 't is not in me and the greatest Wit in the Kingdom 't is not in me That the King of Terrors must make Atheisin shrink and give back at Last even at that time when if there were any thing in it it ought to be more Daring and most Bold of all It was not Pain and Weakness or Faintness of Spirits which made him Good for then it would have made him Dull too but his Wit continued to the last he had more than there was strength to show and his dying
Riper Years either at Home or in the University or Country and that in Private or Publick Conditions for this was the business of The Guardian 's Instructions the Method Management and Parts of which may be known by the Preface before the Book or the Index at the end of it 2. My concern therefore at present is with the Knowledge of a Child and to reduce my own Observation with just Deference to others into some Rules to help at first and afterward to improve the Natural desire of Knowledge which discovers it self with the first exercise of Reason The Rules are Few and Easie because the eager Appetite after Novelty is heightened by the Pleasure which attends it so that if it be burdened with the Number or stifled with the Difficulty of Instructions Distrust will make the Defire more indifferent and the Progress more moderate 3. For Method sake I have measured out One and Twenty Years by such distinct Stages as I thought convenient with Directions agreeable to each Interval How to treat a Child from his beginning to Read 'till Six Years old from Six to Fourteen from Fourteen to One and Twenty These Distances are calculated for the common Capacity of Human Nature not for the Gigantick reaches of some singular Prodigies of Parts who do Wonders from the Cradle and early stride over one of these Stages in a Breath and if they did not hasten as fast to Die would want Matter to know before they come of Age. He who will undertake to prescribe just Rules for such Abilities as these were best first to take good care to be somewhat like them himself The First Stage For English AS soon as ever the Child is able to speak several Words plain let him be taught his Letters 1. By this means he will grow able much sooner and with much more ease to Apprehend and Pronounce all manner of Words than he would otherwise doe from the confusion of a bare Family-Noise Wherein the frequent difference of Tones and the hasty Abbreviations of Words in the common rambling Talk make the Child apt to mistake one Word or Syllable for another and so make it much longer before he come to speak perfectly well than it will be after he be thus somewhat prepared to observe apprehend and catch at the Pronunciation of the Syllables he hears 2. This will be a means to put some stop to the perpetual Motion and Hurry a Child is in all the Day long which is good for nothing but to make the Nurse sleep well For tho' it looks somewhat diverting to see a Child brisk yet if his Motion be too Violent or too Frequent it will keep his Brains in an everlasting Tumult and put him so many degrees back from thinking Whereas if he did but breath now and then on the Horn Book this would help to fix the Mercury of his Idle Soul give the Spirits time to settle and insensibly make preparation for as much resemblance of some kind of Seriousness as every degree of Tameness in Childhood can promise And the Pauses at first between every Letter and afterwards the distinctive Points in Sentences which the Child ought to be carefully taught to observe will bridle the Infant-Eartlestness make him look as if he did consider and in time make him really do so and I cannot but blame the common Practice It is thought a kind of Perfection in Reading if the Child read loud and fast beside the indecency of each one begets an ill-becoming Tone and the other hinders the minding the Sense and Truth of what is read 3. When you begin with a Child do not clog him with too much let him come to his Book as to his Recreation That the frequent exercise of Memory in Persons of Discretion helps it cannot be denied but burdening a tender memory doth not so the delight which is taken in Performances will strengthen the Faculty but tireing of it weakens the same The Mind of a Child is to be dieted like his Stomach little and often for fulness creates heaviness and that is but another name for dulness nay sometimes a Surfeit follows it now a Surfeit in the beginning of Learning is fatal If he dread and loath his Book if ever you intend to make him a great Man you must be sure to provide him a good Clark 4. Forasmuch as the unexperienced Apprehension of a Child is weak and tardy the Elements of Instruction ought to be very simple and easie For Difficulty and Discouragement begin with the same Letter And therefore tho' I were sure to have my Eyes scratcht out the next Moment I cannot forbear speaking irreverently of the Grave Horn-Book in use which brings in the Country School-Dames so many Groats a Week For the mixing the Great and Small Letters at first teaching and putting down the same Letter in different Figures as R. S. and V c. must needs distract an Infant and make him keep the Straw much longer in his Fingers than he need to do One Caution I cannot fail of putting in here There are certain Letters which some Children cannot so soon learn to pronounce as they do the others especially R. and L. if you find that this is not out of heedlesness only but some kind of unusual Difficulty go on at present without them they will come in time and do not stop the Child's progress 'till he get the Pronunciation of these two Letters also for you know not how much time you may hinder him of After he is perfect in his Letters let him Spell as follows Lord's Prayer OUR Fa-ther Father which art in Hea-ven Heaven Hal-low-ed Hallowed be thy Name Thy King-dom Kingdom come Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Hea-ven Heaven Give us this Day our Day-ly Dayly Bread and for-give forgive us our Tres-pas-ses Trespasses as we for-give forgive them that Tres-pass Trespass a-gainst against us and lead us not in-to into Temp-ta-ti-on Temptation But de-li-ver deliver us from E-vil Evil. A-men Amen The Creed I Be-lieve Believe in God the Father Father Al-migh-ty Almighty Ma-ker Maker of Hea-ven Heaven and Earth and in Je-sus Jesus Christ his on-ly only Son our Lord who was con-cei-ved conceived by the Ho-ly Holy Ghost born of the Vir-gin Virgin Ma-ry Mary suf-fer-red suffered un-der under Pon-ti-us Pontius Pi-late Pilate was Cru-ci-si-ed Crucified dead and bu-ri-ed buried he deseen-ded descended in-to into Hell the third Day he rose a-gain again from the dead he a-seen-ded ascended in-to into Hea-ven Heaven and sit-teth sitteth on the Right Hand of God the Fa-ther Father Al-migh-ty Almighty from thence he shall come to judge both the Quick and the Dead I believe believe in the Ho-ly Holy Ghost the Ho-ly Holy Ca-tho-lick Catholick Church the Com-mu-ni-on Communion of Saints the for-give-ness forgiveness of Sins the Re-sur-re-ction Resurrection of the Bo-dy Body and the Life everla-sting everlasting A-men Amen The Ten Com-mand-ments Co mmand ments I. THou shalt have no o-ther other Gods
Envy Hatred Malice and all Uncharitableness are wrong Signs of Justification Such is the Oppressor I speak of what he calls Religion shall do him no more Service at the Hour of Death than a strong Potion doth a Malefactor who is going up the Ladder he takes it not to save his Life but to prevent shewing Fear or feeling Pain at the present Thus doth the fair Pretence of Godliness stupifie the Man's Conscience like a sweet Morsel which Charms the Dog that by Barking should save the House there is no Roaring no Horror no Distraction on the Death-Bed which makes the Fooll who tends him tell the World he went away like a Lamb whereas when the Scene is shifted and he gone out of sight instead of a Lamb he is doom'd to the Kennel of Dogs Foxes and Woolves to everlasting Howling and gnashing of Teeth With what Amazement will he receive the Sentence stare about him grumble and mutter all the way and wonder 'till he comes to know what such a Saint as he is going to Hell for And now since the Revenues of the Church and Pious Donations are setled and confirmed by as wise Laws as any Man's Patrimony and the Purchaser is considered for the Tythes what a sad thing is it that it should be so hard to perswade the generality of the Vulgar that it is a Sin to cheat the Parson the Vulgar I say because the Gentry know better and the Generality I say because some Country People pay honestly and chearfully and many of them that grudge it yet they dare not make so bold with their Consciences as to Lie Cheat and Steal And methinks it should confound the Guilty Soul of every one who is told That the Great God to whom Vengeance belongs hath said He that despiseth you despiseth me That God who withered Jeroboam's Hand Destroyed the Children who mock'd the Prophet made Vzziah a Leper rotted the Flesh of Antiochus alive 2 Maccab. 9.9 and struck Ananias and Saphira Dead Acts 2. is as jealous of his Honour now and still as well able to revenge it and many a Man's Heart would ake if every one would read Spelman de non Temerandis Ecclesiis The great muttering among those that do not love Church-men is this That many of the Clergy have much more than they deserve Live too High and are too Great and that the Inferiour Clergy are many of them Idle Ignorant Quarrelsom or Loose this is often murmur'd and when they are in a good Humour spoken out aloud therefore something shall be replyed As for the First part of the Objection that some of the Clergy have much more than they deserve Truly if God should measure out every Man's share in England according to their deserts if he should lay Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet it would be Impudence in any Man to think he deserves the Bread he eats And if God be so Gracious as to bless any Man's Industry in an honest Profession I hope he will have so much manners as not to Sacrifice to his Net or burn Incence to his own Dragg as if by them his Portion were made fat and his Meat plenteous But if Merit were to be the Standard of Worldly Happiness what great desert is there in being born Eldest Son and Heir to several Thousands a Year when sometimes it falls out that the Person is hardly able to Answer Two or Three the easiest Questions in the World wisely enough to save himself from being Begg'd And therefore I think we were better to let the Word Desert alone and leave the Law to judge of that which gives the Right and Title No doubt the Day-Labourer murmurs now and then at his Miserable condition and the unequal distribution of Riches in the World and thinks he deserves better than to work late rise early and eat the Bread of Carefulness and be an everlasting Drudge in the Service of others who would be thought to deserve their Luxury less than he doth his Bread if the judicious Rabble should undertake to be Judges as under the Tribunes in Rome and in the Sanguinary Tumults of Germany they did The next part of the Objection is that many of the Clergy live too high and are too great If they do live too high they are very much to blame and now I think of it that is the folly of the whole Kingdom at this time Men live as profusely and as unthinkingly as they did when they paid no Taxes and I dare say there is scarce a Man of any wealthy condition but might pay the Taxes by bateing some needless excesses in Habit Diet Pocket-money c. and if they would wear nothing but our own Cloth drink nothing but our own Liquor keep none but their own Wives they need not quarrel at the King and Parliament for burthensome Impositions By the 〈…〉 I suppose the Bishops are aâ—â—ed at The King is the Fountain of Honour and let him be Judge of the most convenient Disposal and of the serviceableness of Persons who are to be in that mighty Meeting And why may not His Majesty presume that the laborious Education of the Clergy may furnish them with Abilities capable to administer Pradent Counsel to the great concerns of the Kingdom The last and heaviest weight of the Objection is That many of the lower Clergy are Idle Ignorant Quarrelsom or Loose There is not one Word of Excuse to be made for this where-ever it is found though where the Profits are poor it can hardly be avoided But I seriously believe that if the utmost of our Enemies Malice were gratisied if there were an universal change in the Nation and a new Set of Clergy of any Perswasion whatsoever put into all the Cures and Dignities of the Church considering the great number there would hardly be fewer exceptionable Persons for any due Qualifications than there are at this day And if the Clergy were kept up in Credit and Esteem then they would exercise their Function with some Authority which I am afraid this Age will never endure St. Ambrose and Theodosius were remarkable Instances of the Power of a Bishop and the Christ anity of a Prince The good Emperor did not alledge Greatness to Indemnify the horrid Murder of Seven Thousand People in a Fit of Sovereignty He did not call the Bishop Pragmatical Prelate for telling him that he should never come into the Church and could never go into Heaven without Repentance He took the Censure as one of the Arrows of the Almighty sticking in him and the Poyson thereof had well-nigh devoured his Spirits he was like to have perished by a voluntary Famine he cried and tore the Hair from his Head and fell flat on the Ground Such was a Bishop then says Theodoret gloriously and such was an Emperor And forasmuch as Heaven and Hell is the same thing now it was then and few Men are wiser better or more Religious than he and no Man greater than Theodosius was why should any Man's Wealth Greatness or something worse make him think himself above the Sins of Human Infirmities or notorious Guilt He should thank the Hand that gives him the Sacrament and the Man who helps him in Confession of his Sins begging Pardon promising Amendment and Prayers for assistance to perform these Promises This was the design of the Holy Function this it did heretofore and this it does do still where-ever we are looked on as the Ministers of Christ and not the mere Servants of Men But 〈…〉 Apostolical Maxim The Less is blessed of the Greater is not now without all Contradiction Oh good God! that after the Blessing of so much Knowledge by the Gracious Liberty of Preaching and Reading the Gospel we should run counter to all Mankind Examine all the too many several Persuasions of Christians in the World Papists Lutherans Calvinists Presbyterians Independants the word Priest and Pastor is a Term of affection deference and Veneration Ask a Jew Turk or Infidel he will tell you that no Subjects are more Honourable than those who serve their Publick Worship Therefore if we worship the True God and if the Communion we profess be altogether as good or much better than any other whatsoever why should not those who Administer to the National Religion be esteem'd for their Works sake St. Paul would have spared some of his Rhetorick in Magnifying his Office and Celebrating the Ministration of the Gospel above the Law He would never have dressed up the Function with such Glorious Titles as Enthassadors Stewards Overseers and Co-workers with God had he thought that Contempt would have been the English of all this When the same words applied to Secular Persons here and every where else are words of an Honourable Distinction Worth and Reputation And why should more Pride Malice Covetousness or Atheism make English Men an Exception to all Ages and Nations in the World To summ up the Import of this Conclusion If the Nobility and Gentry breed up their Sons Clergy-men they would be able to maintain the Interest and support the Honour of the Priesthood which Men of mean Birth and Fortune are like to sink under And so farewel to Priest-Riding as they call it that is farewel to that Courage in the Preaching and Power in the Governing-Clergy which should reprove and restrain the Wickedness of the Nation and prevent the fatal Measure of Iniquity It is hard to leave off and it is pity to go on and if the Reader will believe that there is more Grief than Anger in all this he will do Justice to a Mind full of terrible Apprehension that our Destruction cannot linger For of National Sins the Punishment is much more likely than the cure So it is where Selfishness hath eaten out all the good Qualities of our Ancestors where shall we find any true Generosity of Spirit Where is the old true Justice and Righteousness in Dealings Sincerity in Words and Promises is lost and no true Charity and Friendship to be found So that whereas there is much Talk of mending the Clergy alass there is such an ill habit in the whole Body of the Kingdom that I pray God mend both the Failings of the Clergy and the Gainsaying of the Laity too if God will not I fear an Earthquake or the French King must do it FINIS