bosome This Mercy we should pray so for and long-after even from the heart-root we should long For if the curse was heavy and sore which we reade of Psal 109. 14. then is the mercy great and greatly to be sought after from the Lord Let not the iniquitie of the Father be remembred with the Lord against the Childe and let the sinne of the Mother be blotted out Whensoever the Lord visits the Childe for Sinne certainly it should call the sinne of the Parent to remembrance o 1 King 17. 18. and so it will doe if the conscience be not asleepe or seared Then he will discerne that there was a great and weighty reason that made the Woman of Canaan thus to petition Christ p Matt. 15. 22. Have mercy on me O Lord thou Sonne of David my Daughter is grievously vexed with a Divell She counted the Childes vexation hers so would she the mercy We have filled our Childrens bones with sinne which will fill their hearts with sorrow It is our engagement to doe all we can though that All be two little to roote that sinne out which we have beene a meanes to roote so fast in I shall in another place the Second Part q Chap. 2. speake more unto this roote of bitternesse and the fruits springing thence whereby all are defiled Here I have onely pointed unto it as it engageth the Parent upon this so necessary and principall a service touching the good culture and breeding of the Child And we see what an engagement it is the greatest and strongest that can be thought of And so much as an Induction to Duty what this Duty is comes now to be handled A CHILDES PATRIMONY Laid out upon the good Culture or tilling over his whole man CHAP. I. Wherein the Parents dutie doth consist and when it begins Of Infancy A Parents dutie begins where the childe had its beginning at the wombe There the Parents shall finde that which must busie their thoughts about it before they can imploy their hands And this work lyeth specially in considering Gods worke upon the childe and how their sinne hath defaced the same First they consider Gods worke and the operation of His hands how wonderfull it is and how curiously wrought in the secret parts of the earth so the Prophet calls the Wombe because Psal 137. curious pieces are first wrought privately then being perfected are exposed to open view It was He that made the bones to grow we know not how then clothed them with flesh He that in the appointed time brought it to Chap. 1 sect 2 the wombe and gave strength to bring forth Here they acknowledge an omnipotent hand full of power towards them and as full of grace and they doe returne glory and praise both But here it ceaseth not Now they have their burden in their armes they see further matter of praise yet in that they see the childe in its right frame and feature not deformed or maimed Some have seene their childe so that they had little joy to looke upon it but through Gods gracious dispensation it is not so and for this they are thankfull And upon this consideration they will never mocke or disdaine nor suffer any they have in charge so to do a thing too many do any poore deformed creature in whom God hath doubly impaired His Image This they dare not do for it might have been their case as it was their desert Deformitie where ever we see it admits of nothing but our Pitie and our Praise 2. Thus they see Gods handy-worke and it is wonderfull in their eyes but still they see their owne Image also and cause enough to bewaile the uncleannesse of their Birth What the Pharisees once spake of him whose eyes Christ had opened is true of every mothers Childe Thou wast altogether borne in sinnes which should Joh. 9. 34. make every Parent to cry out as that mother did Have mercy on me O Lord thou sonne of David my Childe is naturally Matth. 15. 22. the childe of wrath Except it be borne againe of water and of the spirit it cannot enter into the kingdome of God Joh. 3. The Parents see evidently now that they are the channell conveying death unto the childe The mother is separated for some time that shee may set her thoughts apart and fixe them here The father is in the same bond with her and in this we may not separate them God hath made promise to restore this lost Image this not tooke but throwne-away integritie And this now their thoughts run upon and they pray That the Lord would open their mouthes wide and enlarge their hearts towards this so great a Mysterie They have a fruit of an old stocke it must be transplanted and out they carry it and into the Church they beare it as out of old Adam whence was transmitted to it sinne and death into the second Adam whence it may receive Righteousnesse and Life Then at the fountaine they hold it blessing God Who hath opened it for sinne and for Uncleannesse And there they present it not to the signe of the Crosse but to Blood Sacramentally there that is Righteousnesse purchased by the death of Christ and now on Gods part appropriated and made the childes And the Parents blesse His name and exalt His mercy who hath said at such a time as this Live Who hath found out Ezek. 16. 6. a Rausome to answer such a guilt A righteousnesse to cover such a sinne so big and so fruitfull A life to swallow up such a death with all its issues This the Parent sees in this poore element Water appointed by God set apart fitted and sanctified for this end With it the childe is sprinkled and for it the Parent beleeves and promiseth Then home againe they carry it It is a solemne time and to be remembred and the vaine pompe takes not up much time where wiser thoughts from truer judgement take place Friends may come and a decency must be to our place sutable but the Pageant like carriage of this solemne businesse by some speaks out plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fancie Act. 25. 23. that the heart is not right nor is that vaine pompe forsaken which yet is now upon their lips to say They who have better learned Christ do better understand the nature and solemnitie of the action they are about so their great businesse is with God before whom they spread themselves and their childe Who can worke by meanes as secret as is the way of the spirit and can set this water closer to the soule then He hath set its bones which yet no man understandeth nor can tell when or how To Him they offer it before Him they lay it praying That this water may ever lye upon the heart of theirs as a fruitfull seed quickning renewing sanctifying That that water may as the Rocke ever 1 Cor. 10. 4. follow the childe The rocke removed not
carryed like a horse that hath cast his rider and he will abuse his Tongue also vilifying that which should have honored him and in so doing he will liken himselfe to the most stinking place that we can passe by and to the most odious name that is named under the Sunne and so in the end will fall lower then a Beast can A Beast can fall no lower then the Earth nor doth it apprehend any evill till it feele the same and when it comes it is soone over and there 's an end Which remembers me of Pyrrhoes Hog that did eate his meate quietly in the Ship almost covered with waters when all the men there were halfe dead with feare But now reasonable Creatures are sometimes perplexed with unreasonable fears A mans apprehension may present evils that are not as impendent which may make his knees smite together and with all the apprehension of the time that is past and of that which to come may torment him too before he come to the place of his torment Bee not like the horse and mule then which have no understanding for then thy condition will bee much worse and lower then theirs in the latter end It may be I shall never call thee to an account nor live to see how thou hast thriven But consider this first what an Heathen o Plut. de fraterno amore spake it is very worthy a childs consideration We are charged that we doe ill to none much lesse to a parent but it is not enough for a child not to hurt his parents he must doe them all the good he can his whole deportment must be such such his words and deeds that thereby he may glad the heart of his parent else it is wicked and unjust Marke it for thus much it implyes It is not enough that the child doth not actually or positively give the parent cause of sorrow that were monstrous he or she must not privatively rob them of their comfort or stop them of their rejoycing even this were impious and unjust It is not enough not to grieve the parent not to give them matter of sorrow the childe that doth not more doth not his dutie he must give them matter of comfort and gladding of hearts This a childes dutie let a childe thinke of it and that an Heathen spake it from whom a lesson comes double to a Christian Consider again what the Lord saith It is a people of no understanding therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them p Esa 27. 12. Consider with that Scripture what the Apostle saith q 2 Thes 1. 8. In flaming fire taking vengeance of them that know not God c. If this and that be considered Thou wilt cry r Prov. 2. 3. after knowledge and lift up thy voyce for understanding wisdome is the principall thing therefore thou wilt get wisdome and with all thy gettings thou wilt get understanding ſ Prov. 4. 7. which only consolidates a man making him like armour of proofe or like a rocke for it fixeth the heart on Him in whom is everlasting strength Thou must consider also That an account must be given and the greater thy receits have been the greater thy accounts must be Line upon line and precept upon precept fills up the score apace A man looks to reape liberally where he sowes liberally And as God did bountifully reward the faithfull servant so did He severely punish the unfaithfull and negligent In the last place consider this and it sufficeth That a worthy name is called upon us even the name of Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named t Eph. 3. 15. A name which will honour us if we honour it which will highly exalt us if we exalt it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Nazian Orat. 21. p 378 And this we do when our conversation is honourable and as becommeth in heaven though amidst the things of the earth If there be a precise walking a good and suteable conversation worthy that name u The Scripture acknowledgeth them Christians or the anointed of the Lord who live Christian-like according to Christ then the Christian is the honourable person as the fruitfull vine the best amongst the trees or as those which were very good x Jer. 24. 5. But if we defile y Read page 36. that name by an unworthy conversation then are we the basest of men like the barren vine z Ezech. 15. 4. fit for nothing but the fire or unsavoury salt very bad and to be cast out a Christians are the worse the better they should be the more sacred their name the more accursed their guilt c. Read Salv. de Guber l. 3. ω. the end and Li. 4. within two leaves of the end Christiani deteriores sunt c. Reatus impii est pium crimen It is a good conversation which commends a Christian and that only and which proves him so to be not miracles if a man could work them not revelations if a man could see them not signes and wonders if such a power were given from above It is the conversation which is all in all and justifies before men If I do not the works of my Father beleeve me not b John 10. 37. Our Lord said thus of Himself His work should testifie of Him c Luk. 7. 21. and be a foundation of their faith works are the standard by which we must be measured also whether we are in Christ and Christ in us If we do not the works of Christ such as He hath proposed for our example It is a vain beliefe a conceit only To think we are Christians Our works tell the world what we are for those the world sees and heares and by them we either glorifie our Father in heaven or give cleare evidence that we have denied the Lord That bought us d 2 Pet. 2. 1. Redeeming from a vain conversation e 1 Pet. 1. 18. Chrysostome speaks usefully to this point where he speaks concerning the title of Lukes f Tom. 5. second Treatise Thus he speaks It will not profit though we could say In thy name we have prophesied cast out divels cleansed Lepers wrought miracles c. neither this nor that commended the Apostles but their Acts their Doings And these are To be chaste modest temperate meeke gentle kinde pitifull To bridle our anger to subdue our passions to mortifie our affections In a word to exercise all grace This is Action this Doing this tells us we are Christians in deed living Christians And it takes of that great objection which is put in our way saith the same Father and it is of infinite use when we stirre up our people to follow Paul as he followed Christ we say unto them ye must imitate Peter ye must follow Paul ye must be like Iohn and ye must doe as Saint Iames did What even so just to that Coppy
and Protection both He is all to us and will be so when we are nothing in our selves And so much touching my Wildernesse and Gods providing for me even there though I tempted him ten times I call it a wildernesse for so I may because so my foolishnesse in my wayfare made it And Gods provision for me was very remarkable and therefore to be remembred for the Parents sake and Childrens too of great use and concernment to both Indeed he that can say no more of his Travels but that he passed through a Wildernesse hath said little to commend his Pilgrimage but much to magnifie the power of That Hand whereby he had a safe Convoy through the same It is a poore and worthlesse life such mine is that hath nothing worthy to be remembred in it but its Infirmities But yet there is nothing so magnifies Gods power * 2 Cor. 12. 9. as mans weaknesse doth When I shall give account of my life and cast up the summe thereof saith Iunius k Miserationes Domininarrabo quumrationes narrabo miserae vitae meae ut glorificetur dominus in me qui fecit me vitâ Junii affix Oper. Theol. and so he begins I shall tell of the mercies of the Lord and His loving kindnesse to me ward And then he goes on reckoning up the infirmities of his body some of his minde too but that he puts a Marke upon is what extremitie he was in at Geneva and how graciously the Lord disposed thereof for that was remarkable indeed Beza also spareth not to tell us nay he fills his mouth with it how troublesome the Itch was to him not so easily cured then Deut. 28. 29. as now and what a desperate way the Smart the Chyrurgeon put him to and bad Counsell put him upon Such it was that there was but a step betwixt him and death but God wonderfully put to His Hand inter Pontem fontem Beza could not but confesse that Mercy as we finde it in his Epistle before his Confessions And so farre That the Parent and Childe both may learne to account Gods works and if it might be to call His mercies by their names and to rest upon Gods providence as the surest inheritance Now I come to give the reason of my paines in all this which follows and what ingageth a Parent unto this Duty 1. I considered my yeers declining apace When the Sunne is passed the Meridian and turned towards its place where it must set then we know the night approcheth when man ceasing from his work lyeth down in the Darke It is the Wisemans Counsell l Eccles 9. 10. and it is his wisdome to do that which is in his hand with all his might m Prima Actionum Argo Committenda sunt extrema Briareo de Aug. l. 6. 41. before he goes hence for there is no working in the grave The putting off this Day and the next and halfe a day cost the poore Levite and his Concubine very deer as we read Iudg. 19. And it teacheth us in our affairs concerning our selves or ours in setting our house in order That it is dangerous triflng away the Day-light I cannot say with Isaac I am old or mine eye is dimme but I must say in the following words I know not the day of my Death God may spare me among mine yet longer for my building is not so old but it may stand And yet so unsound the foundation is for it is of Clay it may sinke quickly as my good Father before me I may lye down turne to the Wall and to the earth all at once though yet I have scarcely felt and so also my Father before me the least distemper If this consideration come home and proves seasonable I shall then set all in a readinesse and in order that when Death comes I may have then no more to doe but to welcome it and shut the eye and depart tanquam Conviva Satur as one that hath made an improvement of life and hath hope in Death That was my first consideration 2. I considered my Children all three young the eldest but peeping into the World discerning little the second but newly out of the armes the youngest not out of the Cradle I considered also they are not so much mine as the Lords Whom thou hast borne unto me saith the Lord Ezek. 16. 20. And therefore in all reasonable Construction to be returned back againe unto Him by a well ordered education as himselfe hath appointed These thoughts so over-ruled me at length for I am not easily drawn to take my Pen in hand and prevailed with me to pen some instructions which might treat with them at more yeers and tell them their Parents Will concerning them in case either he or she should be taken from them before they were grown up It is but a dead letter yet somewhat it may worke through Him That worketh all things being as I said the Parents last Will and Testament concerning the Childe My Will otherwise is almost as quickly made as Luthers was wherein he could commend nothing to Wife and three Children but Gods blessing and Melch. Adam vita Luth. ◠134. protection And that is a rich legacy indeed a mighty portion but it is not transmitted from the Parent to the Childe This portion the Parent cannot bequeath the Childe cannot receive And yet the Parent and Childe must intend this above all things even the committing all unto God and expecting all from Him so as to say and to say heartily Thou art my Portion saith my soule Thou art a God in covenant with us with ours our God and the God of our seede Children I have for thou hast given them me They are Thine more then mine I was a meanes to bring them into the World and by Thy appointment to be as a Nurse unto them here They are thy Charge for provision and protection I beseech Thee Answer this Trust now specially when it is Thy pleasure so that I can take no care of them my selfe Thou slumbrest not Thou dyest not I must So Luther teacheth us to draw our will and so another as precious hath put it into See Dr. Sibs P. 647. S. C. forme And we are sure the Lawyer can finde no flaw here There is no errour in the Draught And though this may make the Parent rest secure for he hath chosen a faithfull Over-seer or Executor of his will yet it must not make him carelesse and negligent I have according to my rule and Gods gracious supply layed-up for my Children though very little in comparison of what some may thinke I might have done considering my time of gathering yet something it is and I wonder that little is so much A little riches are hardly got a great deale easily i Essayes Facilis ad divitias via quo die poenituerit bonae mentis Sen. nat Quest lib. 4. cap. 1. It is the Lord Ver. Riddle but easily read He
then sufficeth the contrary Chrysost ad Heb. cap. 12. Hom. 29. temperate use of the creatures so as they may refresh Chap. 4 § 15 not oppresse this will be their care And they will looke to it also that the broken meat be taken up that the least crum which can be saved be not lost no not a crum § 15. We that are by nature children of wrath have in our nature so much fiercenesse as that we cannot credit nor beleeve it though another should shed teares over x 2 King 8. 11. Virtutes vitia non sunt priusquam lacessantur it untill the foundations of our natures are discovered The occasion offered and the restraint taken off A swine will keep clean in a meadow Lime will not smoake till you put water to it A Lion sleeps waking with his eyes open and wakes sleeping with his eyes shut To look to he is as gentle as a Lambe but if you pluck him by the eare he will pluck you by the arme though he seemes to wink stirre him or let him loose then you shall know what he is y Solve Leonem senties I meane by all this That we know not our natures how fierce they are till we are tempted by the occasion and so tried Therefore we should looke to it betimes and be jealous over our own hearts and restraine in children whatsoever leads that way I meane to crueltie and fiercenesse And then we shall not suffer children to delight themselves as commonly they do in the vexation and paine of the creature which the more it is in their power the more children will vexe the creature to shew their power in the torture and paine thereof witnesse that rude custome on Shrove-tuesday witnesse also our flyes birds Cats and Dogs tossed up in blankets or set on furiously to encounter mangle and enter-teare each other Children consider not by how weake supports mans life is upheld nor how serviceable the flesh of some of them is the blood of othersome and the excrements of a third the most approved remedy for a sore throat This children consider not nor can they think what ill blood such bloody exercises do breed They consider not that such sports leade to crueltie whereby we come neerest to the Divell who delights in the paine of the creature It is a knowne story and to be observed That a very proud King delighted much in his childe hood to put out the eyes of Quailes This King carryed himselfe afterwards with such pride and insolency that he had his denomination from it and delighted himselfe so much in crueltie and bloud that the people expelled him out of their Citie and Countrey with protestation never to receive any King againe so they changed the name of their Government An Emperour after him delighted as much to see the entralls of flies he killed as many as he could catch and tooke his times for it So the proverb was The z Ne musca quidem Suet. Dom. Emperour had not so much as a flye neere him This man or rather beast in shape of a man delighted as much in the shedding of Christians blood and as cruelly abused Gods Image which he had shamefully cast off Indeed there are some men who are cruell to Christians and kinde to Beasts But they have but the shape of men they are a Lege Dialog de bello sacro p. 339. Beasts indeed and therefore do they esteeme more of Beasts then of Christians It is b Lo. Ver. Essay 13. p. 67. reported that a Christian Boy in Constantinople Had like to have been stoned for gagging in a waggishnesse a long billed fowle b I would perswade but this from hence That children be not suffered to bathe their recreations in bloud as Mr. Bolton phraseth it Not to refresh their tyred mindes with spectacles of crueltie nor inured to behold rufull objects without horrour No beast they say takes content in the hurting of any other except in the case of hunger or anger They satisfie their appetite and rage sometimes with crueltie and bloud but their eyes and fancies never It is a debasing of humanitie below beasts to please the eye I say not in beholding one man teare and mangle another but to see poore beasts encountring each other and mangling each other being set on by man we must not make Gods judgements and punishments of sinne for we made the beasts wild our sinne put the enmitie betwixt the Woolfe and the Lambe c Quis seras fecit nisi tu Mor. de verit religionis cap. 12. the matter and object of our recreation Alas sinfull man it is Mr. d Direct 156. Boltons patheticall expression what an heart hast thou that canst take delight in the cruell tormenting of a dumbe creature Is it not too much for thee to behold with dry eyes that fearefull brand which only thy sinne hath imprest upon it but thou must barbarously also presse its oppressions and make thy selfe merry with the bleeding miseries of that poore harmlesse thing which in its kinde is much more and farre better serviceable to the Creator then thy selfe Yet I deny not but that there may be another lawfull use of this Antipathy for the destroying of hurtfull and enjoying of usefull creatures so that it be without any taint or aspersion of crueltie on our part or needlesse tormenting of the silly beasts It is a sure note of a good man He is mercifull to his beast And it is worth our marke That the Lord commands a mercy to a creature perhaps not worth two farthings and for this He promiseth a great mercy the like blessing which is promised to them who honour their father and mother Deut. 22. 6 7. If thou finde a birds nest c. Thou shalt in any wise let the Dam go and take the young to thee That thou mayest prosper and prolong thy dayes This is to lead to mercy and to take out of our hearts crueltie saith Mr Ainsworth It is the least of all in Moses law and yet such a promise is annexed thereunto as we heard so true is that which the learned Knight hath The debts of mercie and crueltie shall be surely paid Think we on this so we have our duty and we shall teach our children theirs and then though the bloud of the creature be not spared for we have dominion over it yet it shall not be abused nor shall we delight our selves in the pain of it which tends to much evil which we must by all means and all too little prevent and at the first while the minde is tender and doth easily receive any impression 15. It is not possible to point at all the evils whereof our corrupt nature is fruitfull nor at all the meanes whereby to prevent the growth of the same I remember how e Ad Dâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ω. Isocrates concludes his oration so full of instructions With all our
the Lord who hath yet spared us in the night of our ignorance when we could not enquire after Him and in the night of our vanitie when we cared not for Him and in the night of our sorrow when our spirits were overwhelmed that we remembred Him not Thus hath He patiently spared and hitherto watched over us to shew mercy when we were secure and carelesse in our duties towards Him which engageth us the more to give the more praise to His name And so much may teach us to keep sound wisdome and discretion that when thou lyest down thy sleep may be sweet so I have done with those foure seasons in the day so seasonable for instruction CHAP. IX An ordinary and great neglect in point of education The ground of that neglect For the helping thereof the Parent is advised to fix upon two conclusions what they are Of the Schoole and School-master and the way he must go THus farre as my method or way led me touching the good culture of the childe It prescribes a way to no man no matter what way he takes so he doth his dutie and so the work be done and the end attained which is The tilling over the whole man by the well improving of this seed-time A season very much neglected willingly or ignorantly let slip and passed-over by the most Parents too many make but a waste of those so precious houres as was said e Preface pag. 20. and as it were an emptie space which yet being improved would serve to fill and store up that which would be of more use to promote the childe then the Parents purse though therein he puts more confidence Thus I say it is for the most part and we cannot easily believe how much the Family the Common-wealth the Church how much all suffer for this neglect herein And which is the losse indeed The higher the persons are and the more promising their parts the more for the most part they are neglected in point of culture and due manurance It was Mr. Calvins complaint f Hoc crat summuÌ„ decus nobilibus nihil proâ—sâ—s tenere doctrinae gloriati sunt etiam nobiles hoc nomine quod non essent clerici que madmodum vulgò loquunturâ— c. Cal. in Dan. cap. 1. The honourable of the land account it a point of their honour that they have no learning none at all And in this they glory that they are no Clarks as the usuall saying is Charron relates for it is out of another to the same purpose That Noblemens children learn nothing by order and rule but to manage the Horse he gives the reason Because the Horse is neither Flatterer nor Courtier he will cast a Noble-man as well as a meaner person g Of wisdome first book chap. 49. pag. 203. Our learned Perkins observed Chap. 9 the like in his time Mr. Ascham a worthy Tutour to an excellent Princesse h As the Rose the Queen of flowers so she the Queen of Queens and of Kings also for Religion pietie magnanimitie justice you cannot question what Rose I mean sith so she was by desart and descent Lord Cooke Preface to Littleton tells us as much and it is very notable which he tells us this it is Some of our young Gentlemen count it their shame to be counted learned and perchance they count it their shame to be counted honest also For I heare say they meddle as little with the one as with the other A marvellous case that Gentlemen should be so ashamed of good learning and never a whit ashamed of ill manners such do lay for them that the Gentlemen of France do so But that is not so many good Schollers there young and Gentlemen indeed do prove that to be most false Though yet we must grant that some in France who will needs be Gentlemen whether men will or no and have more Gentleship in their hat then in their head be at deadly feude with both learning and honesty So he in his Grammar-Schoole page 18. five pages before * Page 13. The same goodman doth cast up the reckoning for these young Gentlemen that at the foot of the account they may read the issue and product of their cast away houres and much abused good parts thus he saith The fault is in your selves ye Noble-mens sonnes and therefore ye deserve the greater blame that commonly the meaner mens children come to be the wisest Counsellours and greatest doers in the weightie affaires of the Realme And why for God will have it so of His providence because you will have it no otherwise by your negligence And God is a good God and wisest in all His doings that will place vertue and displace vice in those Kingdomes where he doth govern For He knoweth that Nobilitie without vertue and wisdome is bloud indeed but bloud truly without bones and sinewes and so of it self without the other very weake to beare the burthen of weightie affaires Thus touching the great neglect of our young Gentlemen in former times And the evidence of the present time doth cleare it That the most hopefull plants are most neglected and our Seminaries filled with the lesse promising slipp's too soone set there before they can suck any juyce or sap or too late when they are first run out to seed and wilde in some other place We see a great part of our Gentry Citizens and others running out very farre this way so as they are like the sluggards field and by their cut and garb they make their Parents feare as much as that great Gamaliel spake-out in his last testament That the childe will scatter as fast as the Parent gathered and emptie with as quick an hand as the father did take in For the end answers the meanes The childe was taught no obedience when it might now it is too old to learn The childe was not bended when it was tender now it is too stiffe it will follow its own bent The Parent hath slighted the grave counsell given him before i Chap. 1. p. 6. and chap. 2. and neglected his precious season and seed-time also And now that it is too late to call back yesterday he may thank himself for the evill consequences from that neglect and humble himself to smart patiently for smart he must if he have any feeling of the weight of his charge or of his childes miscarriage He had his childe in his hand and he might have carried him on fairely and have taught him to know God himself and his parents But the parent neglects this faire opportunitie till the childe be slipt out of his parents hands and from under his own also whereto he was at first too soon and ill trusted And then what follows we see and how the parents and childe complaines we have heard Pag. 18. 24. This neglect is manifest so is the hurt which issueth there-from The ground or bottom of this neglect is as manifest
time And though this recording of Mercies be proper to every person that is growne up to the yeares of understanding and not to every Age only but to every yeare and month and weeke and day therein yet this is a duty which seemes more to presse upon us the more and the faster yeares doe presse on And therefore though it doth concerne All in generall and every age and person in speciall yet being specially intended because that which is spoken to all is counted as spoken to none I shall bend my words to Thee whom I must suppose now stricken in yeares the Sun of thy day farre passed the Meridian and its shaddow gone downe many degrees towards the place where anon it must set Thou must then consider how wonderfully the Lord hath maintained thy life and preserved the same ever since thy comming into the world and that this consideration may presse the more thou must consider what this life is and that of so small a bottome the Lord should spinne out solong a thred Had he not drawne it out of his owne power as the Spider doth her web out of her owne bowels it had been at an end the second minute The maintaining the Radicall Moysture that Oyle which feeds the Lampe and light of thy life is as great a miracle as was the maintaining the Oyle in the Cruse of the poore widow But He did not maintaine this life only and at His owne proper cost But defended and protected thee also tooke thee under His Wings as the hen doth her chickens to shelter thee from those many dangers thy life hath been exposed to We cannot tell how many but this thou must know that there are principalities and Powers both in the plurall number to shew they are Legions and in the Abstract to shew they are armed with power as they are swelled with malice And to this their malice and power thou wast liable every moment of thy life and thou hadst felt both their malice and their power as quick and fierce against thee as Iob and others have done if the Lord had not charged them concerning thee Touch her not and how canst thou be sufficiently thankfull for this Againe consider how many dangers and casualties thou hast scaped from the Earth the severall creatures on it from the Water from the Fire from the Aire also how often have the Arrowes of Death come whisking by thee Tooke away those next thee and yet have missed thee perhaps thou hast seene some Deare yeares of time as thy forefathers have done When a thousand have falne at thy right hand and ten thousand at thy left When Gods Arrests have seized upon some walking talking and yet have spared thee And if not so yet consider thine owne body and the humours thereof They had every day overflowne and drowned thee as the waters the earth if God had not said unto them stay your proud Waves In a word if thou consider what thy life is and the dangers thou art subject to thou must acknowledge that the preservation thereof is as great a wonder as to see a sparke maintained alive amidst the waters So Chrysostome speakes of Noah t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 5. ser 6. As great a wonder as to see a glasse that hath been in continuall use gone through many hands and hath had many knocks and fals to be kept for forty fifty sixty yeeres whole and unbroken As great a wonder as to see a Candle in a paper lanthorne in a strong windy night kept from being extinct when as we often see in many that a little cold comes but in at a little cranney and blowes their Candle out as â—ob speakes Thus hath God kept thee and as it were in His hand carryed thee And in thy way how hath He crowned thee with His goodnesse and filled thy yeares with comforts so as they are more innumerable then are the Minutes of thy life Only thus thou must summe them up in the grosse That what ever comfort thou hast had in thy life time from Him thou receivedst it who puts in all the Sugar and delight we finde in or from the Creature as Ayre lights not without the Sunne nor wood heats without fire so neither can any condition comfort without God and with Him every condition is comfortable though seemingly never so discomfortable for He moderateth the discomfort it is like thou hast found it so so as we are not swallowed up of sorrow and He fashioneth the heart to that disconsolate condition and that condition to the heart so much it is very likly thou hast found also and it requires thy sad and serious consideration But more especially this thou must consider what have been the effects and fruits of all this goodnesse What thou hast returned to the Lord for all these All these what are these Nay it is not possible to reckon them up They that keepe a Register of Gods mercies some doe cannot set downe all the Receits of one Day much lesse of all their dayes so great is the summe of every particular day that we cannot reckon up the specialties thereof and call them by their names as God doth the Starres But put it to the Question and let thy heart make answer before him who tryeth the heart and searcheth the reines and will bring every secret thing to judgment The Oyle and radicall Balsome of thy life we spake of hath it been fuell to thy Thankfulnesse or hath it increased the fire of thy lusts Thou hast been preserved and delivered so long and so miraculously as thou hast heard and seene How hath Gods patience and longsuffering wrought upon thee Hath it brought thee nearer to repentance and so nearer to God Or hath thine heart been hardned thereby because sentence against an evill worke is not presently Eccles 8. 11. executed So as with that stubborne people whose sonnes and daughters naturally we are thou mayst say I have been delivered to doe more abominations n Ierem. 7. 10. Thou hast had mercies upon mercies they have been new unto thee every morning and for thy Sorrowes they have been mitigated too and so mixed that there was much mercy in them many ingredients of comfort to take of the sharpnesse and allay the bitter relish thereof What strong workings hast thou found herefrom How hast thou been inclined to love the Lord for His goodnesse to feare Him for His Mercies How hast thou been melted thereby to obedience and engaged upon his Service Aske thy selfe againe for in that Method we went Thou hast two hands another hath but one or perhaps none what more worke hast thou done Thou hast a Tongue and the use of the same there is another thou knowest who hath a Tongue but speakes not wherein hast thou glorified thy Maker more then the other hath done Thou hast two eyes thy Neighbour is darke Aske the same question over againe For as it was said of him who was