may learn to open her mouth with wisedome e Prov. 31. 26. and then she shall have joy by the answers of her mouth for a word spoken in due season how good is it f Prov. 15. 23. 7 A parent must look to it that an oath be not heard from the mouth of a childe he will learn it sooner then he will his prayers From his mouth it is like a word clothed with g Eccles 23. 12. death Here the Father is as he is in every thing very exemplary the childe must honour the father and the father owes a reverence to the childe h Maxima debetur pueris reverentia Juven the elder sort must carry themselves reverently before youth and in this point very circumspectly or else there is no hope but that the childe will practise as he heares and sees Therefore our Lords prohibition must hold in the parent else the childe will be loose and runne out Sweare not at i Matth 5. 34. all not at all willingly but forced by k Vel authoritate deferentis vel duritie non credentis authority or incredulity not at all rashly or lightly not at all by the creature we cannot make the least that is and if we use any thing in a vain and light manner whereby God hath made Himself known to man we take His name in vain and we know what follows I cannot but remember how often that golden-mouthed Father warnes Ch. 4 sect 8 the people of Antioch That they sweare not that they beware of oathes It is the close almost of every Homily And in one place he speaks very plainly and to a childes capacity Away away with this wicked custome of oaths and let us give but so much honour to Gods Name as we do unto our best clothes it is our manner to reserve them for solemne times for speciall service Good friends let us not so farre contemne our own souls and their everlasting welfare as that we use the terrible Name of God more dishonourably then we will our clothes So that Father All meanes must be taken whereby Hom 9. ω. the childe may conceive the Name of God aright to be as it is dreadfull and terrible And lesser things must be avoided though they were not evill in themselves to prevent an evill whereto they lead Our Lords following words yeeld us our lesson Let your communication be yea yea nay nay I think of the Fryars note here it is a good one When the heart saith yea then the tongue must say yea that is yea yea and when the heart saith nay then the tongue must say nay that is nay nay a Quod affirmatis nudè â—ffirmetis quod negatis nudè negetis Bezaes note is to that very purpose What ye do affirme ye must affirm heartily clearly without reservation a Popish sleight b Laâ—chra perjurio Cicâ—i 3. pag. 143. Quae dixeris jurasse â—uta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Pelus l. 2. Ep. 146. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. 7. p. 527 528. in all sincerity and what ye do deny deny it so too An c honest mans word is as good as his oath of more credit For a man to use his faith and troth two ordinarie words sheweth a man hath no credit for he sets his jewels to pawne if he had faith indeed or truth either or knew how pretious they were he would not be so lavish of them Yea yea must be enough Nay nay sufficient unlesse the cause be weighty and before a Iudge as was said and if so to a parent much more to a childe Assuredly for Christ hath said it Whatsoever is more then these cometh of evill †8. And here I do not hold it any impertinency to teach the childe for the Fathers sake as before to hold his tongue till he hath examined his words and their errand so here to give words their weight that being spoken they meant what they said A wise man lookes * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Iliad γ. before he leaps and well adviseth before he speaks but when he hath spoken he will not think he hath done We hold it a foule disgrace if a man shall give us the lie we must not put that disgrace upon our selves suffering our actions to disagree with our words which is to give our selves the lie Lelius passeth a short censure upon Cato and Socrates but he makes a wide difference in their commendations We have heard much from the mouth of the one we have observed more from the hand of the other * Hujus enim facta illius dicta laudantur The one mans words are commended the other mans deeds Bodin giveth a shorter censure but no commendations upon that holy-father Pope Alexander the sixth and Borgias his sonne The father never spake what he meant The sonne never did what he spake Their Maxime was Give thy word to all Keep touch with none And this was Dare verba indeed in plain English Knaverie by your leave An honest man will not passe his word lightly no not for himself much lesse for another for then he takes the ready and rode-way to need the same courtesie from another But when his word is passed he holds it as firm as his oath Shew me a man that makes light of his words and I will shew you the same man that he puts no weight in his oath if he breakes his word with you no bands a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pind. will hold him except one that hath his hand in it and the reason thereof is plain because he knows that is a manuduction to the prison he will hold with you there because he knows if he do not that the prison will hold him for that is a strong hold Remember we that we hold it the greatest indignitie in the world if a man can do to us as some-time he will threaten if he can make us Eat our own words Beware we that we do not put this dishonour upon our selves which we could not brook from another Of all beasts we have them in greatest detestation who devoure their own young such beasts there are our words what are they but the issue of our own mouth And if we resume and recall them what do we other then eat and devoure our own off-spring And hence a childe will learn it is not too subtill for him to detest their Religion who doctrinally b Qui dogmatizant mendacia teach That words how solemnly so ever pronounced are like Gypsies knots fast or loose at the Churches pleasure no faith no keeping touch with any but as it maketh for advantage c Nulla sides nisi prout expedit No what say they to the three yeares famine That is a resolved case 2. Sam. 21. so is that also Ezek. 17. 16. 17 18 19. very worth the nothing And we learn too what Pharaoh teacheth by the light of nature saying thus
assiduitas Plin. 11. 30. makes a path by her assiduitie and continuall traversing the way so if by continuall paines with them often prayer for them good example before them you instill and drop upon your children as you can you shall see Gods work in them n Martyr pag. 1444. at length saith Mr. Bradford in his letter to Io. Carelesse If the childe be a young Timothy I meane such an one who is instructed from a childe to know the holy o 2 Tim. 3. 15. Scriptures he may prove there is great likelihood so a Mnason an old p Act. 21. 16. Disciple q Lectione assiduâ meditatione diuturnâ pectus suum bibliothecam fecerat Christi lib. 2. ep 22. 267. Hieron tells us of one who by continuall exercise this way had so wrought the word upon his soule that it became indeed an ingrafted word and his heart was the very library of Christ This may assure us that according to our childrens yeares something they may be taught And by much r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I will never leave speaking he that heares not to day may heare to morrow Chrys in Ioh. Hom. 65. ω. teaching some thing may stick as will the smell by standing in a perfumers Chap. 6 § 2 shop And easily they may be taught even by sensible things they may be raised above sense They can understand that the day was made for man to worke we do not burne day light as the proverb is And the Sun riseth and gives his light for that end and not to sleepe by And that He who commands worke must command a blessing upon the worke else it will be a vaine worke And that He who commands a blessing must be waited upon and served in truth and in truth called upon c. Such like instructions as these may take up our thoughts and finde us worke in the morning when we rise And direct us to and set us in the way of a blessing upon that we do afterwards And so much to the first season In the morning when thou risest Now that we have as children of the day acquainted our selves with God and done the works agreeable to the light in serving others we may now serve our bodies too that they may be serviceable That season now follows and the instructions therefrom CHAP. VI. The second season seasonable for instruction and yeelding a great deale AT noon we eat bread at noon which implyeth that we have done our worke before we are not content to feed an unprofitable servant nor a Lord-Dane an idle drone nor doth the great House-keeper of the world make any allowance here for idle and lazy servants That pattern Å¿ Gen. 24. 33. of servants doth his work first and eates after Ioseph returnes home at noone from his necessary affaires then eates bread with his brethren t Gen. 43. 25. It is supposed and granted That the servant sitting down to eat came from the field plowing there or feeding cattell Luke 17. 7. He that like an idle Serving-man can finde no good imployment for his hand or minde should be kept fasting according to the Apostles rule He that doth not labour must not eat He that laboureth not lives like a mouse x Quasi mures semper edâ—re aliâ—num panem Plaut Pers Act. 1. Scen. 2. he eats not his own bread Nay he is a thief because he worketh not the thing that is good Ephes 4. 28. And now that we have laboured see our frailtie and what it is wearinesse is a fruit of the curse and now a kinde of sicknesse Rest cures that hunger a sicknesse also meat cureth it But behold how little a satisfaction here is in it and for how little awhile we are refreshed now with rest and repast presently again we are weary and faint Our bodies need continuall repairing we are still falling toward our earth dust is turning to dust before our last glasse be turned and the last sand run out Every day there is a spending of the vitalls some dilapidations in our building which these comforts of meat and drink through Gods blessing prop and make up again but with some losse in the principalls A consideration which may assure us that we are but men fraile decaying men and minde us of that state where is constancy and to seek Him who is fulnesse and onely satisfies Here below our comforts and refreshments lie scattered some here some there some in this some in that we go to the fire for some to the cup board for other some to the eisterne of water for other but they are indeed but cisterns quickly suckt up and emptied and then are we as before God is the ever springing-fountain All comforts are summ'd up in Him as the drops in the ocean They are divided here below but united in Christ get Him and we have all in Him Oh say then Give us evermore from that fountain That though we do come to these cisternes to draw yet we may know them to be but cisternes and Him to be the Fountain from whom we may receive fullnesse and satisfaction and so wait for His appearance when we shall be ever with the Lord where we shall hunger no more nor thirst any more c. 3. And this instructs also that we have no true right to Chap. 4 § 2 the Creatures before us a kinde of right there is y All are yours 1. Cor. 3. 21 23. that is the churches in order to comfort and happiness but for proprietie so all things are not ours Religion takes not away the distinction of master and servant And therefore it takes not away distinction of goods which is the lesser Doctor Sibs on that Text. Non fundatur dominium nisi in Imagine Dei. Imago laec quid â—st aut quomoâ—o deletur Respondebunt spiritus sanatici Imaginem Dei esse puritatem id autem quod delet esse peccatum Verùm hoc ad eveâ—sionem imperii omnis spectat Interpretes igitur saniores banc imaginem interpretantur esse rationem naturalem Quae si in toto aut maximâ ex parte deformetur jus imperii extinguitur L. Verul de bello sacro p. 3. 345. In Engl. p. 122. 123. Lege Clem. Alex. Ad Gentes pag 44. which is not here a place to dispute but no true nor comfortable right but in our Head the Lord Iesus Christ By sinne we have forfeited them all and more then so we have brought a curse upon them and a vanitie In Christ they are restored and through Him the curse taken off I will cite Mr Dearings words here on Heb. the first chapter verse 2. They are these and yeeld us profitable instruction We must learn of our selves we have nothing but being ingrafted in Him we are owners of all things In mine own right I am naked and void of all I have no meat to feed my hungry body no drink to comfort my faint and
foundation is laid in declension and verb. And it is strange that we do so much fail at this point and are so much out of the way because our way herein hath been pointed out unto us by one who was a famous Grammarian more then fifteen hundred yeares since u Nomina verba declinare inprimis pueri sciant neque enim aliter pervenire ad intellectum sequentium possint Quod etiam c. Quint. orat lib. 1. cap. 4. I should say more of this point if others had not said all therefore I leave this and the remainder which should have been said for it is a great deale to those whose work and study it hath been to make a more full discovery thereof unto the world whereunto I shall onely say this That the chiefest help for the speeding the childe in the attaining to the tongues and the moulding the speech thereunto is not yet by any of our men made known to our Countrey I know well what Mr Ascham hath done A man of an approved judgement and his work of the greatest use of any we have printed in our tongue I know as well what Mr Brimsely hath written and the clearenesse of his intent therein Our Grammar the best and easiest of any for a learner hath been viewed and reviewed but it hath happened to that as to the picture which we reade x Plin Nat. Hist 35. 10. was exposed to publick censure Something hath been added to it letters I mean which hindred the understanding very much leading the childe in that common Rode-way which no wise Master will suffer the childe to go in This I am sure of That the Grammar was easier and plainer and better for the learner twenty yeares ago and ten then now it is after all this revising how it may prove when it comes forth again for it is in hand now we may shortly see And when we see it this we shall see by it that though the faults in the first inventers to whom we ow most are in good part corrected and the rules of Etym. c. are brought into better order for after thoughts are more digested yet can it help little the tediousnesse of our common course nor much promote a speedier and quicker way These helps before mentioned if we may call them so because so intended are above and in sight other things of more substance lie under hatch and cannot appeare Here at this point I must make mention of two the one Mr Brook Mr. Horne projecting the other digesting a very exact method whereby the tongue may be moulded and framed to a speedy attaining of three languages The former was a seeing a Multorum ingeniorum magnae dotes veluti debiles ipsa paupertate aegrae jacent Barel Euph. 3. 226. man though outwardly dark and had a clearer insight into the way of training-up youth then any man that hath yet appeared in so weighty a businesse wherein he laboured above strength and so broke himself in the work God hath now removed his shoulder from the burthen he is taken away from us and a poore widow with foure children the eldest not nine left behinde Gods peculiar care these and it is well they are for the common care is no bodies in particular we traversed this way and that and the other all three wayes but found no way for relief of the Mother and her orphanes so they are resigned unto His hand who makes a way in the wildernesse and will be seen in the Mount providing a lamb for a sacrifice He will provide also that the children of such a Father so carefull so faithfull shall not perish for want of bread nor perish yet worse for want of breeding But I recall my self remembring what I was speaking this That had this person before mentioned found incouragement and help for it is a work too hard for one or two he had then very much promoted the publick good for he had set out the clearest light to Grammar for the clearing and speeding the childes understanding and way therein that ever yet our Church hath seen And in good forwardnesse this work was set by him Mr Horne who was more then an eye and hand to Mr Brookes therein but there being little hope then and lesse now that there can be a hand which can widwife-forth that birth if it should be perfected and fitted therefore it was but coldly proceeded in then and is like to lie now as a thing not thought upon or forgotten And therefore the forementioned Mr Horne hath taken the best and safest course and but according to the advice of his Elders he hath laboured for himself and is setting forth a work of his own whereby he leades on the childe to Rhetorick Oratorie Grammar is touched upon too in passage in a clearer way then any man yet hath gone before him in So Schollers like wells are the fuller the more they are drained * Pag. 71. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Tom. 5. serm 55 α. The more they let out themselves for the good of others the more they are filled And a fulnesse this man hath if the skill in the languages and arts may be accounted so and which is the crown of all he hath an heart to lay forth his treasure and to spend himself for the common good And that is the way to encrease even to a fulnesse to empty our selves continually for the publick good as Chrysostome writes very usefully I have spoken this at this point in a zeal I have to promote the childes good my subject now and he who gives another his due doth not in so doing detract from any other I know there are many able and faithfull Ministers this way and the Lord encrease the number of them But I consider Schollers must be wound-up within the same common winding sheet and laid to the same mould In that very day though their works follow them for their labour cannot be in vain in the Lord yet their thoughts perish It is good to know them and to use them while we have them Thus farre touching the way the Master must go and such helps which serve very much to promote the Scholler in the same way The Masters duty follows and that is to do his work throughly and fully in point of reformation and information before the childe passe from under his hand And Parents must have patience and suffer both to be done before the childe be other-where disposed of It proves no small disadvantage to the childe and Church that he is hasted to an higher Forme or place while his minde is empty and unfurnisht of such matter whereof before he came thither he should be well furnished or that he is posted into a strange countrey to learn the language before he hath learnt his Religion or attained any stayed or fixed carriage or command over himself The successe must needs be answerable for the childe is then most