Prototypes, Title page – To the reader
PROTOTYPES, OR, THE PRIMARIE PRECEDENT PRESIDENTS OVT OF THE BOOKE OF GENESIS.
Shewing, The Good and Bad things They did and Had
Practically applied to our Jnformation and Reformation.
By that faithfull and painefull Preacher of Gods Word, William Whately late Paſtour of Banbury.
Together with Mr. WHATELYES Life and Death.
Publiſhed by Mr. Edward Leigh and Mr. Henry Scudder, who were appointed by the Authour to peruſe his manuſcripts, and printed by his owne Coppy.
Vivitur Exemplis. Praecepta ducunt, Exempla trahunt.
1 COR. 11.1.
Be yee followers of me, even as I alſo am of Chriſt.
EXOD. 23.2.
Thou ſhalt not follow a multitude to doe evill.
1 COR. 10.11.
Now all theſe things happened unto them for Enſamples: And they are written for our admonition.
LONDON. Printed by G. M. for EDVVARD LANGHAM Booke-ſeller in Banbury, MDCXL.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL THE MAIOR, THE VVORSHIPFVLL THE ALDERMEN AND BVRGESSES, AND THE REST OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWNE AND PARISH OF BANBƲRY.
Right Worſhipfull, &c.
AS I could not but congratulate my owne and your happineſſe in the injoyment of your worthy Paſtours labours, ſo both I and many other Chriſtians do now condole your miſery in the loſſe of the good Authour. The greater your happineſſe was, the greater now is your miſery, and I feare many of you prized not the bleſſing ſo much as you ſhould have done, and that you knew not the greatneſſe of the benefit ſo well by the fruition as now by the want of it. At Banbury even amongſt you was your Paſtour borne and bred, and there he lived and died. Miniſters are called Incumbents, ſo was he being diligently reſident in his place, they are ſtiled Lights, ſo was he, like a candle or lampe which ſpent himſelfe to give light to others. He ſpent his means and ſtrength amongſt you, and as himſelfe in his ſickneſſe ſaid, He ſought not yours but you. Of all the Miniſters that ever I knew ſo experimentally, he was the moſt unblameable in his converſation. I had the happineſſe to live almoſt a yeare with him in his houſe, neare foure yeares under his Miniſtry, and to be eſteemed by him one of his faithfulleſt friends, I have cauſe to bleſſe GOD for him whilſt I live, ſince it pleaſed him by his meanes, not onelyonly to reveale many ſaving truthes unto mee, but alſo to ſet them on with ſuch power, as I hope I ſhall never forget them. Oh, with what life and zeale would hee both preach and pray! and how ſtrict and watchfull was hee in his whole life! being (as every good Miniſter ſhould be) Blameleſſe, Sober, Juſt, Holy, Temperate, 1 Tim. 3.2. Tit. 1.8.of good Behaviour, given to Hoſpitality, apt to teach, a lover *foreign. will beare both readings. 2 Tim. 2.15.of good things and good men. Hee ſtudied to approove himſelfe unto GOD, a workeman that needed not to be aſhamed, rightly dividing the word of Truth. 1 Tim. 4.12 1 Pet. 5.3. Tit. 2.7. There are two ſingular virtues in a good Example.He propounded to you the Examples of holy Writ, and was himſelfe whilſt he lived, an Example and Patterne of all good works, If that ſaying therefore of Austins be true, So many as a man ſhall edifie by a good Example,1 It may profit a world of people. 1 Theſ. 1.7, 8 2 It is laſting and may doe good for a long time after. 1 Pet. 3.5, 6. M. Harris at Hanwell. for ſo many he ſhall receive a reward of a bleſsed life, than ſurely he hath now received a full reward for all the good hee did by his holy life, unto thoſe with whom he converſed. In a word, hee was a moſt pious and accompliſht Divine for his miniſteriall parts and paines (as one of his neare Friends ſaid truely) hee might ſooner bee envied than matcht and equalled; being in this like Saul, higher than his brethren by the head. He was well skilled in both the Originall tongues, being able to render the Text out of his Hebrew Bible or Greeke Testament to another in our mother tongue, as familiarly almoſt, as if it had bin Engliſh. For the Arts, he was a good Logician, as his exact Analyſis of the ten Commandements ſheweth, a good Philoſopher, as his Sermons in manuſcript on the 104. Pſalme doe witneſſe, a good Rhetorician or Oratour, as his printed Treatiſes aboundantly teſtifie. Hee had words at will and could readily and aptly expreſſe himſelfe in his Sermons, which gift of Elocution is requiſite if not neceſſary for a compleate Divine.
He had by long *He was a Preacher at Banbury above thirty yeares.Experience gotten the art of preaching, and he wrote a tract concerning that ſubject; hee had an excellent faculty in characterizing or fitly deſcribing a vertue or vice, or any other thing, and though he had no common-place-booke of his own, yet he could treat of any ſubject, I might alſo extoll his other indowments, and without danger of exceeding magnifie him for his ſtrong naturall parts, his ſolid judgement and tenacious memorie, and commend ſome vertues wherein hee excelled to your imitation, as his Humility, Mercifullneſſe, Beneficence, Laboriouſneſſe and Diligence *Hee went over in his preaching the whole Booke of Iudges, both the Samuels, the 1 Kings to the 11. C. or therabout, all the Pſal. to the 106. & the whole Goſpel of Iob. beſides al the principles of Religion often.in his Calling, and then alſo ſhew how comfortably he died, being full of heavenly ſpeeches and godly Exhortations.
Therefore I paſſe from himſelfe to this Opus poſthumum, this firſt worke of his which ſince his death came to light, viz. Sermons on all the Examples or Hiſtoricall part of Geneſis, which Booke containeth a briefe and ſhort Story of the things done from the beginning of the world to the death of Joſeph, for the ſpace as it is thought by ſome of 2309. yeares, by Doctor Willet of 2368. yeares. Examples are not unfitly compared unto looking-Glaſſes, wherein one may behold as well what to eſchew, as what to follow: So you ſhould follow the Faith of Abraham and Obedience of Iſaack, but ſhun their lying and diſſembling; follow Noah and Lot in their Righteouſneſse and Zeale, but ſhunne their drunkenneſſe and inceſt.
And becauſe an Example of a Perſon living amongſt you may bee more prevalent with ſome then the Examples of others though ſingularly holy whoſe vertues they onelyonly read of (as a Sermon delivered, Ʋiva voce, doth more affect then the ſame reade out of a Booke) So walke therefore as you had him for an Example, and bee you followers of him, as hee was of CHRIST, in the Graces before mentioned and all holy converſation. Remember him who had the rule over you, Heb. 13.7.who hath ſpoken unto you the Word of GOD, whoſe Faith follow and Charitie too; for Maſter Whately was the moſt bountifull Miniſter to the poore I thinke in England of his meanes, your Conſciences will witneſſe that hee hath often preſſed and urged this Dutie upon you, and as hee was earneſt in perſwading his Hearers to beneficence, ſo hee practiſed the ſame Himſelfe, entertaining ſome poore widdowes or neceſſitous Perſons weekely at the leaſt at his Table, and giving the tenth of all his Eſtate that way, and ſee how GOD bleſſed him for the ſame, his Eſtate (as himſelfe told mee) proſpered the better after hee tooke that courſe, and in his ſickeneſſe hee comforted himſelfe with that Promiſe, Pſalme 41.1, 3. Bleſſed is hee that conſidereth the poore, the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will ſtrengthen him upon the bed of languiſhing. O follow him therefore who by Faith and Patience inherits the Promiſes, let his good Example and wholeſome Inſtructions provoke you to all holineſſe, that you allſo may partake with him in that happineſſe of which hee is now fully poſſeſſed,
Your true Chriſtian Friend, Edward Leigh.
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
Reader,
AMidſt the numberleſſe number of Bookes wherwith in this ſcribling age the preſses are oppreſſed, there is ſcarcity enough of ſuch as are uſefull and profitable. As therefore the Art of Printing was a happy invention for the propagating of learning, ſo ſurely wee are beholding to thoſe who write ſuch things as are worthy to be publiſhed: Since (as one ſaith) Hee that ſpeaketh profiteth for an houre, but he that writeth profiteth for ever. This ſubject thus handled by this worthy deceaſed Authour is an unbeaten tract, few (if any) having gone over the Exſamples of Scripture in ſuch a doctrinall and practicall way both. It ſeemed to me in the preaching both pleaſant and profitable;Owne tulit punctum qui miſcuit utile dulci. pleaſant in regard of the explaining of divers ſtories; profitable in reſpect of the particular application of all, Hee being (according to his manner) large and lively therein. Had it pleaſed God to have continued him in life, untill hee had finiſhed all the Examples of either Teſtament, ſuch a worke from ſo able a Divine would have beene of ſingular uſe. But he was Frumentum Dei, as Ignatius ſaid, by Mortification and Selfe-denyall, Hee was made cleane bread for Chriſt who was the bread of life for him; God therefore hath gathered this wheate into his garner,Mat. 3.12. and he now reſts from this and all other labours. We thinke fitting alſo to give others to understand, which be M. Wheatelyes owne workes done by himſelfe, and ſuch as they may account genuine, viz. thoſe onelyonly which come forth either in our names, viz. EDWARD LEIGH, HENRY SCUDDER, or with an Epiſtle at leaſt from one of us. You may obſerve in the beginning of this Treatiſe, what was M. Wheatlies conſtant method in handling the Examples. In each perſon hee conſidered three things, His Birth, Life and Death. In his Life he obſerved his carriage and behaviour in reſpect both of the deeds hee did, good, bad, indifferent and doubtfull, and the things which befell him, either proſperouſly or adverſly, in benefits or afflictions. This ſhall ſuffice in briefe to premiſe concerning this Worke, and ſo wiſhing thee much benefit by the ſame, I reſt
Thy hearty Well-wiſher, EDWARD LEIGH.