The Saints Worthiness and the Worlds Worthlessness, Title page – Dedication
foreign, OR The Saints worthineſſe AND The worlds worthleſneſſe, Both opened and DECLARED IN A SERMON preached at the Funerall OF That Eminently Religious and highly honoured Knight Sr. NATHANIEL BARNARDISTON. Aug. 26. 1653.
By SAMUEL FAIRECLOUGH, Paſtor of the congregation at KETTON.
Pro. 12.26.
The righteous is more excellent then his neighbour:
But the way of the wicked ſhall deceive him.
1 John 5.19.
Wee know wee are of God: But the whole
World lieth in wickedneſſe.
Aug. Epiſt. 45. ad Arment.
Laudandi ſunt atque praedicandi, qui non ſunt dignati etiam cum mundo floren…e, florere.
London, Printed by R. D. for Tho. Newberry at the Three Lions in Cornhil, near the Royal Exchange. 1653.
Qui obiit a 4 Decemb. 1677 Aetatis 84.
F. H. Van Houe. Sculp:
To the right worſhipfull and truly honoured Lady, the Lady JANE BARNARDISTON;
As alſo To the right worſhipfull S. Tho. Barnardiſton Knight, Mr. Nathaniel Barnardiston, and Mr. Samuel Barnardiſton Merchants in London, Mr. Pelatia Barnardiſton, and Mr. William Barnardiſton Merchants in TURKEY, Mr. Arthur Barnardiston Merchant in LONDON;
Together with the moſt vertuous Ladies, the Lady Anne Barnardiſton, the Lady Anne Rolt, Mrs. Jane Brooke, Mrs. Elizabeth Barnardiſton, and Mrs. Thomaſin Barnardiſton.
MADAM,
IF any one who is a ſtranger to your Family, ſhall (upon the ſight of theſe eleven Names ſubſcribed under your own) inquire as Eſau once did, when he beheld the very ſame number following his brother Gen. 33. and ſhall aske with him, who are theſe with thee?
Your Ladyſhip may anſwer either as Jacob then did, Theſe are the children which God of his grace hath given me; they being all of them pledges of Gods grace unto you, as alſo heirs of the covenant of grace by you, and many of them approved veſſels of grace in themſelves, and patternes of grace to others: or you may uſe the words of that incomparable Lady Cornelia, when ſhee preſented her ſons to the Common-wealth, and anſwer with her, Haec ſunt mea Ornamenta, Theſe are my Jewels, theſe are my Ornaments; Gracious children being the Crown of … rents, whilſt like pure & pleaſant ſtreams they ſhew the purity and excellency of that fountain front whence they did ariſe & ſpring.
But if your ſelf (Madam) ſhall inquire of me why I thus ſubſcribed them, my anſwer ſhall be this, That I was very ſenſible of that deep wound which the Lord hath at this time made in your ſorrowful and mournfull heart; and withall I was convinced what great care & cautelouſneſs was to be uſed in applying comforts unto it, leaſt ungentle handling thereof, in ſtead of a cure, ſhould cauſe it to bleed afreſh. I alſo knew that cordialls can never be more tenderly and acceptably preſented to any parents bleeding heart, then when they are brought by the gentle and officious hand of their dearest children. And for this reaſon have I annexed their names to yours in this dedication, that with one and the ſame caſt of your eye you may diſcerne the matter of your joy and ſorrow joyned both together.
In this manner I obſerve the Lord himſelf comforting his Orphan Church, Pſal. 45.16. In ſtead of parents ſhall be thy children, whom thou maieſt make princes in all the earth. Thus likewiſe doth the Lord Jeſus comfort his diſconſolate and ſorrowful Mother, Joh. 19.26. VVoman behold thy ſon, ſpeaking of the beloved diſciple. Yea ſo does the ſame ſon & diſciple comfort his own heart, in all his ſufferings and afflictions, 3 Joh. 4. I have no greater joy then this, to ſee my ſons walk in the truth.
Madam, you have the ſame cauſe of joy, & I doubt not but that if your Ladyſhip would ſeriouſly conſider of Gods love to you in this mercy of your poſterity, I doubt not but that as there is no joy ſo great, but the thought of one gracious child does much exceede it; ſo there is no ſorrow ſo bitter, but that the conſideration of ſo much pietie and obedience as your Ladyſhip may diſcerne in ſo many of your children, would abundantly & ſenſibly ſweeten & allay it.
If you therefore, worthy Gentlemen, and vertuous Ladies, ſhall further demand to what end your names are thus inſerted, give me leave to anſwer you by relating to you what I have read in Ariſtotle, that great Philoſopher, who tells us of Archilochus, who being deſirous to give ſome prevalent & effectual counſel and advice to Lycambes, whoſe father was dead, did while he was writing his admonitions, by an elegant proſopopoeia bring in his Father, & ſo put his pen into his Fathers hand, that Lycambes might receive thoſe inſtructions from one, who by his verie relation, was much more probable to prevaile, then himſelf. I have alſo met the like paſſage in Cicero, that prince of Oratory and eloquence, as the former was of Philoſophie; that he being to read a lecture of modeſtie and temperance to his friend Clodia, raiſed up her father Appius Cajus from his grave, and in his name delivered his directions to his daughter. Both of theſe in this practiſe of theirs intimating, that neither the wiſdome of the one, though the deepeſt Philoſopher, nor the eloquence of the other, though the choiceſt Orator, is ſo effectual in the hearts of children, as the voice of a parent, which is much more perſwaſive and powerful then any other argument or Rhetorick.
Upon this conſideration it was that (being by all your earnest and conjoyned importunity overcome to give you a copie of that counſel & admonition, which I delivered at your Fathers funeral) I have choſen firſt to preſent it to your deareſt Mothers hand, and thereby to reach and hand it unto you, that ſo it may be entertained with authority & efficacy; that as in times paſt you obeyed your Fathers inſtruction (according to the command of God Pro. 1.8.) ſo now for all times to come, you may fear to forſake your Mothers teaching, being thus conveyed unto you. Inſtructions that are onelyonly ſpoken with the tongue are tranſient, and for the most part are terminated with the glaſſe: but directions that are written, are much more permanent, and many times, while thy receive and take one Impreſsion, they alſo make and leave another. Laſt of all, as to my ſelf, this conjoyned dedication appeares not at all arbitrarie, but neceſsarie: for as the incitation to publiſh them, was from the ſollicitation of you all; ſo the end intended therein was the ſervice of you all, and the obligation neceſsitating my conſent thereunto was the united love of you all.
For I must (and alwayes ſhall) acknowledge, that that God of my mercies, who granted me to find ſo great, & ſo large a portion of love and favour in the heart of him whom the Lord ha's now taken into his own boſome, and alſo in the heart of you his deareſt Lady; hath likewiſe inclined the ſpirits of all you his children and poſterity, to manifeſt a ſingular and extraordinary affection unto me, which although I acknowledge my ſelf altogether unworthy to receive, and abſolutelie unable to requite, yet I hold my ſelf for ever obliged to embrace every opportunitie that is offered, to make my acknowledgement thereof unto each of you.
And therefore have I greedily laid hold on this occaſion now offered to me, least if I ſhould have neglected this advantage, I might never have had the like again, by reaſon of my declining age.
I cannot therefore but hereby give a publick teſtimony before the world of my ſerious apprehenſion, & deep ſenſe of thoſe engagements, which both you, most honoured Ladie, & alſo every one of you, renowned Gentlemen and Ladies, have laid upon me, and alſo declare my ſelf ſo firmly obliged to this whole Family, that I am extreamelie deſirous to the uttermoſt of my power alwaies to approve my ſelf,
Madam, your Ladyſhips and your poſterities Moſt devoted, faithfull ſervant in the Lord JESUS, SAMUEL FAIRECLOUGH.