A Light to Grammar and All Other Arts and Sciences, Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
Singulars beſt fit a Childs underftanding: how to ſupply their want. Pictures how uſefull: two maine Cautions touching them.
VVHat way then with the Youth? to inſiſt upon Generals is to leave him in a maze without any thread in his hand, and to give him ſingulars is impoſſible, for they are infinite unto us. That is true, yet we muſt give him as many as wee can, though thoſe many will be but a few. We muſt lead him from the Schooles to the Colledges, Innes of Court, Monaſteries, yea Shops too, &c. he muſt go through them all.
But this is impoſſible alſo, unleſſe wee could carty the Child from place to place, as faſt as Fame can flye; which was (if ſhe be not belied her ſelfe, that hath told ſo many lyes of others) 2500. miles in one day aLiv. 25. Hiſt. of the world. B. 3. 6. 10.. This cannot be, how then may we help the Child?
I know no better way, then to furniſh him with Emblemes; To let him obſerve the Aegyptian manner (that Nation was one of the moſt ancient Schooles in the World) by Hieroglyphicks; They have the darkeſt interpretation, I will unfold one or two, that the Child may the better conceive the uſe of them.
The Perſian manner was, when they expected a full ſurrender of all into their hands, To demand a quantity of earth, and water to be ſent unto them, which ſhould bee a ſigne that all was yeelded, and ſuch a meſſage hee ſent to the Scythian.
But the Scythian teturned an Hieroglyphicall anſwer, ſending inſtead of Earth, and Water, a Bird, a Frog, a Mouſe, and five Arrowes: which dumbe ſhew the Perſian interpreted according to his wiſh; and thought, That the Scythian had yeelded all the elements, where theſe Creatures live, and his weapons withall; The Scythians meaning was quite contrary, as the event proved; That unleſſe the Perſian could get wings like a Bird, or dive under water like a Frog, or creepe into holes like a Mouſe, hee ſhould not eſcape their Arrowes.
By this example wee make judgement, how ſignificant this manner of teaching is. So alſo to verſe the Child in Muthologie; To let him heare Parables; and ſee Maps, Travell upon the Globes; To read ſome lectures there; To give him as many Images, or Repreſentations of things as poſſible can bee. A ſure way of teaching, ſaid the Philoſopher.
I remember Sextius my old friend, a quick-ſighted man taught mee very much by an Image or repreſentation, he ſet before me, which was this; of an Army ſo quartered, that it was prepared for the enemy, though hee ſhould march on as in a cloud, in ſo darke a path, as is the way of the wind: ſo prepared ſhould every man be, ſtill having his ſuccours about him, and doing their office, keeping their watch, and ready to take the Word, preſent at the Captaines Sen. Ep. 59command, and this is right reaſon. The Philoſpopher cloſeth this with a very uſefull ſpeech. That mans ſtanding is ever ſafeſt, who is leſſe ſecure about it. So much the Philoſopher hath touching the uſe of Images, (as he cals them) or repreſentations. Certainly the uſe of this is great; If wee could make our words as legible (which was ſaid) to Children as Pictures are, their information there-from would bee quickned, and ſurer. But ſo wee cannot doe, though wee muſt doe what wee can: And if wee had ſuch bookes, wherein are the pictures of all Creatures, Hearbs, Beaſts, Fiſh, Fowles, they would ſtand us in great ſtead. For Pictures are the moſt intelligible bookes, that Children can looke upon. They come cloſeſt to Nature, nay, ſaith Scaliger, Art exceeds her. A ſtrange ſpeech, Nat…ram ſ…perat Ars. Exer. 207. Ser. 11.but he will have it ſo; I verily beleeve, ſaid he, That Nature never framed any humane body, (I except onelyonly two, the one of the firſt Man, the other of Him, who was God and Man) ſo artificially, ſo exactly well, as hath the cunning Limner, or curious Arts-man.
A ſtrange ſpeech, I ſay againe, and exceeding. But indeed if our eyes may bee Jedges, which ſee not the body, but the Accident thereof, colour, &c. there may be ſome truth in the thing, for the eyes *Non accipit…r in ſenſum ſubſtantia: ſol… m…do accidentia recipiuntur. Seal. Exer. 30. 7.ſeeing but the ſurface, and accidents thereof, may report unto us, that there is more beauty in an Artificiall, then a Naturall body.
Certaine it is, and that is to our purpoſe, That Art is very curious, and though it cannot give this aliquid intus, yet will it frame a thing very lively aPlin. 35. 10. Mart. Ep. 1., therefore takes the eye very much, and helpes the underſtanding not a little bforeign. Ariſt. Rhet. 1. cap. 10.. Let it bee conſidered, how much this one piece of cunning Art may gaine upon a Childs underſtanding; when the Childs eye obſerves the eye of the Picture upon him whereſoever he ſtands, ſo upon every one in the ſame roome. How ſhall I avoyd GODS eye? Hee that made the eye, ſhall Hee not ſee? It is our Concluſion then, or rather not ours, but the concluſion of experience, that Pictures are eaſie and legible Bookes, children underſtand them quickly: But wee have two Cautions touching theſe, both bid us beware of Pictures.
1. Take wee heed, they bee not ſuch, as I have ſeene in ſome neighbour Countries; naked Pictures of both Sexes, and theſe very ordinary. I obſerved alſo much brutiſhneſſe in the inhabitants there; And hee that will tell his obſervation, muſt ſay as much now. For their converſation is as it was, and will be till ſuch Pictures, ſo inſnaring, be caſt out to the Bats, and Moth, or rather ſtampt to pieces, as the Idol was. I could ſay much at this point, and I thinke much to purpoſe, I will ſay but this: Pictures are Childrens bookes, their ſcope, and tendency muſt bee to promote good manners, and the ſoule of the child, they muſt not looke towards immodeſty; if ſo, I will ſay but as one did long agoe: It is too Nimiū eſt quod intelligit. Quint.much, which children doe underſtand.
2. There is another danger yet. They are very bewitching things; a man may be exceedingly taken with the work of his owne fingers. I have read the pedegree of Pictures, and I have ſtood, and wondred till I could in ſome meaſure bottome my owne heart; That from ſo low a bottome, they ſhould riſe to ſo high a Top; from ſo baſe, and beggarly a beginning, they ſhould grow ſo rich, and be of ſuch account in the world. It had its riſe from a ſtock; (a woodden beginning) then it was ſet up in the Court; then crept into the Common Houſe, thence into GODS Houſe. There they began Error min… mus in principio fit maximus in f…e. Nat. Com. lib. 11. cap. 18. Quod minimum eſt minimū eſt, ſed in minime magnu eſt et in mi…imo fidele eſſe maximum eſt.to gaze upon it, then to bend before it, after that (for they muſt not ſerve the Devill with nothing) to offer unto it, and but a graine of Incenſe at firſt, a very little thing: but marke how that little did increaſe, more then did a graine of Muſtard-ſeed; for at laſt the Father offered his Childe, the Sonne of his body, for the ſinne of his ſoule. That Little little did ſo increaſe, at length that it opened the mouth of their Molech (it was an Image) Like as Lucians feigned Fiſh aLuc. de vera Hiſt. lib. 2., (which ſwallowed up a great Ship ſmooth) for it devoured many at once, fleſh and bones and all together. I mention this, that wee may take heed of a little in point of Gods worſhip, for a little is not a little. The leaſt deviation from the Rule, the leaſt ſwerving foreign. …c. If the body be a little divided from the head, it dies: If the branch be a little divided from the roote, it wi…hers; therefore this little is not a little, nay it is all. Chryſoſt in 1 Cor. Hom. 8.there-from, is like a little ſeparation of the building from its foundation, which quickly cauſeth a ruine. Therefore ſaith the Father well, in ſuch caſes, A little is not a little. I muſt not delate here, though ſo I could doe to good purpoſe.
But is it not ſtrange (yet nothing is ſo, to him that knowes his own heart, which hath its Idols too many) that a Eſay 44. 1, 10, 7. Hiſt. of the world. Lact. 2. 2. Foelix in Fol. p. 16.reaſonable creature ſhould fall downe before a calfe, and ſay, Thou art my God; Or before a ſtock, and ſay, Awake, Ariſe, eHab. 2. 18, 19.and ſave us; Yet ſo brutiſh have ſome been, as we reade more then once. And though the Story be old, ſo may our hearts be too, and then ſuch practiſe will be new; for a feare there is, That which ſhould be the childes Book, may be the old-mans Baby; ſo we have known it alſo; O abomination! What, adore the work of the fingers ends! Yes, and then in the ſacred Scriptures language, thus it is, He that makes the ſtock his feare, will feele it his ſharpeſt ſorrow bHoſ. 8. 4. foreignfor in propriety of ſpeech, and in the ſacred tongue, ſo Idoll ſignifies.
I would not have the childe want theſe Bookes, not would I he ſhould be indangered by them, as they may ſoon be; For as the learned Knight ſaith; The Devill long ſince crept into theſe woodden, and brazen carcaſſes; and hath nezled himſelfe there by a woodden diſtinction; as fooliſh and weak as that of the Phyſitians wife, touching pepper; It was hot in working, but cold in operation: By ſuch a like diſtinction as this. cThey make a great difference, betwixt the Image they bend before, and an Idol: a wide diſtinction alſo betwixt foreign and foreign, though the ſacred Scripture and truth it ſelf knows none ſuch. Juel. Ap. Art. 14.the Devill hath, I ſay, held his habitation, ſo as ever ſince, theſe carcaſſes, though they would ſeeme to promiſe much in guiding the ſenſe, doe produce intolerable inconveniences by miſguiding the heart, drawing it from the truth, which is a matter of power, being the immediate work of God, not of man, and fixing it upon a forme or reſemblance, which is as farre from the thing, as is the Image from the life of that, which it doth repreſent to the ſoule.
I will tell the child here, for I would have him well informed at this point; How theſe Pictures, or Images, (I know not what to call them in the childes eares, the ſacred Scripture calls them Dunghill-gods) how I ſay theſe Images (the beſt and the moſt contemptible have all the ſame Anceſtors, deſcending from the ſame common ſtock) have ſcoffed at, and played upon their Carvers, and thus by the allowance of their Maſters, very Heathens too; An Image is thus brought in debating the matter before his Carver, in this manner; Here I lie before thee an unprofitable piece of wood; I am at an indifferency, what wilt thou make of me? a bench to ſit upon, or a God to look Hor. 1. Ser. 8.upon? I am at thy ſervice, conſider the matter, and reſolve. The Carver bethought himſelfe, ſo it came in his cap, to ſhew his skill, and (I little thank him) a God he made me. Now ſee how I am abuſed, The duſt covers mee, I cannot wipe it off from mine eies, The worm conſumes me, The mice and the rats defile me, and I ſtand the while ſtock ſtill, not able ſo much as to hold my noſe. What think we? is not this a notable jeere caſt upon the Image-maker? He was ſerved well enough, he conceived that hee could a foreign Chryſ. in Eſay 2. d foreign. Chr. Tom. 1. Hom. 37.make his God, b and frame a work more noble then the work-man, who is more precious then the whole world d. What a foole is that? how like the ſtock he made, or that he ſits upon? Hee ſhall heare one jeere more, though wee hate the practiſe, and the Heathen ſhall caſt it into What Religion is that, which cannot mention without ſuſpicion ofſcoffing. B…luel Apo!. Art. 7. p. 375.his teeth, becauſe hee hath wrought ſuch a ſilly ſorry worke, and yet accounts it ſomething; for thus the Heathen man jeeres at the ſtock: The Carver hath made a God of thee, thou art a great one; thou muſt doe a great deale of ſervice, and look thou doſt it, ſee well to thy charge, elſe I promiſe thee thou ſhalt to thine own place the fire, where if thou canſt doe nothing elſe, thou ſhalt warme my ſhins, for though thou art carved, and coſt is put upon thee above thy worth, yet thou art but wood, and to Lignumes, &c. Mart. 8. 40the fire thou ſhalt goe. Let the man think of this as he pleaſeth, I am ſure it is to the childs underſtanding, and may make him both think, and practiſe like a man, if adding thereto we remember him of this which follows.
They who made a god like a four-footed beaſt, God gave up to a ſin, which did abaſe them into a worſe condition then of beaſts. And ſo it is at this day, ſuch, and ſo juſt the judgement upon them, amongſt whom theſe pictures are in ſuch requeſt, as ſaith Sr. Ed. Sands, and a great deale more. What I make my Idol will be my ſhame, my torment alſo. Little children think on this, and keep your ſelves from dumb Idols. Amen.