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THE CHANGE: OR, The Blind Eye Opened. A double Discourse on Ephes. 5.8. Yee were sometimes Darknesse, but now are yee Light in the LORD: Shewing the great Alteration that is wrought in a man Regenerate from what he was in his Unregeneracy.
Presented, first to the Eare, now to the publike Eye, By the Author THOMAS DVGARD, Mr. of Arts, CAMBR.
Quantum mutatus!
[...].
Isaeus.
But yee are washed, but ye are sanctified,
but ye are justified,
1 Cor. 6.11.
LONDON, Printed by G M. for George Edwards dwelling in Greene-Arbour at the signe of the Angell, 1641.
TO THE WORSHIPFVLL, his much honoured Unkle, M. RICHARD DVGARD, Batchelor of Divinity, and President of Sidney-Sussex Colledge in Cambridge.
Sir,
A Course of Literature (as the mostDulces ante omnia Musae. Virgil Georg. l. 2. Sweet andPro. 8.11 Satisfactory) [Page] I ever affected: and have now for more then two decads of yeeres, according to Ability and Opportunities prosecuted. As for Oportunities, none may recount them with more rejoycing then my Selfe: Having had the happinesse of Grammaticall Foundations from so Famous aM Henry Bright late Master of the most flourishing Kings Schoole in the City of Worcester. Master, and of Academicall Superstructions [Page] from as Famous a Tutor. Great were my Engagements to Him; but Vnspeakable to You. Vnder whom, so Fatherly in Affection, so Painefull in Precepts, and so Rare an Example of Learning and Piety, my Seven yeeres service for the Liberall Sciences was as delightfully spent, asGen. 29.20. Iacob's for his beloved Rachel. And although I have [Page] now been absent from the Fountaine as many yeeres as I enjoyed it, and wanted the Breast as long as I sucked it: (as Pharaohs Gen. 41.30. seven yeeres of Plenty were sueceeded with as many of Famine;) yet hath there not been a Cessation of Your Deserts, but a continuall Obligation of mee to further Duty. I have not drunk at the Fountaine; [Page] but Your inexhausted Goodnesse hath streamed upon mee with ink-influence. I have not sucked the Breast; but you have fed mee with the Quill. Those Pretious Letters I meane; so full of Affection to mee, and of happy Discord within themselves, whether their Gravity of Counsell, or Elegancie of Latine stile [Page] should obtaine the Preheminence. These as often as I read, (and there is none of them but I have read it as often as theyLiterae Principum sunt ter legende. say the Letters of Princes are to be read,) mee thinkes I heare your old [...]: and see you hanging againe on the Eares of your Flock those Pretious Iewells; Labour to keepe your Consciences Tender: [Page] Study to approove your hearts to God: Secretum Domini Timentibus eum: Ministerium onus est Angelicis humeris formidandum: [...]: Surgunt indocti, & coelum rapiunt, & nos cum Doctrinis nostris sine Corde, ecce ubi volutamur! And a Thousand such, All which, inculcated to us in Common, together with those wherewith you have [Page] been pleased to enrich Mee in particular, should I, according to their Desert, desire to commend to publike intelligence, I must not thinke of a little Epistle, but a large Panegyricke.
For the greatest part of Thirty yeeres you have beene exercised in that Pupillary Imployment. In which space, what a Pillar you have beene to the [Page] House, what an Ornament to the Vniversity, and how greatly Instrumentall to the Church and Commonwealth, as I know you desire not to heare, so all know I need not to speake. With You it hath not beene as with Some; who either have not taken more Pupils then One; (like theMarkan. Turkey-henne, which if shee see but [Page] one of her chickens following her, regardeth not what becommeth of the rest;) or if they have taken many, have refused to take just paines with them. And therefore (as I have beene credibly informed) when their consciences have beene wakened by their last sicknes, have complained of their Remisnes in that kind, as of one of their most pressing [Page] Grievances. Your Number hath beene Great, almost Fifty have I knowne in the Colledge together under Your Name; (and above Thirty of them Under-graduates) Some (like the fruit in Alcinous his [...]. Hom. Odyss l 7. Orchard) ripening; Others fully ripe, and fit to be set forth for publike service. And for your Singular Care of them, that (as Socrates told [Page] Habebo curae ut te metiorem tibi reddā quàm accepi. Senec. de Benef. l. 1. c. 8. Eschines) you migh [...] restore them bette [...] then you received them; your Constan [...] and earnest endeavours of joyning the Muses and Graces, of making them bo [...]h Learned and Good, as you cannot want abundant Comfort within Your Selfe, so may you worthily be a President to Others.
It is Your great Honour, (as Cornelia that [Page] Noble Matrone accounted her Of-spring her greatestHaec Ornamenta mea sunt. Ʋal [...] Maxmus l. 4. c. 4 exemp 1. Ornaments) that out of your Nursery hath proceeded so Great a Number; that you have beene so Literally Fruitfull as to spread your Branches in abundance over the face of the Land: Some, Pleaders at the Barre; some, Preservers of fraile nature; Many, Instructors of [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] Cereus in vitium flecti, &c. Horat. untutord youth; bu [...] Most, and some o [...] them of all Degrees (and others very eminent) Interpreters o [...] Sacred Oracles. Al [...] which, with the Sons of Nobles, and the Gentry, were they put together, and a Royall Head set on the top of them, would make the Better part of a little Kingdome. And none of which, I assure my selfe, but esteemes it [Page] his great Happinesse, [...]hat his fresh vessell hath beeneQuo semel est imbuta recens, servabit odorem Testa diu. Horat. seasoned with your Principles.
But such Passages, [...] feare give you Offence. Yet I am sure I doe you no wrong, not [...]respasse upon the Truth. And if you take it for my Fault, others will account it my Duty. Give mee leave, I beseech you, to rejoyce that I am of so neere Relation to such Exemplary [Page] Vertue; (especially since the very [...] Plutarch. in vita Acati. mention thereof i [...] an Incentive to imitation;) and to acquain [...] the world what you [...] Goodnesse hath beene to Him, who earnestlyN hil mihi fuit optatius, quàm ut primùm abs te ipso, deinde à caeteris omnibus quàm gratissimus erga te esse cognoscerer. Cicero ad Dentulū Ep. fam l 1 ep. 5. Desires to approve himself Thankfull, bu [...] cannot reach to any higher Expression thei [...] this slender [...]iscourse▪
The Issue it ìs o [...] not many daies study, and altogethe [...] [Page] Ita à nobis editur ut voluntati quorū dam amicorum obsecuri magis quàm judicium nostrum secuti fuerimus. Casaub in calce Nor in N.T. unworthy, if not of Light, yet of your Acceptance. However, as you formerly did the Parent, who now therefore adventureth his Head to shew you hisExcutienda damus Praecordia: quanta (que) nostrae Pars tua sit —animae, tibi— Ostendisse juvat pulsa, dignoscere cautus Quid solidum crepet, & pictae tectoria linguae Et quod sequitur apud Pers. Sat 5 ad Corn. Heart, vouchsafe it, I humbly pray you, your Tuition, and so further oblige
Your most devoted Nephew THOMAS DVGARD.
To the Reader.
I Shall not need to make a long Apology for the practice of such publike spirits, as desire by setting forth divine Tractates in their native language to edifie the Church of God. Thou too well knowest what a multitude of prophane Pamphlets flie abroad in the [Page] world: which serve to no other use then to corrupt mens hearts and lives. If there were not some counter-poyson to prevent the infection which such Discourses cause, I cannot see how almost any should be free from the plague sores of pestilent impieties. Shall Physitians be esteemed for finding out, and making common, Preservatives for the Body, and shall Ministers be [Page] condemned of folly, an [...] rewarded with reproach for compounding and communicating Antidotes for the Soule? Certainely, it is either ignorance, or envie, that hath opened the mouthes of some men, (who yet would seeme somthing for Learning and Religion,) to calumniate this pious course; which by experience is found to have done so much good in the Church. For how [Page] many by reading holy Treatises have beene converted from theJam. 5.20. er [...]or of their way? Others [...]ave beene confirmed in [...]e truth, & gained much [...]gmentation to their [...]races and Comforts.
Object. 1. They have Moses, and the Pro [...]hets, the Holy Scrip [...]res in a knowne tongue. [...]et them reade them: [...]bey are all-sufficient.
Answ. 1. The greatest part of men are ignorant, [Page] and cannot understa [...] what they reade witho [...] a Guide, and all men ha [...] not a Guide at hand to c [...] rect them. 2. All Guide have not the same gift some have more dexter [...] tie in opening and a [...] plying Scripture th [...] others. Now all Go [...] people have interest [...] the gifts of all his s [...] vants, and therfore w [...] should they be rob'd their right?
Object. 2. There [Page] English Bookes enough [...]ready and therefore to [...]d more is superfluous. An. 1. There be too ma [...] of a worse nature; and [...]is there a daily additi [...] 2. The Churche's Trea [...]e consists mainely in [...]d Books, the more they multiplied, the richer Church growes, and [...]l the Church be [...]ught too rich?
[...]b. 3. Many, and wor [...] are the labours of o [...]s, already extant, upon [Page] this Argument.
An. 1. Thou knowes [...] what is ordinarily answered. In the mouth of man [...] witnesses Truthes are more confirmed, and men left more inexcusable. 2. Those Truths cannot be too often taught, that ar [...] never sufficiently learned. 3. Thou shalt find in reading This Treatise many things which thou never mettest withall: specially some Scriptures sweetly explicated; and [Page] above the rest, that in the 1 of Ioh 3.9. which Bellarmine Ʋariae sunt [...]ujus loci, qui omnium est difficillimus, expositiones Bellarm: de Iustif. l. 3. c. 15. sayes is the hardest in all the Scrip [...]ure, that is urged for per [...]verance in grace. Thou [...]alt also find, either that [...]he Author had never [...]ead any others that writ of this Subject; or if thou findest, for Substance, some of the same things, (as who can travaile in such a way without trea [...]ding somtimes in the steps of former passengers,
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