The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…

There hath been a sect both among the heathen, and also in our age, that thinks¹ that religion is not to come so low as children; but that they are to be nourished up boldly, and when they come to riper years, then to be instructed in religion, ⟨p. 663⟩and not before. So the neathē tell us as we see in the beginning of the Philosophers morals² as also in the opinion of the Orator, in the defence of Caelius: It is wisdom to let youth have his course till his heat be abated. But if there were any moment in the authority of the heathen, the whole practise of them were to be preferred before one mans opinion. And for³ their practise, certain it is, that the exercise of catechizing was used among the Gentiles: for we find it in Porphyry's time: It was usual in Athens for youth to be taught: as also the histories of the heathen do declare, that the children were instructed: for it was a custom among them not to poll their children's heads, until they were taught, & then to burn⁴ their hair as a sacrifice to Apollo, who from thenceforth in regard of their skill, were allowed to carry tabors in their pomps and solemnities. Aristotle's meaning in that place is,