John Trapp on Proverbs 22:6

Verſ. 6. Train up a childe in the way hee ſhould go] Or, according to his meaſure and capacity, dropping good things by degrees into his narrow-mouthed veſſel, and whetting the ſame upon his memory by often repeating, Deut. 6.6. Shanan & Shanah, repetere ſicut in acuendo. as the knife by oft going over the whetſtone (it is Moſes his compariſon) becomes keen and uſeful; This is the way to make them expert and exact, and to ſecure them from Satan, for wee are not ignorant of his wiles. It is reported of the Harts of Scythia, that they teach their young ones to leap from bank to bank from rock to rock, from one turf to another, by leaping before them, which otherwiſe they would never practiſe; by which means when they are hunted, no beaſt can ever take them. So if men exerciſe their children unto godlineſs whiles they are young, Satan that mighty hunter ſhall never have them for his prey: They will not be young Saints, old Devils (as the prophane Proverb hath it) but young Saints, old Angels. Now as all children ſhould bee carefully catechiſed, and well principled; ſo thoſe Timothies eſpecially, that are deſigned to the work of the Miniſtry. Quintilians Oratour muſt from two or three years old bee inured and accuſtomed to the beſt and pureſt words, very well pronounced unto him, by his Nurſes, Parents, Hand-maids, as ſoon as ever hee begins to babble. Quanto id in Theologo futuro expetendum, curandumque magis? Amama in [illegible: 2 letters] [illegible: 1 letter]ib. How much more (ſaith a learned man) ſhould this bee done by one that is to bee a Divine?