come And in order to this fall upon the duty The way to pray is to pray Duty is the best preparative for duty 'T is better to use Crutches than to stand still alway but use legs and have them so we use to say Do but set your selves to the duty and the Spirit of God Ezek. 12.10 that blessed Spirit of Grace and Supplication will help you in it 'T is his great office to help poor Creatures in their infirmities as to prayer Rom. 8.26 Never did any heartily desire to pray but this Spirit enabled them to pray Do not mistake the duty it doth not lie in words in volubility of expressions in good language though it becomes us to speak becomingly to Gods Majesty in strains of Rhetorick but in the inward pantings of the heart after God 'T is not the elegant but the fervent prayer that prevails Jam. 5.16 The key opens the lock though it be made of plain mettal The Child is heard though he speaks but very brokenly and imperfectly sighs and groans must do your work and surely if you had but a sense of your personal and Family wants this you would come up to You need not teach a Beggar how to beg nor a starving man how to ask bread Be but sensible of your need of mercy and you 'l know how to speak to God Optimus or andi magister est Necessitas saith Luther Pinching necessity is the best Master to teach men to 〈◊〉 Get but a sense of this and the â—…'s asistance and I 'le secure you this inability will soon be removed So much for the pressing of the First duty which I would have every man to set up in his House viz. Family-Prayer Should I give you Directions about it I should be too tedious 'T is better to say nothing in so weighty an Argument than not to speak fully to it and that I must not do at present A Second Duty that I would commend to you is the Frequent reading of the Holy Scriptures in your Houses 'T is not enough to pray in your Families but the Scriptures must also be read in them Aaron was to burn the Incense and to light up the Lamps too Exod. 30.7 8. The Incense was a resemblance of Prayer Psal 141.2 Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense and the Lamps of the Word Prov. 6.23 The Commandment is a lamp and the Law is light Psal 119.105 Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Thus it must be with you the Incense and the Lamp Prayer and the Word must go together in your Houses Prayer and Reading God's Word are two duties which do so well accord and so mutually help each the other that 't is pity to part them I would here speak something to stir you up to read the Scriptures by your selves O when you are alone let the Bible be much in your hands let not a day pass over you in which you do not spend some time in this duty The Jews were to go out and gather a certain rate of Manna every day Exod. 16.4 Do you every day retire your selves from the world for the reading of the Scriptures and gathering something out of them May be you look into them a little upon the Sabbath day but then they are laid aside all the week surely this should not be so Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hearken says Chrysostome you that are Tradesmen get you Bibles get you Bibles read the Scriptures that the word of Christ may dwell richly in you The same do I say to you O shall the Shop-book be minded and shall Gods-book not be minded shall that be altogether in your eye in your hands and this be neglected Shall News-books Plays Romances Histories Philosophical Discourses take up all your time 'T was a most blasphemous speech that of Politian that There was more in one of Pindar's Odes than in all David's Psalms This was the person who said He had never spent his time worse than when he once read over the New Testament and yet 't is reported of him that he spent three years in studying this brave Criticism Whether it should be written Virgilius or Vergilius O the desperate folly and wickedness of the man Do not many of you think and interpretatively speak that other Books are better than the Bible because you read the one so much the other so little Hierome once heard a voice speaking to him Ciceronianus es non Christianus Thou art a Ciceronian not a Christian because Tully was much the Scriptures but seldome perused by him O if such audible voices were now in use how many might expect to hear something every day to upbraid them with their great neglect of reading the Word and spending their time in other impertinent unedifying flesh-pleasing but not soul-saving Writings I intreat you to set upon daily diligent serious reading of the Scriptures Hath God in them giben you so full so plain so excellent a Revelation of his Will and will you not look into them Is such a revelation to be slighted when God hath so condescended to give it will you make nothing of it They are your Rule for Faith and Manners Isa 8.20 Gal. 6.16 They are the foundation upon which all is built Eph. 2.20 They are as a Light hung out in a dark Night to keep you off from rocks and sands the Star which must direct you to Christ the card or compass that you have to sail by the glass in which you may see not what your faces but what your hearts are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Are you blind there 's eye-salve they are a glass that mends and cures the eye which no other glass doth Are ye assaulted with Enemies there 's an Armory a Magazine to furnish you with weapons offensive and defensive Are you sick there 's that which is Medicinal Are you hungry there 's Food Are you under wants there 's a Shop in which you may be furnished with whatever you need Are you ready to faint there are Cordials to revive and strengthen you O who would not read the Scriptures There the deep things of God the whole platform and contrivance of God about man's Salvation are revealed 1 Cor. 2.10 They are able to make men wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 that 's an high Elogium of the Scriptures 't is a commendation only proper to them All the Books that ever were pen'd cannot do this They are profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness 2 Tim. 3.16 They are God's * Quid est Scriptura Sacra nisi quaedam Epstola omnipotentis Dei ad Creaturam suam Disce cor Dei in verbis Dei Gregor Letter indited by his own Spirit written as it were with his own hand which he hath been graciously pleased to send to you and will you not
whence this results viz. Gods right to us I answer 1. From Creation he made us therefore he hath a right to us As he that builds an house certainly hath a right to it It is he that hath made us Psal 100.3 and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture When we lay in the womb of nothing he gave a being to us we are made up of soul and body both are of God the sheath and the blade the Jewel and the Cabinet both I say are of God The soul the nobler part 't is immediately created by him he * Eccles 12.7 gives this spirit and infuses it into the body when 't is organiz'd and prepared for it And upon this creation the soul is Gods All souls are mine so he himself tells us Ezek. 18.4 The body that 's the workmanship of God Psal 139.14 c. by him we are fearfully and wonderfully made by him we were curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth in his book all our members were written c. as the Psalmist sets in forth This being so surely God hath an unquestionable right and title to us 2. From the subsequent acts of Providence FacÃt nam serâ—nt nec minor nunc sumptus Omnipotentiae quà m in Exor dio nâ—stro Eadem est opera eadem cura Si omnipotens illa dextra excuteret nos in nostâ—um praecipites rueremus Nihilum Nieremb Theopolit p. 48. 'T is the Lord who doth preserve us sustain us support us provide for us who doth as it were make us anew every day what is preservation but a continued creation God doth not only build the house at first but he keeps it up by a continual succession of providential mercies and was it not for this it would fall every moment Acts 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being How soon would the poor candle of life be either wasted or blown out if the * 1 Pet. 4. ult faithful Creator did not supply it as to inward defects and secure it as to external violence The beam lives by that Sun from which it comes and the stream is maintained by that spring from which it flows The same dependence is there in us upon that God from whom we derive our being This heightens Gods title 3. From redemption in which Christ hath paid down a price Matth. 20.28 1 Tim. 2.6 a ransom for us we are the Lords by purchase he hath bought us and paid a dear rate for us What a man purchases 't is his own from that purchase there results a propriety In allusion to this the Apostle tells us we are not our own for we are bought with a price 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in you body and in your spirit which are Gods not only upon the first and original right of Creation but also upon the superadded and accumulated right of purchase Here is the highest foundation of Gods claim and title to us You see then by this whence Gods title to the creature doth arise we are his by Creation Providence Redemption He having then such an indubitable right to us is it not most reasonable that we should give our selves to him When we so do we do but give God that which is his own Is this a gift Indeed 't is rather the paying of a debt than the giving of a gift as I said at the first but the gracious God is pleased to own it so He might make a seizure upon us and sue out his claim upon his own right but he would rather have us by a free gift to give our selves to him His we are by purchase Vindic Piet. p. 3. p. 307. but he expects that we be his also by donation his we are by conquest but he expects we should be his by consent also though he may challenge us as his right yet the most acceptable claim is when he hath us by gift as one expresses it 'T is a great condescension in God to take this for a gift Under the Law God would not have that which was his due before to be given unto him because that was his already Only the firstlings of the beasts Levit. 27.26 which should be the Lords firstling no man shall sanctifie it whether it be Ox or Sheep it is the Lords The reason of this is plainly set down such things were not by vow to be dedicated to God because he had expresly designed them for sacrifice and so they were his already O what an act of grace is this in the great God towards us we are his already and yet he owns it for a gift when we dedicate our selves to him â— am too long upon this pray consider Gods right and and let him have it Give unto Caesar that which is Caesars Matth. 22.21 and unto God that which is Gods You have too long detained from him that which is his right you do that to God which the principles of common honesty would not let you do to man O be convinced of your unworthy dealings with him and now give your selves to him what can be more just equitable reasonable than this 2. The giving of self is but a due retribution and so it becomes a duty not only upon Gods right but also upon the creatures ingenuity Grace brings an holy ingenuity into the heart no man so ingenuous as the gracious man and methinks every man that professes any hope of interest in God should be so ingenuous as to give himself to God Par pari rependere to return like for like this is ingenuity amongst men O that we could perswade men to come up to this in their returns to God! Self is but a fit retribution for self doth God give himself to us as he doth to all in Covenant shall not we give our selves to him Did Christ give himself for us Gal. 2.20 and shall not we give our selves to him And who can reckon up Gods mercies to us shall there be no return made for them Who that hath the least spark of holy ingenuity in him will not be often asking that question of David Psal 116.12 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me Dost thou ask this question Then I say to thee render thy self to the Lord that 's the best retribution that 't is possible for a creature to make Do not put off God with something that is yours but give him your self as he doth not put off you with giving sua but he gives se so do you deal with him When you have done this here may be some retribution but here is no proportion or compensation Alas what is our self to Gods self What is that which we
Dedication This concerns your Children in their Infant-state Doth God bless you with such dedicate them to Him in Baptism As soon as He hath given them to you do you Hannah-like 1 Sam. 1.28 give them back again to him and let them be consecrated to the Lord in this solemn way As to Infant-Baptism I would advise you neither to scruple it nor to neglect it Do not scruple it to me 't is a truth written as with the beams of the Sun yet I know that that may be clear to me which is dark to another and so vice versa and God forbid that I should be uncharitable to those who differ from me herein let them be as harsh and severe as they please to their Children I would be tender towards themselves many of them I verily believe dissenting upon conscientious grounds and motives But let persons go I come to the Thing Should I enter upon the Controversie of Infant-Baptism I should either wrong the Cause by saying too little or the Reader by saying too much The Arguments are commonly known several Books are written about it that one of Mr. * Baxters Plain Scripture Proof of Infants Church-membership and Baptism I should think was enough to give every man satisfaction and therefore if you be dissatisfi'd I remit you to them For my own part so long as I have those Scriptures Gen. 17.7 compared with the 10. ver Act. 2.39 1 Cor. 7.14 Act. 16.15 33. with many others and these two Reasons that the first Covenant-Grant is unrepealed that the priviledges of Believers under the Gospel are rather heightened and amplified then any way curtail'd or diminished I say so long as I have Scriptures and these Reasons I hope I shall never scruple Infant-Baptism But I suppose you to be satisfi'd as to this then I say Do not neglect it or omit it Godly Parents have always made Conscience of this I mean of bringing their Children under the seal of the Covenant when Circumcision was this seal then they would have their Children circumcis'd You may read it in Abraham Gen. 21.4 In Zechary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.59 In Joseph and Mary Luk. 2.21 22. Since Baptism was the seal for there hath been a change as to the external seal though there be none as to the matter of the Covenant it self to which this seal is annexed as persons were brought in to the owning of Christ and of the Christian Faith all along they would have their children baptiz'd Look but into the New testament and you will find plenty of Instances Will you then neglect it Is it not an act of singular Grace that God hath not only provided Ordinances for your selves who are adult but also one for your Children in their Infant-state and will you make nothing of it Is it not admirable mercy that the Lord hath taken your seed into the Covenant too and so will have them to pass under the seal of it Hath God entailed Covenant-blessings upon them this way and will you cut off the entail Is this the first visible Act of God's grace whereby he receives poor creatures into his favour and friendship and the first visible means by which he applys Christ in the merits of his death and blood for sanctification and the remission of sin Doth it please God effectually to work in and by this Sacrament so as to exhibit grace by it as he doth in the pursuance of his own Purpose from everlasting and will you withhold it from your Children Have you been the instruments of conveying the stain and filth and pollution of sin to your Children and will you not bring them to this Heavenly Laver in order to the washing and cleasing of them Is Church-membership a little thing in your eye that you will omit that Ordinance in which your Children are enrolled and admitted as members of the Church will you keep them so far as in you lies in an estate little better than Heathenish and make them only Candidates of Christianity Once more are not delays neglects here very dangerous Gen. 17.14 The uncircumcised manchild c. that soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my Covenant Here the punishment is denounced against the child else where against the Parent upon whom indeed the sin lies Moses had almost lost his life upon his omitting to circumcise his Child for the most lay it upon this Exod. 4.24 And it came to pass by the way in the Inn that the Lord met him and sought to kill him O upon this and all the foregoing considerations do not make light of this Ordinance or neglect the administration of it What if your Child should die unbaptised Far be it from me to conclude that therefore 't is damned which was once Austin's opinion whence he was called Durus Infantum Pater yet this I must say this is a very * Nisi forte existimas Christianorum filios si Baptisma non receperint ipsos tantum reos esse peccati non etiam scelu referri ad eos qui dare noluerint maxime eo tempore quo contradicere non poterant qui accepturi erant Hieron ad Laetam sinful omission and you have been very unfaithful to your child and this will lie heavy upon Conscience under such an affliction though I hope the child it self shall not suffer as to its eternal state upon your omission This lying in my way I durst not bawk it though 't is not convenient to make any long stay upon it That which I have most in my eye is Religions Education when your Children are grown up to the use of Reason and this I will first stir you up unto and then direct you about it Surely there 's great need of the first that men should be quickned to the religious educating of those who are under their charge How * Verù Bone Deus quam paucos hodie reperias qui tam soluciti sunt quomodo post se recte honeste vivant filii quamcurant ut illis amplam haereditatem relinquant quâ post obitum ipsorum splendidè otiosè delicientur Muscul in Gen. 18.19 few look after this Look into the most of Houses where will you find Parents or Masters solicitous about good education of Children and Servants Let me come neerer to you in this City Are you so careful in the Religious Education of Children and Apprentices as you ought to be O the sad neglect of this even amongst you What is it that many I fear the most of you do mind to feed and cloth those that belong to you to learn them something of civility and good manners 't is well if you go so far to provide estates and portions for them to breed them up to some calling and therein eying more a subsistance for your Children than the Glory of God this is all that too many of you trouble your selves about and what Tears are sufficient to bewail this O the rudeness