great worth and excellency there is in an immortal Soul The Soul of the poorest Child or Servant in your Families is more worth than all the substance in your houses than all the Riches you have gotten or can get as long as you live yea than the whole world Mark 8.36 What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul And therefore you should spend more thoughts and pains about saving your Children and Servants Souls than you would do to gain the whole world if there were a probability that by your care and industry you might get into your possession all the good things that are in the world There is such an excellency in the Soul that when any one sinner is brought to repentance whereby his Soul is put into a state of Salvation all the Angels of Heaven rejoyce at this glad Tidings Luk. 15.10 There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth 2. By converting your Children and Servants you shall recover their souls from the power of the Devil Before their conversion he rules and carries them captive to this and the other sin as he pleaseth Ephes 2.2 2 Tim. 2.26 But when they are converted they are freed and delivered from the power of Satan The Conversion of a sinner is the opening of his eyes and turning him from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Act. 26.18 It is Gods delivering of a sinner from the power of darkness and translating him into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1.13 If your Children were under Turkish Slavery would you spare any pains or cost to redeem them from the hands of the Turks It is far worse to have them under the power of Satan than under the power of the Turks Suppose the Devil had gotten possession of your Childrens Bodies and should torture them as he did the woman of Canaan's Daughter who cried out to Christ Mat. 15.22 Have mercy upon me O Lord my Daughter is grievously vexed with a Devil or should rend and tear them as he did that young man whose Father made his moan to Christ after this manner My Son hath a dumb Spirit and wheresoever he taketh him he teareth him and he fometh and gnasheth with his teeth and he pineth away and oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him Mark 19.17 18 22. would not this cause you to mourn and fast and pray and to use all means possible to get your Childrens Bodies delivered from the tyranny of Satan And would you not be restless until you had obtained their deliverance To have your childrens Souls under the power of the Devil and to have them drawn sometimes into one foul sin and then into another is far worse and more dangerous then to have their Bodies at his command and yet this is their case as long as they remain unconverted their Souls are under the power of sin and Satan How should this cause you to strive with God in prayer night and day and labour with your utmost diligence in the use of all means to get their Souls converted to God 3. By converting your Children and Servants you shall prevent their dying in their sins and save them from the wrath of God and the torments of Hell Jam. 5.19 20. Brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a Soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins What a great what a good work is this to save a soul from death Shall we think any pains too much to save immortal Souls from eternal Death If you saw any of your Children ready to fall into a fiery Furnace which would consume them to Ashes in a moment you would suddenly lay hold on them and prevent if it were possible their falling into the furnace of fire Hell is called A Furnace of Fire Mat. 13.42 As long as your Children live in ignorance and in an unconverted condition they are in danger every day to fall into this furnace of fire And doth it not concern you then to prevent with all possible speed their falling into everlasting burnings 4. Consider what great pains Jesus Christ took to save and convert Souls The great end of his coming into the world and taking our Nature upon him was to save Souls Luk. 19.10 The Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost When he was upon the earth he was so diligent in teaching and instructing the people that he did not omit his work one day Luk. 19.47 He taught daily in the Temple He was so diligent to teach and instruct the people that he could not find spare time to eat his Bread which cansed some of his friends to think and say he was beside himself Mark 3.20 He was not only very diligent in preaching but was content to lay down his life to save our souls Shall not this example of Christ provoke you to give all diligence to save both your own and the souls of all that are committed to your Charge 5. God will give a greater degree of Glory to those that are instrumental to convert and save souls than to other Saints For whereas they shall shine only as the Firmament they that convert others shall shine as the Stars in the Firmament Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever 6. You cannot approve your selves to be Righteous Persons either to God or Men if you do not regard what becomes of your childrens and servants souls A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast Prov. 12.10 If this be true how can they account themselves righteous persons who have no regard what becomes of the souls of their Children If a Beast go astray though it be not our own but our Neighbours yea our Enemies we must by no means neglect to bring it back Exod. 23.4 If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or his Ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again If we are bound so straightly to bring back an Ox or an Ass of our Enemies when he goes astray then what obligations lie upon us to bring home to God our own Children and our houshold Servants when we see them going astray from the Lord SECT 2. Such as neglect Family-Instruction are guilty of their Children and Servants Blood How great an Evil it is to be guilty of the Blood of Souls Motive 2 SUch Parents and Masters of Families as neglect to train up their Children and Servants in the fear of the Lord and in the knowledge of his word are the instrumental causes of their Damnation and their Children and Servants Blood will be laid to their charge and be required at their hands For
he calls you off from mourning for your children whom he hath rejected to make sure of your own and your surviving Relations Salvations VII Turn your indignation which is apt to arise in your hearts against God because he hath cast away your Childrens Souls into indignation against sin which was the cause why God cast away their Souls Hate all sin in your selves and hate all sin in others with a perfect hatred and never be reconciled to it as long as you live for the mischief that it hath done to you and your Children Seek by way of holy revenge the utter destruction of all sin Root it out of your hearts and of your Families and do what you can to hinder it from growing any more SECT 3. The Plea of such as are troubled because they conveyed Original sin to their Children answered Plea 2 MY Children that died in their sins and are now gone down into everlasting burning received their corrupt natures from me I was instrumental to convey unto them their Original Sin and their Original Sin caused their Actual Sins which caused their Damnation and this troubles me so exceedingly that I know not what to do I am ready to curse the day in which I entred into a married condition I might have kept my self single and then my wicked Children had never been born and sometimes I am ready to curse my Parents who conveyed a sinful nature unto me Answ 1. It is true that Parents do convey sinful natures to their Children Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me 2. Though it be thus Children must not blame their Parents for the blemishes they receive from their birth Isa 45.10 VVoe unto him that saith unto his Father what begettest thou or to the woman what hast thou brought forth Deut. 27.16 Cursed be he that setteth light by his Father or Mother and all the People shall say Amen Neither should we blame our selves for entring into a married state of life For Marriage is honourable in all Heb. 13.4 The Lord Jesus honoured it with his Presence and working one of his first Miracles at a Marriage Feast Joh. 2.1 2 11. Though Parents convey sinful natures to their Children yet Marriage is no sin 1 Cor. 7.28 But and if thou marry thou hast not sinned and if a Virgin marry she hath not sinned 3. Your being instrumental to convey corrupt natures to your Children should make you look more throughly into the odious nature of Original Sin and to loath your selves and to be deeply humbled for it but it should not make you to repine that you were instruments of bringing Children into the World for Children are counted blessings of God and the man is called happy that is full of them Psal 127.3.6 So Children are an Heritage of the Lord. And the fruit of the womb is his reward Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them 4. The Lord did provide a remedy against your Childrens sinful natures which they derived from you He hath sent forth his Son to save us from our sins and to make us partakerr of the Divine Nature His bloud is compared to a fountain which cleanseth from all sorts of sins it procureth the pardon of Original as well as Actual Sin Zech. 13.1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness 1 Joh. 1.7 The bloud of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin He was sent by God not only to pardon our sins but to give us grace to turn from our sins Acts 3.26 Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities And God made a free offer of his Son Jesus Christ with all his saving benefits to your Children Rev. 22.17 It was their refusal of the remedy provided in and by Christ which was the cause of their condemnation John 3.19 Their neglect of the great Salvation of the Gospel brought upon them eternal destruction Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation 5. As God provided a Seviour for them so you if you did not neglect your duty were careful to train them up in the knowledge of this Saviour and to acquaint them with all the counsel of God what he would have them believe and what he would have them do in order to their salvation and did exhort them to wait upon God in all his Ordinances when you saw them do any evil you reproved them and warned them of the danger of their evil ways If thus you have discharged your duty towards them in warning them to turn from their evil ways and declaring to them the will and counsel of God concerning their salvation which may be reduced to these two heads That they should repent and turn from their sins unto God and believe in his Son Jesus Christ you are clear from their bloud although they died in their sins Ezek. 3.19 If thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way he shall die in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy soul Acts 20.20 21 26 27. I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the bloud of all men for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God SECT 4. The case of those who are troubled because their Childrens bloud will be required at their hands considered Plea 3 MY Childrens Souls are lost through my negligence and carelesness if I had discharged my duty towards them it would have been some relief to me but I have been wanting in my duty towards them And now what can I expect but that God should require their bloud at my hands and this is such a trouble to me that my Children through my negligence should be cast into everlasting burnings and that their bloud should be required at my hands that I know not what to do I cannot rest either night or day by reason of my sin in destroying my Childrens souls and the misery which hereby I have brought upon mine own soul Answ 1. This is a great sin and ought to be much lamented that you should be guilty of the loss of your Childrens souls And it is a wonderful thing that many Parents make so light of it it is an argument that they are under a spirit of slumber and judicial hardness of heart How great an evil it is for Parents to be guilty of the bloud of their childrens souls and how they ought to be affected with it I have shewn before Chap. 2. Sect. 2. But though this be a great sin a sin to be lamented as long as you live yet
it is evident from the word of God that all such as live and die ignorant of God having attained to years of discretion shall be destroyed for ever without having any mercy shewed to them 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Isa 27.11 It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will have no mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Hos 4.6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge Now if the Lord will condemn our Children and Servants for their ignorance and their ignorance proceed from our neglect of instructing them are not we the cause of their condemnation Such as have the Rule and Government of Families are in the nature and condition of Watchmen as well as those that bear Rule in the Church and must give an account for those souls that are committed to their charge Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account And as for those that are placed in the condition of Watchmen if any persons over whom God hath made them Watchmen be lost through their neglect to instruct them in their duty or to reclaim them from their sins the Blood of those that perish shall be required at the Watchmans hands Ezek. 3.17 18. Son of man I have made thee a Watchman unto the House of Israel therefore hear the word at my Mouth and give them warning from Me when I say to the wicked Thou shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand What Inditement is brought in against the Jews Jer. 2.34 In thy Skirts is found the Blood of the Souls of the poor Innocents I have not found it by secret search but upon all these The like may be said of many Masters of Families In their Skirts will be found the Blood of the Souls of their Children and Servants In their Skirts That is it will plainly and evidently appear unto all men at the day of Judgment that they are guilty of the Blood of the Souls of their Children and Servants for want of instructing and training them up in the fear of God VVe cannot possibly be clear from the blood of those that are committed to our charge if either through wilfulness or through sloth and negligence we forbear to instruct them in those things that are necessary to their Salvation but if we do our duty and they perish in their sins their Blood shall be upon their own head Act. 20.26 27. I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the Counsel of God Did Parents and Masters of Families seriously consider what it is to have their Children and Servants die eternally and that through their neglecting to teach and train them up in the fear of God did they also consider what it is to have the blood of Souls laid to their charge it would stir them up to be diligent in instructing their Families unless they be such as have lost all regard to their own and their Families welfare To press home this consideration with the greater efficacy I shall suggest to you three or four things more under this head As 1. The death of a Child goes near a Parents heart Hagar could not endure to see her Child die and therefore when she thought he would die she gets a great way off from him and sat down and wept Gen. 21.16 She said Let me not see the death of the Child and she sat over against him and lift up her voice and wept VVhen tydings came to David of Absolom's death he was exceedingly troubled at it 2 Sam. 18.33 And the King was much moved and went up to the chamber ever the gate and wept and as he went thus he said O my Son Absolom my Son my Son Absolom would God I had died for thee O Absolom my Son my Son VVhen Jacob did but suppose that Joseph was dead though he had eleven Sons living his sorrow was so great that he refused to be comforted Gen. 37.34 35. Jacob rent his cloaths and put sackcloth upon his loyns and mourned for his Son many days and all his Sons and all his Daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said For I will go down into the Grave unto my Son mourning Thus his Father wept for him If it be so grievous to Parents to see their Children deprived of their natural life how should it pierce their hearts to have them deprived of eternal Life If they are so grieved at the death of their Bodies how should they lay to heart the death of their Souls How should it wound them to have their Children cast into the lake that burneth with fire and Brimstone which is the second death where they shall be always burning and yet never be consumed they shall be always dying and yet never be dead yea how should it affect them when they consider that they themselves have through their negligence been the cause of their Childrens dying the second death 2. It would pierce a flinty heart to see Children dying in their Parents Arms for want of Bread VVhen Jeremiah saw little Children in the time of Famine some dying in the streets others breathing out their souls in their Mothers Bosoms for want of Bread to sustain their Lives it made him weep till his eyes and his heart failed him with grief Lam. 2.11 12. Mine eyes do fail with tears my bowels are troubled my Liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the Daughter of my People because the Children and the Sucklings swoon in the streets of the City they say to their Mothers Where is Corn and Wine When they swooned as the wounded in the Streets of the City when their Soul was poured out into their Mothers Bosom This is a sorrowful sight but it is far more dreadful to see Children perishing to all eternity in their Parents Houses for want of their communicating to them the Bread of Life than to see them die by Famine 3. It is an unspeakable loss for a man to lose one Soul Though he do not lose his Children and Servants Souls though he lose not one Soul besides his own the gain of the whole world will not make up this loss as appears from the fore-quoted Scripture Mar. 8.36 What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and