should so far violate the Bounds of Nature and so wilfully and willingly destroy his natural Issue David though his Son Absolom were his mortal Enemy yet he took great care and gave a strict charge for his preservation 2 Sam. 18.5 Parents should think thus with themselves the Lord is our Father even as we would he should do unto us even so should we do to our Children and if thus I am sure no Parents will give any just cause of Provocation to them 2d Reason Why Parents should not give their Children any just Occasion of Provocation is Because their Children be of their own Substance Who is so mad as to cut his own Flesh how doth it cut the Child even to the very heart that it makes it weary of its life to be under continual provocation it is a Pain intollerable a Disease incurable but as Scorpions Blood will best cure its own stinging so no salve to heal the Childs wound but its parents true love and real affections what a sacred Bond of Unity is there in the Firmament what natural union is there among the Birds of the Air and Beasts of the Field no dissolving it but by inducements to Hatred Love and Concord continues still then why should not Men be taught by natural things to have and continue natural affections to their Children and learn of the Lord who doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of Men Lament 3.33 But bemoans their conditions and wills them to turn from iniquity Hosea 11.8 And is very pittyful and of tender mercy James 5.11 So should all Godly Parents be 3d. Reason is Because the Lord doth highly esteem of all such Parents as are godly that be careful for and tender of their Children Shall I saith the Lord hide from Abraham the thing that I do why because he will command his Children and Houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18.17 19. The Lord commends Job for a perfect and upright Man whose work it feems was daily to offer Sacrifice for his Children Job 1.5 8. For fear they had sinned against the Lord by this Parents should learn to pray with and for their Children every day the just man walketh in his integrity his Children are blessed after him Prov. 20.7 It is the Character of a Godly Bishop to have his Children in subjection 1 Tim. 3.4 with all gravity The Lord did make Israel to hear and fear that they might teach their Children after them Deut. 4.10 Ch. 6.7 Ch. 31.13 The Lord was so well pleased with King Jehu that he saith His Children shall sit on the Throne of Israel to the fourth Generation 2 Kings 10.30 The Lord hath established a Testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make them known to their Children that the Generations to come might know them even the Children which would be born who should arise and declare them to their Children that they might set their Hope in God and not forget the Works of God but keep his Commandments at all times Psal 78.5 6 7. Deut. 4.9 which truly being performed takes off all just occasion of Provocation 4th Reason is because Provocation is the high road to Childrens Disobedience and an evil instrumental means to cause them to break the fifth Commandment which saith Honour thy Father and thy Mother Exod. 20.12 Provocation disputes a Child into Fude and Anger and what will you do to quench that flame what will you call him then but a furious turbulent outragious Monster no ways then to be disputed with Wrath carrieth down all before it and cares not if he dash himself in a thousand pieces he carries the Blood of Revenge in his Face and his Eyes sparkle like Fire his Hair stands an end and his Teeth gnash one against another his Countenance is fierce and his Voice thundereth without sence or reason his Brows are knit in fury and the motion of his Head declares his destruction his Hands strike one against another and falleth with violence on his own Breast he stampeth and teareth his Cloaths and if it were possible his Flesh from his Bones he hath detestation in his mind and Firebrands in one Hand with a drawn Sword in the other yelling and houling with hideous Outcries saying I will ruine all for I am undone Wrath and Anger defaceth the Image of God in Man and casteth a mist before the Eyes it stops the Ears that he will not hear Instruction and hinders his Understanding from receiving Counsel it is an Obstruction of the Judgment and Reason the Senses and Conscience are dulled and blinded by it and it causeth the heart to be continually stubborn and subject to much evil and what not O then Parents provoke not Children to Anger for in that condition you will hardly perswade them to the Duty of Honour learn patience and be kind to them and what great quiet of Conscience can you have whilst you see your Children ruined before your Eyes by your folly and madness would you have your Child hate you who begat him and be your Enemy because you shew your self an Enemy to him or to her besides if the cause of your anger to your Child cannot now be prevented as if it be in the Case of Marriage it can't what aggravation of Folly and Shame is that in you would you be feared and not loved and strive for that sweet Harmony of Love and Fear together regard your Honour but joyn with it Parental Affections between such Parents and Children that live as they ought what a sweet Harmony is there James 1.4 Rom. 12.16 Ephes 4.32 Col. 3.13 23. 5th Reason is Because when Children are provoked they are in the fittest posture for Satan to work upon them by his Temptations Satan delighteth to fish in troubled Waters the terrible smoak of Fury that doth ascend occasioned by Provocation it so far darkeneth the Eyes of the Mind that now any Temptation suits and the Party being blinded cannot discover it without the special grace of God The Astronomers tell us that the Inferior Orbs are restrained in their motion by the primum mobile or else they would set all the World on fire So if the Grace of God and true Religion do not keep Persons in due Order Satan hath too much combustible matter to work upon in the Soul to set the whole course of Nature on fire by his manifold Evil and Subtil Temptations therefore Parents take heed of giving Satan an Inch least he when he hath gotten a little footing on them instead of an Inch he take an Ell Ephes 4.27 James 4.7 6th Reason Because the very Evils that do attend Provocation is or ought to be a sufficient Argument against it A Person under Provocation may be fitly compared to a bed of Serpents when the wind blows cold they lye still but when they are stirred or chafed with heat let every body look to themselves
they sin altogether omitting an holy discipline in their families as keeping of their Children and Servants close in the attendance on the aforesaid duties 1 Tim. 3.4 Chap. 4.13 16ly Some break the Sabbath in going to false worship therefore let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels Col. 2.18 Here you had need to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and all the primitive Churches in the New Testament as ye have them for example 1 Tim. 4.12 Phil. 3.17 1 Thes 1.7 to 10. All that preach any other Doctrine or Worship in any other way under the Gospel than that which was the practice of the Apostles and first Churches is for certain not the true worship Gal. 1.8 for they that worship the Father must worship him in spirit and Truth John 4.24 17ly Some have broke the Sabbath in their often persecuting of Christian Assemblies Christians ought not to persecute one another for as all are to give an account to God for themselves Rom. 14.12 It is but reason that they themselves should choose that religion that they believe to be the Truth The Tares and the Wheat ought to grow together till the harvest Mat. 13.30 There are many reasons why Christians should not persecute one another As 1st The Apostles and first Churches did not persecute but often were persecuted 1 Cor. 4.12 They honestly confest that they had no dominion over the Churches Faith 2 Cor. 1.24 2ly 'T is a Mark of a false Church to persecute Mat. 10.16 Gal. 4.29 2 Tim. 3.13 3ly Christ would not have the Tares rooted out least the Wheat should be rooted out with them Mat. 13.30 4ly It is impossible that I can see with anothers eyes or believe with anothers Faith Mark 9.50 5ly They that persecute are not infallible they may err in their Doctrine as well as in their Discipline Rom. 3.23 6ly Christ commanded his Ministers to teach all Nations and preach the Gospel to every Creature Mat. 28.19 Mark 16.16 not a word of Persecution 7ly Persecution does make weak Christians that in time might have been good Christians to turn Apostates 8ly A Person that is an Heretick is to be excommunicated not persecuted but admonished as a Brother Tit. 3.10 2 Thes 3.15 9ly If you force persons to do things in religious Worship against the light of their own Consciences you force them to sin Rom. 14.13 10ly The strong ought to bear with the weak Rom. 14.1 to 14. 11ly All Persons ought to observe that good old Rule viz. To do to all Men as you would have they should do to you Mat. 7.12 Luke 6.31 and then all Persecution would quickly cease 12ly The Scripture forbids us to judge one another in matters of Religion Mat. 7.1 James 4.12 Rom. 2.1 to 3. If you may not must not judge one another in matters of Conscience and Religion surely you must not persecute them More especially to break the Sabbath in such a wicked act when that day they are in their religious Worship according to the best light of Knowledge that they have recieved of the Lord least over and above you should offend one of the little ones that beleive in Christ and then it were better that a Mill-stone were hanged about your neck and you cast into tâ—h depth of the Sea Mat. 18.6 Luke 17.2 18ly Some break the Sabbath by common War burning and destroying of Villages Towns and Cities Christ bids his Disciples pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath-day Mat. 24.20 Wars and Rumours of Wars is one of the signs of the last times Mat. 24.6 How Rapine and Murder and destruction of Towns and Cities is justifiable by the Scripture I cannot see and more especially on the Lords-day I must leave it to those that are the cause of the action to answer for it in the great day of account and say no more to it but remember to keep holy the Sabbath-day Exod. 20.8 5ly You must not disobey your Parents but do them all Service of Honour Luke 18.20 6ly Thou must not commit any kind of Murder either on thy self as King Saul Ahithophel and Judas did 2 Sam. 17.23 1 Sam. 31.4 5. Mat. 27.5 Nor on any other Person whatsoever secretly or openly thou must not thirst after the blood of any Man Prov. 29.10 No nor yet if it be possible let not the blood of any beast or fowl enter in at thy mouth as Food or Drink 1st Because the Lord hath positively forbid it to be eat in Noah's Time Gen. 9.4 As though the eating of blood were a grand inducement to move Frail Man to shed Mans Blood without a just cause 2ly In the Levetical Law the Lord saith whose eateth the blood of any manner of flesh shall be cut off Levit. 17.14 Here its use is not allowed but to be condemned by an immediate judgment 3ly In that first great Council and General Assembly at Jerusalem of the Apostles Elders and Brethren who drew up their result and confirmed that Canon by the approbation of the Holy Ghost Acts 15.28 They sent it to the Gentiles in Antioch Syria and Cilicia by the hands of Paul Barnabas Judas and Silas four chief Men the Substance of the Canon or Epistle is recorded in Acts 15.29 That ye abstain from meats offered to Idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication from which if ye keep your selves ye shall do well St. James proposing this very Sentence to the Assembly in Acts 15.20 The Church at Jerusalem confirmed the Truth of the beforementioned Canon and express it verbatim Acts 21.25 From all which I must conclude that the Gentiles under the Gospel may as well commit Fornication as they may eat blood or things strangled the abstaining from all the four are injoyned in Acts 15.29 Seventhly You must not commit Adultery This Precept forbids all manner of filthiness of fleshly Vice as Fornication Uncleanness Eph. 5.3 Unnatural Filthiness Levit. 19.22 23. Chambering and Wantonness in Words Gesture or Attire Rom. 13.13 Prov. 7.10 to 22. 1 Pet. 2.11 So that Man had need with good Job make a Covenant with his eyes Job 31.1 For Christ himself in his first Sermon saith He that looketh on a Woman to lust after her he hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart Mat. 5.28 Incestuous Marriages Unjust Divorces Bigamy Polygamy and all Unchastity in Body and Mind is not to be allowed nor practised by any but every one ought to live in purity of Life and Conversation that every one possess his Vessel in Sanctification and Honour 1 Thes 4.4 Eighthly Thou must not steal That is Thou must not rob any one of their Goods neither publickly nor yet privately by cozening nor cheating by fraud nor by force nay thou must not rob thy Wife nor Children of their Dowre nor Birthright or of that which is given thee to maintain them to live comfortably in this world with which kind of
others have sled to Sea some to be Souldiers some fall into deep melancholly and dye others take to the High-way to Robbery and abundance of Evils Therefore Parents you that have any king of Love at all for your Children take Solomons advice To train them up in the way which they should go Prov. 22.6 Better unborn then untaught 't is far better to spend an hundred to give them good Education than to give them thousands without any Education at all for that will abide with them and be a portion when riches fail for they many times flee away as an Eagle towards Heaven Prou. 23.5 Eighth Provocation is When Parents shall promise their Children that which they never intend they shall have some have gone and tied themselves by Covenant to Virgins by vertue of their Parents Promises and when the Parents have relinquished it it hath been the ruin of them both Parents wickedness in this case may be and many times is an hourly and daily Provocation to their Children which makes them to live in Horror Bondage Discontent and Slavery until the very day of their death because their Parents hindered them by it of their first choice and ever after their affections can never be truly settled also it causeth them to suspect their Parents love but this know that Love ought to be honest and without dissimublation Rom. 12.9 Do to your Children in this case and esteem their Peace as your own There is no joy nor true peace where content is wanting an hearts content is a continual feast Prov. 15.15 Ninth Provocation is When Parents shall threaten their Children that they will give them no portion or cut them off as many do with a shilling The Lord in the case of giving of Parents Estates hath given forth a possitive Law which though it were given to the Jews yet it being not ceremonial or typical but moral and perpetual it extends its power to all Ages Nations Sects Kindred Tongues and People to whom this Precept shall come it being never as yet abolished which law you will find recorded in Deut. 21.15 16 17. That the Eldest if hated yet he shall have a double portion and the youngest though best beloved shall share all alike Have a care Parents in breaking this Law in threatning words Eph. 6.9 much more in wicked actions He that breaketh one commandment is guilty of all James 2.10 The Ten Commandments was given to the Jews but who dareth to deny but all the moral part thereof is perpetual and extendeth its power to every individual person in the whole world which Law to transgress would be a sin in any and then the Lord may look on them as he he did on Cain and say If thou doest not well sin lieth at thy door Gen. 4.7 Tenth Provocation is When Parents shall give all or some part of their Estates to those that be not heirs by Birth There are they that give many and great Legacies and to the impoverishing of their Children or diminish their Birthright and look on it as a small fault some have such foolish affections for their name that they will give their Lands from their female natural Issue of their Bodies to a Stranger as though their Names were their chief Happiness though the Lord be offended with them and for the continuance of their Name they will as it were go one step beyond him but he will meet with them by death and put out their name for ever as the Psalmist saith Psal 49.11 12. This their way is their folly There be some that will disinherit their Children for a word speaking when they themselves have provoked their Children to it by their wicked words and Deeds to all such Parents I must say 1st If the Lord should disinherit you for one Offence nay for ten an hundred nay a thousand I fear you will never possess Eternal Happiness 2ly He that taketh that from me which is my Birthright is a Thief and a Robber and hath broken the eighth Commandment Exod. 20.15 3ly He that provideth not for his family chiefly for his Children hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 4ly These are more unnatural than the savage Beasts of the Field who will not leave their young but provide for them till they be in a capacity to live in the world they peaceably live with them and leave them their Possessions at Death 5ly This causeth Heart-burnings and Animosities in those Children against those that give and those that possess their Estates 't is much if it do not terminate in Outrage and Murder except the Lord endow them with his special Grace 6ly You that have no Male Issue Numb 27.7 8 9 10 11. Here the Lord gives you a Law break it upon your own peril and look to it you are bound by this Moral Commandment why will you not to give your Lands to your Daughters as above to possess Numb 36.8 and not to deprive them for their Sex if they be your natural Issue 7ly Let me advise you Parents in this case to do to your Children as you would your Parents should have done to you is not that a Moral Precept which if neglected you neglect to do as you would be done unto you should not so deprive them of any part of your Estates if you would not have been pleased that your Parents should have disinherited you 8ly This causeth a suspicion in the Child that you doubt whether they are your natural Issue since so me wicked men are jealous of their innocent Wives without any just reason or cause and some foolish women are misted with that vulgar Error and fond foolish Conceit of Changelings which seems to be the working of Satan in the minds of some it being beyond the Bounds of Nature Reason and Common Sence that Women should leave their natural Issue to Strangers and take theirs to themselves 9ly What will you Parents do in the Judgment-day if your disinheriting your Children should be the only cause of their Eternal Ruin can you answer for them at the Bar of Justice 10ly Let your loving Instructions and Counsels with your blessing and estate be divided and given to your Children save what is wisely given to charitable uses that you may win their hearts to God and your selves that so long as your Estates continue with them and their Lives last you may be had in their Affections that Satan tempt them not to evil Eleventh Provocation is Where Parents shall and do require more of their Children than their natural Abilites will permit or that is possible for them to undertake or to accomplish with undertaking such Parents if they may be so called shew their Malice by Frowns Sour-Looks Evil Words nay and many times by Cursings and Bannings and sometimes with cruel and merciless blows here they let loose their reins and run at random in the road to Destruction without either pause consideration or affections as though
they were destitute of all grace such Parents want patience Heb. 6.6 and cannot wait till their Childrens Acquirements will in time produce their desired effects Look not for an old head on young shoulders Children are not perfect Men the first year wait and instruct them with love and patience and in time you will have of them what you required as the Proverb is Rome was not built in one day Twelfth Provocation is When Parents will not suffer their Children to ask them a Question but answer them with blows or throwing something at them Jonathan did but ask Saul his Father wherefore shall David be slain what hath he done but he was so angry with him that he threw a javelin at Jonathan These are hard lines when Parents will not suffer their Children to speak one word to pacifie their Wrath or to know anothers faults The Lord saith When thy Children shall ask thee Questions thou shalt answer them rightly to what they ask Joshua 4.6 Exod. 12.26 Let Parents look to themselves that they break not these Precepts Thirteenth Provocation is When Parents shall set a higher esteem on one Child than on another this is a great Provocation this caused Josephs Brethren consult his death Gen. 37.18 But being interposed by Reuben they sold him into Egypt Gen. 37.27 28. Fourteenth Provocation is When Parents will take no care to bestow trades on their Children to their Content but will force them to be brought up in an Employment which they neither like nor love this causeth them to be careless and idle and many times to be very ill Husbands and extravagant that they ruin their Estates and beggar their Children it many times brings them to ill Courses for a Livelyhood which ends in Imprisonment and their Souls are in danger of Eternal Wo Isa 3.11 The Lord gave this Liberty in the time of the Law Deut. 23.16 Fifteenth Provocation is When Parents will force their Children against their will to be yoked to those they cannot love nor at all affect for a little filthy Lucre as though the only Happiness and chiefest good were in the Mammon of Unrighteousness Luke 16.9 13. Piety and Virtue was the only thing Solomon and his Mother took notice of Prov. 14.4 19.14 31.30 But instead of Piety Prudence Honesty and Vertue now a days if they be Sullen Self-willed Cross Obstinate Malicious Deceitful Jealous Envious Light-Carriaged Insatiably-Lustful Proud Peevish Foolish Inconstant Discontented Impure in Body and Mind if Blear Goggle or Squint-Eyed Wheezel-Faced Hare-brain'd Quarter-witted Nonsensical Ideots Sanded Tanned Souer-lookt and much deformed in all parts Yet Money and Land must make up all the matter and oyl the wheels of Matrimony but do not forget that they that marry only for money live all their Life time in bondage in a kind of a lawful adultery therefore in disposing of your Children let love be the main the primum mobile let Prudence Virtue Piety and Honesty be the Objects and the Hearts content the only Subject and the Lord will be glorified in such a choice It is but reason you should let your Children choose where and whom they like best all their Lifes content depends upon it Love and Affections ought to teach Parents this Lesson but the time is now come that some are without natural Affections 2 Tim. 3.3 Nay some Parents are so wicked and ungodly as if a Child be so weak to marry without their consent yet marry a sober person but not riches answerable to their Estate they thro' Pride and Ambition are so cruel that they reject such a dear son or daughter and will not forgive them nor be reconciled to them but take such devillish courses that tend to destroy their Child both Body and Soul Such shew they are so far without the true fear of God that they are cruel Monsters and without Natural Affections nay and they will not own nor look upon the Son-in-law or Daughter-in-law nor the lawful Issue such a Son has by such a Daughter-in-law or such a Daughter has by such a son-in-law by which they shew themselves malicious filled with wrath and Envy as well as unnatural and violate Christs Precepts will not forgive such that have trespassed against them that is from their heart and so must expect never to be forgiven but perish eternally if they do not spedily repent Sixthteenth Provocation is When Children are come to a state of Marriage and capable to trade for themselves in the World their Parents will not give them any thing to assist them but keep all in their own hands till they are dead by this their Children live almost if not all their days in bondage and slavery till they have almost if not altogether lost their natural love to their Parents and many times are under that grievous Temptation occasioned by their Parents to wish and desire their days may be shortened which sin cannot be justified but all good Parents should do their utmost endeavour to take this block out of their Childrens way Also this causes them to take up dishonest courses by private and publick Robberies and Cheating Shifts to get something whereby to supply their wants and when they have escaped well once it may be they are so far hardened that they can never stop till it be too late This is a Provocation indeed which terminates in the excution of Justice I hope Parents my whetting up of your Memories will not offend you if they do I have in this done my duty in part do you do all yours and then see where you will have Occasion of offence I leave off with these sixteen which are the material Sum of my Experience and leave it to them that are more accute to find out as many more as they please and I will be content with these Enlargements And so I pass to the proof of this first Doctrine That Parents should take all care possible to avoid all occasions of Provocation c. Col. 3.21 Provoke not your Children to anger Psal 103.13 As a Father pitieth his Children c. Prov. 17.6 10. The Glory of the Children is their Parents Prov. 31.28 They call her blessed Mat. 9.15 Can the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn so long as the Bride is with them It will be very hard for Children to glory in their Parents and call them blessed when they are under Provocation and Mourning for their Parents misusing of them in hard unjust and wicked carriges but I come to the Reasons of the Doctrine to prove that they ought not to provoke their Children And the First Reason is taken from the Title Father Parents now they ought as they hear themselves called by that Title to be touched with a feeling of the natural affections which is only proper to the fruit of their own Bowels and relation as being their Image and Spark of their Brightness successively their own representation and proper Off-spring Would not he be a Monster and not a man that
unnatural as to send it out of Doors so soon as it was born not regarding it as though it were none of her own as some Women do who are worse to their young than the savage beasts of the field that will not take care to nurse preserve and protect their young ones it is looked on as a judgment by the Prophet Hosea 9.14 What saith he wilt thou them give a miscarrying womb and dry breasts most Women are much troubled if they cannot bare Children then why not much more if they do not let them suck of that Milk which nature has provided for the Childs nourishment it is a small sign of remorse when they are not troubled for that which is their own proper faults Fouthly All Children do naturally love those Parents most whom they sucked to take care for assist and help in their necessities when old if there be a kind of an Affection in Nurses to those they nurse and a peculiar love in the Child to the Nurse whom it sucked till death much more the Natural Affections of a Child to its Natural Parents who bore it and nourished it with their own milk what other Benefits arise thereby I leave it to your Experience to witness in length of time Nurse your Children your selves do not as t is said of the Deer that they repulse and separate those that are impotent do not turn your Children out of doors least they in time have the same Opportunity and you your selves share of the like fare from them 't is the sin of the last times to be without natural Affections therefore take away the cause that the effect may cease 3 Direction is Dedicate your Children to the most High offer them up in your Prayers Wishes and Desires to the Lords omnipotent Care and Protection Hannah dedicated Samuel unto the Lord 1 Sam. 1.28 Every First born was to be offered to the Lord Exod. 13.12 O that Ishmael might live before thee saith Abraham Gen. 17.18 How excellently did Zathariah yield up John to the Service of the Lord Luke 1.76 So Parents should do and pray continually with good Job for their Conversion and offer daily Sacrifice for them do not forget to offer your Souls in Prayer with and for them that they may be sensible how great care you have of their Souls eternal well-being Job 1.5 4 Direction Parents be sure you agree together in your Commads Let not the Father command one thing and the Mother presently contradict it before the Child this will harden them in Disobedience the first Precept to the Woman after the transgression was to be subject to her Husband and he should rule over her Gen. 3.16 But that Woman is very impudent that is so far from obeying her Husband that she will Lord it over him by contradicting his Authority in just commands and more especially when so much evil attends it as in this case Parents should both take great care not to oppose each other before their Children but chiefly when it is about their Childrens duty but to take another fit Opportunity in cool Blood in Love and in their Childrens absence to dispute the lawfulness of the matter 5 Direction Keep your Children in due subjection before they be too stubborn He that spareth the rod hateth his Son but he that loveth him chastneth him betimes Prov. 13.24 Chasten thy son while there is hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying Prov. 19.18 Rods and Reproof give Wisdom but a Child left to himself brings his Mother to shame Prov. 29.15 Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest and delight unto thy soul Prov. 29.17 A Bishop is commanded to have his Children in subjection with all gravity 1 Tim. 3.4 6 Direction Let your Children be your chiefest joy in this World Rejoyce in them as they are the gift of the Lord but do not idolize them good Job took delight enough in his Children as himself expresseth Job 19.17 Chap. 29.5 Yea when the Lord hath permitted their death by a great wind he seems to rejoyce that as the Lord gave them so he hath now taken them away and saith he blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1.19 without sorrow repining and murmuring he seems to joy in this affliction hopeing they were gone to a better Father All the Patriarchs did take delight in their Sons and Daughters except when they sinned Gen. 34.30 7 Direction You must reprove and rebuke your Children if they sin This Work must not be done to halves as Old Eli did 1 Sam. 3.13 If they sin against the Lord and no Reproof nor Rebuke will prevent them they must be restrained with due severity Folly is bound up in the heart of a Child but the rod of Correction driveth it away Prov. 22.15 Withhold not Correction from thy Child for if thou beatest him with rods he shall not die Prov. 23.13 St. Paul saith We had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence Heb. 13.9 This Duty must 1st be done with Love because it is God Ordinance to restrain them from iniquity Deut. 8.5 2dly You must shew them their sin for which you rebuke or correct them Saying with the holy God O Do not this abominable thing which I bate Jer. 44.4 3dly Tell them that thou dost correct them out of Conscience to God and Love to their precious souls Prov. 11.30 4thly Reprove and Corect them with pitty telling them if good Words would have restrained them you would not have used Blows Psal 103.13 5thly Shew them by some place of Scripture How much the Lord is offended with them for this their sin Deut. 29.20 6thly Keep them from evil Company that are the Inducements to sin 1 Cor. 15.33 7thly Correct them not in anger but with fair and loving words as it were with severity according to the Fact but all in a Cool Blood Jer. 30.11 8thly Be often in Prayer with and for them that if all other means fail that this may work upon them for their Souls eternal good thus rebuke and correction may be rightly performed and the Child not provoked to anger but love 1 Thes 5.17 9thly Be sure that the Sin that thou correct thy Child for be not an evil which he has seen thee often guilty of then 't is to be feared that thy Correction will do no good 1 John 3.20 10thly Forbear many chiding Words and Threatning Expressions Ephes 6.9 11thly Smile not on them in their sin nor use no shew of approbation towards them in it for this will harden them Solomon saith a flattering Tongue worketh ruin Prov. 26.28 12thly Do not rail on them nor miscall them when you correct them This does not become a Servant of Christ 1 Pet. 3.9 8 Direction is Be sure look well to it that at all times your Children obey your lawful Commands do not let them run at full length of Reins See that they speedily and duely perform what you order
grand Occasion 2dly Carry your selves kindly to your children in word and deed This will be one means to prevent provocation to sin lastly To prevent their provocation to evil turn to those sixteen Demonstrations at the beginning of this book read them and so learn them that you may take all Obstacles out of your childrens way 18 Direction is Teach and Instruct your children in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures Christ blames the Sadduces because they erred the cause was because they did not know the Scripture Mat. 22.29 It seems that ignorance of the Scriptures is the first step to Error surely Christ did not speak in vain when he bid the Jews search the Scriptures John 5.39 For by them we obtain the knowledge of Christ The Bereans were called noble because they searched the Scriptures Acts 17.11 Philip preached out of the Scriptures Acts 8.32 35. Apollos is said to be mighty in the Scriptures Acts 18.24 28. Paul his usual manner was to reason out of the Scriptures Acts 17.2 Rom. 1.2 Ch. 4.3 Ch. 11.2 Paul highly commends Timothy for his knowledge in the Scriptures For saith he they will make thee wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus They are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way saith the Psalmist but by taking heed thereunto according to thy word Psal 119.9 If you would have your children to be perfect and furnished to all good works then teach and instruct them in the knowledge of the Scriptures 18 Direction is You must not set too high an Esteem upon your children so as to idolize them Parents may as it appears by Christs words love their Sons and Daughters better than they love Christ Mat. 10.37 't is possible for a man to idolize any thing the Apostle calls Covetuousness Idolatry Colos 3.5 If Men shall love Riches so much as to bow down their Souls Affections Wit Memory Judgment Understanding and all their Faculties to it what can we call it less may we not say that some make their Honour their Pleasures of Eating and Drinking Phil. 3.19 Hunting and Hawking Carding and Dicing and what not their God therefore Parents look to it that you do not put too high a Value upon your children you ought to look up unto him first that gave them unto you who can as he did good Job's take them all away in a moment of Time Job 1.19 It seems as though David had too much love for his Son Absolom whom God left to murder his Brother Amnon and to rebel against his Father 2 Sam. 13.39 Ch. 18.33 The Lord permitted both these and also suffered him to be taken away possibly that David might see the vanity of his too much Toleration and fond Affection and Indulgence 19 Direction is Be often yea constantly exhorting them to walk in the way of God according to the best of your judgment to the Law and to the Testament saith Isaiah 8.20 Stand in the way and see ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls Jer. 6.16 saith Samuel God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and right way 1 Sam. 12.23 This is a sure Maxim that all the Ordinances that our Lord Jesus Christ appointed his Church to observe are by his true Church to be uphold contended for Jude 3. Both in matter and manner and to be truly and rightly maintained by all the true Servants of Christ in all ages by all Persons in all places and at all times to the end of the World Mat. 28.20 Who it was that gave men power to alter the subject of Baptism from a Believer to an Infant and the manner of doing of it from dipping to sprinkling except Pope Innocent the first and the Milevitan Council I know not this I know that the Cate chism of the Church of England confesseth that the persons that are to be baptized are such as have repentance whereby they forsake sin and have Faith whereby they stedfastly believe the promise of God made to them in that Sacrament which no Infant of a day or two or a week old could ever perform also it confesseth that the manner is by dipping which they have since altered and thus express it Water wherein the person is baptized Also how they come to alter the Lords Supper from Night to Noon from breaking the Bread to cutting of it and from sitting at a Table to kneeling I say how this comes to be altered and kneeling one by one at Noon at the Altar and there to receive a peice of Bread cut square I leave the Criticks of our age to determine for certain Christ gave no Man power to alter his Sacraments neither in matter not form but they are to continue as they were first instituted to the end of the World or till Christs second coming 1 Cor. 11.26 It must needs be a nullity of the Sacraments if the right matter and manner be wanting may I be so bold to say with the Apostle This is not to eat the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.20 Plain it is that Paedorantism is not Christ's Ordinance of Baptism O 't is very dangerous to alter any thing in the worship of God Prov. 30.6 Deut. 4.2 Ch. 12.32 Revel 21.18 Nadab and Abihu did but take common fire and did not take it from the Altar according to the command Exod. 30.8 and the Lord slew them Lev. 10.2 Here they had the right matter fire but only they missed the right place where they should have taken it Also Dathan and Abiram who were not of that tribe which the Lord appointed to offer incense but rebelled against the Lord and they were swallowed up alive in the Earth Numb 16.1 3. Here was the wrong subject Moreover the Lord commanded that the Altar should be made of unhewed stone Exod. 20.25 Dent. 27.5 Joshua 8.31 But Israel sinned in making Altars of Brick Isa 65.3 And the Lord was provoked thereby their sin was in the false subject also the Lord commanded that the Offering should be offered at the door of the Tabernacle Levit. 17.9 but they offered in Groves 2 Kings 23.4 6 15. Here they missed the place and are charged with great guilt Isa 66.4 what shall I say more they that add to any of Christs commands or diminish from them in any kind the Lord will visit them in his anger Rev. 21.18 therefore teach your children to walk in the footsteps of the Church in its primitive Institutions as near as you can comprehend and understand it and as you find it recorded in the New-Testament And this is our only rule to walk by both for our children and our selves 21 Direction is Often awakening your Childrens