into the presence of the King whether they were covered or not but in that time they did Obeisance one to another is evident Dan. 2.46 6.21 8.17 2ly It does not appear that they came into the Kings presence covered for that which is expressed is a forced thing they were bound in their Coats their Hosen and their Hats Their Coats were Mantles or short kind of Cloaks to keep off the Sun and let in the Air to their Bodies their Hosen were Slops or long loose breeches their Hats were Turbants not one jot like our Hats they were made of Linnen like a Sash its use was to tie about their head in bad weather in wind and cold to spread and cover all parts of the body it being as large as a winding sheet it being tied about their waste it served for a Girdle Neither will Christ's words excuse these Men which saith How can ye believe which receive Honour one of another John 5.44 There is a vast distance between Humility and Arrogancy we ought not to be so arrogant as to love and delight in the honour and praise of men John 12.43 But we ought to be so humble as to render to all persons due honour and respect 1 Pet. 2.17 Let each esteeem others better than themselves Phil. 2.3 Also you must be careful to pay to every one their just due they are wicked which borrow and pay not again Psal 37.21 Christ allows the paying of Tribute Mat. 22.21 pays tribute himself and works a Miracle to do it Mat. 17 to 27. 38 Direction is Teach your Children to avoid shun and oppose that general received and overspreading sinful Doctrine or Dogmatical Sentiment viz. That Justification is by Works as tho' the sprinkling of a little Water in a Childs Face in the Name of the Deity did make an unregenerate Sinner a true Convert and bring it into a state of justification which work so acted and done I could never find nor yet be informed by any that Christ or his Apostles did ever leave any Precept or President for the so doing and therefore it is an Innovation of Men and largely forbidden in the Scriptures Mat. 15.9 Col. 2.21 22. Josh 1.7 Deut. 12.32 Jer. 7.31 Deut. 4.2 Jer. 19.5 Prov. 30.6 Revel 22.18 19. Secondly Is not the blessing in those that were Excommunicated for Trifles I do not find in Scripture that any ought to be Excommunicated but for Impenitency in notorious and criminal Facts Mat. 18.17 2 Thes 3.14 1 Cor. 5.5 9.13 1 Tim. 1.19 20. Let me add here a word or two concerning Justification The real causes of Justification are these 1st The efficient cause is God's free grace Rom. 3.24 2ly The meritorious cause is the Blood of Christ Rom. 5.9 3ly The material cause is Christ's active and passive obedience Rom. 5.19 4ly The formal cause is the imputation of Christ's righteousness Rom. 4.6 5ly The instrumental cause by which it is applied is Faith Rom. 5.1 6ly The final cause is 1st The glory of God Rom. 5.2 And 2ly Mans Salvation Ephes 1.11 but where good works have any place as a cause of justification I find not for they do certainly flow from Faith and are the fruits and effects of true Faith 1st What is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14.23 2ly Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 3ly Man is united to Christ by Faith and by it its fruits appears Col. 1.4 6. 4ly As Men cannot gather grapes of thorns or figgs of thistles Mat. 7.16 So those works cannot be good that do not spring from a good root viz. True Faith and Union with Christ 39 Direction is When your Children are come to years you ought to take care of their being disposed in Marriage and that in that seasonable and due time as you find their natural inclinations prompt them to and require it 1st See and know that they have Natural Love to them that you would marry them to If Love be wanting on either side they are betrayed into a multitude of evils which all the Gold of Ophir cannot repair also see that they choose such as are equal to their degree and quality if they are too high above them they will be apt to slight them if below them to discredit them if too old the love of youth from such is apt to vanish also choose such if possible that truly fear the Lord Vertue Piety and Honesty are far better than all the Carriage Breeding Beauty and Riches in this World Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised Prov. 31.30 40 Direction is You that have Estates as there is few but have little or much let me advise and direct you to settle your Estates in good time as it is too late to repent when the door of mercy is shut so many times it is too late to settle your Estates when you come to a dying bed you will have enough to do then to go through that painful Task more especially if you have not made your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Good Hezekiah was ordered to set his house in order Isa 38.1 Abraham settled his Estate Gen. 25.5 6. The exactest rule that I do find in all the Scripture to this put pose is that in Deut. 21.17 Where the Lord saith The eldest shall have a double portion that is If a Man have five Children he shall divide his Estate into six equal parts and the eldest Son shall have two parts and the other four shall have each one his equal part how or when this Law was abrogated Ido not find I leave it in all these forty Rules to you to make the best use of the whole in your daily practice as you will answer it in the great day of account And now I come to the 2d Doct. Which I intend to be very brief in which is That if Parents have real affections for their Children they will use the best means possible to keep them from sin they will not provoke them to it This Subject is enough to fill a whole Volume 1st To shew you how many ways people may sin And 2ly To set forth who they are that the Scripture calls Sinners 3ly To discover the nature of sin 4ly To let you understand the danger of sin 5ly To discover the Remedies as Helps against sin 6ly To let you know the fruits and effects of sin 7ly To pen down the Scripture-Marks to know a sinner by 8ly To shew the degrees of sin 9ly To shew how the Lord does many times punish for sin in this life as well as in the life to come 10ly To mind you of the benefit that does ensue by avoiding of sin But I must leave these things to be amplified in your daily Meditation as you read the Scriptures of Truth and in short give you a reason or two to prove that Parents love is manifest by keeping their Children from sin Reason 1.
8.26 7ly Stinted Forms keeps Persons in a lame stupid dead and lukewarm posture so long as they do continue in the use of it they are neither hot nor cold Revel 3.15 16. What the Fruits and Benefits that forms do conduce I leave it to those that have received it if any have to declare but this is certain that the Letter kills but it is the Spirit that giveth life 2 Cor. 3.6 John 3.63 8ly By spiritual Prayer we have access unto the Throne of Grace Ephes 2.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 1st Accessus 2ly Manuductionem A drawing near by leading by the hand to God as Persons are led or conducted into Kings Courts but I do not find any promise in all the Holy Scriptures that any shall have access to God by reading or saying over of stinted forms of Prayer 9ly There are many good Presidents in Scripture that the faithful in all ages have poured out their Souls to the Lord omnipotent in Spiritual Prayer It is said Isaac went out into the field to meditate Gen. 24.63 The Margin reads it to pray agreeing with Ainsworth in loc David poured out his soul to the Lord Psal 142.1 to 7. Jehoshephat was fervent in this duty 2 Chron. 20.12 Hezekiah prayed against Senacherib's Blasphemy 2 Kings 19.15 It will be too tedious to set forth one quarter of the instances of this kind Take St. Paul for your Example who saith He will pray with his Spirit and with his understanding also 1 Cor. 14.15 Epaphras is said to be fervent in this duty Col. 4.12 10ly Spiritual Prayer is commanded Praying always with all prayers and supplication in the Spirit Ephes 6.18 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and suplication let your request be made known to God Phil. 4.6 I will that men pray every where 1 Tim. 2.8 Pray for them that despitefully use you Mat. 5.44 Luke 6.28 Pray ye the Lord of the Harvest Mat. 9.38 Pray one for another James 5.16 If ye sow to the spirit ye shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.8 34 Direction is Be often minding of them that they let the love of God in Christ be the principal Motive upon their Hearts to perswade them to love God above all to uphold them from being dashed in pieces upon that rock of Despair about Personal Election and Reprobation Know for certain that as all were brought into a state of Condemnation by the first Adam's Sin so all that believe are in a state of justification by the death of Christ Rom. 5.18 For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved John 3.16 17. There is Salvation open to every Soul that believeth the Lord hath taken such care for every mans Salvation 1st That he hath commanded the Gospel to be Preached to every Creature Mark 16.15 16 2dly That Prayers and Supplications be made for all men 1 Tim. 2.1 to 6. 3dly The Lord would have all men come to the Knowledge of the Truth that they might be Saved 1 Tim. 2.4 as touching those that are Elected they are Elected thro' the Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth 2 Thes 2.13 to believe on Christ is the first step to enjoy the promise of Eternal Salvation Heb. 3.9 Revel 22.14 Heb. 10.36 Jam. 1.25 2dly True Faith is the spring of true love to God in Christ which is also the true and only ground of our Obedience Rom. 6.17 18. 3dly A right Knowledge of Gods love in justification by his Son is the chief ground of our love to God 1 John 4.19 4thly True Faith is that hand whereby we receive Christ and Christ's Righteousness is the matter or material Cause of our Justification as Gods Imputation of it to us is the formal Cause and Faith I think I may say without any blame may be said to be the Instrumental Cause thereof but no procuring Cause or meriting Condition of our Justification for Faith is in the Covenant of Grace as it is the Gift of God and therefore not a procuring Condition of it Rom. 3.28 Gal. 2.16 Rom. 5.1 Gal. 3.24 5thly Preaching the Gospel thro' the working of Gods Spirit is the cause of Faith Rom. 10.17 6thly The love of God in Christs Death and Resurrection is the ground and cause of the Gospels being Preached 1 Cor. 15.1 to 23. 7thly The love of God to those he gave to Christ is the only ground and cause why he sent his Son to dye John 3.16 17. Heb. 2.9 So on the other hand Sin is the cause that any are reprobated it is for the Sin of their Nature which they love and for Unbelief Rom. 11.23 all which remains they do not will not hear the Word so as to set their hearts to ponder on the same their understandings are blinded their wills rebellious their affections are carnal their hearts are immoderately set upon Earthly things If any man loveth the World the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2.15 Because they believe not the Word of Life they remain in a state of Condemnation the Scripture holds forth that mans Destruction is of himself Mat. 23.37 Hosea 13.9 35 Direction is Teach your Children to avoid the Seeing Hearing Receiving doing or Allowing of those things that are directly prohibited or forbid in Scripture First You must Teach them the Ten Commandments recorded in Exod. 20. Deut. 5. the Lord by these Precepts hath prohibited all from gross and capital Sins to teach men Morrality and Divine Adoration and Invocation having called him from all Corruption unto the integrity he first Created him in And therefore 1st Man is denied to have any other object of Divine Adoration beside his Creator 2dly Man must not have the least shew of any kind of Worship in Expression Gesture or Habit not so much as in affections too nor towards any Image or the likeness of any Creature Made Ingraven or Portraied of any Mass or resemblance whatsoever no not so much as to go into the place where an Idol is nor to eat of the Meat that has been offered to an Idol Acts 15.20.29 Chap. 21.25 keep your selves from Idols 1 John 5.21 Flee from Idolatry 1 Cor. 10.14 Levit. 19.4 Any thing that is set up in our Hearts and extolled above our Maker which we take all care possible to please our selves in to admire and set our Chief Love upon that we give more Service Love and Adoration too then is properly due to a meer Creature is by us made an Idol and though it be no God yet we make it a God unto our selves Fourteen several ways Men may make to themselves Gods and Serve Love and Adore them more then they do their Creator And 1st some make their Bellys their God they lay up all
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