and peculiar Reasons for House-Prayer you pray in secret not only because of the Command but because of those special and peculiar reasons which attend that duty Family-prayer hath the same inducements there are such and such cases circumstances considerations which this duty doth best hit and meet with and is best suited to O therefore make conscience of it There are Family-sins to be bewailed Family-miscarriages to be reformed Family-mercies to be acknowledged Family-wants to be supplied Family-undertakings to be blessed Family-afflictions to be sanctified Family-dangers to be prevented Now are there so many cases proper to a Family as a Family and shall there not be Family-prayer to reach to all these O that Masters of Families would consider what I say 4. Mercy and Justice Pity and Fidelity call upon you to call upon God in and with your Families Have you precious souls committed to you will you let them perish where 's your mercy and pity shall so many Children so many Servants be lost for ever for want of Prayer be not so cruel for the Lords sake You feed their bodies it would be cruelty to let them starve for want of food but is not this worser cruelty to starve their souls never to pray with them never to help them onwards in Heaven's way O though you have not the Grace of a Christian yet if you have but the bowels of a man methinks you should pray in your Families to prevent the ruine of those precious souls that are under your roof Besides this consideration which is proper to Mercy Justice requires this of you Family-prayer is a debt which you owe to them who are under you they owe subjection obedience and service to you you owe prayer to them The Apostle having spoke to Masters to give unto their Servants that which is just and equal presently subjoins Continue in prayer as if this was one thing that Masters in justice are to give to their Servants Col. 4.1 2. O 't is a real wrong to your Servants when you do not pray with them you are not only unmerciful but unjust in so doing not only false to God but injurious to them you may better withhold their wages from them than the duties of Religion 5. If this be nothing to you let me add further Self-love requires this of you I mean by this not so much Self-love with respect to your selves at the great day of Account though that be the main but I mean Self-love with respect to your present concerns you would have your Families blessed your Houses secured Self-love puts you upon this and can you hope for this if you neglect Family-prayer Ah you and yours lie open to judgments so long as this is neglected Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy wrath upon the Heathen and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name This imprecation is a kind of commination God will pour out his wrath upon Prayerless-families Till Prayer be set up in your Houses judgment hangs over your heads the curse of God is over you and all that belongs to you you live in the midst of dangers every moment you lie down every night liable to some sudden and sore evils O 't is not only thus with you that you are out of God's care and tuition but so long as Prayer is neglected you are under his fierce displeasure which is continually ready to break out against you O where 's your Self-love If there was nothing more than that one would think that should put you upon Family-Prayer Do you love your Selves your Houses your Estates your Relations and yet will you not fall upon the means which are proper to bring down the blessing of God upon them No Prayer no Protection from evil no communication of Good in a Covenant way The unpraying Family is the unblessed Family And are these things so what reason have I then to bewail the too general omission of this duty I speak of what is in this City Is Family-Prayer duely performed in every House in this City If one should go from House to House and ask at every House Is God here called upon Doth the Master of this House pray with his Family Oh I fear it would be answered by too many No God is not here sought unto Here we live here we feed here we trade here we rush into the world as soon as we are up and here we go to bed as soon as our business is over but here 's no Prayer O Lord how sad is this that in a City where the Gospel hath been so long so powerfully preached that in a City which hath passed under such variety of remarkable judgments there should be so many Prayerless Houses O 't is a rocky heart from which this consideration doth not fetch some sighs and tears I beseech you who have any conviction or tenderness upon your Consciences let it be otherwise with you Let the Arguments that have been used prevail with you forthwith to set up Prayer in your Houses if hitherto it hath been omitted How would it rejoice my soul might I but hear upon the reading of this That some Citizen was wrought upon to call his Family together and to say The Lord forgive me hitherto I have liv'd in the omission of Prayer with you but now the Grace of God enabling me I am resolv'd to fall upon it morning and evening we will call upon God together we will not only eat and drink together and work together but we will also pray together The good Lord work this resolution in many of you O if it be not within your doors Lord have mercy upon us there will be too much cause to write upon your doors The Lord have mercy upon you Can you read such motives as have been set down and yet not pray Have you liv'd to see and feel such terrible judgments by Plague and Fire and yet not pray Are you upon such uncertainties for the future and yet not pray I trust in the Lord some will be wrought upon 'T is your own advantage that I aime at 't is only your own souls good and your Families good that I design if you will yet go on in an ungodly course what 's that to me I have done my duty Do I come with things disputable to you do I speak as one that pursues the interest of a Party Surely no that which I urge upon you is as cleer as the light of the day and that which all parties agree in and therefore let not any reasonings or prejudices keep you off from the practise of a duty so clear so universally granted Especially you that are Professors do you pray in your Families what a Professor and not pray in thy House what a shame is this what a contradiction to thy profession what a demonstration of the unsoundness of thy Profession what mischief dost thou do to others by this how many loose and carnal persons are hardned upon thy omission what
of youth in this City O the cursing swearing taking God's name in vain that is to be heard from Children in this City How doth it sometimes affect me as I go along to hear young ones with Oaths and Curses in their mouths how soon are they pregnant in sin and ripe for Hell they can no sooner speak almost but they are venting wickedness and when they arrive at some further growth how do they flock to Ale-houses and Taverns O the early drunkards that London is full of O the lying gaming drinking scoffing at what is good c. that our Youth is tainted with in this place O Citizens doth not this proclaim to the world that good Education is too much neglected by you Is not that the cause of all this Would Children Servants be so bad abroad if you did do your duty at home Indeed I must charge that abundance of sin that is amongst the Youth chiefly upon the want of Religious Education And O that many even of those who profess God and Godliness were not herein too remiss and careless They pray in their Families and keep up duties in their Families but as to constant and faithful endeavours for the well educating of those under them therein they come very short Surely Professors are not now as to strict holy pious Education what formerly Professors were one might with much more of comfort have placed a child with old Professors than he can with present Professors It being thus I cannot but speak something to excite you to a further care and faithfulness in the well-educating of those who are under your Authority be they Children or Apprentices The Commands of God are very express and positive Prov. 22.6 Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it The Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Root from which the Word in my Text rendred by Dedication is derived Children must be initiated or dedicated for the Septuagint translate it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how by good and religious education by training them up in the way of Duty So Eph. 6.4 And ye Fathers provoke not your Children but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Parents you see what God requires of you those that you have brought forth you must bring up in the nurture c. You must not only take care that your Children be able to * Non tantum curare debenâ— Parentes us liberi sui vivant sedetiam ut Deo bene vivant Ames Cas Cons l. 5. c 22. live as to the world but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may live well fearing God and doing his will The Scripture is very full both of Precepts and also of Presidents for this religious Education if it was necessary here to enlarge but I will pass them by here because they will better fall under the Particular Directions that I shall give presently Let me only use some powerful motives and inducements the better to excite you to the Duty First Motive 1 Your Children and others under you they are a trust which you must give an account for to the great God you stand intrusted with the Souls of these the care of their Souls lies upon you and therefore you must be accountable for them for where-ever there is a trust there will be an account taken Where you trust your Servants you will expect an account Hath God trusted you with precious souls so many Children so many Servants so many Trusts and will he not have an account whether you are faithful to your Trust 'T is a mistake to think that the Cura animarum doth only lie upon Ministers though indeed eminently it doth Ezek. 3.18 19. it lies also upon you who are Parents and Masters if you let the Souls of Children and Servants to perish for want of good Education their blood shall be required at your Hands Let me allude to that of the Prophet to Ahab 1 King 20.39 Behold a man turned aside and brought a man unto me and said Keep this man if by any means he be missing then shall thy life be for his life So here God says this to you Here 's a child keep this Child for me if he miscarry and be lost through thy neglect thy life shall go for his If men did but consider this certainly they would be more careful and conscientious in their Education You must answer for the Souls for the sins of those under your charge Do not think that I speak my own private thoughts only to affright you I say nothing but what others have said before me * Omnia quae deliquerint filii à Parentibus requirentur qui non erudierint filios suos Orig. in â—ob Origen tells us That all the faults of Children shall be required of their Parents who have not instructed them And we read in the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constit. Ap. Lib. 4. Cap. 10. in Zonaras pag. 909. Constitutions that go under the name of the Apostles If Children through the carelesness of Parents shall fall into sinful courses those Parents should be guilty of the souls of those Children and that not only the children shall be punished themselves but the Parents also for their sake That look as children sometimes in this life are punished for the Parents sake so Parents in the life to come shall be punished for the childrens sake O what an awakening consideration is this 'T is the affliction of many that they have no Children they have none of these arrows in their quiver Psal 127.4 5. 't will be the affliction of others at the great day that ever they had children O when they shall come to witness against them and say Lord here 's my Father that let me lie steal swear play away the Sabbath and he never regarded me my sin was the fruit of his bad Education will not this fall heavy upon the negligent Parent will not such a child be an arrow indeed to pierce him to his very heart Pray therefore think of this in time that you may prevent these tremendous consequences You take delight in your children but do you consider O I must answer for the soul of every child You imploy your Servants about your business but do you consider I must answer for the souls of these Servants If you did you would not carry it as you do Second Motive 2 Religious Education carries much of Good along with it you cannot imagin how much good you do when you do this First you do good to your selves for by this you discharge your duty and acquit your selves from the guilt of souls and however things go liberâ tis animam you have freed your selves in the sight of God What if after all your care pains prayers faithfulness your children should yet miscarry O this would be matter of comfort to you 't is not upon your default or neglect
better spared But while families are neglected alas how is the Preachers work obstructed When people come to the Church as if boys should come to the Vniversities who never were taught in the Country-Schools so much as well to read or write And when the Pastor hath the work of all the Parents and Masters in his Parish to do besides all that which is properly his own It is a self-condemnation and a shame to men to exclaim against those that silence Preachers or against those Pastors who neglect their flocks and at the same time wilfully to silence your selves from family-worship and catechizing and counselling your little charge and to neglect those few who are so near you and always almost in your sight O that men would look to the Eastern and Southern Nations of the Earth that once were famous Churches of Christ and now are turned Mahometan Infidels And to the poor Greeks and Papists the Abassines Armenians and Muscovites where ignorance hath set out Christianity as defiled and cloathed in rags And that they would soberly bethink them whether the gross neglect of Parents and Masters have not been a great cause of this calamity but if you joyn the wilful negligence of Pastors with that of Parents alas what ruins have they wrought even made many famous Churches of Christ more miserable than the flames have made your City Good families are the nurseries from whence most usually spring good Magistrates good Pastors a good Nobility Gentry and Commonalty And if any Nations have been undone by the contrary to any or all of these enquire whether ill or negligent education was not the cause If you say that many such unhappy plants come out of the most religious families I answer it is too true and they are most miserable persons But it is not according to the proportion of prophane and negligent families Though all good Parents are not blessed in their children they are much more commonly so blest than others And I must add with grief that even as many religious Parents do formally baptize their Children and think God must save them only for being theirs and do not consider how much is laid on their believing and serious dedicating them to God and thankful entering them by baptism into his Covenant even so too many of them do exercise so little of that holy prudence and unwearied diligence in the education of their children which their dark and sinful state requireth that they seem still to think that God should make them all wise and godly meerly because they are theirs and that a few formal prayers and words of a Catechism never understood with a few of Eli's gentle rebukes should serve the turn to make them Saints But grace doth not use to encourage laziness So some will tell you that this Fire hath shewed that religious houses speed no better than the rest O but truly religious persons speed better than the rest The Israelites burdens were a lighter suffering than the Egpytians plagues For at last they past safely through that Red Sea where Pharaoh and his Host were drowned To lose your goods and keep yea and increase your holiness and save your souls is much easier than to lose the Idols of your hearts by such flames as foreshew the endless flames and to be turned out of those houses which you loved better than Heaven as to signifie how you shall be turned out of all your wealth and delights and hopes for ever A Seneca or a Plutarch much more a David can tell you of the folly of judging mens happiness or misery by things temporal It is an excellent saying of Socrates which Valerius Maximus reciteth viz. Nil ultra petendum a Diis arbitrabatur quam ut Bona tribuerent Quia ii demum scirent quid unicuique esset utile Nos autem plerumque id votis expetere quod non impetrasse melius foret Etenim densissimis tenebris involuta mortalium mens in quam late patentes errores caecas precationes tuas spargis Divitias appetis quae multis exitio fuerunt honores concupiscis qui complures pessundederunt Regna tecum ipsa volvis quorum exitus saepenumero miserabiles cernuntur Splendidis conjugiis injicis manus ac haec ut aliquando illustrant ita saepe funditus domos evertunt Desine igitur stulte futuris malorum tuorum causis quasi faelicissimis rebus inhiare teque totum caelestium arbitrio permitte Quia qui tribuere bona ex facili solent etiam eligere aptissima possunt It is best to be nearest unto God and riches separate more hearts from him than poverty doth He that as Hierom saith preferreth holy clownishness before sinful eloquence will do as Gregory counselleth Pastors Not to be so much in the houses of great men as of good men It is not the consecrated place which will cause God to love an unhallowed soul As Origen saith Sin separateth you from Saints though you dwell among them for it is manners and not places which make men holy Now the Lord of mercy when he repaireth your ruined Habitations give you all hearts to understand his Judgments and cordially to Dedicate your selves and your houses to his disposal his government and his holy worship That they who shall behold the increased splendor of your City may be witnesses of your increased wisdom obedience righteousness and serious piety And that Holiness to the Lord may be your mark and name And that it may be said of London The Lord bless thee O habitation of Justice and mountain of Holiness Jer. 31.23 And upon all your Glory there may be a sure defence Isa 4.5 Amen April 22. 1668. RICHARD BAXTER Temporis praeteriti fructus est Compunctio futuri flos est Devotio Bernard ELENCHUS CAPITUM First Part. CHapter 1. The Introduction The words of the Text explained From page 1. to pag. 24. Chap. 2 Dedication Personal or Domestick The former opened from p. 24. to p. 59. Chap. 3 Personal Dedication applied The Rarity of it lamented Enquiries about it as to our selves from p. 59. to p. 74. Chap. 4 Personal Dedication pressed First more Generally and then Particularly in the six Branches of it from p. 75. to p. 167. Chap. 5 Directions shewing in what manner Personal Dedication must be managed from p. 167. to p. 188. Chap. 6 Helps to Personal Dedication from p. 188. to p. 197. Chap. 7 Some things in special urged upon Gods People in reference to their Dedication from p. 197. ad finem Second Part. CHap. 1. Of Domestick Dedication in General Some Things premised about it from p. 1. to 13. Chap. 2. The Nature of it opened in four Particulars from p. 13. to p. 22. Chap. 3. The want of it bewailed from p. 22. to p. 32. Chap. 4. Domestick Dedication pressed more Generally from p. 32. to p. 44. Chap. 5. The Three first Branches of it urged from p. 44. to p. 70. Chap. 6. The Third Branch amplified in four
Paul To me to live is Christ and to die is gain Phil. 1.21 * Hic nobis proponitur quis sit praestantissimus vitae scopus Scotan Omnes vitae meae actiones ac perpessiones ad Christi gloriam tendunt directae sunt Piscat Vitam meam Christo Evangelio consecravi Esthius The words are variously interpreted but the most of Interpreters put this sense upon them Paul liv'd Christ Christ was the matter and the end of his life and upon this death was gain to him If you would be holy in life happy in death aim at nothing in your general course short of Gods glory 2. Let this be your end in particular actions these are of several kinds some are Natural some Moral some Spiritual and the particular acts under these are innumerable well let all be referred to the glory of God whatever you do whether you eat or drink or trade or converse or pray or hear in every action intend and aim at this It cannot be imagined that a man in every individual act should formally and * Non oportet ut semper aliquis cogitet de ultimo fine quandecunque aliquid appetit vel operatur sed virtus primae intentionis quae est respectu ultimi finis manet in quolibet appetitu cujuscunque rei etiamsi de ultimo fine actu nen cogitetur sicut non oportet quòd qui vadit per viam in quolibet passu cogitet de fine Aquin. 1.2 Qu. 1. Art 6. explicitly intend Gods glory but this is the bent of the heart and a gracious person charges this upon himself as far as 't is possible explicitly to eye it and where he doth not come up to this yet his main tendency is that way As the Traveller doth not think of the place whither he is going every step of his way but there 's his aim and therefore he keeps on in his way and often he revives upon his thoughts whither he is going Thus 't is here in a believers eyeing of the glory of God Duobus modis referri aliquid ad Dei gloriam dicitur jam formalitèr explicitè c. Vossius Thes Theolog. de Virt. Gentil Th. 2 p. 559. as his end in all his actions Let this be done by you In every thing that God doth his glory is his end In Creation in Providential Acts in special Acts of Grace still his glory is his end I have created him for my glory Isa 43.7 I wrought for my names sake Ezek. 20.9 To the praise of the glory of his grace or glorious grace Eph. 1.6 Should not we imitate God in this in every thing we do to make his glory to be our end also Take heed of other ends especially in religious acts we are too apt to give way to bad ends in the best actions How often do we make God the object of worship when Self is the end of it What horrid hypocrisie is this how is God provoked by it Sincerity and hypocrisie are best discovered by a mans ends in what he doth An Hypocrite may do much but he can never sincerely aim at Gods honour And all that he doth is all spoiled because his end is naught As in the case of Jehu he did that which was according to the will of God Quicquid boni fit ab homine non propter hoc fit propter quod fieri debere vera sapientia praecipit etsi officio videatur bonum ipso non recto fine peccatum est Aug. contra Julian l. 4. c. 4. but self was his end he aimed at his own applause Come see my zeal for the Lord of Hosts 2 Kings 10.16 And therefore all that he did was evil in the sight of God he counted it but murder Hos 1.4 O how many mens preaching praying c. is turned into sin because self is that which they aim at in all 'T is the end that specifies the action and gives a goodness and rectitude to it according to the known maxim in Philosophy A good end will not make a bad action good but a bad end will make a good action bad 'T is one thing to do what is good and another thing to do it well 't is never well done but when grace is the principle the word the rule and the glory of God the end God stands much upon this he will be honoured as mens end He being the first cause he must be and will be the last end Rom. 11.36 O 't is one of the greatest pieces of idolatry to make self ones end And therefore be very careful here that in all you eye Gods glory as your last end do that which may be seen Matth. 5.16 but take heed of doing any thing to be seen Matth. 6.5 In the whole course of life in every action say with the holy Father Propter te Domine Propter te Domine I live 't is for thee this and that I do 't is for thee As far as I can possibly go in all things 't is thy glory that I aim at Thus let every one devote himself to Gods glory Nothing short of this will be Personal Dedication And so I have done with this Use CHAP. 5. Directions shewing in what manner Personal Dedication must be managed HAving thus fully urg'd the duty upon you Vse 4 both in the general and also in the several branches of it my next work is to give you some Directions about it and I will here 1. Shew you after what manner you are to dedicate your selves to God 2. What you are to do in order to the practice of it As to the first I will lay before you a few Directions 1. Let your Dedication be entire or dedicate your selves entirely to the Lord for 't is not sincere if it be not entire Many think they dedicate themselves to God when they do but deceive themselves because they do not do this entirely I shall only instance in two Heads unto which that which I am upon doth mainly refer and they are Donation and Subjection 1. There is Donation the giving of a mans self to God this is a main thing in Personal Dedication now see that you do this entirely that you give whole self to God without all base reserves God will have all or nothing Reservations in this case are very dangerous You know what befel Ananias and Sapphira upon their reserves in keeping back part of the price of the land Acts 5.3 4 5 c. when you pretend to give your selves to God take heed of keeping back any thing from him the life of your souls will be endanger'd by it The * Deut. 33.10 Levit. 4.11 12 Levit. 7.32 1 8 9. Differentiam Hostiarum Holocaustorum in Levitico pleniùs discimus Holocausta sunt quae super Altare integra concremantur Victimae Hostiae quarum pars offertur Altari pars sacer dotibus traditur Hieron in c. 56. Psaiae Vid. Gualtperium
'T is as great an affliction as can befall a godly man to see children such as have been religiously trained up by him to take sinful courses but if he can make comfortable reflections upon his practise that he hath not been accessary to this that it proceeds from the child's wickedness not from his omitting of good education this will much tend to his support and to the alleviation of his grief and burden Many a good Parent had sunk under this cross if he had not had this to bear him up You also by this may do much good to your children 'T is the most effectual and the most probable way to further their spiritual and eternal good Good Education is a great thing In his excellent Treatise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 5. Plutarch says 'T is the E 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is the first the middle the last in order to the setting of youth right you cannot expect either moral or spiritual goodness without this O the power and virtue of Religious Education when 't is sanctify'd The earth often proves according to the seed that is first cast into it The vessel retains the tincture of that with which 't is first seasoned Plutarch in loco prius eitat Lycurgus set it forth by an allusion of two doggs the one of which was bred up to the Trencher the other to Hunting which made a very great difference in them as he exemplify'd it before the Lacedemonians to show the power of Education Persons are very much when they are grown up according to the breeding that they had in their tender Age A child well educated makes a goodman and so è contrà What is imprinted upon one in his education usually 't is very permanent As in the place forecited Train up a child in the way he should go Prov. 22.6 and when he is old he will not depart from it What blessings might Parents prove to their children what excellent things might be effected by them if they did but take the advantage of their tender years and then set themselves to bring them into God Mr. Baxter's Saints Everlasting Rest Part 3. ch 14. Sect. 11. p. 350. I do verily believe saith a Reverend Author that if Parents did their duty as they ought the word publickly preached would not be the ordinary means of Regeneration in the Church but only without the Church among Infidels c. God would pour out his Grace so upon the children of his people and hear prayers for them and bless such endeavours for their holy Education that we should see the Promises made good to our seed and the unthankeful Anabaptists that will not confess that the children of Saints are any nearer God or more beholden to him than Pagans so much as for the favour to be visible Church-members should by sweet experience be convinced of their error and be taught better how to understand that our children are holy Nay thirdly by this you would do much good to publick Societies whether they be Religious or Civil Both Church and State are great gainers by good Education what excellent members would the Church have if you did but do what lies upon you in private As the Orchard is according to what the nursery is according to the usual similitude So Churches are according to what Families are Good Families make good Churches and good Education makes good Families How smoothly readily would Church-work go on if Masters of Families did but do their duty as the building goes on apace when the materials are prepared before hand Cities and Kingdoms too gain by this and it must needs be so for what are they but the whole made up of these parts The whole is such as the parts are of which it consists and so Kingdoms and Cities are what particular Houses are therefore Aristotle defines the former thus They are Societies made up of many Families and Houses put together Families are but like the book in loose sheets and Kingdoms like the book bound up the one but like Letters that are single and apart the other like Letters joyned together Now if the sheets be not good or the Letters not good the book or writing cannot be good neither The Lacedemonians made a Law Charron of VVisd lib. 3. c. 14. that when Children did amiss their Parents should be punished because they judg'd their neglect of Education was the cause of this which tended so much to the detriment and prejudice of the Common-wealth O if you neglect your duty you fill the Nation with corrupt and ulcerous and useless members whereas upon the doing of it you make your Houses good Seminaries both for Church and State Would you have a good Kingdom make those good who are under your charge Would you have a good City look to the educating of those who are related to you The way to have the City clean is for every man to sweep before his own door and so 't is in the matter I am upon Let us have the best Magistrates let them make the best Laws and back them with the best execution yet Societies will be naught so long as Parents and Masters do not do their duty in Religious Education Nay fourthly By this you do good to Posterity for hereby you keep up Religion in the World and propagate it from age to age The Papists speak much of their Oral Tradition by which they say Truth hath been conveyed downwards all along from the Apostles days the present generation handing it down to the next and so on from generation to generation Surely 't is the duty of Parents to perpetuate and convey Religion from age to age and how shall this be done but by Religious Education 'T is said of Abel Haec est vera Cabbala i. e. Traditio per manus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quando Patres filiis tradunt admonitiones c. sed hujusmodi quae aedificent c. Pet. Mart. in Gen 18.19 Being dead he yet speaketh Heb. 11.4 O if you would but rightly train up your Children being dead you would yet speaks you seasoned them and they season theirs and so Religion is transmitted and kept up in the World by your means although you your selves be dead and gone Is not this glorious service upon your not minding of Education you are the instruments of keeping up Sin Atheism Ignorance c. in the world but by your sincerity and faithfulness in this you are Instruments to continue and promote the fear of God Piety Holiness Faith from age to age Thirdly Consider Motive 3 the mischievous and sad effects that follow upon the neglect of Education They are so so many they cannot well be numbered up and so evil they cannot sufficiently be bewailed Good Lord how are Children and Servants spoiled and lost for want of this as ground proves mossy and full of weeds for want of culture and of being manur'd in time The Tree that