your Duties to be found But in Him you may Find it And Coming to Him He has Promised to Give it Do as well as you can then And though it be very Short and Faulty still Yet Cheer up and Go on Sowing in Hope Because you have One to undertake your Cause and to set you Right And it is not for the Worth of your Prayers But for the Merits of your Saviour that God Accepts you in the Beloved of his Soul 3. That you may have more Comfort in the Holy Offices Join to your Prayers your Thanks and Praises Be not all in Confessing Begging Complaining and Crying out But observe all the Matter that you have for Thanksgiving And be as Ready to Acknowledge your Receits as to Crave Supply of your Wants If you complain of Burdens and Sorrows Do not make your Lives more Sad and Heavy than you Need by Depriving your selves of those Joys and Refrestments which your Heavenly Father not only Allows but commands you to take Do not Sullenly Hang your Harps upon the Willows when he bids you Take them down and Recreate your weary Troubled Spirits with this Heavenly Musick For Religion is not a Sowre and Melancholly thing If you do not make it so But it is the way of Peace and the well spring of Everlasting Consolation You may Serve the Lord with Gladness yea and you ought to Rejoice in him evermore Even when you find Tribulation in the world And in every thing to give thanks 1 Thes 5.18 Even in Losses and Crosses which the World counts the Worst things For it is Good to be Afflicted And will not you then Thank him that does you Good Though the By-Standers may take it to be nothing but Evil. When the Gloomy Cloud drops Fatness and the seeming Sharpness is his Real Kindness Not to let you Perish indeed for want of that which he knows to be the Preservative to keep you from it And if this Grieves you and that goes Cross with you and the t'other makes against you Yet still you have a Hundred things which call for Thankfulness from you For all that ever has been Enjoyed by you and all that yet Remains to you When you are out of the Deserved Hell and Receive at the Lord's Hands Still a great deal more Good than Evil and even Nothing to the Wages of your Sins O then let not every Disaster and Ailment Damp your Thanks and Praise Nor be Querulous and in the Dumps out of Humour and all on the Fret when every thing is not to your Minds Or when any Affliction is laid upon your Loyns As some will Whine and Clamour yea Rant and Ruffle as if they would fall out and Fight with Heaven And so spoill and hinder their Praring as well as their Thanksgiving When any Calamity lights upon them or any Damage and Injury is done them Which is not only Perverse Unmannerly Carriage towards the great Lord of all Who has the whole Authority as he pleases to Order us And still deals much Better than we might expect by us And such as have the Least Cause do often shew the most Impatience and of all the Various things for which they have to give Thanks they can scarce find in their hearts to be Thankful for any One as if all were still Below their Worth and Nothing Good enough for them But this Ingrateful Grumbling Temper also Destroys all the sweet Peace and Comfort of their Lives that harbour it And makes them as Uneasy to themselves as they are Rude and Troublesome to others Even ever out of Tune and Unacquainted with that Joyful and Pleasant thing to be Thankful Psal 147 1. And herein are put quite to Confusion by many poor Afflicted Creatures that can yet be Decent and Cheerful Even when they have almost nothing to be seen but Hardships and Brushes in the World O you know not what Sweetness you Lose For want of this Exercise This Spiritual Recreation To be Thankful to the Lord and Bless his Name When it is so Pleasant Psal 135.3 He said it who knew it by a Joyful Experience For who more Abounded in God's Praises than Himself And more call'd upon others to come into the Confort As you may sâ—e throughout the Psalms And many a Psalm which he Begins with Complainâ—ing He Ends with Thanksgiving And when you have such frequent Occasions of Thankfulness in the Mercies that Come so Thick upon all every day That I dare not undertake to Enumerate all which even the Poorest Receives Yet can you find none but the Jarring Strings of Greivances to Grate upon Not so much as this Blessed Advantageâ— of the sweet and happy Opportunities with God that you may all have even when you will Shall it not be Own'd to his Praise and your Comfort O will you not only Rob the Lord of his Glory but your Souls also of the Pleasure to Recount his Mercies and Bless him for them To Chew upon the Delicious Morsels and make you Relish the Favours of Heaven And not only find the Refreshing Tast of Blessings Received But Prepare you still for all further Blessings Desired O Sprinâ—â—e more of this Spice all over your Oblations And be not Niggards here to your own Dear Souls But let them have a larger Share in these Festival Entertainments of all the Blessed Inhabitants of Heaven Here play the Epicures And let your Souls Delight themselves in Fatness Yea let them be Satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness when your Mouths praise the Lord with Joyful Lips Psal 63.5 I am the more upon this Because I fear there is more Discontent than Thankfulness in most Families Though all if they would see it have more Cause to give Thanks than to make Complaints And that I might also take off the Prejudice that lies in so many Minds against a Serious Religion for the Sadness which they take to be in it As if they must take leave of all Joy when they turn over to this Way Which indeed would bring them into the Possession of Better Joys than ever they Tasted in their Lives Do not think then That I call you to a Doleful Business in Calling you to your Prayers When to all well-disposed Souls they are so full of Sweetness even in themselves And I also tell you How to make them yet Sweeten By Expatiaring moe in those Rich and Fragrant Fields of Thanksgiving and all the Joyful â—raises of God where you may Solace your selves even as often and as much as you please I would not holp to Saddâ—n your Lives but to make them indeed Easyâ—â— and full of the Best Comforts By Advising you to Pour out your Heavy Hearts and Cast all your Burden upon the Lord And then to Raise those Hearts up in the Admiration of his Love and the Celebration of his Praise To make Melody in your Hearts And sometimes also with your Moâ—ths In Psalmâ— and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Singing as well as Spraking the Praise
less still in himself how much soever he bestows upon you O where can you ever be Better than with him Where so Well When to be in his Presence is to be where is Fulness of Joy But separated from him and out of this way of your Duty O what shall you find but Vanity and Vexation Fatigue and Disappointment Now and then it may be the Fair Face of Satisfaction but still at the botrom the bitter Root of Sorrow You may be cheated with Expectation of Joy in a hundred Adventures and Expedients while you are drawing one another from God But in drawing nigh to him you draw up to the Fountain-Head of Joy compleat and Pleasure everlasting As long as you live in the wilful Neglect of these Holy Duties you are quite out of your Places and may despair there ever to find Rest to your Souls For Conscience if alive at all will never let you be easy but Taunt and Harass you and give you many a Twitch and Pang to spoil the Sport of your sinful Pleasures and make your Hearts sad even in the midst of the Laughter So that I shall never grudge unto loose Families all the Joy of their wild Liberties nor count them in better case than those whose Confinement to the Pious Offices seems to Debar them of all the Sweets of a Merry Life For I know that the Liberty of the one is only a Latitude to Mischief and undo themselves And the Confinement of the other is only a Walling them up in a fair Walk of Decency and Duty so to Conduct them to the Blessed End in all Felicity and Glory O cursed Freedom to Rove up and down the Broad Way after such a Leader as has no Design in all the large Allowance by the way but to throw them upon an intolerable Damnation at the End And O happy Confinement under an Easy Yoke and Precious Burthen In waiting upon the Best of Masters that sets you not on work to serve any Ends upon you but only Imploys you that he may Glorify you and keeps you under his Discipline to Train you up for his Kingdom His Service gives you Hearts-Ease on the Way and Heaven at the End It creates a Blessed Peace within you and sets Eternal Glory before you So full of Heavenly Satisfaction and Pleasure is the Life that is led with God in this holy Way And the Religious House which looks in the Carnal Eye so Melancholy and even as a Gool The Praying Family upon which Profane Creatures look so Insulting and Scornfully Such is the Sweet Retreat the Happy Sanctuary where Princes and Nobles have out-run the Glories of a Throne and Stole away from the Pleasures of a Court to Hide and Solace themselves After they have come to Learn a Wisdom better than the World can Teach and to Taft that Pleasure Within dropt down from Above which makes them Pity the mean Souls that are Smelling and Hunting for Pleasure only along the Ground I know some Masters and Families are for Forcing a Pleasure quite another way than what I am describing And think to Ensâ—â—e it and to take their Fill of it in Drinking and Ranting Singing and Gaming Jesting and Fooling Feasting and Jolly doing They will have it Not only without God's Leave But as it were in Spight of his Word quite against all that he has said And then the Bible must lie Close in a Corner of the House Lest if Opened it fly in their Faces and Shame and Ruin the whole Scene of their Gayety And Prayers indeed have no Agreement with such Tempers No They Despise the poor Sneaks and Melancholly Fools that must needs be under God's Rules and taken up so much in his Presence They have no Joy but in Forgetting him and upon the Ramble from him And therefore they seem so Comfortable only because they are so Unconscionable To Rob God of his Rights and Regale themselves with their Stolen Meats Their Pleasantness is the rotten Fruit of their Forgetfulness And all their Gladness of Heart arises from the Hardness of their Hearts And O how Mad is that Mirth which is had with God's Wrath How can you Laugh when He Frowns And while the Meat is in your Mouths the Wrath of God is ready to Light on your Heads Unless you could Die as well as Live like Brutes The Dying and After-Reckoning that will still Damp and Mortify all the Rejoycing Small cause then to be so Jocund upon Earth when you are got in such a Case as to be even Ripe and Ready for Hell And all the Frolicking and Wantonness and Pleasure of this kind of Life seems but an ugly Preface to the Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth O Sirs This is not the Way 'T is all but Froth and nothing of Substance It will never do to give you Peace within any more than to bring you Peace at the last To make you Easy at the Bottom and heartily Joyful No you shall never know true Comfort in your Life Till you turn o're a new Leaf Till you Live to another End and walk more Humbly with your God Till you are upon better Terms with Him and keep a fairer Correspondence above and accustom yourselves to the Exercises that look Hopeful to fit you up for your highest Advancement When your Families look like so many little Colonies and Nurseries meet to be Transplanted into the Paradise of God Then you may Rejoyce indeed that your Names are Written in Heaven And when your Vallies are covered over with such blessed Fruits they may Shout for Joy and also Sing So sweet is it to Live with God in this way of Duty That will make you to look with Comfort even upon Death and Desire to be Disselved and to be with Christ And then you may â—fford to go Rejoycing all the Days of your Life and fear nothing to Destroy the Comforts that grow upon such a Root Thus much I have to say for the Family-Prayer And now let us hear what any has to say against it 'T is wonder if it be not contradicted Wonder if the great Ruler of the Darkness of this World has no Advocates in it to Plead his Cause which by this means seems in danger to be so much Damnified Some Objections I have Heard And some I do suspect that I not expect to Hear For there are Colourable Excuses for the neglect that use to be alledged And there are Real Causes of it that lie Concealed As not thought fit to be mentioned I shall take Notice of both And of the former sort are The want of a Command The want of Time The want of Ability The want of Company for it And the want of Success in it 1. Some except against this Family-Prayer for want of a Command They complain That it is the making of Duties without any Commands And cry out of the Imposing and Priest-Riding To bring a Free People under Slavery and Tye them up where God has
Treasure and grow never the Richer But so Pray to God That you may find Cause to Bless God for what you have got by the Trade And for that Way of Management I am to give some Advice before I have done But here let me Caution you from making Hasty Conclusions and Denying the Fruit of Prayer only from your present Sense of the Matter For you may have the Benefit which you do not Observe and the Prayers may do you Good many other Ways tho you Perceive not the Good to your Mind in some particular Manner proposed or expected by your selves The Phyâ—iâ—k that makes Sick is yet in order to Health And you must not Look for the Harvest assoon as the Seed is Sown God will Avenge his own Elect that cry day and night to him Tho he bear long with them Luke 18.7 Yea he will do it Speedily That is The very First Fit Opportunity Tho not so Soon as they might make Account And tho you do not now Feel the Benefit you must Wait till you do and Believe That you shall be the Better for Following the Course which He himself puts you upon who has Pleasure in the Prosperity of his Servants and does not bid the House of Jacob nor any House of Yours Seek his Face in vain But after all these Complaints of wanting a Command and Time and Ability and Company and Success There are other Wants that more need to be Complained of for Hindring these Prayers Tho they be Wants here less Observed Even The Want of Wisdom Humility Zeal a Heavenly Mind The Love of God and a Holy Life As I shall shew next in pointing out the Real Causes That Family-Prayer is so much Neglected And these Causes I take to be Ignorance Pride Sloth Worldliness Enmity to God and The Love of Sin 1. Ignorance is a Cause For the Prayerless Families do not Know or they will not See which is the worst Ignorance of all because a Wilful one the Needs of their Souls which should Hasten them to their Prayers Nor see the things of their Peace which should make them Glad to be so Employed Many pass for Knowing men yea Deep and Sharp Shrewd and Politick and they are really Wise in their Generation Who more Cunning to Serve their own Turns and to bring about their Worldly Ends But to do their Souls Good and to render themselves for ever Happy They have no Knowledge To Ingratiate themselves with the Best of all Friends and and to Compass the most Blessed of all Ends in the matters of God's Holy Religion and their own Eternal Salvation Here all their Skill sails them They act as Ideots and Novices and shew the extreme Folly in turning away from the Supreme Felicity And tho they cannot chuse but get some Knowledge of God in his Creatures yet they do not Know him in his Son nor as Revealed in his Word nor as shewing his Power and his Glory in the Sanctuary They do not Know how Great he is or else they would more Fear him Nor how Good he is to his Servants or else they would be more with him when they might Get so much by him And tho they make a Quarrel upon the Charge of Ignorance as did the Pharisâ—es with our Saviour Jâ—h 9.40 Are we Blind They take it heinously that such Pretenders to know more than all the rest should be brought in with their â—â—â—oramus But he told them next ver That as much as they did see only help'd to Aggravate their Guilt and so they but Knew how to Increase their Condemnation and were Witty but to get themselves the more Stripes How many are ready to Brag with Laâ—dâ—â—ea Rev. 3 17. That they are Rich and increas'd with Goods and have need of nothing When God knows They are Miserable and Wretched and Poor and Blind and Naked They do not Know what Case themselves are in They are meâ—e Strangers at Home and have no Good Acquaintance with their own Souls They would Face us down That their Heâ—â—ts are Right and very Good when God's Word pronounces them Deceitful and Desperately Wicked And they never shew us what they are Good for in Pouring out of the Abundance of them before the Lord. David begg'â— hard of God and made this his Argument to prevail and speed For I am Poor and Nâ—edy 〈◊〉 86.1 Tho he were a Wealthy Prince that wanted for nothing of the World yet he was so Wâ—se a Man as to know what Need he had of God And it is this Spiritual Poverty that furnisheth us with the best Sagacity The Sense of Indigence at Home that sets us upon Seeking Abroad Thus the Poor in Spirit tho they may seem to be such as have less Need than some of their Neighbours yet they Pray more and oftner And herein shew themselves the Wiser because they understand their own Occasions better But the Prayerless Families do not know what 's Good for themselves How to Traffick with that Kingdom where is all to be had nor how to get the richest Stock to raise a Fund and Estate Inexhaustible and to make their Fortune and themselves for ever If they well understood themselves indeed they would take their Time while a Price is put into their Hands and not turn their Backs so upon the Blessed Giver of all Good and lose All because they would not come to his Gates nor lye waiting every Day to Receive of his Infinite Fulness They 'd be as forward as any to call Fools where they saw Men thus slight and neglect all their fairest Advantages in this World And what are they better that will turn themselves out of all the Highest Good World without end because they would not set themselves to Ask till the Time when it was too late to be found And then they that thought with themselves We will not be such Fools to lie waiting thus and spend our Time and our Strength in our Prayers shall cry out of themselves We Fools would not take God's Way but made account to do better in our own We mistook our Business and our Interest both in preferring our Humour and our Pleasure before our Conscience and Obedience And now we perceive how the God of this World infatuated our Minds and blinded our Eyes how the Old Serpent was too old for us and his Subtilty out-witted us and made worse than Babies of us to fill our Hearts with deadly Prejudice against Christ's way of receiving the Kingdom of God as little Children And we have refused all the Offers of Eternal Glory We would not Keep in with Him in whose Hands was all our Life and Bliss But we Rawbled from him and took more care for an Inch of Time than for the Never-ending Eternity O whither are we going And what shall we do now for ever Had we Wist what would have been the Issue we would have taken another Course we would have Cleav'd to the Lord and Sâ—uck to our Prayers
instead of Adoring the World and Serving our Lusts But now the Time is past and we are lost and have lost All pâ—st Recovery and must bear the Eternal Brand and Smart of our Folly O it is the end that must make appear Who were Wise and Who the Fools And when Launching hence into the World to come Then that Wisdom of the World which is Foolishness with God will shew to be no better even in the Worldlings own sight Then the Prayerless-Families will open their Eyes and see their Error and find that they were quite out and did but Trifle and play the Fool when you threw by the Work of God to find you somewhat else to do and that it was your Ignorance which kept you from your Prayers 2. Another Cause of this Neglect is Pride For 't is the Proud Heart that makes Men so Stiâ—â— in the Knees The Wicked through the Pride of his Countenance will not Seek after God Psalm 10.4 He that is so Full of Himself sees no Need he has to lie Begging at the Throne of Grace When so highly conceited of his own Dignity he takes it for a reproachful Dimiâ—â—tion of himself for such a one as He to be commonly seen in lowly Prostrations to the Majesty of Heaven He counts himself too Good to be God's Humble Servant And Scorns it as Below him to own any in his House Above him fearing it would Lessen and Lose him with his Family if before them he should pay his Great Lord the daily Homage and Fealty That it would be too great a Degrading and Disparagement for him to Worship and bow down and Knâ—â—l with them before the Lord â—is Maker O wretched Worm I cannot forbear Thou pitiful Bit of stiff Dirt How dost thou forget thy self and utterly mistake the way to Honour When thou makest account to keep up thy Port and Grandeur among thy People with Huffing and Swaggering Looking Big and Talking Loud and carrying so High as if it were too great a Blemish to thy Quality to be every Day upon thy Knees in thy Family When alas in the Worship of God all are Equal and no Respect of Persons But as the Hills on the Earth disappear and bear no Proportion at all but the Whole shews to Heaven as a smooth perfect Globe So the Metaphorical Mountains are made Low and the Vallies Raised before the Lord. And all of what Degree soever are on a Level in his Presence Only that the most High has chiefest Respect unto the lowly And the Lower any Stoops in the Humbling himself the Higher does he Rise in the Blessed God's Acceptance 'T is then by Abasing thy self in the Dust of the Earth that thou wilt get nearest to him who Dwells in the Heavens Which is the Wonder the Riddle the Mystery of Humility but the Word of the Lord has establisht it for an undoubted Verity That he whoso Humbleth himself shall be Exalted But when thou art not more Pliable to Bend and too Stubborn to be brought thus Down take heed he do not bring thee down a worse way and yet more against thy Heart to make the Sturdy Enemy his Footstool and dash thee in pieces as a Potters Vessel There are a sort of Independents that Set up for themselves and Live to themselves and make themselves their only End Atheists indeed that Live without God in the World As if he had nothing to do with Them nor they with Him And their Cry to him is like that Jer. 2.31 We are â—ords We will tome no mere unto thee q. d. We Scorn to Wait upon thee Who is Lord over us What is this Lord of Heaven and Earth that we should Obey him The Application may seem too Keen to any among us But I shall leave all Prayerless Masters and Families to Examine themselves whether they be not Ashamed of the Humble Worship of God and for mâ—er Pride will not be Seen in it And at the same time to bethink themselves what a silly idle Attempt it is for any to make account of setting up their own Reputation upon the Râ—â—ns of his Glory And if any may think it pinches too much upon the Privilege of a Gentleman to throw himself down Promiscuously among his Iâ—feriors in the Worship of his Maker that it is for poor Snâ—aks and Abject Spirits so to Câ—eap and Grange and Lick the Dust and Beg and Supplicate not only for their Lives but even for their Daily-Bread If with the Arrogant Lucifer they would not suffer God to be the most High but would be like him and as High as He. If they would have their Dependance upon him and their Submission to him kept as a mighty Secâ—â—t not to be Divulg'd by such Humble Acknowledgment and Self-Abasements If they count this the way to keep up their Pre-eminence and to render themselves the mere Considerable I shall leave 〈◊〉 their Wisdom a little better to Advise upon this Point Whether it would not be more for these Credit and Honour to be less Houghty and Sâ—lly And whether Glittering Worms are ever the less Woâ—ms and Vile because they will so foâ—â—â—â— themselves as to Aspire after an Equality with the Highest And whether we must so Coâ—â—â— them our Betters as to forget that there is an infinitely better than they In siâ—â— whether themselves would not be much Better to be Humbler and by the Low Abasement of themselves in the Sight of God get them a worthier Esteem among all Men whose Judgment is worth the Regarding 3. Sloth is another Cause of this Neglect And O how many Families count the â—â—ily Worship of God too Troublesome to be endured among them Some for Laziness will not do the thing which yet they seem to Approve of and to wish it done if Wishing would do it but they will not be at the Trouble They have catch'd the Spiritual Cold which Benums them to all Holy things And here they are so Listless and Flaggy they will not lay out themselves nor Exercise their Parts to Conceive a Prayer no nor Charge their Memories to bear one Nor lower yet but so much as go over the Forms prepared by others for their Assistance But though they are Brisk and Nimble and Laborious in other Business yet are Heavy and Dead to this Work and cannot find their Hearts nor their Hands nor any Powers to fall about it or to go through with it They are Alive to the World and full of Mettle for their Bodily Concerns and their Fleshly Pleasures At any ones Call for their Temporal Gain and Advantage But when the Lord bids them Seek his Face they are dull of Hearing When his Service is to be Attended their Strength is departed No Delight nor Readiness to do the Will of God No Preparations to Meet him no Caring and Contriving no Labouring and Striving for the Blessed Fellowship with him but all for Slipping the Yoke and Hiding and Stealing from the Irksome Imployment So many