Practices and with their rash and foolish Designs In a word they study a perfect Opposition to their Parents in all things they pull down whatever they built they root up whatever they planted they hate what they loved and love whatever they hated So unlike do they render themselves to their Parents in all their Manners and Customs that all who see them must needs call them a degenerate Seed Cursed Children unnatural Plants ready to be hewn down and cast into the Fire From what hath been said Children may see what their Duty is which they owe to their Parents which that they may perform there are several things which serve as powerful Motives and Arguments to excite them Motives to excite Children to do these things 1 Motive from the divine Commandment First It will tend mightily to move them to Honour their Father and Mother if they consider who requires this at their hands This Law proceedeth not from Men but from God It is a Law made by him who is their Maker and therefore by right of Creation may require their Obedience It is a Law made by their faithful preserver and rich provider and therefore by Virtue of his daily care over them and kindness to them may command them what he thinks good This is the will of their Father in Heaven of their Lord and King of him who will call them to an account and render to them according to their Works of him who is their greatest and best Friend if they do his Will and keep his Commandments but will be their most dreadful and terrible Enemy if they do not obey his Voice If therefore Children have any sense of God on their Souls If they consider his infinite greatness Power Wisdom Justice Truth Faithfulness Mercy and Kindness they cannot but endeavour to perform what he requires when once they know what is his holy will and pleasure Now as to what I speak of to wit the Duty of Children to Parents it is plain and clear not only from those Laws which are contained in Holy Scripture which were revealed from Heaven to Holy Men whom God made use of to be the publishers thereof to the World but likewise from the Laws of Nature those clear impressions which God hath made on the Minds of Men in all places and in all Ages whereby they are taught that Children ought to honour and obey their Parents to love them and to relieve them and provide for them if they stand in need of their help * See Simplicius upon Epictet Cap. 37. and Arrianus l. 2. c. 10. These have always been the calm and sober thoughts of all Men and when any were so wicked as to violate this sacred Law they were hated and abhorred by all others and in all well govern'd States were punished according to the demerits of their Crime and the degree of their disobedience and perverseness either immediately by the Parents or by publick Judges upon complaint made by Parents The Sense of all this ought to move Children to honour their Father and Mother that they may approve themselves to God who requires them to do so and that upon the severest Penalties if they shall dare to dishonour them and disobey them 2. Motive from the Divine Promise Secondly To encourage Children to perform their Duty to their Parents God hath been pleased to add a gracious promise That thy days may be long †Or that they i. e. Thy Parents may prolong thy days to wit by their Prayers and Blessing upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee He might only have commanded them to do this by Virtue of his absolute Power and Soveraign Authority which he has over all Men without proposing any Reward but such is his infinite Bounty and Goodness that he hath added a Promise to the Command thereby to make Childrens Duty the more easie As to the Promise it self it is not to be understood absolutely as if all good Children should live long promises of Temporal Blessings are made conditionally that is so far as God sees such things best and fittest for us So that as to this promise of long life God will bestow it if it be most for his own Glory and the good and Benefit of Children Oftentimes he does lengthen out the years of pious and dutiful Children whereas the years of wicked and undutiful Children are shortned by their prophane and wicked courses so that some of them are cut off immediately by the hand of God and others are put to death by the hand of Man As for those Children who live not to a great Age tho' they are very dutiful and obedient to their Parents God doth make up what is wanting in the number of their Years here with an everlasting Life and Glory in Heaven In which case there 's no cause to complain as if Cod did not fulfil his promise to them For as there is no reason for a Man to complain who is employed to work for so much a day if his Master see it fit to free him from his Work and pay him all his Wages before the third part of his time is out Even so if God think fit to set his Children at Liberty from the toil and labour of this life and to bestow upon them Glorious and Eternal Rewards while they are in the Morning or Noon as it were of their Age there is no ground of complaining upon his doing so but rather great matter of Praise and Thanksgiving unto him whose Mercy and Love is infinitely great But besides this Reward in the other World there are Temporal Blessings which God will bestow on those who keep this Commandment My Son saith Solomon Prov. 1.8,9 Hear the Instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother For they shall be an Ornament of Grace unto thy Head and Chains about thy Neck That is if thou art obedient to the Commands of thy Parents this will make thee very amiable not only in the sight of God but even of Men who cannot but love and esteem such Children who carry themselves as they ought to do towards their Parents But further to encourage Children to honour their Parents there is a promise of Prosperity added to that of long life Deut. 5.16 That thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee c. The same Promise is repeated Eph. 6.3 with this difference only that it is prefixed to the promise of long life that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the Earth When God does prolong the Years of his Children he often affords them more or less of Temporal Prosperity also as he sees it will turn to their good that so their long life may be the more sweet and comfortable to them How acceptable and pleasing to God was the Obedience of the Rechabites unto their Father tho' his Commands seemed very hard and severe to wit That they
shuttle Job 7.6,7 All which Comparisons serve to express how short and swift our time is how suddenly it flies away and is gone Man that is born of a Woman saith Job Chap. 14.1 is of few days And Jacob when he was a great deal older than Men live to be now even 130 years old told Pharaoh saying Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been What are 40 or 60 or 80 years when a Man lives so long and looks back upon them all They appear to him but like a Shadow or as a Dream or like a Tale that is told Ought not this to move you to be good Husbands of your short time If it were in your own power to dispose of it according to your own humour and fancy you might then be pardoned to delay your great Work and Business till you thought good But now that it is not in your power to lengthen out your time one Minute what a madness is it for you to put off and neglect your greatest and chiefest Concern Therefore be so wise as to make good use of your present opportunities and occasions of doing good that you may work out your Salvation with fear and trembling and may make your calling and your Election sure Work while the day lasts for the night cometh wherein you cannot work If a Man who is guilty of Treason or Rebellion against his Prince or of any other great Crime which deserves death were allowed a few days to sue out his Pardon that he might secure his Life and Estate would he not improve with great care and diligence that little time To be sure he would not lose one moment of it And tho' perhaps at other times he was wont to give up himself to his pleasures and pastimes and to mind little else but the gratifying his Lusts and Passions and his Vanity and Folly yet now that his Life and Fortune lie at the stake you should see such a man changed in a moment You should see him with great application of mind with the utmost diligence imploying his time running from place to place from one person to another according as his great and important business and concern required How readily would such a Person redeem his time not only from Idleness from Gaming from impertinent Visits and from dressing and adorning of his Body and the like but even from eating and drinking and from his rest and repose in the night The desire of preserving his life would so fill his thoughts as to make him forget almost every thing else What would you think or say if you should see a man in such circumstances wholly unconcerned and careless spending his time in Gaming or Idleness in making impertinent Visits in rioting and drinking and the like and doing nothing at all to obtain his pardon and to secure his life and fortune Doubtless you would look upon such a man as void of common understanding fit only for Bedlam or not worthy to live who knew no better to make use of his short time to preserve his life which Nature teacheth all Men to do by all honest and lawful means It is easie for you to make application of all this to your selves You are by your Sins Enemies to God Rebels against your Lord and King whereby you are in danger of everlasting death and destruction But God in his infinite mercy gives you time to sue out your Pardon which he offers you upon the most just and reasonable conditions only believe and repent and you shall be saved he will have mercy upon you and blot out your iniquities Be therefore so wise as to husband well this short time which God bestows on you for this purpose Redeem it as much as you can from all vain and unnecessary things that you may obtain forgiveness of Sins and the assistance of the Holy Spirit to enable you afterwards to walk in newness of life But if instead of minding this great and important concern of your Souls you give up your selves to sin and folly and indulge your selves in your mad and wicked practices and thereby provoke God yet more and more against you how just will your Judgment and Condemnation be if you will not be saved if you will not turn to the Lord that you may live if you will not believe repent and amend what remains you shall certainly dye and be miserable for ever They that will not be happy shall not be happy The wrath of God shall abide upon them 2. Motive from the uncertainty of your Time Secondly Consider that as your time is very short so it is most uncertain What do you know whether your Sun shall decline leisurely or whether it may not go down suddenly when you think it is not yet come to the Noon-tide of the Day You are not sure to live till you come to a good old Age. How many sicknesses and distempers and how many sudden accidents are there in the way which may shorten your day and cause your Sun to set when you think it shines with its greatest force and lustre Sometimes a Candle is blown out by the Wind or snufft out undesignedly when it is not yet half burnt And so the life of Man is often extinguished by outward accidents when by the course of Nature it might have been prolonged much further How many come forth into the World and give great appearances of making a very considerable figure in it by their Wisdom and Sagacity their good Conduct and Address their Excellent Parts and useful Learning their Courage and Valour their Charming Eloquence and clear and distinct Reasoning or by their shining Piety and burning Zeal But do not you see how suddenly they are gone they are hurried away by death and you neither see them nor hear of them any more There is nothing certain as to your time but its shortness and uncertainty Nothing can secure you against an unexpected blow by death when God sees fit to give charge to the King of Terrors to knock you down Youth and strength cannot do it for how many die when their Breasts are full of milk and their bones are moistened with marrow Too great abundance of Blood and Spirits doth sometimes oppress and stifle the life of Man Wealth and Riches cannot secure you How many great and wealthy men have been suddenly carried away as with a Flood when their Coffers were full of Silver and Gold when they had all that heart could wish Even their Wealth proved the bait which allured idle covetous and desperate Persons to break into their Houses and rob them not only of their Treasure but of their Lives Greatness of Power and earthly Honour and Dignity are not able to do it Crowns and Scepters Castles and Palaces a wise Council and great Armies are not able to protect Princes from the violent and desperate attempts of Men who are prodigal of their lives How many of those who have been most