place in Heaven and the day is coming after which it shall be found no more upon Earth but be for ever confin'd and shut up in Hell Sin is evil in its Consequents and Effects Indeed who did ever gather Grapes of Thorns How can any good Fruit grow upon this Root of bitterness Let me briefly name some of those Mischiefs which Sin hath done and still goeth on to do in the World 1. Sin hath defac'd the Beauty of Man sullied and stain'd his Glory thrown him down from his Excellency turn'd the Nazarite into an Ethiopian so that he who at first was but a little lower than the Angels is now become like unto the Beasts that perish yea worse than they 2. Sin hath spoiled Man's Communion with God which was inconceivably more and better than the Delights of Eden or his Dominion over the Creatures As his Holiness did consist in his conformity to God so did his Happiness in Communion with him but as soon as he had committed Sin that stood as a middle Wall of Partition between them 3. Sin hath broken Man's Peace that Peace which once he had with God and sown Enmity So that God is angry with him and he a Traitor a Rebel against God That Peace which was once in himself The faculties of his Soul were once harmonious Reason sitting in the Throne Judgment ruling and governing the Will and Affections knowing keeping their place and following the Dictates of the Understanding but now there is discord and jarring the Understanding mistakes the Will and Affections mutiny so that frequently there are disorders and confusion in the Soul And oh how dismal are the Contests oftentimes between a Man and his Conscience he crosseth his Conscience and that will not bear it he wounds his Conscience and then that rageth and storms and laies about it as a fury and wheresoever he goes it follows him with its clamours so that he becomes a terrour to himself 4. Sin hath brought in all the Troubles of Life How many are they and how great Who can understand his Errours who can sum up his Sorrows Most come into the World crying and go complaining thorough it In sorrow do Women bring forth Children some are grieved because they have none and some more because those they have are so bad How are the endeavours of many vain and unsuccessful their hopes blasted and their expectations disappointed how are some wasted and consumed with sickness others ground and tortur'd with pain Now a Fire comes and devours your pleasant things burying your Habitations in their own Ashes and then a War which knows no compassion but turns fruitful Lands first into Fields of Blood and then into Wildernesses 5. Sin hath introduced Death and Arm'd against us that King of Terrours Had not Man made Sin his Work he had never receiv'd Death for his Wages had not Sin been Man had either continued in a perfect and Paradisical State upon Earth or else been translated into the Region of Light and Life and Love above but now if ever he would come thither he must walk thorough the dark Shades and be dissolv'd in order to his being glorified We now mourn over a dead Friend a dead Relation let us remember that Sin kill'd them Rom. 5.12 By one Man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned 6. Sin hath digg'd Hell This is that Tophet which is mentioned in Isa. 30.33 that is made deep and large the Pile whereof is Fire and much Wood the Breath of the Lord like a Stream of Brimstone doth kindle it The Hell in the Conscience which some Men do feel now and that Hell into which all wicked wretches shall be tumbled at the last are both of them the fruit of Sin Now my Friends will you be careful in this matter will you consider what Natures all brought into the World with them how Sin dwells in you and yours Oh! shew unto them the evil that is in it and the mischiefs that come by it for by doing so you take a course to damp the Tinder that it may not catch Fire when the Spark is struck and to arm them against Temptations when they come out in their greatest violence this will tend to the preserving them from the path of the Destroyer though it be such a beaten Road and so full of Travellers This was the Antidote that secur'd Ioseph from the Poison that was offer'd him in the Cup of Fornication He was shreudly assaulted and that more than once the on-set was renewed day by day and he was in his youthful Blood and on that account a great deal more in danger of being prevail'd upon and wrought to a compliance but it was labour in vain he looked upon the vile sinfulness of the thing and that was more powerful to affright him from it than the Charms of his Mistress were to allure him to it and therefore with a Pathos or Zeal of Soul he cryed out Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God He saw such a filthiness in that Sin as that he loathed to touch either it or her that had tempted him to it but fled from them both Fourthly Be much in acquainting them with our Lord Iesus Christ and the way of ruin'd Man's recovery by him and by him alone He being the only Mediator between God and Man and the only Redeemer of God's Elect. Let them know that by Nature and by reason of Sin their case is extreamly deplorable When once our first Parents had transgrest it was dark round about them nothing offer'd it self to their Eye that had a promising aspect God that had been before their chiefest comfort was then their greatest terrour his Voice that had been so sweet and pleasant to them was then in their Ears like Thunder As soon as Adam heard it he was afraid and hid himself but as deplorable as sinful lapsed Man's case is now blessed be free and rich Grace it is not desperate unless he himself by obstinate impenitency and unbelief do make it so There is hope in Israel concerning this thing because all-sufficient help is laid upon One that is mighty 1. Though God was greatly affronted by the work of his own hands whom he had so obliged and by that affront had been so highly provoked yet being a God of bowels whose compassions do not fail in wrath he remembred mercy and though he had no yearnings over the sinning Angels but immediately banished them from his presence threw down from their first estate and with indignation tumbled them into Hell where he hath clapt upon them everlasting Chains in which he reserves them to the Judgment of the great day yet he had it in his hearty to pity and shew kindness to fallen Man it was the fixed resolve and purpose of his Grace to mend the marr'd Girdle and to repair the broken Potsherds of the Earth and of
remove do it the sooner the better Let not meer secular advantages keep thee there It is better being out of the warm Sun than out of Gods blessing And you that are fixed as a Wife Child an Apprentice count the want of Family-duty as your Affliction and groan under it as such and in your private addresses beg down if possible Mercy and Grace upon them Pray heartily for them who will neither pray for you nor for themselves the godly Wife for the ungodly Husband the gracious Child for the profane Parent and the Religious Servant for the Wicked Master or Mistress yea wrestle mightily in Prayer for them and with Iacob weep as well as make supplication and be sure to live up to the Laws of the Relations you stand in filling up your days with the duties of your places that though they will not practise Godliness they may see the power of it in its influences upon you If the Wife be peaceable and quiet loyal and loving respecting and reverencing her Husband the Children very dutiful and obedient the servants submissive diligent and faithful every one walking in the fear of God giving no cause of quarrelling with you or blaspheming Religion for your sakes In a word let your whole conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ. You see I have spent a great deal of time and taken no small pains in studying preaching and writing out all this discourse Oh! that it may not be in vain but all the better that have heard or shall read it to that end the good Lord accompany it with his Spirit and blessing bring you to this work keep you at it and help you so to manage your selves and families that after a Life of Prayer on Earth you may be taken up to a Life of Praise in Heaven where all your Wants shall be supplied all your Prayers answered and all your hopes accomplished then you will see the Word was your best rule the Ministers of Christ your real Friends and Religion your grand Interest when fury shall be poured out upon them that know not God and Hell shall receive the Families that call not upon his Name where there shall be no end of their torment and pain nor of their roaring cursing and blaspheming of that holy and righteous but terrible God whom they would not be persuaded to love seek and serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A POSTCRIPT HAVING said so much as I have done in this Book to the graver sort of Persons your Parents and Governours dear young ones and that not only for their sakes but yours also I have judged it fit to accompany that advice and counsel to them with a few words to you because you likewise are very nearly and greatly concerned and all means possible are to be made use of for the preventing your present miscarriage and eternal ruine You are now in the Morning of your Age and prime of your strength you have set forth and entred upon that Journey which will certainly bring you to your last home where you must take up your everlasting abode from whence there can be no remove and that will be either Heaven or Hell the Glorious Mansions above or the Bottomless Pit below where it is absolutely necessary for you to take heed to your ways and ponder all your goings to set out right at first and then to go straight on without turning either to the right hand or to the left otherwise you will be lost for if the way be not good the end cannot be peace as for such as turn aside unto their croâ—ked Paths the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity Psal. 125.5 It is too evident that multitudes of young ones through corrupt inclination and bad conduct have gone out of the way of life betimes and could never find it afterward Having made an early choice of Sin they grew harden'd in it and there being a judicial Tradition of them to the power thereof they went on to commit it with greediness living and dying its Votaries and Vassals and is it not sad to consider may it not well be matter of bitter lamentation that such Excellent Noble Creatures should be spoiled such precious immortal Souls should be irrecoverably lost that such sweet and lovely Blossoms should be utterly blasted that they who once were the hope of their Parents and might have been the Ornaments and Blessings of their Country should prove burthens and curses to them both God forbid that any of you should be so too for we have too many such already Therefore I pray God that you may and desire that you would be serious betimes get alone sit down and consider what you are where you are whether you are going what is for your interest and what against it labour to know and knowing mind those things which belong unto your peace youth will not always last nor the pleasures of it which you do now count so very sweet and delicious and run such desperate ventures for the enjoyment of A Sickness may quickly be sent of God and cover your faces with a dismal paleness pick the Marrow out of your Bones suck all the Milk out of your Breasts and convert all your strength into weakness faintness and tremblings your smiles may be turned into frowns your mirth into mourning your laughter into heaviness and your songs into sighs groans and shrieks Your own Consciences may arm against you as your enemy and God may so appear as to be your terrour and you may be then made to possess the iniquities of your youth when all the honey is spent and nothing but the sting left the pleasure is over and only the guilt remains whereby you are bound over to the suffering of the judgment written If you be not wise in this condition you may live and die and then you will see cause to wish you had never been born O! be you I beseech you be ye your own friends provide for your own peace and welfare and instead of working out your Damnation with joy jollity and self-pleasing chuse to work out your Salvation with fear and trembling since all the pleasures of Sin are but for a season do you seek out for and make sure of those which are at Gods right hand for evermore and since this life will be but short when drawn out to its greatest length do you lay hold upon that which is quite out of the reach of death that life which came from God and will be perfected in him And know how great a number soever the Prodigals and Profligate Youths of the present Age do amount to yet if you will be serious and truly religious you will not be alone there have been many choice and excellent Persons that went before you the Names of some together with their Character you meet with in the Sacred Records an Isaac who loved Meditation a Iacob that was set for the blessing and by a Vow bound
intents and purposes their Families have precious Souls as well as comely Bodies craving Souls as well as hungry Bodies and they should so provide for their Souls as that it may not be their fault if it be not well with their Souls and that both in time and to Eternity in the 2 d of Peter 1 2 ver the Apostle Peter speaking of God saith His Divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto Life and Godliness O let us learn to admire and endear this God who is so gracious and liberal unto us now let us be followers of him as dear Children this is an excellent Copy for us to write after who are House holders let us provide for ours all that is necessary for this their Temporal Life yea and all that is necessary for Godliness But now can any one tell how they provide for the Souls of their Families which are under their Government and committed to their care who do not set up the Worship of God in their Families who do nothing towards their instruction and sanctification nothing towards the making of them understanding gracious and holy Are those Families well provided for in which there is no serving of God no religious exercises no Praying no Catechising nor reading of the Scriptures no Repeating of Sermons no Singing of Psalms no holy Discourses about God and Jesus Christ and the things of God no Holy Instructions nor good Councils nor provoking one another to love and good works we shall indeed sometimes hear people say of such or such a Man O he is a Man of a generous Spirit a brave House-keeper but ask them wherein how doth that appear the Answer is by his keeping a good Table a great Table he buyeth the best Meat the Market doth afford and a great deal of it so that the Servants have enough and to spare and you may see many poor lying at his door who are relieved there and this is indeed good and commendable and it is to be desired that all whose Estates will reach it were such they would be no losers by it it is one way to bring down a blessing upon their Callings and the works of their hands but give me leave to tell that Man if this be all if he stop here and his brave House-keeping amount to no more than this in a word if he doth not set up the Worship of God in his Family he is a pitiful a miserable House-keeper his House is the way to Hell though he keeps a Great Table yet he keeps a wicked House a godless graceless House he fills Bodies and starves Souls his Dogs have as much reason to commend him as his Wife and Children and Servants Well that is the first thing and oh that it may abide with you who are Governours of Families sit down and think seriously upon it that your Families are your charge you are charged with the Souls of your Families God hath put them into your hand and committed them to your care and therefore you are obliged to look after them and as God hath given them to you so it is your duty to train and bring them up for God But this will meet us again in the way of this Discourse and then I shall speak something more to it II. You are accountable for your Families as charged with them so responsible for them We read in the 25th of Matthew 14 c. of a Man Travelling into a far Country who called unto him his Servants and delivered unto them his goods to one five Talents to another two and to a third but one after a time he returned and reckoned with them God hath committed to every one of us some Talents to some more to some fewer and he will reckon with us all for them and enquire what we have done with them one hath a Talent of Parts another of Power another of Interest a fourth of Riches do not you let them lie dead upon your hands but be good Husbands Trade with them my Friends trade with them for God and know as God will reckon with you for your Talents so for Persons that are committed to your Charge and as God said to Cain Gen. 4.9 Where is Abel thy Brother so he will say to thee where is thy Wife where thy Son where thy Daughter where is thy Man Servant where thy Maid Masters of Families are accountable both for the Bodies and the Souls under their roofs First they are accountable for the bodies that are in their Families you know they are so not only to God but likewise to the Magistrate and to the Law So that if any of them doth miscarry and dies a violent death there is a very strict search made into it the Coroners Inquest sits upon the body all suspected Persons are called and examined and the great Question is How did this Person come by his death though it be the meanest Servant in the House the Scullion or Kitchin-Boy yet it is not past by nor is it fit it should No Murtherer ought to be Pardoned that is a standing Law which binds in all Ages and Places Gen. 9.6 who so sheddeth Mans blood by Man shall his blood be shed let the man destroyed have been never so poor and mean and despicable for his outward Condition and let the Murtherer be what he will tho' a person of never so great Quality as they Phrase it yet he must die for it God hath said by Man shall his blood be shed If the Master himself was the cause of his Servants death he shall answer for it and life shall go for life blood for blood if he Poisoned the meanest Servant he had or if he starved him it must be so and that Scripture tells you the reason of the thing lieth in this because Man was made in the Image of God and there was afterward another Law made Numb 35.31 Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a Murtherer which is guilty of death but he shall be surely put to death so that as the Iewish Doctors say though he could give all the Riches of the World and the Avenger of Blood were perswaded into a willingness to pass it by yet it could not be done Let Magistrates therefore consider what they do when they Pardon Murtherers whom God himself hath devoted to destruction But Secondly they are accountable for the Souls that are in their Families for God doth highly value the Souls which he hath Created and as carefully and curiously looks after Souls as his Law enjoyns and requires Men in place of Power and Authority to look after the Bodies of Men and to judge and avenge their blood when it hath been shed by wicked and cruel hands and when they do miscarry as too many do thousands myriads millions do he will make inquisition for their blood and see how it came to pass and if their Parents or Masters be guilty of it he will require it at
be the Desire of all Nations And then Thirdly let your Children be what they will as to the outward man fair or black compleat or defective beautiful or deformed what are they as to their Souls the very best part about them is stark naught indeed it is the very worst that which David called his Glory and should be theirs is their Shame alas there is cause enough why it should be so Be they as lovely as you think them they are not Paradises but Desarts and Wildernesses over-run with Briars Thorns and Weeds not Cedars but Brambles by nature they are Crab-stocks and is it not pity but they should be grafted upon with holy Instructions and religious Principles that so instead of wild grapes the grapes of Sodom and the clusters of Gomorrha they may become Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord that by them he might be glorified which will also turn to their own singular Advantage for having their Fruit unto Holiness the end will be everlasting Life for such Trees when their bearing-time is come to its appointed Period will be sound not Fewel for the Burning but Timber for the Building or if you please Death shall take them and Grace transplant them into the Paradise of God You that are Parents and have beautiful Children look upon them with a great deal of Pleasure you look and like you look and doat you see your selves in them and several curious strokes and pretty tricks and all these please you highly But I remember when Samuel was greatly taken with Eliah 2 Sam. 16.7 the Lord said unto him Look not on his countenance or on the heighth of his stature because I have refused him So say I do not look upon this or that natural or acquired Excellency in your Children so as to rest satisfied with that but see if you can discover any thing of Christ in them any thing of a new and divine Nature as for their natural state you will see in them more of the brute than of the man if you do but look upon them through a Scripture-glass that will help you to the best prospect To this purpose let us make use of that which we find in Iob 11.12 Vain man would be wise though man be born like the wild asses colt In which words there are three things worthy of our observing what Man is what he would be and what he was born First what man is vain proud man conceited man but still vain man In the Hebrew it is empty man Indeed sometimes he makes a great noise but there is little worth He hath nothing in him nothing of value much froth much wind but no substance he hath too much of that which he should not have Sin Satan Folly Madness Madness is in the heart of man whilst he lives but there is nothing of that which he should have nothing of that beautiful Image which was at first stamp'd upon him nothing of that primitive Glory with which he did at the first shine nothing of that real Excellency and Beauty which our gracious and blessed Redeemer came to advance him to he hath nothing of the saving Knowledge of God but his foolish Heart is darkned and he become vain in his Imaginations nothing of the divine Spirit but sensual not having the Spirit sunk into the Flesh immers'd drown'd in Flesh nothing of sanctifying Grace nothing is made new but all old and rotten wholly alienated from the Life of God dead in Trespasses and Sins there is in him no Love to God no Faith in Jesus Christ but altogether throughout filthy and abominable Again Secondly there we see what Man would be wise Vain Man would be wise but perhaps you will say this is well it is very good it is a sign he is not altogether empty Here is a Will that stands right Desires directed to a proper and deserving object But mark what is the meaning of the Words take it in these two things He would be wise i e he affects a shew and appearance of Wisdom and if he can attain that he concludes he hath enough He doth not care so much for being wise as for being counted wise he is wise in his own conceit and in his own eyes and he would be so in the opinion of all that know him It is evident he does not care for Wisdom it self because he doth neither pray nor take pains for it he doth not dig for it as for Silver nor doth he seek and search for it as for hid Treasures But whatever he now would be or be thought to be what was he at first what when he came into the World Zophar tells us Thirdly He is born as a wild asses colt What a strange Climax or Gradation is here He is born a Colt that is at best a Brute be it never so handsom or well made yet is no other than a Beast and hath not the Understanding of a Man but that is not all he is born an Asses colt a dull heavy and foolish Creature good fit for nothing nor is that all he is born a wild Asses colt the dullest and most untractable Creature so of all Fools Man is the worst and most sottish Thus the Scripture speaks Isai. 1. The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider And again Ier. 7. The Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed season and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the times of their coming but my people know not the Iudgment of the Lord. Now then I will leave it to you O Parents to Judge whether you have not need betimes to break these Colts if you would have them come to good have you not need to take a great deal of pains with these Asses and the taming of these wild Asses Is there not reason why you should do what you can to bring them to bear the yoke in their Youth and to draw in it I mean not only your yoke but Christs too which is easie and none of his Commandments grievous and so to turn these Beasts into Men yea into Saints certainly you should because they are yours and if you love them you will natural affection accompanied with religious Principles will put you upon all diligent use of means to so blessed a purpose viz. Bringing them out constantly to the publick Ordinances and at home taking care to pray for them and with them and to instruct command exhort and catechize them together with the setting before them holy and good examples II. Add this Consideration to the former How much you have contributed to their corruption and defilement they are indeed degenerate Plants but the Plants of a strange Vine and that is you Ier. 2.21 Now here I will consider you both as Parents and how much your Children are the worse for you and as Masters and so how much your Families do suffer by you First you are Parents God
strength in those Arguments which have been us'd and urg'd for the pressing it upon us so that I am convinced of the goodness of the thing and own it to be my Duty and would be glad to do it if I could but I am not in a capacity my ignorance is exceeding great and my parts full out as little I have no such Gifts as other Men have and so tremble to think of undertaking so great and weighty a thing as this should I make an attempt for certain I should most shamefully miscarry and render my self ridiculous it is to be fear'd that this is really the case of too too many in this City yea and possibly of some in this Congregation Answ. To such an one I will answer in these following Particulars I. Thou who makest this Objection art a very great Object of Pity and I do heartily pity thee What! O Man canst thou converse in the World and discourse with thine Acquaintance manage thine Affairs and carry on thy Trade and yet not Pray Canst thou deal with thy Customers and not with thy God Thou hast scarce thy Fellow in any sort of Wretches there is not a poor Creature in Town or Countrey that wanteth Bread and hath a craving Stomach but he can beg though he doth not know one Letter in the Book yet he can ask for an Alms nor is there a Malefactor in danger of his Life but will find something to say for himself though he cannot make out his Innocency nor clear himself of the Crime laid to his Charge though he hath nothing to say why the Sentence of Death should not be past upon him yet he can fall down upon his Knees and say Mercy my Lord Mercy and canst thou not do as much when thy Case is as bad and worse Thy Soul Man is ready to starve and so are the Souls of thy Family all in extream necessity and canst thou not beg Thou art worthy of death and so are they Sentence hath been already past and hast thou not any thing to say for the staying of the Execution Thou and thy Family have a great number of great wants and canst thou not ask a supply when it may be had for asking Thou art a poor sorry pitiful Creature indeed if there be one in the World It is a thousand pities thou shouldest have a Family a Wife and Children who canst neither provide necessaries for their Souls nor beg for them Thou hast indeed but little very little love and kindness for thy self and Family in thy heart and as little brains in thy head who canst not go to God and speak a few good words for them II. Since thou dost not to this day know how to Pray I advise thee to learn to do it and that speedily for it is high time when thou wast young and little thou didst not know great A. but now thou canst read distinctly roundly yea and write a legible hand how came that about thou didst learn it So when thou wast first bound an Apprentice to thy Master thou couldest do nothing at thy Trade no not a stroak thou wast a very Ignoramus thou couldest not tell the Price of those Commodities which thou wast to deal in much less judge of their goodness nay thou couldest not so much as tell their Names but now thou art expert and skilful and there are very few Persons that can out do thee in thy business and how came this about thou didst learn it In the present Case go thou and do the like thou sayst thou canst not Pray I say go thou and learn to Pray be thou who thou wilt for thy Worldly Quality I am sure thou art not too good for it and I hope thou art not too old beg therefore of God that he would teach thee the Disciples desired this very thing of Christ Luke 11.1 Lord teach us to Pray as Iohn also taught his Disciples and without more ado he did it go you and do likewise fall upon your knees and say Lord I am a poor ignorant Creature I do not know how to Pray O! do thou teach me And for your comfort and encouragement know First It is the work of the Spirit to assist poor Souls in Prayer it is one of the works of his Office Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what to Pray for as we ought that is as much as thou canst say of thy self neither know how to Pray to Pray as we should nor what to Pray for but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Secondly God hath graciously promised this Spirit to his Church and Children and that under the very notion of a Spirit of Prayer Zech. 12.10 I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem a Spirit of Grace and Supplication He will give much of it he will pour it out Thirdly God is most ready to make good his Promises this in particular He is both faithful and free Luke 11.13 If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Go therefore and beg of God that he would give this Spirit to thee III. Do thy endeavour making use of those means by which an ability to Pray I mean the gift of Prayer may be in some measure attained for we are not to please our selves with expecting much and doing nothing idle hopes are vain if you ask me what means you should make use of I briefly answer First Carefully observe others Godly Ministers and Christians when thou hearest them Pray mind how they pour out their requests unto God and get something out of their Prayers which is proper for thee as when Persons are in a Garden where they see variety of curious and pleasant Flowers they will pick one here and another there for themselves do the like with those apt and pertinent expressions which thou hearest from others make them thine own only in using them let tongue and heart go together Secondly Be very conversant in the holy Scriptures and there take notice of precepts and promises and turn them into Prayer begging that God would give what he commands and perform what he promiseth in particular acquaint thy self well with David's Psalms in which you will find abundance of excellent matter both for confession and petition for prayer and praise Thirdly Be much in studying your own and your Families State and consider how matters stand with you seriously think what sins there are and what afflictions what wants and what dangers and thereupon go to God and beg of him the pardon of those sins and power against them beg the sanctifying of those afflictions that they may be wholsom though bitter and out of the eater there may come Meat make a thankful acknowledgment of the Mercies you receive and give unto God the glory of them
an Heaven for the good no other than the Habitation of his own Holiness and Glory in which there are many Mansions and Crowns and Thrones with unconceivable Felicity in his presence a fulness of Joy and at his Right Hand Pleasures for evermore and besides that an Hell for the wicked a bottomless Pit where there is a gnawing Worm that shall never die and a Fire burning that is unquenchable in which they shall for ever fry scorch and burn without being ever consumed and consequently they shall have weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth Secondly Instruct them concerning the miserable lost and undone condition of all Man-kind by reason of the Fall of the first Man That when God had formed Man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life so that he became a living Soul he was pleased not only to make him upright and in his own Image induing him with all Natural Excellencies and Perfections befitting one who was to have Communion with his Creator and Dominion over this Inferiour World and to put him into a state of Happiness appointing Paradise for the place of his Residence or Royal Seat but also to enter into a Covenant of Friendship with him thereby binding Man to a continuance in a course of Personal and Perfect Obedience to his great Lord and thereupon by promise insuring to him an endless duration of his Life and Happiness but withal threatning that in case of failure and disobedience He should die the death viz. Temporal Spiritual and Eternal That this Covenant was not made with Adam alone but with all Mankind who were to descend from him and were considered as being then in his Loins and He as the great Parent and common Person representing them and so Adam breaking the Covenant by transgressing the Law of his Creation and in particular that positive Law which commanded him not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil All Mankind sinned in him and fell with him in that first Transgression and so all the World is be-become guilty before God and obnoxious to his Justice and Wrath all the World is become filthy and abominable Primitive Righteousness is lost and the Primitive Order broken and we are all unclean all of us by principle and disposition Children of disobedience and all by Nature Children of Wrath. And bring this home to them and let them know that it is as much their Case as the case of any persons in the World that they have the guilt of sin upon them the sentence of Death denounced against them a vile Heart and Nature within them the Seed and Principle of all sin which renders them prone to all manner of evils even the vilest and most monstruous This will tend to the hiding Pride from them and preventing those high towering Conceits which they are ready to hugg and swell with through their self-unacquaintedness this may awaken them to the greater vigilance and care and bring them to keep a stricter Eye upon their hearts and this may keep them from being much taken with and doting upon those trifling childish vanities and youthful follies which the Souls of others are so much addicted and devoted to while they hear there are things of infinitely greater importance and nearer concernment unto which they must attend Thirdly Make it much your business to convince them of the evil of Sin In order to their loathing it and themselves for it before God do you as much as you can set it before them in its ugliness and deformity look upon it in the Glass of God's Law and of Christ's Blood and then draw its picture and shew it to them History tells us this of the Lacedemonians that when they saw a filthy drunken Sott stagger and reeling in the Street vomiting like a Dog falling and tumbling in the Mire like a Swine they would run into their houses and fetch their young Children to the door that they might behold how much he was unman'd how like a Beast he made himself and by the way know it is far better to be a Beast than to be like a Beast that so they might betimes learn to abhor and detest that brutish practice Do you do the like I mean make unto them a true representation of the odiousness of Sin in general yea and of some Sins in particular specially those which are most rampant raging and abounding in the times in which they live and those Sins too with which they are most in danger of being infected paint them out in the blackest Colours that you can as black as Hell for indeed so they are You cannot disparage Sin beyond its demerit you cannot speak too bad of it you cannot make it look worse than it is As we cannot exceed nor rise too high in the commendation of God our greatest words are too little our highest thoughts are too low Angelical conceptions of God are infinitely short of his Perfection He is exalted above all blessing and praise So on the other side we cannot speak too much in the dispraise of Sin our greatest anger against Sin is not hot enough and our sharpest words against Sin are not keen enough There is not to be found so great an evil in all the World as Sin is Afflictions are not so bad as Sin Poverty Plague Fire Sword Famine all the desolations that be made in Towns Cities Countreys not matter of so great Lamentation as Sin They are Physick to cure this the Disease to destroy they are Fire to purifie this is Filth to pollute Death it self doth only kill the Body Sin ruins the Soul Death sends the Body to a Bed of Dust but Sin if unpardoned unmortified sends both Soul and Body into a Bed of Flames The Devil himself is not so bad as Sin For he was an excellent Creature a glorious Angel There never was any thing of goodness in Sin nor ever will He was the Workmanship of God himself but God had no hand in the making of Sin It was Sin that turned him into a Devil Hell is not so bad as Sin For though it be a place of gross utter Darkness yet there is seen the Purity and Holiness of God in his hatred of Sin the Justice and Righteousness of God in the condemning and punishing of Sin there he declares his Wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness but there is no good not the least good in Sin it is a meer Anomia disobedience to and transgression of such a Law as is holy just and good it is evil throughout only evil and that continually Sin is evil in its Nature being contrary to the pure holy infinitely perfect and glorious Nature of God There is nothing in all the World contrary to God but Sin and what Sin hath made so It s Nature is so bad that nothing can rectifie it nothing can mend it nothing make it good It is so bad that God would not allow it a
that be the Proposition and then I shall not want is a good conclusion by no means to be denied Psal 23.1 whereas setting Affections upon things below is the way to miss of those things which are above Dunghil-rakers do not find the Pearl of Price Saul indeed seeking the Asses lighted upon the Kingdom but I think the Bible affords not such another instance Paul tells us Destruction is the end of those whose God is their belly and who mind earthly things Minding earthly things as the chiefest good is the high way to Beggary and Ruin in the end They that will be rich fall into Temptation and not seldom under Heart-wounding Heart-breaking Disappointments Our dear Lord Jesus who is the faithful and true Witness and the wisest Counsellor hath given us excellent Advice commended by a sure and comfortable Promise Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you Mat. 6.33 All these things added Yes so far as your Heavenly Father sees them necessary for you nay more so far as he seeth them good for you no good thing shall he with hold and truly that is far enough farther than so they are not to be desired farther than so they are not worth the having Lastly In your Families and among them who are committed to your Charge direct your Speech very much to the great things of the other World and that recompence of Reward which is to come God took Abram after Lot was separated from him and said to him lift up now thine Eyes and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward for all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever Gen. 13.14 15. So do you take the Members of your Families and bid them lift up their Eyes and look off from this dirty World up to that glorious Canopy over their Heads the Firmament bespangled with Sun Moon and Stars that is but the Floor or Pavement of the Presence Chamber of the King of Glory the Bride-Chamber of the Lamb the Seat of the Blessed which he will give for an Everlasting Inheritance unto them who have chosen and love and obey him Be often and often discoursing to them of Heaven the Company there the Imployment there the Felicity and Satisfaction there the Vision and Fruition that the Saints shall have there of God and Christ whom they shall see not as in a Glass darkly but Face to Face the sweet Fellowship and Communion they shall there have with God in the greatest Intimacy without the least disturbance or interruption there being no sinful withdrawings from God on their part and no angry withdrawings from them on God's part and no Enemy to divert the Mind or break the Peace or abate the Delight but a fulness of Joy they shall have in the presence of their God and Saviour and at his Right Hand Pleasures for evermore Let them know what you can of the greatness of those Preparations which he hath made for them that love and fear him even such things as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath entred into the Heart of Man There is an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for them As there are all dimensions in the love which Christ bears to them heighth depth length and breadth so there are in that Happiness and Glory which he hath prepared for them Mind them of the nature of this their present Life that it is but transitory in a continual flux we die daily look how much we have liv'd so much we are already dead our Candle is burning down into the Socket and the Oil of our Lamp spends apace not a Day Hour nor Minute passeth over our Heads but it bringeth us nearer to our Grave which is the House of all the Living and unto it we are continually travelling It is a troublesome Life sin deserves it should be a lamentation thoroughout and God might make it so however they will find it checquer'd be their Morning never so fair and serene yet their Day will be overcast before Night comes and though at the first setting out they have a pleasant Gale yet they must expect to meet with many a furious Storm before they come into their Harbour Children come crying into the World Men and Women go sighing thorough it and groaning out of it Many are the afflictions of the very righteous though God will deliver them out of all It is an uncertain Life Who knows what is in the Womb of Providence or what may be the product of a day we are but short-sighted and cannot tell what stands at the Door ready to draw the Latch Samson found Honey in the Carcase of a Lion but many find Wormwood and Gall in the very Hive where they expected Honey and what they did hope would have been their greatest comfort doth prove their bitterest vexation their greatest torment and what wise Man would take up with such a Life since a better may be made sure of But again this is but a short Life a span long three or fourscore Years to come seem a great while but when past they are as a Tale that is told Few and evil said good Iacob have the days of the years of my Pilgrimage been and truly since sin and sorrow do make them evil it is a Mercy that God doth make them few But since our Lives are short we should not be covetous for a little will serve the turn a little will serve to carry us thorough our Journey See that there be but Oil in the Vessel against the Bridegroom's coming and then it is no great matter though there is but a little Meal in the Barrel let them have their Bellies filled with hid Treasures whose Portion is in this Life let them hunt after great things here who are to have their good things their all here But insisth much among them upon that Life which is to come that will know no end but hath an Eternal duration O Eternity Eternity maist thou strike us all with astonishment and fill our Souls with an aweful regard There will be another state into which we must every one pass at death that will be unalterable a state that is altogether a stranger to hope or to fear that will know nothing to abate its sorrows or to lessen its comforts that hath either Meridian brightness without any obscuring shade or scorching Flames without the least refreshing drop such a state as will be either inconceivably Happy or unspeakbly Miserable and that to all everlasting The Blessed shall from their heighth of Bliss look down without any danger of falling and the Damned shall in their Abyss of Misery and Woe look up without any possibility of rising So Abraham told the Rich Glutton in Hell Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence
intreaties and so give forth and accompany the light with a due measure of heat by that means endeavouring to work upon their Hearts as well as upon their Heads that you may bring them to the knowledge of the Truth yea and to a receiving it in the love thereof to an understanding of the way wherein they ought to go and likewise to a sincere desire and fixed resolution through Divine Assistance of walking therein Whatsoever there is of wholesom and gracious Counsel which you apply to them be sure to chafe it in with a warm Hand it is sad to think how coldly some Ministers preach so that their Auditors may sit and freeze under them and also how some speak of God and the things of God in their Houses as if they were not concerned in them or rather as if they were ashamed of them do you so discourse of these things as become those who believe your selves and are affected your selves and do-know the Terrours of the Lord and are indeed in good earnest do what you can to convince them of these two things First That you have an high esteem and valuation of Religion and all that appertains and belongs to it The Truths of God and the Ordinances of God and the Day of God and the Ways of God that you do not look upon these things as trivial matters of none or but little importance but of a more excellent nature and higher concernment than any thing else in the World Again manage these Exhortations with so much prudence love and fervour as that they may be convinced Secondly That you are really and heartily set for the doing of them good and that your great aim is as the approving of your selves to God in the consciencious and faithful discharge of your duty so the doing of them good and the promoting of the Spiritual and Eternal welfare of their Souls and herein imitate David's example in the counselling of his Son Solomon 1 Chron. 28.9 And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts if thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever So much may suffice to be by me spoken as to these parts of your duty Family-Prayer and Family-Instruction the good Lord grant that what hath been declared and proved to be your duty may be forthwith and always put in practice by every one whose duty it is I now proceed to the third part of that Counsel which I purposed and promised to give unto you who are the Parents and Governours of Families and Oh! let it be acceptable to you and prevalent with you It is this Look wisely and carefully to your own Carriages and Conversations and be sure that you order them aright be circumspect curious exact think not that you may do what you please but labour to do what you should what becomes both your place and your profession in Psal. 123.2 the Prophet speaks of the Eyes of Servants looking to the hands of their Masters and the Eyes of a Maiden looking unto the hand of her Mistress for direction and supply for help and assistance I may likewise say the Eyes both of Children and of Servants are and will be upon the Lives and Actions of their Father and Mother of their Master and Mistress and therefore your Eyes should be very much upon your selves and I count it your wisdom and duty to weigh the words you speak in their hearing and the actions you do in their sight as well as in the hearing and sight of any other graver and greater Persons Never think it enough to speak to them good things as long as you set before them bad examples for they will sooner do as you do than as you say Praecepta docent exempla trahunt Precepts do but teach Examples draw This was Christ's manner of teaching he said Learn of me for I am meek and lowly Learn this by my Doctrine yea and by my Disposition also in his Mind Life and Death he sets us an example that we should tread in his steps and since that was his way of teaching it should be ours That was a good saying Oh! that it were at this day true of all those upon whom the Name of God is called Non magna loquimur sed magna vivimus we do not only speak great things but we live great things we speak of Christ and we live Christ we speak of the Gospel and we live the Gospel we profess Godliness yea and we practice Godliness know for certain it is your practising that which is good that is the best and most probable way of commending it to others by this means they may be induced to believe that Religion is not meer notion but a reality that it is a thing practicable yea and that it is pleasant It is your drawing up in your own lives a beautiful lovely Picture of Religion that is the most likely way to make them full in love with it and make it your business to see to it that there be as few spots in it as possible for however some vain Persons do absurdly think spots in their Faces are their Ornaments and set them off yet sure all will believe and grant that spots in the Life are blemishes and a meer deformity Hence it is that Wives are commanded to carry as becomes them in their Conjugal Relation Being in subjection to their own Husbands and of a chast conversation coupled with fear that if any do not obey the word they may without the word be won by the conversations of their Wives 1 Pet. 3.1 2. And this Oh! this is that which I would gladly have among all upon whom the Name of Christ is called as for the wicked and profane of the Age if they hate to be reformed and are resolved upon their way they may go on He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still Rev. 22.11 Yes if he will let him and see what will come of it But I say as for Professors let them live up to the Principles of their Religion let them abstain from all appearance of evil let their Conversation be as it becomes the Gospel of Christ and in all things adorn the Doctrine of our God and Saviour let your Conversation be a God-honouring Conversation and a World-condemning Conversation and a Soul-winning Conversation Oh! the good that might by this be done how much might the Credit and Honour of Religion be retrieved which hath sunk and lost so much in this Degenerate Atheistical and Wicked Generation in which there is nothing more common though most unjust than for vile Wretches to take up all the dirt which they find in the Lives of some Professors and throw it in the Face of our