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-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
their hands and there are too many that will be one day found with their hands full of blood there are some Men among us that do corrupt and taint the Judgments of their Children and Servants and Poyson their Minds with their Cursed Doctrines and Damnable Heresies I ask no pardon for that expression as too harsh and severe for it is Scripture Language and by their sinful practices and vile debaucheries which are as bad as Rats-bane and they shall be sure to answer for it Others there are that do starve their Souls by not teaching them the way and fear of the Lord not instilling good Principles into them by not setting holy Examples before them which they should imitate not taking them by the hand and leading them in the ways of Righteousness the midst of those Paths of Judgments in which they ought to go by living themselves like so many Heathens and Brutes and teaching others to do the same bringing them up for Hell and fitting them for destruction as if they had taken up a resolution that they would not serve the Lord nor go to Heaven no nor any that belong to them if they can prevent it and these Men likewise shall answer it to God Such shall be dealt with in the same manner as God threatned he would do with the Prophet in case of his being false to his trust and unfaithful to those unto whom he was sent You may see it in Ezek. 3.17 18 Son of Man I have made thee a Watchman to the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me People are in eminent danger of being seduced by False Teachers of being prevailed against by Temptations of Satan and his instruments Ministers must watch over them they must go themselves to God for light teaching instruction and be faithful in teaching when taught and in giving out what they have received Now mark when I say unto the Wicked thou shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his evil way to save his life the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thy hands which saith Erasmus is fulmen non verbum not a word but a Thunder-bolt Duty is safe as long as that is done by Ministers they are out of danger out of harms way they shall be accepted and rewarded by God whatever the issue be as to the people among whom they labour Isa. 49.5 Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorius in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength but neglect and carelesness is damnable it brings upon Ministers the guilt of other mens blood and the loss of their own Lives and Souls and believe it so it will upon you who are Parents and Masters of Families Oh consider it my dear Friends Beloved and longed for seriously consider it you are as I formerly said and without doubt you your selves know Prophets in your own Houses there you are to Teach and Rule God hath made you Watchmen to your own Houses and it is your business to study their peace and safety and to seek their good it is your business to acquaint them with their Duty that they may do it and to warn them of their danger that they may avoid it you are to cause your light to shine before them that so in your light they may see light you are to instruct them that they may not be naught for lack of knowledge you are to shew them and go before them in the way that they should go that they may not wander and go directly to Hell because they had none to direct them in a word you are to make use of all means possible that both you and yours may prove and approve what is the good acceptable and perfect will of God and so be and at last found to be wise unto Salvation But if you if any of you have been and will continue to be slothful careless negligent and wanting to your duty herein your Children and Servants may die in their ignorance and iniquity but verily you shall not escape unpunished for their blood shall be required at your hands the holy and righteous God will require it who is the great avenger of blood And here are two things that I lay before you First Your wretched neglect of family-Family-Duties may bring upon you the Curse of your Children and Servants I have known some when they have for their flagitious Lives been Condemned to the Gallows and not far from Execution laid their ill life at the Parents door crying out of the fondness of their Mothers for winking at and concealing of their faults and of the neglect of their Fathers giving them no better Education and setting before them such wicked and abominable examples and what do you think they and others in the same case with them are and will be doing for ever in the other World in the anguish of their Souls and the midst of intolerable Torments when such poor Creatures come to be cast upon a bed of flames and in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone when they come to feel the sinking weight and scorching heat of the wrath and indignation of a provoked God they will certainly curse themselves for their former follies and wicked courses and they will curse their Old Companions whom now they take so much pleasure in and will wish they had never seen their faces yea and they will curse you too and we may rationally conclude their passionate breaking out into such expressions as these I might have done better had I been Educated and brought up better I might have done my duty to God had my Parents or my Master done their duty to me I might have been kept from the path of the Destroyer and cleansed my way and come to a Blessed Eternity had I been taught to take heed unto my self and to my way according to the word Had my Father and my Master instructed me I might have known as much and done as well as those that are now saved and in Heaven But instead of taking pains to make me good their great desire and design was to make me Rich and Great in the World and so they have made me miserable I have all my days taken wicked Courses because they never took any care to instill into me right and holy Principles Had I but seen or heard them reading the Holy Scriptures and other good books themselves or to their Families I might have taken them up and read them too and got the knowledge of God and my self and my duty but they were for Romances and Plays and Cards the Devils Books and so we spent and lost our time and our selves too Had I heard them Praying in their Families seeking the face and favour of God begging his Spirit and Grace I might have prayed too and sought God too and beg'd the
hereafter he will extort it from you in a way of Vindicative Justice if you will not apply your selves to praying and reading the holy Scriptures with the teaching and instructing of your Children and Servants in the things of God you may well tremble to think of fiery indignation and of the dismal effects of it weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth which will be the portion of your Cup to all Eternity unless you do seasonably repent and reform and make your peace with God for what reason have they to promise themselves a comfortable Reward who do now live in the neglect of their Duty But then on the other side Thirdly When your Hearts have been upright with God and sound in his Statutes and walked as David resolved to do within your Houses with a perfect Heart and behaved your selves wisely in a perfect way then you need not tremble at the nearest approaches of the King of Terrours It is indeed a solemn thing to die and as it is a taking the compositum in pieces as it is the parting of those two old Friends the Soul and Body which had lived together long in great intimacy and close union Nature startles at it and they seldom are divided without an agony and struggling But yet such a Person as I have now described need not fear but as he can look back with comfort so he may look forward with boldness as Paul did 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. I am now ready to be offer'd and the time of my departure is at hand Well Paul thou art now ready to be gone but what didst thou do while thou wast here I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith and what dost thou now please thy self with That hencefort there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which God the righteous Iudge will give unto me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his appearing and who are they that can love his appearing as a Iudge surely none but they that have been obedient to his commands and done his work as he was their Lord and Master when you have served your Generation according to his Will you may be as willing to fall asleep as a weary Man is at Night after a hard days labour when he hath finished his work in short when you have been faithful in your little much more when you have been always abounding in the work of the Lord you may be sure that your labour shall not be in vain but you shall receive your reward even that Gift of God which is Eternal Life To this purpose I would have you consider two things First The account our Lord and Saviour could give of himself and what thereupon he did expect and ask of his Father Both these we meet with in Iohn 17.4.5 The account which he could give of himself was this Father I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do He glorified his Father in and by finishing his work Now let it be your care and mine to tread in the steps of our Lord and to write after so excellent a Copy set us by so great a Person and so dear a Saviour though we cannot equal him that is a thing impossible for us poor weak sinful Creatures to do yet let us imitate him as much and as far as we can and the good Lord help us so to do and if we will up and be doing God will be with us Will you therefore endeavour it Oh do glorifie God upon earth you have too much dishonour'd him by your sins against him by your disobedience to him by your preferring worthless trifles broken cisterns lying vanities before him mend now and for the future make it your business to glorifie him you were made for that it was the end of your Creation you were sent hither into the World for that whatever other business your hand findeth here to do this is the main and principal this doth deserve and call for your best thoughts and utmost diligence and do you glorifie him by finishing the work which he hath given you to do There is none of you but God hath given work as he casts your Lines and carves your Portions so he hath cut out your work I beseech you study it labour to know what it is and knowing it mind it set about it speedily without delay and follow it close neglect no part of it but finish it as far as you are able you cannot do all because so much of your time is already lost and your strength is so much impair'd and corruptions do so greatly clog you and your spiritual and carnal Enemies will so resist and hinder you that you cannot do all you should and will need pardon for your miscarriages and failings in what you do yet do all that you can not only the work of your general Calling as you are Christians but also the work of every particular place station and relation in which the Divine Providence hath set you whether it be Civil or Ecclesiastick Publick or Domestick Art thou a Sheriff of Justice in the Countrey a Mayor Alderman a Common-Council-Man or Constable in the City Do thou the duty of thy Place Art thou a Minister of the Gospel Do thou thine Preach the Word be instant in Season and out of Season art thou a Child a Servant Be thou obedient industrious faithful art thou an Husband a Wife a Parent a Master or Mistress the Head and Governour of a Family Do thou thine Walk within thy House with a perfect Heart rule in the fear of God He that is not good in his Relation is not good at all he that is not a good Husband a good Master is not a good Man much of the power of godliness doth consist and discover it self in the performance of Relative Duties See then that much of your care be employed about this and see that your places be not empty of Duty nor your Families void of Religion Now observe what our Savior did hereupon expect and say Father glorifie thâ—u me with thy own self Here hath been my work where now is my glory So when you have finished the work which God gave you to do when you have walked with God and lived to God when you have improved your Interest your Power and your All for God then you may say Father do thou accept of me and receive me and glorifie thou me my work is done now let me have my rest always remembring that you are not to expect this upon the score of Merit but only as a Reward of Grace for our Lord hath taught us to call our selves unprofitable Servants when we have done all that is commanded us what are we then now we fall so short and perfect not one piece of work that is put into our hands Secondly Consider that good account which the Prophet gives of
hath crowned your Conjugal Relation with Posterity but what is your Posterity but the Seed of evil doers Children of those that have corrupted themselves those pure Souls which were created by God were polluted and spoiled as soon as they entered into those bodies that came of you you did convey a cross froward depraved nature to your Children who therefore are so bad because they are yours It is said Gen. 5.3 Adam begat a Son in his Image and after his likeness not in the Image and likeness of God as Adam himself had been made at first but in his own Image in his Image not only as he was Man but also as he was lapsed Man his Son was like himself in Body and in Soul and in Sin and thus have the Sons of Adam done ever since Iob saith Iob 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Man being unclean cannot make himself clean let them wash in tears let them wash with Snow water he cannot fetch out the dirt the spots and stains he cannot wash himself clean and being himself unclean he cannot produce and bring forth that which is clean That which is born of the flesh is flesh weak flesh sinful flesh that water which is soil'd and muddied at the Spring cannot be pure and clear in the Stream Aethiopissae Filius nigrum ab eâ Colorem trahit The Son of a Blackmoor will be a Blackmoor too You know there are hereditary Diseases as the Gout Stone Spleen Lethargie which commonly run in the blood and are transmitted by the Parents to their Children Sin is one of them it is the worst of them it sticks close and descends from Parents to Children and that from Generation to Generation without interruption without exception unless that of our dear Lord Jesus who was to be holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners that he might be a Sacrifice and a Saviour and in order thereunto came into the World in an extraordinary way of generation being formed in the Womb of a Virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost who over-shadowed her otherwise Sin doth inseparably follow Nature and never goeth out of the blood So that I may call Parents the Channels the Kennels the Common-Sewers in and through which all that abominable filth runs which defiles their otherwise lovely and desirable Children rendring them odious and abominable unto God And never carry your heads high because your Children are of a Noble or Gentile descent come of such a Family bear such account or because you can leave them a great Estate there is one thing alass that stains and spoils all that Glory viz. It is from you they have it that they are born Sinners And truly as there is a great deal of joy at the birth of an Infant because a Man-Child is Born into the World so there is reason why that joy should be upon this account somewhat allay'd and mingled with grief and sorrow that a Sinner is born into the World Secondly Let us consider you as the Heads Governours of Families are not your Families the worse for you you that are Husbands and Wives should be the better for one another and fill your Relations and carry in your places as those that are Co-heirs of the grace of life that you may have cause of blessing God you ever came together But reflect and curiously enquire are not you the worse for one another and are not your Children and Servants in some respects the worse for you both You that have no Religious Duties performed in your Houses are for certain very injurious to them by that your omission for you teach them Atheism neglect and contempt of God you teach them to live without God in the World like so many Brutes you do thereby teach them to neglect their precious and immortal Souls and to mind nothing but the concernments of a vile and perishing Body and the inferiour good things of a Transitory World But what do you think of your selves who are the best who walk most closely with God do you foot it so right that you do not sometimes tread awrie do you demean your selves with so much exactness that nothing amiss is to be discerned in you do you order your carriages and conversations with so much judgement and circumspection that they are without fault and blameless David saith Who can understand his errours and if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand and have you not read such passages as these in the Scriptures There is not a just Man upon Earth that liveth and sinneth not In many things we sin all If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us There are too many graceless Persons in the World but there is not one sinless Person there are many holy Persons who have been washed and justified and sanctified but not one that is cleansed from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and who hath attained to a perfection in his holiness and can you think that your blemishes and miscarriages are invisible do not those that live and converse with you observe you yes they do and see more spots in your faces than you do in your own though you look in the glass and they will be exceeding apt to tread in your steps and to imitate you especially in that which is evil for unto that their own corrupt Nature doth incline and like a strong Bias carry them that way yea and your example shall be made use of and pleaded as their sufficient Warrant If they should be reproved by some sober judicious Persons for doing that which they should not they will justifie themselves thus I saw my Father or my Mother do so my Master or my Mistress do so and therefore I may do it too Poor things they do sometimes think of their Parents and Masters above that which is meet and not considering their imperfections and that body of Sin and Death which they carry about with them they do not in their following them make use of that caution which they ought to do Be serious my dear Friends be serious and consider whether your Children and Servants be not the worse for your Pride discovered in your haughty looks and lofty words and stately gestures and costly garbs and dresses the worse for your Passion shewn in sharpened Eyes furious Countenances and words like Swords and Daggers the worse for your mispence of time in vain visits frothy discourses games and recreations and lazy lying in Bed upon the Lord's Day till much of the morning is lost and a considerable part of the Publick Worship be over before you come into the Congregation In short are they not the worse for this and that and the other yea for many things which your own Consciences if you please to consult them and give them free leave to speak can and will inform you of far better than I can being every day
and goodness of God that since poor Creatures are for ever ruin'd thorough your sinful neglect their Ghosts after their death do not continually haunt you and dogg you from place to place and from room to room and undraw your Curtains and with a ghastly Countenance and dreadful Looks stare you in the Face for their Blood lyeth on you yea it is you that have been their Murderers you have Murder'd their precious Souls you have poyson'd them by your bad and heathenish Examples by your living in a wretched ungrateful forgetfulness of God and in a sinful vile neglect of his Worship and Service not having his glory in your Eyes nor his fear before them You have been the death of them by with-holding from them that which was their due Family-instruction which you were obliged to have given them and other family-Family-duties which you were bound to have perform'd with them V. And lastly I judge it worth while as to the business in hand to enquire of you that are Parents Whether your Children have not been dedicated and given up to God in and by Baptism And of you that are Masters and Governours of Families whether you do not believe that the Fathers and Mothers of those who are your Apprentices and Servants have also dedicated and given them up unto God I know there is room and reason enough at this day for such a Question because the Administration of that Ordinance unto the Infants of Believers themselves is by so many denied and decried and therefore I ask again whether they have been brought under the Bond of the Covenant And whether they have had the Seal of the Covenant ministred to them Have they not been Baptized I do heartily wish that the Children of all professed Christians were and whatever dust hath been raised and is continued I doubt not but when that happy time shall come wherein the Iews shall be converted and brought to the owning and believing in our dear Lord Iesus that Controversie will be happily determin'd and Infant-baptism found to be not of Men but of God But I ask now whether yours have been Baptized If they have then First Know and consider that God hath a special right and propriety in them A more special Interest in your Children and Servants and a more peculiar right to them than he hath in and to others in the World He hath a right to others to all by vertue of Creation and Preservation as they are the work of his Hands from whom they receiv'd their Being at the first and by whom their Being is continued and their Souls held in Life but he hath another superadded right to these viz. by vertue of Donation the Parents Gift they have a natural right to dispose of their Children and these have disposed of theirs to God which was an act of the highest Wisdom and dearest Love all indeed are Gods Servants and let them carry toward him accordingly but Persons Baptized are his Sealed Servants Secondly Not to train such up for God is not only cruelty to them yea prodigious and barbarous cruelty but likewise it is apparent injustice to God yea it is Sacriledge the worst of Sacriledge It is accounted and is a wicked thing to rob Churches of their Vestments and Ornaments and Plate but what is that to a robbing God of Men and Women and Children and delivering them up to Vanity and Sin and the Devil certainly that propriety which God hath in them your Children and Servants is a great obligation upon you to bring them up for him and to instruct them in his work and service and to make them join with you therein that by being well acquainted with it and us'd to it they may be expert at it that they may carry as becomes them and act in a sweet suitableness to that Relation in which they stand to God and be in the better capacity of setting up his Worship afterward in their Families when they come to have Houses of their own that by this means Religion may be posteritiz'd and descend among you from Generation to Generation and when you are gone down to your Graves there may not want those who will stand up in their day to serve own and honour the God of their Fathers Thirdly Would it not be a trouble to you if those that are yours should prove wicked Without peradventure if you are Christians indeed as you profess your selves if you have any real goodness in you and not meerly a vain shew and empty name if you have any Sense if any Bowels if any softness and tenderness of Heart it cannot but be very affecting to you and exceeding grievous to you to think that any of yours should prove Sons and Daughters of Belial Persons that know not the Lord and that fear not the Lord sure I am the very fear of such a thing hath made some gracious Persons go bowed down and in the bitterness of their Spirits nay would it not grieve you that any of your Servants who are Gods should turn Rebels against him or that any of your Servants who are Gods more than yours should prove desperate Enemies to him and instead of delighting in his Service and laying out their All for his Glory and the Interest of his Name of whom you have had so long and ample Experience and unto whom they also are so much engaged should absurdly turn their Backs against him and do the sordid filthy works of sin and drudge for a Devil and after all their pains receive no other wages than death yea the second death which will be followed with a Burial in Hell out of which there is no Resurrection and there is one thing more which I commend to you as worthy of your solemn and frequently repeated thoughts viz. That it will greatly add to your guilt and by consequence no less add to your affliction and horrour if it be imprest and set home upon your Consciences that this miscarriage of theirs did come to pass through any gross and wilful neglect of yours and was the bitter effect of your failure in point of duty which you did owe both to God and to them Let me tell you how light soever any that hear me or read this Book may make of these things now in this damnably Atheistical and Profane Age yet you will find them like a Talent of Lead yea heavier than a Mountain when God is pleased to set them home Unto what hath been spoken with reference both to your Children and Servants there is something which I would add with respect to your Children in particular and that is this Fourthly You that are Parents consider I beseech you and lay to heart your own actual dedicating and giving your Children up to God Have you not done it I ask you again have you not done it And that in the most sacred and solemn way of a Gospel Ordinance while others did satisfie themselves with giving their Children a Name as if
that their Minority that Sign or Token of the Covenant is not set or given to them as apprehending them to be in the same condition with those who are Aliens to the Commonwealth of Israel and Strangers to the Covenants of Promise though the truth is the Children of Believers are the holy Seed born Members of that Commonwealth and within the Covenant of Promise But I dispute not the Point with them having in mine Age something else to do than to spend my few precious hours in Controversies but this I would say to all those that are of that Perswasion that it doth very greatly concern them to be very careful and constant in the performance of Family-duties and I should be very glad to hear that they are consciencious and as diligent therein as the matter doth require Oh! that they would take pains and spend a convenient portion of time in praying with their unbaptized Children and Servants and in Instructing and Catechizing of them and in using all the means which God hath appointed and that are within the compass of their power that so they might be brought to the knowledge of God and to a believing in owning of and submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ and to a laying hold upon the Covenant that so they may when grown up have a right to the benefits of it and partake of the Blessings of it and be fit to receive the Seal of it and my hearty Prayer to the Father of Mercies and God of all Grace on their behalf is that they may lay it to their Hearts as they ought and often think with themselves how much it stands them in hand and what an obligation resulting from their own Principles lyes upon them to be very holy in their Lives and very industrious in their Places for the good of their Families and in order to the working of Knowledge in their Heads and Grace in their Hearts and Holiness in their Lives that of those concerning whom they do now say They are none of God's people God may be graciously pleas'd to say They are my people and I am the Lord their God But Secondly There are others here with and for whom I am more concerned as being of that Flock of God over which the Holy Ghost hath made me an Overseer and these are for the Baptizing of Children in their Infancy and so for an early dedication and binding of them to God and his Service you are my Charge and I can say as to many of you you are my Joy and Crown and I hope will be so in the day of Christ and it is my hearty Desire and Prayer that you may adorn the Gospel and walk unto all well-pleasing and make it your endeavour to stand compleat in all the Will of God Now I would have you all to know and do intreat you to consider and remember that as a worthy Divine as yet I hope in the Land of the Living hath observed there is an equal Tye and full out as strong an Obligation to an holy care and diligence this way lying upon those Parents that are for the Baptizing of Children in their Infancy as there is upon those that are against it you ought not to be more slack and remiss in teaching and rightly principling your Baptized Children than they are in instructing their unbaptized Children you ought to be as diligent in bringing them up graciously whom you have bound to God as they are or can be in the Education of them whom they do thus far leave at liberty though indeed you do not drive on the same design with them nor level and aim at the same end they do for as he saith and it is true Antipaedo-baptists who are consciencious and do indeed love and fear the Lord ought and will endeavour to bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and earnestly to seek their conversion and turning from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God and their personal embracing and laying hold upon the Covenant that thereupon they may be brought into a Covenant-state that they may be admitted and taken into Covenant and that they may come under the Wing and Benefit and Blessing of it Whereas those holy Parents who have their Children Baptized in their Infancy have not that in their Eye as their end for they do not doubt of their Covenant-state for they do firmly hold their being Born in Covenant with God as they are the Children of Believers and they also know that that Covenant hath been sealed to them yet notwithstanding they do reckon themselves greatly concerned and no less obliged to endeavour the Instruction and Conversion and their own personal owning and embracing of the Covenant and Cordial Chearful coming up to the terms and requiries of it and that for these Considerations and Reasons which I shall name and lightly touch and so pass on First That they might understand their Duty what it is that the Lord their God requires of them and what their Parents did in their young and tender years bind them to the observance and performance of that through their own folly and default they may not be cast out and cut off as Ishmael was tho he had Abraham for his Father and had himself been Circumcised and so it was with Esau afterwards Now these Parents do not think it enough that the Covenant between God and their Children hath been struck and sealed but they would have it established everlasting and sure they would have their Children kept preserved in a Covenant-state live and die in it Secondly It is the earnest desire of such holy and gracious Parents not only that their children might be preserved in a Covenant-state but also that they might be happy sharers in the good of it and the Benefits and Blessings thereof may descend upon them for Persons may be in a Covenant-state and yet fall short of the best and richest Blessings of it such as are the fruits of special love and distinguishing As a Man may be in Christ the true Vine and yet not partake of his sap and fatness Iohn 15. So he may be in Covenant and yet not have Covenant-grace nor a Covenant-spirit a Man may be externally in a Covenant-state and yet in an unregerate and unjustified-state and therefore that which doth most strongly engage Parents to teach their Children and endeavour the bringing them up to the terms of the Covenant is that they might so honour obey and please God as withal to reap and enjoy all those great good things precious Mercies and singular Blessings which are contained in the Covenant and conveyed by it Thirdly A being faithful to the Covenant and a living up to its terms and performing its conditions is the Duty and Interest of all those who would be savingly the better for it unto that a continuance in the Covenant is of equal necessity with an entrance and admission into it How can any
of Families that both you your selves and all those that are yours may be perfect and compleat in all the Will of God that the Divine Will may be known by you and likewise conform'd and liv'd up to for He that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes when God takes his Rod in Hand Luke 12.47 Now Family-instruction is one part of the Will of God concerning you who are Parents and Masters yea and Mistresses too You are Priests in your own Houses and as such ought not to be without your Sacrifices Prayer is your Duty You are Prophets also there and though it would be folly in you to turn Enthusiasts and Predict Things to come yet you ought not to be without your Teachings and wholesom Counsels and in one respect you will not You that are Parents will as soon as may be teach your Children to speak and go and when through Age and Discretion they are capable you will bring them up to some Imployment and Trade or other that they may afterwards arrive at some considerable Quality and Estate in the World at least that they may be able to earn their Bread and get their Living without being chargeable to your selves or others and shall this be the utmost Extent of your Care Will you not teach them the fear of God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Will you not labour to bring them to a good understanding in the matters of Religion which are of highest importance and shew them the way they should take in order to their coming unto Glory at the last If you are guilty of neglect herein what satisfactory Reason can you give of being so Here I cannot forbear telling you that it hath often and often been to me great matter of grief to see Persons grown up to Man's and Woman's Estate yea to grey Hairs that could not read a Word nor tell a Letter whereupon I could not without just indignation reflect upon their unnatural Parents who were so brutishly wanting to that love kindness and pity which they ought to have had for them and now I make it my Request to you yea the poorest among you that you would take greater and better care of your Children see that they be taught to Read and then that they Read the Bible do this though you pinch for it in other things yea though you spare it out of your own and their Bellies and if you cannot possibly do it out of your sorry pittance beg the Charity of those you know who may help in that without prejudice to themselves a little matter will do and this will turn to a greater account than relieving common Vagrants And so for you that are Masters and Mistresses and have Apprentices bound to you I own it that they are bound to give you reverence and to serve you with all diligence and faithfulness and so let them in the fear of the Lord but withal do you know and consider that you are obliged to take care of them and teach them what Your Trades And the Mysteries of them Yes without peradventure your Indentures tell you so and if you do it not you deal falsly but you are also to instruct them in the greatest and best Trade that of Godliness that with Heaven in order to their being wise Merchants and getting the Pearl of Price That Family-instruction ought to be carefully attended to I shall briefly prove 1. By Scripture Precedents 2. By Scripture Precept First By Scripture Precedent or Example This hath been the practice of good Men recorded there of a great Character Eminent for their Faith and Holiness You have in these Discourses already heard of that great confidence which God had in Abraham who was called the Friend of God and Father of the Faithful God said He knew him that he would command or order his Children and his Houshold after him that they should keep the way of the Lord. And we must conclude Divine Wisdom which is Infinite is not cannot be liable to a mistake neither as to things nor Persons Now we read in Gen. 14. that when his Kinsman or Nephew Lot was taken Captive and carried away Abraham arm'd his trained Servants and pursued them unto Dan your Bibles in the Margin have it his instructed Servants some render it his Catechized Servants those say some Learned Expositors whom he had well taught and instructed not only in Domestick Business which concern'd the House nor only in Military Affairs which related to War but likewise and principally in Religion and the Law of God So again Solomon the wisest of meer Men at least in his time was called Iedediah the Beloved of the Lord and that he was so appear'd by God's appointing him to succeed in the Throne as King of Israel and chusing him to Build the Temple both which were demonstrations of that particular kindness God had for him And he was dearly beloved of his Father and Mother now the Love which they did bear him was evidenced by his gracious Education and in their Parental Care for the right bringing of him up Prov. 4.3 4. I was my Fathers Son tender and only beloved in the sight of my Mother he taught me also and said unto me let thy heart retain my Words keep my Commandments and live get wisdom get understanding c. One saith Doubtless his Father David being a King had Nathan the Prophet and the best and most accomplished Persons the Kingdom could afford for the bringing up of his Son for whom he design'd the Crown yet he did not leave it wholly to them but would himself have an hand in the work yea a main one Neither did his Mother think her self excused but as she had brought him forth so she would bring him up as you may see in Prov. 31.1 The words of King Lemuel the Prophecy which his Mother taught him But passing from that we will consider Secondly Scripture Precept And as I desire you to imitate and follow those good Examples so to remember and conform to holy commands given out from God by his Servants who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost I shall only mention that one which we have Eph. 6.4 Parents provoke not your Children unto wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is a Scripture that deserves to be written in Letters of Gold and to be deeply imprest upon the Minds and Hearts of Parents I cannot lightly pass over it two things are remarkable in it First A Prohibition Secondly An Injunction First Here is a Prohibition something forbidden and carefully to be avoided Parents provoke not your Children unto wrath It may be this will sound harsh in the Ears of some who have better thoughts of themselves than they do deserve or any body else have they may be apt to conclude that Paul did forget himself here and should rather have said Children provoke not your Parents unto
wrath To avoid that is their Duty and Interest but the Apostle knew what he did when he said Parents provoke not your Children unto wrath though you are above them older and stronger than they though they have their dependance upon you though you at present give them their Maintenance and must hereafter their Portion yet provoke them not do nothing to incense and inrage them A Wasp is a very little feeble Creature yet do not anger it for it hath a Sting Do not irritate your Children by too much severity remember the Authority you have over them is Parental therefore your Government should be sweet and easie you should so carry as to be both fear'd and lov'd at the same time and in order to that not rule with a Rod of Iron but draw and bind them to you with the Cords of a Man those of Reason and Kindness more particularly do not provoke your Children First Not by unreasonable requiries and hard commands lay not a Man's burden upon a Child's Shoulders exact not that which is above their ability to do Secondly Do not make unequal distributions of your kindnesses among them being all Honey to one and all Gall to another remember they are equally yours though your Affections may incline more to one than another yet conceal it as much as you can unless their goodness and obedience make an apparent difference Thirdly Provoke them not by giving them undue unreasonable Correction the Rod is sometimes as necessary as Bread but it must always be used with a prudent love let not your Rod be too smart nor your Hand too heavy convince them that your chastening of them is not for your pleasure but for their profit Fourthly Provoke them not by calling them reproachful Names as Fool Blockhead Rascal or the like which may expose them to the slight of others to the contempt of your very Servants while you hate their offences be tender of their Reputation Lastly Provoke them not by continual chiding and threatning finding fault with every thing they do overlook some smaller faults and wink at others knowing your selves are not blameless let not the Poyson of Asps dwell under your Tongues nor all your words be as sharp Swords but draw them to their duty keep them at it and encourage them in it rather by love than fear By provoking your Children unto wrath by all or any of these ways you create to your selves more grief and sorrow than you at present are aware of for by rigour and severity the minds of your Children may be alienated and estranged from you through your imprudent and unnatural Carriage it may come to pass that instead of loving reverencing and honouring you as Parents they will only fear and dread you as Tyrants so that in after-times when you shall need them as Staffs in your Hands for support they may prove Thorns in your sides piercing you thorough with many sorrows Well remember provoking your Children to wrath is forbidden therefore carefully avoid it Secondly In that Scripture there is an Injunction or something commanded that is the bringing of your Children up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. The Greek hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The nurture and admonition of the Lord. The former word Translated Nurture doth signifie such Education or Discipline as is convenient or fit for young ones made up of wise Instructions and needful Correction The latter word by our Translators rendred admonition may be looked on as being of a double import and signifying 1. A putting something into the Mind 2. A putting of the Mind into a right frame First then It is the Duty and should be the Endeavour of Parents to put something into the Minds of their Children to stock them well to instil and drop into them something that should be there something that will be proper for them and do them good that those choice and excellent Cabinets may be filled with Spiritual Riches with goodly Pearls yea the Pearl of Price in which by Nature as it is now corrupted there is nothing but filthy dross and dung Now there is in them nothing but Vanity and Folly false Notions wrong Conceptions of things and it is pity such vain Thoughts should lodge there a thousand pities they should continue and abide there labour to get them out by degrees as soon and as fast as you can that so instead of them and in their room you may happily introduce those things which are precious and of value viz. the Truths of God Right Orthodox and Saving Principles get into these narrow-mouth'd Bottles drop by drop as they are capable of receiving them the true Notion of things for good Principles do directly tend to the producing of good Practices and a Divine Light set up in their Understandings may keep them in the way of Peace and out of the path of the Destroyer for by means thereof they will be put into a capacity of discerning the way in which they ought to go Ignorance may be the Mother of a silly Devotion that O Papists we will grant you but God having told us His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge we cannot but look upon it as the Highway to Perdition Since without knowledge the Heart cannot be good we will not stick at concluding that without it the end cannot be peace Secondly It is the duty and should be the endeavour of Parents to put the Minds of their Children into a right frame to cast them into a due Mould and set them in a proper posture It is now a dark Mind there is blackness of darkness in it your work is to illuminate it and to set up there the Candle of the Lord. It is a corrupt Mind the Scripture tells us The Mind and Conscience is defiled your work and duty is to cleanse it and rid out all the filth that is there Now that I may afford you all the help that I can in order thereto I shall propound and offer some things to your Consideration and Practice speaking first more generally then more particularly in general I advise these four things First See carefully to it that the Holy Scripture be read in your Families The Bible is the Book of Books may as well be so called as the Canticles is the Song of Songs There is an inexhaustible Treasure for the inriching of the Mind and a Golden exact Rule for the ordering of the Life That is the most blessed and full Revelation of the Mind and Will of God concerning us whereby we may by Prayer and Study come to know what things we are to believe as God's Truths and what to practice as our own Duties what to reject as Errours and what to avoid as Sins There we have the great things of the Law for our Direction and the precious things of the Gospel for our Consolation these are able to make us wise for Salvation and thoroughly to furnish us for every good work which
and it was overgrown with Thorns and Nettles cover'd the face thereof He saw it and more than so he looked upon it wistly curiously again and again and he consider'd it he laid it to his Heart and he consider'd it well and thereupon he received instruction Oh that you would do the like as to those things which you do find in the Scriptures and in the holy Discourses of your Faithful Ministers against sin and for duty and in particular for Family-duty consider them well that so you may receive instruction And the good Lord without whom we poor Worms can do nothing grant that what hath been and shall be said to this purpose may be accompanied with his holy Spirit and so come with such a power upon your Souls as that his glory may be a gainer and his worship may be carefully and constantly performed for the future in those Families if there be any such in this numerous Congregation in which hitherto it hath been shamefully neglected I. You that are Governours of Families Masters or Mistresses are charged with them Your Families are your Charge God hath committed them to your Care and Government as they are to act for you so you are to care for them Kings have a great power and that maketh some of them Oppressive and Tyrannical They have great Honour and that makes them Proud and Lofty but all of them have a great Trust the whole Kingdom is committed to them and they should not only indeavour to secure their own Prerogative but also publick good the peace welfare and prosperity of their people this they are all of them bound to do and those that do it are great Blessings Ministers also have a great Charge as it is an honourable so it is a weighty thing to be a Minister of Jesus Christ for the Churches of which they be Pastors are committed to them they are to look to the Flock of God over which the Holy Ghost hath made them Overseers and they are to watch for the Peoples Souls that they may feed them with understanding and sound knowledge and also preserve them from those that lye in wait to deceive and from every path of the destroyer and O that while we do all with the Apostle Paul Magnifie our Office we may all be careful to fulfil our Ministry and do the work of our Office And so that I may return to the business before us Masters and Mistresses of Families have no small Charge no little Trust for their Families are committed to them the Family is a Body bigger or less and the Master is the Head of it and he should rule order and influence all the Members thereof they have both a power and a trust a power and so set over them a trust and so charged with them and as they would not be deprived of their power so they ought not to betray their trust you that are Rulers of Families will be known in your places it is fit you should be so I pray be good in your places and as you will maintain your Authority and make use of your power be true to your trust too some of you will say in some cases that you will not abate an Ace stand as much upon it and be as exact here you will be Kings in your own Houses you ought to be so God hath made you so but be Prophets and Priests also in such a manner take and keep and use the Iurisdiction as that labouring in Prayer in the Word and Doctrine may not slip through your Fingers As Magistrates so Ministers and Parents and Masters ought to rule in the fear of God For you are to remember that you are intrusted with the Souls of your Families as well as with their Bodies and you ought to seek and endeavour the good of their Souls as well as the good of their Bodies I mean both of their Children and of their Servants yea and more too because the Soul is best and the welfare and comfort of the Body depends upon the happiness of the Soul Indeed the Soul may be in a thriving condition Godward but the Body crazy and wasting the Soul may be of an healthful Constitution but the Body sickly and weak as is clear from that of Paul 2 Cor. 4.16 Though the outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day and that this was the case of Gaius I am very apt to conclude from that kind and friendly wish of Iohn in his third Epistle I wish that thy body may prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth But if the Soul be void of Knowledge and Grace if there be not a saving Light in the Head nor the Law of God in the Heart the Body will come to lye down at last in misery and sorrow cocker and pamper it never so much care and cark for it as you will the issue will at last be dreadful the compositum i e. the whole Man will come to ruin Hos. 4.6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge not only deformed as a Person is for want of an Eye but destroyed cut off utterly ruined and undone and ought not the greatest care be taken for the prevention of that We read in 1 Tim. 5.6 If any man provide not for his own specially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel Though he doth not deny the Faith in words yet he doth in deeds he hath practically renounced Christianity by his not living up to the Laws and Rules thereof and he is worse than an Infidel by his falling short of them He is defective and wanting in that which they perform though he lives in a Valley of Vision though he sits under the bright and glorious Beams of the Sun of Righteousness display'd in the Everlasting Gospel yet he is outdone by the very Heathen who have no more than the dark glimmering Light of Nature which is like a Candle burnt down to the Socket so that it is the Duty of all Parents and Masters to provide for their own Houses But here the Question will be What are they to provide What All that is convenient for them according to that Prayer of Holy and Wise Agur in Prov. 30.8 feed me with food convenient for me To be sure they must provide things necessary if it be in their power but necessary for what only for the Body Meat and Drink and Cloaths and Lodging Mony and Wages are these all the things that are necessary and convenient for them is this the supplying of all their need is this all that the Lord requires and expects at their hands surely no it is true this is a part of their duty but it is the least and lowest part this he provides for the Brute but not for the Man for the Cabinet but not for the Jewel they should so provide for them as that it may be well with them every way to all
our Translation he will command and they shall keep I must acknowledge my self to be singular and alone in the Notion having consulted some Learned Expositors upon the place and found none that take any notice of it but as those that repair to them know that is no strange nor unusual case therefore I will with humble modesty communicate my thoughts to you and submit them to the judgment of such as are able I look upon these latter words not only as Predictory foretelling what the Event would be what his command would produce and how it would work but also Promissory and so securing that good and desireable issue Abraham will teach his Children and his Houshold after him and saith God they shall keep the way of the Lord since Abraham will do his Duty I will succeed and prosper him in the doing of it he shall not lose his labour nor take pains to no purpose The truth is God will not suffer his faithful Servants to be totally disappointed and lye down in their shame at last let things issue how they will they shall not lose their reward in their Duty they shall have peace their endeavours shall be accepted and themselves shall be admitted into their Masters joy Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength Isa. 49.5 but very often God gives them to see the desires of their hearts so that they attain the end which they propounded to themselves as here since Abraham will see to it that his Children and his Household be taught God would see to it that they should learn and practice what they were taught He would set up the worship of God in his Family and maintain it there as long as he liv'd and God would so influence and order their Spirits that they should keep it up after him they should love and honour and serve God after his example and after he was dead and gone godliness should be posteritiz'd in his Family V. This one thing is the High-way to a Blessing to have the favour of God together with the pleasant fruits of that favour do but you in the sincerity of your hearts and from a gracious Principle perform your Family duties and set up the worship of God there and you may comfortably expect that God in his great goodness and mercy will pour down his blessing upon your Families and make your Family a blessing unto you First The Blessing of God shall be upon your Family it shall be upon you who are the Parents and Masters and upon yours as well as you like that precious Ointment which being poured out upon the head of Aaron from thence descended to the Skirts of his Garment there is a notable place to this purpose a place which hath a double aspect a terrible frowning one upon the wicked but a smiling and comfortable one to the godly Prov. 3.33 The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the Wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the Iust. Let us well consider this Scripture The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the Wicked he doth not say the Curse is impendent and hangs over it nor that it is at the door ready to draw the latch but it is already in it hath made its entry and taken possession and as it is in it it spreads and goes all over it it goes into every room and mingles it self with every thing there it lights and abides upon the man and upon all that he hath if you go into the Mans House you may possibly see what will dazle your eyes there is costly Furniture Rich Hangings Great Cupboard-Heads of Plate Garments of Silk Sattin and Velvet wrought with Gold Tables spread with variety of the greatest Dainties as the Psalmist saith Psal. 73. They have more than heart can wish but there is no fear of God there instead of that there is a great deal of debauchery and prophaneness ranting roaring gaming healthing cursing swearing obscene filthy talk and as foul actions Hell it self is broke out there is the smoak the fumes of that bottomless pit and there is the curse of God too that Flying-Roul mention'd Ezek. 5.2 the length whereof is twenty Cubits and the breadth thereof ten and saith that Text it shall enter into the house and remain there it takes up its abode and it is not idle and unactive works indeed gradually and oftentimes insensibly no body perceives it but it works effectually it shall consume the House with the Timber and Stones thereof it hath strong and sharp teeth that can bite stones in pieces Psal. 37.35 36. I have seen the Wicked in great power spreading himself like a green Bay-Tree yet he passed away and loe he was not yea I sought him but loe he could not be found But let us go to the other part of the Text and see what report that makes us He blesseth the Habitation of the Righteous Observe now there is righteousness in the habitation a good man dwells there and out of the good Treasure of his heart he brings forth good things there hath been a gracious Principle Divinely inspired into him and it is his desire and endeavour to act suitably to that Principle in his House you may see not only sobriety but also righteousness towards Man and yet more than so there is godliness a making conscience of performing all that duty which they owe to God now as there is righteousness there is a blessing there too God hath blessed that man and his house in turning them from their iniquities in giving them such a Spirit and that blessing doth abide it shall never be revok'd nor revers'd God will say in this case as Isaac did with respect to Iacob Gen. 27.33 I have blessed him yea and he shall be blessed and that is not all neither the Text saith He blesseth his habitation he hath not only done it but he goeth on still to do it the old blessing remains firm and valid and God is pleased to add new ones to it and will continue doing so till he at last be what Moses said of Nepthali Deut. 33.23 satisfied with favour and full of the blessing of the Lord what may we not say of such an House Godliness is there and God himself will be there too for he is nigh unto all that call upon him that call upon him in truth He looks upon others afar off and keeps his distance but he is near these he stands at their right hand he dwells in them and with them in their heart and house and where ever he dwells the house is the better for him he always brings enough with him to make him welcom He saith peace be to this house and mercy be to this house yea and salvation be to this house he will quiet this house when there is a storm and comfort it when there is trouble and uphold it when it is
sinking and repair it when under decays and shine upon it and prosper it Seeing it is a Religious house God will make it a comfortable house seeing the incense of Prayer goeth up from the house to Heaven a shower of blessing shall come down from Heaven upon the house a variety of duties shall be accompanied with a variety of mercies and a succession of duties crown'd with a succession of blessings as day unto day shews mindfulness and night unto night gratitude so day unto day on Gods part shall shew his love and night unto night his faithfulness Not but that in those very Families where there are most holy exercises there may be many afflictive exercises Davids house was not as the clear Sun-shine or a Morning without Clouds there are among his dearest Children Iniquities and Transgressions and notwithstanding the everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure into which God hath entered with them he hath reserved to himself the liberty of visiting those iniquities with the Rod and those Transgressions with Stripes yet this doth not hinder their blessedness Though afflictions may and do come in yet they cannot crowd or shut the blessing out Iacob met with a great deal of trouble nevertheless the blessing remained upon him Nay God will take such special care of his People as that the very Rod shall blossom with Love and their afflictions shall be turn'd into advantages out of the Eater shall come Meat that which devours their comforts shall feed their graces the gains shall make a full yea abundant amends for the loss and whatever their apprehensions for the present may be while they smart and are in pain yet the day shall come wherein they shall be reconciled to the darkest and most severe dispensations when they shall see yea and feel cause with thankfulness to own that Gods smitings were a kindness and that his rebukes were an excellent Oyl that instead of breaking the head did better the heart Secondly This is the way to have the Covenant made good to you and an accomplishment of the Promises which are more worth than all the gold of Ophir or the riches of both the Indies To this purpose that calls for our consideration which God spake concerning Abraham in that place to which we have twice already had occasion to have our recourse Gen. 18.19 I know him that he will command his Children and his Servants after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement and if he and they do so they will do well but what then what will he get by it read the very next words that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him if Abraham would be careful of his duty God would magnifie his mercy upon him Obedience to Precepts is followed with the performance of promises but what was it that God had spoken of him it was good much considerable very great and admirable things which God had spoken That he would make of him a great Nation that he would make his name great that he would bless him and make him a blessing that he would bless them that blessed him and curse them that cursed him and that in him all the Families of the Earth should be blessed Gen. 12.2 3. in thee i. e. in thy Seed in Christ who shall come of that according to the flesh shall all be blessed for Christ came to bless them in turning them from their iniquities in making peace for them with God and bringing them back to God Now saith God Abraham in this way will make all these my promises sure to him he will prevent any obstacles and rubs from being in their way Abraham will be dear over my interest and name and glory he will exalt and honour me in his family he will breed and train them up for me he will use his Authority for me and lay his command upon them to fear me and to keep my way and therefore I will be as good as my word to him of all that which I have spoken concerning him not one tittle shall fail I beseech you take notice and remember it that a care to promote the interest and honour of God the setting up the service and worship of God in your Families is the way to bring over to you the good of the Promises The Apostle Peter tells us that the Promises are exceeding great and precious so great that we cannot measure them we cannot grasp them in our understandings they are so great that they contain Heaven and Earth in them and all good things and they are so precious that you cannot rate them according to their worth we may easily overvalue our selves and the enjoyments here below that is done everyday but we cannot over-value promises and would you not my dear Friends be heartily glad of an interest in them and being able to lay a just claim to them would you not be glad to go to the whole heap of promises and with the arms of faith sweep them up and say these are all mine own these are the good things my God hath given me these are those pleasant places in which my lines are fallen In a word would you not be glad at heart if all these exceeding great and precious promises should empty themselves and unlade all their treasures into your bosoms I doubt not but you would am sure you have reason and if you would your best and only way is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve and honour God in your personal and domestick Capacities and then Thirdly As this is the way to bring down a blessing from God upon you and upon your Families so it is the way to make your Families a blessing to you and your Children a blessing to you Oh how sweet and desirable a thing is this What a comfort is it to Prarents to have such Children as are their Comfolts their Joy and Crown such Children as are blest themselves and blessings unto them when so many are their poor Parents grief and sorrow their curse and shame of whom them cannot think without a sigh on whom they cannot look without indignation Children who fill their Parents lives with bitterness and make them a lamentation thoroughout and at last bring down their gray Hairs with sorrow to the Grave Children that while young were their Parents hope and joy but when they were grown up became first the Companions of Fools and then foolish themselves and so prove Thorns in the sides of their Parents and Pricks in their Eyes I know you that are Parents would not have your Children such it is your duty to love them and unless you have cast off all good nature you do love them and would rejoyce in them and over them to do them good Now this is one special way for the bringing it to pass Prov. 20.3 The just man walketh his integrity his Children are blessed after him
owns that she did bear them but saith thou didst bear them to me as it was then so it is now as the Cattel upon a thousand Hills are his so the Children of a thousand Families yea of all the Families upon the Earth particularly of his Covenanting People Ier. 31.1 I will be saith the Lord the God of all the Families of Israel and they shall be my people He is the God of all the Children of those Families they are his Children remember and consider it your Children are God's Children they had their Being from him he formed them he brought them forth and brought them up and carried them in Arms and taught them to go and put them out to you to Nurse and you are to look after them and take care of them and bring them up for him you are to see to it that they have the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So for your Servants they are not only your Servants but his too they were his Servants before they were yours and his more than they are yours and more bound to obey and please him than you so that if your Will thwart Gods and your Commands be contrary to the Commandments of God they are not to do them they are more bound to God than they are to you and they expect more from him than they do from you and have a greater and more necessary dependance upon him than they have upon you and therefore they owe him more service than they do you Psal. 119.19 All are thy Servants Kings and Princes are his Servants David was free to own it O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant And Oh that they would all lay their Crowns at his Feet and serve him by ruling for him You that are Masters and Mistresses are his Servants as proud as some of you are and how high soever you hold your Heads yet know you are but Servants though really it is not your disparagement to be God's Servants but your Honour so that you are good and faithful Servants and I beseech you look to that And I say your Servants are God's Servants too yea and what the Angel said to Iohn I may to you notwithstanding the civil distance which is now between you they are your Fellow-servants as you will find at the last and great day when you come to be stript of all these outward pre-eminencies and to stand upon even ground with them only your account will be greater Sit down I beseech you and think of this once and again those that are bound to you are also bound to God and will you teach them your Business and not that which God hath given them to do Will you take care to make them good Shopkeepers and not to make them good Christians Will you call upon them and urge and press them to do your work yea and beat them too in case they do it not and will you not regard their doing or neglecting of the work of God Shall it be nothing to you though they forget God and let his work lye dead upon their hands and serve the Devil and diverse Lusts all the Year round You your selves do not serve God as you ought if you do not promote what you can your Servants serving him for so to do is part of your business it is the duty of your place Besides let me here add this further if the Parents of those who are bound to you be gracious themselves and do indeed fear God they did expect much from you when they did bind them to you they had a good Opinion of you as of Persons truly Religious and of your Families as Religious and that their Sons would meet not only with sobriety there but also with the practices of Piety and they did promise themselves that they had disposed well of their Children and chosen such Masters for them as would take special care of them as to their Souls and go on to build upon that good Foundation which they themselves had already laid and that you would be not only giving them an insight into your Callings but also shewing them the good way in which they ought to walk and go before them in it they did promise themselves that you would provide not only Meat and Drink wholesome and sufficient Diet for their Bodies but also that Food which would help to the nourishing of their Souls to Eternal Life In that hope and for that end they committed them to you and if you be careless herein if you do not pray with them nor instruct and counsel them you disappoint their expectations you frustrate and deceive their hopes you are false to your trust and it is impossible that you should ever answer it to God or them and yet answer for it you shall but to your cost except you repent and reform IV. Remember and consider that those who are of your Families and under your care are excellent and noble Creatures How low soever their outward condition is and how far soever they are beneath you upon worldly accounts yet they were made by the same hand are of the same original the Master-pieces of the Creation in this inferiour World and here I will more particularly offer these few things to your thoughts First They have Souls as well as you Souls to save as well as Bodies to feed Souls that quicken and actuate their Bodies and render them capable of being serviceable to you and be their Bodies never so amiable and lovely never so robust and well built never so lively and active yet without the Soul they would be no other than useless Carcases lumps of Clay both unprofitable and unsavoury and these Souls being the better and by far the more noble part are to be principally respected to be sure not totally forgotten and neglected and a Trade is to be driven with Heaven for them as well as one upon Earth for the Body and though it be no great matter whether they be great and rich in the World yet it is necessary that they be rich in Faith and good Works and toward God and since there is another World beside this and when they go out of this World they immediately pass into that and they must continue there to all Eternity without a remove or any alteration it is absolutely necessary that they be well provided before they go and lay up Treasures in Heaven As for the things of this World they must leave them all behind them though they have gotten never so much Riches take to themselves Wings and often fly away they leave their owners in a pitiful plight however their owners must at last leave them Death when once it comes will make an Eternal separation so Iob knew and said Iob 1. Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither Hence it follows that they are nearly and everlastingly concerned to look after those things which are better and more
his high displeasure in those temporal Judgements that are among us what else means his not going forth with our Armies the unsuccessfulness of our Fleet the taking of our Merchants Ships the loss of our Trade the scarcity of Corn the dearness of all Provisions so that Poverty comes in upon us like an Armed Man let not Men grumble at these things but lay them to heart humble themselves and reform mourn and amend their ways and doings Thirdly You are Members of the Church as well as Citizens of London and Natives of England Some of you are come into stricter and closer Communion than others in order to the better promoting of your Souls good and your enjoyment of Ordinances purely administred and as you think more according to the mind of God reveal'd in Scripture However all of you do profess your selves belonging to the Church of Christ and so to be Members of his Mystical Body and you ought to study the good of the Church if you do not there is no life in you but you are dead members you may have some kind of being in the body but you are not of it you do not receive Spirits and Life from the Head no vital influences And Oh! how did Paul complain and groan because men were wholly selfish confin'd and shrivel'd up into a narrow interest seeking their own things and not the things of Iesus Christ i. e. the glory of his Name and the good and prosperity of his Church which is not a separate but a joynt interest so that the promoting of one is the promoting both and you ought to study it and do all that you can to contribute to it Fourthly Do not you know that a great many among us are the burthens of the Land and that under them it groans we see England is sick yea it is heart sick oh how faint it is what convulsions hath it what struglings are there even as for life but who is it sick of of the Fanaticks will some say and I say so too only understand it of them who are Fanaticks indeed not of them who are Israelites indeed the Fools Cap is many times through a wilful mistake put upon a Wise Mans head but they will say England is sick of the Dissenters the Non-Conformists and it will never be well till they be suppres'd and purged out but those that are thus minded go by very wrong measures and are Physicians of no value Ahab told Elijah that he troubled Israel but the Holy Prophet did very justly and honestly return it upon the wicked King I have not troubled Israel but thou and thy Fathers House in that ye have forsaken the Commandments of the Lord 1 Kings 18.18 And I dare also say concerning those good men which some have given that undeserved name to what in another case Paul said to the Centurion and the Souldiers except these abide in the Ship ye cannot be saved Acts 27.31 I am not for making Parties nor widening or continuing unnecessary differences but desire to love every one that loveth the Lord Iesus in sincerity and I dare affirm that those who are godly in the Nation are the strength thereof the strength both of King and Kingdom Isa. 6.13 the holy seed shall be the substance thereof But I was saying too many are the burthen of the Land I mean those that have suckt in and do belch out damnable Doctrines and the Prophane Crew the Debauchees of the Age the Land is sick of them and perhaps will not be well 'till it hath eas'd it self I say not of their Persons but of their Principles and Practices those those be the Persons that are the Pests and Plagues of the Nation and may they be so accounted in order to their being avoided that so the spreading of the infection may be prevented but since there are such as these multitudes of them you that profess Religion should desire and pray and labour to be the blessings of the Nation and so to be will be your honour Fifthly To fill up the places in which God hath been pleased to set you is the way to make you blessings publick blessings the way for the whole to thrive is for every one to do his part when the Spring Wheels and Ballance move regularly the Watch goes well there is the honour of the place and the profit of the place and those that are high will expect that but there is also the work of the place and let them and others also do that It may be thou art but in a low and mean place however be thou contented with the disposal of Providence that is the way to have a blessing from God for thy self and to be thy self a blessing to the Nation Consider then the place in which you are set and study the duty of that place and to that do thou apply thy self and labour to do it all Are any of you in publick place in City or Country cloathed with Authority and Power in a capacity of encouraging Vertue and Godliness and of punishing and suppressing Vice fill up your Place it is pity there should be any Wicked Profane Idle Careless Sloathful Magistrates they are common Nusances Have you none but a little Cock-Boat to manage being only Governours of Families do you fill up your place and do the duty of that If you have but a little it is the more easily done be you faithful in your little that is the way to advance God may make you Rulers over much to be sure you shall not miss of his joy Sixthly Families are the first Bodies out of which greater Societies and Communities do arise and of which they are compos'd Churches Towns Cities Kingdoms are made up of Families as the integrating parts the least Families is a part of the body a Family is the first Society as it was in our Primitive Parents Adam and Eve and in its growth an increase it comes to be made up of several Persons that stand in several Relations to one another Husband Wife Son Daughter Man-Servant Maid-Servant Villages Towns Cities Countries are all of them made up as was said before of several Families and according as it is in these smaller bodies it is like to be in those greater ones if the several members be corrupt it is utterly impossible that the body should be sound If there be a Plague raging in the Houses it is impossible there should be health in the City And so if Families be tainted corrupted spoiled who can rationally think that the Kingdom should be good Those larger and more numerous Societies which have been spoken of may not unfitly be compared to Orchards or Vineyards that should bring forth Fruit to God and ought to be water'd with the Magistrates eye and water'd by the Ministers hand our Families are the Nurseries in which young tender Plants are set and Nurs'd and reer'd for the supplying and furnishing them afresh as the Old Stock the Super-annuated Trees of
us'd to it that they must needs bungle at it and let me ask you my Friends are these Persons liberal to God Nay are they not very beggarly and penurious who will give him a visit upon that day which he hath reserved wholly and entirely for himself and set about it the Hedge of a command to keep all secular Affairs from intruding or breaking in upon it But they will not part with any of that time which he hath allowed them for the dispatch of their own business but their Work and Recreations their Eating Drinking and Sleeping shall ingross it all in short the Language of their practice is this they will pray a little when they have nothing else to do or when there is nothing else that they may do but the Law commands them to shut up their Shops and to lay by their worldly Trades but my Friends is this fair Do not you rob God of some of his time Why then will you not return him some of your own Do not you commit too many sins upon a Sabbath-day and will you not do some duty upon a Week-day Do you mingle sin with your holy things and will you not mingle Prayer and holy Thoughts with your earthly things Is this to continue instant in Prayer Is this to pray without ceasing Is this paying due homage to the Lord of your time and comforts Is this enough for depending Creatures who cannot live a day without God no not a moment The truth is Love to God should draw us frequently that we may have Communion with him and necessity might drive us that we may have supplies from him all your Springs are in him with him is the Well of Life therefore let down your Bucket of Prayer often that you may draw Water with joy You may observe that in the Lord's Prayer which Christ gave his Disciples for an excellent pattern or example by which we all should draw up ours he teacheth us to say Our Father that speaks Communion and a joining together in Prayer one Saint one Child of God may go alone to the Throne of Grace and say Father or O my Father but Our Father speaks Society and Fellowship in the duty That there are more Suitors more concerned than one And further observe that there our Lord bids us say Give us this day our daily bread from whence we may gather these three things First He bids us pray for Bread Temporal good things are to be sought of God The Dew of Heaven yea and the Fatness of the Earth Provision for our Souls and Food for our Bodies too we are to seek God and rely upon him in and for the greatest things and also the least In every thing by Prayer and Supplication we are to make our Request known to God We cannot get our Bread unless God gives it to us Secondly He bids us pray for Bread not for Dainties not Sweet-meats not Venison not Varieties Necessaries are to be sought not Superfluities nothing to feed our Pride nor to spend upon our Lusts. Feed me said wise and holy Agar with food convenient for me that which is suitable to the place in which thou hast set me Seek not great things for your selves for those great things may prove great snares Thirdly He bids us to say Give us this day our daily Bread We are to pray for Bread for to day supplies for to day and we are to say that or something to the same purpose every day He doth not bid us pray that God would give us Bread for this Week or for this Month or for this Year or for twenty Years to come but give us this day and we are to say so to morrow as well as to day and the day after that as well as to morrow and so it is to run thorough the whole course of Life Every day we are to say Give us this day c. that is as we desire to have our Bread of God every day we must ask it every day daily Bread and daily Prayer must go together God doth love to answer the occasions of his People and to supply their wants He giveth meat to them that fear him because he is ever mindful of his Covenant Psal. III. 5 but he stands upon his honour and expects to be owned and therefore said he would be sought to by the House of Israel to do it for them I have read this Story of an Heathen whose Name I cannot for the present call to mind that when he had at any time passed a day without doing some Act of Charity or Mercy he would in the evening sit down bemoaning himself and cry out perdidi diem I have lost a day Truly it is so here thou mayest at night with bitterness of Soul reflect upon that day which thou hast spent without Family-Prayer and say perdidi diem I have lost a day and he that knows the shortness the uncertainty the worth of time and how much depends upon the right improvement thereof will reckon the loss of a day to be a very great loss and we are wont to say one loss seldom goes alone what thou dost lose besides that God only knows what communion with God what answers what manifestations of Divine Love what communications of Grace what Blessings therefore I beseech you all to make Conscience of Praying in your Families every day And if at any time through forgetfulness or surprize of any kind or being oppress'd with business crowding in upon thee thou art so hindered that thou canst not perform thy duty but the Season is as it were violently wrested out of thy hands bewail the loss sigh and mourn over it let God see thou art afflicted for it and not pleas'd with thy self or the avocation and long for another opportunity in which thou mayest go and appear before thy God and when once it comes welcome it with gladness and lay hold upon it thy Soul being like the Chariots of Amminadib and then confess thy former omission and beg thy Father to cast the Mantle of his love over it and then double thy diligence and thy heaâ— then spend the more time and put forth the greater strength then do thou follow the harder after God and keep the closer to him and let it be thy desire to make up that which was lacking before that so neither thy God may lose his honour nor thy self nor thy Family the good and benefit of a duty but like the Sea what Religion loseth at one time it may gain at another IV. Be sure that you Pray in your Families Morning and Evening I would not have you from hence conclude my design is to render you so strait lac'd as not to pray oftner than so to do this and take up with doing it making that your stint your allowance resolved not to exceed no no it is your interest to study liberal things in your dealings with God for by liberal things you shall stand you cannot be
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
himself to have and own the Lord for his God And Abijah the Son of Ieroboam in whom there was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel An Obadiah that fear'd the Lord from his youth a Iosiah whose heart was tender so that he humbled himself and wept before the Lord a young Iohn that was the Beloved Disciple of our Lord Jesus and lay in his Bosom and a Timothy who knew the Scriptures of a Child And this Age as vile as it is is not altogether barren but some such are to be found among us though too few the Lord knoweth too too few if compared with the rest of the World do you dear hearts add to the number be you Trees of Righteousness Plants of Renown Two things I do earnestly desire for you viz. that you may be holy now and happy for ever that you may spend your time as you ought and then have a blessed Eternity live to purpose and die in peace Husband and lay out this life wisely and make sure of a better I wish you the good things of this World full out so far and so much as will be good for you but withal better things too for really such is my esteem of you that however the Sons of the Earth rate them I look not upon them as good enough to make up a Portion for you they are too little and low and fading they perish in the using may Iehovah whose is the Earth and fulness thereof bestow upon you such a part as will make you serviceable to him and life comfortable to you and while you have it so use and improve it that when it shall fail you you may not miss of the delights and glories of Eternity To this end I beseech you begin betimes do not imbezzle and squander gway your choicest Seasons your golden hours lay not out the very best you have upon the World the Flesh and the Devil thinking to reserve for God the dregs and refuse Oh! how sweet is early Religion how beautiful a green head found in the way of Righteousness how pleasant to see tender Plants bringing forth Fruit unto God Are you descended of good Parents do not degenerate let the Faith that was in them be in you also like precious Faith are your Lines cast in Religious Families walk worthy of the mercy and keep peace with them in the way of God It is your unhappiness to be in wicked Families do not learn their ways partake not with them in their Sins be not tainted by them nor worse for them remembring there were Saints in Nero's House and that it is great indeed truly noble to be good in the midst of bad examples of many discouragements and of great opposition such I would fain have you to be and the more such the better That you may be such beg of God by Prayer and consider what I can but hint to you Study well your own case the vileness of your hearts and the miserableness of your State by Nature whatever you have to commend you unto Men there is more than enough to render you odious and abominable unto God Abhor therefore your selves bewail your condition and get out of it as fast as you can which you can no other way do but by getting into Christ who is the only City of Refuge unto which Sinners may flee for safety the Rock of Salvation in which they may hide and upon it build who died that he might redeem from Sin and Wrath and lives to receive and embrace all those that come unto him go then to him and beg of him that you may be washed with his blood and sanctified by his Spirit that he would please to be a Principle of Spiritual Life in you and the Author of Eternal Salvation to you Be thankful for restraints that you are not so bad as others but rest not in them nor in any external performances or the most lovely form of Godliness but look after a saving change that there be in you the root of the matter an heart sincerely set against sin and for God Avoid all loose bad Company even as you would the Devil for his Children they are and the works of the Father they will do and his designs they will be carrying on in all places where they are Can a Man touch Pitch and not be defiled therewith or familiarly converse with with wicked Men or lewd vain Women and not be in danger of learning their manner walk with wise Men so you may learn wisdom delight in them that fear the Lord and associate with those here with whom you would chuse to be in the other World Be not strangers to the necessary and excellent duty of Prayer but delight to make it your business every day keep not away from family-Family-duties but bless God for them and be serious and fervent in them yet think not your selves by them discharged from attendance upon God and seeking his face in your private retirements honour your Parents and other Governours and study to please them well in all things in the Lord. Open your ear to Doctrine and be ready to learn and practice all that is good Hear the instruction of your Father and forsake not the Law of your Mother let them not depart from your eyes but keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life unto them that find them and health unto all their Flesh. In your behaviour be sober modest and chast humble and loving to all you have to do with faithful to your trust and diligent in your business mind your Masters interest as much as if it were your own God will bless you the better for it when you are removed from all Spectators so that no body on earth sees you remember there is one above that doth and let that awe and preserve you from sin for he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Love all vertue and goodness hate all vice all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit govern your selves well keep your hearts with all diligence make a Covenant with your eyes set a watch before the door of your lips give honour to Superiours be respective to your equals courteous to your inferiours civil and obliging to all morose and imperious froward and quarrelsom with none wise and prudent in looking to your Concerns and managing all your Affairs consider every motion that is made to you before you embrace and close with it ponder your actions before you do them that you may not make more work for Repentance than you need and weigh your words before you speak them Moses suffer'd greatly for speaking unadvisedly with his lips keep your selves from Sin as that which tends to your destruction and avoid vanity and lightness as that which will issue in your disparagement Sweet youth let me perswade and prevail with you to remember your Creator in the days of your youth own him as your great Lord from whom you had
those good Men whom after a Life of Service God takes away from hence would you know what becomes of them whither it is that they go into what state they are put He tells you Isa. 57.2 They enter into peace they rest in their beds every one walking in his uprightness i. e. every one having walked in his uprightness while he was here they professed Religion and were true to that Profession they owned the Interest of God yea and to their power they served that Interest they have studied uprightness and integrity they have been faithful to God in their Generation and in their several places and when such do come to die they have no reason to be afraid of dying no reason for them to draw back and be unwilling to go say to them it shall be well with them they shall enter into peace into a compleat and perfect peace they shall live in peace and enjoy themselves in peace they were here sometimes fear round about buth henceforth they shall be peace round about and they shall rest in their Beds Poor hearts they had but a little rest while they were here a great many fears and a great deal of care and but a little rest alas it was broken and disturbed by Enemies without and by Sins within Head and Heart were discompos'd and out of order at sometimes there is no soundness in their flesh nor rest in their bones Psal. 38.3 But when once Death hath cast them into their last sleep they shall have placidam quietem a sweet and pleasant rest their Bodies for a time and but for a time in a Bed of Dust for that is not intended for the place of their abode they only Inn there by the way yet it is made easie for them and safe and perfum'd for it is the place where the Lord himself lay but their precious and immortal Souls shall rest for ever in a Bed of Spices in a Bed of Love in the Bosom of Abraham in the Arms of Jesus Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord not only the Martyrs that die for him but all Believers that die in him in the Faith of Christ in obedience to him in a state of Union to him and Communion with him for their works do follow them all their works of Charity and all their works of Piety all the good they have done abroad in the World and all the good they have done at home in their Families none shall be forgotten none dropt nor lost by the way but all shall follow them and in Heaven meet them in great glorious and inconceivable Rewards so that the Lord Jesus shall be both glorified in them and admired by them VIII You having made it your work and business to serve and worship God in and with your Families and brought them cheerfully to join with you therein you may leave them with the far greater hope and by consequence with the greater comfort And while they are mourning and sighing and weeping because they must now part with you yet you may be glad and rejoice because hereafter you shall meet with them in a better place and state and here again take into your Consideration these few things First That all these things must be dissolved You now see it is so as to many of these things and believe it will be so as to all the rest Death doth travel up and down and mows people down apace and will pursue his bloody work till he had snapt asunder the nearest and dearest Relations broken up all Houses and put an end to Families It would not by wise persons be counted incongruous at a Marriage-feast to have a Death's-head set upon the Board nor to dash your sweetest Contentments and Delights with dying Thoughts think my Friend often think that Husbands and Wives must part the Conjugal Knot shall be loosed Parents and Children must part sooner or later but how soon none of us do know the great God in whose Hand our Times are that lock'd that up among his Treasures and no Man hath a Key to let him into the knowledge of it the certainty of the thing doth engage us to diligence and our ignorance of the time is a strong Argument for our doubling of that diligence Secondly That will be a very sad parting which will be in despair As they must needs mourn bitterly who mourn without hope so they must needs die dismally who die without hope and what can be thought more likely than that such will be the death of those who in the days of their Health and Prosperity have forgotten God and liv'd without him in the World who have made it their work to sin together and to dishonour God together and profane his Name and abuse his good Creatures together If these believe there is a God and a Resurrection and a Judgment to come in which all Persons shall receive according to what they have done in the Body whether it be good or whether it be evil they may have such thoughts as these forcibly breaking in upon them I and my Family after we have lain a while and slept in the Dust shall rise again and we shall meet again but where Oh where shall we meet We shall meet at the Judgment Seat of Christ there to hear that Condemning Sentence pronounced upon us Go ye cursed we shall meet in Hell where we must make our Eternal abode we shall meet in Torments which will be both intolerable and eternal that so as we have sinned together we may smart together and burn together in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone and that which will render these thoughts more grievous and painful to them may be this that their Children and Servants coming thither will be the aggravation of their own misery since they were so much the cause of it which as some think was the great nay only reason why the rich Glutton of whom you read in Luke 16. being in Hell was so unwilling that his Five Brethren should come into that place of Torments it was not out of good nature and love to them for there is no such thing in Hell it was not out of a desire to prevent their misery but the aggravating of his won he having contributed so much to their ruin and destruction by his vile and wicked Example But then Thirdly Those of you who can at a dying hour look upon your Relations as having walked with you in the ways of God likely to follow you into a blessed Eternity may leave them with joy All of you that have made God your choice and his glory your end that have made Religion your principal business and family-Family-duty your work and been constant in the dispatch of it you may part with comfort and leave one another with joy though there will be a shower Bowels will yearn and Love will melt the Heart and make it drop Tears yet there need be no storm within you that are
Parents may commit them to God whom you brought up for him and so rejoice in hope that though you leave them behind you yet they will not leave that God to whom you are going but though they stay behind in a wicked World which is full of snares and dangers bad Company bad Examples and Temptations yet since you have by Faith and Prayer committed them to him they shall graciously be kept by his power through Faith unto Salvation and that the Counsels you have given have made an abiding impression upon them and the Seed which you have sown shall not be lost but spring up and bring forth fruit and when you are dead and gone they will continue and proceed to practice as they have been taught and they will know love and fear the God of their Fathers and serve him with a perfect Heart and a willing Mind you may hope that of all that which hath been by you said and done something will stick The Heathen could say Quo semel est imbut a recens servabit odorem Testa diu A new Vessel will for a great while retain the scent or savour of that Liquor which was at first put into it and so young ones and I am apt to think that many of those who after a pious Education turn aside from the good ways of God to crooked paths with the workers of iniquity do not sin at so easie a rate as others do but offer violence to their Consciences and call to mind again that of God himself concerning Abraham and his House which I have already quoted more than once He will teach his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. His Instructions will infuse such Principles into them that they will do it and my Grace shall so powerfully co-operate with those Principles and influence them that they shall do it They shall keep the way of the Lord the way of his holy Precepts and the way of his instituted Worship they shall do it after him after his example and after his decease when he is dead and in his Grave my fear and service shall be posteritiz'd in his Family Abraham's advice and practice shall live in their Minds and Religion shall live in their Houses and so it did in Isaac's and in Iacob's and so down and further for the strengthening of this your hope I desire you to take along with you that passage of Solomon Prov. 22.6 Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it The Scripture sets it the next Door to an impossibility for them to learn to do well who have been accustomed to do evil and though it be not so hard yet it is not very easie for them to do evil who have been all along accustomed to the doing of that which is good Zophar speaking of the wicked Man saith Iob 20.11 His bones are full of the sins of his youth which shall lye down with him in the dust which Gregory expounds thus Usque ad pulverem non deserunt i. e. usque ad mortem ab iniquitate non cessat He doth not forsake his Vices as long as he lives he doth not cease from them till he dies his youthful sins stick close fast to him he continues the practice of them while he lives and when he dies he receives the punishment of them It is a matter of greatest moment to take heed what we do accustom young ones to teach Children that which is good at first and they will learn it well and that is the way to have them keep it well It is reported of the Harts in Scythia that they do betimes teach their young ones to leap from Turf to Turf and from Bank to Bank and from Rock to Rock and so they continue it when they come to be old and by means thereof they cannot be taken though they be hunted whether that be so or not is none of my Enquiries sure I am teaching Children their Duty toward God and going before them and with them in the performance of it is the way to engage them to a perseverance therein and to secure them from the great Nimrod of Hell that cruel and bloody Hunter of precious Souls so that they shall not afterwards be drawn away from it by the wiles subtilties and temptations of that wicked one nor seduced by the bad examples of evil Men who know not the Lord. Do you by your Teachings and Instructions lay up the words of Gods Mouth in their Heads so through Divine Grace they may come to lay them up in their Hearts and then they will be preserved from sinning against God and kept from the paths of the Destroyer And as an happy consequence hereof You may at your departure from hence leave them with a comfortable hope of meeting them again with mutual and exceeding joy in the other World in a better place and in a far better case than that is in which you leave them when all troubles shall be removed from the Flesh and all corruption from the Spirit when there shall be nothing within to disturb and nothing without to offend but you and they shall have a spotless Purity and blessed Eternity You shall be raised out of your Graves in which you have had so sound and long a sleep and stand upon the Earth and be caught up together with the rest of the holy Ones into the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall you ever be with the Lord and O the joys that will be at that meeting The meeting of the Bridegroom with the Bride is not to be compared with it the meeting of the Father with his penitent and returning Prodigal falls short of it Oh the Smiles the inward Satisfactions the dear Embraces the loud Triumphs the Hosannahs and Allelujahs that will be at that meeting All which will arise from the condition you meet together in freed from sin and from imperfections deliver'd from all your Enemies having got the last of them Conquer'd and now under your Feet yourselves being in a state of safety peace and acceptance with God and also it will arise from the thoughts and considerations of that which you then meet together for It is for the greatest purposes and most glorious ends that can be you meet to receive the Reward of all your services and of all your sufferings the answer of all your Prayers the accomplishment of all your desires the fulfilling of all your hopes you shall meet the Bridegroom whom though you had not seen yet believing you chose and lov'd and were espoused to and between him and you there shall be everlasting Nuptials you shall meet together to take possession of that incorruptible undefiled Inheritance which fadeth not away but is reserved in Heaven of which you were new-born the Heirs you shall meet to see and together enjoy that God in Heaven whom you served