was to be admitted so here young ones think the day is their own when they can say I heard my Father or my Master speak such a word or I saw him do such a thing and from thence they strongly conclude that without all peradventure they may speak and do the same where as poor Creatures they are greatly mistaken that is a very sorry Plea a weak pitiful Argument that cannot justifie them nor will it satisfie God if the thing done be amiss your doing it will not bear them out when the matter comes to be tryed before the Judgment-Seat of Christ nay your Example alone is so far from being sufficient to justifie them that your command will not do it I do indeed know it hath been said If Superiors command what is unlawful Inferiors are bound to obey them and in such a case Though the Superiors shall be damned for their command yet the Inferiors shall be saved for their Obedience but it is a Cursed Opinion we are bound to obey God rather than all the Men in the World their Examples are not for us to follow nor doth their commands oblige us to active Obedience when they run cross to the Law of God and the Wrath of God hath broken out and will still break out against Persons and People for such their Obedience Hos. 5.11 12. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the Commandment therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a Moth and to the House of Judah as Rottenness Wherefore I advise and beseech you that ye would be holy that so ye may be exemplary be you sure to keep the way of God that they may safely tread in your steps do you follow Christ that ye may with boldness call upon them to be followers of you I cannot but again mention that resolution of David and desire you to remember it and make it your fixed resolve too Psal. 101.2 I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart do you the same Behave your selves graciously that is behaving your selves wisely walk in the Scripture-way for that is the perfect way then you may humbly invite God to come unto you and comfortably hope that he will Do this I say in your House in your Families and before your Domesticks where and with whom you do most frequently and intimately converse and in order to the more firm fastening of this Resolution and your better putting it in practice I advise you often to call to mind that excellent Question propounded by the Apostle Peter in his second Epistle Chap. 3. ver 11. Seeing all these things shall be dissolved all what things All those things that he had spoken of in the former part of that Chapter all these things that are within your sight your Families shall be dissolved your nearest and dearest Relations Civil Conjugal Natural shall be dissolved the Union between your Souls and Bodies shall be dissolved those two old dear Friends must part the whole Frame and Fabrick of Nature must be dissolved The Heavens i. e. these visible Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat for the Lord Jesus will be revealed from Heaven in flaming Fire the Earth also and the works therein shall be burnt up what Works Gods Works and Mens Works well what then One Question I would ask you and have you to ask your selves that is this What are you Are you fire proof Are you Gold Can you endure the Burning Can you dwell with devouring Fire and not be devoured by it Another Question is What should you be Take it in the same Apostles words What manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness not of the ordinary make and common size of Professors See that you be Saints of the first rate let your godliness be of the highest pitch and most lovely complexion See that you be excellent and eminent for your Holiness that every step of your way be no other than a walking with God that every one of your actions be right and regular and that your whole Conversation all the windings and turnings of your Lives be plain and evident demonstrations of your holiness and godliness Fourthly Be humble and meek in your Deportments As you are commanded to put on Christ that lie may be visible in your Tempers and Lives and others may love Christum habitantem in vobis Christ dwelling in you so you are commanded to be cloathed with Humility This should be the upper Garment and through this your Graces and Gifts all your Excellencies and Accomplishments will shine with the greater and more taking Beauty I must and do most readily grant there is a distance between the Rulers and the Ruled between Parents and Children Masters and Servants Mistresses and Maids Nature it self teacheth it and God himself hath order'd it and Superiors should know their places and be known in them it is fit it becomes them yea it is their duty and they ought not to part with any of that honour and power and authority with which God hath invested them so to do would be sin And on the other side Inferiours are to understand themselves and to know their places and to keep their distance There is an honour owing from Children to Parents and they ought most chearfully to pay it There is a fear a reverence an awe due from Servants to their Masters and Mistresses and they are bound with all readiness to give it they sin if they do it not they must not think to be as the Proverb hath it hail Fellows well met the Sacred Scripture knoweth no such thing the Great and Holy God doth not allow it see how his Will in this matter is revealed in his Word Eph. 6.1 2. Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right honour thy Father and Mother that it may be well with thee and thou maist live long upon the earth ver 5. Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. The like you may read in Col. 3.20 21 22. And again 1 Tim. 6.1 Let as many Servants as are under the yoke count their own Masters worthy of all honour that the Name of God and his Doctrine be not blasphemed God is not the God of Confusion but of Order and it is his Will that Order should be maintained and kept up in Churches and Nations and Families Yet notwithstanding all this it is the duty and very becoming of Superiours as to be low in their own Eyes so to be humble in their Behaviour toward those below them and to condescend to those who are of low degree Christ Iesus was Master though he took upon him the form of a Servant he was Lord of all yea the Lord of Glory yet he was meek and lowly and it
desire Young ones to consider of who are entring into the World and setting upon House-keeping lay this down as an undeniable Maxim that it is best beginning with God so to do is both duty and wisdom That Man who doth not carry God along with him is like to miscarry by the way and at last lie down in sorrow He opens his door to the Devil that will bring very bad company along with him who at his first entrance upon House-keeping shuts God out and turns his back upon him or at least doth not invite him It is not feasting not eating and drinking together tho' that is lawful and friendly but Prayer that will prove the best House-warming Secondly As it is good beginning with God so it is as good holding on To be weary of well doing argues a bad temper of Soul to throw up duty is sin and shews plainly that a person was never upright in it never hearty to it never really tasted the sweetness of it Iob 27.10 Will the Hypocrite delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God No neither and because not the former therefore not the latter because God is not his delight Prayer will not be his constant business he hath in his heart no suitableness to God and therefore no pleasure in his Service but such as have been sincere in it will be stedfast and indeed they will never find any reason for the giving of it over God is as full and free as ever he was the Trade of Godliness as safe and sure and the returns as considerable God can with as much cause and boldness appeal now to those that shall desert him and throw up Religious Exercises as formerly he did to ungrateful Israel Ier. 2.5 What iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and have followed after vanity and are become vain He well knew tho' he could charge vanity and folly upon them and make good the charge yet they could not justly charge iniquity upon him And so again verse 37. Have I been a Wilderness unto Israel or a Land of Darkness No no not a Wilderness but a fruitful Field not a Land of Darkness but a Goshen a Sun of Righteousness and such as have been indeed his Servants have continued firm and faithful liking him too well and loving him too dearly to leave him Will ye go away said Christ to his Disciples Peter desired not time to consider of it but had his Answer ready which he immediately returns in the names of them all Ioh. 6.68 Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life Ioshua had served and followed God for a great many years He was now grown old and his Experiences of God's care and goodness had more multiplied and encreast to a far greater number than his days and thereupon he saw abundant reason for resolving to continue in his Service And so did holy Polycarp the Disciple of St. Iohn for being tempted to deny Christ and return to Heathen Idolatry he briskly replied I have served my Master Christ now these fourscore years and all along found him a good Master to me therefore I will not leave him now And if you will believe David he assures you they are all of the same mind Psal. 84.4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praising thee they are and will be so always delighting in his Work and always commending and glorying in their Lord. But yet for the further opening to you the duty it self I must acquaint you with two things which are incumbent upon the Governours of Families and which they are bound carefully to look after viz. 1. That God be served in their Families 2. That they and their Families do together serve him First It is the duty of Family-Governours to take care that there be the Service and Worship of God in their Families that they themselves do serve the Lord and that their Children do serve him yea and that also their Servants do serve him That as the precious Ointment poured out upon the Head of Aaron ran down to the skirts of his Garments so Religion and at least the outward practices of Piety may sweetly descend from the Head of the House to the inferiour and meanest Members of it You Masters Mistresses and Parents ought to take care not only that your Children be respective and obedient to you nor only that your Servants be faithful to you and industrious in their working for you but likewise that both the one and the other do perform their duty to God as well as to you and be far more ready to pass by a failure in them with respect to your selves than to bear with a contempt and neglect of God Do not only see to the feeding and cloathing of your Children and Servants but as they are capable of receiving it do you feed their Minds with Knowledge and exercise them unto Godliness and let it not be your desire only or chiefly that they may live well and comfortably but that they may live holily that they may live like Christians as well as like Men. The Apostle's charge is this Rom. 12.17 Provide things honest in the sight of all men Now I will appeal to your Consciences whâ—â—her it be not so to fear and serve God to pray and seek God to worship God to perform duty to God this cannot but be honest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good very good amiable and becoming in the sight and account of all men except those that are Atheists and because of their being Atheists do not deserve the name of Men but have forfeited the name since they contradict the very Light of Nature and run counter to the dictates of Reason and are sit to herd only among the Beasts And if that notion be true which some have embrac'd and I do not reject that it is not Reason so much as Religion which is the specifical Difference and doth distinguish between a Man and a Brute because there is something of Reason to be found in Brutes at least call it by what name you please some shadow of Reason some Resemblance something that may claim a little Kindred whereas there is not to be found in them any thing that looks like Religion no appearance nor footsteeps of it then we may very well say without being guilty of injustice or doing a real injury That Atheists do deserve with Nebuchadnezzar to be driven from among Men until they have with him learnt to own praise extel and honour the King of Heaven all whose works are Truth and his ways Iudgment and those that walk in Pride he is able to abase but at the present they are degenerate and no better than Beasts in the mapes of Men. For they deny a Being to him by whom all things are to him who is the Fountain of all Being and the Author of their own they do not only cast off a
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
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
I shall more briefly touch upon these few things but do you ponder them First The Glory of God was the end he aimed at in all that he makes and doth Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself And well he might for there is none higher than himself none better He made all for himself as Heaven for that is his Throne so Earth for that is his Footstool And as other Creatures so intelligent rational Creatures as Angels so Men and as Persons so Families all of them for himself all for his glory and is there not reason that they whom God hath made should mind and pursue that which they were made for Those that do not live to that purpose do not live to good purpose and if they do not live to that end for which God made them will at last miss of that Reward which they are now so forward to promise themselves Secondly Other Creatures do in their kind honour God not only the irrational Creatures but also the inanimate ones the Heavens and the Firmament Psal. 19.1 The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work So do the Day and the Night vers 2. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge yea and they go up and down doing it they compass Sea and Land doing it vers 3 4. There is no Speech nor Language where their Voice is not heard their Line is gone out through all the Earth and their Words to the end of the World And it would certainly be a shame and reproach to us if any of our Families should be mute and silent and bring him no glory Thirdly God doth expect glory from us This is the Tribute he looks should be paid him by us Mal. 1.6 A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master if I then be a Father where is my honour and if I be a Master where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts God hath been graciously pleased to put himself into all endearing Relations to his People There you read of his being both a Father and a Master and those that desire to be his Children must resolve to be his Servants and in order to an happy enjoyment of the Priviledges there must be a cordial and chearful performance of the duties We must honour him as a Father and fear him as a Master Now the fear of God doth contain in it as that inward filial and holy affection of the Soul so the outward Worship of God and they that do not so fear him do not honour him Nay let your Profession be never so great and your pretences to Religion never so high your not having his Worship in your Families is no other than so far a practical disowning and renouncing him Fourthly The Honour of God is to be dearer to us than our own Interest This should be laid at the foot of that Iohn the Baptist was most freely willing to decrease so that Christ might increase to dwindle away and vanish into a worthless inconsiderable nothing so that Christ might be exalted in the hearts of Men and it should be so with us and with all upon whom his Name is called The design of honouring God and lifting up of his Name should be uppermost and run through our whole course and be the main principal scope of all our Actions as is evident from that Scripture Precept 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the glory of God As all our Affections should meet in God as the only Center so all our Actions should be directed to his glory as the supream ultimate and most noble end But are they obedient to this Command do they walk according to this excellent Rule who do not set up the Worship of God in their Families no they are far from it they live in a direct contrariety Instead of doing all to the glory of God in their Families they do nothing they mind their own things but mind not regard not the things of God and Iesus Christ they do neither seek after God nor live unto him and what is this but vile ingratitude and most sordid baseness what is it but brutish selfishness When men are confin'd to and wrapt up in themselves do not look above nor beyond themselves they eat and drink they wake and sleep for themselves they dress and deck and finifie themselves they labour and toil and trade for themselves they scrape and hoard and lay up for themselves and in this they are unwearied and unsatisfied never think they are fine enough nor rich enough nor great enough but all this while the great God is most shamefully forgotten and neglected he is not in their thoughts nor in their designs Fifthly The Glory of God is to be sought and promoted by us to our utmost Our best is his due therefore he calls for the Heart the whole of it and for the Male of the Flock Our All is his due we have it from him and we owe it to him Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Might Where you have the Object of your Love the most proper and principal Object of it God and the Reasons why we should love him the one is his own Nature because He is the Lord Iehovah who hath his Being of himself gives Being to all things that are and accomplishment to his Word and Promises the other is his Relation to us or our Interest in him He is thy God thine in a Covenant of Grace Again there you have the Manner of your Love or the Degree of it how high it must reach how far extend to all all thy Heart to which the Scripture ascribes Understanding Wisdom and Faith all thy Soul which is the seat of the Will and Affections and with all thy Might love him as well as we can blow up our Love to God unto the hottest and most vehement flame Love him with all your ability Let your Love to God go as far as your Authority reacheth and the Power of your Hand and there let your Love express it self Honour him in your House and with your Substance By all these things it doth evidently appear the Glory of God should be exceeding dear to us and industriously served and promoted by us Now I will appeal to you in the case who are Heads of Houses and ask this one Question What better way can you take What course can you think of that will be more proper and probably successful for the advancing of the Honour of God than the setting up of his Worship and Religious Exercises in your Families What can you do more toward it what better What is there within the compass of your Power that hath a fairer a more promising aspect and tendency to this great noble End How can you better serve the Interest of God and Godliness And
no gap to be found in it which an Enemy could enter in at till God afterward for wise and holy ends gave leave This must of necessity be a good Hedge because it was of God's own making thou hast set it and it also was a large Hedge fetching a great compass for it took in all it was about him his person thou hast set it about him about his Soul and his Body about his Graces and his inward Comforts his Life and Health and Strength and about his House the Habitation it self and all within Doors Wife and Children and Servants and all his Goods yea and about all that he had though at never so great a distance from home his Fields and his Cattel his Grass and Hay and Corn his great things and his little things too his Camels and Oxen yea and his Asses and Sheep and Lambs all that he had and the Scripture adds it was on every side He could look no way but he might see Salvation so that neither Devil could come at him nor any other Enemy without Divine permission Indeed afterward as that Chapter tells us when the Devil that inveterate and implacable Enemy falsly accus'd and charg'd that good Man telling God that he had all along been no better than a Mercenary and that a change of Providence would make a change in him if Providence did but frown upon him he would quickly fall a Cursing of God a very touch would turn him God did for the glory of his own Grace and the vindication of his Servants honour give the Devil leave to try what he could do by himself and his Instruments at the same instant resolving to allay the bitterness of the Cup to support him under the burden and at last to bring him off with honour and without loss or any cause of complaint which was at last done for Iob 42.12 God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning yet he then had a Blessing and that a great one there was not only protection but likewise a benediction for Satan could not but acknowledge that God had blessed the work of Job 's hands and that he experienced the power of that blessing and reap'd the fruit of it for his substance was increased in the Land by all which you may plainly see that the Father of Lies though his design was to bespatter Iob did yet speak truth when he said Job did not serve God for nought and as he did not so no body else ever did nor ever shall God is too good and gracious to suffer that such a reproach shall never cleave to his glorious Majesty The other Instance which I told you I would bring for the proving of this that Family-worshipping of God may be a singular means to keep off present Judgments is a tremendous and very remarkable Providence which while I was studying upon this Subject I happily met with in Polanus his Syntagma liber 5. cap. 22. de terrae motu And it is this In the Year of our Lord 1584. there was an Earthquake in Switzerland in the Territory of Bern in which one Hill being removed out of its place and violently carried and dasht against another did overwhelm and bury an whole Village that consisted of fourscore and ten Houses not any of them being spared and escaping save only the part of one House in which the Master of the Family with his Wife and Children were together at that very time upon their bended Knees praying and seeking of God IV. Setting up the Worship of God in Families is the way to promote your own Interest in them for God hath made a most sweet and gracious connexion of his own glory and Mens good so that in seeking the former they find the latter in keeping God's Commandments there is great reward upon seeking first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness other things shall be added cast in as an overplus Folly Sin makes Men and Women cheap and contemptible Godliness puts a Beauty upon them makes their Faces shine and renders them amiable considerable truly great in the Eyes of those that know them But it may be some of you do think your selves not at all concerned here and that you need not take any care nor bestow any thoughts upon this for your Interest is great and safe enough and you can well enough secure and maintain it with the greatest ease are not you the Master and the Mistress and have not you the Purse and the whole power in your hands And are not all under your Roof under you so that if any of them will not know their places nor keep their distance If they will not be observant of your orders obedient to your commands nor carry towards you with a due respect you can make them smart for it by pinching them in their comforts making them feel the weight of your hand and if that will not do by turning them out of Doors Let them affront or slight you if they dare Very well my Friends this is great and you are somebody at least in your own Eyes and it must be granted that all this you may do and being done it may turn to account but all this doth not will not make things so sure nor strengthen your interest so much as you may imagine no no be assured of this that when all is done your having the Power and the Purse in your hands will not befriend you at so great a rate nor so effectually secure to you the love and fear and awe of those with whom you have to do as exemplary Piety a Religious Life and putting the Duties of Godliness in practice I well know some Spirits are very rugged and boisterous not easily drawn and bowed to their Duty all means must be used and all little enough but this is certain it is no prudence when others are applied to omit the best The Smith would shew much folly in spending his time and tiring himself in beating and knocking of cold Iron when by putting it into the Fire till it be red hot he may form and fashion it as he pleaseth It is a gross Errour in Men proceeding much from Pride and Brutish Passion and plainly discovers their Ignorance to conceive that their huffing and hectoring their ranting and raging at their Children and Servants will procure them such a respect and esteem among them as Holiness will do and Prayer and living in a consciencious discharge of the Duties of their Places and that upon a Threefold Account First It is the way to engage God on your side who hath said He will honour those that honour him Do Men study to exalt God they themselves shall be exalted if his Name be precious to them theirs shall be so to him I will honour them saith God he will do it himself and that by taking them up at last to Heaven and cloathing them there with everlasting glory yea and he will make others honour them too
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
benumm'd are cast into a profound sleep and have no fear of God before their Eyes And let them know that sooner or latter the present Calm will be followed with a most terrible Storm the Wrath of God and the Rage of Conscience will cause it and that will blow away all your comforts and throw down all your hopes and who can tell but it may carry you to Hell with the People that forget God But on the other side an hearty Love to the Name Honour and Interest of God and the setting up of his Worship and Service in your Families from such an excellent and holy Principle is the direct and ready way to a sweet inward peace the way to have a Calm and Serenity in your Souls though the Clouds may be black and the Storms great which are upon your Tabernacles Let things issue how they will in your Families as to your Children and Servants whether they do get good or no whether they go to Heaven or to Hell yet this will be a quieting and comforting consideration to you that you in some good measure have done your duty I have been much taken with those words of Samuel to Israel after they had rejected the Lord from being King over them and he had made Saul King 1 Sam. 12.23 As for me God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and the right way O! do you so my dear Friends let it be the same with you set this excellent Copy before you and write after it frequently considering with your selves what an hearty reviving Cordial it will be when you are able to say to your Families Blessed be God I have not ceased to pray for you many a Petition I have put up and many a Tear I have shed in my Closet nor have I ceased to pray with you your selves are my Witnesses how frequent and earnest a Suitor I have been to God on your behalf I have been pleading and wrestling every day morning and evening and I have also been teaching you the good and the right way that of Truth and Holiness that of God's Commandments the Scripture way which is good because it is clean and pure and right because it brings to Heaven and Happiness all those that travel and are undefiled in it And yet further it will make the Cordial much more strong and prove a singular addition to your comfort when you are able to say I have not only shewn and taught you that good and right way but I have likewise taken you by the hand and led you into it You and I have had a communion in holy Duties We have gone to the House God in company and at home we have walked in the way of God in company How chearfully may you converse together and go about the work and business of the day after you have in the morning offered up your Sacrifice unto God and how may you at night part with one another in peace and lye down to rest in your Beds after you have desir'd the spreading of the Divine Wing over you and committed your selves to the protection of that God who is the Keeper of Israel and doth neither slumber nor sleep If there be not wilful commission of known sins nor a wilful omission of other known duties but a sincere desire and endeavour of approving your selves to God in all holy Conversation a due and constant care of performing Family-duties will afford you great peace so that nothing need to offend you And let me add this that constancy in this work will be a soveraign Antidote against many of those things that cause convulsions and broils and disorders in too many houses What passions are there in them and how unruly and exorbitant by which all is put into a flame What discontents what animosities what quarrels and contentions that people are so far from enjoying one another that they cannot enjoy themselves by means whereof the nearness of the Relation becomes a great aggravation of the affliction but joynt-fellowship in Family-duties and execises of Religion may very much help in this case both to the purpose of preventing those feuds if you do but consider that of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.8 I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting As you must pray in Faith so in Love You must not in wrath pray to him that is the God of Love It will also help to the repairing of a breach and healing of a wound when there is one made if you duly consider that of our Saviour Matth. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift Reconciliation must go before supplication if we would have audience with God How can you think your Father should be pleased if you live at variance with his Children Peter would have Love between Husband and Wife that their prayers might not be hindered 1 Pet. 3.7 They that quarrel together will not be fit to pray together Observe Iames his method laid down for general observance among Christians Iam. 5.16 Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed Seek peace with one another by confession and then peace with God by prayer But to return this Family-serving of God will promote inward peace in them that are Governours it cannot but be a comfort to you to think that while other houses have been the sink of sin yours have been the dwelling places of the most High Others have been Bethavens houses of vanity yours have been Bethels the houses of God in others there hath been the serving of divers lusts and fellowship with Devils and the unfruitful works of darkness but in yours there hath been the serving of God and a fellowship kept up with the Father and with his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. In a word while other houses have been the Synagogues of Satan yours have been the Temples of the Living God and the Churches of Christ. As we do find godly Religious Families dignified in the Scriptures and honoured with the illustrious name of Churches Thus Paul Rom. 16.3 bids them greet Priscilla and Aquila his helpers in Christ Iesus and also verse 5. the Church that was in their house And again in Col. 4.15 He ordered them to salute Nymphas and the Church that was in his house i. e. the Family which was Christian and Godly and besides their joyning together in Manual Labour and houshold business did unite and joyn together in the Worship and Service of God And I have read that in the last Century before this the House of George Prince of Anhalt for the good Orders that were observed therein was said to be Ecclesia a Church for the Religion
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
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
Righteousness do decay and wear off Now if the Nurseries be not minded if the young Plants there be not carefully and duely tended what will become of the Orchard and Vineyard in a little while From hence we may not without good reason conclude that private Family-care is necessary for the promoting of publick and common good Therefore I beseech you to look to your Nurseries take care of your Families Seventhly I would ask not only those that are truly gracious but likewise them that are sober and serious are you not ashamed of and troubled at those crying Abominations that are among us Can Forreigners that come hither and understand what is pure Religion and undefiled before God even the Father and do observe the Miscarriages of Men I say can they look upon this as Immanuel's Land when they see it so over-run with Weeds Briars and Thorns can they think it to be the Garden of the Lord or rather some of the Wilderness of the World some of the Devils waste might not Heathens and Pagans say they are become like some of us yea and worse than many of us The good Lord look upon us in mercy and doth it not affect and afflict you that it is thus after all the Gospel-Light that hath shined among us and after all the means that God hath used for our Resormation in a mixt way of Mercy and Judgement of Kindness and Severity I do very well know there are almost every where great complaints of Prophaneness and Debauchery and truly those complaints are not without great cause for Sin gross Wickedness doth abound in all places both in City and Country if the Court be free I shall rejoyce there are bad reports of Camp and Fleet Wickedness hoth broken in like a flood as if it would deluge us and prevail against all Piety yea and against all Morality too filling all places with Atheism and Brutishness and without doubt Men in High Places did draw up the Flood-gates for the furthering an Antichristian design Popery and Prophaneness are near a kin let men have a liberty to do what they will i. e. to commit all uncleanness with greediness and an hundred to one they will be content that those who are uppermost should chuse their Religion for them yea and also inferiour Magistrates and under Officers have pav'd its way Blessed be they of the Lord who have offered themselves willingly to give a check and stop to it and blessed be those Magistrates who encourage and assist them therein and Oh! that the work may prosper in their hands but in the mean time have not you private Men had an hand in it You do cry out against Publick Houses Taverns and Alehouses and as I hear so I believe not without much cause though some of them are in good hands and care is taken that good Orders be observed in them yet certainly the wickedness of others yea of many others is exceeding great they are the Devil's ground in which he sets his Nets and lays his Snares for the catching of his unwary Prey they are the Devils School in which Men follow his Trade and by both together young ones are taught it there it is that modesty is put off and sober Principles pluck'd up by the Roots and they learn the Mysteries of iniquity and commence Masters of that Black Art But you who do complain of these Publick-Houses look home lay your hands upon your hearts and ask your own Consciences what you have done and what you have left undone Is there not the neglect of God and the duties of Godliness in your houses there is no Drunkenness nor Whoredom no Cursing and Swearing that you do allow that is well but withall there is no Praying nor Reading the Scripture nothing of the Service and Worship of God there and by that means you do not as you ought Principle your young ones against the Vices of the Times and so you leave them too naked and open to the assaults of Temptation This I would have imprest upon your thoughts that the making of good Families is the way to make a good City and a good Kingdom Let every one make it his business to set up Religion at home and then we shall all be sure to find it when we go abroad If all our Families were good we should have good Princes and good Parliaments good Magistrates and good Ministers and good People good Husbands Wives and Children good Friends and Neighbours it would indeed be Aurea Aetas a Golden Age. Eighthly and lastly The consciencious performance of Religious duties in Families is an excellent means for the rendering of Publick Ordinances more successful I am persuaded there would much more good come of that precious Seed which the faithful Ministers of Christ scatter in their several Congregations were Masters and Mistresses of Families careful before they come to prepare the Soil for the Seed and after it is sown careful to cover it with Prayer and to water it with suitable discourses and exhortations Thorough the Divine Goodness and Bounty there is in this City and near it a great deal of excellent Preaching Confident I am no Place in the World can shew such plenty Heavenly Manna doth abundantly fall about our Tents Whatsoever there is of a scarcity as to Bread for the Body there is no Famine here oh that in every poor Countrey there were none neither of hearing the Word of the Lord. We have it upon the Lord's day and the week days too every day in the week one where or other within your reach blessed be God for it the joyful sound is continually in our Ears It would be a thousand pities that such admirable plenty of a thing so precious as the Everlasting Gospel should do any hurt and that any should wax wanton and instead of the Bread of Life be hankering after Mushrooms and Kickshaws or that they should grow nice and curious not relishing plain Truths and the Simplicity of the Gospel unless it be dress'd and sauc'd to their humour and serv'd up to them in words which Man's Wisdom teacheth Though I fear we have among us too many of that mind mark how they live and what becomes of them but be that how it will it must be granted that this place where God hath cast our Lines is a Goshen a Valley of Vision and a great many People are much very much for hearing of Sermons they run up and down to Lectures and some of them will hear four Sermons and much good may they do them It is a great encouragement to the Servants of God and a ground of hope that they shall catch some of them for their Master He hath made them Fishers of Men and the Fisher-men love to cast their Net where there is a great Shoal But I would say to these who do so much frequent Sermons two things First By way of Advice Look to your whole Duty and labour to stand compleat in all the
tender Babes so that they will be quiet and give you no disturbance in the work that so you may First Present your selves before the Lord offering and dedicating them to him Secondly Enter them early and from the Cradle in his Service Thirdly Beg a Blessing from God upon them though they cannot beg one for themselves If you will consult the Scriptures you will find that God's ancient People the Iews did bring sometimes their Children with them to the great Congregations Take two instances of it one of them you have in Deut. 29.10 11. All Israel did appear before the Lord when Moses made a Covenant with them in the Land of Moab Now read what Moses there said to them Ye stand all of you this day before the Lord your God your Captains of your Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the men of Israel your little ones your Wives and thy stranger that is in thy Camp from the hewer of thy Wood unto the drawer of thy Water Not only the Males but the Females not only the great and honourable Men but the meanest not only the Fathers but the Children not only those that were grown up but the little ones were brought before the Lord to enter into Covenant with him and into the Oath which the Lord their God made with them that day So when in Ezra 9. the Princes came to that holy Man and told him the people of Israel and the Priests and the Levites had not separated themselves from the people of the Lands but taken their Daughters for themselves and for their Sons also so that the holy Seed had mingled themselves with the people of the Lands the good Man upon the hearing thereof rent his Garment and his Mantle and pluck'd off the Hair of his Head and of his Beard and sate down astonied at the Evening Sacrifice he fell upon his Knees and spread out his Hands unto the Lord his God blushing and professing himself ashamed to lift up his Face to God because of that great trespass which had been committed by the people though he himself was not guilty of it Now consult Ezra 10.1 and you find there when he had prayed and when he had confessed weeping and casting himself down before the House of God there assembled unto him a very great Congregation of men and women and children for the people wept very sore The poor Children were brought as Persons concern'd as those who were obnoxious to the stroke of Justice and might perish in a common Calamity brought upon that sinning and God-provoking People So that it was no childish thing in them to bring their Children with them to such serious and solemn work there was much in it as might easily be shewn Now let these Examples prevail so far with you as to bring your Children with you to your family-Family-duties there present them before the Lord for though they can do nothing to the duty yet you cannot tell what God may do upon and in them he hath a way to their Hearts and can do that good work in them which neither they nor you do know now but both they and you may know it afterward Therefore though they cannot pray themselves though they cannot understand what you say in your Prayers yet let them be present at them there they are under the Eye of God and he may bestow upon them a look of love they are in the way of mercy and it may give them a visit the Prayers you cause to ascend may gather into a Cloud over you and when that pours down a shower of Blessings some drops may fall upon your little ones And since you should bring your little ones to Prayer it is plain that you ought to call those to it that are elder and grown up and have attained to the use and exercise of their Reason your Sons and your Daughters your Man-servants and your Maid-servants invite them to come in call them exhort them shew the goodness of it the excellency and necessity of it perswade them draw them with the Cords of a Man if they or any of them be careless refractory obstinate command them to come in compel them to come in use that power and authority with which God hath invested you Do not suffer any of them to absent themselves from one Prayer without just cause Let them not eat of your Bread nor live under your Roof who will not join with you in the service of your God You have in this Discourse heard and now read much concerning the noble and gracious Resolution taken up by that great and excellent Person Ioshua in the Text As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. I will do it and they shall I and all mine my House my whole House every Individual Person in it Let none serve you that will not serve your God as well as you For mine own part I never was a Friend to Impositions and I think and hope never shall be Not for Mens adding their Inventions to Divine Institutions and then requiring all to submit and comply with them Let themselves use them yea and all those that like them only may they grant liberty to such as are otherwise minded and count that worship best most pleasing most profitable and most glorious which is of God's own appointment But I am for requiring what God hath required it is the duty of Magistrates in Nations and of Governours in Houses to see that Gods Laws be observ'd and obey'd and therefore be you very careful in that respect and strictly command all under you to be constantly present If any of them will not let them know your displeasure and that you will not endure it whether they refuse to join with you out of a Spirit of Errour with which too many at this day are acted or out of a Spirit of Profaneness it is all one for that if they will not with you seek and serve the Lord let them not continue in your House nor tarry in your sight they are no other than Plagues in your Families and may spread the Infection others are in danger from them They are rotten Members cure them or cut them off bring all to Prayer III. Be sure to make Family-prayer the work of every day God loves your Company therefore be not strangers to him He never thinks you come to him too often why then should you go but seldom Do not content your selves with praying only upon the Lord's-day and bringing all your service of God within the compass of a Sabbath as if the other six days were so your own and for your own work that you must spare none of them for God This indeed as I have been informed is the manner of some among us upon a Lord's-day they will call their Families together and then they will do something for God but they must give me leave to think what they do then is pitifully shamefully done they are so seldom
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
Petition for the gracious supply of those wants and prevention of those dangers from all these things you may gather together a great deal of fit matter for Prayer only still beg of God that he would by his Spirit assist influence and enable you to make a right use of it IV. I dare assure thee that if thou wilt sincerely and in good earnest set thy self about the work God will not be wanting to thee do thou in obedience go out to thy duty and he will graciously come in to thy assistance our endeavours indeed and utmost activity lay no obligation upon him but his own grace and goodness do induce and move him David said Psalm 138.3 In the day when I cried thou answer'dst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my Soul Do thou O poor Soul take encouragement from thence direct thy Prayer to God and look up in the day that thou criest unto God he may answer thee too and afford thee that which at present thou labourest and groanest under the want of and as he strengthned David with strength in his Soul so he may bestow upon thee a competency of gifts and the assistance of his Holy Spirit God doth now by me call you out to the performance of this Duty Family Prayer but you complain of an unfitness for it and not without cause well remember God did once immediately call Moses out to a great work publick work to go and speak to Pharaoh and in the name of God to command him to let Israel go he was very unwilling to comply but as thou complainest of inability so did he thou thinkest thy self unfit to be the Families mouth to God Moses thought himself unfit to be Gods mouth to Pharaoh Exod. 4.10 O my Lord I am not Eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken to thy Servant but I am slow of Speech and of a slow Tongue far from being fit to be sent upon God's Errand to so Great and Proud a Prince but mark what God answered him ver 11. Who hath made Mans mouth or who hath made the dumb or deaf or seeing or the blind have not I the Lord therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say I that made the mouth can mend it I made the Instrument and can tune it I can supply the defects and cure the infirmities of it if it be a flow tongue I can quicken it I can put to it eloquence and nimbleness Bring this now to the case in hand it is thy duty to pray in and with thy Family thou art now loudly call'd to it the great God calls thee to it by me and I do not in the least question but if thou hast any sense of a Deity thine own Conscience hath called thee to it many and many a time before now and I pray thee to bethink thy self did no body else did thy Wife never desire it of thee did thy Child never beg it of thee did none of thy Friends who lov'd thee put thee upon it and hast thou not done it yet how inexorable art thou how hard thy heart What! so loath to come to thy duty yea to that which is thy priviledge as well as thy duty this is quite contrary to the Wisdom which is from above which is easie to be intreated take shame to thy self and mend now go home and in good earnest fall to the work and I dare say God will be with thy heart yea and with thy mouth too V. Practice will be accompanied with improvement use doth greatly facilitate things How aukwardly doth a Child move the feet when it first begins to goe who can observe it without a smile but yet in a little time it hath got the knack of it and can move them regularly nimbly and with strength and knows how to walk and run as well as others There are indeed difficulties in Duty but to the sincere Soul the difficulties wear off and the duty will grow easier and easier the way of the Lord being strength to the upright so that therein they go from strength to strength After that upon the Commandment of God Moses had once gone in to Pharaoh and spoken we do not read of his complaining any more no not though God told him that he would harden Pharaoh's heart yet as often as God ordered him he went not desisting till Pharaoh commanded him to see his face no more Therefore begin Man begin and see what will come of it fall to work you will find that your labour is not in vain The Scripture saith ye shall know if ye follow on to know the Lord and I may say ye shall pray better and better if ye will but follow on to pray by means hereof you will attain to a greater knowledge of God and more intimate acquaintance with him and your own hearts and you will find inward increases and growth in grace and a changing of you into his Image from glory to glory and that will help toward the production of a more holy boldness toward God and a greater Parrhesia liberty or freedom of Speech and your hearts will be more inlarged as Sin grows by acting it so doth grace yea and gifts too Trading tends to thriving to him that hath shall be given i. e. to him that useth what he hath as he should the consciencious performance of duty is the way to bring down from God a blessing upon your parts I will add but one thing more VI. Supposing thou shouldest never be able to do thy work so well as many of thy fellow Servants can yet do not lay it aside but do it as well as thou canst The Apostle Paul speaks of diversities of gifts and diversities of administrations and diversities of operations 1 Cor. 12. So there is a diversity of degrees in Gods conferring those gifts upon Men good and faithful Servants are not made equal as we read in the Lords intrusting them with Talents one had five another had but two yet both faithful and industrious the wicked and sloathful Servant had only one yet he should have traded with it though he had but little to do he ought to have been doing So it is here God is pleased to give large parts to some so that they have a quick and fertile invention and an answerable elocution they can speak their minds freely and cloath their conceptions with apt yea curious expressions so as to charm the ears and delight the hearts of those that joyn with them but thou art poor and barren â—at a great loss both for matter and words be humble upon this account and little in thine own eyes but not altogether discouraged but fall to thy work Man Trade with thine one Talent What though thou dost not Pray so as to raise the admiration and gain the applause of them that hear thee is it not very well if thou canst so pray as to find acceptance with God what though
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
our heavenly Lord and Master hath cut out for us This is part of the description of a blessed Man that his delight is in the law of the Lord and in that law he doth meditate day and night Psal. 1.2 And it is the Will of God not only that you your selves should know them such Monopolizing is not grateful to the King of Glory but also teach them your Children Deut. 6.6 7. These words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart to know them and to love them but to have them in their own Hearts was not all it was not enough no no read on thou shalt teach them diligently to thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest in the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up The Word of God is to be the matter of our Meditation and of our Discourses at all times and in all places I mean in the Morning and in the Evening at home and abroad This alone is excellent Food and to other discourse it is an excellent seasoning Paul in his Epistle to Timothy speaks of his having known the Scriptures of a Child ab incunabulis almost from his Cradle he did as it were suck them in with his Mothers Milk but how came that to pass By means of Parental Care the Teachings and Instructings of his Parents for certain of his Mother in that young and tender Age. Secondly Look diligently to the Catechising of them Blessed be God that Exercise hath been for some Years kept up in our Congregation and is now singularly well performed by my worthy Brother Mr. Alexander whom you have chosen and called to that and other Ministerial Work among you the Lord grant his Blessing both to him and to it that there may be much good fruit thereof seen and felt both in young and old and by the way I cannot pass it by in silence that it is some trouble to me there are no more of your Children and Servants brought into it and I cannot but reckon it a bad sign of proud or slothful unwillingness in them or else of a wretched neglect or carelesness in some of you But I advise and earnestly desire you as to be thankful for so not to rest in what is done here but come out to our help and do your duty at home teach you your Children and Servants their Catechism and examine them in it your selves In the Assembly's Catechism which is us'd in our Congregation and which I commend to your Family use you have a Body of Divinity summarily contained the main Fundamental Principles of Religion necessary to be known in order to Salvation methodically propounded and also brought into so narrow a compass that they will not oppress and burden the memory but if blessed of God mend both head and heart To the want of this we may I doubt not in part impute it that there among us so many wicked and profane persons so many Sons and Daughters of Belial so many ungodly impudent and debauched Young ones Hos. 4.1 There is no knowledge of God in the Land to be sure then there is a great deal of villany yes verse 2. By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and Blood toucheth Blood Darkness being in the Mind the Works of Darkness will be in the Life an uninstructed Head an unsanctified Heart and a wicked Life go together through this means so many precious Souls go down to Hell and are for ever lost they perish for lack of knowledge for lack of this the Labours of Ministers are no more successful Want of Family-Instruction is one great reason of so much unprofitable Hearing 3dly Take all possible care that none under your Charge prophane the Lord's-day That is a day which God hath sanctified by chusing it out of the rest of the days and setting it apart for holy use and it is his will that all his People should sanctifie it too as he hath made it holy they must keep it so We are to call it a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and honour it or him i. e. Honour God by honouring the Sabbath not doing our own ways upon it nor finding our own pleasure nor speaking our own words There are ways and pleasures and words proper for that day but they must not be our own no nothing of our own it must be the way of God and the pleasure of God and the word of God that we are for upon that day and not our own Isa 58.13 Neither our corrupt sinful thoughts the froth or scum of our depraved Nature nor our worldly profits nor our sensual pleasures we must bring our thoughts our minds and hearts and strength with us but lay them at the foot of God devote them to his service and engage them entirely about his work Upon that day we are not of a due elevation till above our selves and above the World nothing of our own is to be minded or done by us save works of Necessity and Mercy It is God's day and therefore to be employed about the things of God thoughts of God discourses of God the Service and Worship of God should take up the whole of that holy day To do worldly business to follow bodily recreations upon that day is no less than Sacriledge a robbing of God Therefore take care of your Families as to this do not you set your Children or Servants about the affairs of your Callings on that day see also that they mis-spend it not themselves but in the performing acts of duty preparing to wait upon God in the way of his Publick Ordinances and thither do you carry them with you not suffering them to stay lazying sleeping or playing at home or to go rambling abroad whither they themselves please no no in this case put on the Spirit of Elijah and be very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts see that That day be kept for God and when you and your Families are at home exercise your selves and them unto Godliness The continuance of Religion in England doth under God very much depend upon a care of keeping the Sabbath Many years ago when I was a young Man Famous Mr. Newcomen of Dedham told me this passage This Question was put in the Conclave What is the best way to reduce England to the see of Rome To this every Cardinal was to give his Answer beginning at the youngest Many Expedients were propounded at length an old Fox stood up and said Take away their Sabbaths and that will effectually do it This Invention was hugg'd this Medium resolv'd upon and not long after came out the Book of Sports O holy Mother Church whose Interest is promoted by such unholy means And let me tell you I do never expect to see Religion flourishing nay not living long in that Family in which there is not due regard had to the Lord's-day Therefore
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
I am full of matter the Spirit within me constraineth me behold my Belly is as Wine which hath not vent it is ready to burst like new Bottles and what now there was no need of any squeezing him to get a drop out no need of pouring some water in in order to the pumping more out no he was resolved to ease himself I will speak that I may be refreshed I will open my Lips and answer The informing and rectifying of others the correcting of their errours and mistakes was an ease delight and refreshing to Elihu himself Yea and as this is the way to supply you with matter for Prayer so to furnish you with suitable affections also without which Praying is no better than trifling a losing of time and a mocking of God When your hearts are dead and dull this considering of things is the way to excite and quicken them in the Duty Psal. 39.4 My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned than spake I with my Tongue I shall give you two or three instances when you consider your own personal sins or those which have been committed by any of your Family it will help you in Confession which is a special part of Prayer and a giving Glory to God and very much conduce to the humbling softning and melting of your Hearts and then you will appear before the Throne of Grace as becomes you and cannot carry with you a more acceptable and welcome present Psal. 51.17 The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise When you ponder upon your own and your Families wants necessities burdens and afflictions it will draw forth desires and longings hungrings and thristings and God fills the hungry with good things it will raise an Holy fervor and heat and as in Manoahs so in the flame of thy Sacrifices the Father of Mercies the Angel of the Covenant may do wonderfully And when you are considering of the mercy and goodness to you and commended by such and such circumstances it may tune both Heart and Tongue to a Song of praise and not only afford you just matter of thankfulness but also raise up your Souls to a God-blessing God-admiring and God-exalting frame and while you are much in Offering praise you may comfortably hope and expect that God will more and more shew you his Salvation and compass you about with his favour as a Shield and so sweeten your lives to you with farther instances of his care and evidences of his Love as shall further and raise your after comfort and joy Many are spoil'd ruin'd and for ever lost through want of consideration They do not repent because they do not consider they do not reform nor amend their ways and their doings because they do not consider so in the present case many cannot pray because they do not consider The most thinking Men are and not without good Reason look'd upon as the wisest Men. So the most thinking Christian is the best Christian most fit for the great work of Prayer and most like to prosper in that or in any thing else unto which he shall turn his hand Only do not rest here nor take up with your own Thoughts and Studies as if they would be sufficient but let your Eyes ever be to the Everlasting Hills from which cometh your help and humbly beg of God the gracious assistance and influence of his blessed Spirit who is as you have heard a Spirit of Grace and Supplication and whose work it is to help the infirmities of his poor People without he fill your Sails you will lye Wind-bound but if he be in you as he was in Elihu he will both constrain and enable you and think with your selves how acceptable you must needs be to God and how powerful yea prevalent your Prayers with him if you be some of those blessed ones who have the Spirit of God making intercession in them and Jesus Christ the Son of God at his Fathers right hand in Heaven making intercession for them Fourthly While you are in the conscientious performance of Family duties curiously take notice and observe what comes of all A wise Man would do nothing in vain no more would a wise and serious Christian. I run said Paul Corinth 1.10 Not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the Air. He did run as one that hoped to get the price and he did fight not meerly to exercise himself or to shew his Strength and Valour but with a design and in hope to obtain the Victory Thus it should be with you and all the Children of God with reference to duty you have been Praying but what answer is there what return The Dove hath been sent out is he returned with an Olive-branch You have let down your bucket into the Well of Salvation have you drawn Water with joy inquire what you your selves are the better for it and whether your Families are the better do you see less vanity in your young Ones and more solidity and seriousness than there was before What amendment is there and Reformation of things amiss What Conquests and Victories over Passions What Patience and contetnment under Crosses Losses Afflictions Provocations What more Reverence and Humility in Duties of Worship More taking up of the Bible and other good Books to Read What more attentiveness to wholesom Instructions and Counsels What more dutifulness and respect to you in reward What token of Love from above what increase of goodness below It is not good after vows to make enquiry but to do it after Prayer is very good It hath been the practice of Holy Men that are recorded in the Word when David resolved in the morning to direct his Prayer unto God he did at the same resolve to look up Psalm 5.3 He look'd to see what would become of his Prayer and what God would send in to him after it When the Prophet Elijah had been Praying for Rain He sent his Servant to look toward the Sea seven times and left not till he saw a little Cloud Kings 1.18.44 and that was to him a token of his speeding And so again when Habakuk had been mightily wrestling with God in Prayer for Israel and against the Caldeans that bitter and hasty Nation which should march thorough the breadth of the Land and gather Captives as the Sand. He said in Habukuk 2.2 I will stand upon my watch and set me upon my Tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me He that Prays much expects much and where there is an hopeful expectation there will be a curious Observation if any of you do not look after your Prayers when you have put them to God it is a sign you did not mind them while you made them And as I advise you to do thus after Praying so do the same after your Reading and repeating and instructing and counselling your Families the
God speaking in Psal. 91. of one that loves him that loves his Name and Interest speaks of many things that he will do for him and among the rest he promiseth to honour him and he will be as good as his word it shall be done both in Time and to Eternity Secondly This is the way to instill into your Families right Principles that fear and respect which you have with them upon the other account is altogether forc'd you do by meer violence extort it from them and so it is not kindly nor will it be lasting they will reverence you before your Face but what will they do behind your Back Multiply very hard thoughts of you and speak as hard words against you where they safely may but in this way of holy Duty you take a course to rectifie their Spirits and sow in them those Seeds that may and in all likelihood will spring up to your own comfort and advantage for while you do endeavour to teach them the good will of God concerning them and to instill into their Hearts the love and fear of his holy Name they will at the same time and with the same pains and labour be taught to pay that reverence and fear which they owe to you shew them the way to honour God and they will thereby learn to give that honour which is due to you and it is to be hoped that what they do now will proceed from an inward Principle and what doth so is of all things the most durable and like to hold Thirdly Religion acted to the Life carrieth a Majesty along with it It was the Image of God instampt upon Man at first that did so excellently fit and qualifie him for the Government of this inferiour World it was this shining in his Countenance that struck an awe upon the other Creatures and made them submit to him As soon as Sin had defac'd that Image and he faln short of the glory of God they threw off the Yoke and grew stubborn and rebellious the more this Image is restored to Men the more there is of God appearing in them the more they live to God and walk with him the more will they recover their lost honour a Crown upon the Head a Sword a Scepter in the Hand will not render a Person so truly honourable as Religion will This strikes an awe even upon carnal Men when in the Company of such and often restrains them and keeps them from those exorbitances into which their own cursed Lusts would hurry them if this doth not gain you their Hearts so that they shall be knit to you it will commend you to their Consciences Let Men think and say and act as they please there is no such probable no such effectual way for the working in the minds of people a real and permanent goodness for the making of Children loving and dutiful and of Servants industrious and faithful as is an instilling into them the Principles of Religion and teaching them the good fear of the Lord when this is once done your Hearts may trust in them and you will find them devoted to the pleasing of you and set for the promoting your Interest that will preserve them from running into such sins as others do not stick at it will make them tremble at that which others will commit with greediness they shall not be supinely careless and negligent in your business nor shall they be Companions of Fools running with them into excess of Riot they shall not pilfer and steal from you that they may have wherewith to gratifie and fulfil a Lust they shall not embezzle your Goods nor betray the Trust you repose in them they dare not do these things there is a Conscience within that restrains them an Eye above which awes them You have two famous instances in Scripture for the proof of this which I shall mention the one of a great Man the other of a poor Servant The former is that of good Nehemiah What made him so excellent a Governour and so tender over the people studying their ease and comfort he had precedents enough to justifie him in another manner of Carriage toward them Neh. 5.14 15. For twelve years I and my brethren had not eaten the bread of the Governours He made not use of that which was his just allowance The former Governours which had been before me were chargeable to the people and had taken of them bread and wine besides forty pieces of silver yea even their Servants bare rule over the people so that this Oppression was grown to be a custom Why did not he keep it up The people having been accustomed to such a load would not have kicked now that was not it he did not fear the people but he fear'd God who alone was more than they and that was it that kept him from such practices as he tells us in the same Verse So did not I because of the fear of God The other instance is that of Ioseph who was indeed of a most Noble Descent the best Family in all the World but having fallen under the heavy displeasure of his envious Brethren they sold him and at this time he was a poor Servant nay of the worst sort a Slave and what would not such an one do to recover his liberty or to enlarge his comforts His Mistress burnt in Love to him and was earnestly set for an unlawful Enjoyment and thereupon tempted him to a compliance with her Lust. Carnal Reason now might have suggested here is a fair opportunity offered for advantaging your self a refusal will inrage her if you do not yield to her Love you kindle her Wrath and that will make the House too hot for you but if you do comply with the motion and accept her tender'd kindness you may be sure of a Friend you engage her favour and who knows but by having that you may recover your liberty however you may promise your self much from it but this would not take Ioseph had been taught better in his Fathers House and he had not forgot all he had brought from home with him such a Principle as was his preservation from t his fiery Dart an excellent Antidote against this insinuating Posyon and that was a Spirit of ingenuous gratitude and holy fear Gen. 39.8 9. My Master hath committed all that he hath to my hand there is none greater in his house than I neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee because thou wast his Wife how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God! You see here the power of good Principles and the blessed effect of Family Religion Whereas the neglect of this is of as malevolent influence and pernicious consequence An House where there is not holy instructions and exercises is like a Field or Garden not cultivated that will be over-run with Weeds When Masters of Families neglect their Duty to God they set their Children and Servants a wretched
Example and teach them to neglect their Duty to them by their not owning and honouring of God they teach them to disesteem and disrespect themselves for it is but just a righteous thing with God that what measure they meet out should be meeted out to them again by their Irreligion they teach their Children and Servants Atheism by their Looseness they teach them Profaneness by their playing at Cards at home they teach them Gaming abroad by which the Estates they laboured for are brought to nothing and their Children to a Morsel of Bread if not to the Gallows at last This is no more than what such Masters and Parents do deserve no more than what they bring upon themselves and no more than what God hath threatned for he hath said They that despise him shall be lightly esteemed where observe it is not said God himself will lightly esteem them though that is certain he will do so for they shall not stand in his presence he will put them away like dross and say cast them out of my sight but he will likewise so order it that they shall be lightly esteemed by others God will expose them to the contempt of others yea to the contempt of their own Families their own Relations their own Children and Servants Take an instance of this Nabal was a very rich Man and very great but a very bad walker and of an ugly temper and though all fear'd him none lov'd him he was a burden to his own House what did one of his Men think of him and say too behind his back 1 Sam. 25.17 He is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him yea and Abigail his prudent Wife though she would have covered his shame yet she could not no nor give him a good word vers 25. Let not my Lord regard the men of Belial for as his name is so is he Nabal is his name and folly is with him He both is a Fool and acts like one Whereas your setting and keeping up the Worship of God in your Families your Exemplary and Gospel-conversation your close and humble walking with God will put a singular beauty and lustre upon you and make your Faces shine in the Eyes of others and commend you to their Consciences so that they who are under your Government and do understand themselves will freely submit to your conduct and order obeying not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake such thoughts as these will at sometimes be making their way into their minds and repeating themselves It was the great goodness of God and tender love of our Parents that cast our Lines in such a Family where our Master is a good Man and our Mistress a gracious Woman both of them Persons fearing God they seek our good taking care not only for our Bodies providing Food for them when well and Physick when sick and teaching us the Mystery of our Calling but they look after the welfare of our Souls too that we may be holy here and happy hereafter know and serve God in time and enjoy him to Eternity how much are we obliged by this to take care of their business to lay our selves out in their Service and be good in our Places and study to please them well in all things if they have in them any spark of ingenuity if any sense of kindness if any love to themselves they cannot but now and then yea frequently have such workings in their Minds Object But here some may be ready to step in and say Doth not experience prove the contrary have not others nay have not you your self seen it otherwise Rebellious Children and unfaithful wicked Servants in those Houses where there is constant praying and reading and other Religious Exercises To this I answer First By granting it is so too too often so it is most certain and no less sad than certain and worthy to be matter of great Lamentation that there are some very bad Persons to be found in very good Families There was a Bloody Cain in Adam's Family whom his immediate Parents loss and ruin could not make wise and an unnatural Ham in Noah's whom a Deluge of Waters could not wash from his filthiness a scoffing Ishmael in Abraham's notwithstanding all the care and pains he took in teaching and commanding his Children there was Iudas a Traytor an Incarnate Devil in the Family of Christ himself who spake and liv'd as never Man did A Weed may be found in the choicest Garden a Serpent was in Paradise which may become relief to those gracious Parents that have degenerate and graceless Children Pity them bemoan them weep over them do your utmost to reclaim them and to turn them to the wisdom of the Just but consider this is not your case alone David was a Man after God's own Heart yet what a dismal company of Children had he Of whom I do not remember one good except Solomon who notwithstanding all his wisdom was none of the best But Secondly This I may lay down as I believe without fear of a contradiction that for the greater part those Families which the Rulers of them are careful to make Bethel 's houses of God thorough practices of Piety and actions of Religious Worship are the Seminaries of Virtue and true Religion These are the Gardens in which Christ hath his precious Plants these the little inclosures where he reaps his richest Crops I do not indeed deny but as the Wind bloweth where it listeth so doth the Divine Spirit who is a most free Agent and chooseth what Objects he pleaseth to work upon Lepers in Israel may have their loathsome Disease continuing upon them when Naaman a Syrian shall meet with a Cure There was in the House of wicked Ieroboam who made Israel to sin a good Abijah in whom there was some good thing found toward the Lord God of Israel God had his Saints in the House of a Monster Bloody Nero but it was to an Abraham that he promised he would be a God and to his Seed It is in such Houses there is found the Seed to serve him which shall be accounted to him for a Generation It is these that travel in birth for their Children and Servants that they might be brought forth to God and have Christ formed in their Hearts and unto these God grants the seeing of the travel of their Souls to their satisfaction That precious Seed which they sow in holy Discourses prudent and pious Counsels and Religious Examples God is pleased to water with his Blessing so that it shall root and spring up and bring forth fruit But Thirdly Let us cast our Eye again upon and take another view of that Scripture which we have already made use of Gen. 18.19 where you have God speaking thus I know Abraham that he will command his Children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. Observe the phrases or words as they lye in
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-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
they had not at that time God in any of their thoughts as a Person in the least concerned you did present and bind them to God out of a seeming yea and professed sense of duty to him and kindness to them did not you go to or send for a Minister desiring of him that your Children might be made partakers of Baptism And were they not by that made as I said before God's sealed Servants You do as I suppose and hope at least you should know that Baptism comes in the room of Circumcision and is the Seal of the Covenant and so by your bringing them to Baptism you did as a Learned Divine Mr. Whiston saith give them up to God under your Hand and Seal some of you have done it publickly in the Face of the whole Congregation which without doubt is the best way and I do heartily wish it were universally and constantly practised unless where absolute necessity forbids because being rightly administred and according to the Institution and Command of our great Lord it is most for Edification which ought to be studied in all the Churches of Christ but others who for Reasons best known to themselves have chosen Privacy did Invite some of your Friends and Neighbours that they might be Witnesses of it in your own Families Now I look upon it as being so evident that it is past a contradiction that this your giving them up to God did not only express your belief of that right which God had to them nor only your willingness they should be his Servants nor only your committing them to his care and conduct but also did necessarily imply a purpose to train and bring them up for God If that was not in your Hearts and Resolutions what you did therein was a meer cheat you did in that great and solemn work act the part of vile Hypocrites and mock'd both God and Man Sure I am many of you did engage your selves to do this you promis'd it yea and that in totidem terminis in so many words the great God of Heaven is himself a Witness thereof and so are all that were present and what now my Friends Have you not bound your selves And will you play fast and loose with God An honest Man will be as good as his word and will not you Will you forfeit that Name Will you lose your Credit in Heaven yea and among good Men upon Earth that know you How should any Man trust you who are not true to God unto whom you are so much obliged and upon whom you have an absolute dependance Dare any of you go from your words dare you Again I say dare you What deal falsly with God! If Covenant-bonds are no more to you than the green Withes or new Cords were to Samson which he easily snapt asunder if your Promises will signifie nothing but vanish like Winds know God hath other Bonds that are strong enough Bonds of Wrath and Fury everlasting Chains that will hold you if your own Promises are not sufficient to bind you to your duty your breach of Promise will be sufficient to bind you over to punishment The Apostle Paul speaking of God saith 1 Thes. 5.24 Faithful is he who hath called you that also will do it God hath called you to a Fellowship and Communion with him and he hath made many great and precious Promises and he is a faithful God a Covenant-keeping God a Promise-performing God and he also will do it do it what will he do That which he hath promised all that he hath promised no one iota or tittle shall fail consider this and let it not be said of you that you have indeed promised but you are unfaithful and you will not do it you are very strict with Men expecting they should keep their word with you and keep day too but you make no Conscience of keeping your word with God Consider again what the same holy Apostle saith 2 Cor. 1.20 All the promises of God are in him i. e. in Christ yea and in him Amen to the glory of God They are all so God is not off and on with his People his Promises are immutable things in which it is impossible for him to Lie he can as soon deny himself as them they shall all be performed in their season and to the full Christians do you trust this God and rely upon these Promises and rejoice in them as assurance enough But withal do you study an holy conformity and likeness to this God And never let it be said of you that your Promises are Yea and Nay Once more let me propound to you the Example of that excellent Person Hannah who was a Woman of a sorrowful Spirit her Adversary Peninnah provoking her sore to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her Womb. We find 1 Sam. 1. that in her affliction she prayed which is a proper course a good vent to an oppressed Soul a Sovereign Remedy in distress In her Prayer she begg'd that God would look on her affliction and remember her and give her a man-child and as she prayed so she promised that if God would fulfil her desire in giving her a Son she would give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and she did so When God had granted her Prayer she performed her Promise when she had the desire of her Heart God had given her a Son whose Name she called Samuel she and her Husband Elkanah brought him to the House of the Lord which was in Shiloh and so having obtained him of God by Prayer she returned him unto God with Thankfulness and while he was a Child a very young Child soon after he was weaned she carried him thither viz. unto the Tabernacle 1 Sam. 1.25 26 27 28. The Child was young and they slew a Bullock and brought the Child to Eli and she said O my Lord as thy soul liveth my Lord I am the Woman that stood by thee here praying unto the Lord for this Child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him therefore also have I lent him unto the Lord as long as he liveth he shall be lent unto the Lord and there she left him with good old Eli the Priest that by him he might be tutor'd educated and brought up for God and instructed in the Law and so the better prepar'd and fitted for the work and service of God in his Generation But that I may shut up this Particular I will look upon this Congregation as having in it Persons of different Perswasions about the Ordinance of Baptism or the Persons unto whom it is to be administred the Subjects capable of it and I shall speak something to both First There are possibly some Persons though I suppose not many of them here present before the Lord who are not satisfied in their Consciences about Infant-baptism and therefore have not that sacred Ordinance administred unto their Children during