instruct them and assist them in This their most Important Concern It might be hoped that if Parents did their part in the use of God's first appointed Means to sanctify their Children he would usually bless their Indeavours in order to his saving Grace And when serious Religion is once got into a Family it has been observed for your Encouragement that ordinarily the Grace of God doth not soon leave it tho there may be some sad Interruption yet it appears many times again in Grand-Children and Great Grand-Children as in the Seed of good Jehoshaphat and others 2 Chron. 20.21.22 Chap. Jotham had Ahaz but Ahaz had Hezekiah and if not in the direct Line yet collaterally So that by this means you may transmit Religion to Posterity from Generation to Generation as Sin is propagated from Father to Son and from one wicked Family diffused to many others And you perpetuate your own Name and Honour too for Godly Children occasion their Parents to be called to Memory By beholding Timothy's Piety the Apostle is minded to remember his Mother and Grandmother Eunice and Lois 2 Tim. 1.5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned Faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy Grandmother Lois and thy Mother Eunice and I am perswaded that in thee also The Piety and Care of holy Women is recorded with Honour Acts 16.1 Behold a certain Disciple was there named Timotheus the Son of a certain Woman which was a Jewess and believed but his Father was a Greek Such is the fingular Usefulness of the holy Government of Families to reform the World and destroy the Kingdom and Interest of the Devil that there is hardly any thing that Men have more Objections against or more Evasions and Excuses to extenuate the Noglect of their Duty or perswade themselves it is none than in this Case One of the most common and prevailing Cavils is this That if they bring their Children and Servants to the Publick Worship to be taught by the Minister there is no positive express Scripture for the Worship of God in their Families to call them together to pray with them and read the Scriptures c. But in how many other cases is it granted that the want of a positive express Command will not conclude such or such a Thing to be no Duty The Baptism of Infants the Sanctification of the first Day of the Week as the Christian Sabbath the Admission of Women to the Lord's-Table and other Instances may be given which may be proved to be Matter of Duty without positive express Command The Apostle is said to confound the Jews dwelling at Damascus proving out of the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ Acts 9.21 it must be by the Harmony of the Holy Scriptures and by Deductions from express Texts for he did not bring any one particular Scripture out of the Old Testament to prove in so many Letters that Jesus was the Christ Nor did our Lord in his Proof of the Resurrection of the Dead against the Pharisees out of the Old Testament Mat. 22.37 There are no such words as the Resursurrection of the Dead mention'd in that Passage from which he proves it I am the God of Abraham c. 'T is an Argument of a very perverse Mind to insist so much upon positive Scriptural Proof of that as our Duty which must be acknowledged to be so much for our Benefit and Advantage and for the Publick Good There is reason enough to believe that they who pretend there is no express Scripture for this kind of Duty would little mind it if there were never so many and never so express for if Men were true to God and their own Souls in those things for which we have the most positive and express and repeated Authority of the Holy Scriptures they would not raise such a Scruple There is an express Command to Repent of Sin and to Believe on Christ and to make your Calling and Election sure to Redeem your Time and walk Circumspectly to do good unto all to pray every where and all sorts of Prayer and in every Calling Station and Relation therein to abide with God to live by Faith upon the invisible World to prepare to die and to remember the Judgment-Seat of Christ before which we must be made to stand to answer for all we have received and done in the Body c. there are Express Scriptures about these things And did we believe them remember them and obey them we should soon see Reason and Evidence sufficient for all that Duty of worshiping God and promoting Religion in our Families which I would now press I know there be some Arguments used from Scripture upon this Subject which many think will not conclude all that which they are brought to prove As that because we read of the Church of God in such a Man's House Rom. 16.5 when it is likely there were no common Assemblies of Christians at Rome that therefore every House should be as a Church by daily Prayer and Praise to God For the House of God is an House of Prayer and a Church is God's House I will not urge this because a House might be called a Church only on the Account of the Church sometimes assembling for Divine Worship in such a Man's House I grant the smallest Congregation of the Faithful met to worship God may bear the Name of a Church However I do not believe this Argument because I believe it true of many in this City and Nation and wish I had no ground for it that they have had frequent Meetings in their Houses for Prayer and Preaching and divers Christians have resprted to the Worship of God there and yet the Master of the Family lived in the neglect of Family Prayer and the daily Worship of God in his House Neither will I urge the Example of our Saviour Christ his praying with his Disciples Though much may be gathered from his Pattern as having a Family whereof he was the Master and his Twelve Apostles Members Constant Residence in one House is not necessary to constitute the Relation between the Head of a Family and the Members of it We read of his instructing 'em praying with 'em and praising God by singing together c. But I will not lay too much stress on this Example because though our Blessed Lord did occasionally pray with his Disciples as we find in several places of the Gospel-History yet his Case and ours are vastly different What was suitable for his Disciples was not proper for him He could not ordinarily be their Mouth in Prayer for what they daily needed He could not for himself ask the Forgiveness of Sin and the Mortification of Lust and the Increase of Grace c. But there is enough from the Holy Scriptures to convince those that will seriously consider it of the Duty of Family Religion and Prayer as a part of it For Instance we read of Joshua that he resolves for himself
or yours can be in They that cannot read or will not read or have not so much time to read may be profited by your reading the Holy Scriptures in your Family with them The Singing of Psalms or Hymns in Christian Families where there are enough who are able to joyn in that part of Worship is also a very commendable and excellent part of Family-Religion Col. 3.16 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Especially on the Lord's Day And that I would next speak of because I am perswaded that no Family-Religion can be duly kept up without the Sanctification of the weekly Sabbath What the Jews said falsly of Christ we may apply truly enough to many a Parent and Master This Man is not of God for he keepeth not the Sabbath Day and takes no Care that his Family with him do so You have many helps to understand the Nature of the Duty and of your Christian Deportment on that Day in publick private and secret You would do well the Night before to make some Preparation for the Solemnity of that Day and in the Morning to possess your Souls with the Consideration of the Privilege you enjoy in such weekly Seasons of approaching to God and paying Homage to him Serious Godliness has never been found to flourish in any Soul or in any House as to any Person or any Family where the strict * See my Lord Chies Justice HALES's Contemplations 8o. Vol. 1. Directions to his Children touching the keeping of the LORD's DAY Observation of the Lord's Day has been neglected If you begin with God in secret that will prepare you for Family-Worship the private Worship of God in your Families will fit you for the publick and your careful serious Attendance on that will help you to return to the Worship of God in your Families and Closets You ought to methodize and time these Duties so as one may not interfere with the other Sanctify the whole Day to God improve every part of it make it not shorter than the other Days of the Week as many do by rising later and going to bed sooner Bring as many of your Families to the publick Worship with you as you can When Elkanah went to sacrifice to the Lord he and all his House went with him 1 Sam. 1.21 And if you recollect and repeat to them aferwards the Substance of what you and they have heard preached it may promote their Attentiveness in hearing assist their Memories to retain what they heard and quicken your own Affections That by reading the Holy Scriptures by Catechising by repeating Sermons c. your Children and Servants may be instructed in the Knowledg of God his Nature and Works and Will in the Knowledg of themselves the Immortality of their Souls the Nature of Sin our first Apostacy and the sad Effects of it our Redemption and Recovery by Jesus Christ his Person his Offices his Ordinances and Sacraments his Promises Faith in him the Covenant of Grace the Properties and Privileges of Believers the Rewards and Punishments of the next Life c. In short do but spend that Day as knowing how small a part of every Week one Day is to be solemnly imployed in preparing for an Eternal State do but imploy that Day under the Sense of the Value of Immortal Souls your own and others And think how near the Judgment-Day may be when you must be accountable to God for all your Time and especially such sacred Time Do but spend that Day as believing the Good or Evil Influence it will have upon all the other Days of the Week The Affairs of your Souls will thrive or not thrive as the Lord's Day is sanctified or neglected The Souls of your Children and Servants if not minded then are unlikely to be minded on the other Days of the Week And oftentimes it is found that even your civil and secular Affairs do prosper or not according to your Care or Remisness in sanctifying the Lord's Day Moreover you ought not only to pray with your Families and worship God with them but to observe the Necessities of every one in particular and heartily to pray for them in secret You would have more Comfort in your Family-Relations and God more Glory from them did you more fervently beg of God the Grace which you and they do need Monica the Mother of Austin had gracious Answers to her Requests to God both for her Husband and her Son How can you strive with God in Prayer for your own Souls and not remember to do the like for those whose Souls are committed to your Care O that my Son may live to thee O that my Daughters may not die for ever O that my Servants may not serve the Devil O that there may not be a Son of Perdition nor a Daughter of Belial under my Roof Have mercy on me O Lord says the Woman of Canaan unto Christ For my Daughter is grievously vexed with a Devil A certain Man at another time comes kneeling to him saying Lord have mercy upon my Son for he is a Lunatick and sore vexed For oftentimes he falls into the Fire and oftentimes into the Water Such Prayers had success for the Cure of bodily Evils and may rather be hoped to have so for spiritual ones If the Case of your Children resemble this that any of them fall sometimes into the Fire of Lust sometimes into the Water of Drunkenness sometimes into this Sin sometimes into that being hurried and led captive by the Devil beg that God would dispossess Satan and that he would have mercy on them and bring them to themselves You know not what effect your Prayers may have while you live nor of what Advantage a Stock of Prayers laid up may be unto your Children after your Death The largest Portion the fairest Inheritance or Estate you can leave them may be a much less Kindness Your Interest in the Covenant and hearty Prayers for their Salvation is a Treasure they cannot sufficiently value Whereas a wicked Father lays up Iniquity for his Children as you have the Expression Job 21.19 20. He may store up Riches and God treasures up Wrath And upon Imitation of their Father's Sins God fills up the Measure of their Judgment Luke 11.48 50. While you neglect not Family and secret Prayer in these respects you must likewise remember to observe what Answers God at any time gives to such Prayers What serious Impressions are made on the Minds and Hearts of Children or Servants how their Knowledge and Grace do increase and grow what Convictions the Spirit hath wrought on any of them who is reformed c. and how God hath prospered your secular Indeavours how he favours your Diligence in your Calling but especially how he rewards your Faithfulness to the Souls of Inferiours If any of your Children
and Family I and the Men of my House will serve before the Lord That is the Men who dwelt with him in his House And we read of Cornelius Acts 10.2 that he was a devout Man one that feared God with all his House and gave much Alms to the People and prayed always He was a Roman Captain over the Italian Band which attended the Roman Governour 's Person as his Life-guard and therefore probably of that Nation This Cornelius is said to be a Devout Man Whether he were a Proselyte to the Church of Israel or no is doubtful be sure not a Proselyte of the Covenant or of Justice for such were Circumcised If he were an Uncircumcised Proselyte or a Proselyte of the Gate he was not incorporated into the Commonwealth of Israel The Apostle Peter had a Vision first to authorize him to go to him And the Christians of the Circumcision exprest their Resentment for his Conversation with him till they knew his Warrant Acts 11.3 Yet this Roman this Souldier this Centurion was accepted of God as being prepared to believe in Christ assoon as he should be revealed to him He was a devout and good Man and not only good himself but chose such to be in his Family as feared God He was full of good Works and constant in Prayer and God testified his Acceptance of him Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up as a Memorial before God Vers 4. Of a Truth I perceive says the Apostle that God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness shall be accepted Vers 39. Here is a surprizing Example of a devout Souldier a devout Roman spreading Religion in his Family One that feared God with all his House and prayed always The Fear of God is an usual Expression comprehensive of all Divine Worship 2 Kings 17.36 37. Let all the Earth worship him Psal 66.4 Let all the Earth fear him Psal 67.7 And Prayer being the principal part of it we may suppose that as he feared God and all his House so he prayed with all his House unto God And he himself seems so to explain it I prayed to God in mine House at the ninth Hour or with my Houshold as it may be rendered He afterwards called together his Kindred and his near Friends when Peter came but mentions not the calling of his Houshold as what was usual and supposed And the praying always or continually can hardly bear a less Sense than the doing of it every Day As the daily Sacrifice which God appointed the Jews is called the continual Sacrifice which was offered Morning and Evening Dan. 8.11 So Mephibosheth is said to eat Bread at the King's Table continually 2 Sam. 9.7 that is at Meal-time every Day Nature and Scripture both seem to concur to recommend Morning and Evening as the proper Season for Prayer It is good to give Thanks unto the Lord and to sing Praises to thy Name O most High to shew forth thy Loving-kindness every Morning and thy Faithfulness every Night Ps 92.1 2. God is to be worshiped by all Persons and all People Ps 22.27 28. Ps 66.4 and by Social Worship Psalm 34.3 Acts 12.12 The general Nature of Worship and all the Essentials of true Divine Worship is found in the Worship of God by Families as such The Object the End and the Rule is the same And since there are many Commands in Scripture concerning Divine Worship and this part of it Prayer in particular which are of general Extent such as of praying always and giving thanks always and continuing in Prayer and Thanksgivings with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit every where lifting up holy hands in every thing giving thanks c. 't will be hard to obey all these Commands and yet live in the neglect of Family-Prayer For by the Light of Nature we may from hence be able to determine the Performance of this Duty to be every Day as a proper Time and in every House as a proper Place for it But if it were only permitted us we are greatly wanting to our own Interest to neglect it These general Rules and Precepts do at least warrant and make lawful our Praying together every Day We have leave to pray together and shall we not use it What if God should have forbidden us if he should put any of our Families under an Interdict and say You shall not pray to me I will not receive a Sacrifice from you Your Neighbours may pray to me every Morning and Night I 'll hear them and accept them As for you you shall have no Family-Altar or Sacrifice Who would not be griev'd to be forbidden such a daily Privilege Who would not then use it if they might And because the Evening and Morning do make one Day as the Beginning and the End do comprehend the whole he that prays every Morning and Evening may be said to pray continually to pray always to pray without ceasing Doth not the Light of Nature which instructs us in the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul oblige us to endeavour the good of those in our Families And as one proper means of their spiritual Welfare it may direct the Master of a Family to pray with them there being Family-Sins to be confessed by us and forgiven by God there being many Temptations every day to be resisted Wants to be supplied Duties performed Graces exercised Crosses prevented Mercies acknowledged c. in Families as such with respect unto all these Family-Prayer and Worship is an excellent Means Some of those who had not the Advantage of Scripture-Revelation have yet had their Houshold-Gods The Eastern Nations had their Teraphim the Egyptians Greeks and Romans had their Lares and Penates a Sort of Family-Gods to rule preserve and defend them in their Houses whom they worshiped and sacrificed unto in their Houses and several of them had a particular Room set a-part for an Oratory to that purpose The Heathen Poets Hesiod Homer and others mention their daily Sacrifices to their Gods every Morning and Evening that they might prosper and succeed by their Favour in all their Affairs and their Practice may be urged for our Conviction It seems a Prescription of the Law of Nature that every Society wherein Men do unite and joyn according to the Mind of God should own their Dependance on him by some Worship common to that Society and as performed in the Name of it especially is it so as to an Houshold or Family which is the Foundation of all other Societies Hence there were Sacrifices peculiar unto Families before the Law wherein the Father of the Family was the sacred Administrator So Job offer'd Burnt-Offerings for himself and Family Chap. 1.5 and Jacob for his Gen. 35. And such Family-Sacrifices were famous among the * An Eminent Instance hereof the Roman Historian gives us in C. Fabius who when Rome was sack'd by the Gauls and the Capitol
Our daily Sacrifices by Prayer and Praise under the fuller Dispensation of Gospel-Grace should not be fewer or less frequent than theirs of another sort But I hope I have said enough in the Former Letter to recommend the Worship of God in Families Doubtless one Advantage of it would be to sit us for those other Duties and Parts of Worship which are sometimes urged to excuse the Neglect of this For how many are ready to say we pray to God every day in Secret and we joyn every Week with others in Publick Worship and what need of any more Whereas one part of our Duty is so far from interfering with the other that the one will help to the better performance of the other By praying in Secret you will be inabled to pray in your Family and by both these may obtain Assistance and Success in the Publick Worship of God and by attending upon the Publick Worship you will be fitted for the other parts of your Duty in Secret and Private You are obliged to pray in Secret if you had no Families and it is very doubtful in a numerous Family whether all the Members of it do daily pray in Secret or not If it be said that there are very many of those who make a great Profession of Religion who yet live in the neglect of Family Worship I answer that is no wonder because there be many who profess to be what they are not who have a Name to live and are dead But if they be real upright Christians they are either under the Power of a present Temptation or under the Conduct of an erring Mind as misled by some False Teachers c. and so they will neglect this Duty no longer than till their Errour be removed or the present Difficulties in the way of this Practice are got over which many say they would be glad of but cannot yet attain As in some Families it is pretended they have not Time every day for such Work My Trade will not allow me I have a Charge of Children that must be maintained and my Business must be minded or I am obliged to be Abroad early and late I cannot read the Holy Scriptures in my Family and pray every day with those of the Family for want of Time I have often thought of this Objection this Winter and how the Providence of God has removed it as to a great many Families to their sad Disappointment and Sorrow What else mean the many Complaints of Starving Families for want of Trade They have Time enough now to pray for they have no Work Let such reflect upon themselves and consider how righteous it is from God that whereas while they had Trade and Business they would not find Time to pray God should punish their Neglect by blasting their Endeavours and now they want Trade and would be glad of Work to employ their Time But what need is there for any to be so long in Family-Worship as to hinder the Business of their particular Calling Though it may be all in the Family cannot come together yet some may and possibly the greater part if a little Prudence and Consideration be used as to the choice of the Time And if less time were spent in the Morning in most cases there might be more redeemed in the Evening Many might redeem time from the Coffee-House and from the Tavern and from time-wasting Clubs and Meetings by appointment without Business while their Children and Servants at home are exposed to Temptation and the Worship of God neglected there or hudled over slightly towards midnight between sleeping and waking Every one will grant that Success in his Trade and Calling depends upon the Blessing of Heaven but most live as if they believed nothing of it For it can hardly be denied that to begin the Day with God and heartily implore his Blessing is the best way to have it If what you get be not accompanied with the Divine Blessing you will have little Comfort in such increase And how can it be proved that it is your Duty to grasp so much Worldly Business as is inconsistent with the worshiping of God in your Families and having time to mind the Souls of those committed to your Charge Business you say must be minded Your lawful proper Business it is true must be so in its place But as one says this Devil of pretended Business has destroyed and damned more Souls than all the Devils in Hell besides How easily can God by Sickness or grievous Pains unfit you for the business of your Calling or disable your Servants by Sickness if he be provoked by your neglect of him in your Families He may either blast all your Diligence the Curse of God shall blow upon you you shall labour much and get nothing Or he may disable you and yours from following your Trade and Business O how easily can God make you know that if you will not find a time to pray you must have a time to be sick as well as others How soon and suddenly may he summon you by Death to his Judgment-Seat Think now whether when you shall appear there you will pretend the want of time for this Work Let Conscience speak the Truth Is it not that you want a Heart God allows us a sufficient Time for our particular Calling If our Hearts were filled with Love to God and awed with his Holy Fear we should not rob him of that which belongs to his Service The Grace of God to sanctify our Hearts would answer and remove a thousand such Pretences There be many who cannot plead the want of Leasure who pretend the want of Parts and Gifts to instruct and teach others or to pray with them But let them seriously accustom themselves to secret Prayer and they may quickly learn to pray in their Families Get but your Hearts affected in a due manner with Family Wants and Sins and Mercies and you will soon be able out of the abundance of the Heart to express your selves sufficiently well For it is not fine Words and good Language that God regards and is pleased with but a serious reverend holy thankful Heart You do not want words to express your Desires in other Cases nor would you here if you were to beg your own Life or that of a dear Relation of an earthly King or Judge It is a shame for Christians who have lived long under the Ministry of the Gospel and have such Advantages of the Bible in a known Tongue and of so many useful practical Books to pretend the want of Gifts for this Duty However rather use a Form and take the Assistance of a Book for a while than wholly neglect the Duty Almost all the Old Divines called Puritans acknowledged the Lawfulness of a Form of Prayer and advised the use of one in this Case It is better to own and acknowledge God and do something in this kind though with some Imperfection than affront him and despise him
how profitable how honourable and pleasant a Life that of serious Godliness is Hereby you remove or cure their Prejudices concerning practical Religion as a melancholy burdensome thing And take heed what Books they read and what Company they keep lest their Minds be poysoned and corrupted by ill Principles and their Hearts inticed and drawn to Sin and so all your Instructions fail of Success Without such Care 't is in vain to put up Bills to Ministers Week after Week to pray for your dead Children whose Souls you your selves do murder by your Negligence or ill Example But your Counsels and Discourse back'd by a Holy Example to inforce them may do much good and will if these go together For if Inferiours see you to be unjust deceitful drunken wanton cruel c. all your serious Talk will do them harm rather than good Especially if you do not carry it well in your Relations to them if Parents be very passionate and hasty with their Children if Masters be barbarous and hard-hearted to their Servants and remember not how it was with them when they were Servants I mean not so much how they fared as how they desired and wish'd to have been used under their Apprenticeship And of all the serious things which may be proper to be recollected there is hardly any thing of greater Moment than to instil often into their Minds the value and worth of Time That they may be brought to hate Idleness and not care to mispend one Hour But as they grow more capable of improving it may be still imployed You cannot insist too often upon the Brevity and Vncertainty of our little Time on Earth the Swiftness and Irrecoverableness of it and the Consequence of redeeming it well or ill in order to our future Account The Devil is almost sure of those who are brought up in Idleness and put no value upon their precious Time Urge this therefore to Inferiours and help them to improve their Time and to begin every Day with secret Prayer alone and to imploy the other part of it in what is suitable to their Age Capacity Condition and Relation You would do well to put them upon secret Prayer to advise your Children and Servants and charge them to pray alone every Day as well as be willing to join in Family-Prayer You ought also to teach them by Word and by Example to beg a Blessing on their Food at the usual Seasons of Refreshment and seriously to return Thanks afterwards We depend on God for our Daily Bread And our Blessed Saviour did never eat himself or feed others at his Table but he blessed and gave thanks Mark 8.6 7. So the Apostle Acts 27.25 and by Prayer and Thanksgiving is every Creature sanctified 1 Tim. 4.3 4 5. It will be of great Moment in order to a religious well-ordered Family to be very careful whom you admit to dwell with you The Case may be so stated it is true that you must dwell with such as scorn and despise Family-Religion and Worship But take heed lest you sinfully chuse such Relations and such Inhabitants It may be David thought that Michal whom he knew came of a bad Stock might be prevailed with by him to join in the Worship of God and in time be brought over to what he desired but she despised him in her Heart and mocked at his Zeal and proved a Snare and a Cross and made him repent his Choice Wo to him who hath a Philistin in his Bosom as Samson had Marriage is the turning-point of Life Your future Religion and your Eternal Interest are greatly concerned therein We find the Wickedness and Ruin of several of the Kings of Israel laid at this Door that they married into a wicked Family Such a One he had a Wife of the House of Ahab and was quickly drawn off from God by one who had a wicked Ahab to her Father and a curfed Jezabel to her Mother and she stirr'd him up to work Wickedness 1 Kings 21.25 A due Care on this Account is to be had in the Choice of Servants also Such are to be preferr'd who by Education and as far as you can judge by Inclination too will be willing to serve God and rejoice in the Helps they may have to do so in a religious Family And how orderly and beautiful is Family-Worship where all in the House do heartily join in it You complain you cannot bring your Servants to do what you desire as to Matters of Religion when it may be you had nothing of Religion in your Eye in the Choice of Servants It may be for a small Sum less with an Apprentice or for the same Wages to another Servant you might have had one whose Education and Inclinations would have been more incouraging and who would thank God to enjoy such Advantages for the Knowledg and Service of God as he might have in your House Servants also in disposing themselves and Parents in the disposing their Children ought to consider this A wicked Master will commonly chuse wicked Servants and make them worse When a Ruler of an House or Town or Country hearkeneth to Lies or is otherwise wicked all his Servants are wicked Prov. 29.12 Such a one can't endure the constant Reproof that is given him by the good Conversation even of a Servant And therefore will desire no more Religion in a Servant than not to be unfaithful to his Trust I wish there be not some Masters even amongst those who would be accounted Religious who are shy of chusing Servants that have the Character of being so contrary to David's Practice Psal 101.4 5 7. It is true some that have been well educated have proved very ill afterwards and Masters have found themselves mistaken after all their Care in this Matter But if they did their Duty to make the best Choice and use the best Endeavours they could they may have Peace and Quiet in their own Minds when they meet with a Disappointment which otherwise they cannot They ought to look to it whom they admit into their Families unless they value their particular Calling above their General one For who can tell the Mischief that one bad Servant may do in a House One Sinner destroys much good as one Joseph may bring a Blessing upon a Family and upon all that his Master hath in the House You can hardly expect that God should succeed you with a Blessing in what you undertake when you care not with what Tools you work or whom you imploy And in the Nature of the thing there is little reason to hope that they who are false to God and to their own Souls will ordinarily be faithful to you We read of those who were no good Men viz. Laban and Potiphar c. who have thrived the better for taking good Servants into their Families but I no where read of a good Man that was the better for a wicked Servant We have sad Experience every Day to the
contrary But the Welfare and the Comfort of religious Families depends not wholly on the Duty of the Heads of it They who are Children or Servants are obliged thankfully to improve the Blessing of Religious Parents and Masters and faithfully to do their Duty in each Relation Without a wonderful Change by the Grace of God you will never be good Parents to your own Children if you live to have any if you are not good in the Relation of Children The same may be said for Servants Nor are they like to be good Husbands or Wives who were not good in their former Relation as Children or Servants Neither are such who are not good in their Family-Relations like to be so in any other Either good Neighbours in a Town or good Members in a Church or Magistrates in the State Absalom a Rebellious Child proved a Traiterous Subject Hophni and Phineas disobedient Children proved scandalous and sacrilegious Priests so in other Instances Let Children honour and obey their Parents in the Lord See that there be inward Reverence Respect and Love Despise not their Persons slight not their Instructions Rebukes or lawful Commands or Government Take heed of speaking contemptuously of either of them He that curseth Father or Mother let him die the Death Levit. 20.9 His Lamp shall be put out in Darkness Prov. 20.20 You should prize their Counsels delight in their Presence rejoyce in their Company sympathize with them in their Sorrows or Joys and readily deny your selves for their Sakes The Expressions of outward Honour from Children to Parents by the Dissoluteness of the Age are almost out of Fashion Such as rising up and standing bare before them which is required of the Younger unto such as are their Fathers only by Age Lev. 19.31 to bow before them and desire their Blessing or Prayers to speak alway with respect to them and of them c. The Honour that consists in Obedience may be expressed many ways as by being content to obey their lawful Orders though in the meannest Services to be content to have their own Wills crossed that the Will of their Parents may be fulfilled by not marrying without their Knowledge and Consent and by submitting to their just Reproofs Rebukes and Corrections and obeying them especially in the things of God and for the good of their Souls There is an Honour due to Parents which consists in Thankfulness and Recompence Readily serving them and supplying their outward Wants comforting them in their Sorrows Sufferings Sickness Old-Age being sollicitous for their Safety and Welfare concern'd for their Reputation and Good-Name praying daily for them and plentifully freely and honourably providing for them according to your Ability and their Need. As Joseph did when advanc'd in the Court of Pharaoh This is not Justice only but Piety Let them learn to show Piety at home and requite their Parents 1 Tim. 5.4 And our Lord reproves the Seribes and Pharisees who by their corrupt Doctrines would dispense with Children from such an Obligation Mat. 15.5 6. Such Children then who are a Grief to their Parents or purloin their Goods or waste their Estates or do not to their utmost minister to the Supply of their Wants do so far fail of their Duty The Children of Religious Parents are especially bound to pay them Honour and so to walk as to reflect Honour on them imitating their good Examples thanking God for his special Mercies to their Parents while they lived doing what they can to honour them at their Death pleading with God the Covenant-Relation of their Parents to obtain a Blessing on themselves as their Off-spring and faithfully adhering to the Truth Worship and Ways of God as their Holy Parents did before them This Honour is due to Parents whether they be Rich or Poor Wise or Weak whether in an honourable Station in the World or in meaner Circumstances whether in vigorous Health or bowed down under Sickness and the Insirmities of Old-Age Remember still they are your Parents It is a Mercy you ought to be very thankful for to have Religious Parents and live in a Religious Family It is a Prize in your Hands you must give an Account of And a sad Account it will be if you remain ignorant of God and Rebels against Christ under those Advantages to know and obey him which others want How unthankful are you if you value it not as a Privilege What work for the Worm of Conscience do you provide if you improve it not You might have been born of such Parents as would have wholly neglected the Salvation of your Souls or you might have been cast into some Atheistical Families where God is not worshiped from Week to Week Few are sensible enough of the Obligation they are under to God by being related as Husband or Wife as a Child or a Servant to such as truly fear God I would here call such Children to Repentance who have neglected and failed in their Duty to Parents Let grown Persons reflect on their Childhood and Youth when they lived with their Parents and since Have you not been Stubborn and Rebellious Irreverent and disrespectful in your Carriage to one or both of them Have you not secretly despised them in your Hearts or openly published their Infirmities Have you not often disobeyed their lawful Commands or slighted their wholsom Admonitions Have you not denyed or been backward to Assist and Comfort them Have you not secretly coveted their Estates before their Death or desired that it might be quickly Did you honour them inwardly with a good Conscience from the Love of God and the sense of his Authority Let us call our selves to an account and renew our Repentance before God for such Sins that his Pardoning Grace may prevent his Threatned Wrath. And let us take heed to live hereafter as the Children of such of whom God was not ashamed to be called their God Remember the Advantages of your being thus related to Holy Parents for Temporal Blessings Ishmael Solomon Rehoboam and others are Instances of the kindness of God to Children upon the account of their Fathers But you stand fairest for Spiritual and Eternal Blessings you are Children of the Covenant and Members of the Visible Church of Christ the Blessing of Abraham I will be thy God which reached unto his Seed being now come upon us Gentiles Gal. 3.14 You have many Helps to serious Godliness which others have not You have many Hindrances removed which make it more difficult for others who descend from wicked Parents and live in Ignorant Irreligious Families You have more Knowledg of God and Christ of Sin and Duty And usually the Spirit of Grace begins more early with such Children and follows them with more Calls Offers Invitations Strivings Convictions and leaves them not till they are Profligate Desperate and Resolved in Wickedness whereof Ishmael a Scoffer Esau a Profane Person and the Jewish Nation who filled up the measure of their Iniquity by Rejecting and