Spiritual herein We may be in danger of Formality without the Use of Forms and we may in some cases make use of Forms and yet not be formal 4. Many Christians that have experienced high Communion with God have been very Spiritual in these Exercises and found their Spirituality promoted thereby 5. The great decay of Spirituality has been more evident in the Christian World since the neglect of Catechising than it was when this Ordinance has been more frequented For the evincing of this I desire you to compare the good old Puritan days with ours Object 2. May some say We scruple at this way of teaching by Question and Answer Where have we any Precept or Precedent for this in the Word of God I Answer 1. God in his Word commanding the Catechising and Instruction of Youth we must perform it in that method that may best conduce to the attaining the End 2. The Method of Question and Answer is a natural way of familiar instructive Discourse and the very Light of Nature has directed the Heathen themselves to the Use of it as Plato and Others 3. We have plentiful Scripture-Instances of God's discoursing with Men and Men one with another by way of Question and Answer in order to Information and Instruction The book of Job furnisheth us with abundant examples beside many other in the New as well as Old Testament even our Lord Christ taught both Privately and Publickly by way of Question and Answer 4. Though I recommend this as a most proper yet I do not assert it the only Method for Familiar-Instruction and my Reader has his liberty to use any other which he finds really conducing to this great End as well as this Object 3. Some Parent or Governour of a Family may object You put us upon a Task extreme difficult and next to impossible We are not Ministers nor can we Catechise I answer 1. I have proved it to be your Duty and therefore you must not plead Difficulty You are not to stand and dispute but go and obey 2. Being Duty if it were a thousand times more difficult than it is God can and if the fault be not thy own he will inable thee to perform it so as shall be acceptable to him and profitable to thy self and others Therefore Pray the more but Practise never the less 3. According to the Method I have proposed the thing is not only possible but may very easily be done I advise you to begin and end with Prayer and I hope you are come so far already as to pray in your Families Else you and they are under that fearfull imprecatione Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not and upon the families that call not on thy name Jer. 10. 25. For the Questions and Answers you have them in the Assembly's Catechism Mr. Allein's or Mr. Lye's Book is sufficient for the further Questionary part and Mr. Vincent's for the further Exposition One that can but read may do all this And then canst thou not read a Psalm fitted to be Sung and some one in the Family set a tune to it Set but thy heart toward the Work and it will be easily done be Spirituall in it and it will be well done But alas many Families plead themselves off from the Duty of Singing Psalms because there is not one among them can set a Psalm-Tune and but few that can follow it To this I will only say Can you not hear your neighbours children or servants sing Ballads Yea do not some in your own Families I speak it to your shame Sing vain and idle Songs why cannot you as well learn Psalm-Tunes and Sing the Songs of Zion Sure either you can sing or may learn You have accomplisht as difficult Tasks in other kinds Charge this on your selves as a Duty and see what may be done Look upon this as the highest Use and Employment your Tongues are given you for Object 4. Some may object Alas we would be willing yea glad to be Catechised but we are sure the Heads of the Family that we are in will never be brought to perform this Duty and so we are excus'd I answer 1. The Governours of your Family ought to do it Our Lord Christ has left no particular exception for them and they must answer it to him if they do not perform it 2. Judge not uncharitably before you have made trial Dare you bear False-witness against yea and judge your Superiour without hearing Use all Endeavours to perswade him Let the Wife of his Bosome the Children of his Body beg at him to take pity on his own and their Souls Let Friends Sojourners and Servants in all becoming ways try to move him One of our Lords Disciples came to him to teach them to pray as John taught his disciples and our Lord immediately taught them Luke 11. 1. So if you with humility say Sir other Masters instruct their Families we beg you would likewise instruct us it may be hoped he will do it Nay may it not be said as was to Moses concerning Aaron Behold he cometh forth to meet thee and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart Exod. 4. 14. 3 If the Master of the Family will by no means be prevailed with which I am hardly willing to suppose yet obtain at least that another may do it for him As the Wife who is to be a help meet for him or some Servant or some one of the elder Children The Jabez of the family that is more honourable than his brethren 1 Chron. 4. 9 10. Or call in the help of some charitable neighbour 4 If you can by no means enjoy this beneficial Ordinance in your own Family put in and joyn with some other Beg this Bread abroad rather than Starve at home Object 5. Some may object We are a busy hurrying Family and cannot spare time for it I answer 1. Your time is God's and you ought not to rob him of his due 2. This great business according to the Method I have proposed will take up very little time it may be one hour in a week which is but one hour of One Hundred Sixty Eight 3. This will be no Loss but Gain of Time God's Blessing will more than make it up This Whet will be no Lett. 4. For Shame count not that Loss of Time which may be Gain for Eternity Did ever any on a Death-bed and when entring on Eternity call that lost Time which they spent in the Service of God and their Souls Many then have called that time they have spent on the World so 5. Is not as much time actually mis-spent by the Master of the Family at the Coffee-House and otherwise and by the Family at home as ought and might be employed in performing this and other family-Family-Duties Yea of all the most seasonable time for these things the Evening Do you thus squander time away and yet object the want of it Object 6. Some
that are now Children and Servants may become Parents of Children and have Servants under you being built up in Families of your own Now the better you are at present in your private Station the better you may be when advanced to a more publick Capacity For to Obey well is the way to Govern well So that setting of you right for the present may be a Means of regulating your Families for the future and those who shall receive holy Instructions from you may afterward convey the same to their Families And who knows but as there shall ever be a holy Seed raised up to praise and serve the Lord so there may be a Succession of Religion in those that descend from you till the coming of Christ to Judgment It is observable That though God calls home to himself some who were far off and he will yet more eminently do so when all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him Psal 22. 27. Yet Religion hath been much propagated through the Loins of the Faithful And it hath been observed That when Grace gets into a Family ordinarily it doth not soon take its leave of it But though there may be some sad Interruptions yet it appears many times again in Grand-Children or Great-Grand-Children and if not in the direct Line yet Collaterally as the Rivers of Water run thorough the Valleys though not in a direct Course but with many Windings and Turnings and various Branchings so that we are many times ready to be at a loss in following them Of this the Scripture doth and our own Observation may furnish us with Instances Now may I not begin my Address to you as St. Austin one of his Sermons Ad vos Juvenes mibi sermo flos aetatis periculum mentis Aug. de Temp. O Young Ones my Speech is to you who are in the flower of your Age but peril and danger of Mind Or with very little Variation as St. John that bosome Disciple of our Lord I have written unto you fathers that you may know him that is from the beginning I now write unto you little children that you may know the father I write unto you young men that you may be strong and overcome the wicked one and that the word of God may abide in you 1 Joh. 2. 12 13 14. Therefore Come ye children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord Psal 34. 11. I shall give you the sum of my Advice in the following Particulars 1. Consider seriously what kind of Creatures God hath made you and learn to set a due value upon your own beings The very Frame of thy Body which is wonderfully and fearfully made and curiously wrought Psal 139. 14 15. speaks something extraordinary But then thy Soul is Heaven-born a Spiritual and Immortal Being capable of the Knowledge and Enjoyment of God himself and by what Bonds and Tyes this Material Body and Immaterial Soul are united and linked together thou do'st not know So that thine own Being is above thy Conception St. Austin Aug. Confes wonders that Men admire other things and leave themselves unadmired Consider thou art not a lifeless Rock or Stone a senseless Plant or Tree an irrational brute Beast but a Creature endowed with a rational and immortal Soul capable of knowing and enjoying God here and hereafter Yea thy mortal Body shall at the last day be raised to an Immortal State Remember thou art a Creature made for Eternity 2. Seriously lay to heart your State of Sin and Misery How you are tainted with Adam's first Transgression The Scriptures of Truth acquaint us That in him all sinned and therefore death came upon all men Rom. 5. 12. And in Adam all died 1 Cor. 15. 22. Consider further how your whole Nature Soul and Body every Faculty of the one and Member of the other is vitiated and defiled with the Leprosie of Sin Thou hast within and upon thee a compleat Body of Sin and Death Rom. 7. 24. with all its Members Even the youngest Children have old Adam in them Infants themselves are not innocent Thou hast that Corruption within thee which is sufficient to betray thee to the greatest Sins and expose thee to the greatest Sufferings Yea thou art guilty of manifold actual Sins of Omission and Commission and these cloathed with various Aggravations O! Consider how thy excellent Being is debased by Sin and how thou hast plunged thy self into unspeakable yea unconceivable Misery 3 See that thou be regenerate and born again without which thou shalt never enter into the Kingdom of God Thou art by Nature a child of Wrath and Heir of Hell Thy Nature must be changed by renewing Joh. 3. 3. 5. Grace before thou canst be a Child of God and Heir of Heaven And this know and remember that the New Birth is of the whole Man as the Natural is if it be a living Birth Remember your solemn Dedication to God in Baptism obligeth you to secure your Regeneration improve it therefore accordingly If taken out of the World by Death before thou art taken out of the World by Grace it had been good for thee thou hadst never been born for thou art undone to Eternity Woe to thee if thou diest before thou art alive to God for on such the second Death shall have Dominion and they shall be kill'd with Death 4. Have and maintain an inward Value and Esteem of your Parents Masters and Governours Yea tho' they be not so great or rich or wise or obliging as some others Esteem them as those set over you in the Lord and as obeying the Lord in so doing I have heard of a Wife who said she could be Obedient to her Husband but he was such a one as did not deserve it It was reply'd But the Command of God is worthy to be obey'd and shew your Obedience unto that So in this Case The Yoke will gall if it be not lined with Love but Love will cover a multitude of Faults Beside the Sin of Undutifulness we profit little by those whom we do not much affect 5. Study the Duties of your particular Places 1 Thes 4. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Relations and conscientiously practise them Many study other Duties and neglect their own They spy a Mote in anothers eye and cannot see a beam in their own Do you especially study and perform your own Duties Let your words looks gestures actions be such towards Parents and Superiours as they ought to be Let their Cautions restrain you from all Vanities their Counsels set you upon the Practice of what is Duty Yea tho Parents and Masters do not perform their Duty to thee yet thou must perform thine both to God and them You must be subject with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward 1 Pet. 2. 18. their Sin can be no
Governour or that should be Governour of a Family may say Do you put me upon Catechising Alas my Family will never bear it nor endure me if I should attempt it My Children are children of Belial My Servants as ungovernable and untractable as the boistrous Leviathan of whom it is said in Job 41. 1 2 3 4 10 c. Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down canst thou put an hook into his nose or bore his jaw through with a thorn will he make many supplications unto thee will he speak soft words unto thee will he make a covenant with thee wilt thou take him for a Servant for ever None is so fierce that dare stir him up I Answer 1. If this be truly the State of any Family Good God! to what a pass has the neglect of Family-Government brought us Let the Perverseness of thy Family cause thee to reflect on thine own sinful Neglects Thou shouldest have buckled sooner to this Business thy self and have bent these Twigs when greener Be humbled for thy great Failings and Neglects in this Particular and be sensible that the State of thy Family speaks the greater need of what I have been urging 2. Make a prudent and compassionate but withal effectual use of your Authority yea if need be call in the Minister's help These obstinate Persons must at least be roundly talked with And it may be after all thou may'st find the Event better than thou imaginest Yea this Ordinance will be a means of engaging your Affections one to another I speak it from some measure of Experience 3 Begin with those few you can engage and it may be others may afterward comply if from no better Principle yet for very Shame 4. If any remain obstinate after all compassionate Endeavours and Forbearance remove them and get better in their room Say as David Depart from me ye evil-doers for I will keep the commandments of my God Psal 119. 115. A froward heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked Person Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me Psal 101. 4 6. Resolve as good Joshua As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Object 7. Some peradventure may object We have not observed Catechising to do any good and therefore it is as well there be none at all as to no purpose I Answer 1. I have already proved Catechising an Ordinance of God and have mentioned some of the many Benefits of it and now I caution thee to take heed that thou art not found guilty of bearing false-witness against so necessary and beneficial an Ordinance Thou art not to bear false-witness against thy Neighbour Exod. 20. 16. much less against thy GOD. 2. If the Abuse of Ordinances by some yea the generality were a good Plea against the lawful Use of them we might for the same reason cast off all the Ordinances of the Gospel as the Word in the private reading and publick ministry of it Prayer Sacraments c. Nay if we may use nothing that others abuse we must abandon Meat Drink Cloathing yea and Life it self For too many make an ill Use of all these 3. It may be where thou observest so little fruit there has been some great fault in the Performance of this Duty It has not been set upon so solemnly and seriously so understandingly and judiciously It may be it hath not been preceded with Preparation accompanied with Prayer nor followed with future Watchfulness Can we expect God should regard our Duties when we our selves do not duly regard them 4. Thou art not thou canst not be certain that no good has been done hereby There may be good yea much and great Good done by this Ordinance tho' it come not under thy Cognizance Some one or other may have been brought hereby to know God to bow the Knee in secret to him and lay hold of his Covenant These things may be though thou hast no particular knowledge of them yea if this Ordinance has but promoted one good Thought among all those that have been under it this alone were enough to confute this Objection 5. The Time employed in Catechising might have been worse spent and more Sin then and at other times committed against God Now it is a great thing to prevent though it were but one Sin one Act of Dishonour against the Great God and it cannot reasonably be thought but that Catechising hath prevented many 6. Duty is Duty and must be done and whatever effect it has upon others yet the Performance of it will tend to our Comfort and profit both here and hereafter If we have with the Disciples been fishing long and caught nothing Luke 5. 5 6. yet at the Command of our Lord we must continue to let down the Net and may at last have a plentiful draught But however if God commands we must water tho' it be a dry Stick all our days And as he comforted himself though Israel be not gathered yet shall we be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and our reward shall be with him Isa 46. 4 5. 7. It is certain much good has been done by Catechising Many Ministers and People Parents and Children Masters and Servants have set their Seal to it And I wish That as any receive Benefit by this Ordinance they would give their Testimony for the further Confutation of this Objection 8. If any have abused this as what Ordinance is there that some have not abused their Judgment will be the greater but the Duty is no whit the less Yea let me add Thy Judgment and Condemnation will be the greater if after this Admonition thou either neglectest or triflest with this Ordinance Object 8. Some peradventure may yet object Here is more adoe about this Matter than need Many have gone to Heaven who never set up Catechising in their Families nor were Catechised there I Answer 1. If thou only carest to obtain Heaven but not to obey God thou art never like to come there The Lord Jesus Christ is the Author of eternal salvation to them that obey him Heb. 5. 9. 2. Many that have committed great Sins as well as omitted great Duties have at last tho' with great Difficulty got to Heaven but this should no more encourage us to omit the one than commit the other and we may pay dear for either 3. The whole Christian World at this day groans under the sad Consequences of the past and present Neglects of this Duty What a Floud of Atheism Irreligion Unbelief Hypocrisie Formality Error Heresie Schism Profaneness and Debaucheries of all kinds has broken in at this Gap The Neglect of Family Government and Instruction This has made that part of the Christian World that calls it self Reformed a kind of Hell Tho' God has yet reserved to himself a little Remnant 4. Family-Reformation and Order is one of the special Works and Duties of this Day and God will least bear with the Neglects of that It is hoped that those Times are even at the Door when according as the Lord hath both promised and sworn the whole Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea Numb 14. 21. Isai 11. 9. when not only the House of Jacob but all the Families of the Nations shall be brought to know and acknowledge the Lord. And surely if Family-Reformation were more promoted it would have a Tendency toward yea look like the beginning of that great Work Now we should be like those Men of Issachar who were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do 1 Chron. 12. 32. 5. God now expects this from you more especially who has done more for you than for others You have been like Gideon's Fleece wet with the Dew of Heaven when all the Ground about you has been dry You have been in a lightsome Goshen others in Egyptian Darkness Darkness that may be felt You have been watered like Mount Zion others have been like the barren Mountains of Gilboa upon whom no Rain nor Dew descends and therefore can yield no Fields of Offerings Yea you have the Servants of God to direct assist and encourage you not only in the Temple-Work of Publick Worship but also in making your Private Dwelling-Places Habitations for the God of Jacob. Therefore hush all Objections and Disputes up and be Doing and the Lord will be with you Thus I have as a Spiritual Shepherd been feeding both the Sheep and Lambs of the Flock I have urged upon Parents and Governours of Families their Duty both with respect to themselves and the Souls under their Charge I have also admonished Children Servants and the Governed Part of Families what they ought to do I have suggested Motives unto each and endeavoured to remove the Objections of all If any resolve yet to remain obstinate and ungovernable God himself will sooner or later speak to them at another rate than I can do The Lord hath said of him who cometh to enquire of his Prophets but setteth up his Idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face that he will answer him by himself Ezek. 14. 7. And to the froward he will shew himself froward Psal 18. 26. But if you will on all hands perform your Duty as you have been directed God will be glorified your Ministers will be comforted over you and Your Selves may reap the benefit of it here and hereafter I shall finally leave with you two places of Scripture and conclude Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart that the Lord he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath there is none else Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee Deut. 4. 39 40. And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them Ezek. 2. 5. FINIS