A SERMON Of the Absolute Necessity of Family-Duties Preached to the UNITED PARISHES OF St. Mary Woolnoth St. Mary Woolchurch-Haw IN LOMBARD-STREET By DAVID JONES Student of Christ-Church Oxon. JER 10. 25. Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name For they have Eaten up Jacob and Devoured him and Consumed him and have made his Habitation desolate LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheap-side and Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Corn-hill 1692. Josh 24. 15. If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will Serve But as for me and my House we will Serve the Lord. THese words were spoken by Joshua to the Children of Israel and they do acquaint us First of all That the Service of God may have a great many Prejudices and Objections rais'd against it For It may seem evil to some Men to serve the Lord. Secondly They inform us that though the Service of God may have so many Prejudices and Objections rais'd against it Yet its Excellence is so far beyond all things in the World that it may be safely put to any Mans Choice whether he will serve God or no. The difference between Religion and Irreligion is so great that no reasonable Man can be at a stand which to chuse God is sure which way the choice will go And therefore he says Chuse you this day whom you will serve And therefore they give us to understand Thirdly That If notwithstanding the Excellence of Religion Men will be so wilfully blind as to chuse Irreligion before it Yet it is the Duty of every Joshua it is the Duty of every Master of a Family to ingage both Himself and his Family to serve God against all Opposition to the contrary For If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serve But as for me and my House we will serve the Lord. These Three Heads of Discourse would take me up Four Sermons at least And therefore the next Lords-Day being the last time that I shall Preach from this place I shall now treat only of the last Proposition which is most Vseful for and most Neglected by most Men. In treating of which I shall shew you from Joshua's Example That Every Master of a Family is indispensably bound in Conscience to bring up his Family in the Service of God And the Reasons of this are such as these First of all The Law tells us Deut. 20. 5. That every Man was bound to Dedicate or to Consecrate or to Sanctifie his House unto the Lord. And the reason of the thing tells us that it being impossible to Sanctifie the Walls of a House there being no Sanctification properly so called in Stone Brick and Timber Therefore to Sanctifie a House unto the Lord is nothing else but to be careful for the Instruction of a Man's Family and to bring it up in the Service of God that so his House may be God's House his Children God's Children and his Servants God's Servants For indeed if a Man does not instruct his Family at Home all the Week long their going to Church on the Lord's-day does them little or no good For the Master does them as much and more harm in his own House than the Minister did them good in God's House The Masters bad Example out-does the Preachers good Preaching though he Preaches with the Tongues of Men and Angels The Master 's customary Swearing and Drinking and Cheating in his way of Trade every Day in the Week out-does a little short florid Sermon only once or twice a Week And that too perhaps design'd only to please a few itching Ears and not to sink down deep enough and to work upon their Hearts and Consciences The Masters neglect of Family-Duties which the Minister presses so home and upon his Conscience in Church makes the Servant imagin that the Minister is some Precise Rigid Puritan that would fain oblige Men to such things as God never obliged them to For else says the Servant My Master who is reckon'd such a Grave Prudent and Just Man in all other things would never be so unjust to God as to deny him the small Tribute of Family-Duties if he thought they were any way due to him And by this means the Master infects his Servant and the Servant infects his Servant when he has one and so on to the end of the World And thus as I take it the case now stands at this present time I would to God I were mistaken in it This Evil of neglecting Family-Duties is come to so great a Head that partly by the strength of Custom and Prescription which some Men impudently pretend for it Partly by the General corruption of Manners And Partly for want of frequent and affectionate Preaching against it it will be a very hard matter to convince Men of their Duty in this case And therefore notwithstanding it is my usual way to spend much time in the Application of my Discourses to the Hearts of Men yet at this time I shall be forced to apply my self wholly to your Judgments by endeavouring to Convince them of the Absolute Necessity of Family-Duties without ever applying my self to raise and to stir up your Affections which must be reserved to some other opportunity and some other Hand Secondly The Character that God gave Abraham was this I know him that is I approve of him I commend him for what I know in him I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment Gen. 18. 19. This was one of our Father Abraham's greatest Commendations And therefore without all doubt it made up the greatest or at least a very considerable part of his bounden Duty and Service And therefore also if ever we will be the true Sons of our Father Abraham We must do the Works of our Father Abraham and among the rest we are more especially bound to do this Work of his we are to command our Children and our Houshold after us We are to take care for them against that time when we shall be dead and gone lest our Memory should Stink and Rot among Men. We are in our Life-time to take care what shall become of them after our Death We are to command them to keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment And we are to bring them up in the Service of God And therefore we find that when Christ had converted Zaccheus he said This day is Salvation come to this House forasmuch as he also is the Son of Abraham Luke 19. 9. Mark it all you Masters of Families Christ does not say this Day is Salvation come to this Man Himself But it is come to this Man's House also his whole House as well as himself was
Care reacheth unto his Family and he endeavours to Convert that as well as himself For the Mark of Abraham's goodness was that he would command his Children and his Houshold after him The Mark of Joshua's goodness was that he and his House would serve the Lord against all Opposition The Mark of Zaccheus his goodness was that he would save his House as well as himself The Mark of Cornelius the Centurion's goodness was that he was a Devout Man and one that Feared God with all his House The Mark of Lydia and the Jaylor's goodness was that they and their Housholds were Baptized The Mark of Crispus the chief Ruler of the Synagogue's goodness was that he believed on the Lord with all his House Yea and the Mark of the Noble-Man of Capernaum's goodness was that he himself believed and his whole House Neither Men nor Women neither Rich nor Poor neither Noble-Men nor Rulers nor Jaylors no nor yet the very Soldiers of those Times thought it below them to look after and to instruct their Families in the Fear of God Yea and Holy David though he were a King did not think it below him to perform the same good Office to his Family For so careful was he upon this account that he has left us the whole 101 Psalm as a Pattern for all Masters of Families to walk by And yet alas How much is this Duty neglected by all sorts of Men now-a-days which was heretofore so much if not Vniversally Practic'd But however let the neglect of it be what it will yet sure it is if thou dost not do all thou canst to make thy whole House good as well as thy self thou hast no good Assurance that thou thy self art a good Man And therefore we find in Exod. 12. 48. That no Proselyte might presume to come to the Passover unless his whole House as well as himself were Circumcised and professed the Jewish Religion And how few then should now come to the holy Sacrament if this Law as well as its Equity were still in force And we find also that God would have Killed Moses in the Inn in his way to Egypt because he had not Circumcised his Son Exod. 4. 24. The great Concern of his Embassage and the great Haste it requir'd could not possibly have prevented his Death if his Wife had not presently Circumcised his Son God never trusts them with any Publick Affairs who are negligent in their Private Capacities And we find further in Deut. 30. 2 3. That the Israelites had no hope of ever returning from Captivity unless their Children as well as themselves would return unto the Lord and obey his Voice But these you 'll say are all of them Old Testament Proofs and what do those affect you who are not under the Severe Discipline of a School-Masters Rod but the Milder Dispensation of the Gospel of Christ But thanks be to God for it neither Christ nor his Gospel do in the least disingage you from Family Duties but do rather much more Confirm and Establish them For St. Paul is express 1 Tim. 3. 4 5. That no Man may be made a Bishop or a Priest but one that ruleth well his own House having his Children in Subjection with all Gravity For if a Man know not how to Rule his own House how shall he take care of the Church of God Nay and what 's a great deal more than all this St. Paul tell us plainly 1 Tim. 5. 8. That if any provide not for his own though they be abroad and gone from him and especially for those of his own House that are at Home with him he hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel And if a Man have denied the Faith and be worse than an Infidel that does not provide Food and Raiment for his Family and take care for the welfare of their Bodies only How bad then is that Man that does not provide for the Souls of his Family For is it not worse to starve the Soul than to starve the Body And is not Eternal Death far worse than Temporal Death And are not the Gnawings of the never-Dying Worm far more intolerable than the cravings of an Empty Stomach Certainly as much as the Soul exceeds the Body so much the worse is that Man that neglects the Souls of his Family than he that neglects their Bodies And yet if he that only neglects their Bodies have denied the Faith and be worse than an Infidel Then judge you your selves what Name is bad enough for that Man that neglects their Souls And now let any Master of a Family that does not bring up his House in the Service of God tell Me and this Congregation how he can pretend to be a Christian when St. Paul tells him here to his Face that he hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel And if any of you shall be pleased to call me Rash Censorious Positive Peremptory and I know not what for passing such a severe Judgment upon you that are guilty of this Sin if any of you are guilty of it do but remember it is not my Judgment but St. Paul's And then if you must needs find fault find fault with him and let him answer for it and not I. And with Him not to say with Us It is a very small thing that we should be judged of You or of Mans judgment He that judgeth us is the Lord 1 Cor. 4. 3 4. And therefore do you say what you will I do conclude notwithstanding that no Master of a Family can have any Assurance of his own Faith for he hath denyed that and consequently he can have no Assurance of his own Salvation neither unless he endeavour to make all his Family good as well as himself He can have no sure sign of Grace in himself unless he endeavour to make all about him to grow in Grace Sixthly A Bad Master of a Family makes all his Family bad or at least he is not wanting on his part as far as his bad Example will go An Adulterous Master makes all his Family to serve his Lust and prompts them to Uncleanness A Drunken Swearing Master provokes all his Family to give themselves to Drinking and Swearing And a Covetous Master brings the very Root of all Evil into his Family and infects them all with a stingy penurious Humour which Eats up the very Vitals and Bowels of Christianity And shall not a good Master of a Family be as careful to make his Family good as a bad Master is to make his Family bad Shall not the good be as true to God as the bad is to the Devil Shall not Heaven ingage the good to make as many Converts as Hell does ingage the Bad And shall not everlasting Joys be as strong and prevailing Motives as everlasting Torments Oh how will the Devil insult over thee for this at the day of Judgment How will he then Accuse thee for this
which he now provokes thee to and commends thee for And how will he then upbraid thee for having promoted his Kingdom of Darkness more than thou didst the Kingdom of Christ Me thinks I hear and I even tremble to hear him Plead against thee after some such manner as this This Man was thine by Creation O'Christ but he has made himself mine by his own Choice He was thine whether he would or no he could not hinder his Creation but he became mine by his own voluntary Act and Deed. Thou didst Redeem him but he presently sold himself to me for a trifle for nothing for worse than nothing for Death for Eternal Death Thou didst Dye for him but he served me and lived and died in my Service in the drudgery and slavery of Sin And yet for all this I gave him nothing and I promised him nothing save only the burden of a Surseit or the vanity of Fame or the filthy pleasure of a Night or the joys of Madness or the delights of a Disease or the comfortable entertainment of Horror Anguish and Despair I never Sweated great Drops of Blood for him I never Hanged upon the Cross for him only when he was thine by the merit of thy precious Death he became mine by his own base Ingratitude He Swore in his Baptism to be thy Soldier and he has forsworn himself a Thousand times over to Fight my Battles He ought to have made his House a Houshold of Faith but he has made it a Den of Thieves and a Cage of every unclean thing None of my Servants do serve me thus My Servants are all true and faithful to me they take care that nothing be seen or heard in their Houses all the Year long but Drinking and Swearing and Gaming and Whoring and Backbiting and such like extravagant Frolicks And yet does this Master of a Family pretend to be thy Servant and serve me all the while and suffer his House to be full of all manner of Sinners yea and prefer Sinners to his Acquaintance to his Table to his Bosom to his very Bed before those which his own Conscience cannot but tell him to be good and honest Men. And this or some such invidious Accusation the Accuser of the Brethren the Devil will certainly bring against thee at the Day of Judgment And therefore as thou wouldst avoid it Then so be thou Now sure to bring up thy Family in the Service of God which is the only thing that will be able to stop the Devil's Mouth against thee at that great and terrible Day of the Lord. And here now I am presently aware of a Middling sort of Men who are neither notorious ill Livers nor notorious good Livers Who neither drink nor swear nor whore nor keep any bad hours in their Families And these Men content themselves with a Negative sort of Religion They think it enough to eschew Evil and they never think of doing Good They think it enough to haue their Families at home and to give them good ordinary Food and Raiment and to keep them in pretty good Order for their Credit and their Trade's sake and they never think of providing for their Immortal Souls for God's sake tho they do much more deserve and do much more stand in need of their utmost Assistance They call them to an exact Account for every Farthing that they entrust them with and they never call them to any Account at all for those innumerable Talents that God hath committed to their Charge They enquire of them diligently what News they have heard abroad and they never enquire of them what good Sermon they have heard at Church and how much the better they are for having heard it They ask them whether such a strong Place or such a Fortress be taken or surrendred and they never ask them whether such a Thorn be taken out of their Flesh or such a Sin taken Captive or such a Jericho demolished or such a Lust mortified or such earthly Members crucified to the Cross of Christ They take on mightily and lay on unmercifully if they be not always at home to wait on them at their Tables and they never are at all concern'd whether ever they wait at God's Table and go to his Altar to receive the Blessed Sacrament And thus these Middling Sort of Men do keep their Families at home indeed but they do not make them do any good at home They keep them from the grosser Acts of Sin but they do not bring them up to Vertue They keep them from Drinking and Swearing and Whoring and 't were well if all would but do so much but they do not bring them up to Read and to Pray and to sing Psalms and they do not instruct them in the Principles of Religion by Catechizing them and Reading and expounding the Scriptures to them as far as they are able Sure I am These and such like Godly Exercises were constantly used in those Late Times which some Men have learned to call Hypocritical But how deservedly let them look to it For none is able to distinguish a Hypocrite from an Honest Man unless he can do as God does Search the Heart And if our Religion does not Exceed yet does not Equal that of the Hypocrites Good God what will become of us Let us have a care lest our Portion be not as good as theirs Let us not deceive our selves The close Hypocrite does not do the Church of God so much Harm as the Profane Person The Hypocrite commends Religion For none counterfeits that which is bad But the Profane Person lives in open Defiance to it and proclaims War against Heaven and dares the Almighty to his Face Ahab's Hypocritical Repentance procured him a great Temporal Blessing even from God Himself But we never read of any Blessing that God bestows upon a Man for his Profaneness And therefore First of all Do not thou call any Times Hypocritical For thou dost not know which are so and which are not so And then Secondly Do not thou presume to neglect Family-Duties because they were most practiced in those Times which thou thinkest most Hypocritical The very Hypocrite's Practice of them both justifies and commends them For he is never at the pains to counterfeit ought but what is good The Devil transforms himself only into an Angel of Light or at least something else that is better than himself Let us not therefore thus pitifully deceive our selves any longer The Hypocrite's practice of Family-Duties will not justifie but condemn us and aggravate our Condemnation for their Neglect God neither is nor will nor can be mocked by you Your Sins of Omission are damnable as well as your Sins of Commission Your omitting Family-Duties is damnable as well as your committing Family-Sins Men shall be damned for doing Nothing as well as for doing Somthing that is bad Idleness is mortal as well as Sinfulness And the slothful Napkiner of his Talent is accountable for That as