an Heaven for the good no other than the Habitation of his own Holiness and Glory in which there are many Mansions and Crowns and Thrones with unconceivable Felicity in his presence a fulness of Joy and at his Right Hand Pleasures for evermore and besides that an Hell for the wicked a bottomless Pit where there is a gnawing Worm that shall never die and a Fire burning that is unquenchable in which they shall for ever fry scorch and burn without being ever consumed and consequently they shall have weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth Secondly Instruct them concerning the miserable lost and undone condition of all Man-kind by reason of the Fall of the first Man That when God had formed Man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life so that he became a living Soul he was pleased not only to make him upright and in his own Image induing him with all Natural Excellencies and Perfections befitting one who was to have Communion with his Creator and Dominion over this Inferiour World and to put him into a state of Happiness appointing Paradise for the place of his Residence or Royal Seat but also to enter into a Covenant of Friendship with him thereby binding Man to a continuance in a course of Personal and Perfect Obedience to his great Lord and thereupon by promise insuring to him an endless duration of his Life and Happiness but withal threatning that in case of failure and disobedience He should die the death viz. Temporal Spiritual and Eternal That this Covenant was not made with Adam alone but with all Mankind who were to descend from him and were considered as being then in his Loins and He as the great Parent and common Person representing them and so Adam breaking the Covenant by transgressing the Law of his Creation and in particular that positive Law which commanded him not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil All Mankind sinned in him and fell with him in that first Transgression and so all the World is be-become guilty before God and obnoxious to his Justice and Wrath all the World is become filthy and abominable Primitive Righteousness is lost and the Primitive Order broken and we are all unclean all of us by principle and disposition Children of disobedience and all by Nature Children of Wrath. And bring this home to them and let them know that it is as much their Case as the case of any persons in the World that they have the guilt of sin upon them the sentence of Death denounced against them a vile Heart and Nature within them the Seed and Principle of all sin which renders them prone to all manner of evils even the vilest and most monstruous This will tend to the hiding Pride from them and preventing those high towering Conceits which they are ready to hugg and swell with through their self-unacquaintedness this may awaken them to the greater vigilance and care and bring them to keep a stricter Eye upon their hearts and this may keep them from being much taken with and doting upon those trifling childish vanities and youthful follies which the Souls of others are so much addicted and devoted to while they hear there are things of infinitely greater importance and nearer concernment unto which they must attend Thirdly Make it much your business to convince them of the evil of Sin In order to their loathing it and themselves for it before God do you as much as you can set it before them in its ugliness and deformity look upon it in the Glass of God's Law and of Christ's Blood and then draw its picture and shew it to them History tells us this of the Lacedemonians that when they saw a filthy drunken Sott stagger and reeling in the Street vomiting like a Dog falling and tumbling in the Mire like a Swine they would run into their houses and fetch their young Children to the door that they might behold how much he was unman'd how like a Beast he made himself and by the way know it is far better to be a Beast than to be like a Beast that so they might betimes learn to abhor and detest that brutish practice Do you do the like I mean make unto them a true representation of the odiousness of Sin in general yea and of some Sins in particular specially those which are most rampant raging and abounding in the times in which they live and those Sins too with which they are most in danger of being infected paint them out in the blackest Colours that you can as black as Hell for indeed so they are You cannot disparage Sin beyond its demerit you cannot speak too bad of it you cannot make it look worse than it is As we cannot exceed nor rise too high in the commendation of God our greatest words are too little our highest thoughts are too low Angelical conceptions of God are infinitely short of his Perfection He is exalted above all blessing and praise So on the other side we cannot speak too much in the dispraise of Sin our greatest anger against Sin is not hot enough and our sharpest words against Sin are not keen enough There is not to be found so great an evil in all the World as Sin is Afflictions are not so bad as Sin Poverty Plague Fire Sword Famine all the desolations that be made in Towns Cities Countreys not matter of so great Lamentation as Sin They are Physick to cure this the Disease to destroy they are Fire to purifie this is Filth to pollute Death it self doth only kill the Body Sin ruins the Soul Death sends the Body to a Bed of Dust but Sin if unpardoned unmortified sends both Soul and Body into a Bed of Flames The Devil himself is not so bad as Sin For he was an excellent Creature a glorious Angel There never was any thing of goodness in Sin nor ever will He was the Workmanship of God himself but God had no hand in the making of Sin It was Sin that turned him into a Devil Hell is not so bad as Sin For though it be a place of gross utter Darkness yet there is seen the Purity and Holiness of God in his hatred of Sin the Justice and Righteousness of God in the condemning and punishing of Sin there he declares his Wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness but there is no good not the least good in Sin it is a meer Anomia disobedience to and transgression of such a Law as is holy just and good it is evil throughout only evil and that continually Sin is evil in its Nature being contrary to the pure holy infinitely perfect and glorious Nature of God There is nothing in all the World contrary to God but Sin and what Sin hath made so It s Nature is so bad that nothing can rectifie it nothing can mend it nothing make it good It is so bad that God would not allow it a
have the dew of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth may you be richly stor'd with grace and come behind in no gift thoroughly furnished for every good work yea and fill'd with all the fulness of God but withall be very humble great in value and usefulness but little in your own eyes that will not be to your loss but much to your advantage for God gives grace to the Humble and no less to your Honour Humility eclipseth and obscures no Mans glory but sets a singular lustre and gloss upon it making it shine with a greater brightness Holy and Humble Paul was one of the most Eminent Servants God ever had in the World and his speaking of himself as being less than the least of all Saints detracted nothing from his real worth nor did it hinder his being equal with the chief of the Apostles if we may speak of a chief among them among whom our Lord appointed a Parity at that time there was no such thing as a Pope I would not speak one word to swell or puff any of you up if you study and know your selves as you ought you will soon find defects infirmities corruptions enough to keep the best of you down yet I cannot but say you are my Joy and Crown and as I do every day make mention of you in my Prayers so I can and frequently do bless and give thanks to my God upon my remembrance of you and that upon sundry accounts which I speak of for your encouragement and the promoting your farther progress I have reason to hope it is the true grace of God in which you stand and as you have a Name to live so you have been made partakers of the Life it self for as you do all make a good and excellent Profession so I know none of you that stain and contradict it by a scandalous walking You have been stedfast in shaking and falling Times some did indeed go off in the Days of sore Persecution not having on the whole Armour of God nor being able to indure Hardship as the good Souldiers of Jesus but they were few so few that we did not miss them we do not want them the Lord grant that they may find Mercy of the Lord at the great Day I shall be glad to meet them in Heaven You have received and owâ—â—d me as an Angel or Messenger of God and the delight you take in my Ministry hath evidenced it self and still doth by your constant attendance upon it In this Sceptick Age you have been Wise to Sobriety in this Erroneous Age you have been sound in the Faith neither admiring the pretended new Lights nor falling in love with those old rotten Errours which some have dig'd out of their Graves In this dividing Age you have kept the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace you are not for taking up a Yoke of Bondage but for standing fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free yet no Friends to Licenciousness While you flee to the Gospel for Relief and Comfort you own the Law for your Rule you do not divide Christ but take him just as God hath exalted him and doth offer him Prince as well as Saviour and not only to be an underling to pay your Debts and bear your Burdens and die for your Offences but likewise to be a King upon his Throne Commanding and Ruling you And as you rely only upon him for Righteousness so you desire to imitate and follow him in his Holiness and to shew forth his Vertues who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light Am I mistaken in any of you as to these things I hope I am not the Lord grant I may not I know of no wild Notions nor loose Opinions among you may there never be any but all of you have as one said Heads well-hearted and Hearts well-headed and so a soundness throughout May you approve your selves to God and Men being good Christians good Subjects good Citizens good Husbands and Wives good Parents and Children good Masters Mistresses and Servants good Friends and Neighbours filled with the Holy Ghost and Goodness and all the Fruits of Righteousness Love God Father Son and Spirit with a supreame intire and most intense love think the most vehement flame of your love too cold here Love the Church of God study seek and pray for her good Love all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity though in some things they differ from you let not that cause any alienation in Affection so long as they hold the Head count them Brethren and be dear over them as such love one another help one another quicken strengthen comfort one another provoke one another to Love and good Works rejoice in one anothers Mercies sympathize with one anothers Afflictions bear one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ. Most dearly Beloved my Mouth is open to you and my Heart enlarged The great God knows I do as really desire and pray for the Prosperity and Salvation of you all and of all yours as I do mine own and in the following Sermons I have commended no other things to you than what I believe and know to be both your Duty and Interest and would my self be found in the practice of if we call our selves Christians let us be Christians Israelites and Israelites indeed what signifies the Name without the thing Gird up I beseech you gird up the Loins of your Minds make no trifling Objections listen not yield not to any wicked Temptations but apply to your Work act for God in your Places to the utmost shine bright in your own Sphere keep your Hearts continually in an holy frame fit for Communion with God in Duty be not now backward to it nor hereafter weary of it Though you have but a little stock of Knowledge and Parts fall to Trading and you will increase it Be not discouraged because you cannot do what you would God accepts of the Will when the Disciples were offended with a good Woman Christ's plea for her was She hath done what she could The Lord told his Servant he had been faithful in his little and thereupon gave him an entrance into his Joy Your little will find great acceptance and be rewarded with great Blessings so it be your Best In short would you stem the Tide of Profaneness which breaks in upon us with fury Would you save the Life of Practical Religion which is brought very low and in a deep Consumption Would you be instrumental for the preserving of a Seed to serve the Lord Would you be able to give a good account of your selves in the Day when God shall come to Reckon with you And do you desire the present and future welfare of those precious Souls which are committed to your Care then observe the Rules and follow the Counsels of God which are given in this Book And the God of Heaven accept you in the Beloved grant your
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
Will of God Hearing is not the whole work of a Christian The Scripture indeed saith Hear and your Souls shall live but if you would live you must do something more than hear Your much hearing is a sign of a good Appetite but there are some Bodies that have a caninum Appetitum a greedy ravenous Appetite and yet are meer Skelletons nothing but Skin and Bone You that have so great an Appetite will do well to look to it that you also have a good Concoction Under the Law those Beasts were by God declared clean that did chew the Cud. Hear and then ruminate do not only let Truths come crouding into your Ears for then one may thrust out another but ponder them in your hearts as Mary the Mother of our Lord did and hide them there as David did You should spend some considerable time in meditation that so what Truths you have heard you may chafe in and work upon your hearts Secondly I would speak unto you by way of Question thus When you spend all your time in hearing abroad what is done at home Where are Family-duties who is it that prays there who teaches and catechizes the young ones there Know O Soul no good thing is thy duty out of season nor art thou to prog for thy self by robbing thy house And know this also we that are Preachers of the Gospel have but little hope of doing much good upon your Children and Servants by our Labours in the Church if you who are Governours over them and have the power will be careless and negligent and do nothing at home How can we think that they will follow our counsels when you will not second them Alas their weak leaking Memories let them slip and their corrupt Natures reject them There had need be Precept upon Precept Precept upon Precept Line upon Line Line upon Line here a little and there a little and all little enough yea and all too little unless accompanied and set home by the All-conquering Power of the Eternal Spirit God indeed can do his work alone needs neither you nor us but as he did by his own Word without Means and Instruments call the World out of nothing and raise Lazarus out of his Grave so he can by the same Power in the same Way convert most obstinate Sinners and turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the Just or if he please to make use of Ministers for that end he can make them prosperous He honours us by imploying us and if he will doubly honour us by making us successful no difficulty shall be insuperable no opposition an impediment great Mountains in our way shall sink into Plains and Iron-Gates shall be opened His concurrence is enough alone through God the Weapons of our Warfare will become mighty so that strong holds shall be demolished and imaginations cast down carnal reasonings silenced and subdued together with those high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 And therefore though some though many of you stand idle with your hands in your bosoms we will into the Vineyard and follow our business as long as we have any being sure our Labour shall not be in vain something will come of it Though Israel be not gathered yet shall we be glorious But as Paul said in another case Phil. 4.17 We desire fruit that may abound to your account and to the account of yours even the Salvation of you all the Conversion of the Youths and from thence Comfort to the Parents And as we love our work so we would do it with delight and we shall do so when you set your hands to it because when all hands are at work we may the more hope that God will work together with us and that his Spirit and Blessing shall accompany our joynt-endeavours and while we prophesie upon dry Bones he will cause breath to enter into them so that they shall live Up therefore I beseech you up and be doing come ye forth to the help of the Lord and of his Servants against that gross Darkness those corrupt Principles that are in the Minds of Young ones and those potent Lusts that are in their Hearts Do you teach as well as we that they may know the Lord do you back our wholesom and holy Counsels that they may follow them And while the Masters of the Assemblies come with their Nails of Truth which were given by one Shepherd even Jesus Christ who is the great Shepherd of the Sheep and take much pains for the driving of them home in order to the uniting them to God by Faith and to one another by Love do you who are Parents and Governours come with your Hammers and do what you can toward the fastening of them I am now at length come to the end of this discourse wherein I undertook to prove That setting up the Worship and Service of God in our Families is no other than our reasonable service Whether I have performed what I undertook you will judge and what evidence there is in the proof if I do not mistake you will find it clear and full And now my dear Friends may I hope I am indeed very willing to hope and I shall be exceeding glad to hear that by all these pains that I have taken and all these Arguments which I have used some of you who have been altogether strangers to this work hitherto and liv'd in the total neglect thereof have been persuaded the doing thereof is without question your duty and that therefore it is your present yea your fixed Resolution through the Grace and Assistance of God to set upon the doing of it And that since you are convinced and satisfied about it in your Judgments and your own Consciences do vote and plead for it you will take it into your practice The good Lord grant it may be so And I bless his Name I do hear something to that purpose and that these Labours have not been in vain oh that I might hear more and more that so my Joy both in the Lord and in you might be increased Will you begin this Evening I say this Evening for delays in Soul-matters are by no means to be allowed Whatsoever is Duty ought to be done and if it ought to be done why not presently Possibly you think afterward will be soon enough but God is not of your mind He saith in Psal. 95. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts and when God saith to day what art thou that thou shouldst say to morrow Come my Friends that sooner the better Hath not the great Majesty of Heaven waited long enough upon you for his Service and Honour oh do not make him wait any longer It is a dangerous thing to abuse Mercy and tire out Divine Patience Wo be to that Man concerning whom God saith My Spirit shall no more strive with
as in all other things so particularly in this I do advise and earnestly beseech you to be as tender and careful of the Interest of the great God as you are of your own and more too Fourthly When you have been waiting upon God in the ways of his Publick Worship and have had the Counsels of his holy Will made known to you and the great Mysteries of Religion opened at your return to your own houses do you retire your selves and be alone with God lest by being in company with others and falling into discourses of another nature you lose the things you had heard and those impressions wear out that were made upon you and also allow convenient time to all in your Families for their Private Devotions remembring they have precious immortal Souls the Salvation of which they are as much concern'd to work out as your selves are of your own I have somewhere read of a King I wish there were more like him who while he was teaching a poor Boy that belonged to his Kitchen being askt the reason why he did so answered The poorest hath a Soul as precious as mine and cost the same price no less than the Blood of Christ. And when you see a fit season call them all together and bless God for the Truths you have heard and pray that he would bless them to you and bring them back to your own and their minds by the repetition of them and demand of them an account which to do is a very probable way to keep them from sleeping in the Congregation and from a supine carelesness and vain foolish absurd gazing about and also of imprinting something upon their minds and thoughts which may have a powerful influence upon their hearts and lives and do them good afterward yea as long as they live and when this is done praise the Name of the Lord by singing of a Psalm and pray to him for acceptance of and a blessing upon what you have done and so commit your selves and yours to his Fatherly Protection in the Night and his gracious Conduct the following Week in the course whereof let there be nothing contradictory to your Lord's-days profession or inconsistent with it I beseech you draw an eaven Thred in Religion These four things which I have spoken to you are good for you and necessary to be done but they are generals Therefore now I shall proceed to some more particular Directions for the Instructing of your Families which I would have you carefully to observe and the great God shine upon your endeavours that so they may prove very successful to your comfort and joy First Begin with instructing them about the Being of a God Though this Truth be ingraven in their hearts though the things that are made do plainly Preach to them his Eternal Power and Godhead yet be not you silent but speak the same thing to them over again and again and so betimes even as soon as ever you can principle them against that brutish yet growing Atheism which is an Enemy to all Religion and opens a wide and effectual Door unto all Villany and Profaneness That Person who denies the Being of a God is a sit Tool for the Devil to make use of yea to imploy about his worst Services and basest Drudgery And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Fathers said good David 1 Chron. 28.9 Know there is a God and in particular know him that hath been and is thy Fathers God and let him be thy God too Love him chuse him cleave to him Shew them the Heaven and the Earth and the things that are in them and that these could not make themselves but must of necessity be made by another how many second Causes soever may be enumerated we cannot take up our rest in any of them but must pass thorough them all and ascend to the first Cause and that first Cause that ens entium that Source and Original of all Being is God and besides him there is none else Ier. 10.11 The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Tell them that upon this God all things that are have an absolute and necessary dependence The Beam doth not more depend upon the Sun than the Sun and all do upon God for them to subsist without him is a thing utterly impossible if he should withdraw his hand Man would crumble Earth would sink the Heavens would shrink and the Angels themselves drop from their present height into that first nothing out of which they were fetch'd by the Divine Power Let them from you know that they themselves are his Off-spring and indebted to him for their Being being by him formed in the Womb and brought out of it and that he hath looked after them and taken care of them ever since when they hung upon the Breasts he carried them in his Arms and taught them to go and held their Souls in Life and provided for them ever since and therefore they are not their own but his he hath the Sovereign Right to them and to Reign over them and that upon this account they are bound to love this God and to fear this God and to serve and honour him as long as they have any Being Acquaint them with his being an holy God in his Nature in his Will in all his Ways and Works glorious in Holiness and of purer Eyes than that he can behold Iniquity and that he hath given out a Law that is holy just and good which they and all are bound to obey the Commandments of it not being grievous And that he is every where present observing how his Will is observed and his Law obeyed and his Creatures order and demean themselves he takes notice both of the Evil and the Good of them that fear him and them that fear him not and doth so strictly observe that he sets down in his Book of Remembrance those that fear him and think upon his Name and can set the sins of the wicked in order before them yea the same order in which they were committed with all the circumstances that cloathe them And that he hath appointed a day wherein he will Judge the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained and bring to light the hidden things of dishonesty and render unto every one according as their Works have been whether good or evil Rom. 2.7 8 9. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness indignation and wrath Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Iew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Iew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God That he hath
his Talent in a Napkin That Gods Service is perfect Freedom and then do Men and Women walk at liberty when they keep his Precepts Whereas the Service of Sin is no better than Slavery and its work a drudgery the Sweet-Meats of Sin are wrapt up in a Curse and its most pleasant ways lead down to the Chambers of Death Whereas the Yoke of Christ is easie being lin'd with Love and his Burthen is light having both Wings and the Shoulder of God to help them to bear it In the service of Sin a poor Creature spends all at his own cost like the poor Israelites under Pharaoh and his Cruel Task-Masters who were not only forced to make Brick but likewise to find Straw to make it with and then the Wages given at last will be death Whereas God doth cut out Work for his Servants and give them strength to do it he chalks out their way and inlargeth their hearts to run it he giveth power to the faint when they have none of their own he supplies them with enough so that Paul said He could do all things thro' Christs strengthning him Shew to them the reasonableness of the Law of God which hath been given out to Man for the Directory of his Life and the Rule of his Actions that it is pure and perfect and worthy both of our obedience and our Love yea doth and will afford great singular delight to a person of a right frame and constitution and well it may seeing the Law is holy and the Commandments holy just and good Rom. 7.12 It is such a Law was fit for God to give and fit for Man to receive it being purity throughout and is suitable to the Nature of God who is an Infinite Holy and Righteous Being It was also suitable to the Nature of Man possible easie pleasant to him before he was degenerate corrupt and depraved Let us run through the Commandments and at the first view it will appear they are not grievious as the beloved Disciple saith 1 Iohn 5.3 What can be more reasonable than that we should have and own love and trust in fear and serve him for our God and him only who is God indeed and God alone besides whom there is none else What could with greater reason be forbidden than the making of any Graven Image or the likeness of any thing which is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath or in the Waters under the Earth so as to fall down and Worship them for what can be more ridiculous than to give Divine Honour to that which Man himself gave being to what more gross and egregious nonsence than to call that a God part of which is consumed in the fire Is it not reasonable that we all should sanctifie the name of God and not prophane it nor take it in vain and that we should cheerfully spend some time in his Service who is the great Lord of time and keep holy the Sabbath Day laying out that seventh part of time which he hath chosen and sanctified and set apart for himself in his service and Worship what exceptions can be made against Honouring our Fathers and Mothers Childrens honouring their Parents Servants their Masters and Mistresses Inferiours their Superiours Subjects their Governours what more just than that Men should not kill others by violence nor themselves by intemperance and excess nay that they should not hate one another nor be angry without a cause nor too much nor too long What also can be with reason objected against that Law of God which forbids Rapine Theft Robbery Adultery and all Uncleanness all Reviling Slandering Backbiting and bearing false witness against our Neighbours and also coveting those things which are not our own but commandeth us to sit down contented with those things which we have whether they be more or less till God shall please to carve out for us a larger and more liberal allowance Surely as to all these things save only the seventh part of time the light of Nature would dictate and lead to the practice of them Reason it self doth suggest and teach that to be religious righteous good temperate chast kind meek humble and lowly is fit for Men it highly becomes them and doth greatly conduce and contribute to their honour and peace and prosperity to their welfare and comfort every way these things give them boldness make their faces shine and commend them to all that know them But on the other side injustice oppression disobedience drunkeness uncleanness theft lying subornation perjury false witness swearing debauchery and prophaneness of all sorts do offend Heaven and Earth they tend to the dishonour and displeasing of God and to the undoing of Persons and Families yea to the ruine of Societies and Kingdoms and the whole World for these things sake the wrath of God comes down upon the Children of disobedience To shut up this particular let them know there is none of Gods Commandments but what doth evidently and directly make for Mans own good it tends to the preserving of his Name that it may be like precious Ointment without a dead Flye in it and of his Life that his days may be long in the Land and of his Health that his life may be comfortable as well as long and of his Estate that that may prosper and increase and not be blasted with a Curse and so consume and melt like Snow before the Sun they have a benign and kind influence upon Mans whole interest Godliness being profitable for all things for Soul Body and Calling for Time and Eternity for the Life that now is and for that which is to come and there is nothing can be named by which we can possibly so much promote our own good as by a cordial and constant respect to all God's Commandments we shall not then be ashamed nor repent Oh! how sweet and pleasant will it be when we can in truth say with holy Paul Herein do we exercise our selves to keep a Conscience void of offence both toward God and toward Man Acts 24.16 Eightly Acquaint them with the present Advantages that come by Religion and a consciencious performance of Duty God's Israel have their Manna now and their Clusters by the way in the Wilderness as well as a Land flowing with Milk and Honey at the last As there are some drops before the Storm so First-fruits before the Harvest David saith God's Commandments are right and true more to be desired than Gold much fine Gold sweeter also than Honey and the Honey-comb and that in keeping them there is great reward Psal. 19.11 There is Meat in the very Mouth of duty he doth not say there shall be a great reward though that is true it shall be in Heaven but there is so God is now a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him and are careful to obey him his Servants shall not stay for all but have something down the Feast is to come but there are foretastes
himself to have and own the Lord for his God And Abijah the Son of Ieroboam in whom there was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel An Obadiah that fear'd the Lord from his youth a Iosiah whose heart was tender so that he humbled himself and wept before the Lord a young Iohn that was the Beloved Disciple of our Lord Jesus and lay in his Bosom and a Timothy who knew the Scriptures of a Child And this Age as vile as it is is not altogether barren but some such are to be found among us though too few the Lord knoweth too too few if compared with the rest of the World do you dear hearts add to the number be you Trees of Righteousness Plants of Renown Two things I do earnestly desire for you viz. that you may be holy now and happy for ever that you may spend your time as you ought and then have a blessed Eternity live to purpose and die in peace Husband and lay out this life wisely and make sure of a better I wish you the good things of this World full out so far and so much as will be good for you but withal better things too for really such is my esteem of you that however the Sons of the Earth rate them I look not upon them as good enough to make up a Portion for you they are too little and low and fading they perish in the using may Iehovah whose is the Earth and fulness thereof bestow upon you such a part as will make you serviceable to him and life comfortable to you and while you have it so use and improve it that when it shall fail you you may not miss of the delights and glories of Eternity To this end I beseech you begin betimes do not imbezzle and squander gway your choicest Seasons your golden hours lay not out the very best you have upon the World the Flesh and the Devil thinking to reserve for God the dregs and refuse Oh! how sweet is early Religion how beautiful a green head found in the way of Righteousness how pleasant to see tender Plants bringing forth Fruit unto God Are you descended of good Parents do not degenerate let the Faith that was in them be in you also like precious Faith are your Lines cast in Religious Families walk worthy of the mercy and keep peace with them in the way of God It is your unhappiness to be in wicked Families do not learn their ways partake not with them in their Sins be not tainted by them nor worse for them remembring there were Saints in Nero's House and that it is great indeed truly noble to be good in the midst of bad examples of many discouragements and of great opposition such I would fain have you to be and the more such the better That you may be such beg of God by Prayer and consider what I can but hint to you Study well your own case the vileness of your hearts and the miserableness of your State by Nature whatever you have to commend you unto Men there is more than enough to render you odious and abominable unto God Abhor therefore your selves bewail your condition and get out of it as fast as you can which you can no other way do but by getting into Christ who is the only City of Refuge unto which Sinners may flee for safety the Rock of Salvation in which they may hide and upon it build who died that he might redeem from Sin and Wrath and lives to receive and embrace all those that come unto him go then to him and beg of him that you may be washed with his blood and sanctified by his Spirit that he would please to be a Principle of Spiritual Life in you and the Author of Eternal Salvation to you Be thankful for restraints that you are not so bad as others but rest not in them nor in any external performances or the most lovely form of Godliness but look after a saving change that there be in you the root of the matter an heart sincerely set against sin and for God Avoid all loose bad Company even as you would the Devil for his Children they are and the works of the Father they will do and his designs they will be carrying on in all places where they are Can a Man touch Pitch and not be defiled therewith or familiarly converse with with wicked Men or lewd vain Women and not be in danger of learning their manner walk with wise Men so you may learn wisdom delight in them that fear the Lord and associate with those here with whom you would chuse to be in the other World Be not strangers to the necessary and excellent duty of Prayer but delight to make it your business every day keep not away from Family-duties but bless God for them and be serious and fervent in them yet think not your selves by them discharged from attendance upon God and seeking his face in your private retirements honour your Parents and other Governours and study to please them well in all things in the Lord. Open your ear to Doctrine and be ready to learn and practice all that is good Hear the instruction of your Father and forsake not the Law of your Mother let them not depart from your eyes but keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life unto them that find them and health unto all their Flesh. In your behaviour be sober modest and chast humble and loving to all you have to do with faithful to your trust and diligent in your business mind your Masters interest as much as if it were your own God will bless you the better for it when you are removed from all Spectators so that no body on earth sees you remember there is one above that doth and let that awe and preserve you from sin for he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Love all vertue and goodness hate all vice all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit govern your selves well keep your hearts with all diligence make a Covenant with your eyes set a watch before the door of your lips give honour to Superiours be respective to your equals courteous to your inferiours civil and obliging to all morose and imperious froward and quarrelsom with none wise and prudent in looking to your Concerns and managing all your Affairs consider every motion that is made to you before you embrace and close with it ponder your actions before you do them that you may not make more work for Repentance than you need and weigh your words before you speak them Moses suffer'd greatly for speaking unadvisedly with his lips keep your selves from Sin as that which tends to your destruction and avoid vanity and lightness as that which will issue in your disparagement Sweet youth let me perswade and prevail with you to remember your Creator in the days of your youth own him as your great Lord from whom you had
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