God should refer it to you reply'd I would then refer it to him again USE II. Let us all be now Exhorted that the Praise of Ged may be duly accounted by us as the End of our Life in our Prayers for it Let us not shoot beside our Mark or live beside our End. Let us pray that we may live and let us live that we may praise It is the most lamentable plight in the world that a man should spend his Life in Sinning against God rather than in Praising of Him. But alas This is the case of Multitudes Multitudes among us How few of us Consider of in seriously How sew of you that are now before the Lord ever seriously thought with your selves What is the Errand that I am come into the world upon Hast thou not lived above a Score of years in the world and never yet seriously thought What is it that God sent me hither for Every man here I suppose desires to live let your Prayers express those Desires and say after the Psalmist Ps. 32. 8. My Prayer is to the God of my life But more than so Let those Desires be for the sake of your Praises and say after the Psalmist again in Ps. 119. 17. Deal bountifully with thy Servant that I may live and keep thy Word Three things are you to be advised unto yea Four things are to be impoâ—tunately prest upon you First Mark and Prize your Opportunities to be Prâ—â—â—ing of God. Every man has his Opportâ—nities Some have an Instrument of a Thousand Strings but the meanest of us all has an Instrument of Ten strings for our God to be praised with Let every man often enquire What are my Opportunities to glorify God And let every man alwaies conclude My Opportunities are my Treasures Secondly Let the Word of God Direct you in His Praises Be often Consulting of that Peace will be on alâ— and Praise will be from all that walk according to this Rule A Bible Christians let That be your Counsellour on all Occasions The Psalmist could say in Ps. 119. 164. Seven times a day will I praise thee O Lord because of thy Righteous Judgements Thirdly Let the Rod of God provoke you to His Praises If you cannot Bless God for your Afflictions which yet I think is a thing attainable nevertheless I 'm sure you should praise God in your Afflictions Let God gain some Glory and we shall gain some Good by all our Sufferings Take the counsil in Isa. 34. 15. Glorifie the Lord in the Fires To Enforce these Three Things Consider that Thing wich is intimated in the Text. The Lives of your Souls are enwrapped in the praises of God. Saies the Psalmist Let my soul live and it shall praise thee So I may say Let thy Soul praise and it shall live A praising Soul is a Thriving Soul. In this consisteth Life Eternal it self The Life of thy Soul in the Third Heaven will be the praise of thy God for evermore Praise God for thy Life it is a mercy well worth praise Praise God by thy life so thou wilt begin Heaven upon Earth But there is a Fourth Counsil which more immediately concerns that part of the Congregation which are of my own Age and have therefore a more peculiar interest in my Loves and Cares T is to Young People here that I take leave to say Fourthly Begin You now Betimes to live unto the Praise of the everliving God. My Brethren you have not yet begun to live at all if you have not begun to praise the Lord. You are Dead in Trespasses and Sins you are stark dead in the rotten hideous loathsome Graves of your Unregeneracy if you have not yet begun to order your Conversation aright and to ponder How may I so offer praise as to Glorify God But is not this the deplorable Condition of many many Young people here Conscience do thine Office Is not the Hour yet to come is not the Day yet to dawn when that young person whom thou art the Officer of God unto did by an hearty Covenant bind himselfe unto the Serving and the Praising of the Lord But what mean you O ye inconsiderate Youths to delay the Remembring of your Creator so In the Language of the young Prophet whom God sent unto the Iews of old let me say thus saith the Lord Consider your waies Consider the Vncertainty of your Life which you have to be praising of God withal As young as you are you may dy before the most aged person here It hath been truly noted That The old man has Death before his face but the young man has Death behind his back The stroak of Death may sooner lay you in the Dust than some whose Heads old Time hath snow'd upon O look and see and let thy heart shake at the Apprehension of it Thy Death stands just behinâ— thee there with an Horrible Pole-Ax ready lifted up saying as the Prince of old Shall I smite them shall I smite them If the great God utter the word Smite smite thou art gone beyond all Recovery The Blessed God hath newly caused me to look into the Coffins of two very near and sweet Relations neither of which had ever seen Twenty Winters in the World and with a strong hand He then said unto me Go Go tell the young people of Boston and Charlestown that this is that which they are all expos`d unto Behold I am now come in Bitterness and in the heat of my spirit I am come to Warn you of it That You may dy before you are aware of such a dismal Change at hand O do not procrastinate the praises and the Vertues which the God of Heaven Expects from you put not off until Tomorrow For t is the admonition to be now set before you in Prov. 2. 7. Bâ—ast not thy self of Tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth But Consider also the Dreadfulness of a Death ensuing upon a Life not spent in the praising of God. O this Dying t is a solemn thing 't is A thing by it self What followes it But that in Heb. 9. 27. After Death Iudgement That Iudgment will be Eternal and if it come upon thee before thy turning and living unto God it will be very Terrible Hearken to this awful Truth and Voice of the Almighty God and let thy heart quiver as under the loudest claps of Thunder at it If thou Dy before thy peace be made with God and thy praise be given to Him t is impossible thou shouldst escape the Vengeance of Eternal Fire Small Chipâ— as well as great Logs are horribly burnâ—â—◠〈◊〉 there must thou too undergo most exquisite Anguishes for infinitely more than as many Millions of Ages as the Huge Ocean has Drops of Water in it O Consider these Terrors of the Lord and immediately set upon His Praises Now that you would come to these Resolutions before you go from the present Exercise Entreat me not to leave you or to turn from following after you but give me leave to press upon you at least this one Consideration more Consider seriously How exceeding Acceptable it will be to the great God for such Young persons as you to set upon praising of Him Your Praises they are very much desired by the Lord and not a little delightful to Him. He declares My soul desires the first ripe Fruit and He seem'd to express as it were some Hast for the First Fruits under the Law of Old. The Lord in a sort longs to see you serving of Him with the First Fruits of your Age and of your Praise He saies as in Cant. 2. 14. Let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice The Voice of your Praises makes a matchless melody in the ears of the God that has call'd for them The very Chatterings of our infants are pleasant unto us the Praises and the Devotions of young persons are so unto Our Father which is in Heaven and he asketh for them with ungainsayable Importunities 'T was said unto a young man in 1. Chron. 28. 9. If thou seek the Lord He will be found of thee Even so If thou that art a young person praise the Lord he will be pleased with thee One that owns an Orchard full of many fruitful Trees will take a most particular and affectionate Notice of a young Tree beginning to have some little Fruit upon it Our Father is such an Husband man. Young Iohns are they that prove the Disciples whom Iesus loves Young Iosiahs will have special Comforts in this and special Honours in another world And yee Hearts of Adamant are you not yet overcome to resolve I will now praise and serve the great God! O let not your Answer be I am almost perswaded but become Altogether so As t was said of him Behold he prayes thus let it be said of you Behold he praises How How can you be deaf Adders before the Charms of these Considerations Lord visit the hitherto-unperswaded young people here O make it the Day of thy power with them and keep these things in the Imagination of the thoughts of their hearts for Evermore FINIS
the Tenders of the Gospel might be made unto us We are told of some in 2. Pet. 2. 1. Who Deny the Lord that bought them Ovile Sacriledge and Impiety That we might all have the priviledge of 〈◊〉 Invitation to the Service of God this has cost no less than the Heart-bloud of Christ and what a monstrous villany were it for us now to despise the Invitation Again The Redemption of Christ has made our Serving of God a Reasonable thing We are all among the Redeemed either in Reality or at least in Possession all the Chosen and Called of God are most really interested in the Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and therefore for them to decline the Service of God were as unequal as it is unlikely But every one of us is at least professedly interested in it Man art thou willing to quit all claim unto the Death and Blood of the Lord Jesus O No not for ten thousand worlds Every one saies I hope I am Redeemed Well then The Service of God is that which we must count our selves Redeem'd unto What saies the Appostle in 1. Cor. 6. 20 Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God. We that have been the Captives of the mighty and the prey of the terrible apprehend our selves to be set at Liberty from their horrible Tyrannies by the Suffering of Christ What less than the Service of God are we thereby obliged unto In a word We are the Bought servants of God and wo to us if our Behaviours be not agreeab to our Obligations REASON III. The Lords daily Mercy to us requires our hearty Service to Him. It is noted of the rudest among the Gentiles in Luâ— 22. 25. Their Benefactors exercise a Lordship over them Never Never had we any Benefactor like to our God who daily loads us with his Benefits Unthankful wretches are we if we shake off the Lordship of such a Lord. It was an Address once made to a Governour in Act. 24. 2. By thee we enjoy great quietness and very worthy deeds are done unto us by thy providence It were a disloyal an unworthy thing not to serve such a Governour Truly From God we enjoy great quietness by the Providence of God we are delivered from a Thousand perils every day and we are surrounded with ten thousand Comforts Every day by the Providence of God we are directed protected sustained and supplyed every day This calls for the Service of God at our hands T is said in Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice unto Him. What a persuasive piece of Oratory is that I beseech you by the Mercies of God. He that urges you to the Service of God may thus plead with you I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that God may not have one Servant in the world the less for you I beseech you Brethâ—â—â— that when the Goodness and mercy of God is following of you you do not turn your backs on the Service of God. To pursue this Argument I beseech you Brethren Whose Light is it whereby you are every day revived It is God's Whose Air is it whereby you are every day refreshed It is God's Whose Fire is it that warms you Whose Meat is it that feeds you Whose Raiment is it that covers you All is God's O then Serve Him. These are the Cords of a man with which we are bound to the Service of our Lord. This is the Poesie which God has inscribed in the Ring of every mercy O learn to serve the Giver of this It was a sad Complaint which the Lord made in Isa. 1. 2. I have nourished them and brought them up yet have they rebelled against me Alas what a YET is there Our God has been as a Father to us and yet shall not we Serve Him as our Master He Relieves us He Supports us He Bestowes on us the mercies of Children and shall not we yet return so so much as the Respects of Servants unto Him The Heavens will hear and be amazed the Earth will give â—ar and be astonished at a thing so much exceeding Brutality it self as this SECT V. BUt we are not to be Alone in the Service of God Man is a sociable Creature as he does need so he must help Humane Society in this Grand concern Wherefore we have a Third Proposition yet to be reflected on PROP. III. Every man should engage HIS HOUSE also in the Service of the Almighty God. We are all related unto some House or other Sometimes a Nation is called by that name So t is said in Exek 3. 1. Speak to the House of Israel And thus every man should labour to promote the Service of God in the Nation which he belongs unto All that can be properly done by him for his Nation in his Station to set up and bring in the Service of God so much every man is to do if ever he would give a good Account of his Talents in the Day of God's appearing But most usually a Family is called by this Name and so it is in the Text now before us T is a Metonymie the House is put for them who dwell in the house Those who cohabit in the same house are to endeavour that the same God may be served by all under the Roof And this is incumbent especially on the Superiors in the House All that are About us but cheefly all that are Vnder us are by us to be drawn or driven to the Service of God. The Master of the Family is to see unto it that every one under his Charge become the Servant of the Lord. And this because of such things as these REASON I. We should engage our Houses to the Service of God out of Respect to God Himself To the Householder it may well be said For Godâ—s sake look after thy House For God's sake Let there be Godâ— Service 〈…〉 To speak particularly First The Commandment of God calls for it We have this Commandment often repeated unto us That we should be careful about the Instruction and Conversion of them that we are charged with T is a Commandment incâ—lcated in the Old Testament We have in Deut. 6. 6 7. The words which I command thee thâ—u shalt diligently teach them unto thy Children We have it again in Psal. 78. 67. He commanded our fathers that they should make known unto their Children that these might set their hope in God and keep his Commandments We have it once more in Deut. 4. 9 10. Gather the people that they may learn to fear me and that they may teach their Children T is a Commandment not unmentioned in the New Testament also We find in Eph. 6. 4. Ye Fathers bring up your Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. Behold How many solemn Charges are laid upon us to do our part that God may be served by all that are under
and they do his Commandments An Angel said once to Iohn the Apostle I am thy Fellow-Servant That Angel is yet alive he makes the motion to every one of us Wilt thou be my Fellow-Servant before the Lord Yea the SON of GOD Himself gives you this Call. Of Him saith our God in Isa 42. 1. Behold my Servant Shall God say thus of Christ and shall He not say it of thee O do not scorn to be the Servant of that GOD who has for a Servant Him whom all the Third Heaven is with endless Raptures adoring of Consider yet again What your Service is while you serve the Almighty God. No Service was ever so delightsome as this t is All peace and perfect peace No Service was ever fo profitable it brings in those things The gain whereof is better than fine Gold you shall be sure to experiment the Truth of that Maxim God is a Rewarder No Service was ever so Honourable It prefers us to be Favourites of a greater Monarch than he that had an hundred and seven and Twenty Provinces under him A Service do we count it No t is a Freedom We are Lords when we are The Lord's Then as he said sumus Domini is true not only in Genitivo singulari but in Nominativo plurali It is a Freedom Yea t is a Kingdom It gives us to sing Lord Thou hast made us Kings and Priests It has been well said Deo servire est regnare We have Crowns on our heads all the while we are in the Service of God but how massy how weighty will they be grown when our Pay-day comes Every Servant of God may now say as in 2. Tim. 4. 8. Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness But Then Then we shall ascend those glittering and glorious Thrones which Eye hath not seen on them we shall be ever with the Lord. Consider finally and let me warn you faithfully If you do not Resolve to serve God it had been good for you that you never had been born All that forsake the Service of God are employ'd in another Service which every soul may tremble at the Description of 't is a Service to those hellish Tigres in Eph. 22. The course of this world the prince of the power of the air and the lust of the flesh You cast off the Service of One but you incurr a Bondage to three let Horror sieze thee O man and let thy ears tingle at the intimations of it The World the Flesh the Devil are thy Lords if God have not Service from thee All the Galleys in the Mediterranean Sea cannot shew a more dismal Vassalage And what will the Issue of that Service be Truly The Wages is Death God will not save you if you do not serve Him. You that now grind for the Philiâ—â—ines of Hell every day must one day be requited with only Coals and Wounds for all your fatal Drâ—dgeries and though you then roar Lord pitty me He will reply with a furious Rebuke Depart I know you not Let me then address you in the Words of Ioshua Choose now whom you will Serve Come speak up come to some Resolution Say Will you serve the cursed and cruel Enemies of your Souls or will you serve the GOD Whom it is good for you to draw near unto O make this Return Lord we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God. SECT VII YOu have been told Why now here How you are to become The Servants of God. There are diverse Counsils to be given hereabout The First COUNSIL Renounce and Forsake the Service of those Idols which you have heretofore been enslaved unto We must as Ioshua here assures us we must put away other gods if we we would serve the Lord. Our Lord has admonished us in Matth. 6. 24. Ye cannot â—erve God and Mammon Even so Ye cannot serve God and Satan And again Ye cannot serve God and Sin. The Holy God may say of you as of them long since Ye have served strange gods But O do you now say to Him as they in Isal. 21. 13. O Lord other lords besides thee have had dominion over us but we will noâ— be for Thee alone Become weary of your Captivity under those Task-masters which have hither to been torturing your souls There are two sorts of Tyrants that every unregenerate man is a Servant unto his Tempers and his Tempters Let the Tempers within us no more cause us to toil and run and sweat for the gratifying of them Let the Tempters without us no more hurry us too fro that their Humours may be pleased Souls I give you no bad counsil when I propound this and I do propound it O Run away from your old masters Come away poor souls come away from the land of your Captivity Look upon the grim face of the Patroons undâ—r which you groan say to them all Farewel you malicious you bloudy you for did Masters Farewel We hope you shall never have any of our Service more O look upon the Calamities of your Service under your invisible Adversaries and say T is enough Say The time past may suffice Thus Take ye the Wings of a Dove and flee away The Second Counsil Bind your selves unto the Service of God by a Covenant never to be Forgotten It was the good Counsil of Hezâ—kâ—ah in 2. Chron. 30. 8. Yeild yourselves unto the Lord. In the Hebrew Original t is Give the Hand unto the Lord. The giving of the Hand was a Rite in the making of a Covenant Men and Brethren Look Zionâ—ards I beseech you and say now I will join my self to the Lord in a perpetual COVENANT Think on the Service which God is to have of you and be able then to declare as in Psal. 119. 110. I have sworn it and I will perform it Make a solemn Covenant that you will be the Lord's Yea a Written a Formal a subscribed Covenant for it has by some been advised and practised Written and Formal Indentures are made between man and man Why should not there be so between God and man when a Service is to be Entred into Especially since t is said in â—sai 44. 5. A man shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord In a Sacred Covenant say I Renounce all the Vanities and Idols of this World. I Engage that I will cleave unto the Lord Iehovah as my Best Good and my Last End promising to live upon Him and unto Him hoping are long to live with Him for ever I Engage That I will cleave unto the Lord Iesus as my Prophet and my Priest and my King Promising to acknowledge Him as the Author of all my Salvation I Engage That I will ever study what is my Duty in these things and wherein I find my self to fall short I will ever count it my Grief my Shame and for pardon betake my self to the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant All this I Engage humbly imploring the Grace
of the Mediator to be sufficient for me It would hurt no Godly man to set his Name with Hand and Heart to such an Instrument afterwards frequently Reflecting on it frequently Renewing of it However let every man this Day make this Confession in Psal. 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant The Third Rule And now demean your selves in all things as the Servants of God ought to do There is a Four-sold Concernment that will now lye upon you First Be studious to know what Service God calleth for Ly at His Feet and say as Paul of old Lord What wouldest thou have me to do or like Samuel once Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Be daily Reading of the Word be daily Thinking on the Word upon every opportunity say I will hear what God the Lord will say To all add That as your daily Petition unto God in Psal. 119. 115. I am thy servant O Lord give me understandeng that I may know thy testimonies Secondly Be ready to Do what Service God calleth for Never object never cavil against any of Gods Commands never dispute any thing that He requires but own 'T is all holy and just and Good. Be not more undutiful unto God than the servants of the Centurion were to him If He say Go then go if He say Come then come if He say Do this then do it without any Grumbling at it Say not I won't altho there be Hard Sayings pressed upon thee Albeit God may enjoin this Pluck out thy right eye cut off thy right hand and albeit the Injunction of God may be Take up thy Cross yet Comply yet Conform without any Reluctancies and say with him in Psal. 119. 128. O Lord I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right Thirdly Be greatly Contriving how to be most serviceable unto God. Ponder well What you are What you have What you can and Ponder how all may be improved in the Service of the Lord. Thus be Zealous of good Works Never be satisfied unless you can say I am at work for God. Let even your Eating your I â—â—ding your Visiting be done as a Service for the Lord and let your Time your Strength your Estates all the Powers of your Spirits and all the Members of your bodies be ingeniously laâ—â— out in that Service Often ask your own souls What is there that I may do for God Even court and hunt Advantages to be serviceable Say like the Prophet in Isa 6. 8. Say Lord if 〈◊〉 hast any Service to be done here I 〈…〉 me Fourthly Be sweetly Contented with all the Allowances of the Lord. Iohn Bapiâ—st gave this Counsel to the servants in the Roman Gaâ—â—sons Luc. 3. 14. Be content with your Wages The Servants in God's Houshold haâ—e the same Counsel in Heb 13 5 Be content 〈…〉 as you have Tho you should have but â—hort Commons and straw lodgings in the world tho you should be without many Flesh â—â—leasing Curiosities and Conveniencies let this quiet you I am a Servant Don't complain of the Lord as the slothful and wicked servant once He is 〈◊〉 hard Master Let your Wills be moulded and melted into His and cheerfully leave Him to judge What may be Food convenient for you Count that you have enough when God saies you shall have no more and alwaies have a good Opinion of Gods Disposals Learn Pauls Lesson In whatever state to be content It is not for Beggars nor Servants to be Choosers This This t is to be a Servant of the Lord. Blessed is the servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing SECT VIII BUt This is not all that we have to do We have Houses too that we ought to be concerned for Wherefore The Second Exhortation is Let us also study to Engage OUR HOUSES in the Service of God. It is the property of every Good man to desire Company in the Service of the Lord. O that we might have the Company of all that belong to our Houses in it But What shall we do In short Would we truly say with Ioshua My House shall serve the Lord We must then Do like Iesus Iesus the blessed Name-sake and Antitype of Ioshuah hath a Three-fold Offfice that of a Priest a Prophet and a King. In His lesser Family of Disciples once in His greater Family of Believers alwaies we find Him so Every Householder should be all of this in his own Family Each man pretends to he a King in his own house he should there be a Priest and a Prophet too There are Three great Cares lying upon us in our Families there is Family Prayer and Family Instruction and Family Government T is by the Discharge of these three things that we engage our Houses to serve the Lord. Family-PRAYER SECT IX FIrst then Let Family-Prayer be maintained in our Houses that they may serve the Lord. My Neighbours I have told you often and I now tell you weeping That it will be a sad thing if so much as one Prayerless-Family be found among you all The owners of that House will never be able to stand or live in the fiery day of of God's pleading with him You have been Warned and Warned full many a time that if your Houses be not Warmed with your Prayers the fierce Wrath of God abideth on them and I hope none of you will venture to meet me at the Bar of the Lord Jesus with the fearful heavy guilt of this Omission upon your souls The very Turks themselves at this day uphold a Family-Worship among themselves God forbid that any styled Christians here should be worse than they SECT X. THe Method in which I shall treat with you here about shall be I. To offer some Directions about Family-Prayer The First Rule Let all Persons that should attend Family-prayer count themselves concernd to Pray without â—easing Eveâ—y Master of an House is to carry on the Prâ—yer in it That man is not fit to have aâ— Hâ—use that cannot make a Prayer But if the Maâ—ter be absent Then the Mistress is to see â—till that Prayer be not wanting It seems affiâ—med of Eâ—ther a Woman in Cap. 4. 16. That she Pray'd with her Maidens There should not be one Prayer the less in a Family because 〈◊〉 is become the Ruler there No the Lâ—sses of a Family should increase the Prayers of it And let the Master of a Ship remember That the Sailers are his Family He should pray with them aboard every day while they are at Sea together You that see the Wonders of God together should together sing the Praises of God and together beg the Mercies of God. Methinks the poor Sea-men should be the best 〈◊〉 in the world With what face can you pray in a Storm if you do not also pray in a Câ—lm Now Master t is your Work t is part of your Order from your great Ownâ—r to see that this â—e done 〈◊〉 all Mariners call upon
their Master as thosâ— Marâ—ners did upon the Passinger in 〈◊〉 1 6 Arâ—â—e 〈…〉 God that we perish 〈◊〉 Let the Master of 〈◊〉 School also Remember That the Scholars are his Family He should pray with them and bless them in the Name of the Highest God provides Angels and will not you afford Prayers for the safety of those little ones We read of some in Mark. 10. 13. who brought young children unto the Lord Iesus Christ The Children that are brought to you by Parents or Guardians these are by you to be brought unto the Lord Jesus that He would lay His Blessing and saving hands upon them Yea the Captain of a Train'd Band is to esteem the Souldiers as his Family That good Captain Cornelius could sâ—y in Act. 10. 30. I prayed in my House As for those that will not pray in the Field t is to be questioned whether they will Fight there Trainings without Prayings are like to degenerate into meer Debaucheries The Prayeresâ— Captain gives a very dangerous and desperate Word of Command when he saies Follow your Leader Briefly All Superiors generally have a Family in the Kind of their Superiority which they are to attend Prayers withal The Second Rule Let all the Matters that would hinder Family-Prayer be put far from our Tabernaâ—les There are diverse Impediments of our family-Prayers â—hiâ—h â—e are to be Cautioned against As now Let not family Iarrs hinder family-Prayers The Aposâ—â—â—â—aith to them that are in â— Câ—njogal Reâ—lation that they should be meek tender lovâ—ng for this cause in 1. Pet. 3. 7. That your Prayers be not hindred if Peace be gone from a family then Prayer is gone How can Scolding and it may be Striking too agree with Praying in which we are to lift up pure â—ands without wrath Again Let not family Scabs hinder family-Prayers Bad-Members in a family often cause that there are no Prayers in it Many men will not pray because others will scoff and flout But let your Houses have no such In-mates no such Ishmaels in them It is recorded of Elisha in 2 King. 4. 33. he would not have a servant with him which he could not pray withal If any profane graceless Despisers of Prayer would impose themselves upon us let us then say to them Depart ye workers of iniquity for I will call upon the Lord. Once more Let not Family-Prayers be hindred by unsuitable Times The earlier we dispatch them the easier We should not ordinarily let Business royl us in the Morning nor â—roâ—siness drown us in the Evening before Family Prayer be over As To every purpose â— thus to every Prayer there is a time and judgment and a wise mans heart will discern it The Third Rule Be frequent enough and yet very serious in your family Prayers Very shameful is their neglect who have Prayers in their Families but once a day The Apostle saith in Col. 4. 2. Masters continue in prayer he speaks with a manifest Allusion to the daily Offering under the Law of old which was both morning and evening We should have Morning-Prayers and Evening-Prayers correspondent unto the daily Sacrifice And hence because the Sacrifice was doubled on the Sabbath I have known some pious people pray four times every Lords-Day with their Families Be sure Twice a day is ordinarily the seldomest and slenderest Repetition that our Family-prayers are to have O but we should therein stir up our selves to take hold on God. When you keel before the Lord you should not be rash hasty sudden in it you should not be sleigâ—ty in this great Excercise of of Religion Before we pray we should think Think seriously To WHOM am I to pray and For What am I to Pray and How soon may I dye and my praying seasons all be over And before we pray we should Read. Read seriously something of the Things which are commanded you of God. The Scriptures are to accompany our prayers T is said They are to dwell with us The Bible is to be one of the House When we betake our selves to our Pâ—ayers we should not let the Bible say I should have been as one of the Family pray why was not I called in The Fourth Rule Let not your Family-prayers be your only prayers Understand that Seâ—ret Prayers â—s â—â—ll as private Prayers are to be performed by â—s all For this the word of our Lord is very positive in Matth. 6. 6. When thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret T is a great fondness and folly in any of us if private prayer cause us to lay aside secret prayer No There is Closet-Prayer as well as Parlour-Prayer which we ought to labour in I would say as our Lord in another case One you ought to do not leave the other undone We have special Transâ—â—issâ—â—ns to be confessed in our prayers these are 〈◊〉 to be confessed To divulge a secret 〈◊〉 is to add a further sin Our secret sins do call for our secreâ— Prayers We have special Tempâ—â—â—â—s to be bewailed in our prayers and these 〈◊〉 secâ—etly to be bewailed Our Desires are sometimes to be too secret for our Neighbours Our secret Griefs and our secret Fears call for our secret Prayers And as one of the Ancients elegantly expresses it Invisible prayers are to be often made to an invisible God. Secret prayer is one good sign of a gracious heart Let the Lord oft see you like Nathanael at secret prayer under the 〈◊〉 and He will say Behold an Israelite iâ—deed Would you get Internal Blessings then pray in secret Solomon got his Widom his Vertue by secret prayer Peter by secret prayer in 〈…〉 carâ—ied with Tranâ—es and Raptures into the other world Would you get External Blessings Then pray in secret Hâ—â—nah with secreâ— prayer asked one Son and had six Iacob had all his House preserved by secret prayer Yea Would you be General Blessings Pray then in â—â—câ—et Moses by secret prayer diverted wrath plagues from all the Congregation That infamous Apostate Iulian was killed by the secret prayer of a good man at that hour very far distant from him What shall I say No Supe sedeas no Diversion should ever be given to your secret prayers Moreover besides your Prayers with all the Family you may do well sometimes to Reâ—â—râ— unto prayers with this or that particular person in it Some do so translate that passage in Gen 25. 21. Isaac entreaâ—ed the Lord with his wife It were but a discreet and a decent practice foâ— married persons to 〈◊〉 likewise Thus holy Pâ—rents have often taken their Children one by one alone and there pray'd and wept and pour'd out their souls over the poor lambs in secret places before the Lord. Thus are we to do Thus to pray SECT XI BUt the Sluggard will pretend A Lion in thâ— way Wherefore I pass on II. To Remove some Objeâ—ctions against Family-Prayer A Threefold want is pleadâ—d
that Charge of God in 1. Joh. 3. 23. This is His Commandment that you believe on the Name of his Son. Charge them to accept of Christ Jesus as their Prince and their Saviour Charge them to repair unto Christ Jesus for Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Lay also upon them that Charge of God in Mat. 6. 6. Enter into thy Closet and pray to thy Father in secret Charge them to Retire for their Devotions every day Charge them to let not a day pass them without Crying to God for His Mercy and Pardon and Salvation Once more Lay upon them that Charge of God in Prov. 1. 10. My son if Sinners entice thee consent thou not Charge them that they be not the Companions of Fools Charge them that they do not associate themselves into an Intimacy and a Familiarity with any but such as may be sober discreet blameless persons Finally Lay upon them that Charge of God in Hag. 1. 5. Thus saith the Lord of hosts Consider your waies Charge them that they Consider what their present Condition is and what their future Condition is like to be Charge them that they consider of their past Behaviours and of the Death and Iudgment and Eternity which is yet before them A young man has become a real Convert by being obliged unto Consideration for one Quarter of an Hour in a Day Wish for them say to them Oh that they were wise that they would Consider In a word Let your Charge on them be that which Holy Bolton gave to his Children when he dyed I charge you that at the Day of Iudgement none of you dare to meet me in an Unregenerate estate Secondly The Manner of Family-Instruction T is to be performed in such a Manner as may best Attain the Ends of it Particularly First We are to Instruct our Families very Seasonably We are told in Matth 24. 45. The Ruler over the Household is to give them their meat in due Season There lies much in the Time we take for the Work. We should indeed have our Frequent Times to do it We should speak what may be for the Instruction of our Families every day and often in a day and on various occasions be dropping our savoury Admonitions Even when we sit at the Table we should rarely Rise without feeding the Minds as well as the Mouthes of our Attendents Much more at the Hâ—urs of Prayer we should do something that may make them more acquainted with Divine Objects then they were before But we should likewise have our Stated Times to do it Especially Sacred Time will be very properly a Stated Time for it On the Dayes of the Lord we should instruct our Houses in the Things of the Lord that were infinitely better than to be Sleeping or Talking at an idle rate as then too many do But about the Stated Time for Family-Instruction there is a double Discretion to be used It is to be dispatched in a Quiet Time in a Time when there is no Disturbance by Passions within or Noises without It is said in Eccles. 9. 16. The words of wise men are heard in quiet and no wise man will speak when there is not Quietness enough to allow an Audience for him And it is to dispens'd in a Lively Time in a Time when Spirits are stirring and Affections are vigorous T is said in Rom. 12. 11. Be â—ervent in spirit serving the Lord thus this peice of Service for the Lord is to be done when there is a Fervency of Disposition thereunto Secondly We are to Instruct our Families very pertinently Accommodate our Instructions to their Conditions Are there any Vnconverted persons in our Families Let them be Suitably Instructed Say to them as in Psal. 34. 11. Hearken to me and I will Teach you the Fear of the Lord. Let them be warned of the Dangers which do threaten their miserable souls and let them be stirred to the Duties that may lay them at the Pool in the way of our Lord Jesus Christ. Are there any Converted persons in our Families Let them too be suitably Instructed We read in Joh. 8. 31. Iesus said unto the Iewes which believed on Him continue in my word Let them be quickned to continue in their Faith and Love and Zeal Let them have Weapons â—o furnish them against all their Difficulties and Cordials to Revive them under all their Discouragements Are there any Vnfruitful Souls in our Families Instruct them suitably by setting before them what is the Doom of the Barren Free and of the Barren Ground even to be cut down and burnt up for ever And say O glorifie your heavenly Father by bringing forth much fruit Are there any Back-sliding Souls in our Families Instruct them suitably by setting before them the Displeasure of God at such as draw-back and His extreme Wrath on them whose Goodness is as the Morning cloud and the early dew and say Remember whence thou art fallen repent and do thy first works Thus are we to suit the the case of those whom we give Instruction to Thirdly We are to Instruct our Families very Diligently T is a thing that we are to labour in T was enjoind in Deut 6. 7. The words which I command thee thou shalt teach them Diligently unto thy Children It calls for our Hearts and our Pains When we set about it we should think with our selves We know not how short our Opportunities may be we know not whether we shall ever speak more to those whom we now direct our selves unto In this as well as in other such Cases we should hear the voice of our own Vncertainty Mortality t is that in Eccles. 9. 10. Do with thy might what thy hand finds to do for there is no work nor wisdom in the grave whither thou art going T is the Work of the Lord about which we are when we are Instructing our Families t is not to be done slothfully we find in Ier. 28. 10. cursed is the man who doth it so t is to be done heartily we find in 2. Chron. 31. 21. that is the way to prosper in it O let us be as Diligent in Instructing of our young people as the Emissaries of Hell are in Seducing of them Fourthly We are to Instruct our Families by Exemple Be Exemplary and follow the Directory of that geat man who said in Psal. 101. 10. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart Let our Walk as well as our Talk show the young people with us how they are to walk and to please God and let us be able to call upon them Do you follow me as I follow Christ. Let us give such Expressions of Love to God and his Truths and His Wayes that our Families may come after us in the like Let them discern how to seek the Face of God and how to bear the Hand of God and how to prize the Word of God by seeing how We do it our selves When Elisha would get for
no time to Teach them The poorest among you all should say as in Psa. 119. 92. The Law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of Gold and silver T is better to lay up for thy Family the Riches of God's Law than Thousands of pounds Nothing nothing should put by their Instruction in the way of peace If you do not want an Heart you will not want a Time for the Instruction of your Families No man could have more business lying on his hands than David had who had the Affayrs of a mighty Kingdom to distract him yet of him could his own Son say as in Prov. 4. 4. He taught me The Fifth Exception T is possible a fifth person may have uncomfortable cause to plead I have those in my Family that will not be Instructed I can't Order them so far as to make them submit unto it In this unhappy Case What shall be done but this We are to pray for these Creatures that their Hearts may be tamâ—d and bowâ—d by Him that has them in His Hand We are also to watch when some Affliction or some Amazement is come upon them then God opens their ear to Discipline then the Wild Asses are in the Month where you may find them We may likewise call in the help of some grave pious holy Minister who may come to them with the spirit and power of Elias To turn the hearts of the Children to their Fathers Finally If your Children refuse to be Instructed What saies the Wise man A Rod for the fools back If your Servants refuse to be Instructed What saies the Good man He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house SECT XVI BEfore I have done I must Endeavour III. To propound some Incentives unto Family-Instruction Wherefore Consider first the Needfulness of it Christians Instruct your Families for I may say This is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you And as Gods Will so their State calleth for it O look upon the Ignorance of your Families May it not be said of them as in Psal. 14. 2. The Lord looked on the Children to see if there were any that did understand they are all gone aside Instruct them lest they be destroyed for lack of knowledge Look upon the Corruption of your Families May it not be said of them as in Eccles. 5. 3. The hearts of the Children is full of Evil. Instruct them lest they be the Children of Belial to consume your eyes and grieve your hearts In a Word Instruct your Families or else the Blood of their Souls will be required at your hands It was complain'd of old in Jer. 2. 34. In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of poor innocents What a dreadful word is that and what a dreadful thing will it be for your poor Families to follow you in the ever-burning Lake below shrieking and roaring If you had done your Duty to us t is like we had never arrived here Consider Secondly the Vsefulness of it Instruct your Families and it will issue in their Good. They shall be brought home to God. As he said in Psal 51. 13. I will teach them and they shall be converted unto thee You may see converted Children and converted Servants filling of your Families They may bless the name of God for ever that ever they knew your House or saw your Face because you have promoted in them that Knowledge which is Life Eternal Instruct your Families and it will issue in your Ioy. They shall afford you that â—ight of which the Apostle said I have no greater Ioy. T is said in Prov. 10. 1. A wise Son makes a glad Father T is a taught son that proves a wise son What a joyful thing will it be for you to see all your Children and Servants calling you their spiritual Father here But what a much-more joyful thing will it be for you to meet them all at the Right Hand of our Lord in the day of His Appearing O Consider of these Things and go away determined I hope you are now determined Thus I and my House will serve the Lord. TIME DISCERNED ECCLES VIII 5. A wise man's heart discerneth TIME THe Famous Writer of these Words was that Royal Preacher Solomon After much Experience of the World and after much Repentance for that Experience he drew up a Treatise De summo bono concerning the chief Good of man. The penitent and inspired Monarch having arrived unto the Top of this world pitties the poor men whom he sees toiling and sweating to get up the rocky hill after him and expecting to find Happiness there with a loud voice he gives this warning to them Sirs You will be all mistaken you will meet with nothing but Vanity and Vexation here The Context here contains the Reflections of this wise prince on the Countenance which he had given to publick and open Idolatry in Israel and the compliance which they that should have advised the contrary yeilded thereunto Men seek out many inventions to excuse themselves from bearing an humble but a faithful Testimony against any sinful thing which their Superiors may invite them to One of these Inventions is mentioned in the fourth verse of this Chapter it is drawn from the Vncontrouleable Power of them that sometimes enjoin a sinful thing To this Excuse we have a two-fold Answer in the fifth verse We have two things in it First the Good of Religion T is saiâ— Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing q. d. Be true to Gods Commandments thy own Conscience let who will be offended at it the wonderful providence of the Almighty will in the mean time be concerned for thy Safety and Security A man gets no real Hurt by doing of his Duty Secondly the Need of Discretion T is said A wise mans heart discerneth both Time and Iudgment q. d. In the doing of this and every other Duty two things are to be much regarded Mind the Season of the duty and mind the Manner of the duty much harm will thereby be prevented in discharging of it T is the former of these two Regardables that I would now insist upon Behold a general Rule apply'd unto a particular Case the Case is the Rebuking and Refusing of Sin but the Rule is A wise man alwaiâ—s will discern his time to do what he has to do To Discern the Time it must needs also signifie to Improve the Time. Wherefore the Doctrine is A wise man will discern and improve his Time to do what is incumbent on him Our Propositions are to be such as these Prop. I. The Blessed God affordeth to men in this World a Time to discharge the Duties incumbent on them There are two things incumbent on us to Do good and to Get good The good we are to do is to Honour God and the good we are to get is to Enjoy God. Those two things comprise all our Duties and they make up the Errand
Time if not their Soul. Secondly Let us mispend no Time in Idleness It was an ill world where the Apostle could say as in 2. Thes 3. 11. There are sâ—me that walk disorderly working not at all Every man should be able to make a good Answer to the Question which Pharaoh put unto Ioseph's Brethren I pray What is your Occupation A big part of our Time should be laid out on our particular Callings A Calling is an Ordinance of God Adam in Paradise had a Labour imposed on him Be diligent in some one or other No man so fully and foully falls into the possession of the Devil as the idle man. The Ants the Bees and all the Creatures exclame against him Idleness tiâ— thundred against in Ezek. 16. 49. as one of the Sins that brought Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom long ago it will carry from Earth to Hell the souls of them that in it snore away their lives When men do'nt misspend their Time then do they discern it Direction II. Let us Discern our Time and Attend every Duty in the proper Time. There is a two-fold Prudence which the Wise man's heart is to be no stranger to The First Prudence is Let no Duty be done out of its Time. We are told in Eccles 3. 11. God hath made every thing beautiful in the Time of it There is a Nick of Time that we are to take for all we do Not Snow but Fruit is beautiful in the Summer T is not beautiful for the Duty of Prayer to be done at a sleepy time or at a busy time T is not beautiful for the Duty of Reproof to be done at a time when it can do no good at all Set not upon this or that Duty at a time when God calls to another Duty T is said in Eccles. 8. 6. To every purpose there is a Time and Iudgement We may render all our Duties like Apples of gold in pictures of silver by well timing of them The Second Prudence is Let no Time pass away without its Duty Let none of our times be unaccompanied with the Duties which belong unto them As now there are Duties that belong to a time of Prosperity and Duties which belong to a Time of Adversity T is said in Eccles. 7. 14. In the day of Prosperity be joyful but in the day of Adversity Consider In a time of Prosperity now is a time for men to Remember their Creator before the evil days come Now is a time for men to set their heart and their soul to seek the Lord who hath given them rest on every side In a time of Adversity now is a time for men to bring sin to remembrance now is a time for men to meet the Lord in all the ways of Repentance and Obedience This is to Discern the Time. But there are especially three sorts of times which we are to fill with the Dutyes of those Times First Let the Dutyes of Worshipping times be done in those times We have our times every day wherein the Lord saith seek my Face Now let the Echo of our souls be that in Psal. 27. 8. Thy Face Lord we will seek We have every day our times for private Prayer our times for secret Prayer our times for Reading of and Thinking on the Word of God. Let those things be faithfully done in those Times Especially Remember the Sabbath Day Let Sabbath-time be sanctifyed time On this day ly all the day long at the pool of Mercy Mercy Mercy and Salvation for an immortal soul is this day to be traded for T is a Time that the great God is very Jealous about He does wonderfully curse the Souls and blast the Houses and ruin the Countryes where this Holy Time is not acknowledged He will terribly break the rest of those whom His Rest shall not be regarded by Secondly Let the Dutyes of Visiting Times be done in those Times T is too commonly seen that Amici temporis Fures our Friends are our Theeves they Steal our time bâ—â—â—ause we don't use our time when then they are with us T is observable in Col. 4. 6. as soon as the Apostle had said Redeem the time he adds Let your speech be always with Grace That that indeed is a rare way to Redeem the time Let us ordinarily study to do some good whatever Company we come into It was observed of that excellent Vrsin by his renowned Friend I 〈◊〉 was in his company but I went away Doctior â—ut Melior the wiser or the better from him Abhor O abhor the useless visits that are quite contrary to all such designs Mourn if you have been in any Company without being profitable thereunto Thirdly Let the Duties of Intervening times be done in those times We have large Fragments of time that are the Intervals of our businesses about these Fragments of time I would say as our Lord said about the Fragments of Bread in Joh. 6. 12. Gather up those Fragments that nothing be lost How many thousands of happy thoughts might we have as we are sitting in the House or walking in the Street otherwise wholly unimployed The very Filings of Gold and of Time are not to be cast away To discern our time is to adapt our time Direction III. Let us discern our Time and make none but Good Bâ—â—gains about the time The Scripture once and again tells us as in Eph. 5. 16. that we are to Buy up the time or buy out the time This is to discern the Time We must be at some Cost and at some Charge for it if we would not be ill-husbands of our time We must pay down either Mony or Monyes-worth for it we must fore go and under go many things for it Many things must we give up that our time so may be well-imployed The case is ordinarily so that either we must resign many Pleasures many Profits many Honours or else we must part with our time Now rather give up all Delights than suffer precious time to be pyrated away All the things of time are sometimes Expence little enough for time Yea many things must we give back that so we may not misemploy our time The Devil and our Lusts have been trucking for our time The Devil that hellish Hucster would engross all our Time for his own He deals with us as the Europeans dealt at first with the silly Indians who leâ—â— go their â—old and Silver and Diamonds for glass-Beads and tinsil-Toyes The Answer that our Lust makes to the Tempter is Let me have the pleasures of sin for a season and every season of my time shall be thine O but we should be content to give back all that Satan has proffer'd us for our time let it be never-so-much that we might have had for the misuse of time begrutch it not 'T was the Speech of Austin Perde aliquid ut Deo vaces If you would have Time for God or any Good you must part with something for it In a
Object will decoy thee into a natural suitable Expression of thy self and as our Lord speaks in Rev. 2. 23. All the Churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the Heart Expect also that the great God will have a Bar for your Detection in another world T is confessed by all Christians as in 2. Cor. 5. 10. We must all appear before the Iudgment seat of Christ. O that we could every one of us now seriously place our selves before the Iudgment seat of God! Remember O immortal souls that you must all very shortly appear before a Iudge who hath Eyes like a flame of fire and you must then be exposed in the full view of Heaven Earth Remember that you shall then have no Vizard no Disguise to cover you but all men and Angels must hear truly what you are It was the warning in Eccl. 11. 9. know thou that God will bring thee to Iudgment Even so Know thou that thou canst not avoid the day when God shall bring every worke into Iudgement with every secret thing Know thou that when the dead small and great stand before God then thou shalt stand among ' em Know thou that tho' thou shouldst then shriek O Rocks hide me or O Mountains-defend me the the Rocks and the Mountains would be deaf unto that lamentable cry Holy Ierom could say Wherever I am or whatever I do Methinks I hear the Alarums of the last Trumpet Arise ye dead come to Iudgement O that you would often Reflect upon the Day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ. Counsil 2. Cry mightily to God that He would give you the Gold which will endure all Tryals whatsoever Our Lord saith unto us in Rev. 3. 18. I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the fire That Gold is Grace let us buy that is let us beg it of Him. Let us make that our servent our frequent Prayer in Psal. 119. 80. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I may not be ashamed Be careful and prayerful that you may be New Creatures and have the Root of the matter in your souls Be careful and prayerful That you may have Oyl in your vessels Be careful and prayerful That you may have in you the well of water which springs up into everlasting life Let your prayers be restless till you find that you are indeed Born again indeed Converted indeed Sanctified As for the Grace of God my son seek it as silver for indeed the Gain of it is better than fine gold Counsel 3. Often bring your selves to the Tryals of a Self-Examination T is the Charge of God in 2. Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves Your souls are as Vessels then Pierce them to see what they have Your souls are as Metals then Touch them to see what they are Such are the Allusions of the Holy Spirit there Know thy self was a golden Rule of Old and it will make a golden Saint when we make much use of that Rule Try thy self We are to use the Word of God as a Glass in which we are to behold our selves and we are often to compare our selves with what is therein required of us When we are in a Meditation as we should every day be upon some Truths of God we should then examine ourselves Whether we are moulded according thereunto And when we are under a Visitation as we sometimes are by the Rods of God we should then Examine our selves as they that of Old said Let us now search and try our wayes Especially when we are approching to the Table of the Lord Self-Examination is not then to be omitted So hath the Apostle urged in 1. Cor. 11. 28. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. T is a fearful Impiety and Presumption for a man to sit down at the Holy Supper without enquiring Have I a Wedding garment on or no Yea t is convenient for a man every Evening before he sleeps to examine himself and ask If I dy this night is my immortal spirit safe O tremble exceedingly least your doom should be that in Jer. 2. 37. The Lord hath rejected thy confidences and thou shalt not prosper in them Therefore be much in Examining your selves Examine Whether you have true REPENTANCE Wherefore Try whether you are at so much pains for no Outward and Earthly thing as you are for the mortification of every lust And Try whether Afflictions themselves are welcome to you when you see you sins thereby embittered and subdued Examine Whether you have true FAITH Wherefore Try whether your Souls are extremely affected with the blessed Fulness Glory which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Try whether your hearts most affectionately close with the Gospel-way of Salvation by Jesus Châ—ist so as cheerfully to venture the Lives of your souls upon it Examine Whether you have true LOVE Wherefore Try whether any thing that has a Tendency to promote the Honour of God be readily embraced by you as a thing more desirable than all the Riches in the world And Try whether you count no Service too much to be done for the People of the Saints of the Most High. Put the Question to your selves and let the Preface of your Answer be that Request in Psal 139. 23. Search me O God and try me and help me to know my self To be much in such Self-Examination is the way to be a Golden Christian and indeed none but such an one will have a Value for the Exercise II. Let us also approve ourselves as gold under the Dispensations of the Blessed GOD. Particularly First Let them that are in Prosperity behave themselves well under the Tryals of the Lord. It may be that you are come to have store of Gold O that you may Be like what you Have T is possible that you have been in much Distress and Sorrow But God has brought you forth as t is said He brought Israel out of Egypt in Ps 105. 37. He brought them forth with Gold. Consider That God is now Trying of your Faithfulness No doubt you have sometimes promised the God of Heaven That if you might have such a measure of Health and Strength or That if you might have such a Degree of Estate and Honour you would glorify God with a wonderful Activity Well saith our God I 'll try God is trying whether you will be true to those Professions and Engagements which you made before He so smil'd upon you God is trying whether you will not Confirm that Observation in Jer. 17. 9. The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Consider moreover That God is now trying of your Thankfulness A very terrible Wrath is denounced against them in Deut. 28. 47. Who serve not God for the abundance of all things God gives you an Abundance of all things and it is to try
Expectation of the Psalmist in Psal. 118. 17. I shal not dy but live and declare the works of the Lord. This is to be the Resolution of every man. Can we say I do not dy but live We should add I will then declare the Praises of the Lord. The first Question that the Thoughts of men should be employed upon is What is the Cheef End of Man The true and Just answer To that Question is The Cheef End of man is to glorifie God. Well put the Question so What is the Cheef End of Life The Answer to that Question too will be the same It is to glorifie God. To praise God What is that To praise God is to Render and Procure a due Acknowlement of His Excellencies Indeed all the Duties of Religion are Contained in this Comprehensive thing When we own when we serve when we Adore the Great God in any or all the waies of His Worship Then we praise Him and we further praise Him when we provoke others to join with us in doing so This This Praise of the LORD is the End of our Life in the World. This is the End of our Being We are told that We have our Being in God. Of all things whatever this is then most Reasonable that We should have our Being for God and our Being for Him is not expressed without our praising of Him. The blessed God looks from on high upon mankind and saith as in Isa. 43. 21. This people have I formed for my self they should show forth my Praise Now that which is the End of our Being is the End of our Living too Two things are to be affirmed of it First The Law of God doth Appoint this as as the End of our Lives Unto every man living this is the Voice of God I spare thy life that so thou mayst live my praise It is said in Rom. 14. 7. If we live we are to live unto the Lord. What the Apostle saith of Eating and Drinking may much more be said of Living as in 1. Cor. 10. 30. It must be unto the Glory of God. God gives our Lives God keeps our Lives and this is His reveled His Preceptive Will concerning our Lives Man I suffer thy life yea I support thy life that I may be praised loved admired by thee as long as thou livest It was an heavy dismal Charge against Belshazzer in Dan. 5. 23. God in whose Hand thy breath is thou hast not glorified The Almighty God gives us notice of this Thy Breath is in my hand at the same time He also requires this of us Let thy life be to my prâ—ise That man makes a sacrilegious Incroachment and Invasion upon Gods Right who makes not Godâ—s Praise the End of his living upon God`s Earth There is therefore Secondly this to be added thereunto The Heart of man should Embrace this as the End of our lives It becomes every man to say I live that God who is worthy to be praised may have the praises of my Obedience to Him. It was the godly purpose of the Psalmist in Psal. 147. 2. While I live I will praise the Lord. And a kin to this is the Right Thought which every man should entertain I do live that I may praise the Lord. Hence this is one of the principal Pleas which the Saints have used in their Supâ—lications for their Lives Good Hezekiah pray'd in his Distress Lord let me live And what was his Argument It was that in Isa. 38. 17. 18. The Grave cannot praise thee the living the living he shall praise thee The heart of man should readily close with such an End for the life of man. Satan saies Thou livest only to Enjoy the delights of the Flesh in the world thou livest only to seek to get and to tast the saecular pleasures provided for thee The soul of man should rise with unspeakable Indignation at this wild proposal On the other side our God saies The Business of thy life is to magnifie Mee to make my Praise glorious Here now Here the Soul of every man should fall in and Reply This is all my Salvation and all my Desire But this leads to PROP. II. Prayers for life are then and only then rightly qualified when they have Respect unto the Praises of God. To clear this matter there are these things to be conceived One Conclusion is That the Living on Earth have many peculiar Opportunities to be Praising of God. Indeed Blessed are the dead who dy in the Lord for they too are alwaies praising of Him. But yet they rest from some Praises when they rest from their Labours here The departed Saints are continually shouting Hâ—llelujah Hallelujah before the Throne of God. The Saints they are joyful in glory and the High Praises of God are perpetually Proceeding from those blessed Souls But Christians in this world have their peculiar Opportunities to be Glorifying of Him that made them This did the Psalmist speak in Ps 88. 11. Shall the dead praise thee To instance in some particulars The Living here may be praising of God by the Discharge of many Relations which the dead Saints are strangers unto We may now praise God as Parents as Masters as Officers in the the Church or Common-Wealth All those Capacities will dy with us when we shall go hence and be-no more Again The Living here may be Praising of God by Bearing many a Witness to the Truths and Wayes of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may now bestow many Rebukes upon the Errors and the Evils of a sinful World. We may part with and esteem an Estate with our Ease and our Life it self out of Respect unto the Name of God. But our Testimonies expire with our Lives Once more The Living may be Praising of God by Advancing His Kingdom here below In this Life we may be instrumental to Convince and Convert Vnregenerate Sinners to build up the Church of the Lord Jesus and to Do good among the ignorant by an Exemplary Conversation But this is to be done only below the stars Furthermore There are Graces proper to this Life which God is praised by the Exercising of The Tears of Sorrow for Sin will be dry`d up when we come to the State in which all Sorrow shall flee away Charity in Giving and Forgiving to them that need it there is no occasion for that Charity among them that are above they are all perfect and happy there Patience under Tryals belongs to our present Condition only there are no Afflictions to trouble us when our few dayes full of trouble are passed away In a Word Our Spiritual Warfare is to be attended only in this Valley of the Shadow of Death We cannot fight the Battles of the Lord and therein we cannot shew the praises of the Lord when we are arrived at the End of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls Our Fight is done our Crown is come when we have been Faithful to the Death A Second Conclusion is That Opportunities
for the Praising of God are the things for which we should desire to be living on Earth There is a Three-fold Desire of Life which the Living have There is a Natural Desire of Life This is common both to good men and bad men Nature it self startles at the Approach of Death Innocent Nature shivers and recoyls when this King of Terrors is ready to lay his cold lâ—y hand upon us This was Ioab's Desire that valiant Souldier The Lord-General of Israel himself in 1. King. 2. 28. being in cold blood under Apprehensions of Death fled unto the Horns of the Altar as a Sanctuary to save his Life There is also a Sensual Desire of Life This is that which Bad men are under the power of Many are loth to dye because they would not leave the Pleasures and Profits and Honours which did surround them here They are like the Miser who on his Death-Bed hugg'd his Baggs of Gold and cry'd out Must I leave you Must I leave you Their Love of their Life comes from their love of their Flesh. This was the Rich Fools Desire in Luc 12. 20. He wished for many Years that he might eat and drink and be merry here There is likewise a gracious Desire of Life And this is that which good men are affected with They desire to live because they desire to praise They would live because they would honour God in those matters those manners for which their Lives do afford them blessed Opportunities and Advantages Now this gracious Desire of of Life is a Regular Desire A Desire of Life for the Praise of God is the only Desire of Life that will have praise of God. This was David's Desire when he was visited with Sickness when he was weak and his Bones were pained then said he in Psal. 6. 5. O save me for in Death there is no Remembrance of thee in the Grave who shall give thee thanks Such Desires are the only right and chast Desires It is not fit for a Christian to say I desire to live because I am afraid to dy Much less is it fit for him to say I desire my life in the world that I may turn and wind still the Affairs of the World. But This is that which Legâ—timates the Desire of Life As every thing is to be iâ—â—roved for God so every thing should be desired for God. And thus Life it self We are daily Praying as he in Psal. 102. 24. O my God take me not away in the midst of my dayes Well Our God enquires of us Why art thou unwilling to be taken away in the midst of thy dayes We should have this to be our true Account of it Because O Lord I am loth to be taken away in the midst of my Praise PROP. III. The Judgments of God are to be sought and used by us as our Help in those Praises of God which are the End of our life There are blessed Helps which God hath provided for us by which we may be both Assisted in and Excited to the work of our lives Behold a double Help both implyed in the Iudgments of God. And he that shall consult other passages in this Hundred-and-nineteenth Psalm will find both under this Notion insisted on The Scriptures of Truth and the Troubles of Life First The Word of God is to be sought as the Help of our Praising Him. The Prophet of old could say as in Mich. 6. 8. The Lord hath shewed thee O man the thing that good is Thus the Lord hath shewed us how to be praising of Him by living to Him. But Where has he shewed it Truly in the sacred Bible The Bible is the Directory given to us Every Child is well taught to say The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Rule which God hath given to instruct us how we are to glorify Him. To order a Life in a dark world is as hard as to manage a Ship in a dark night we are in the Dark about the Practises which our lives are to be employed in What shall we then do that we may leave no part of our due Homage to God unperformed The Apostle speaks fully to this Case in 2. Pet. 1. 18. We have a sure word of Prophecy whereto ye do well to take heed as to a light shining in a dark place There There it is our Bible is our Pole-Star keep an eye to That and we shall shape a course Right All the Directions all the Promises all the Threatnings of God will be so many Helps of our Obedience If any man ask How do the Scriptures of God help men in the Praises of God Know The Scriptures themselves give an Answer thereunto in Psal. 19. 7 8. The law of the Lord converts the soul the testimonies of the Lord make wise the simple the statutes of the Lord rejoice the heart the commandments of the Lord enlighten the eyes That Conversion that Instruction that Ioy and that Lighâ— which the Word of God affords unto us will be no little Help in the Praise of God. Secondly The Rod of God is to be used as the Help of our Praising Him. The Lord sends many Afflictions upon us An Hâ—man is afflicted in his mind a Iob is Afflicted in his Estate a Gaius is afflicted in his Body a Paul in his Credit and a David in his Children they live ill and they dy worse before him What is the Use we are now to make of these things Truly our Afflictions are to be the Help of our Devotions It is the Call of God in Mic 6. 9. Hear the Rod. As we should hear the Voice of the Rod so we should use the Help of the Rod. By our Afflictions we should be helped unto more Seriousness more Watchfulness more Fruitfulness Now those things are to the Praise of the glory of the grace of God. Our Afflictions are the purgings the prunings bestow'd by our God upon us What are they for but That we may bring forth more Fruit and we are told in Ioh. 15. 8. Herein is my father glorified if ye bring forth much fruit Observe it a Learning the Statutes of God is a Rendring of Praises to God those two things are one Now see what the Psalmist saith in Psal 119. 97. T is good for me that I have been afflicted that I may learn thy Statutes This then is incumbent on us under every Affliction Our study should be What Advantage what Engagement to be more holy is now put into my hands Every Afflicted man should ask How may the Sorrowes of my life promote the praises of my God But for the Vse of these things USE I. Some Evil Desires are hence Rebuked and Condemned Especially two sorts of Desires First Impatient Desires of Death are to be Reproved Something is to be said by way of Concession and something by way of Correction about such Desires First by way of Concession I would say There are some Desires of Death well-becoming
a Child of God. Such were the Desires of Paul in Phil. 1. 22. I desire to be dâ—ssolved and be with Christ. When we think of the day in which we shall go to the the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the New-Covenant When we think of the day in which the Lord will deliver us from the hand of all our enemies and from the hand of SIN O the thoughts of it should fill our Souls with Raptures of Joy they should cause our hearts to leap and spring within us In is an allowable thing to be almost angry with Time to call upon slow Time and say Fly apaces Fly away O Time Come O Eternity come and fetch me into the presence of the Lord. The Visions of the Lord Jesus may cause us to say humbly with aged faithful Simeon Lord let thy servant depart in peace The Chariots of Death sent by the Lord Jesus to fetch us unto Himself should be as welcom to us as the Waggons of Ioseph were to Iacob of old It should cause us to Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory when we think of the unspeakable joy and the full glory which we are going unto There are holy longings and lookings of Soul with which we may cry out Why why are His Churiots so long i'coming Why tarry the Wheels thereof But yet Secondly By way of Correction If these Desires are with Impatience much more if they are thro' Impatience they become sinful before the Lord. The embittered spirits of Christians have been sometimes too prone unto such Desires It was an inordinate passion in Moses when a froward people under his charge provoked him to say in Numb 17. 14. Kill me I pray thee out of hand Had God granted his Desire he had lost Thirty years of eminent Service in the World. It was an irregular passion in Elias when the persecutions of wicked men so tired him as to make him say in 1. King. 19. 4. O Lord take away my life It hath been an Observation that Many good and great men sit under Elias's Iuniper tree As culpable was the Passion of Ionah when the Withering of a Guord had that Effect upon him in Cap. 4. 8. He wished to dy The like pang of Impatience did that Pattern of Patience Iob fall into be spake as if he could hardly for bear laying violent hands upon himself Even so far do the distempered unbridled Wishes of many run Their Desire of Death is a sort of Revenge on God they would as it were deprive God of the glory which He might have of them Compose these desires O ye raging Souls compose these Desires Allay this Fever this phrensy It s not only an irreligious but an unnatural passion which you are carried away withal You desire to dye Well are you sure that the Death which you desire now will not prove a Death which you shall Deplore throughout eternal Ages It is said of the Believer in Psal. 91. 19. With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation It is a very disordered heart that will be dissatisfied with so great a mercy Secondly Vnsanctified Desires of Life are to be Reproved also Of these Desires there are Three Sorts to be Reprehended There are first Carnal Desires of Life to be blamed Some desire to live and wherefore is it It is because they desire to eat and drink and be merry They cann't part with such Relations and Possessions as are here to be enjoyed The Comforts of Life are the things that cause their Desires of Life One once beholding his fine Accommodations made this Reflection thereupon Haec faciunt invitos mori these are the things that make us unwilling to dy Unmortified Corruptions are the causes of these desires Remember what the Lord hath said in Matth. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother or Son or DAUGHTER more than me is not worthy of me Thus may the Lord well say to the Subject of these Desires If you had rather be with your friends on earth than with your Father in Heaven you are not worthy to be with me at all And this by the way is to be said of them that desire the life of their Friends as well as of them selves It is for the Interest of the Lord Jesus Christ that the dead Children which you lament are dead or else they had not dyed at all Now sais the Lord Jesus If thou lovest those CHILDREN those Relations more than me and hadst rather have them with thy self to my Prejudice than to have them with me to thy own Bereavement thou art not worthy to have them with me at all Secondly There are Careful Desires of Life to be likewise blamed Many desire to live only upon this account Some Child or some Charge they are concerned for They have this or that Child which they cannot believe will be well provided for when they are dead or they suspect what will become of such or such a Charge There is indeed a Desire of Life on such a Score which is not alwaies very severely to be found fault withal But oftentimes there is too much Distrust in such a desire Why cannot we venture our Families and the Concernments thereof in the Hands of the faithful God The Lord has said in Jer. 49. 11. Leave thy fatherless Children I will preserve them alive And he still saies I will be a better Father and a better Friend unto them than thou thy self canst be Thirdly There are Fearful Desires of Life which are blame-worthy too When Death comes with that message Set thy Soul in order for thou shalt dy and not live many persons are so terrified as to be even at their wits ends O how they groan I cannot dy Indeed Sinners that have not been born twice may well tremble to dy once no body can blame them there is a Second Death ready to sieze upon the forlorn souls that are not Regenerate But such as have been truly turn'd to God in Christ should not entertain Death with such Reluctancies Can you not uprightly say That if you were sure to be freed from Sin you could be content to be struck by Death O then be cheerfully willing to Dy. Thy soul will no sooner pass into Eternity but it shall experience that thing in Rom. 6. 7. He that is dead is freed from Sin. It is often pretended by men I would live because I would be more holy before I dy T is well but there is not seldom a Deceit in the Pretence often something else is in the Bottom A Rebellion against the Will of God. Wouldst thou really and earnestly be holy Be willing then to dy as well as to live Death is the way to Holiness in the Perfection of it In short Good was the Temper of that sick person who being asked Which do you desire to live or to dy answered I refer it to God and when it was again said But suppose