Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A60133
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Family religion in three letters to a friend / by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing S3666; ESTC R33838
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45,661
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120
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Customs and Prejudices to the Infection of others It cannot reasonably be expected that Persons when they come abroad in the World should ordinarily prove better than their Education Whereas as one observes a Religious Family is on the contrary a diffusive Blessing like a Stock of Bees which sends forth Swarms and Honey into Neighbouring Parts Especially as the Members hereof come hereafter to have Families of their own Therefore to shut Religion out of Families or not promote it there is the means to thrust it out of the World This has been observed by the very Pagans as the proper way for a private Man to be a Publick Good and serviceable to the Welfare of his Country viz. by ordering things well at home with Wisdom and Care in his own House and Family And there is hardly any thing whereby so much Evil is done to the Publick as by the Carelesness of Parents in the Instruction of their Children and the Negligence or ill Examples of Masters with respect to their Servants Among some of the Heathens a Penalty has been laid upon the Parents when the Children were ill-conditioned and they might be sued in the Courts of Judicature if they neglected the Education of their Children And how much the Safety Pleasure and Comfort of our Lives depends upon the faithful Discharge of Relative Duties Experience will teach us What greater Comfort can a Parent or a Master have than to see the Success of his Endeavours for the Good of those under his Roof A natural Parent may say it as well as a spiritual one I have no greater Joy than to see my Children walking in the Truth It is said of Abraham Heb. 11.9 that he dwelt in Tents with Isaac and Jacob Heirs with him of the same Promise How comfortable is it when Father Son and Grandson are all Heirs of the same promised Salvation Especially if God bless your Endeavours towards it that they who come from your Loins may serve the Lord. There is a double Blessing where the Father is Godly and the Son so likewise To see them alive to God who were dead in Sin will revive the Heart of a Religious Parent as it did old Jacob's to know that his Son Joseph was alive To have Wife and Children bear the Image of God and our Servants to obey and serve and please their Heavenly Master and by our Faithfulness and Care and Diligence to be brought to know and love and worship and honour him and be accepted with him What an unspeakable Delight must this be when the Savour of Religion descends from the Head to all the Members of the Family as the precious Ointment poured on the Head of Aaron ran down to the Skirts of his Garments You then may and will love them with a higher kind of Love than bare natural Affection In short you will love your Husbands Wives and Children and holy Relations with another sort of Love than other Persons do theirs It is a more fervent more pure more faithful more comfortable Love which is superadded by Religion and results from their Love to God and Participation of his Image You love them as the Friends and Brethren of Christ as Heirs of the same Inheritance as begotten again to a Divine Life by the same Spirit as born of the same Immortal Seed of the Word as nourish'd by the same Spiritual Food as under the same Bond of the Covenant as of one Houshold of Faith as Souldiers under the same Colours and Banner of Christ as called to the same blessed Hope of the Gospel as Travellers to the same Heavenly Country and Coheirs of the same glorious everlasting Kingdom You cannot love your unsanctified Relations in this manner whatever Natural or Civil Bonds of Union there may be between you and them It will please you doubtless to see them thrive and prosper in the World whom you tenderly love but it must much more do so to see them faithful to God live to his Glory and ripen for Heaven Whether you live or die you may then comfortably resign them and trust them with God who loves them better than you and will be sure to take care of them With what Pleasure can you think of the Sin and Misery which they escape What Wickedness such a Child would else have committed on Earth and what Torments he must have endured in Hell if he had been wicked Their Love Honour and Obedience to you which the Grace of God will teach them will also add to your Joy in your Health and Sickness or old Age they will pray for you And if they die you can look forward to the everlasting Happiness of their Souls as well as your own and the hopes of meeting them with Comfort in the Day of Reckoning And what an Honour is it to any Family to have serious Godliness transmitted from Father to Son and from the Son to the Grand-Child To be able to say My God and my Father's God and my Grand-father's God 2 Tim. 1.5 as Pliny reports * Dr. Manton on Heb. 11. p. 551. it was counted a great Honour and Felicity that in one Family of the Fabii there were three Presidents of the Senate one after another and in one House of Curio's there were three Orators one after another Besides how Beautiful and Pleasant a Thing is a Religious Well-ordered Family How Comfortable is it to dwell in such an House Where God is Worshiped and his Laws observed and his Day sanctified his Word read his Authority owned and his Laws made the Rule Where it is an Honour and not a Reproach to eschew Evil and do Good God promises to bless the Habitations of the Just and how sweet will his Presence be unto such Whereas to live in a House where the Name of God is never used but in jest or scorn or prophane Oaths where the Inhabitants are as so many Brutes that live from day to day as if they had no Souls to save no World but this to mind and no Expectations beyond the Grave where Worldliness and Sensuality filthy Talk and Intemperance c. have infected Superiours and Inferiours Who would dwell in such a House There cannot generally be Peace and Union Love and Concord in such Mens Dwellings Family Jars Contentions and Sorrows are occasioned by Sin which Family Religion would do much to prevent and cure If Children are a Grief to their Parents and Thorns in their Eyes as a Wicked Son is the Calamity and Shame of his Father and Heaviness to his Mother they may thank themselves as of their own Planting if they did not with Love and Diligence with Wisdom and Faithfulness seek their Salvation If Servants neglect their Duty to you how can you wonder when you have neglected yours to them You must bear the Fruit of their Sin if you do not teach them the Principles of Religion which should make them better and teach them to keep a good Conscience by giving them your