profess Religion and have joyned themselves in Communion with those who do really desire and aim at the greatest strictness and most exact holiness so that there is apparent necessity of doing what we can towards the reviving of this excellent practice which hath been by so many so unkindly so sinfully shut out of doors And to this end I shall do these two things First I shall prove that the setting up of the Worship of God and Religious Exercises in Families is a Duty Secondly Lay down some Arguments by which this may appear your reasonable Service We begin with the former That Family-worship is a Duty and that I prove by these three things The Practice of the Heathen The Precepts of the Scripture And the Practice of Saints I. This was the Practice amongst the Heathens though they had no more than the dim Light of Nature yet by that they did see this to be their Duty These not having the Law written were a Law to themselves and have done by Nature many of the things contained in the Law Rom. 2.14 And among others this We find they had their Lares their Penates such as they counted and called their Houshold-Gods and unto them they did offer up Sacrifices in their Families and unto them they did together perform acts of Religious Worship And therefore Prayer to God in Families is a part of Natural Worship because discovered by Natural Light and for the shameful neglect thereof the poor blind Heathen will rise up against multitudes of the Men and Women of this untoward Generation Shall they be more liberal to their Gods of Dung than we are to the Lord of Glory Shall they do more for the Honouring of their false Gods than some of us do for the living and true God who made Heaven and Earth and who is the Author of your Being the God of your Comforts and the Father of all your Mercies by the Hand of whose Power ye were made and upon whose Cost ye spend How sore and dreadful punishment will you deserve if the very Heathen shall condemn you If they were more observant of their Idols than you are of God it will be unspeakably more tollerable for them in the Day of Judgment than for you Think upon and apply to your selves what the Apostle Paul said to the wicked Jew Rom. 2.27 Shall not Vncircumcision which is by Nature if it fulfil the Law Iudge thee who by the Letter and Circumcision dost transgress the Law The clearer that Light is which men do enjoy if they rebel against it the greater is the Sin which they commit the greater is the guilt which they contract and therefore the fiercer that wrath which they deserve II. Family-Worshiping of God is the matter of the Precept It is a burden if any will be so vile as to think or call it so which the great God whose we are hath bound upon us Let me particularly instance in Family-Prayer which sweet and precious Incense I would gladly have all your houses perfumed daily with It must be granted that it is not expresly commanded in Scripture not totidem verbis in so many words but it is included in express commands and from those commands by necessary consequence it will appear to any one that doth not shut his own Eyes to be the Mind and Will of God concerning us For observe First We are expresly commanded to make use of all Prayer Take notice of that word All all Prayer i. e. all kinds of holy Prayer Ephes. 6.18 The Apostle had before told them they must wrestle with Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickednesses in high places and having thereupon counsell'd them to make sure of a sufficient strength being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and Armour of Proof the whole Armour of God he doth here in this Verse advise them to a wrestling with God and indeed it is excellent advice for he that can like a Prince wrestle with God in a way of Supplication will come off a Conqueror when he is called out to wrestle with Devils in a way of Opposition Observe the words Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Mark that with all prayer Now there are many sorts of Prayer namely Ejaculatory Prayer in which the holy Soul shoots out a Dart to Heaven and on a sudden lifts a Request up to God which may be done at any time and in any place in Company at Dinner in the Street as you are walking in the Shop as you are working or trading and in this way you may sweeten and sanctifie your worldly Affairs by mingling spiritual and gracious thoughts with them Thus while good old Iacob had his Sons before him and was telling them what should befal them in the last days in the midst of it his Soul got on the wing and mounted up to Heaven in that short but sweet expression Gen. 49.18 I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord and there is stated fixed prayer when a person doth at appointed times and in a solemn manner set it self to pour forth its Requests before God and make its desires known to him There is Publick Prayer in the Congregations and Assemblies of the Saints when not only two or three but scores hundreds thousands are met together in the Name of Christ and the Minister as the Mouth speaks to God and the hearts of the People go along with him by a real consent and to his Confessions Petitions and Thanksgivings add their Amen And there is Secret Prayer performed in the greatest retirement when a person hath withdrawn himself from all company and no body seeth nor hears but God alone and so it can be more free and open not hiding its groans from him but spreading all its desires before him and acquainting him with that which it would not have any one in the World besides to know And then there is Family-Prayer wherein the Governour gets the Children and Servants and all the Members thereof together and goeth with them to the Throne of Grace in order to the paying of their Homage unto God and the obtaining from God a blessing upon himself and upon them Now this kind of Prayer is in that Scripture required as well as any other God doth here by the Apostle require our praying with all prayer and if with all prayer then with Family-prayer Secondly We are commanded to pray every where 1 Tim. 5.8 I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every place not only in the Temple and in the Synagogue but every where in any place where it is convenient and you may be safe As God is no respecter of Persons so not of Places as Beggars go up down scattering their Vermin in all places and at every door so you should every where be scattering your Treasure
not doubt but such an one may have sweet Communion with God and find welcome and a gracious Entertainment so that he be upright in his Heart and fervent in his Spirit while serving of the Lord or to use the expression of the same worthy Person Though a Man hath not change of Raiment and cannot appear at the Court of Heaven every day in a new Suit but comes in the same Cloaths yet if he be a Loyal Subject he shall have free access to the King of Glory if he be a Child Heaven-born his Fathers Ear will be open to him and his Petition receiv'd and granted but while he goes to God with his old Prayer let him labour to carry with him new affections But Secondly I must needs profess to the Imposition of a form of a Prayer I am no Friend I have been pleas'd with the Composure of several for the spiritualness and variety of the Matter and for the aptness of the Expression but do not like the imposing of them neither some Mens taking upon them to impose them on others nor that any Man should impose one upon himself and I am sure it is not from a Spirit of Errour or of Division or of Contradiction that I believe and assert it far more excellent and desireable both for Ministers and private Christians to be able from an inward sense of and acquaintedness with their own case wants and necesties and from the abundance of their Hearts together with the gracious assistance of the Blessed Spirit of God to pour out their desires into his Bosom and make their Requests known to him than to borrow and make use of and tye themselves to the best form of anothers composing And I am perswaded our dear Lord Jesus did draw up and give out to his Disciples that most sweet full and comprehensive Prayer as a pattern for them to imitate not as a form with which they should sit down contented without looking after or making use of those Gifts and Abilities which he either had or should by his Spirit bestow and confer upon them And as for those who do ridicule and laugh at praying by the Spirit making it the matter of their scorn and derision I do not stick to charge them with a Spirit of Profaneness only I beg that God would shew them their sin and give them Repentance and a Pardon These things being thus premised I do as before Counsel you who are my Hearers not to tye your selves up to a form of Prayer and I shall give you three or four Reasons of my advising you so First Because it is my hearty desire that all of you who make Prayer your work and business should keep your selves at the greatest distance possible from a lifeless cold formality Do all that you can to avoid it not that I think formality is inseparable from form or that it cannot find room in him who prayeth extemporarily we all have need to watch both unto Prayer and in it else we shall have our Hearts to seek while we are seeking of God But I look upon it as a thing past question among experienced Christians that conceived Prayer as it is commonly called being rightly managed hath a greater and more direct tendency to the affecting both the Soul of him that utters it and the Souls of those that join with him and towards the raising of them up to a due warmth of Affection and preserving them in it I shall recite to you the words of a late Reverend Holy Divine of mine intimate Acquaintance that did Conform to the Church of England viz. Mr. Gurnal Famous for that excellent Piece of his The Christian in compleat Armour a Book worth Gold After he had there pleaded for the lawfulness of Forms of Prayer yea and that in the Church he hath these Expressions The evil is not in a Form but in Formality and that is a Disease which may be found in him that prayeth with a conceived Prayer A Man may pray without a Form and yet not pray without Formality and this I grant but now observe that which follows I confess he that binds himself constantly to a set Form especially in his private addresses seems to me to be more in danger of the two of falling under the power of that lazy Distemper Secondly There are some things which may and often do fall out which none can so well speak to as the Master of the Family himself can do supposing him furnished with such a competent measure of Abilities as doth become one in his place There are indeed common ordinary cases both of Persons and Families and Nations which some forms may reach and do very well suit but there are and may be some particular cases which the Governour of a Family who as he ought studieth both himself and it is best able to express and spread before God Prov. 14.10 The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger intermeddles not with his joy And surely then he is the fittest Person to relate both the one and the other Supposing a sick Patient have the full use of his Reason the Physician doth expect from himself the best account of his state Thirdly Conceived Prayer is the most direct way to Spiritual Increases It is the duty of Christians not to sit down with present attainments but while they are on this side of Heaven and Glory to be continually aspiring and reaching after more more Grace in order to a greater fitness for the happiness hereafter and more Gifts in order to a greater serviceableness here Now what progress is he like to make who continually walketh in a round If a Child will always walk holding on a Bench he is not like to be a good Footman The old saying is Vse Legs and have Legs it holds true here use Parts and have them yea and more too To him that hath and imployeth what he hath shall be given I do not doubt but conceived Prayer is better than the constant use of a form for the inriching of a Person with praying-gifts if I may not say with Grace too Let serious and truly honest Christians both of one way and the other speak as they find I know nothing fitter to determine that than their Experience Fourthly The confining of your selves to a form of Prayer is a dishonour unto God whose Glory ye should be dear over and promote to your utmost Your Gifts are bestow'd upon you in order to his Honour but what Honour hath he from them when conceal'd This is ingratitude to God where are the returns you make to him for the benefits you have from him To have the Gift of Prayer and not to use it is no other than to bury the Talent in a Napkin and so to do is not the part of a faithful Servant nor the way to enter into the Joy of your Lord when you leave Earth Fifthly It is a dishonour to your selves as it would be for a Man to walk
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
not be startled at it and afraid of him When Elijah in danger of his Life upon the rage and threatning of Iezabel had fled and hid himself in a Cave the Lord came to him and said What dost thou here Elijah 1 Kings 19. Suppose God should then and there come to thee not in a great strong Wind nor in an Earthquake nor in a Fire but in a gentle manner as he did to him in a small still voice and say what dost thou here O Man Is it not high time for thee to be at home honest Men should be so specially such as call themselves by my name should be so what then dost thou here Could you give a satisfactory account of it unto God Could you justifie and maintain it before God Could you with boldness answer Lord I am where I should be I am where my work is I do not at all doubt but such a question as this propounded by the most holy God would raise a blush in your Cheeks for shame or cover your Face with paleness for fear it would leave you speechless and make you tremble it would cause rottenness to enter into your Bones and teach you to make more haste home the next time Well know though God doth not appear and act to such a purpose as this for the present yet if you do not amend and sue out your Pardon he will question you about it at the last and punish you for it too Fourthly When you come so late to your Houses do you in your Consciences think that you come soon enough to your duty Is so late at Night the best time you can pick out to bestow upon God It is more than probable that then you your selves are not in any fit condition to make your appearance before so glorious a Majesty who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and very sensible of his Creatures neglecting him and who will not be mock'd no nor slighted neither Surely you are not then in a fit case to present your Petition to him in whose Hand your Souls and Lives and All are you are not then in a fit case to strive in Prayer and wrestle with Omnipotency though indeed the Door of Grace doth stand always open yet your Souls are not always active and at that time your Bodies will be a clog and hindrance to them At that Hour not only your Hearts it may be are down and flat and dead and your Spirits run very low but your very Heads are discomposed too and out of order and it is not likely that Grace should be lively and vigorous in its motions when Nature it self is jaded tir'd and calls for relief But how do you think it is with the rest of the Family who have stood in your Shops till their Legs have ak'd and been spent and wearied with the toyl and labour of the day doing your work and running from one end of the Town to another upon your Errands and after all have been impatiently waiting and wishing and looking for you till they could look no longer not being able to hold up their Eyes for though the Spirit be never so willing yet the Flesh is weak Now I appeal to you is this a good Praying-time And are not all in a right praying case when in such a case as this And the work is like to be done as it should be when they that set about it scarce know what they do possibly they are all asleep as soon as ever they are fallen down upon their Knees or if not so soon before the Master hath done and the Prayer is ended O Great God how art thou served by these pitiful Wretches that owe thee more than they are worth How would they put thee off Wert thou not what thou art God and not Man and were not thy Goodness thy Patience like thy Self Infinite Thou wouldst not nay more thou couldst not bear it and I leave you to think whether you have reason to hope that he will accept In short by this means at sometimes the duty is totally omitted and then they are sent to Bed as Swine to their Sties at other times it is slightly and shamefully perform'd and so there is short-praying and sleepy praying and dead heartless praying and indeed no praying for we have reason to be confident that God will not call that praying but a trifling and fooling not a seeking but a mocking of him If this be your Incense that you offer to him it must needs stink in his Nostrils and it is no wonder that he counts and calls it an abomination this is no other than offering unto him the Blind and the Lame for a Sacrifice and he may speak to you in the very same words that he us'd to those wicked Persons Mal. 1.8 If ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil Is it not evil Yes it is if it be not evil in your Eyes it is in mine and evil in it self and would be counted so by a Man thy Superiour therefore he thus goes on Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts You see what pains I have taken about this one thing shall I entreat and prevail with you to consider and lay to heart what hath been said and if there be reason of which I do not doubt be rul'd by it And if any that have heard me this day be guilty herein let them humble themselves before God and implore his Pardon and let them be sure to reform this great abuse Go home and sin no more do so no more the time past may suffice VI. I do advise that you would neither in your Closets nor in your Families confine and tye up your selves to a form of Prayer I would do every thing that I do for good would both speak and write to the advantage and edification of others and not willingly anger the Wasp much less offend any of Christ's little ones therefore that I may as far as in me lies have peace with all Men and above and within too I say First I do not wholly condemn a form of Prayer I do not deny the lawfulness of it nor would I for a World charge any Man with sin for making use of one so that he do but pray with his Heart also It is far better to pray with a form than not to pray at all better to go to God with a good Prayer composed by another than with his own nonsense And I also add That a form of Prayer is not only lawful but necessary too for some namely those that know not how to pray without one Those who as Learned Mr. Tho. Fuller saith have not yet attained what all should endeavour to pray ex tempore by the Spirit for them a form of Prayer is as necessary as a Crutch is for a lame Man And I do
strength in those Arguments which have been us'd and urg'd for the pressing it upon us so that I am convinced of the goodness of the thing and own it to be my Duty and would be glad to do it if I could but I am not in a capacity my ignorance is exceeding great and my parts full out as little I have no such Gifts as other Men have and so tremble to think of undertaking so great and weighty a thing as this should I make an attempt for certain I should most shamefully miscarry and render my self ridiculous it is to be fear'd that this is really the case of too too many in this City yea and possibly of some in this Congregation Answ. To such an one I will answer in these following Particulars I. Thou who makest this Objection art a very great Object of Pity and I do heartily pity thee What! O Man canst thou converse in the World and discourse with thine Acquaintance manage thine Affairs and carry on thy Trade and yet not Pray Canst thou deal with thy Customers and not with thy God Thou hast scarce thy Fellow in any sort of Wretches there is not a poor Creature in Town or Countrey that wanteth Bread and hath a craving Stomach but he can beg though he doth not know one Letter in the Book yet he can ask for an Alms nor is there a Malefactor in danger of his Life but will find something to say for himself though he cannot make out his Innocency nor clear himself of the Crime laid to his Charge though he hath nothing to say why the Sentence of Death should not be past upon him yet he can fall down upon his Knees and say Mercy my Lord Mercy and canst thou not do as much when thy Case is as bad and worse Thy Soul Man is ready to starve and so are the Souls of thy Family all in extream necessity and canst thou not beg Thou art worthy of death and so are they Sentence hath been already past and hast thou not any thing to say for the staying of the Execution Thou and thy Family have a great number of great wants and canst thou not ask a supply when it may be had for asking Thou art a poor sorry pitiful Creature indeed if there be one in the World It is a thousand pities thou shouldest have a Family a Wife and Children who canst neither provide necessaries for their Souls nor beg for them Thou hast indeed but little very little love and kindness for thy self and Family in thy heart and as little brains in thy head who canst not go to God and speak a few good words for them II. Since thou dost not to this day know how to Pray I advise thee to learn to do it and that speedily for it is high time when thou wast young and little thou didst not know great A. but now thou canst read distinctly roundly yea and write a legible hand how came that about thou didst learn it So when thou wast first bound an Apprentice to thy Master thou couldest do nothing at thy Trade no not a stroak thou wast a very Ignoramus thou couldest not tell the Price of those Commodities which thou wast to deal in much less judge of their goodness nay thou couldest not so much as tell their Names but now thou art expert and skilful and there are very few Persons that can out do thee in thy business and how came this about thou didst learn it In the present Case go thou and do the like thou sayst thou canst not Pray I say go thou and learn to Pray be thou who thou wilt for thy Worldly Quality I am sure thou art not too good for it and I hope thou art not too old beg therefore of God that he would teach thee the Disciples desired this very thing of Christ Luke 11.1 Lord teach us to Pray as Iohn also taught his Disciples and without more ado he did it go you and do likewise fall upon your knees and say Lord I am a poor ignorant Creature I do not know how to Pray O! do thou teach me And for your comfort and encouragement know First It is the work of the Spirit to assist poor Souls in Prayer it is one of the works of his Office Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what to Pray for as we ought that is as much as thou canst say of thy self neither know how to Pray to Pray as we should nor what to Pray for but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Secondly God hath graciously promised this Spirit to his Church and Children and that under the very notion of a Spirit of Prayer Zech. 12.10 I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem a Spirit of Grace and Supplication He will give much of it he will pour it out Thirdly God is most ready to make good his Promises this in particular He is both faithful and free Luke 11.13 If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Go therefore and beg of God that he would give this Spirit to thee III. Do thy endeavour making use of those means by which an ability to Pray I mean the gift of Prayer may be in some measure attained for we are not to please our selves with expecting much and doing nothing idle hopes are vain if you ask me what means you should make use of I briefly answer First Carefully observe others Godly Ministers and Christians when thou hearest them Pray mind how they pour out their requests unto God and get something out of their Prayers which is proper for thee as when Persons are in a Garden where they see variety of curious and pleasant Flowers they will pick one here and another there for themselves do the like with those apt and pertinent expressions which thou hearest from others make them thine own only in using them let tongue and heart go together Secondly Be very conversant in the holy Scriptures and there take notice of precepts and promises and turn them into Prayer begging that God would give what he commands and perform what he promiseth in particular acquaint thy self well with David's Psalms in which you will find abundance of excellent matter both for confession and petition for prayer and praise Thirdly Be much in studying your own and your Families State and consider how matters stand with you seriously think what sins there are and what afflictions what wants and what dangers and thereupon go to God and beg of him the pardon of those sins and power against them beg the sanctifying of those afflictions that they may be wholsom though bitter and out of the eater there may come Meat make a thankful acknowledgment of the Mercies you receive and give unto God the glory of them
it be jarring in their ears so long as it is musick in his know thou hast to deal with a good Master the God of all grace who if there be a willing Mind doth accept according to what a Man hath and not according to what he hath not The poor Publican was very short he had much to desire yet little to say his dejected looks and sorrowful gesture spake more than his Tongue did but though he was short yet he was sweet we read but of one Petition that he put up to God God be merciful to me a Sinner but he accompanied it with his heart and it came before God as incense who sent him home to his house justified Luke 18.13.14 God took away the filthy garments he came in and put on him a Robe of Righteousness The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise Psalm 51.17 despise it no no he is so far from that that he requires it and approves it and will bind it up A broken Prayer from and with a broken Heart makes Melody in Heaven God will count it his delight Alas he seeth not as Man sees looks not at the flourishes of words but at the life fervency and Zeal of the Soul for those flowers may be strewed upon a dead and rotten carcass Indeed if a Man bring the Torn and the Sick and the Lame for an Offering to the Lord when he hath better it shall not be accepted Malach. 1.13 but if that Torn and Lame and Sick be the Male of the Flock if it be the best he hath God will receive it graciously and have respect to the Person and to his Offering and Grace will say he hath done what he could as our Lord pleaded for the Woman when his Disciples did absurdly trouble her Mark 14.8 Not only those Richer Persons who brought Gold and Silver and Silk and Precious Stones to the service of the Tabernacle were welcome but those also who came with their Goats-Hair and Badgers-Skins if they had no better I am willing to hope that by what hath been said the mouth of this Objection is stopt the edge of this Argument blunted and so this untoward rub removed which lay in the way of thy Duty therefore I beg earnestly of thee that thou wouldest defer no longer but get up break thro' all opposition and since God hath said seek ye my face let thine heart answer thy face Lord will I seek Before I go off from this Subject I shall direct my Discourse to two sorts of Persons First I would speak something to you whose hearts God hath touched so that you love your work and do it making Family-Prayer your every day business I bless you in the name of the Lord and the God of Heaven bless you while I beg it for you may he bestow it abundantly upon you and pour it out till you be rich in blessings the good Lord strengthen your hands and hearts more and more in this work and encourage you by his gracious answers may you find by frequent and large experience that he hath not said to you seek ye my face in vain The Lord teach you to pray and assist you by his Holy Spirit the Lord send you help from the Sanctuary and strengthen you out of Sion remember all your Offerings grant you according to your own hearts and fulfill all your Petitions which are according to his Mind and Will may you by the Bucket of Prayer draw Water with joy out of the Well of Salvation let him never turn away your Prayer nor his Mercy from you Secondly Do you also suffer the word of exhortation who have your lines cast in those Families in which there is Prayer and the Worship of God do you take special notice of it as a choice mercy and accordingly value it and bless the Lord for disposing you so graciously planting you not in a dry and barren Wildâ—erness where there is no Water but in a Paradise an Eden that is so well water'd You that are Wives and Married to Praying Husbands do you bless God and you Children who have been begotten by Praying Fathers and you Servants who work for and wait upon Praying Masters let all that is within you bless his Holy Name and see to it that you improve the Mercy lose not such a Season such an Opportunity Oh! how much good may you get how much the better may you be in case you be not wanting to your selves and who can tell how much Mercy such an Husband such a Father such a Master may obtain how many Blessings he may procure at the hand of God for you read what the Queen of Sheba said to King Solomon in the 1 of Kings 10.8 Happy are these thy Men and happy are these thy Servants which stand continually before thee and that bear thy Wisdom She had seen the House he had built and the ascent by which he went up to the House of the Lord and the Meat at his Table and the sitting of his Servants and the attendance of his Ministers and their Apparel but there was something above all this that she admired She did not look upon the happiness of his Servants as consisting in beholding the greatness of his State and Honour and the Splendour and Glory of his Court or in feeding every day upon his Royal Dainties and Drinking his Generous Wines but in hearing of his Wisdom I may as well yea and much more say of you in case you are your own Friends happy thrice happy are you who live in such a Family though as the lowest and meanest Members of it in which you may every day hear the Master of it speaking to God and conversing with Heaven and every day perfuming the House with the precious Odours of his gracious and holy Prayers So much may suffice to be spoken concerning that great and excellent Work of Family prayer and Oh! that it may not be in vain as to any of you if it be you must answer for it another day But that is not all Christians the whole of your work doth not lye in Prayer this you must do and not leave the rest undone no none of it undoneâ— I remember the holy Apostle Paul speaking of Epaephras whom he calls a Servant of Christ and of them a Citizen of Colos a Member of their Church and Teacher much set for their good saith Col. 4.12 He always labour'd fervently for them in Prayer that they might stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God which is a great thing and deserves our utmost endeavours and his so labouring in Prayer for them to this end spake him a good Man and a singular Friend of theirs and it is my Hearts desire and my frequent Prayer that it may be so with you And this should be the Desire and Prayer the Care and Endeavour of every one of you who are Godly Parents and Religious Governours
I am full of matter the Spirit within me constraineth me behold my Belly is as Wine which hath not vent it is ready to burst like new Bottles and what now there was no need of any squeezing him to get a drop out no need of pouring some water in in order to the pumping more out no he was resolved to ease himself I will speak that I may be refreshed I will open my Lips and answer The informing and rectifying of others the correcting of their errours and mistakes was an ease delight and refreshing to Elihu himself Yea and as this is the way to supply you with matter for Prayer so to furnish you with suitable affections also without which Praying is no better than trifling a losing of time and a mocking of God When your hearts are dead and dull this considering of things is the way to excite and quicken them in the Duty Psal. 39.4 My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned than spake I with my Tongue I shall give you two or three instances when you consider your own personal sins or those which have been committed by any of your Family it will help you in Confession which is a special part of Prayer and a giving Glory to God and very much conduce to the humbling softning and melting of your Hearts and then you will appear before the Throne of Grace as becomes you and cannot carry with you a more acceptable and welcome present Psal. 51.17 The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise When you ponder upon your own and your Families wants necessities burdens and afflictions it will draw forth desires and longings hungrings and thristings and God fills the hungry with good things it will raise an Holy fervor and heat and as in Manoahs so in the flame of thy Sacrifices the Father of Mercies the Angel of the Covenant may do wonderfully And when you are considering of the mercy and goodness to you and commended by such and such circumstances it may tune both Heart and Tongue to a Song of praise and not only afford you just matter of thankfulness but also raise up your Souls to a God-blessing God-admiring and God-exalting frame and while you are much in Offering praise you may comfortably hope and expect that God will more and more shew you his Salvation and compass you about with his favour as a Shield and so sweeten your lives to you with farther instances of his care and evidences of his Love as shall further and raise your after comfort and joy Many are spoil'd ruin'd and for ever lost through want of consideration They do not repent because they do not consider they do not reform nor amend their ways and their doings because they do not consider so in the present case many cannot pray because they do not consider The most thinking Men are and not without good Reason look'd upon as the wisest Men. So the most thinking Christian is the best Christian most fit for the great work of Prayer and most like to prosper in that or in any thing else unto which he shall turn his hand Only do not rest here nor take up with your own Thoughts and Studies as if they would be sufficient but let your Eyes ever be to the Everlasting Hills from which cometh your help and humbly beg of God the gracious assistance and influence of his blessed Spirit who is as you have heard a Spirit of Grace and Supplication and whose work it is to help the infirmities of his poor People without he fill your Sails you will lye Wind-bound but if he be in you as he was in Elihu he will both constrain and enable you and think with your selves how acceptable you must needs be to God and how powerful yea prevalent your Prayers with him if you be some of those blessed ones who have the Spirit of God making intercession in them and Jesus Christ the Son of God at his Fathers right hand in Heaven making intercession for them Fourthly While you are in the conscientious performance of Family duties curiously take notice and observe what comes of all A wise Man would do nothing in vain no more would a wise and serious Christian. I run said Paul Corinth 1.10 Not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the Air. He did run as one that hoped to get the price and he did fight not meerly to exercise himself or to shew his Strength and Valour but with a design and in hope to obtain the Victory Thus it should be with you and all the Children of God with reference to duty you have been Praying but what answer is there what return The Dove hath been sent out is he returned with an Olive-branch You have let down your bucket into the Well of Salvation have you drawn Water with joy inquire what you your selves are the better for it and whether your Families are the better do you see less vanity in your young Ones and more solidity and seriousness than there was before What amendment is there and Reformation of things amiss What Conquests and Victories over Passions What Patience and contetnment under Crosses Losses Afflictions Provocations What more Reverence and Humility in Duties of Worship More taking up of the Bible and other good Books to Read What more attentiveness to wholesom Instructions and Counsels What more dutifulness and respect to you in reward What token of Love from above what increase of goodness below It is not good after vows to make enquiry but to do it after Prayer is very good It hath been the practice of Holy Men that are recorded in the Word when David resolved in the morning to direct his Prayer unto God he did at the same resolve to look up Psalm 5.3 He look'd to see what would become of his Prayer and what God would send in to him after it When the Prophet Elijah had been Praying for Rain He sent his Servant to look toward the Sea seven times and left not till he saw a little Cloud Kings 1.18.44 and that was to him a token of his speeding And so again when Habakuk had been mightily wrestling with God in Prayer for Israel and against the Caldeans that bitter and hasty Nation which should march thorough the breadth of the Land and gather Captives as the Sand. He said in Habukuk 2.2 I will stand upon my watch and set me upon my Tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me He that Prays much expects much and where there is an hopeful expectation there will be a curious Observation if any of you do not look after your Prayers when you have put them to God it is a sign you did not mind them while you made them And as I advise you to do thus after Praying so do the same after your Reading and repeating and instructing and counselling your Families the
Petitions water the Seed you sow and bless both you and yours and make you Blessings to one another and all of you Blessings to the City and the Nation I do heartily pray for you I need your Prayers too and earnestly beg them do not deny me do not forget me in praying for me you pray for your selves The gracious Good-will of him that dwelt in the Bush be upon you let God compass you about with his Favour as with a Shield and make you Rich in Blessings of the Right Hand and of the Left And Oh! that you and I may at last meet in Heaven and there together with the Saints and Angels Sing Eternal Allelujahs to God and the Lamb so prays Your Souls Friend and Servant in our Dearest Lord Samuel Slater From my Study Mar. 23. 1694. Family Worship Joshua 24 15. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. THese are the words of Ioshua once the Servant afterward the Successor of Moses a great Man and good too and this is an excellent pair how sweet and amiable in a conjunction like pure White and Red they make a curious complexion and render a person indeed Noble and Illustrious Goodness with Greatness is like a rich and sparkling Diamond sett in a Ring of Gold This good and great Man had followed the Lord not halting nor by halves but fully and it pleased God who takes special notice of his faithful Servants to reward him by exalting him Moses having as an Instrument in the Divine hand brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt and carried them through a wast and howling Wilderness to the very Borders of the promised Land God called him off having no more for him to do commanded him to go up to Mount Nebo and die there in order to his happy Transportation to a better Countrey the Celestial Canaan the Inheritance of the Saints in Light and chose Ioshua for the Man that must compleat that great and glorious work and put that beloved People into the actual possession of that good Land This being done and Ioshua now grown old and finding himself after so many tedious Journeys and hard Labours sit and ready to go to his Long home to his Everlasting Rest He gathered all the Tribes of Israel and the Chief Men among them unto Sechem if any ask why thither I answer it is by some conceived and not without an appearance of reason because after that Abraham had in obedience to the Divine Command gone out of his own Countrey and from his Fathers house God did there first appear to him and gave him the Promise of the Land of Canaan and upon that he did there first build an Altar unto the Lord as you may read in Gen. 12.6 7. And also because not long after their entrance into the Promised Land Ioshua himself had in Mount Ebal which was near unto Shechem built an Altar unto the Lord God of Israel and wrote upon the Stones a Copy of the Law of Moses and so renewed the Covenant between God and them as we find Iosh. 8.30 31 32. But that may suffice to be spoken as to the reasons of his gathering them unto Shechem Having there assembled them He began with giving them in the Name of the Lord a very short but pithy Narrative of those great and wonderful things which had been by God done for them all along from the mercy that had been shewn unto Abraham their Father to his giving them the Land of Canaan according as he had promised And then in his own Name He followed that Relation with a very serious and warm Exhortation grounded thereupon verse 14. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth and put away the Gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. He knew what an uncertain and fickle People they were and so did endeavour to fix them and if they had any ingenuity any sense of kindness to bind them to God with these Silken Cords of Love and Goodness In this 15th verse He bids them chuse in case they did not like what he had propounded then think of one under whose Government and Protection they might promise themselves a secure and comfortable Being If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom ye will serve whether the Gods which your Fathers served that were on the other side of the Flood or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell which you must not look upon as a permission or allowance or leaving them to themselves as in a matter indifferent whether they would worship the true God or turn Idolaters For in the preceding Chapter he had earnestly persuaded and charged them vers 6. to be very couragious to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses not turning aside therefrom neither to the right hand nor to the left And vers 7. That they come not among the Nations that remain among them neither make mention of the Name of their Gods nor cause to swear by them neither serve them nor bow themselves to them But vers 8. cleave unto the Lord Jehovah their God And v. 11. to take good heed unto themselves that they liv'd the Lord their God And again in this Chapter v. 14. Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth But in this way he endeavours sweetly to insinuate and to get within them and by an holy Art prevail with them to oblige and bind themselves to God very well knowing that People care not for doing what they are forc'd to do but without a blush depart from that which they were brought to by meer constraint whereas they are pleas'd with their own choice and are most likely to stand firm to that unto which they have in Judgment and upon due deliberation engag'd themselves In order therefore to a wise Election which they may never have cause with sorrow and shame to reflect upon he doth on the one hand set before them the greatness excellency and glory of God together with those many and singular advantages that will accrue to them who are his faithful Servants and on the other hand he sets before them the vanity and baseness of Idols the folly of those that own and serve them and the mischiefs which do pursue them and will for certain overtake them and hereupon after a due weighing and comparing of things he would have them make their choice of one or the other being guided therein by right reason and their true Interest He knew that God would have his People serve him out of choice as he chuseth them so he would be chosen by them And for a motive and inducement he acquaints them with his own fixed and unalterable resolution whom they had by long experience found to be a gracious and holy Man a prudent and loving Governour a valiant and successful
in gracious discourses and pouring out your Souls to God in prayer Now faith famous Mr. Perkins upon this very place if it be the duty of men to pray every where then certainly in their Families where God hath set them in so near a Relation one to another Thirdly We are commanded to pray continually or to pray always as in that fore-mentioned Ephes. 6. Praying always with all prayer Which words of the Apostle we are not to understand as if praying must ingross and take up all our time and we had nothing else to do but live Drones like a company of lazy Beggars that will not work though they are able Prayer indeed is a very considerable part of a Christians duty yet it is but a part There are various duties which he hath to perform and much other work of the Lord in which he ought to abound There is reading of the Scriptures singing of Psalms hearing the Word serious meditation and self-examination as well as prayer There is instructing of Youth and Catechizing of Children and exhorting one another and provoking one another to Love and to good works as well as praying Yea and there is tending of the Shop and working in the Trade and looking to the Children and washing of the house and providing for the Family and several other things and must be done We must have respect to all Gods Commandments and labour to fill up our places and to stand compleat in all the will of God concerning us Therefore when the Apostle speaks of our praying always understand it thus pray in every thing for so we are required to do in another Scripture Phil. 4.6 Be careful for nothing i. e. with a distrustful care with a solicitous and anxious care with a distracting disquieting care But in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known unto God Pray in great things as believing the greatness of God's Power and pray in little things as believing also the extensiveness of his Care Pray over thy Calling because it is not the diligent hand alone but the Divine Blessing with it that makes rich Pray over your Meat and Drink and go not to your Tables as Swine to their Trough knowing that Creatures cannot befriend or serve you any further than as they are commissioned and assisted by God When Ministers go to study let them pray because it is the Spirit of Truth that must lead them into all Truth They will make sad work of it if God be not with their heads in studying their Sermons and with their mouths in delivering them And when People come to hear let them pray under and after all our Labours they will learn nothing to purppose they will not be wise to Salvation unless they are taught of God Thus to pray alway is to pray in every thing Again To pray always is to pray in every condition When you are High as knowing you are neither out of the reach of Trouble nor too good to serve and wait upon God And when you are Low as knowing you are not out of the reach of the Everlasting Arms but still there is hope in Israel concerning you Pray in Sickness and in Health too for it is God that must remove the former preserve and continue the latter Pray in Advrrsity for it is God that must support and comfort under that and Prosperity for it is God that must sanctifie that and give you an heart and wisdom to improve it Pray in Trouble that God would not be a Terrour to you in Danger that he would be a Defence to you and the Rock of your Refuge and in Peace that your Halcion days may neither be overcast nor abus'd By Prayer in Adversity shew your trusting in God and believing no case to be desperate which he will please to undertake and by Prayer in Prosperity shew to others your dependence upon God and your expectations being wholly from him and that you live more upon a Father in Heaven than you do upon any or all the Creatures here below Once again Pray always that is pray daily pray every day This is to be not only a Sabbath days work as I am inform'd some penurious strait-lac'd Professors make it no no it ought 〈◊〉 to be your every day-work Sure I am there is a great deal of reason for it We do commit sin and contract much guilt every day therefore it becomes us to repent and confess and it concerns us to sue out our pardon every day We have our Dangers visible and invisible Dangers every day therefore should be daily hiding our selves under our Fathers gracious wing and craving the Divine Protection We have Mercies every day a continued succession of them an innumerable number of them they follow us they load us they compass us about therefore we should have our Sacrifices of Praise and as persons of ingenuity pay our thankful acknowledgments to God every day Further we have our Wants every day we want our daily Bread and our daily Pardon we want daily Supplies Our Cistern would soon be empty if God should cut off the stream of his goodness we want daily Supports and should quickly drop into the Grave yea into nothing if God should withdraw his hand and let go his hold of us And we want a daily blessing without which all our contrivances are vain and all our endeavours fruitless If God do not say go and prosper we had as good sit still and therefore there is very great reason why we should have our daily prayers We are commanded by our Saviour to pray and not to faint for this end he spake a Parable Luk. 18.1 and by the Apostle to continue instant in prayer Rom. 12.12 that is to pray daily which was signified and taught by the daily Sacrifice under the Law concerning which you may read in Exod. 29. It is said in the 42 verse This shall be a continual Burnt-Offering thorow-out your Generations at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation before the Lord where I will meet you to speak there unto thee This shall be a continual Burnt-Offering this what If you look back to the 38th and 39th verses you will see This is that which thou shalt offer upon the Altar two Lambs of the first year day by day continually the one Lamb thou shalt offer in the morning and the other Lamb shalt thou offer at Even Where you may take notice of this that the offering up of these two Lambs every day is called a continual Burnt-Offering And Mr. Answorth upon the place tells us that daily Sacrifice signified the continual sanctification of the Church through Faith in Christ the Lamb of God by whose mediation we and our actions are accepted of God and likewise he there tells us the Hebrew Doctors say the continual Sacrifice of the Morning did make atonement for the sins that were done in the night and the Evening Sacrifices made atonement for iniquities
committed in the day Now by a parity of Reason we may affirm that praying every day Morning and Envening is praying always or continuing instant in prayer And truly this is the least you can do if you would be grateful if you would bring glory to God if you would be exemplary in your places and to do this is good So the holy Prophet assures us in Psal. 92. which he intituled A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day vers 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy Name O most High This is good there is all good in it honest and profitable and pleasant good it is a paying of God what we owe to him and it will bring over advantage to us and it carries a great deal of sweetness along with it But when is it good to do this upon a Sabbath-day the Lord's-day yes it is good then it is very good then it is then specially in season because that day is given us not so much for the outward rest of the Body as for the inward and spiritual refreshing of the Soul that being taken off and set at liberty from the Labours and Toils of the World we may be wholly taken up with and imployed about the Service and Worship of God but though this be good singularly good upon our Sabbath-days yet it is not good only then for it is always good at other times as well as then so the same Psalmist assures us in the next Verse To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and and thy faithfulness every night Mark that word every every night and by consequence every morning day by day in the morning because then the mind is more fresh and free and lively not yet intangled with nor deprest and fetter'd with secular Affairs but more fit to wait upon God and engage to holy works which call for and deserve the best and happiest frame And in the night the pleasant peace stilness and silence whereof doth render it very accommodate to and proper for the most sacred serious and solemn exercises In the morning prayer should open the door to business give your first visit to God who is your best Friend and at Evening let Prayer lock up the door and draw the Curtain Before the Body lies down in its Bed let the Soul return unto its Rest. This is a most excellent way for you to enjoy your selves and your God too a most excellent way to bring down from Heaven a Blessing upon your Labours in the day and to put a sweetness and refreshing into your sleep at night In this way you commit your selves and your all to God and engage God for you III. Family-worshipping of God hath been the practice ef Holy men in all Ages Saints standing upon Record in the Scriptures have soughâ— and served God in their Families and with them and so have all others in succeeding Generations who have been sound both in Head and Heart and acted by right Principles They have loved the work and delighted in the performance of it out of Conscience and Choice As for those Persons whose Heads have been Flie-blown and their mnds corrupted with Errour they are to be the Objects of our Compassion and Pity and the good Lord cause his Light to shine into their Minds in order to their better information and the reducing them from the Errour of their way but their practices are by no means to be made use of as your Directory or followed as your Pattern For if any have imbibed false notions it is no wonder that their lives and actions are crooked and irregular shamefully deficient in some things and no less extravagant in others Let us look to the precious and eminent Saints of God those that lived and died in the Faith and obtained a good report You are commanded to be followers of them who through Faith and Patience have inherited the Promises who are now possessed of those great things which they before lived in the belief and joyful expectation of who were here graciously accepted of God and are now received and glorified by him Let you and me my dearly Beloved follow them and tread in their steps Keep the same way now for it is the way Everlasting and turn not aside from that neither to the right hand nor to the left and equal their pace make as much haste as the best of them did considering that your time is as uncertain as theirs and it may be shorter only walk with circumspection not blindfold avoiding those things which were blame-worthy in them for even they were but Men and that imperfect Men compast about with infirmities having in them flesh as well as spirit Imitate them therefore in that which was good in them and will be so in you and in nothing else I may very well apply that of Paul to the present case and let you and me mind it as our Rule Phil. 4.8 Whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report and were so in them in all or in any of them think of those things and go you and do the like so long as they wrote fair imitate them but beware of their blots I am and oh that all professing Religion would be for the reviving of the old godliness Primitive Government in Churches and Primitive Godliness in Christians are like old Gold the best Ier. 6.16 Thus saith the Lord stand there in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest to your Souls The old way is the good way meddle not with new upstart Doctrines and Practices that is best which is eldest Now then come we to the Business before us upon enquiry we shall find that the setting up of Prayer and other Religious Exercises in the Family was the good old way that way in which those precious Saints walked here upon Earth who at last got safely to Heaven and whose Prayers are changed for Eternal Allelujahs I will not multiply Instances but bring three or four out of the Old and New Testaments and in the Mouth of so many Witnesses I hope you will look upon the thing as evident and established First I Appeal to you Was not this the way in which this great and excellent Person Joshua walked He was a Person that God put great Honour upon he was the Man that must give Israel Possession of the Land of Promise and this was his way He had walked in it and he was not ashamed to own it before all Israel both the good and the bad yea to declare openly unto them his fixed and immoveable resolution of persevering therein This is plain in the Text As for me and my house we will serve the Lord not I alone but I and they too I with them whoever was or would be of his
benumm'd are cast into a profound sleep and have no fear of God before their Eyes And let them know that sooner or latter the present Calm will be followed with a most terrible Storm the Wrath of God and the Rage of Conscience will cause it and that will blow away all your comforts and throw down all your hopes and who can tell but it may carry you to Hell with the People that forget God But on the other side an hearty Love to the Name Honour and Interest of God and the setting up of his Worship and Service in your Families from such an excellent and holy Principle is the direct and ready way to a sweet inward peace the way to have a Calm and Serenity in your Souls though the Clouds may be black and the Storms great which are upon your Tabernacles Let things issue how they will in your Families as to your Children and Servants whether they do get good or no whether they go to Heaven or to Hell yet this will be a quieting and comforting consideration to you that you in some good measure have done your duty I have been much taken with those words of Samuel to Israel after they had rejected the Lord from being King over them and he had made Saul King 1 Sam. 12.23 As for me God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and the right way O! do you so my dear Friends let it be the same with you set this excellent Copy before you and write after it frequently considering with your selves what an hearty reviving Cordial it will be when you are able to say to your Families Blessed be God I have not ceased to pray for you many a Petition I have put up and many a Tear I have shed in my Closet nor have I ceased to pray with you your selves are my Witnesses how frequent and earnest a Suitor I have been to God on your behalf I have been pleading and wrestling every day morning and evening and I have also been teaching you the good and the right way that of Truth and Holiness that of God's Commandments the Scripture way which is good because it is clean and pure and right because it brings to Heaven and Happiness all those that travel and are undefiled in it And yet further it will make the Cordial much more strong and prove a singular addition to your comfort when you are able to say I have not only shewn and taught you that good and right way but I have likewise taken you by the hand and led you into it You and I have had a communion in holy Duties We have gone to the House God in company and at home we have walked in the way of God in company How chearfully may you converse together and go about the work and business of the day after you have in the morning offered up your Sacrifice unto God and how may you at night part with one another in peace and lye down to rest in your Beds after you have desir'd the spreading of the Divine Wing over you and committed your selves to the protection of that God who is the Keeper of Israel and doth neither slumber nor sleep If there be not wilful commission of known sins nor a wilful omission of other known duties but a sincere desire and endeavour of approving your selves to God in all holy Conversation a due and constant care of performing Family-duties will afford you great peace so that nothing need to offend you And let me add this that constancy in this work will be a soveraign Antidote against many of those things that cause convulsions and broils and disorders in too many houses What passions are there in them and how unruly and exorbitant by which all is put into a flame What discontents what animosities what quarrels and contentions that people are so far from enjoying one another that they cannot enjoy themselves by means whereof the nearness of the Relation becomes a great aggravation of the affliction but joynt-fellowship in Family-duties and execises of Religion may very much help in this case both to the purpose of preventing those feuds if you do but consider that of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.8 I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting As you must pray in Faith so in Love You must not in wrath pray to him that is the God of Love It will also help to the repairing of a breach and healing of a wound when there is one made if you duly consider that of our Saviour Matth. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift Reconciliation must go before supplication if we would have audience with God How can you think your Father should be pleased if you live at variance with his Children Peter would have Love between Husband and Wife that their prayers might not be hindered 1 Pet. 3.7 They that quarrel together will not be fit to pray together Observe Iames his method laid down for general observance among Christians Iam. 5.16 Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed Seek peace with one another by confession and then peace with God by prayer But to return this Family-serving of God will promote inward peace in them that are Governours it cannot but be a comfort to you to think that while other houses have been the sink of sin yours have been the dwelling places of the most High Others have been Bethavens houses of vanity yours have been Bethels the houses of God in others there hath been the serving of divers lusts and fellowship with Devils and the unfruitful works of darkness but in yours there hath been the serving of God and a fellowship kept up with the Father and with his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. In a word while other houses have been the Synagogues of Satan yours have been the Temples of the Living God and the Churches of Christ. As we do find godly Religious Families dignified in the Scriptures and honoured with the illustrious name of Churches Thus Paul Rom. 16.3 bids them greet Priscilla and Aquila his helpers in Christ Iesus and also verse 5. the Church that was in their house And again in Col. 4.15 He ordered them to salute Nymphas and the Church that was in his house i. e. the Family which was Christian and Godly and besides their joyning together in Manual Labour and houshold business did unite and joyn together in the Worship and Service of God And I have read that in the last Century before this the House of George Prince of Anhalt for the good Orders that were observed therein was said to be Ecclesia a Church for the Religion
tender Babes so that they will be quiet and give you no disturbance in the work that so you may First Present your selves before the Lord offering and dedicating them to him Secondly Enter them early and from the Cradle in his Service Thirdly Beg a Blessing from God upon them though they cannot beg one for themselves If you will consult the Scriptures you will find that God's ancient People the Iews did bring sometimes their Children with them to the great Congregations Take two instances of it one of them you have in Deut. 29.10 11. All Israel did appear before the Lord when Moses made a Covenant with them in the Land of Moab Now read what Moses there said to them Ye stand all of you this day before the Lord your God your Captains of your Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the men of Israel your little ones your Wives and thy stranger that is in thy Camp from the hewer of thy Wood unto the drawer of thy Water Not only the Males but the Females not only the great and honourable Men but the meanest not only the Fathers but the Children not only those that were grown up but the little ones were brought before the Lord to enter into Covenant with him and into the Oath which the Lord their God made with them that day So when in Ezra 9. the Princes came to that holy Man and told him the people of Israel and the Priests and the Levites had not separated themselves from the people of the Lands but taken their Daughters for themselves and for their Sons also so that the holy Seed had mingled themselves with the people of the Lands the good Man upon the hearing thereof rent his Garment and his Mantle and pluck'd off the Hair of his Head and of his Beard and sate down astonied at the Evening Sacrifice he fell upon his Knees and spread out his Hands unto the Lord his God blushing and professing himself ashamed to lift up his Face to God because of that great trespass which had been committed by the people though he himself was not guilty of it Now consult Ezra 10.1 and you find there when he had prayed and when he had confessed weeping and casting himself down before the House of God there assembled unto him a very great Congregation of men and women and children for the people wept very sore The poor Children were brought as Persons concern'd as those who were obnoxious to the stroke of Justice and might perish in a common Calamity brought upon that sinning and God-provoking People So that it was no childish thing in them to bring their Children with them to such serious and solemn work there was much in it as might easily be shewn Now let these Examples prevail so far with you as to bring your Children with you to your Family-duties there present them before the Lord for though they can do nothing to the duty yet you cannot tell what God may do upon and in them he hath a way to their Hearts and can do that good work in them which neither they nor you do know now but both they and you may know it afterward Therefore though they cannot pray themselves though they cannot understand what you say in your Prayers yet let them be present at them there they are under the Eye of God and he may bestow upon them a look of love they are in the way of mercy and it may give them a visit the Prayers you cause to ascend may gather into a Cloud over you and when that pours down a shower of Blessings some drops may fall upon your little ones And since you should bring your little ones to Prayer it is plain that you ought to call those to it that are elder and grown up and have attained to the use and exercise of their Reason your Sons and your Daughters your Man-servants and your Maid-servants invite them to come in call them exhort them shew the goodness of it the excellency and necessity of it perswade them draw them with the Cords of a Man if they or any of them be careless refractory obstinate command them to come in compel them to come in use that power and authority with which God hath invested you Do not suffer any of them to absent themselves from one Prayer without just cause Let them not eat of your Bread nor live under your Roof who will not join with you in the service of your God You have in this Discourse heard and now read much concerning the noble and gracious Resolution taken up by that great and excellent Person Ioshua in the Text As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. I will do it and they shall I and all mine my House my whole House every Individual Person in it Let none serve you that will not serve your God as well as you For mine own part I never was a Friend to Impositions and I think and hope never shall be Not for Mens adding their Inventions to Divine Institutions and then requiring all to submit and comply with them Let themselves use them yea and all those that like them only may they grant liberty to such as are otherwise minded and count that worship best most pleasing most profitable and most glorious which is of God's own appointment But I am for requiring what God hath required it is the duty of Magistrates in Nations and of Governours in Houses to see that Gods Laws be observ'd and obey'd and therefore be you very careful in that respect and strictly command all under you to be constantly present If any of them will not let them know your displeasure and that you will not endure it whether they refuse to join with you out of a Spirit of Errour with which too many at this day are acted or out of a Spirit of Profaneness it is all one for that if they will not with you seek and serve the Lord let them not continue in your House nor tarry in your sight they are no other than Plagues in your Families and may spread the Infection others are in danger from them They are rotten Members cure them or cut them off bring all to Prayer III. Be sure to make Family-prayer the work of every day God loves your Company therefore be not strangers to him He never thinks you come to him too often why then should you go but seldom Do not content your selves with praying only upon the Lord's-day and bringing all your service of God within the compass of a Sabbath as if the other six days were so your own and for your own work that you must spare none of them for God This indeed as I have been informed is the manner of some among us upon a Lord's-day they will call their Families together and then they will do something for God but they must give me leave to think what they do then is pitifully shamefully done they are so seldom
too much with God nor do too much for him you cannot pray too much so that you have a prudent and cordial respect to all his Commands and to all the parts of your Duty not suffering one to justle out another as the Body is not all one Member so Religion is not all one Duty it doth not consist altogether in Prayer nor altogether in Hearing and as that is a lame Body which wants one Member so he is a lame Christian that is careless as to any one piece of Religion such a wilful defect is a great deformity Set your hand to all the work of God and in particular be much in Prayer David gave himself unto Prayer as a Man much set for it and devoted to it Daniel the Man greatly beloved of his God was at it three times in a day Dan. 6.10 His Windows being opened in his Chamber toward Ierusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times in a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore-time He loved Prayer so well that neither danger nor death no not a violent death being cast into a Den of Lyons could affright and deter him from it David the Man after Gods own heart was much more at it Psalm 119.164 Surely he had great encouragement so to do from his experience he sensibly felt that it very greatly tended to his advantage he saw begging was a good trade he did thrive upon it and therefore he follow'd it close the oftner he went to God the more he got from him and of him he never rose off his knees nor returned from the Throne of Grace without an Alms. The most Praying Christian is certainly the most growing Christian as he hath his expectations I will direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up so he hath his answers and sees something is coming but let the Morning and Evening of every day be your stated and set times for Prayer there is a great deal of reason for that viz. First The Divine Order and Appointment of this we did before take notice in Exod. 29. God required there should be two Lambs offered up every day in Sacrifice the one in the morning and the other in the Evening which was called the continual Burnt-Offering and shall we be exceeded and out-done by them shall the dispensation now be more glorious and shall we be more penurious that live under it shall God now more magnifie his grace and shall we grow poorer in our returns their Sacrifices were more costly and chargeable and shall ours be fewer surely since in the times of Messiah there is a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit there should at least be an equal abounding in the work of the Lord our Sacrifices of Prayer and Praise the Calves of the Lips and the lifting up of our Hearts and hands to God should be as frequent as those bloody Sacrifices Secondly This Practice is commended to us in the Scripture we are directed to think upon those things that are of good report Now this hath obtained a good report in the World and as it is with Men so it is with things to be well spoken of by the word is more than to have all the World speak well of one look then into the 92 d Psalm 1. v. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing Praises to thy Name O thou most High to bless God to exalt God to give him glory is good it is duty it is the employment of Angels the Work of Heaven and Eternity and those that have good hearts will delight in good work If you would know what are the fittest and most convenient times for the doing of this good work for that tends much to the adorning and setting off a work every thing being beautiful in its season He tells you in the next words to shew forth thy loving kindness in the Morning and thy faithfulness every night and when we do in the sincerity of our Souls thus begin and end our days we are like to find them good throughout Thirdly God visits us every Morning it is no less than Gods humbling himself to behold those things which are above the glorious Angels much more to look upon Man sorry dust what is it then for God to visit him the Prophet admired it Psal. 8 4. What is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him Great Princes are not wont to go into a Beggars Hovil they reckon it below them but the Great God stoops much lower and Oh! how necessary is this for us Iob 10.12 Thy Visitation hath preserved my Spirit By this he meant a gracious Visitation a Friendly one this reviv'd him this preserv'd him his Spirit his Life his Courage his Comforts all were upheld and maintain'd by the gracious visitations of God Again how frequent are these with us how many gracious Visits doth God bestow upon his poor People Iob 7.18 Thou visitest him every morning there is never a Morning that we miss him as often as the Morning returns God comes to visit us yea he is with us before we are up and since Gods visits are so frequent shall ours be few shall he come to see us and see to us and shall not we wait upon him shall the strangeness be on our side let us visit God every Morning and pay him visit for visit and let us be sure to carry our Family with us for so we shall be the more welcome Fourthly The continuation and constant succession of Mercies doth oblige to this and call for it Gods Mercies are new every Morning upon us and shall not our returns shall we not follow hard after him and delight in our approaches to him when he draws us with the Cords of a Man yea with loving-kindness the very pouring out of his Name which is as a precious Oyntment should make us love and run after him Oh! let the pouring out of his Grace and Mercy do it Day unto Day utters speech and Night unto Night sheweth knowledge and one would think that when both Day and Night speak in the Language of Love we should answer them and not be silent God soweth his Seed in the Morning and in the Evening he witholdeth not his hand and surely that Heart and House is a very barren Soil and near unto a Curse that doth not twice a day pay its acknowledgments to him Lastly methinks there is not any one who hath the use of reason and believes a God but hath a Monitor in his own bosom to prompt him to this and not need a Minister in a Pulpit to press it upon him or a Friend at his elbow to jog him your own reason should and would direct you to it if you did but consult and hearken to it It is fit that we should make God the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last for so he is and therefore we ought to begin
desire him to fulfil them for my sake And to the doing hereof he doth encourage us by a gracious promise of success both that he himself will fulfil such desires such Prayers For this he gives them his word and we may be sure he will be as good as his word Iohn 14.13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son or by the Son whom he hath raised with his own right Hand and constituted the sole Mediator and for our greater assurance and comfort he repeated it in the next Verse If ye shall ask any thing in my Name I will do it not only take care that it shall be done but I my self will do it which is a strong Argument and clear Evidence of Christ's being God since he doth the work of God in hearing and answering of Prayer And he likewise tells us in Iohn 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you only you must necessarily suppose that what you so ask must be according to his Will and for our Good 1 Iohn 5.14 This is the confidence which we have of him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us we shall be sure to obtain it to have the Petitions we desire of him There is a certainty of speeding when we pray aright in the Name of Christ and with Faith in that Name that which so goeth up in a Cloud of Prayer shall descend in a Shower of Mercy there is nothing shall hinder it none on Earth none in Hell can and none in Heaven will for the Father and Christ are one one in Nature and one in Will both are perfectly agreed as in other things so in this of fulfilling such Prayers you shall have your desire Christ will do it and so will the Father both will consent both concur and co-operate This is as a late worthy Divine hath observed part of that Glory which God hath put upon Christ all must be done in his Name Prayer ask in my Name Church-meetings when two or three are met together in my Name Church-censures 1 Cor. 5 4 5. In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Iesus Christ to deliver such an one unto Satan Ministers are to Preach in his Name and to Baptize in his Name therefore whensoever you pray to the Father be sure that you do it believingly in the Name of Christ both in publick and in private both when you are by your selves alone and when with your Families and that First For your own sakes that when you knock it may be opened to you and you may have what you ask and find what you seek that instead of being with anger rejected your Prayers may be graciously received and be sanctified by the Golden Altar and being accompanied with the Incense of our Blessed Advocate may come up as so many Odours and find the desired acceptance and do it Secondly For your Families sake that by this means they may be put upon Enquiries after this precious Lord Iesus for this will be to them an occasion of asking you and others concerning him who and what he is And so they may come to some knowledge of him whom to know is Life Eternal as the way to it and the beginning of it they may know him as the one and only Mediator between God and Man as the great Master of Requests that is at the Fathers Right Hand ready to receive all the Petitions of his poor but dear People and as ready to expunge the faults and supply the defects of them and so to present them to the Father and to back them with his own Intercession which is powerful and prevailing the Father heareth him always and this being accompanied with the Spirit and Blessing of God may prosper to the working in them some love and good liking of him and by consequence kindle in them some desires after an Interest in him as in one that is great and good as in one that they stand in absolute need of without whom they cannot be saved nor find favour with God but must everlastingly perish and be undone since there is nothing that can commend them to God but Jesus Christ no Wings that can secure them but those of this Sun of Righteousness nothing that can wash out their stains and filth but his Blood nothing that can cover their nakedness and shame but his Robe nothing that can make their Beauty perfect but his Comeliness put upon them In short in this way and with your help they may come to understand that it is not their good meanings nor their good doings not their civility and honest dealings with Men not their keeping clear of bad actions the gross pollutions that are in the World through Lust no nor their running in a round of duty that will justifie them but only the compleat perfect Obedience of Christ and his precious Blood as of a Lamb without spot and that it is not their Prayers though long and fervent that will prevail with God but only the Mediation and Intercession of Christ. And to this end I would give you this advice further content not your selves with a bare naming Christ in your Prayers but make an honourable mention of him after such a manner as this Our dear Lord Jesus Jesus who is the Lord our Righteousness who loved us and washed us in his own Blood and made us Kings and Priests unto God Jesus who dyed for our Offences and rose again for our Justification By frequent repetitions of such things in your Prayers and suitable Discourses at other times the Lord Jesus may become acceptable and precious to them through whom and for whose sake both you and they must become acceptable to God if ever ye be so Having spoken so largely to this Subject my earnest Request is that you all would set up and keep up this necessary and excellent duty of Morning and Evening-prayer every day in your respective Families carefully observing and putting in practice those Rules which have been laid down for the better performance of it and my hearty Prayer for you who do so is that you may have help from Heaven in the work and afterward receive such gracious answers and plentiful returns as may raise and fix in you a resolution of calling upon God as long as you live There is but one Objection against this holy practice which I judge worthy to be taken notice of and I will do what I can to silence the Objection and to do him good that humbly makes it Object Some poor Creature may put in and say Sir you have with much Importunity and Zeal stirred us up to the performance of Family-duties and in particular that of Prayer and I have with diligence attended to what hath been spoken and cannot but acknowledge there is much
glorious Religion but woe be to the Men and Women who give the occasion and by whom the offence cometh it had been better for them they had never been Born Woe to the Men and Women that pray in their Families and then contradict their own Prayers by an unsuitable Conversation that give very wholesom Counsel and Advice but live quite contrary to it What these Men Build with one hand they pull down with the other these are the Persons that do Religion a mischief through them it is that the Name of God is Blasphemed among others Rom. 2.24 Therefore here also I will give you some Directions and desire you carefully to follow them First Look to it that you be of an unblameable Conversation I know that while you are here you cannot be altogether sinless Paul groaned under a Body of Death but he could not get rid of it but if you will walk so wisely and circumspectly as you ought and have power to do you may be blameless Daniel was so so accurate in the management of himself so true to his trust that though his great Preferment drew upon him the Envy of the Court and his high Place render'd him the more conspicuous and visible and those that were his Enemies watch'd him narrowly yet they despair'd of finding any occasion against him save in the matter of his God Dan. 6.5 He would break the Laws of Men when they did cross the Law of God and that was his Duty and still will be his Honour It is an excellent thing that which nearly greatly concerns us all so to carry as that our own Consciences may not blame us one of which is more than a Thousand Witnesses and will be a greater evidence see that you do not arm them against you that they do not reproach you this was Paul's daily care and study his constant Employment and Exercise to keep his Conscience void of offence Acts 24.16 he would by no means offend his Conscience nor give it any cause of chiding and being angry with him It is also highly our Interest so to carry as that God may not blame us at the last that he may not reproach us when we come to appear in open Court before Angels Men and Devils and to be Tryed for our Lives and Sentence as to our Eternal State that God may not say You called your selves my Children but you were a company of disobedient Children you were a dishonour to me and now before all I do disown you you are none of mine I know you not Oh! do you please God now and obey him now and honour him now that he may not blame you at the last 1 Pet. 3.14 Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless this doth require and deserve all the diligence you can use But that which I would press upon you now is an unblameable walking before Men that you may be able to look any Man in the face and being righteous be as bold as a Lion and do so in your Families behave your selves wisely by walking within your houses with a perfect heart and in a perfect way Some when they go abroad put on a Cloak of Morality and Religion but when they come home again they put it off they look like Saints good Men sweet temper'd Men in other folks in other Mens houses but they are Tygers or Devils in their own Be you every where what you should be in the fear of God all the day and in all places good every where best at home Let Godliness be no Underling but Commander in chief ordering and ruling both your words and actions See that your selves be not guilty of Lying Swearing Cursing Gaming Drunkenness Uncleanness neither let any filthy Communication proceed out of your mouths for it is infectious tending to the debauching of others and the corrupting of good manners The holy Scriptures which are the best and most exact Rule of Faith and Manners do very much insist upon this and loudly call for it 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity Whatever he did before while he was an Atheist an Heathen though he loved Iniquity and liv'd in it though he drew Iniquity with Cords of Vanity and Sin as with Cart-ropes yet now that he is a Christian he must turn over another Leaf if he would prove himself a Man in Christ he must lead a new Life and be a new Creature he must now be divorced from Iniquity and depart from it from all Iniquity from all sorts of Iniquity and that as far as ever he can saying of his Iniquity what Ephraim said of his Idols What have I to do any more with them Hos. 14.8 His very naming the Name of Christ professing Faith in that Name and calling himself by it doth strictly oblige him thereunto Again this blessed Scripture which is as Gold tryed seven times in the Fire doth require you to have the same Mind in you that was in Christ Iesus and to work out your Salvation with fear and trembling and also to be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation among whom ye live and to hold forth the Word of Life Phil. 2.15 16. Though your Lines are cast in a debauched place though you live among a company of profligate Wretches yet do not you learn their Manners they will not be the better for you be not you the worse for them keep you your selves pure though you live in a dirty World that lieth in wickedness be you as spotless as is possible imitating Noah of whom this admirable account is given that when the wickedness of Man was great upon the Earth which was filled with violence and all flesh had corrupted their way Gen. 6.5 12. yet he was a just Man and perfect in his Generation and walked with God Gen. 6.9 Indeed even he miscarried afterward for there is not a just Man upon Earth that liveth and sinneth not but hitherto he pleased God and set you an excellent Copy write after him This my dear Friends is the least that all Men have to expect from you who call your selves Christians and make a Profession of Godliness therefore I beseech you not to fail herein be sure to do this be ye blameless Secondly Be you always grave and serious Keep not only clear of Sin but also of Vanity which will abate your esteem and render you less valuable Really I have not seldom thought it more than enough to offend and turn the Stomachs of sober and wise persons to see the foolish tricks and Antick gestures of some whose Age and Stature did speak them Men. That is evidently true which Elihu said Great Men are not always wise neither do the aged understand Iudgment Iob 32.9 There may be and too often is want of Brains in an hoary Head Paul saith when he was a Child he did as
great God doth thus when he had been at much cost and charge upon his Vineyard He looked it should bring forth Grapes and what Grapes it did bring forth Isaiah 5. our Lord Iesus doth so too Cant. 6.11 I went down into the garden of nuts to seek fruits of the valley and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded And when the laborious Countryman hath Sown his Seed and committed it to the Earth he freequently goeth into the Field to see how it comes up and what crop he is like to have So when the Merchant hath sent his Commodities to Sea he longs to hear of their safe arrival at the intended Haven and then waits for a rich return and what shall your Prayers and pains be neglected and forgotten as things meerly thrown away I grant they are not worthy God's regarding but are they not worthy your own Therefore I say when you have been taking pains in your Families and scattering holy truths and counsels there which are as so much precious Seed take notice what place it hath in them and what power upon them whether it passeth away as a tale that is told or roots and abides and what good comes of it what fruit there is like to be And though you meet with no success as yet be not weary of well doing but go on duty is yours success is Gods who gives it when where and as he pleaseth follow one counsel with another one instruction with another one reproof with another and one prayer with another do not sin in ceasing and giving over Something may come of it at the last The Husbandman waiteth fâ—r the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience Iames 5.7 He 〈◊〉 not Sow and Reap in a day the Seed lies a considerable time in the Furrows buried under the clods follow then the Wiseman's advise In the morning Sowe thy Seed and in the evening withold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or that or whether they both shall be alike good Eccles 11.6 Fifthly When you set upon holy duties particularly that of prayer see that you be well composed and enjoy a calmness of Soul we are required to lift up holy hands as in faith without doubting so in love without wrath I have known and heard of some that would go chiding and scolding to their Prayer in a chafe and fret but are they like to be welcome Sure it would be more adviseable to stay till they were cooler God did in a most tremendous manner destroy Nadab and Abihu for Offering Incense with strange fire what then must thou expect who Offerest thine with Hell-fire The same Persons will fall into a scolding fit again as soon as the Prayer is over what think you doth this speak Grace in their Hearts did they pray their Hearts into Heaven had they any communion with God sure if they had they would have risen off their knees more like to him When Moses had been in the Mount with God Forty days at his coming down his face shone there was a Light Beauty and Glory upon his Countenance he did not look speak nor act like a fury besides how can such an 〈◊〉 think that others should get good by his Prayerâ— when he himself gets none or that he should 〈◊〉 any one of this Family into Godliness when he doth noâ— pray himself into quietness Thou O Man being under such a distemper wouldest not go to thy King how then darest thou go to thy God If thou beest touchy and froward at in and after thy Prayer God is not like to be pleased Psal 18.26 With the froward He will shew himself froward Sixthly Do not chuse to live in those Families where there is not the Worship of God nor Religious exercises if thou art only a Lodger in such an house deal with the Master and in a Friendly manner put him upon it if he will not be persuaded thou hast cleared thine own Soul that Family is none of thy charge therefore that neglect shall not be charg'd upon thee only be thou careful to pray by thy self and with thy Family if thou hast one yea and with his too if he either desires it or will permit it but why dost thou chuse to lodge there couldst thou find no other place to pitch thy Tent in If thou canst why dost not go to it Suppose there be where thou now art more outward conveniencies consider God is not there and it cannot be good living where God is not for the pleasantness of the place Lot had a mind to dwell in Sodom but had not God been more merciful to him he had been consumed in the Flames of that vile City It was a dismal time with the Egyptians â—â—en in every one of their Houses there was one dead and must it not of neccessity be very uncomfortable to thee if alive unto God to live in a Family where they are all dead How did David bemoan himself while in the House of Saul though a Family unto which he was related yet because wicked he reckon'd it his unhappiness to be there Psalm 120.5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar Seventhly Take none into your Family but those who will keep you company while walking with God Carnal respect sway with many after which much mischief follows and the repentance of an whole Life Accept not of him for thy Husband who cannot or will not live with thee as a man of Knowledge a Child of God How shall He help thee on in thy journey to Heaven who will not himself walk in the way that leads thither Neither do thou O man if fearing God take her for thy Wife who will not draw with thee in the Yoke of Christ but rather despise thee in her Heart or mock and flout at thee when serving and honouring of the Lord. Some indeed good natur'd men do take such in hope of gaining them afterward but for certain they run a desperate venture let the Portion be never so great thou hadst better be without it than fasten a Clog to thy Heel or take a Viper into thy Bosom let Birds of a Feather get together what have Birds of Paradise to do with Vultures and Owls Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain but a Woman that fears the Lord shall be praised and should be chosen The like for Servants their skill parts strength and fitness are to be look'd to but Godliness is not to be overlook'd A wicked Servant may be a curse a moth to the house whereas a gracious one will be a blessing a treasure Lastly You that are Servants in Prayerless Families supply that defect if you may have leave only do it humbly and double your respects to your Governours if leave for that be denied be more in secret Communion with your God tho' they keep a bad House keep you a good Chamber and if thou mayest honestly
remove do it the sooner the better Let not meer secular advantages keep thee there It is better being out of the warm Sun than out of Gods blessing And you that are fixed as a Wife Child an Apprentice count the want of Family-duty as your Affliction and groan under it as such and in your private addresses beg down if possible Mercy and Grace upon them Pray heartily for them who will neither pray for you nor for themselves the godly Wife for the ungodly Husband the gracious Child for the profane Parent and the Religious Servant for the Wicked Master or Mistress yea wrestle mightily in Prayer for them and with Iacob weep as well as make supplication and be sure to live up to the Laws of the Relations you stand in filling up your days with the duties of your places that though they will not practise Godliness they may see the power of it in its influences upon you If the Wife be peaceable and quiet loyal and loving respecting and reverencing her Husband the Children very dutiful and obedient the servants submissive diligent and faithful every one walking in the fear of God giving no cause of quarrelling with you or blaspheming Religion for your sakes In a word let your whole conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ. You see I have spent a great deal of time and taken no small pains in studying preaching and writing out all this discourse Oh! that it may not be in vain but all the better that have heard or shall read it to that end the good Lord accompany it with his Spirit and blessing bring you to this work keep you at it and help you so to manage your selves and families that after a Life of Prayer on Earth you may be taken up to a Life of Praise in Heaven where all your Wants shall be supplied all your Prayers answered and all your hopes accomplished then you will see the Word was your best rule the Ministers of Christ your real Friends and Religion your grand Interest when fury shall be poured out upon them that know not God and Hell shall receive the Families that call not upon his Name where there shall be no end of their torment and pain nor of their roaring cursing and blaspheming of that holy and righteous but terrible God whom they would not be persuaded to love seek and serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A POSTCRIPT HAVING said so much as I have done in this Book to the graver sort of Persons your Parents and Governours dear young ones and that not only for their sakes but yours also I have judged it fit to accompany that advice and counsel to them with a few words to you because you likewise are very nearly and greatly concerned and all means possible are to be made use of for the preventing your present miscarriage and eternal ruine You are now in the Morning of your Age and prime of your strength you have set forth and entred upon that Journey which will certainly bring you to your last home where you must take up your everlasting abode from whence there can be no remove and that will be either Heaven or Hell the Glorious Mansions above or the Bottomless Pit below where it is absolutely necessary for you to take heed to your ways and ponder all your goings to set out right at first and then to go straight on without turning either to the right hand or to the left otherwise you will be lost for if the way be not good the end cannot be peace as for such as turn aside unto their croâ—ked Paths the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity Psal. 125.5 It is too evident that multitudes of young ones through corrupt inclination and bad conduct have gone out of the way of life betimes and could never find it afterward Having made an early choice of Sin they grew harden'd in it and there being a judicial Tradition of them to the power thereof they went on to commit it with greediness living and dying its Votaries and Vassals and is it not sad to consider may it not well be matter of bitter lamentation that such Excellent Noble Creatures should be spoiled such precious immortal Souls should be irrecoverably lost that such sweet and lovely Blossoms should be utterly blasted that they who once were the hope of their Parents and might have been the Ornaments and Blessings of their Country should prove burthens and curses to them both God forbid that any of you should be so too for we have too many such already Therefore I pray God that you may and desire that you would be serious betimes get alone sit down and consider what you are where you are whether you are going what is for your interest and what against it labour to know and knowing mind those things which belong unto your peace youth will not always last nor the pleasures of it which you do now count so very sweet and delicious and run such desperate ventures for the enjoyment of A Sickness may quickly be sent of God and cover your faces with a dismal paleness pick the Marrow out of your Bones suck all the Milk out of your Breasts and convert all your strength into weakness faintness and tremblings your smiles may be turned into frowns your mirth into mourning your laughter into heaviness and your songs into sighs groans and shrieks Your own Consciences may arm against you as your enemy and God may so appear as to be your terrour and you may be then made to possess the iniquities of your youth when all the honey is spent and nothing but the sting left the pleasure is over and only the guilt remains whereby you are bound over to the suffering of the judgment written If you be not wise in this condition you may live and die and then you will see cause to wish you had never been born O! be you I beseech you be ye your own friends provide for your own peace and welfare and instead of working out your Damnation with joy jollity and self-pleasing chuse to work out your Salvation with fear and trembling since all the pleasures of Sin are but for a season do you seek out for and make sure of those which are at Gods right hand for evermore and since this life will be but short when drawn out to its greatest length do you lay hold upon that which is quite out of the reach of death that life which came from God and will be perfected in him And know how great a number soever the Prodigals and Profligate Youths of the present Age do amount to yet if you will be serious and truly religious you will not be alone there have been many choice and excellent Persons that went before you the Names of some together with their Character you meet with in the Sacred Records an Isaac who loved Meditation a Iacob that was set for the blessing and by a Vow bound