an Heaven for the good no other than the Habitation of his own Holiness and Glory in which there are many Mansions and Crowns and Thrones with unconceivable Felicity in his presence a fulness of Joy and at his Right Hand Pleasures for evermore and besides that an Hell for the wicked a bottomless Pit where there is a gnawing Worm that shall never die and a Fire burning that is unquenchable in which they shall for ever fry scorch and burn without being ever consumed and consequently they shall have weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth Secondly Instruct them concerning the miserable lost and undone condition of all Man-kind by reason of the Fall of the first Man That when God had formed Man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life so that he became a living Soul he was pleased not only to make him upright and in his own Image induing him with all Natural Excellencies and Perfections befitting one who was to have Communion with his Creator and Dominion over this Inferiour World and to put him into a state of Happiness appointing Paradise for the place of his Residence or Royal Seat but also to enter into a Covenant of Friendship with him thereby binding Man to a continuance in a course of Personal and Perfect Obedience to his great Lord and thereupon by promise insuring to him an endless duration of his Life and Happiness but withal threatning that in case of failure and disobedience He should die the death viz. Temporal Spiritual and Eternal That this Covenant was not made with Adam alone but with all Mankind who were to descend from him and were considered as being then in his Loins and He as the great Parent and common Person representing them and so Adam breaking the Covenant by transgressing the Law of his Creation and in particular that positive Law which commanded him not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil All Mankind sinned in him and fell with him in that first Transgression and so all the World is be-become guilty before God and obnoxious to his Justice and Wrath all the World is become filthy and abominable Primitive Righteousness is lost and the Primitive Order broken and we are all unclean all of us by principle and disposition Children of disobedience and all by Nature Children of Wrath. And bring this home to them and let them know that it is as much their Case as the case of any persons in the World that they have the guilt of sin upon them the sentence of Death denounced against them a vile Heart and Nature within them the Seed and Principle of all sin which renders them prone to all manner of evils even the vilest and most monstruous This will tend to the hiding Pride from them and preventing those high towering Conceits which they are ready to hugg and swell with through their self-unacquaintedness this may awaken them to the greater vigilance and care and bring them to keep a stricter Eye upon their hearts and this may keep them from being much taken with and doting upon those trifling childish vanities and youthful follies which the Souls of others are so much addicted and devoted to while they hear there are things of infinitely greater importance and nearer concernment unto which they must attend Thirdly Make it much your business to convince them of the evil of Sin In order to their loathing it and themselves for it before God do you as much as you can set it before them in its ugliness and deformity look upon it in the Glass of God's Law and of Christ's Blood and then draw its picture and shew it to them History tells us this of the Lacedemonians that when they saw a filthy drunken Sott stagger and reeling in the Street vomiting like a Dog falling and tumbling in the Mire like a Swine they would run into their houses and fetch their young Children to the door that they might behold how much he was unman'd how like a Beast he made himself and by the way know it is far better to be a Beast than to be like a Beast that so they might betimes learn to abhor and detest that brutish practice Do you do the like I mean make unto them a true representation of the odiousness of Sin in general yea and of some Sins in particular specially those which are most rampant raging and abounding in the times in which they live and those Sins too with which they are most in danger of being infected paint them out in the blackest Colours that you can as black as Hell for indeed so they are You cannot disparage Sin beyond its demerit you cannot speak too bad of it you cannot make it look worse than it is As we cannot exceed nor rise too high in the commendation of God our greatest words are too little our highest thoughts are too low Angelical conceptions of God are infinitely short of his Perfection He is exalted above all blessing and praise So on the other side we cannot speak too much in the dispraise of Sin our greatest anger against Sin is not hot enough and our sharpest words against Sin are not keen enough There is not to be found so great an evil in all the World as Sin is Afflictions are not so bad as Sin Poverty Plague Fire Sword Famine all the desolations that be made in Towns Cities Countreys not matter of so great Lamentation as Sin They are Physick to cure this the Disease to destroy they are Fire to purifie this is Filth to pollute Death it self doth only kill the Body Sin ruins the Soul Death sends the Body to a Bed of Dust but Sin if unpardoned unmortified sends both Soul and Body into a Bed of Flames The Devil himself is not so bad as Sin For he was an excellent Creature a glorious Angel There never was any thing of goodness in Sin nor ever will He was the Workmanship of God himself but God had no hand in the making of Sin It was Sin that turned him into a Devil Hell is not so bad as Sin For though it be a place of gross utter Darkness yet there is seen the Purity and Holiness of God in his hatred of Sin the Justice and Righteousness of God in the condemning and punishing of Sin there he declares his Wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness but there is no good not the least good in Sin it is a meer Anomia disobedience to and transgression of such a Law as is holy just and good it is evil throughout only evil and that continually Sin is evil in its Nature being contrary to the pure holy infinitely perfect and glorious Nature of God There is nothing in all the World contrary to God but Sin and what Sin hath made so It s Nature is so bad that nothing can rectifie it nothing can mend it nothing make it good It is so bad that God would not allow it a
desire Young ones to consider of who are entring into the World and setting upon House-keeping lay this down as an undeniable Maxim that it is best beginning with God so to do is both duty and wisdom That Man who doth not carry God along with him is like to miscarry by the way and at last lie down in sorrow He opens his door to the Devil that will bring very bad company along with him who at his first entrance upon House-keeping shuts God out and turns his back upon him or at least doth not invite him It is not feasting not eating and drinking together tho' that is lawful and friendly but Prayer that will prove the best House-warming Secondly As it is good beginning with God so it is as good holding on To be weary of well doing argues a bad temper of Soul to throw up duty is sin and shews plainly that a person was never upright in it never hearty to it never really tasted the sweetness of it Iob 27.10 Will the Hypocrite delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God No neither and because not the former therefore not the latter because God is not his delight Prayer will not be his constant business he hath in his heart no suitableness to God and therefore no pleasure in his Service but such as have been sincere in it will be stedfast and indeed they will never find any reason for the giving of it over God is as full and free as ever he was the Trade of Godliness as safe and sure and the returns as considerable God can with as much cause and boldness appeal now to those that shall desert him and throw up Religious Exercises as formerly he did to ungrateful Israel Ier. 2.5 What iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and have followed after vanity and are become vain He well knew tho' he could charge vanity and folly upon them and make good the charge yet they could not justly charge iniquity upon him And so again verse 37. Have I been a Wilderness unto Israel or a Land of Darkness No no not a Wilderness but a fruitful Field not a Land of Darkness but a Goshen a Sun of Righteousness and such as have been indeed his Servants have continued firm and faithful liking him too well and loving him too dearly to leave him Will ye go away said Christ to his Disciples Peter desired not time to consider of it but had his Answer ready which he immediately returns in the names of them all Ioh. 6.68 Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life Ioshua had served and followed God for a great many years He was now grown old and his Experiences of God's care and goodness had more multiplied and encreast to a far greater number than his days and thereupon he saw abundant reason for resolving to continue in his Service And so did holy Polycarp the Disciple of St. Iohn for being tempted to deny Christ and return to Heathen Idolatry he briskly replied I have served my Master Christ now these fourscore years and all along found him a good Master to me therefore I will not leave him now And if you will believe David he assures you they are all of the same mind Psal. 84.4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praising thee they are and will be so always delighting in his Work and always commending and glorying in their Lord. But yet for the further opening to you the duty it self I must acquaint you with two things which are incumbent upon the Governours of Families and which they are bound carefully to look after viz. 1. That God be served in their Families 2. That they and their Families do together serve him First It is the duty of Family-Governours to take care that there be the Service and Worship of God in their Families that they themselves do serve the Lord and that their Children do serve him yea and that also their Servants do serve him That as the precious Ointment poured out upon the Head of Aaron ran down to the skirts of his Garments so Religion and at least the outward practices of Piety may sweetly descend from the Head of the House to the inferiour and meanest Members of it You Masters Mistresses and Parents ought to take care not only that your Children be respective and obedient to you nor only that your Servants be faithful to you and industrious in their working for you but likewise that both the one and the other do perform their duty to God as well as to you and be far more ready to pass by a failure in them with respect to your selves than to bear with a contempt and neglect of God Do not only see to the feeding and cloathing of your Children and Servants but as they are capable of receiving it do you feed their Minds with Knowledge and exercise them unto Godliness and let it not be your desire only or chiefly that they may live well and comfortably but that they may live holily that they may live like Christians as well as like Men. The Apostle's charge is this Rom. 12.17 Provide things honest in the sight of all men Now I will appeal to your Consciences whâ—â—her it be not so to fear and serve God to pray and seek God to worship God to perform duty to God this cannot but be honest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good very good amiable and becoming in the sight and account of all men except those that are Atheists and because of their being Atheists do not deserve the name of Men but have forfeited the name since they contradict the very Light of Nature and run counter to the dictates of Reason and are sit to herd only among the Beasts And if that notion be true which some have embrac'd and I do not reject that it is not Reason so much as Religion which is the specifical Difference and doth distinguish between a Man and a Brute because there is something of Reason to be found in Brutes at least call it by what name you please some shadow of Reason some Resemblance something that may claim a little Kindred whereas there is not to be found in them any thing that looks like Religion no appearance nor footsteeps of it then we may very well say without being guilty of injustice or doing a real injury That Atheists do deserve with Nebuchadnezzar to be driven from among Men until they have with him learnt to own praise extel and honour the King of Heaven all whose works are Truth and his ways Iudgment and those that walk in Pride he is able to abase but at the present they are degenerate and no better than Beasts in the mapes of Men. For they deny a Being to him by whom all things are to him who is the Fountain of all Being and the Author of their own they do not only cast off a
in one or other and give a disturbance to the whole How great a matter may a little Fire kindle It is he that gives you the Comforts of your Families spreads your Tables and fills your Cups and giveth you all things to enjoy 1 Tim. 6.17 Your Cisterns would quickly be empty had they not recruits from the Eternal Fountain It is he that prevents breaches in your Families sinful breaches through anger and discontent jarrs and fallings out so that you would be Wolves and Tygers one to another afflictive breaches that would be Heart-breakings and cloath you in Sables and fetch Rivers of Tears from your Eyes and such a Groan as was utter'd by Naomi Ruth 1.21 22. Call me Marah for the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me I was full and the Lord hath made me empty How easily else might Death come with his Dart and stab one and with his Sythe mow down another so that the Parents shall sit down lamenting and refuse to be comforted and a numerous Family moulder away into nothing It hath been thus in other Houses why is it not so in yours But because of God's sparing Mercy he hath not given Death a Commission To instance in all that God doth for us to give in the total Sum of his favours is beyond our power we have reason to say with holy David Psal. 139.17 18. How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them if I should count them they are more in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee Under thy careful watchful Eye thy securing comforting Wing and surely all this doth greatly oblige Families to own serve and honour God the Bonds of God are upon us there is the Bond of his Law the Bond of his Covenant and the Bond of Kindness let us not break these Bonds lest he bind us in the Bonds of Affliction and Fetters of Wrath As it would be a burning shame so an high provocation if they who receive so much from God should return little or nothing to him Fourthly Family-worship is due to God because of that necessary and absolute dependance which they have upon him for the future He that gave particular Persons their Being doth continue them in being else they would drop into the Grave Thou holdest our soul in life and sufferest not our feet to be moved Psal. 66.9 God by his Word created the World and the like Word of his Power is required for its preservation else it would return to its ancient Chaos Heb. 1.3 He upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power so he that made our Families must maintain them he that raised them up must keep them up how soon would they sink if his Everlasting Arm were not underneath In the Church he that planteth is nothing and he that watereth is nothing but God that giveth the increase so in the House he that ordereth and commandeth is nothing and they that assist and labour are nothing but God that giveth the blessing and the success I desire you to bestow some thoughts upon that one Scripture Iob 8.6 He shall make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous where I desire you to take notice of these few things First That it is God's work to make Habitations prosperous yea it is his alone all endeavours are vain and fruitless without his concurrence The diligent Hand indeed is said to make rich but another place tells us the Blessing of the Lord makes rich Man's diligence and God's blessing do excellently together then much good will come of it but when Man works alone he doth but beat the Air and loseth his labour nothing will prosper that God doth not command so to do in Spirituals the Spices will not flow forth unless the North and South Wind blow upon the Garden In Temporals the Ship must lye still and not reach its desired Haven except the Divine Blessing fill the Sails God's Curse at the Root will blast Families and make the greatest and most flourishing of them fade and dwindle into nothing Secondly Our Reason will tell us and so doth that Scripture That righteous Families stand fairest for God's Blessing I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way said David I will walk within my house with a perfect heart O when wilt thou come to me Psal. 101. A person of such an Heart and Way may desire and wish for God humbly invite him and believingly expect him with smiles and sweet manifestations of himself and gracious favourable Providences It is most probable and most rational to conclude that God will prosper Habitations of Righteousness this looks most consonant to his Nature most agreeable to his Justice and for this there is the greatest assurance in his Promises It is a righteous thing with God that Habitations of Wickedness should be Instances of Divine Vengeance that Habitations of Uncleanness should be Habitations for Owls and Satyrs that where the Tables are full of Vomit the Houses should spew them out but righteous Persons and Habitations of Righteousness are under the Blessing of Heaven and so most like to flourish Psal. 5.12 Thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield But then Thirdly The great Question will be What it is that doth make or denominate any House an Habitation of Righteousness and to that I answer the giving of every one his due the performing all righteous acts toward Men and of all holy acts toward God that is an Habitation of Righteousness in which there is the true fear and worship of God There may be a righteous Person in a Family that is wicked there was a righteous Noah in a wicked World a just Lot in a wicked Sodom a Diamond in a sink a good Ahijah in the House of Iereboam who made Israel to sin Saints in the House of Nero who was at that day the Monster of Men though there have been as bad since and worse too but this did not make those Houses Habitations of Righteousness notwithstanding that they were Habitations of Devils there must be the Families fearing serving and worshipping of God else it is not it cannot truly be called an Habitation of Righteousness So much may well suffice to be spoken to the first sett of Arguments for the proving to you that the setting up of the Worship of God in our Families is no more than our reasonable service I proceed now according to the method before propounded to a second order or company of Arguments for the setting up of Family-worship and Duty and they shall be drawn from the Heads and Governours of Families and there will be several of them which I advise and earnestly desire every one of you seriously to consider for what will Arguments signifie if they be not duly weighed Prov. 24.32 Solomon tells us that passing by the Field and Vineyard of the slothful Man void of understanding the Wall whereof was broken down
no gap to be found in it which an Enemy could enter in at till God afterward for wise and holy ends gave leave This must of necessity be a good Hedge because it was of God's own making thou hast set it and it also was a large Hedge fetching a great compass for it took in all it was about him his person thou hast set it about him about his Soul and his Body about his Graces and his inward Comforts his Life and Health and Strength and about his House the Habitation it self and all within Doors Wife and Children and Servants and all his Goods yea and about all that he had though at never so great a distance from home his Fields and his Cattel his Grass and Hay and Corn his great things and his little things too his Camels and Oxen yea and his Asses and Sheep and Lambs all that he had and the Scripture adds it was on every side He could look no way but he might see Salvation so that neither Devil could come at him nor any other Enemy without Divine permission Indeed afterward as that Chapter tells us when the Devil that inveterate and implacable Enemy falsly accus'd and charg'd that good Man telling God that he had all along been no better than a Mercenary and that a change of Providence would make a change in him if Providence did but frown upon him he would quickly fall a Cursing of God a very touch would turn him God did for the glory of his own Grace and the vindication of his Servants honour give the Devil leave to try what he could do by himself and his Instruments at the same instant resolving to allay the bitterness of the Cup to support him under the burden and at last to bring him off with honour and without loss or any cause of complaint which was at last done for Iob 42.12 God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning yet he then had a Blessing and that a great one there was not only protection but likewise a benediction for Satan could not but acknowledge that God had blessed the work of Job 's hands and that he experienced the power of that blessing and reap'd the fruit of it for his substance was increased in the Land by all which you may plainly see that the Father of Lies though his design was to bespatter Iob did yet speak truth when he said Job did not serve God for nought and as he did not so no body else ever did nor ever shall God is too good and gracious to suffer that such a reproach shall never cleave to his glorious Majesty The other Instance which I told you I would bring for the proving of this that Family-worshipping of God may be a singular means to keep off present Judgments is a tremendous and very remarkable Providence which while I was studying upon this Subject I happily met with in Polanus his Syntagma liber 5. cap. 22. de terrae motu And it is this In the Year of our Lord 1584. there was an Earthquake in Switzerland in the Territory of Bern in which one Hill being removed out of its place and violently carried and dasht against another did overwhelm and bury an whole Village that consisted of fourscore and ten Houses not any of them being spared and escaping save only the part of one House in which the Master of the Family with his Wife and Children were together at that very time upon their bended Knees praying and seeking of God IV. Setting up the Worship of God in Families is the way to promote your own Interest in them for God hath made a most sweet and gracious connexion of his own glory and Mens good so that in seeking the former they find the latter in keeping God's Commandments there is great reward upon seeking first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness other things shall be added cast in as an overplus Folly Sin makes Men and Women cheap and contemptible Godliness puts a Beauty upon them makes their Faces shine and renders them amiable considerable truly great in the Eyes of those that know them But it may be some of you do think your selves not at all concerned here and that you need not take any care nor bestow any thoughts upon this for your Interest is great and safe enough and you can well enough secure and maintain it with the greatest ease are not you the Master and the Mistress and have not you the Purse and the whole power in your hands And are not all under your Roof under you so that if any of them will not know their places nor keep their distance If they will not be observant of your orders obedient to your commands nor carry towards you with a due respect you can make them smart for it by pinching them in their comforts making them feel the weight of your hand and if that will not do by turning them out of Doors Let them affront or slight you if they dare Very well my Friends this is great and you are somebody at least in your own Eyes and it must be granted that all this you may do and being done it may turn to account but all this doth not will not make things so sure nor strengthen your interest so much as you may imagine no no be assured of this that when all is done your having the Power and the Purse in your hands will not befriend you at so great a rate nor so effectually secure to you the love and fear and awe of those with whom you have to do as exemplary Piety a Religious Life and putting the Duties of Godliness in practice I well know some Spirits are very rugged and boisterous not easily drawn and bowed to their Duty all means must be used and all little enough but this is certain it is no prudence when others are applied to omit the best The Smith would shew much folly in spending his time and tiring himself in beating and knocking of cold Iron when by putting it into the Fire till it be red hot he may form and fashion it as he pleaseth It is a gross Errour in Men proceeding much from Pride and Brutish Passion and plainly discovers their Ignorance to conceive that their huffing and hectoring their ranting and raging at their Children and Servants will procure them such a respect and esteem among them as Holiness will do and Prayer and living in a consciencious discharge of the Duties of their Places and that upon a Threefold Account First It is the way to engage God on your side who hath said He will honour those that honour him Do Men study to exalt God they themselves shall be exalted if his Name be precious to them theirs shall be so to him I will honour them saith God he will do it himself and that by taking them up at last to Heaven and cloathing them there with everlasting glory yea and he will make others honour them too
God speaking in Psal. 91. of one that loves him that loves his Name and Interest speaks of many things that he will do for him and among the rest he promiseth to honour him and he will be as good as his word it shall be done both in Time and to Eternity Secondly This is the way to instill into your Families right Principles that fear and respect which you have with them upon the other account is altogether forc'd you do by meer violence extort it from them and so it is not kindly nor will it be lasting they will reverence you before your Face but what will they do behind your Back Multiply very hard thoughts of you and speak as hard words against you where they safely may but in this way of holy Duty you take a course to rectifie their Spirits and sow in them those Seeds that may and in all likelihood will spring up to your own comfort and advantage for while you do endeavour to teach them the good will of God concerning them and to instill into their Hearts the love and fear of his holy Name they will at the same time and with the same pains and labour be taught to pay that reverence and fear which they owe to you shew them the way to honour God and they will thereby learn to give that honour which is due to you and it is to be hoped that what they do now will proceed from an inward Principle and what doth so is of all things the most durable and like to hold Thirdly Religion acted to the Life carrieth a Majesty along with it It was the Image of God instampt upon Man at first that did so excellently fit and qualifie him for the Government of this inferiour World it was this shining in his Countenance that struck an awe upon the other Creatures and made them submit to him As soon as Sin had defac'd that Image and he faln short of the glory of God they threw off the Yoke and grew stubborn and rebellious the more this Image is restored to Men the more there is of God appearing in them the more they live to God and walk with him the more will they recover their lost honour a Crown upon the Head a Sword a Scepter in the Hand will not render a Person so truly honourable as Religion will This strikes an awe even upon carnal Men when in the Company of such and often restrains them and keeps them from those exorbitances into which their own cursed Lusts would hurry them if this doth not gain you their Hearts so that they shall be knit to you it will commend you to their Consciences Let Men think and say and act as they please there is no such probable no such effectual way for the working in the minds of people a real and permanent goodness for the making of Children loving and dutiful and of Servants industrious and faithful as is an instilling into them the Principles of Religion and teaching them the good fear of the Lord when this is once done your Hearts may trust in them and you will find them devoted to the pleasing of you and set for the promoting your Interest that will preserve them from running into such sins as others do not stick at it will make them tremble at that which others will commit with greediness they shall not be supinely careless and negligent in your business nor shall they be Companions of Fools running with them into excess of Riot they shall not pilfer and steal from you that they may have wherewith to gratifie and fulfil a Lust they shall not embezzle your Goods nor betray the Trust you repose in them they dare not do these things there is a Conscience within that restrains them an Eye above which awes them You have two famous instances in Scripture for the proof of this which I shall mention the one of a great Man the other of a poor Servant The former is that of good Nehemiah What made him so excellent a Governour and so tender over the people studying their ease and comfort he had precedents enough to justifie him in another manner of Carriage toward them Neh. 5.14 15. For twelve years I and my brethren had not eaten the bread of the Governours He made not use of that which was his just allowance The former Governours which had been before me were chargeable to the people and had taken of them bread and wine besides forty pieces of silver yea even their Servants bare rule over the people so that this Oppression was grown to be a custom Why did not he keep it up The people having been accustomed to such a load would not have kicked now that was not it he did not fear the people but he fear'd God who alone was more than they and that was it that kept him from such practices as he tells us in the same Verse So did not I because of the fear of God The other instance is that of Ioseph who was indeed of a most Noble Descent the best Family in all the World but having fallen under the heavy displeasure of his envious Brethren they sold him and at this time he was a poor Servant nay of the worst sort a Slave and what would not such an one do to recover his liberty or to enlarge his comforts His Mistress burnt in Love to him and was earnestly set for an unlawful Enjoyment and thereupon tempted him to a compliance with her Lust. Carnal Reason now might have suggested here is a fair opportunity offered for advantaging your self a refusal will inrage her if you do not yield to her Love you kindle her Wrath and that will make the House too hot for you but if you do comply with the motion and accept her tender'd kindness you may be sure of a Friend you engage her favour and who knows but by having that you may recover your liberty however you may promise your self much from it but this would not take Ioseph had been taught better in his Fathers House and he had not forgot all he had brought from home with him such a Principle as was his preservation from t his fiery Dart an excellent Antidote against this insinuating Posyon and that was a Spirit of ingenuous gratitude and holy fear Gen. 39.8 9. My Master hath committed all that he hath to my hand there is none greater in his house than I neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee because thou wast his Wife how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God! You see here the power of good Principles and the blessed effect of Family Religion Whereas the neglect of this is of as malevolent influence and pernicious consequence An House where there is not holy instructions and exercises is like a Field or Garden not cultivated that will be over-run with Weeds When Masters of Families neglect their Duty to God they set their Children and Servants a wretched
hereafter he will extort it from you in a way of Vindicative Justice if you will not apply your selves to praying and reading the holy Scriptures with the teaching and instructing of your Children and Servants in the things of God you may well tremble to think of fiery indignation and of the dismal effects of it weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth which will be the portion of your Cup to all Eternity unless you do seasonably repent and reform and make your peace with God for what reason have they to promise themselves a comfortable Reward who do now live in the neglect of their Duty But then on the other side Thirdly When your Hearts have been upright with God and sound in his Statutes and walked as David resolved to do within your Houses with a perfect Heart and behaved your selves wisely in a perfect way then you need not tremble at the nearest approaches of the King of Terrours It is indeed a solemn thing to die and as it is a taking the compositum in pieces as it is the parting of those two old Friends the Soul and Body which had lived together long in great intimacy and close union Nature startles at it and they seldom are divided without an agony and struggling But yet such a Person as I have now described need not fear but as he can look back with comfort so he may look forward with boldness as Paul did 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. I am now ready to be offer'd and the time of my departure is at hand Well Paul thou art now ready to be gone but what didst thou do while thou wast here I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith and what dost thou now please thy self with That hencefort there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which God the righteous Iudge will give unto me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his appearing and who are they that can love his appearing as a Iudge surely none but they that have been obedient to his commands and done his work as he was their Lord and Master when you have served your Generation according to his Will you may be as willing to fall asleep as a weary Man is at Night after a hard days labour when he hath finished his work in short when you have been faithful in your little much more when you have been always abounding in the work of the Lord you may be sure that your labour shall not be in vain but you shall receive your reward even that Gift of God which is Eternal Life To this purpose I would have you consider two things First The account our Lord and Saviour could give of himself and what thereupon he did expect and ask of his Father Both these we meet with in Iohn 17.4.5 The account which he could give of himself was this Father I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do He glorified his Father in and by finishing his work Now let it be your care and mine to tread in the steps of our Lord and to write after so excellent a Copy set us by so great a Person and so dear a Saviour though we cannot equal him that is a thing impossible for us poor weak sinful Creatures to do yet let us imitate him as much and as far as we can and the good Lord help us so to do and if we will up and be doing God will be with us Will you therefore endeavour it Oh do glorifie God upon earth you have too much dishonour'd him by your sins against him by your disobedience to him by your preferring worthless trifles broken cisterns lying vanities before him mend now and for the future make it your business to glorifie him you were made for that it was the end of your Creation you were sent hither into the World for that whatever other business your hand findeth here to do this is the main and principal this doth deserve and call for your best thoughts and utmost diligence and do you glorifie him by finishing the work which he hath given you to do There is none of you but God hath given work as he casts your Lines and carves your Portions so he hath cut out your work I beseech you study it labour to know what it is and knowing it mind it set about it speedily without delay and follow it close neglect no part of it but finish it as far as you are able you cannot do all because so much of your time is already lost and your strength is so much impair'd and corruptions do so greatly clog you and your spiritual and carnal Enemies will so resist and hinder you that you cannot do all you should and will need pardon for your miscarriages and failings in what you do yet do all that you can not only the work of your general Calling as you are Christians but also the work of every particular place station and relation in which the Divine Providence hath set you whether it be Civil or Ecclesiastick Publick or Domestick Art thou a Sheriff of Justice in the Countrey a Mayor Alderman a Common-Council-Man or Constable in the City Do thou the duty of thy Place Art thou a Minister of the Gospel Do thou thine Preach the Word be instant in Season and out of Season art thou a Child a Servant Be thou obedient industrious faithful art thou an Husband a Wife a Parent a Master or Mistress the Head and Governour of a Family Do thou thine Walk within thy House with a perfect Heart rule in the fear of God He that is not good in his Relation is not good at all he that is not a good Husband a good Master is not a good Man much of the power of godliness doth consist and discover it self in the performance of Relative Duties See then that much of your care be employed about this and see that your places be not empty of Duty nor your Families void of Religion Now observe what our Savior did hereupon expect and say Father glorifie thâ—u me with thy own self Here hath been my work where now is my glory So when you have finished the work which God gave you to do when you have walked with God and lived to God when you have improved your Interest your Power and your All for God then you may say Father do thou accept of me and receive me and glorifie thou me my work is done now let me have my rest always remembring that you are not to expect this upon the score of Merit but only as a Reward of Grace for our Lord hath taught us to call our selves unprofitable Servants when we have done all that is commanded us what are we then now we fall so short and perfect not one piece of work that is put into our hands Secondly Consider that good account which the Prophet gives of
Parents may commit them to God whom you brought up for him and so rejoice in hope that though you leave them behind you yet they will not leave that God to whom you are going but though they stay behind in a wicked World which is full of snares and dangers bad Company bad Examples and Temptations yet since you have by Faith and Prayer committed them to him they shall graciously be kept by his power through Faith unto Salvation and that the Counsels you have given have made an abiding impression upon them and the Seed which you have sown shall not be lost but spring up and bring forth fruit and when you are dead and gone they will continue and proceed to practice as they have been taught and they will know love and fear the God of their Fathers and serve him with a perfect Heart and a willing Mind you may hope that of all that which hath been by you said and done something will stick The Heathen could say Quo semel est imbut a recens servabit odorem Testa diu A new Vessel will for a great while retain the scent or savour of that Liquor which was at first put into it and so young ones and I am apt to think that many of those who after a pious Education turn aside from the good ways of God to crooked paths with the workers of iniquity do not sin at so easie a rate as others do but offer violence to their Consciences and call to mind again that of God himself concerning Abraham and his House which I have already quoted more than once He will teach his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. His Instructions will infuse such Principles into them that they will do it and my Grace shall so powerfully co-operate with those Principles and influence them that they shall do it They shall keep the way of the Lord the way of his holy Precepts and the way of his instituted Worship they shall do it after him after his example and after his decease when he is dead and in his Grave my fear and service shall be posteritiz'd in his Family Abraham's advice and practice shall live in their Minds and Religion shall live in their Houses and so it did in Isaac's and in Iacob's and so down and further for the strengthening of this your hope I desire you to take along with you that passage of Solomon Prov. 22.6 Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it The Scripture sets it the next Door to an impossibility for them to learn to do well who have been accustomed to do evil and though it be not so hard yet it is not very easie for them to do evil who have been all along accustomed to the doing of that which is good Zophar speaking of the wicked Man saith Iob 20.11 His bones are full of the sins of his youth which shall lye down with him in the dust which Gregory expounds thus Usque ad pulverem non deserunt i. e. usque ad mortem ab iniquitate non cessat He doth not forsake his Vices as long as he lives he doth not cease from them till he dies his youthful sins stick close fast to him he continues the practice of them while he lives and when he dies he receives the punishment of them It is a matter of greatest moment to take heed what we do accustom young ones to teach Children that which is good at first and they will learn it well and that is the way to have them keep it well It is reported of the Harts in Scythia that they do betimes teach their young ones to leap from Turf to Turf and from Bank to Bank and from Rock to Rock and so they continue it when they come to be old and by means thereof they cannot be taken though they be hunted whether that be so or not is none of my Enquiries sure I am teaching Children their Duty toward God and going before them and with them in the performance of it is the way to engage them to a perseverance therein and to secure them from the great Nimrod of Hell that cruel and bloody Hunter of precious Souls so that they shall not afterwards be drawn away from it by the wiles subtilties and temptations of that wicked one nor seduced by the bad examples of evil Men who know not the Lord. Do you by your Teachings and Instructions lay up the words of Gods Mouth in their Heads so through Divine Grace they may come to lay them up in their Hearts and then they will be preserved from sinning against God and kept from the paths of the Destroyer And as an happy consequence hereof You may at your departure from hence leave them with a comfortable hope of meeting them again with mutual and exceeding joy in the other World in a better place and in a far better case than that is in which you leave them when all troubles shall be removed from the Flesh and all corruption from the Spirit when there shall be nothing within to disturb and nothing without to offend but you and they shall have a spotless Purity and blessed Eternity You shall be raised out of your Graves in which you have had so sound and long a sleep and stand upon the Earth and be caught up together with the rest of the holy Ones into the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall you ever be with the Lord and O the joys that will be at that meeting The meeting of the Bridegroom with the Bride is not to be compared with it the meeting of the Father with his penitent and returning Prodigal falls short of it Oh the Smiles the inward Satisfactions the dear Embraces the loud Triumphs the Hosannahs and Allelujahs that will be at that meeting All which will arise from the condition you meet together in freed from sin and from imperfections deliver'd from all your Enemies having got the last of them Conquer'd and now under your Feet yourselves being in a state of safety peace and acceptance with God and also it will arise from the thoughts and considerations of that which you then meet together for It is for the greatest purposes and most glorious ends that can be you meet to receive the Reward of all your services and of all your sufferings the answer of all your Prayers the accomplishment of all your desires the fulfilling of all your hopes you shall meet the Bridegroom whom though you had not seen yet believing you chose and lov'd and were espoused to and between him and you there shall be everlasting Nuptials you shall meet together to take possession of that incorruptible undefiled Inheritance which fadeth not away but is reserved in Heaven of which you were new-born the Heirs you shall meet to see and together enjoy that God in Heaven whom you served
with you and in you and keeping a Book of Accounts in which is inserted and recorded what it observes Now then ought you not to repair this damage to your utmost and since you have done and go on to do them so much hurt should you not do them all the good you can and be heartily glad when it is in your power to do it have you shewn them many things by which they have offended God and will you not shew them by counsel and practice those things that will please him I beseech you to bestir and lay out your selves and your all for the making of them amends and the recovering them out of that Snare of the Devil into which you have helpt to bring them In what I now say I do not put you upon impossibilities nor the doing of that which is without the reach of your power I do not bid you sanctifie them by forming Christ and planting Grace in their hearts I do not bid you raise them out of the Grave of Corruption and breath into their Souls the Breath of Spiritual Life that must be effected by the Arm of Omnipotency none else can do it none hath a Regenerating Power but he that hath a Creating Power but you may pray for them in your private Retirements and you may pray with them that God would be pleased to give them his Spirit and to work his Grace in them You may take your Children and your Servants with you and carry them to God and beg of him that he would pity and help them As you read when our Lord Iesus was here upon Earth Tabernacling among Men they came to him from all parts of the Land begging of him a Cure for themselves and their Children and their Servants as the matter did require Now Christ is in Heaven he hath the same power that you must needs believe and grant for here he was in his State of lowest Humiliation there he is in his State of highest Preferment and Exaltation After his Resurrection he told his Disciples all Power was given him both in Heaven and Earth and distance of place doth not hinder He can help afar off as well as at hand his Arm being long as well as strong There is no need of this great Physician leaving his Fathers Right Hand and coming down in Person to cure Diseased Souls by sending his Word he can heal them as he did formerly Psal. 107. v. 20. And his Glory hath not in the least detracted from his Mercy His Heart is now what it was as loving and tender his Bowels are not shrunk up nor do his Compassions fail Iesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 As his Hand of Power is not shortened so his gracious Ear is not grown heavy therefore go to him taking Faith along with you and say Lord my Children were born blind O! do thou anoint them with thine Eye-salve that they may receive their sight Open their Eyes that they may see wonderful things out of thy Law and the precious things of thy Gospel that they may see the sinfulness of Sin and the beauty of Holiness that they may see their own undone condition and the absolute need they have of Christ together with the all-sufficiency of his Righteousness and the riches of his Grace the sweetness of his Government and the easiness of his Yoke Go to him and say Lord my Children are grievously troubled with a Devil a proud Devil a lying Devil a disobedient stubborn obstinate Devil O that thou wouldest make thy Power known in the casting of him out Once more go to him and say Lord My Children have got the Leprosie of Sin it hath spread it self all over them O do thou say I will be ye clean My Children are Enemies in their Minds by wicked works Enemies to Thee and all that is spiritually good O do thou reconcile them that of Enemies to Thee they may become Enemies to Sin and for the time to come they may love thy Father thy Self and Spirit thy Truth and Ways Lord My Children are the Slaves of Satan and they delight in their Chain they serve divers Lusts and are pleased with their Bondage and count their Drudgery a Recreation O! let these Lawful Captives of the Mighty be delivered break their Chains asunder and bring them into the Liberty of thy Children and as they have yielded their members Servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now and for the time to come they may yield their members Servants to righteousness unto holiness Rom. 6.20 And what you do to this purpose for your Children do also for your Servants take them up in the Arms of your Love and Prayer and lay them at the foot of God and beg him that he would sanctifie and save them And as you can thus pray and plead with God for them so you can add hereunto if you will There are other things which you can do You cannot infuse into them a Principle of Grace but you may teach them the Principles of Religion you may shew the way in which they should walk though you cannot put that way in their hearts as we have that expression Psal. 84.5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee in whose heart are the ways of them You cannot bow their Wills to God's nor raise and spiritualize their Affections nor set them upon their proper Objects those things which are above but you may inform their Judgments You cannot write the Law of God in their hearts nor put his Fear into their inward parts but you may acquaint them with the Law of God and read the Bible to them and hear them read both it and other Othodox good Books but the Bible most and rather than the best Books in the World So again you cannot make them good but you may set a good Example before them and write a very fair Copy for them to imitate and invite them to tread in your steps saying to them as Paul did Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ and walk so as ye have us for an example It is certain all this is in your power you may do it and oh that you would Oh that you would abound in the doing of it considering how much you have done against them how greatly you have prejudiced them how much they have suffered through your means how much they have been tainted by you Really you are obliged to this this is no more than what you owe to these poor Creatures and if you are careless negligent and wanting herein you are unjust you with hold that which is meet and it tends to your own poverty and sorrow at the last it is in the power of your hand to do it therefore do not withhold it from them to whom it is due it is a Debt and that both of Charity and of Equity up then in your several Families and apply to this excellent
him and my Patience shall no longer wait upon him Do not therefore in this or the like case consult with flesh and blood make not carnal Reason your Counsellor listen not to Objections though never so seemingly fair and plausible for there is no sufficient Argument to be brought against any thing which really is a matter of Duty whether you owe it to God or Man All this while I have been speaking to you altogether in generals but now I shall descend to particulars and here with all the earnestness that I possibly can use I shall exhort you to these three things and give you some Directions for your help in the doing of them 1. To pray with your Families 2. To teach and instruct your Families 3. To set them a good Example in your own Lives and Conversations in order to the keeping or banishing sin and profaneness out of them together with the promoting of Morality and Godliness in them I shall begin with the great Duty of Family-prayer and oh that I might through the Grace of God persuade you all into the practice of it Oh that from this very day there may not be found one prayerless Family among you For I do not doubt to affirm that which is a prayerless Family is also a graceless Family Where there is no seeking of God there is no love to him no fear of him And that Family which is void of the Grace of God is without his Blessing and though there may be outward Plenty and Grandeur in it and the Sun of worldly Prosperity may shine upon it yet it stands open and exposed to the Wrath and Indignation of God who is and cannot but be angry with it every day seeing himself slighted and neglected by his own Creatures who live upon him and receive their All from him And there is standing upon Record in the Sacred Scriptures a dreadful Prayer against those Families which do not pray let those that are guilty read it and tremble for as it was indited by the Spirit of God so it shall be fulfilled by the Iustice of God Ier. 10.25 Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name The Families that do not call upon God's Name do not know him for as those that know his Name will put their trust in him so they will seek him and they may very well be reckoned Heathen-Families though they are Christian by a verbal Profession Christians in Name but Heathens in practice and over these Families there hangs a great black Cloud of Divine Vengeance which at one time or another will disgorge and empty it self upon them there shall not only be some little small drops of Anger but the pouring out of Fury and methinks danger should be enough to drive you to Duty though he is not ingenuous not of a right temper who is moved by no other consideration I would have you walk with God and in the way of your Duty not for wrath only or chiefly but for Conscience sake not only that you might avoid being bound in Chains of Wrath but because you are allur'd and drawn with the cords of kindness Though we may and should use all the Arguments we can muster and those of all sorts for the persuading of our dull and heavy hearts that are so backward unto that which is spiritually good to that end therefore consider you have family-Family-sins and therefore ought to joyn together in your confessing of them mourning over them and humbling your selves before God for them and you have Family-sorrows and afflictions and therefore should be joynt-suitors to God both for the sanctifying of them to you and for the removal of them from you and you have Family-mercies in which you do all share and of which you tast the sweetness and therefore you should all bear your parts in a Song of Praise and chearfully joyn together in your acknowledgments of them and thankful returns to the God that gives them And withal be sure of this that if you do exclude Family-prayer you shut out God himself and at the same time you open the door to the Devil and let in together with him a croud of sins and by conseqence of mischiefs Therefore I beseech you mind and resolve upon the great and excellent work of Family-prayer yea and make Conscience of performing it And in order to the better management thereof I shall give you these following Directions which I desire you to observe and the good Lord grant you an heart to follow them I. Live in the performance of Secret Prayer When you are in your Retirements be upon the ascent when you are alone be with God You that are Parents and Masters of Families do this your selves and heartily commend it to all under your care your Servants and your Children which are in a capacity of doing it which you will not find to be any detriment or loss to you For this you have an express Command from our dearest Lord Jesus Christ Matth. 6.6 Thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which seeth in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret will reward thee openly He doth not here take you off from praying with others but he puts you on praying by your selves that is not to be neglected and this is to be done therefore do you allow them time for it who are under your roof Let the Husband pray by himself and the Wife by her self the Children apart and the Servants apart It was a dreadful thing when in the 8th of Ezekiel the Lord in a Vision carried the Prophet from place to place and in them all he shewed him abominations in one place there was the Image of Iealousie in another place the form of creeping things Beasts and all the Idols of the House of Israel pourtray'd upon the Wall in a third place Women weeping for Tammuz and in a fourth place there were others worshipping the Sun toward the East Idolatry was committed in all those places hereupon God threatens to dwell with them in Fury But how sweet will it be when God looks into your houses and sees the Husband praying in one room and the Wife in another a Child upon his knees pouring its supplications out before him here and a a Servant doing it there this is the way to have him dwel with you in mercy and according to the exceeding riches of his Grace I desire you that are Servants to redeem some time for this work though you have enough to do your heads and hearts and hands full yet get some minutes for this for so you may comfortably expect that when you are about the business of your Calling God will strengthen you the more for it and bless you the better Wrest some time out of the hand of sleep Wrestling with God is better than an idle slothful lazying It is a thousand
as in all other things so particularly in this I do advise and earnestly beseech you to be as tender and careful of the Interest of the great God as you are of your own and more too Fourthly When you have been waiting upon God in the ways of his Publick Worship and have had the Counsels of his holy Will made known to you and the great Mysteries of Religion opened at your return to your own houses do you retire your selves and be alone with God lest by being in company with others and falling into discourses of another nature you lose the things you had heard and those impressions wear out that were made upon you and also allow convenient time to all in your Families for their Private Devotions remembring they have precious immortal Souls the Salvation of which they are as much concern'd to work out as your selves are of your own I have somewhere read of a King I wish there were more like him who while he was teaching a poor Boy that belonged to his Kitchen being askt the reason why he did so answered The poorest hath a Soul as precious as mine and cost the same price no less than the Blood of Christ. And when you see a fit season call them all together and bless God for the Truths you have heard and pray that he would bless them to you and bring them back to your own and their minds by the repetition of them and demand of them an account which to do is a very probable way to keep them from sleeping in the Congregation and from a supine carelesness and vain foolish absurd gazing about and also of imprinting something upon their minds and thoughts which may have a powerful influence upon their hearts and lives and do them good afterward yea as long as they live and when this is done praise the Name of the Lord by singing of a Psalm and pray to him for acceptance of and a blessing upon what you have done and so commit your selves and yours to his Fatherly Protection in the Night and his gracious Conduct the following Week in the course whereof let there be nothing contradictory to your Lord's-days profession or inconsistent with it I beseech you draw an eaven Thred in Religion These four things which I have spoken to you are good for you and necessary to be done but they are generals Therefore now I shall proceed to some more particular Directions for the Instructing of your Families which I would have you carefully to observe and the great God shine upon your endeavours that so they may prove very successful to your comfort and joy First Begin with instructing them about the Being of a God Though this Truth be ingraven in their hearts though the things that are made do plainly Preach to them his Eternal Power and Godhead yet be not you silent but speak the same thing to them over again and again and so betimes even as soon as ever you can principle them against that brutish yet growing Atheism which is an Enemy to all Religion and opens a wide and effectual Door unto all Villany and Profaneness That Person who denies the Being of a God is a sit Tool for the Devil to make use of yea to imploy about his worst Services and basest Drudgery And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Fathers said good David 1 Chron. 28.9 Know there is a God and in particular know him that hath been and is thy Fathers God and let him be thy God too Love him chuse him cleave to him Shew them the Heaven and the Earth and the things that are in them and that these could not make themselves but must of necessity be made by another how many second Causes soever may be enumerated we cannot take up our rest in any of them but must pass thorough them all and ascend to the first Cause and that first Cause that ens entium that Source and Original of all Being is God and besides him there is none else Ier. 10.11 The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Tell them that upon this God all things that are have an absolute and necessary dependence The Beam doth not more depend upon the Sun than the Sun and all do upon God for them to subsist without him is a thing utterly impossible if he should withdraw his hand Man would crumble Earth would sink the Heavens would shrink and the Angels themselves drop from their present height into that first nothing out of which they were fetch'd by the Divine Power Let them from you know that they themselves are his Off-spring and indebted to him for their Being being by him formed in the Womb and brought out of it and that he hath looked after them and taken care of them ever since when they hung upon the Breasts he carried them in his Arms and taught them to go and held their Souls in Life and provided for them ever since and therefore they are not their own but his he hath the Sovereign Right to them and to Reign over them and that upon this account they are bound to love this God and to fear this God and to serve and honour him as long as they have any Being Acquaint them with his being an holy God in his Nature in his Will in all his Ways and Works glorious in Holiness and of purer Eyes than that he can behold Iniquity and that he hath given out a Law that is holy just and good which they and all are bound to obey the Commandments of it not being grievous And that he is every where present observing how his Will is observed and his Law obeyed and his Creatures order and demean themselves he takes notice both of the Evil and the Good of them that fear him and them that fear him not and doth so strictly observe that he sets down in his Book of Remembrance those that fear him and think upon his Name and can set the sins of the wicked in order before them yea the same order in which they were committed with all the circumstances that cloathe them And that he hath appointed a day wherein he will Judge the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained and bring to light the hidden things of dishonesty and render unto every one according as their Works have been whether good or evil Rom. 2.7 8 9. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness indignation and wrath Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Iew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Iew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God That he hath
place in Heaven and the day is coming after which it shall be found no more upon Earth but be for ever confin'd and shut up in Hell Sin is evil in its Consequents and Effects Indeed who did ever gather Grapes of Thorns How can any good Fruit grow upon this Root of bitterness Let me briefly name some of those Mischiefs which Sin hath done and still goeth on to do in the World 1. Sin hath defac'd the Beauty of Man sullied and stain'd his Glory thrown him down from his Excellency turn'd the Nazarite into an Ethiopian so that he who at first was but a little lower than the Angels is now become like unto the Beasts that perish yea worse than they 2. Sin hath spoiled Man's Communion with God which was inconceivably more and better than the Delights of Eden or his Dominion over the Creatures As his Holiness did consist in his conformity to God so did his Happiness in Communion with him but as soon as he had committed Sin that stood as a middle Wall of Partition between them 3. Sin hath broken Man's Peace that Peace which once he had with God and sown Enmity So that God is angry with him and he a Traitor a Rebel against God That Peace which was once in himself The faculties of his Soul were once harmonious Reason sitting in the Throne Judgment ruling and governing the Will and Affections knowing keeping their place and following the Dictates of the Understanding but now there is discord and jarring the Understanding mistakes the Will and Affections mutiny so that frequently there are disorders and confusion in the Soul And oh how dismal are the Contests oftentimes between a Man and his Conscience he crosseth his Conscience and that will not bear it he wounds his Conscience and then that rageth and storms and laies about it as a fury and wheresoever he goes it follows him with its clamours so that he becomes a terrour to himself 4. Sin hath brought in all the Troubles of Life How many are they and how great Who can understand his Errours who can sum up his Sorrows Most come into the World crying and go complaining thorough it In sorrow do Women bring forth Children some are grieved because they have none and some more because those they have are so bad How are the endeavours of many vain and unsuccessful their hopes blasted and their expectations disappointed how are some wasted and consumed with sickness others ground and tortur'd with pain Now a Fire comes and devours your pleasant things burying your Habitations in their own Ashes and then a War which knows no compassion but turns fruitful Lands first into Fields of Blood and then into Wildernesses 5. Sin hath introduced Death and Arm'd against us that King of Terrours Had not Man made Sin his Work he had never receiv'd Death for his Wages had not Sin been Man had either continued in a perfect and Paradisical State upon Earth or else been translated into the Region of Light and Life and Love above but now if ever he would come thither he must walk thorough the dark Shades and be dissolv'd in order to his being glorified We now mourn over a dead Friend a dead Relation let us remember that Sin kill'd them Rom. 5.12 By one Man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned 6. Sin hath digg'd Hell This is that Tophet which is mentioned in Isa. 30.33 that is made deep and large the Pile whereof is Fire and much Wood the Breath of the Lord like a Stream of Brimstone doth kindle it The Hell in the Conscience which some Men do feel now and that Hell into which all wicked wretches shall be tumbled at the last are both of them the fruit of Sin Now my Friends will you be careful in this matter will you consider what Natures all brought into the World with them how Sin dwells in you and yours Oh! shew unto them the evil that is in it and the mischiefs that come by it for by doing so you take a course to damp the Tinder that it may not catch Fire when the Spark is struck and to arm them against Temptations when they come out in their greatest violence this will tend to the preserving them from the path of the Destroyer though it be such a beaten Road and so full of Travellers This was the Antidote that secur'd Ioseph from the Poison that was offer'd him in the Cup of Fornication He was shreudly assaulted and that more than once the on-set was renewed day by day and he was in his youthful Blood and on that account a great deal more in danger of being prevail'd upon and wrought to a compliance but it was labour in vain he looked upon the vile sinfulness of the thing and that was more powerful to affright him from it than the Charms of his Mistress were to allure him to it and therefore with a Pathos or Zeal of Soul he cryed out Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God He saw such a filthiness in that Sin as that he loathed to touch either it or her that had tempted him to it but fled from them both Fourthly Be much in acquainting them with our Lord Iesus Christ and the way of ruin'd Man's recovery by him and by him alone He being the only Mediator between God and Man and the only Redeemer of God's Elect. Let them know that by Nature and by reason of Sin their case is extreamly deplorable When once our first Parents had transgrest it was dark round about them nothing offer'd it self to their Eye that had a promising aspect God that had been before their chiefest comfort was then their greatest terrour his Voice that had been so sweet and pleasant to them was then in their Ears like Thunder As soon as Adam heard it he was afraid and hid himself but as deplorable as sinful lapsed Man's case is now blessed be free and rich Grace it is not desperate unless he himself by obstinate impenitency and unbelief do make it so There is hope in Israel concerning this thing because all-sufficient help is laid upon One that is mighty 1. Though God was greatly affronted by the work of his own hands whom he had so obliged and by that affront had been so highly provoked yet being a God of bowels whose compassions do not fail in wrath he remembred mercy and though he had no yearnings over the sinning Angels but immediately banished them from his presence threw down from their first estate and with indignation tumbled them into Hell where he hath clapt upon them everlasting Chains in which he reserves them to the Judgment of the great day yet he had it in his hearty to pity and shew kindness to fallen Man it was the fixed resolve and purpose of his Grace to mend the marr'd Girdle and to repair the broken Potsherds of the Earth and of
dare non potest Man is too weak to perform the Law and the Law cannot give him strength In a word Man being now fallen corrupted infeebled and throughout depraved he cannot possibly keep the Law and therefore that cannot justifie him But there is another Covenant rightly called a better Covenant which God hath been pleased to make better for us as the case stands for it containeth in it better Promises Heb. 8.6 and is in the hand of a Mediatour Jesus Christ our fast Friend a Covenant by which David saw all his Salvation secur'd and in which he summ'd up all his desire knowing it to be everlasting ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23.5 In this Covenant as in all there is a mutual stipulation it hath its requiries and its promises by it Man is ingaged to believe in Jesus Christ with all his heart to accept of him and close with him as he is by the Father and himself offered in the Gospel to receive him in all his Offices as Prophet to Teach and as King to Govern and Command as well as Priest to Attone and Interceed and Bless and thereupon it promiseth Salvation it requires repenting of Sin and forsaking it and thereupon it promiseth Mercy and the blotting out of Transgressions it requires returning to God and the performance of sincere obedience and to every one that doth so God engageth himself to be their God for this is a Covenant of Reconciliation he engageth to pardon their Sins so fully so abundantly that they shall be as if they had never been white as Snow and to receive them into favour and to love them with an everlasting love and to give them grace and glory Crowning at length and satisfying them with happiness All those that have not laid hold upon and are not in this Covenant of Grace are to this day under the Covenant of Works and so in a state of Damnation and all those that are in the Covenant of Grace must come up to the terms of it Let Men in this erroneous teachie froward quarrelsom Age say what they will and make never so much noise the Covenant of Grace hath its Conditions though blessed be God what it requires it gives and we must carefully look that we come up to the terms of it and that there be in us an answerableness to its requiries if ever we would share in the blessings of it He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned repent and your Sins shall be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord but except ye repent ye shall all perish Christ will be the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that they obey him but he shall at the Great Day be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel And then it will appear that Obedience and Holiness are something that to fear the offending of God and a diligent care of pleasing him were other manner of things than many mistaken Persons do now take them to be Let your Families know that impenitency doth bind upon Men and Women the guilt of all their Sins and that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord and that Christ came to save from Sin as well as Wrath and to Redeem not only from Hell and Condemnation but likewise from a vain and vicious Conversation 1 Pet. 1.18.19 Sixthly Frequently put those who are Members of your Families and under your charge in mind of their being in Covenant with God and of their having been Baptized and so received the Seal or Token of the Covenant inculcate this in your Discourses with them I hope that all your Children and Servants to you I now speak who are Members of this numerous Congregation have been made Partakers of that great and precious Ordinance and you ought to tell them of it again and again for by that means you may do them much good in making them serious and thoughtful let them know from you that they were not by their Parents left at liberty to chuse whether they would be the Lords or not whether they would serve him or not whether they would bow their necks to the yoke of Christ or be the Sons and Daughters of Belial But their Parents whose they were and who had a right to dispose of them did in conscience of their own duty and in dear love to them bind them to God betimes they did devote and consecrate them to God they did as it were Seal Indentures between them and God so that now they are Gods Covenant People his Covenant Servants And tell them that being in Covenant with God they shall have all the good of the Covenant all the Mercies and Blessings of it in case they do not deal falsely therein they may rejoyce in it as that which is security enough they may live upon it and that comfortably in the worst times and they may plead it with God and say with David remember thy word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope But that it will be sad and dreadful for them to sin against it I mean wilfully sins in them are of a deeper die and have a louder voice than the Sins of others in the World and by them God is justly more provoked meerly to break one of Gods Commandments is nothing near so bad as to break Covenant with God that is an accent upon the head of Sin and doth greatly aggravate it and those Persons that are guilty thereof may expect and with trembling think how severe God will be at last and what fierce wrath he will pour out upon them when he comes to avenge the quarrel of his Covenant Labour to convince them what a dismal thing it would be for them to withdraw themselves from God whose they were by Covenant for them who had been in their Infancy by their Parents given up to God now to run cross to them and to null what they had done as much as in them lies and to give up themselves to Sin and to the Devil and to sell themselves to do evil this is a throwing dirt in the face of their Parents as if they had chosen ill for them and bound them to a bad Trade and an hard Master and this is a reproach to God as if he had been a Wilderness to them and a Land of Darkness and they had found iniquity upon him and this cannot but be an high provocation and must needs raise storms of wrath and fury Seventhly Be very much and often commending to them the Service of God and the Yoke of Iesus Christ that they may not be prejudiced by wrong notions nor mis-led by misapprehensions of him as the unprofitable Servant pretended to be who looking upon his Lord as Austere and made up altogether of Severity therefore would do nothing for him but e'en buried
that be the Proposition and then I shall not want is a good conclusion by no means to be denied Psal 23.1 whereas setting Affections upon things below is the way to miss of those things which are above Dunghil-rakers do not find the Pearl of Price Saul indeed seeking the Asses lighted upon the Kingdom but I think the Bible affords not such another instance Paul tells us Destruction is the end of those whose God is their belly and who mind earthly things Minding earthly things as the chiefest good is the high way to Beggary and Ruin in the end They that will be rich fall into Temptation and not seldom under Heart-wounding Heart-breaking Disappointments Our dear Lord Jesus who is the faithful and true Witness and the wisest Counsellor hath given us excellent Advice commended by a sure and comfortable Promise Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you Mat. 6.33 All these things added Yes so far as your Heavenly Father sees them necessary for you nay more so far as he seeth them good for you no good thing shall he with hold and truly that is far enough farther than so they are not to be desired farther than so they are not worth the having Lastly In your Families and among them who are committed to your Charge direct your Speech very much to the great things of the other World and that recompence of Reward which is to come God took Abram after Lot was separated from him and said to him lift up now thine Eyes and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward for all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever Gen. 13.14 15. So do you take the Members of your Families and bid them lift up their Eyes and look off from this dirty World up to that glorious Canopy over their Heads the Firmament bespangled with Sun Moon and Stars that is but the Floor or Pavement of the Presence Chamber of the King of Glory the Bride-Chamber of the Lamb the Seat of the Blessed which he will give for an Everlasting Inheritance unto them who have chosen and love and obey him Be often and often discoursing to them of Heaven the Company there the Imployment there the Felicity and Satisfaction there the Vision and Fruition that the Saints shall have there of God and Christ whom they shall see not as in a Glass darkly but Face to Face the sweet Fellowship and Communion they shall there have with God in the greatest Intimacy without the least disturbance or interruption there being no sinful withdrawings from God on their part and no angry withdrawings from them on God's part and no Enemy to divert the Mind or break the Peace or abate the Delight but a fulness of Joy they shall have in the presence of their God and Saviour and at his Right Hand Pleasures for evermore Let them know what you can of the greatness of those Preparations which he hath made for them that love and fear him even such things as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath entred into the Heart of Man There is an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for them As there are all dimensions in the love which Christ bears to them heighth depth length and breadth so there are in that Happiness and Glory which he hath prepared for them Mind them of the nature of this their present Life that it is but transitory in a continual flux we die daily look how much we have liv'd so much we are already dead our Candle is burning down into the Socket and the Oil of our Lamp spends apace not a Day Hour nor Minute passeth over our Heads but it bringeth us nearer to our Grave which is the House of all the Living and unto it we are continually travelling It is a troublesome Life sin deserves it should be a lamentation thoroughout and God might make it so however they will find it checquer'd be their Morning never so fair and serene yet their Day will be overcast before Night comes and though at the first setting out they have a pleasant Gale yet they must expect to meet with many a furious Storm before they come into their Harbour Children come crying into the World Men and Women go sighing thorough it and groaning out of it Many are the afflictions of the very righteous though God will deliver them out of all It is an uncertain Life Who knows what is in the Womb of Providence or what may be the product of a day we are but short-sighted and cannot tell what stands at the Door ready to draw the Latch Samson found Honey in the Carcase of a Lion but many find Wormwood and Gall in the very Hive where they expected Honey and what they did hope would have been their greatest comfort doth prove their bitterest vexation their greatest torment and what wise Man would take up with such a Life since a better may be made sure of But again this is but a short Life a span long three or fourscore Years to come seem a great while but when past they are as a Tale that is told Few and evil said good Iacob have the days of the years of my Pilgrimage been and truly since sin and sorrow do make them evil it is a Mercy that God doth make them few But since our Lives are short we should not be covetous for a little will serve the turn a little will serve to carry us thorough our Journey See that there be but Oil in the Vessel against the Bridegroom's coming and then it is no great matter though there is but a little Meal in the Barrel let them have their Bellies filled with hid Treasures whose Portion is in this Life let them hunt after great things here who are to have their good things their all here But insisth much among them upon that Life which is to come that will know no end but hath an Eternal duration O Eternity Eternity maist thou strike us all with astonishment and fill our Souls with an aweful regard There will be another state into which we must every one pass at death that will be unalterable a state that is altogether a stranger to hope or to fear that will know nothing to abate its sorrows or to lessen its comforts that hath either Meridian brightness without any obscuring shade or scorching Flames without the least refreshing drop such a state as will be either inconceivably Happy or unspeakbly Miserable and that to all everlasting The Blessed shall from their heighth of Bliss look down without any danger of falling and the Damned shall in their Abyss of Misery and Woe look up without any possibility of rising So Abraham told the Rich Glutton in Hell Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence
to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence Now as there is a double end so there is a double way leading to them That way which leads to Life is a narrow way and the Gate strait there is not room enough for a Man and his Lusts Nature must be curb'd and the Flesh Crucified and the Body kept under and self denied That way which leads to Hell is broad and the Gate wide there a Man may take with him his Sins and his Pleasures he may fare deliciously every day and be wicked every day he may live without God in the World and have Fellowship with Devils and fulfil the Wills of the Flesh. He need not care what he doth who doth not care what becomes of him Well assure them of this that Sin ushers in Misery and the ways of Sin go down to death its steps take hold of Hell but a Life of Holiness and Duty a Life of Faith and Obedience to God carrieth to Heaven and the Happiness above Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright see the last of him for the end of that man is peace Though the way have its difficulties an up-hill way that calls for great pains and labour though it be hedg'd up with Thorns and lin'd with Enemies yet it hath a good end The good Servant that Trades with his Talent minds his business and is faithful in his little shall be made Ruler over much and when he hath finished his work enter into the Joy of his Lord. The Reward will be sure and great what will both issue in abundant satisfaction and raise the highest admirings so that the glorified Soul shall think and say as David did upon another account O Lord who and what are all my services and what my Fathers house that thou hast brought me hitherto Bring them by degrees to understand something of what it is to behold God's Face in Righteousness and to be satisfied with his Likeness to lye at the Fountain-head of Happiness and to delight ones self in the bottomless boundless Ocean of Goodness How pleasant it will be to reflect upon the troubles of the past Life the violent Storms they past thorough the scorns and abuses of a foolish and mad World the rage and fury of wicked unreasonable Men and what a change is made how ill it was how well it is how sweet it must needs be to be above the reach of all sorrows and wants of all Enemies and fears and to be incompast feasted fill'd with the best and choicest delights What a priviledge will it be to sit down as welcom Guests with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of God at a Feast of Glory there to take your fill of Love to all Eternity when you shall see so many shut out What an Honour will it be to sit upon Christ's Throne How easie to lye in the Bosom of Abraham How comfortable to be ever with the Lord How infinitely is this beyond all the Pleasures that Sin can afford its Votaries beyond having the Belly filled with hid Treasures Will you do this you that are Governours of Families Oh! How good is it How much your Duty and how much good may you do This is the way to render them serious and thoughtful the way to make Sin odious and abominable to them so that they shall not desire to taste of those Dainties this is the way to commend Godliness and Religion to them so that they shall be like the Chariots of Amminadab this also is the way to blunt the edge and break the force of a Temptation when it would at any time draw them away from God and take them off from the performance of that duty which they owe unto him I will here add these two things and desire you to put them in practice in order to the rendering these Instructions or Teachings the more effectual First Go over with these things again and again and insist much upon them yea though they be unwilling to hear yet be not you weary of speaking nay though they cast your words behind their Backs do you still follow them with more The Prophet Ezekiel was to continue speaking to the People of Israel though they were a Rebellious House nor might he be silent till God shut up his Mouth and struck him Dumb so must you do with your Families though they be dull and slow to learn yet teach though they be obstinate and stiff necked yet counsel and perswade let there be frequent repetitions of the same Truths and the same Advice and the same Arguments Gutta cavat lapidem Drops of Rain often falling make an impression upon a Stone Immortal Souls are so exceeding precious that the gaining the saving of one is worth the labour of a Life How long did God wait upon you And how often did he speak to you before you would hear do you the like to yours As Children must be often fed so they must be often taught Precept must be upon Precept and Line upon Line here a little and there a little The understandings of young ones are weak and therefore you must deal with them in all plainness and by degrees They are like narrow mouth'd Bottles not receptive of much at a time and you cannot pour in much at once but by little and little Drop in Truths Counsels and Instructions into them according to their ability to receive them Their Memories also are labil and slippery too tenacious of bad things but not of the best like Sieves that let the Flower go and only retain the Bran as they are not capable of receiving much at once so but weak in keeping that which they have received The Apostle saw cause of writing thus to the Hebrews Ye have forgotten the Exhortation which speaks to you as unto Children Heb. 12.5 It is certain there is too much of this to be found among Men grown Men yea grown Saints we read the Word and forget what we read we hear Sermons and forget the Sermons we hear we forget the Promises we make and the Mercies we receive and the Experiences we have had of the power care and goodness of God Men and Women are apt to forget Truths Precepts Counsels and Exhortation we did stand in need of an Ordinance the blessed Sacrament to put us in mind of Christ himself and it is no wonder then if young ones be so their Memories are leaking Vessels and those impressions which are made upon their Minds and Affections do quickly wear out again and therefore there is an absolute necessity of our going over with the same things again upon this account as well as that of the backwardness and great natural aversness of their wills from that which is good daily Instructions are as needful for them as their daily Bread Secondly Back your holy Instructions with holy Exhortations and let all your gracious Counsels be followed and prest upon them with earnest perswasions and