A FEW THINGS OF Great Weight OFFERED To the Consideration of all Sober People and to Friends of Truth more Particularly With Relation to their Early Care and Christian Endeavour to Season the Minds of their Children whilst they are Young with the Sense and Savour of the Spirit of Truth O Lord I know that the Way of Man is not in himself it is not in Man that walketh to direct his Steps Jer. 10.23 By Richard Vickris London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle next Door to the Meeting-House in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street and at the Bible in Leaden Hall-Street 1697. A few Things of great Weight c. THis Way of Man is the Way that God hath appointed him to Walk in and it is a High Way of Holiness and Happiness in God that is in his Divine Nature VVill and Spirit and is Opposed to the Low VVay of Sin and Imperfection that is in Man's self Respecting his Corrupt Fleshly VVill Mind and Spirit In each of these VVays there is a Law or Power the one of Spirit and Life the other of Sin and Death under this Law of Sin and Death all Men have been Concluded for as much as all have Sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God that is they have chosen their own VVay and followed the Thoughts and Devices of their own Hearts which hath proved to be a VVay of Folly and Misery and still continues so to be whatever otherwise Man may think in his Earthly Sensual VVisdom being in Captivity under the Law and Power of Sin and Death that Rules in him in this State many are whole and at ease in a Self-security having given up themselves to be Subjects to that Kingdom seeks not nor desires any other But there are others who having heard the Call of God are awakened to a sight and sense of their Condition and oftentimes Laments themselves and crys and seeks for a Deliverer and of these there is some hopes because a Deliverer is come out of Zion to turn away Ungodliness from Jacob that is from him that wrestleth for a Blessing This Deliverer is Christ the Lord of whose coming all the Holy Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles bore-witness who said The whole needs no Physician but those that are Sick I am not come to Call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Now this Deliverer to wit Christ is that Way of Man spoken of by the Prophet Jeremiah viz. That High Way of Holiness and Happiness in God Isa 35.8 which leads from the Earthly to the Heavenly from the Kingdom of Satan to his own Blessed Kingdom with his Father and this Way is his Divine Nature Manifested as a Law and Power of Spirit and Life in us Now though we are awakened to a sense of our Condition and groans and longs for Deliverance we cannot obtain it in our own Way and Will for the VVay of Man is not in himself it is not in Man that walketh to direct his Steps we must wait to feel our Deliverer to work in us and for us of his own good VVill and Pleasure Directing us by his Law and Inabling us by the Power of his Spirit to work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling so that it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth Mercy we are Exhorted so to run that we may obtain according to the Apostles saying Though all run but one Receiveth the Price 1 Cor. 9.24 This one is the True Believer Personated in one viz. Christ his Head whose Hope Trust and Confidence is in his Helper and Deliverer it is written in Isaiah 28.16 Thus saith the Lord Behold I lay in Zion for a Foundation a Stone a Tried Stone a Precious Corner Stone a sure Foundation he that Believeth shall not make haste This sure Foundation precious Corner Stone is our Blessed Lord Christ happy are all they that come to him build upon him and abide with him that never fails Thus we may observe two ways known by their differing Powers and Natures the One Christ the Kingdom of God in our Minds the other Satan in our Fleshly VVills or Members the one Light the other Darkness the one High and Holy the other Low and Sensual Now all that have heard the Call of God and have believed therein and are awakened unto Righteousness that is have a Spiritual Sense and Feeling of God must come out of this low sensual VVay of Self and Self-working and instead of being led and acted by their own Natural Powers of Fleshly VVill and VVisdom in which Satan Builds they must come down to this sure Foundation viz. Christ in them and feel the Power of his Life to Lead and Act them that is they must incline their Minds Inwardly unto his Divine Word of Faith and Law of Spirit and Life in them which is Quick and Powerful c. and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart whereby their Souls were first quickened and made alive and Faith wrought in them by which Faith the Spiritual Senses of the Soul are Exercised towards God whereby they see him that is Invisible by which the Holy Ancients endured and did all those mighty things made mention of in the Author to the Hebrews Having an Eye to the Recompence of Reward and this Faith being thus wrought in them by the Operation of God must be daily kept to and in that they may know and witness a dividing betwixt Soul and Spirit betwixt the Soul and its old Natural and Sensual Power of working in its Fleshly VVill and Wisdom in which the Devil Rules and its New and Heavenly Power which it receives by Faith through the Impression of the Divine Nature of Christ therein which as the Soul comes to behold it will be Affected with its Beauty and keeping in the Love thereof will witness a being changed into its likeness from one Degree of Glory to another and so the old comes to be put off and the new Man put on which is Created after the Image of God in Righteousness and true Holiness these things are of great VVeight and Concern to all that are true Travellers towards God's Heavenly Kingdom of Rest and Peace to Experience in themselves for want whereof many have been held in sore Bondage and Captivity under hard Labour and Servitude many Years and have not been able to attain to what their Souls have long Desired and Travelled for viz. Spiritual Freedom and Deliverance from Sin and Death because they have not been Rightly Exercised in striving whilst out of the Faith which alone can give the Victory and without which 't is impossible to please God such instead of attaining to the divine Knowledge of the Truth have attained only to a Notion and Comprehension thereof in their Earthly Minds who have not waited to Receive it by Faith into a Spiritual renewed Mind and Heart which Faith is the Gift of God and is wrought by him through
the Quickening of the Soul to an Exercise of Spiritual Sense and Feeling of the Power and Virtue of his Truth by which alone the Soul is made Capable of receiving the true Knowledge thereof and a fit Vessel to retain it So here is a difference between a Living and Spiritual Knowledge and a Dead Natural Fleshly Knowledge The one gives Victory the other leads into and leaves in Bondage the one is attained by Faith into a New and Spiritual Life the other is gathered by a Fleshly Sense and Comprehension into the old corrupt Nature which is not the proper Organ of Reception of the True and Saving Knowledge of God and the things that appertain to his Heavenly Kingdom It 's the old Bottle that is not fit for the New Wine of the Kingdom Make the Tree Good said Christ and his Fruit Good or else make the Tree Corrupt and its Fruits Corrupt Of one of these all are and accordingly must be Denominated and the Tree is known by its Fruits we were all by Nature of the Corrupt Tree or Wild Olive and cannot be made good but by being cut off and Grafted anew contrary to Nature into the good Olive Tree which is Christ Jesus the Root and Off-spring of David the Bright and Morning Star the Alpha and Omega the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Who being thus inwardly Experienced and Acknowledged to be laid by God in Zion a Sure Elect and Precious Corner Stone the Way the Truth and Life according to his own Blessed Testimony of himself in John 14.6 and that no Man cometh to the Father but by him The Compleating of all our Happiness consists in coming unto him abiding with him or building upon him for as Christ said Without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 It is not in Man that Walketh to direct his Steps Jer. 10.23 And if a Man cannot direct his own Steps aright how shall he direct the Steps of others which leads me to Express something that Lives and Rests upon my Spirit to Friends of Truth Concerning the Discharge of our Christian Care and Duty towards others more particularly our Tender Off-spring from a true Sense of the strict Relation that Exercise necessarily hath to a Spiritual Ability from God to a right Performance thereof And therefore Friends more particularly you who are Parents of Children a few things hath opened in my Mind to Recommend to your Consideration touching this great Duty of Educating our Children in the Love and Fear of God by the Power and Influence of his Blessed Truth VVe know God hath so Manifested his Light and Truth in us that the Devil hath not been able to Extinguish it or Obliterate the Certain Sense and Experimental Knowledge of its Testimony in our selves And therefore he hath and doth use his utmost Endeavour to do it in our Off-spring and deprive them of the Benefit of our Faith by lessening our Zeal for the Truth and thereby our Spiritual Love and Care for them and by this means he hopes to obtain his end in the succeeding Generations viz. to lay waste the Blessed Testimony thereof in the Earth but our God beholds his secret VVorkings and doth and will open the Eyes of his Children and People to see and escape his Snares and enable them to Resist and Disappoint all his VVicked Purposes against his Flock and Heritage who hath all Power and Sufficiency to do whatsoever pleaseth him and will Accomplish his VVill in all those that Love and Fear him now henceforth and for ever Such is the Power and Prevalency of the Truth that as in the Days of Christ's Appearance in the Flesh the Devils were subject and made to confess to him so hath it been in our Day But the Righteous then were Exhorted not to Rejoyce therein but rather that their Names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life and so it is now And this is the Souls only Happiness Fortress and Security from Danger for ever Now hereinto we must all come and abide for our selves and hereby as we ought we shall be enabled to be helpful to others especially our tender Off spring that God hath Blessed us with whom he Loves and Delights to do good unto and for that end hath bestowed them upon us and given us the Knowledge of his Truth that we may Minister it to them and present them to God thereby that is by the Power and Virtue of his Truth to season their Hearts and Minds with the Love and Fear of God as is said before in their tender Years that as they grow up they may be fitted and prepared to meet the Lord and to know him in themselves by the sweet Influences of him through us their dear Parents and so shall we be Instrumental to bring them unto Christ who said Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Mar. 10.14 Now this is a Spiritual Work and therefore requires a Spiritual Capacity and Ability Rightly to perform it and this Capacity is not of Man nor in the Will and Time of Man but of God and therefore to be sought for and waited for from him from whom every Good and Perfect Gift cometh and in whose Hand are the Times and Seasons And unless we are thus Exercised and Qualified whatever other Abilities of VVisdom and Knowledge we have attained to and are exercised in we shall fall short of a right Performance of this great Duty towards our Children of begetting them to God it was a right Conclusion in Solomon Expressed in his Prayer to God for Wisdom viz. Tho' a Man be never so Perfect amongst the Children of Men yet if thy Wisdom be not with him he shall be nothing Regarded Book of Wis 9.6 All our Power and Sufficiency to act and do for God is of him and from him how then can we do the Work of the Spirit without the Spirit of God It is the Spirit of God that begets to him and if we are not begotten thereby or do not continue therein how can we perform the Works thereof which are Spiritual surely none can Flesh and Spirit are contrary each to other and have differing Powers as well as Fruits and Effects and the Tree is known by its Fruits if the Tree be Corrupt the Fruits will be Evil and though the Cry should be Lord Lord it will not give an entrance into Christ's Kingdom if the Will of his Father be not done which is in Heaven no more will the Doctrine of Truth Truth beget to God unless it spring from the Life and Power of Truth in our selves that is unless we so Live as to obtain entrance into God's Kingdom for our selves how shall we help to bring our Children thereinto No on the contrary if our Fruits be Evil our Tree is Corrupt and hinders them For he that is not of me said Christ is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad And of such
it may be truly said they suffer not their Children to come unto Christ that he might Bless them and tho' not in Words yet by their Deeds they forbid them and so are unlike the Blessed Example of Abraham the Father of the Faithful of whom it was said Gen. 18.19 I know him that he will Command his Children and his Household after him and they shall keep the Way of the Lord c. Whereby we may observe that Abraham's Care in this Respect was attended with the Word of Faith which was a Word of Power and Command which had a Blessed Effect and was the Reward of his Faithfulness to God and if we be like-minded and follow his Example the Lord will be with us to Abilitate and Furnish us for the Effecting the same good Work by us which Spiritual Ability from God is my Earnest Desire we may all wait upon him for who hath Promised to give his good Spirit to them that ask him And now as the State of little Children it may be the Opinion of some that they are not Capable of receiving the Help and Benefit of their Parents Faith by Reason of their Infancy or small Age and Time and hence may be the more Indifferent as to an Early Care for their coming to Christ not considering them as fit Members of his Kingdom But seeing our Lord Christ in the Days of his Flesh hath taught us otherwise by his own Blessed Example in the Case of the little Children which according to Luke 18. were Infants that was brought unto him when he came into the Coasts of Judea beyond Jordan Mat. 19.13 and Mar. 10.13 That he might lay his Hands upon them or touch them we Read not that it was for any outward Infirmity they had wherefore Christ's Disciples not seeing into the Mystery of the Lord's Ways and Doings Rebuked them that brought them which had they been Diseased we may suppose they would not have done because we find not that they did it in such Cases to those of Riper Years But when Jesus saw it it is said in Mark 10. he was much displeased and said unto them Suffer the little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of Heaven as a little Child he shall not enter therein Which Saying of Christ is of great Weight and carries deep Instruction to us if duly Considered It plainly Teaches not only that Children are Capable of Receiving the Kingdom and that their Way of Receiving is Right but that there may be a wrong Way of Receiving of it by those of Riper Years which shuts out of the Kingdom It therefore greatly Concerns us all Rightly to Consider how little Children Receives the Kingdom that we may prove and try our selves thereby We all know that little Children are not very Capable of Exercising the Rational Faculty of their Souls consequently are not so Capable after that manner to receive the Kingdom whence we may infer they had another better and more excellent Way of Receiving it seeing their Way is Commended to us for an Example for though it be granted that the Knowledge we attained to by the right Exercise of our Senses and Reason as we grow in Years is as a School-Master to bring us unto Christ yet the Right Receiving of him is by and into a New and Spiritual Life that is begotten and quickned in the Soul by him Now as the Souls of Men and Women are Capable of this New Life so are the Souls even of little Children being of the same Excellent Frame according to Measure and are endured with a more Divine Capacity of Knowledge than what is or may be attained to by the Rational Faculties only and that is the Capacity of its New Life it Receives from Christ as in a Seed which gives us Spiritual Sensation of the Visits and Touches of the Spirit which Influences and Opens the Spiritual Eye and Ear to See and Hear a Beauty and Harmony in the Divine Nature and Original Good which is God whereto they viz. Little Children may be Excited by the Communication of Spirit in the Reaches forth of the Love and Life of Truth Ministerially and Instrumentally to them before they are either Capable of receiving Instruction by Word or Doctrine or giving an Account of that Beautiful Image of Light and Life and Truth they see and feel in their Minds and this is in a good Measure to be seen and observed in some very little Children and is the Work of God upon them and the Way they Receive his Heavenly Kingdom by Participation of the Blessing of the Divine Nature and Spirit of Christ for it is said Mark 10.16 That Christ took the little Children up in his Arms put his Hands upon them and Blessed them Here it may be observed that we Read not that Christ spoke any Words unto them it is Probable they were not Capable of Receiving much Instruction that Way and yet were Capable of Receiving the Blessing of his Spirit and the Kingdom therein And if this was is and may be so with little Children how much more Sensibly ought it to be Witnessed and Experienced by those of Riper Years But if we who are attained to the fulness of Years and extent of the Exercise of the Rational Powers and Faculties of our Souls shall content our selves with what we can gather in of the Convictions of Truth upon our Understandings and not Receive the Kingdom thus as little Children by the Visits and Touches of Jesus which quickens our Souls to God whereby we come to be Regenerated and Born again of his Spirit and made Partakers of his Divine Nature we can in no wise enter into the Kingdom God and if we enter not the Kingdom our selves how shall we be helpful to bring our Children thereinto No we cannot but as I said before are hinderers of them Great hath been and is the Disadvantage that the Children of many Friends have and do ly under for want of the Spiritual Help of their Parents Faith and Exercise therein towards God for them especially for the first Times and Years of their Life wherein they are Capable of Receiving early Impressions of Good and for want thereof the Evil many times takes place and fills their Minds and Renders them more Unfit and Uncapable for a Right Receiving of the Kingdom of God for as they grow in Years they grow and increase in Natural Understanding and Exercises of their Rational Powers and Faculties and get into a Comprehension or Notion of the Truth which if it be not accompanied with a Divine and Spiritual Sense and Feeling of the Love and Life of God in the Innermost part of the Soul and a Real Conformity thereunto though they may Receive the outward Knowledge of the Truth in the First Birth and grow Rich and Wise in Profession they do and will fall short of