be the Desire of all Nations And then Thirdly let your Children be what they will as to the outward man fair or black compleat or defective beautiful or deformed what are they as to their Souls the very best part about them is stark naught indeed it is the very worst that which David called his Glory and should be theirs is their Shame alas there is cause enough why it should be so Be they as lovely as you think them they are not Paradises but Desarts and Wildernesses over-run with Briars Thorns and Weeds not Cedars but Brambles by nature they are Crab-stocks and is it not pity but they should be grafted upon with holy Instructions and religious Principles that so instead of wild grapes the grapes of Sodom and the clusters of Gomorrha they may become Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord that by them he might be glorified which will also turn to their own singular Advantage for having their Fruit unto Holiness the end will be everlasting Life for such Trees when their bearing-time is come to its appointed Period will be sound not Fewel for the Burning but Timber for the Building or if you please Death shall take them and Grace transplant them into the Paradise of God You that are Parents and have beautiful Children look upon them with a great deal of Pleasure you look and like you look and doat you see your selves in them and several curious strokes and pretty tricks and all these please you highly But I remember when Samuel was greatly taken with Eliah 2 Sam. 16.7 the Lord said unto him Look not on his countenance or on the heighth of his stature because I have refused him So say I do not look upon this or that natural or acquired Excellency in your Children so as to rest satisfied with that but see if you can discover any thing of Christ in them any thing of a new and divine Nature as for their natural state you will see in them more of the brute than of the man if you do but look upon them through a Scripture-glass that will help you to the best prospect To this purpose let us make use of that which we find in Iob 11.12 Vain man would be wise though man be born like the wild asses colt In which words there are three things worthy of our observing what Man is what he would be and what he was born First what man is vain proud man conceited man but still vain man In the Hebrew it is empty man Indeed sometimes he makes a great noise but there is little worth He hath nothing in him nothing of value much froth much wind but no substance he hath too much of that which he should not have Sin Satan Folly Madness Madness is in the heart of man whilst he lives but there is nothing of that which he should have nothing of that beautiful Image which was at first stamp'd upon him nothing of that primitive Glory with which he did at the first shine nothing of that real Excellency and Beauty which our gracious and blessed Redeemer came to advance him to he hath nothing of the saving Knowledge of God but his foolish Heart is darkned and he become vain in his Imaginations nothing of the divine Spirit but sensual not having the Spirit sunk into the Flesh immers'd drown'd in Flesh nothing of sanctifying Grace nothing is made new but all old and rotten wholly alienated from the Life of God dead in Trespasses and Sins there is in him no Love to God no Faith in Jesus Christ but altogether throughout filthy and abominable Again Secondly there we see what Man would be wise Vain Man would be wise but perhaps you will say this is well it is very good it is a sign he is not altogether empty Here is a Will that stands right Desires directed to a proper and deserving object But mark what is the meaning of the Words take it in these two things He would be wise i e he affects a shew and appearance of Wisdom and if he can attain that he concludes he hath enough He doth not care so much for being wise as for being counted wise he is wise in his own conceit and in his own eyes and he would be so in the opinion of all that know him It is evident he does not care for Wisdom it self because he doth neither pray nor take pains for it he doth not dig for it as for Silver nor doth he seek and search for it as for hid Treasures But whatever he now would be or be thought to be what was he at first what when he came into the World Zophar tells us Thirdly He is born as a wild asses colt What a strange Climax or Gradation is here He is born a Colt that is at best a Brute be it never so handsom or well made yet is no other than a Beast and hath not the Understanding of a Man but that is not all he is born an Asses colt a dull heavy and foolish Creature good fit for nothing nor is that all he is born a wild Asses colt the dullest and most untractable Creature so of all Fools Man is the worst and most sottish Thus the Scripture speaks Isai. 1. The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider And again Ier. 7. The Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed season and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the times of their coming but my people know not the Iudgment of the Lord. Now then I will leave it to you O Parents to Judge whether you have not need betimes to break these Colts if you would have them come to good have you not need to take a great deal of pains with these Asses and the taming of these wild Asses Is there not reason why you should do what you can to bring them to bear the yoke in their Youth and to draw in it I mean not only your yoke but Christs too which is easie and none of his Commandments grievous and so to turn these Beasts into Men yea into Saints certainly you should because they are yours and if you love them you will natural affection accompanied with religious Principles will put you upon all diligent use of means to so blessed a purpose viz. Bringing them out constantly to the publick Ordinances and at home taking care to pray for them and with them and to instruct command exhort and catechize them together with the setting before them holy and good examples II. Add this Consideration to the former How much you have contributed to their corruption and defilement they are indeed degenerate Plants but the Plants of a strange Vine and that is you Ier. 2.21 Now here I will consider you both as Parents and how much your Children are the worse for you and as Masters and so how much your Families do suffer by you First you are Parents God
Mercy even then let them see that you love them and that though their sinful Practices be odious to you yet their Persons are dear and all the fruit you aim at is the taking away their Sin and that you design your hottest anger for nothing else but a refining fire to separate their dross from them that afterwards they may come out like Gold When you chide them be sure it is not without a cause nor more than it doth deserve He is no Wise Man that for the roasting of an Egg makes a fire big enough to roast an Ox all that cost might have been saved and the thing better done In such a case a holy warmth is necessary and highly desirable but let not your tongue be set on fire with the fire of Hell no no let Grace be poured into your lips and out of them too mix your severest Chidings with convincing Discourses gracious Counsels and perswasive Arguments and while you would drive them from Sin at the same time draw them to Vertue and Godliness When you Correct them do it in Wisdom if Rods will do make no use of Scorpions yea and let Love lay on the Rod remembring God who contends in measure let them see clearly that your chastning of them is not for your pleasure but their own profit that they might be reduced from the errour of their way and made partakers of Gods holiness and when you Correct pray for them It is Gods Ordinance therefore beg a blessing of him upon his own Ordinance that through him it may prosper to the destruction of the corrupt Flesh and so the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iesus 1 Cor. 5.5 This is the ready way to gain them a most proper course to render all the means you use effectual upon them then will they look upon your very smitings as a kindness and upon your reproofs as an excellent Oyl that will not break their heads This is the way to make your Counsels theirs and to make them yet more your own by gaining their hearts As kindness makes subjection most easie to the inferiour and most pleasant the Yoak will not gaul if it be lin'd with Velvet so it commands with the greatest power it draws suaviter fortiter sweetly and strongly so that the Soul runs it allures and constrains too and at the same time it makes Government pleasant to the Superiour plucking Thorns out of the Crown and instead of them sticking it with Roses Whereas an imperious froward Lord or Master doth not only make his Family uneasie but himself too as their Yoak is heavy so his Seat will be hard and while he is all for Whip and Spur it will make both his arm and his heart ake to hold the Bridle Remember that Gods way is to draw with the Cords of a Man i. e. with rational Arguments for the convincing of the Judgement and with loving kindness in order to a moving upon and winning of the affections be ye followers of him as dear Children The more there is of love in your hearts and lives the more there is of God the more do you express and glorifie him and here let me add that which followeth hereupon or rather most sweetly accompanies it Sixthly Be not severe and rigid in your dealings with them but tender and compassionate It is said of the Egyptians that they made the Children of Israel serve with rigour and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage in Mortar and in Brick and in all manner of service in the Field all their Service wherein they made them serve was with rigour Tyranny Violence Fierceness citra ullam clementiam aut misericordiam without any clemency or mercy Exod. 13.14 therefore Egypt is called an Iron Furnace Deut. 4.20 but Israelites were forbidden to rule over one another after this manner If thy Brother be waxen poor and sold unto thee thou shalt not compell him to serve as a Bonds Servant Levit. 25.39 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour but shalt fear thy God ver 43. over your Brethren the Children of Israel ye shall not rule one over another with rigour v. 46. ye shall not rack him with labour nor with blows nor with threatnings ye Masters forbear threatnings Ephesians 6.9 not altogether sometimes they may be necessary but do not use them always nor often Well then God would have you not rigorous and oppressive but tender be so then as to instance in some particulars In their Sickness let them have what you can afford and their case doth require give them convenient Lodging due Attendance with all that is necessary both for Food and Physick that so they may see their Lives are valued by you and precious to you and that it is your will they should not want any thing that is fit for them How did the good Centurion regard his sick Servant Luke 7.2 3. His Servant who was dear unto him was sick and when he heard of Iesus he sent unto him the Elders of the Iews beseeching him that he would come and heal his Servant By taking care of them under their Distempers you will gain their hearts yet more and engage them to take the greater care of your business when their health shall be restored them In their Work do not over-task them do not call them to that which you know they have not skill to do nor lay upon them such heavy burthens as are above their strength to bear though such Task-Masters have been found among Egyptians let there be none such among professed Christians It is more becoming the Servants of Pharaoh who is called a Dragon-Leviathan than the followers of Iesus who is the Lamb of God a Lyon indeed for strength in his defending of them but a Lamb for meekness in his dealings with them when he invites Men and Women to take his Yoak upon them he tells them it is easie and his burthen is light and whether it be so or no ask one of his Servants who did draw in it and was able to speak from his own experience and he hath past his word for it and left it upon Record that his Commands are not grievious And in their failings be ye merciful to them if you are only concerned bear as much as is fit but if God be concerned too make them know your deep resentment but withall do what you can to restore them with a Spirit of meekness trample not upon them when down but lend them your hand toward the raising them up again to Repentance And by it I would not have you as I said before wink at Sin either in your Children or in your Servants for who knows how great a matter a little fire kindles how many Unclean Spirits may follow one that was admitted and found entertainment before Besides to bear with Sin in them is the way to provoke the anger of God against your selves because you do not punish Sin in them God
Warriour And we may conceive him speaking thus to them O ye seed of Abraham if ye be given to change so am not I If after all that God hath been to you and done for you you will be so ingrateful as to forget and forsake him so will not I. He hath all along been so gracious a God to us all that he shall be my God for ever and ever I am so well so happy with him that I cannot mend my self I can be no where better no where so well therefore I will abide with him as in the Text I and my house will serve the Lord. This was his holy resolve and to this he would stand there could be no reason to the contrary and as for the example of Apostates it should wiâ—h with him be of no significancy nor would he be carried down by the stream He was and would be for God be they for whom they would In the words there are these things observable First The thing he resolved upon which he had in his heart and purpose that was to serve while others of towring and ambitious spirits are altogether for commanding and Lording it this good Man was for serving Though he was a Prince a great General yet did he not look upon it as a disparagement and below him to be a Servant No more did holy David afterward the King of Israel even when he had been called from following the Sheep and placed upon the Throne he knew how still to serve and lov'd to do it the King of Israel thought it no dishonour to serve the God of Israel and therefore he with joy took upon him the name Servant reckoning it his highest and most honourable Title Psal. 116.16 O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant This service is made up of Acts of Worship performed to the Divine Majesty and a Life of Obedience to the Divine Will In it there is Liberty yea most perfect Freedom those that are strangers to it are the worst of Slaves in it is the highest honour To be one of God's Servants is more noble than to be one of the World's Monarchs And in it is the greatest comfort Isa. 65.13 14. Thus saith the Lord God Behold my Servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my Servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold my Servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed behold my Servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of spirit Secondly Here is the Person to whom the Service is to be performed not to Idols not to Devils not to Sin the wages of which is death not to divers Lusts which are tyrannical and cruel but Iehovah that is the word in the Original the Lord the Lord of Lords the Lord of Life and Glory the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob the Lord God of Israel whose Commandments are not grievous but his Yoke is easie and his Burden is light his Yoke being lin'd with his Love and his Burden having Wings Thirdly Here are the Persons by whom this Service is to be performed unto this God We i. e. I and my house I my self not only call others to the work but also set my own hand to it lead them the way I will serve the Lord and all that are mine shall do it together with me Rather than not serve God at all he would serve him alone Ioshua would leave Israel if they would leave God But he would not serve God alone so long as he could have company so long as there were any that he could influence any that he could rule and command they that will live in my house shall serve my God they that would enjoy the comfort of my house shall joyn in the work and duty of my house We will serve the Lord. Exemplum proponitur Gubernandae Familiae saith Masius Here is set before us an excellent Pattern or good Example for the ordering and governing of a Family Oh that it may be followed by all those who call themselves Christians and own Iehovah for the Lord their God! That a Christian Profession and Practical Atheism may not meet in them The Doctrine which I raise from these words and offer to your most serious consideration as the Truth of God to be believed by you received in Love and obeyed from the Heart is this Doct. It is the great duty of all those whom God hath made Heads or Governours of Families to set up Religious Duties and the Worship of God in their respective Families Oh that God would so assist and succeed me in the handling hereof and accompany what shall delivered with such power upon your Consciences and Hearts as by that time I have finished these Discourses there may not be one Prayerless Family belonging to this numerous Congregation How greatly then would my Soul bless God and with what comfort and joy should I look upon you It is both a wicked and miserable thing for any to be without God in the World Ephes. 2.12 He is so great so necessary a good that nothing can possibly supply the want of him Notwithstanding Moon and all the Stars it is night with us when once the Sun is departed off our Horizon God is absolutely necessary for us and our All is due to him Single persons must know it to be their duty and interest to serve and worship God in their Capacities as Publickly in the Gates of Sion which God loves in the Assemblies of the Saints unto which they ought to joyn themselves as followers of the same Lord and Members of the same Body so singly and alone let their Chambers and Closets be Witnesses for them that they do not live in an ingrateful and wicked unmindfulness of God Let Children begin betimes with God Let young Men and Maids have early converses with God waiting upon him and walking with him And when they come to alter their condition and to have Yoke-fellows and Families let them be careful to set up the Worship of God in them though let them still remember to keep up their retirements It is not enough for them to worship God in their Families but they ought to do it in their Chambers too nor is it enough for them to worship God in their Chambers but they ought to do it in their Families too Let not these jostle nor exclude one another but as Sister-duties live sweetly together under the same Roofs In private Duties the holy Soul hath the greater liberty from Family-duties God hath the greater Honour Secret duties are plainer Evidences of Sincerity Family and publick duties are of larger influence and usefulness As for me and my house we will serve the Lord We will unite in his Service not only approve of it or consent to it but joyn in it Take here with you these two things First The Service of God should begin as soon as the Family begins This I
committed in the day Now by a parity of Reason we may affirm that praying every day Morning and Envening is praying always or continuing instant in prayer And truly this is the least you can do if you would be grateful if you would bring glory to God if you would be exemplary in your places and to do this is good So the holy Prophet assures us in Psal. 92. which he intituled A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day vers 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy Name O most High This is good there is all good in it honest and profitable and pleasant good it is a paying of God what we owe to him and it will bring over advantage to us and it carries a great deal of sweetness along with it But when is it good to do this upon a Sabbath-day the Lord's-day yes it is good then it is very good then it is then specially in season because that day is given us not so much for the outward rest of the Body as for the inward and spiritual refreshing of the Soul that being taken off and set at liberty from the Labours and Toils of the World we may be wholly taken up with and imployed about the Service and Worship of God but though this be good singularly good upon our Sabbath-days yet it is not good only then for it is always good at other times as well as then so the same Psalmist assures us in the next Verse To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and and thy faithfulness every night Mark that word every every night and by consequence every morning day by day in the morning because then the mind is more fresh and free and lively not yet intangled with nor deprest and fetter'd with secular Affairs but more fit to wait upon God and engage to holy works which call for and deserve the best and happiest frame And in the night the pleasant peace stilness and silence whereof doth render it very accommodate to and proper for the most sacred serious and solemn exercises In the morning prayer should open the door to business give your first visit to God who is your best Friend and at Evening let Prayer lock up the door and draw the Curtain Before the Body lies down in its Bed let the Soul return unto its Rest. This is a most excellent way for you to enjoy your selves and your God too a most excellent way to bring down from Heaven a Blessing upon your Labours in the day and to put a sweetness and refreshing into your sleep at night In this way you commit your selves and your all to God and engage God for you III. Family-worshipping of God hath been the practice ef Holy men in all Ages Saints standing upon Record in the Scriptures have soughâ— and served God in their Families and with them and so have all others in succeeding Generations who have been sound both in Head and Heart and acted by right Principles They have loved the work and delighted in the performance of it out of Conscience and Choice As for those Persons whose Heads have been Flie-blown and their mnds corrupted with Errour they are to be the Objects of our Compassion and Pity and the good Lord cause his Light to shine into their Minds in order to their better information and the reducing them from the Errour of their way but their practices are by no means to be made use of as your Directory or followed as your Pattern For if any have imbibed false notions it is no wonder that their lives and actions are crooked and irregular shamefully deficient in some things and no less extravagant in others Let us look to the precious and eminent Saints of God those that lived and died in the Faith and obtained a good report You are commanded to be followers of them who through Faith and Patience have inherited the Promises who are now possessed of those great things which they before lived in the belief and joyful expectation of who were here graciously accepted of God and are now received and glorified by him Let you and me my dearly Beloved follow them and tread in their steps Keep the same way now for it is the way Everlasting and turn not aside from that neither to the right hand nor to the left and equal their pace make as much haste as the best of them did considering that your time is as uncertain as theirs and it may be shorter only walk with circumspection not blindfold avoiding those things which were blame-worthy in them for even they were but Men and that imperfect Men compast about with infirmities having in them flesh as well as spirit Imitate them therefore in that which was good in them and will be so in you and in nothing else I may very well apply that of Paul to the present case and let you and me mind it as our Rule Phil. 4.8 Whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report and were so in them in all or in any of them think of those things and go you and do the like so long as they wrote fair imitate them but beware of their blots I am and oh that all professing Religion would be for the reviving of the old godliness Primitive Government in Churches and Primitive Godliness in Christians are like old Gold the best Ier. 6.16 Thus saith the Lord stand there in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest to your Souls The old way is the good way meddle not with new upstart Doctrines and Practices that is best which is eldest Now then come we to the Business before us upon enquiry we shall find that the setting up of Prayer and other Religious Exercises in the Family was the good old way that way in which those precious Saints walked here upon Earth who at last got safely to Heaven and whose Prayers are changed for Eternal Allelujahs I will not multiply Instances but bring three or four out of the Old and New Testaments and in the Mouth of so many Witnesses I hope you will look upon the thing as evident and established First I Appeal to you Was not this the way in which this great and excellent Person Joshua walked He was a Person that God put great Honour upon he was the Man that must give Israel Possession of the Land of Promise and this was his way He had walked in it and he was not ashamed to own it before all Israel both the good and the bad yea to declare openly unto them his fixed and immoveable resolution of persevering therein This is plain in the Text As for me and my house we will serve the Lord not I alone but I and they too I with them whoever was or would be of his
Example and teach them to neglect their Duty to them by their not owning and honouring of God they teach them to disesteem and disrespect themselves for it is but just a righteous thing with God that what measure they meet out should be meeted out to them again by their Irreligion they teach their Children and Servants Atheism by their Looseness they teach them Profaneness by their playing at Cards at home they teach them Gaming abroad by which the Estates they laboured for are brought to nothing and their Children to a Morsel of Bread if not to the Gallows at last This is no more than what such Masters and Parents do deserve no more than what they bring upon themselves and no more than what God hath threatned for he hath said They that despise him shall be lightly esteemed where observe it is not said God himself will lightly esteem them though that is certain he will do so for they shall not stand in his presence he will put them away like dross and say cast them out of my sight but he will likewise so order it that they shall be lightly esteemed by others God will expose them to the contempt of others yea to the contempt of their own Families their own Relations their own Children and Servants Take an instance of this Nabal was a very rich Man and very great but a very bad walker and of an ugly temper and though all fear'd him none lov'd him he was a burden to his own House what did one of his Men think of him and say too behind his back 1 Sam. 25.17 He is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him yea and Abigail his prudent Wife though she would have covered his shame yet she could not no nor give him a good word vers 25. Let not my Lord regard the men of Belial for as his name is so is he Nabal is his name and folly is with him He both is a Fool and acts like one Whereas your setting and keeping up the Worship of God in your Families your Exemplary and Gospel-conversation your close and humble walking with God will put a singular beauty and lustre upon you and make your Faces shine in the Eyes of others and commend you to their Consciences so that they who are under your Government and do understand themselves will freely submit to your conduct and order obeying not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake such thoughts as these will at sometimes be making their way into their minds and repeating themselves It was the great goodness of God and tender love of our Parents that cast our Lines in such a Family where our Master is a good Man and our Mistress a gracious Woman both of them Persons fearing God they seek our good taking care not only for our Bodies providing Food for them when well and Physick when sick and teaching us the Mystery of our Calling but they look after the welfare of our Souls too that we may be holy here and happy hereafter know and serve God in time and enjoy him to Eternity how much are we obliged by this to take care of their business to lay our selves out in their Service and be good in our Places and study to please them well in all things if they have in them any spark of ingenuity if any sense of kindness if any love to themselves they cannot but now and then yea frequently have such workings in their Minds Object But here some may be ready to step in and say Doth not experience prove the contrary have not others nay have not you your self seen it otherwise Rebellious Children and unfaithful wicked Servants in those Houses where there is constant praying and reading and other Religious Exercises To this I answer First By granting it is so too too often so it is most certain and no less sad than certain and worthy to be matter of great Lamentation that there are some very bad Persons to be found in very good Families There was a Bloody Cain in Adam's Family whom his immediate Parents loss and ruin could not make wise and an unnatural Ham in Noah's whom a Deluge of Waters could not wash from his filthiness a scoffing Ishmael in Abraham's notwithstanding all the care and pains he took in teaching and commanding his Children there was Iudas a Traytor an Incarnate Devil in the Family of Christ himself who spake and liv'd as never Man did A Weed may be found in the choicest Garden a Serpent was in Paradise which may become relief to those gracious Parents that have degenerate and graceless Children Pity them bemoan them weep over them do your utmost to reclaim them and to turn them to the wisdom of the Just but consider this is not your case alone David was a Man after God's own Heart yet what a dismal company of Children had he Of whom I do not remember one good except Solomon who notwithstanding all his wisdom was none of the best But Secondly This I may lay down as I believe without fear of a contradiction that for the greater part those Families which the Rulers of them are careful to make Bethel 's houses of God thorough practices of Piety and actions of Religious Worship are the Seminaries of Virtue and true Religion These are the Gardens in which Christ hath his precious Plants these the little inclosures where he reaps his richest Crops I do not indeed deny but as the Wind bloweth where it listeth so doth the Divine Spirit who is a most free Agent and chooseth what Objects he pleaseth to work upon Lepers in Israel may have their loathsome Disease continuing upon them when Naaman a Syrian shall meet with a Cure There was in the House of wicked Ieroboam who made Israel to sin a good Abijah in whom there was some good thing found toward the Lord God of Israel God had his Saints in the House of a Monster Bloody Nero but it was to an Abraham that he promised he would be a God and to his Seed It is in such Houses there is found the Seed to serve him which shall be accounted to him for a Generation It is these that travel in birth for their Children and Servants that they might be brought forth to God and have Christ formed in their Hearts and unto these God grants the seeing of the travel of their Souls to their satisfaction That precious Seed which they sow in holy Discourses prudent and pious Counsels and Religious Examples God is pleased to water with his Blessing so that it shall root and spring up and bring forth fruit But Thirdly Let us cast our Eye again upon and take another view of that Scripture which we have already made use of Gen. 18.19 where you have God speaking thus I know Abraham that he will command his Children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. Observe the phrases or words as they lye in
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
hath crowned your Conjugal Relation with Posterity but what is your Posterity but the Seed of evil doers Children of those that have corrupted themselves those pure Souls which were created by God were polluted and spoiled as soon as they entered into those bodies that came of you you did convey a cross froward depraved nature to your Children who therefore are so bad because they are yours It is said Gen. 5.3 Adam begat a Son in his Image and after his likeness not in the Image and likeness of God as Adam himself had been made at first but in his own Image in his Image not only as he was Man but also as he was lapsed Man his Son was like himself in Body and in Soul and in Sin and thus have the Sons of Adam done ever since Iob saith Iob 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Man being unclean cannot make himself clean let them wash in tears let them wash with Snow water he cannot fetch out the dirt the spots and stains he cannot wash himself clean and being himself unclean he cannot produce and bring forth that which is clean That which is born of the flesh is flesh weak flesh sinful flesh that water which is soil'd and muddied at the Spring cannot be pure and clear in the Stream Aethiopissae Filius nigrum ab eâ Colorem trahit The Son of a Blackmoor will be a Blackmoor too You know there are hereditary Diseases as the Gout Stone Spleen Lethargie which commonly run in the blood and are transmitted by the Parents to their Children Sin is one of them it is the worst of them it sticks close and descends from Parents to Children and that from Generation to Generation without interruption without exception unless that of our dear Lord Jesus who was to be holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners that he might be a Sacrifice and a Saviour and in order thereunto came into the World in an extraordinary way of generation being formed in the Womb of a Virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost who over-shadowed her otherwise Sin doth inseparably follow Nature and never goeth out of the blood So that I may call Parents the Channels the Kennels the Common-Sewers in and through which all that abominable filth runs which defiles their otherwise lovely and desirable Children rendring them odious and abominable unto God And never carry your heads high because your Children are of a Noble or Gentile descent come of such a Family bear such account or because you can leave them a great Estate there is one thing alass that stains and spoils all that Glory viz. It is from you they have it that they are born Sinners And truly as there is a great deal of joy at the birth of an Infant because a Man-Child is Born into the World so there is reason why that joy should be upon this account somewhat allay'd and mingled with grief and sorrow that a Sinner is born into the World Secondly Let us consider you as the Heads Governours of Families are not your Families the worse for you you that are Husbands and Wives should be the better for one another and fill your Relations and carry in your places as those that are Co-heirs of the grace of life that you may have cause of blessing God you ever came together But reflect and curiously enquire are not you the worse for one another and are not your Children and Servants in some respects the worse for you both You that have no Religious Duties performed in your Houses are for certain very injurious to them by that your omission for you teach them Atheism neglect and contempt of God you teach them to live without God in the World like so many Brutes you do thereby teach them to neglect their precious and immortal Souls and to mind nothing but the concernments of a vile and perishing Body and the inferiour good things of a Transitory World But what do you think of your selves who are the best who walk most closely with God do you foot it so right that you do not sometimes tread awrie do you demean your selves with so much exactness that nothing amiss is to be discerned in you do you order your carriages and conversations with so much judgement and circumspection that they are without fault and blameless David saith Who can understand his errours and if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand and have you not read such passages as these in the Scriptures There is not a just Man upon Earth that liveth and sinneth not In many things we sin all If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us There are too many graceless Persons in the World but there is not one sinless Person there are many holy Persons who have been washed and justified and sanctified but not one that is cleansed from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and who hath attained to a perfection in his holiness and can you think that your blemishes and miscarriages are invisible do not those that live and converse with you observe you yes they do and see more spots in your faces than you do in your own though you look in the glass and they will be exceeding apt to tread in your steps and to imitate you especially in that which is evil for unto that their own corrupt Nature doth incline and like a strong Bias carry them that way yea and your example shall be made use of and pleaded as their sufficient Warrant If they should be reproved by some sober judicious Persons for doing that which they should not they will justifie themselves thus I saw my Father or my Mother do so my Master or my Mistress do so and therefore I may do it too Poor things they do sometimes think of their Parents and Masters above that which is meet and not considering their imperfections and that body of Sin and Death which they carry about with them they do not in their following them make use of that caution which they ought to do Be serious my dear Friends be serious and consider whether your Children and Servants be not the worse for your Pride discovered in your haughty looks and lofty words and stately gestures and costly garbs and dresses the worse for your Passion shewn in sharpened Eyes furious Countenances and words like Swords and Daggers the worse for your mispence of time in vain visits frothy discourses games and recreations and lazy lying in Bed upon the Lord's Day till much of the morning is lost and a considerable part of the Publick Worship be over before you come into the Congregation In short are they not the worse for this and that and the other yea for many things which your own Consciences if you please to consult them and give them free leave to speak can and will inform you of far better than I can being every day
not doubt but such an one may have sweet Communion with God and find welcome and a gracious Entertainment so that he be upright in his Heart and fervent in his Spirit while serving of the Lord or to use the expression of the same worthy Person Though a Man hath not change of Raiment and cannot appear at the Court of Heaven every day in a new Suit but comes in the same Cloaths yet if he be a Loyal Subject he shall have free access to the King of Glory if he be a Child Heaven-born his Fathers Ear will be open to him and his Petition receiv'd and granted but while he goes to God with his old Prayer let him labour to carry with him new affections But Secondly I must needs profess to the Imposition of a form of a Prayer I am no Friend I have been pleas'd with the Composure of several for the spiritualness and variety of the Matter and for the aptness of the Expression but do not like the imposing of them neither some Mens taking upon them to impose them on others nor that any Man should impose one upon himself and I am sure it is not from a Spirit of Errour or of Division or of Contradiction that I believe and assert it far more excellent and desireable both for Ministers and private Christians to be able from an inward sense of and acquaintedness with their own case wants and necesties and from the abundance of their Hearts together with the gracious assistance of the Blessed Spirit of God to pour out their desires into his Bosom and make their Requests known to him than to borrow and make use of and tye themselves to the best form of anothers composing And I am perswaded our dear Lord Jesus did draw up and give out to his Disciples that most sweet full and comprehensive Prayer as a pattern for them to imitate not as a form with which they should sit down contented without looking after or making use of those Gifts and Abilities which he either had or should by his Spirit bestow and confer upon them And as for those who do ridicule and laugh at praying by the Spirit making it the matter of their scorn and derision I do not stick to charge them with a Spirit of Profaneness only I beg that God would shew them their sin and give them Repentance and a Pardon These things being thus premised I do as before Counsel you who are my Hearers not to tye your selves up to a form of Prayer and I shall give you three or four Reasons of my advising you so First Because it is my hearty desire that all of you who make Prayer your work and business should keep your selves at the greatest distance possible from a lifeless cold formality Do all that you can to avoid it not that I think formality is inseparable from form or that it cannot find room in him who prayeth extemporarily we all have need to watch both unto Prayer and in it else we shall have our Hearts to seek while we are seeking of God But I look upon it as a thing past question among experienced Christians that conceived Prayer as it is commonly called being rightly managed hath a greater and more direct tendency to the affecting both the Soul of him that utters it and the Souls of those that join with him and towards the raising of them up to a due warmth of Affection and preserving them in it I shall recite to you the words of a late Reverend Holy Divine of mine intimate Acquaintance that did Conform to the Church of England viz. Mr. Gurnal Famous for that excellent Piece of his The Christian in compleat Armour a Book worth Gold After he had there pleaded for the lawfulness of Forms of Prayer yea and that in the Church he hath these Expressions The evil is not in a Form but in Formality and that is a Disease which may be found in him that prayeth with a conceived Prayer A Man may pray without a Form and yet not pray without Formality and this I grant but now observe that which follows I confess he that binds himself constantly to a set Form especially in his private addresses seems to me to be more in danger of the two of falling under the power of that lazy Distemper Secondly There are some things which may and often do fall out which none can so well speak to as the Master of the Family himself can do supposing him furnished with such a competent measure of Abilities as doth become one in his place There are indeed common ordinary cases both of Persons and Families and Nations which some forms may reach and do very well suit but there are and may be some particular cases which the Governour of a Family who as he ought studieth both himself and it is best able to express and spread before God Prov. 14.10 The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger intermeddles not with his joy And surely then he is the fittest Person to relate both the one and the other Supposing a sick Patient have the full use of his Reason the Physician doth expect from himself the best account of his state Thirdly Conceived Prayer is the most direct way to Spiritual Increases It is the duty of Christians not to sit down with present attainments but while they are on this side of Heaven and Glory to be continually aspiring and reaching after more more Grace in order to a greater fitness for the happiness hereafter and more Gifts in order to a greater serviceableness here Now what progress is he like to make who continually walketh in a round If a Child will always walk holding on a Bench he is not like to be a good Footman The old saying is Vse Legs and have Legs it holds true here use Parts and have them yea and more too To him that hath and imployeth what he hath shall be given I do not doubt but conceived Prayer is better than the constant use of a form for the inriching of a Person with praying-gifts if I may not say with Grace too Let serious and truly honest Christians both of one way and the other speak as they find I know nothing fitter to determine that than their Experience Fourthly The confining of your selves to a form of Prayer is a dishonour unto God whose Glory ye should be dear over and promote to your utmost Your Gifts are bestow'd upon you in order to his Honour but what Honour hath he from them when conceal'd This is ingratitude to God where are the returns you make to him for the benefits you have from him To have the Gift of Prayer and not to use it is no other than to bury the Talent in a Napkin and so to do is not the part of a faithful Servant nor the way to enter into the Joy of your Lord when you leave Earth Fifthly It is a dishonour to your selves as it would be for a Man to walk
himself to have and own the Lord for his God And Abijah the Son of Ieroboam in whom there was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel An Obadiah that fear'd the Lord from his youth a Iosiah whose heart was tender so that he humbled himself and wept before the Lord a young Iohn that was the Beloved Disciple of our Lord Jesus and lay in his Bosom and a Timothy who knew the Scriptures of a Child And this Age as vile as it is is not altogether barren but some such are to be found among us though too few the Lord knoweth too too few if compared with the rest of the World do you dear hearts add to the number be you Trees of Righteousness Plants of Renown Two things I do earnestly desire for you viz. that you may be holy now and happy for ever that you may spend your time as you ought and then have a blessed Eternity live to purpose and die in peace Husband and lay out this life wisely and make sure of a better I wish you the good things of this World full out so far and so much as will be good for you but withal better things too for really such is my esteem of you that however the Sons of the Earth rate them I look not upon them as good enough to make up a Portion for you they are too little and low and fading they perish in the using may Iehovah whose is the Earth and fulness thereof bestow upon you such a part as will make you serviceable to him and life comfortable to you and while you have it so use and improve it that when it shall fail you you may not miss of the delights and glories of Eternity To this end I beseech you begin betimes do not imbezzle and squander gway your choicest Seasons your golden hours lay not out the very best you have upon the World the Flesh and the Devil thinking to reserve for God the dregs and refuse Oh! how sweet is early Religion how beautiful a green head found in the way of Righteousness how pleasant to see tender Plants bringing forth Fruit unto God Are you descended of good Parents do not degenerate let the Faith that was in them be in you also like precious Faith are your Lines cast in Religious Families walk worthy of the mercy and keep peace with them in the way of God It is your unhappiness to be in wicked Families do not learn their ways partake not with them in their Sins be not tainted by them nor worse for them remembring there were Saints in Nero's House and that it is great indeed truly noble to be good in the midst of bad examples of many discouragements and of great opposition such I would fain have you to be and the more such the better That you may be such beg of God by Prayer and consider what I can but hint to you Study well your own case the vileness of your hearts and the miserableness of your State by Nature whatever you have to commend you unto Men there is more than enough to render you odious and abominable unto God Abhor therefore your selves bewail your condition and get out of it as fast as you can which you can no other way do but by getting into Christ who is the only City of Refuge unto which Sinners may flee for safety the Rock of Salvation in which they may hide and upon it build who died that he might redeem from Sin and Wrath and lives to receive and embrace all those that come unto him go then to him and beg of him that you may be washed with his blood and sanctified by his Spirit that he would please to be a Principle of Spiritual Life in you and the Author of Eternal Salvation to you Be thankful for restraints that you are not so bad as others but rest not in them nor in any external performances or the most lovely form of Godliness but look after a saving change that there be in you the root of the matter an heart sincerely set against sin and for God Avoid all loose bad Company even as you would the Devil for his Children they are and the works of the Father they will do and his designs they will be carrying on in all places where they are Can a Man touch Pitch and not be defiled therewith or familiarly converse with with wicked Men or lewd vain Women and not be in danger of learning their manner walk with wise Men so you may learn wisdom delight in them that fear the Lord and associate with those here with whom you would chuse to be in the other World Be not strangers to the necessary and excellent duty of Prayer but delight to make it your business every day keep not away from Family-duties but bless God for them and be serious and fervent in them yet think not your selves by them discharged from attendance upon God and seeking his face in your private retirements honour your Parents and other Governours and study to please them well in all things in the Lord. Open your ear to Doctrine and be ready to learn and practice all that is good Hear the instruction of your Father and forsake not the Law of your Mother let them not depart from your eyes but keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life unto them that find them and health unto all their Flesh. In your behaviour be sober modest and chast humble and loving to all you have to do with faithful to your trust and diligent in your business mind your Masters interest as much as if it were your own God will bless you the better for it when you are removed from all Spectators so that no body on earth sees you remember there is one above that doth and let that awe and preserve you from sin for he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Love all vertue and goodness hate all vice all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit govern your selves well keep your hearts with all diligence make a Covenant with your eyes set a watch before the door of your lips give honour to Superiours be respective to your equals courteous to your inferiours civil and obliging to all morose and imperious froward and quarrelsom with none wise and prudent in looking to your Concerns and managing all your Affairs consider every motion that is made to you before you embrace and close with it ponder your actions before you do them that you may not make more work for Repentance than you need and weigh your words before you speak them Moses suffer'd greatly for speaking unadvisedly with his lips keep your selves from Sin as that which tends to your destruction and avoid vanity and lightness as that which will issue in your disparagement Sweet youth let me perswade and prevail with you to remember your Creator in the days of your youth own him as your great Lord from whom you had
your being upon whom you have your dependance and unto whom you must be accountable for your time and talents and all that you have done in the Body make God your choice this is your chusing time oh chuse well chuse God for your sweetest Companion walk with him as Noah did and Enoch and all the Saints in their several Generations When you awake be still with him be continually with him let your fellowship be with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Eye God as the most perfect pattern and study imitation be ye followers of him as dear Children holy as he is holy and live to God as your noblest end do all to his glory if you make his glory your end he will make use of your Salvation as a means thereto so that both means and end shall be secur'd count his fear your treasure Hezekiah valued it more than his Royal Exchequer or his Peoples Purses be you in it all the day fear him now as a Father that you may not at last tremble before him as a Judge nor be glad to have Rocks and Mountains fall upon you and hide you from his face and wrath Oh! let Jesus Christ be precious to you as he is to all them that believe sell all for that Pearl of Price part with your sins and your own Righteousness all confidence in the Flesh yea and whatsoever you have in the World rather than go without him take him in all his Offices learn of him as your Prophet trust in him as your Priest and submit to him as your King follow him in all his ways and be expressive of him in your own shew forth the vertues the humility meekness patience holiness heavenly mindedness of him who hath called you unto his Kingdom and Glory Ask of God that Holy Spirit which is a Spirit of Love and Power and a sound mind that he may convince you of Sin and Righteousness and Judgment lead you into all truth help your infirmities strengthen you with all might in the inner-Man quicken and inlarge you revive and comfort you sealing you up to the day of Redemption and beware of resisting quenching or grieving him Acquaint your selves well with the Scriptures read them every day study them meditate in them pray for the opening of your eyes that you may see the wondrous things of the Law and the precious things of the Gospel make them your delight and your Counsellors receiveing no Doctrine as true but what they own nor any practice as good which they do not allow eye them as the rule of Faith and Manners hide them in your heads and hearts that you may not sin against God know the truth love and live in it Get Consciences rightly inform'd and consult them and be ready to hear them do not cross them but make it your daily exercise to keep them void of offence both toward God and toward Man remembring that Conscience is Gods Deputy which curiously observes and carefully records thoughts words and actions is more than a thousand Witnesses will be a sweet Comforter or dreadful Tormentor In short set God always before you live by faith upon him in obedience to him and communion with him frequently and seriously think of Death Judgment Heaven and Hell So carry that you may not be a curse to the World nor a grief to your Friends while you live nor a terrour to your selves when you come to die My hearts desire and Prayer for you is that God would doth bless you and make you blessings FINIS