Ye deny his Power in daring to war against him and like those hectoring Atheists Job 15.25 26. Ye stretch out your hands against God and strengthen your selves against the Almighty ye run upon him even on his neck upon the thick bosses of his buckler as if ye were able to fight God and overcome the Almighty Ye deny his Holiness and think that God is altogether such a one as your selves Psal 50.21 And that ye may not be terrified by your enmity and unlikeness to him ye will please your selves in fancying that God is like you as if ye must rather be a pattern to him than he be a pattern to you and so ye will perswade your selves that he is the God of Atheists and Whoremongers and Drunkards and Lyars and Thieves and not the holy God of a holy people Ye deny the Truth of God one of the greatest and best truths that ever God spake to man is that 1 Joh. 5.11 God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son and yet herein ye would make him a liar in not believing this solemn record which he gave of Christ a liar is one of the worst characters of the devil and this ye give to the true and holy God These things I write as it were upon the brazen faces of all ungodly and disobedient children 2. Ye break the Covenant in refusing to take God for your God and happiness the greatest promise that ever God made to man is that Hebr. 8.10 I will be to you a God but this signifies nothing to you ye will not accept of him for your chief honour and treasure and joy it is no honour to you to have the great Jehovah for your Fâ—ther ye see no good in him and account not your selves the better for him and if ye lose him ye think ye lose nothing ye neither love nor desire him nor take any delight or pleasure in him 3. Ye have broken the Covenant in renouncing God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in whose Name ye were baptized your lives declare that ye had rather have the love of a debauch'd companion than the love of the Father of Jesus Christ ye despise the Lord Jesus and account the great price of redemption to be worth nothing and would rather keep your sins than be saved from them ye defie the wrath of God and scorn that the Mediator should make your peace with him ye resist the Holy Spirit and would rather be made filthy and wicked and be taught to lye and swear and steal than that the Spirit should teach you to love and serve and delight in God 4. Ye have broken the Covenant in taking part with the devil and the world and sin against the Father Son and Holy Ghost and this ye have done two ways 1. In believing the promises of the devil the world and sin and in not believing the promises of God the devil the world and sin are the three great cheats of mankind and they deceive men by making seemingly great and high promises and by these they have prevail'd with man to break both the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace the devil tempted our first parents not to believe that word of God which he gave them to deter and keep them from sin which word is written Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the devil tempted them to look on that word as a lye and makes them that great promise Genes 3.4 5. wherein he promiseth them that if they eat the forbidden fruit they shall not only be safe from all evil saying Ye shall not surely dye but that they shall also be preferr'd to greater happiness than God had then placed them in for saith he your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil and by believing this promise of the devil they brake the Covenant of Life and brought that deluge of sin and misery which came upon all mankind and since he prevail'd with men not to believe the word of God which he spake to keep them from sin and destruction now his work is to tempt them to make God a lyar in the word which he hath spoken to save them from sin and ruine by Jesus Christ and this is the word of the Covenant of Grace which promiseth eternal life and salvation to all that believe in Christ and repent of their sins and live the lives of new creatures according to the rules of the Gospel but the devil tempts men to break this Covenant by promising them life and all happiness in a course of sin and these wicked children believe the devil herein and bless themselves in their sins saying with those bold ranters Deut. 29.19 We shall have peace though we walk in the imagination of our own hearts to add drunkenness to thirst and thus ye break your Covenant with God and make a Covenant with Death and Hell 2. In obeying the devil the world and sin and in disobeying God ye call God your Father in heaven but ye do the lusts of the Devil your father in hell ye walk according to the course of this world Ephes 2.2 and are the servants of sin Rom. 6.20 and ye hate and fight against God your Maker and Redeemer and were it possible for you ye would every day kill him who only hath immortality And thus like a company of renegado's ye live as if ye were baptized in the name of the devil the world and the flesh to renounce the Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to the Church of God ye were born members of the Church and subjects of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and by baptism were solemnly admitted into that great and holy and victorious and blessed society Hebr. 12.22 23. Mount Sion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem the general assembly and Church of the first-born written in heaven but ye have forsaken this Church and turn'd your selves out of the family and house of the living God and are become of the same party with the devil and his seed and have laboured to fill the world with sin and the kingdom of Satan and ye would have Jesus Christ to have no Name or Kingdom or Ministers or Ordinances or People in the world Thirdly Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to your parents This appears in that those black characters already given of wicked children are found on you whereunto I shall add this one which includes all the particulars of your disobedience which can be mention'd namely Ye do not love your parents for love worketh no evil unto but always willeth and seeketh the good of the beloved Love ever inclines persons to please them whom they love and to love and delight in their company and causeth such looks and words and behaviour as are expressions of love how pleasant hath it been sometimes to me to see as it were
is also included so that by the woman and her seed we are to understand Adam and Eve and Christ and his Church and by the Serpent and his seed are meant the Devils and all the devils children and forasmuch as we find Adam and Eve of the same party with Christ and his Church and in enmity with the Devil and his seed we conclude them to be godly persons and godly parents Moreover we find Genes 4. that they brought up their children in that Religion and to worship God in the use of those Ordinances which he had then instituted as a means of their salvation these two were the first-fruits of Christ the first persons that ever entered into the Covenant of Grace and Christ might say to them as Jacob said to Reuben Gen. 49.3 Ye are my first-born my might and the beginning of my strength At first the whole Church of God was only in these two persons and yet these are the parents of that cursed and bloody Cain And I shall observe three things in this history that render this case very doleful 1. That Eve was so exceeding glad for the birth of Cain some are of opinion that she thought she had brought forth the promised Messiah and that made her break out with joy saying Gen. 4.1 I have gotten a man from the Lord and yet this is he of whom the Apostle speaks 1 John 3.12 He was of that wicked one meaning the devil This is a common case that parents are exceedingly glad for the birth of a child and call their friends and neighbours to rejoyce with them and yet that sweet and pleasant babe proves the greatest torment to their parents which ever they met with in their whole age 2. Consider his crime he barbarously murdered his own brother Gen. 4.8 Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him He considered not how this would grieve the heart of his good Father and Mother nor that he was the elder brother and therefore ought to have nourished the life of the younger and to have been a pattern of holiness and love to him neither did he consider that he hated and murder'd not only a brother but also a holy child of God and for that which he ought to have honoured and loved him because his brothers works were righteous and he considered not how his brothers blood would cry to God for vengeance against him no bonds or arguments or reasons will prevail with ungodly children 3. Consider the dreadful judgment of God both upon himself and his posterity Gods judgment on his soul was so dreadful that he desperately cries out Gen. 4.13 Mine ini quity is greater than that it may be forgiven he was cast out of the favour of God excommunicated from the Church and all his posterity were excluded from communion therewith they are call'd the sons and daughters of men in opposition to the Sons of God and at last all perished in the deluge of waters and yet I say this bloody and cursed monster was the son the eldest son of the two first godly parents that ever were in the world 2d Instance is in Noah the first instance was in the first godly man in the old world as the ages before the flood are called 2 Pet. 2.5 This instance is in the best man in the new World after the flood this Noah hath a great character in the Scriptures Gen. 6.8 9. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations When all the earth was debauch'd and corrupt Gen. 6.11 12. yet then was Noah just and upright and walked with God it 's he that is called in 2 Pet. 2.5 A preacher of righteousness It is he that was so much in the favour of God that he and his family were singled out to be preserved in the Ark when all the world besides were drown'd and perish'd in the waters yet this holy Noah was the Father of that wicked Ham whom all the waters of Noah as the Scripture calls that deluge were not effectual to eure of his wickedness but he went a wicked man into the Ark and came wicked out insomuch that his own holy Father was inspired by a prophetical spirit to curse both his son and posterity and the crime mentioned Gen. 9.22 25. was his irreverence and disrespect to his father 3d Instance is in Isaac that holy Patriarch who so greatly feared God that his son Jacob gives God that honourable name Gen. 31.42 The fear of Isaac meaning the God whom Isaac feared yet he and that good mother Rebekkah were the parents of a wicked Esau whom God is said to hate Rom. 9.13 I know we read Gen. 25.28 that Isaac loved Esau but we see that children may be greatly beloved of their parents and yet abhorred and cursed of God 4th Instance is in David call'd a man after Gods own heart whom God rais'd up to be king of Israel he was a Pen-man of a considerable part of the holy Scriptures such an eminent type of Christ that Christ himself is often call'd David in Scripture yet he was the tender father of that wicked Absolom who bloodily murdered his brother Amnon and miserably and shamefully dyed in Treason and Rebellion against his Royal Father whose bitter lamentation is yet in our ears 2 Sam. 18.33 O my son Absolom my son my son Absolom would God I had died for thee O Absolom my son my son 2dly I shall further instance in four Cases wherein this is often verified 1. Those Children who are most beloved of their parents do often prove the most wicked Children Absolom was David's darling insomuch that although he set his whole kingdom in a flame and constrained his father to fly for his life yet when David sent out his Army to suppress that rebellion he gives this charge to his Commanders in the audience of the Soldiers 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently for my sake with the young man even with Absolom And it often happens that the Children who have most of their Parents love and delight and whose looks and talk they are most taken with and whom they are most apt to boast of and are most unwilling to part with and in whom they promise themselves most content and pleasure do often prove the greatest scourge and torment to their parents for it is not the love of the godly parents but the love of God that makes children holy and happy 2. This is often the sad case of some holy Ministers of the Word I know it 's a Popish and peevish humour in some to say that Ministers children never do well indeed every thing of Ministers is most exposed to the observation of people and therefore the wickedness of their children is most observ'd and talk'd of but the holy learned and every-way prosperous and blessed seed of divers godly Ministers is sufficient to confute and shame the ignorance of people herein and yet it is true that many
3. I shall give you several instances for the confirmation of it 1. I shall only give you two main Characters of godly Parents First They are conscienciously careful for their preservation Secondly For the Eternal happiness and salvation of their Children 1. They are conscienciously careful for the preservation of the natural lives of their Children as trees support and feed the branches that grow out of themselves And as it 's natural to the brutes to defend and keep their own young so nature it self teacheth and inclineth Parents to defend and preserve and provide for the fruit of their own bodies and for this end to supply them with food raiment and physick and to fit them for callings and seasonably to provide for them meet yokefellows and every way to take care that they neither perish or be made miserable but godly Parents in whom natural affections are sanctified and improved by Grace do all these out of a principle of Godliness as persons who have to do with God herein they do it in a sense of their dependance on God and pray for daily bread to feed their Children and are thankful when they feel it come warm from their Father in Heaven they do it in obedience and faithfulness to God and with a design that their Children may live to be born of God and to be a blessing to this world and be blessed in the other world As for those unnatural monsters who feed their lusts with that which should maintain their Children they are so far from being Godly Parents that they are worse than Infidels in not providing for their Families and are like the Devil who as I said is a Murderer of his own Children 2. They are conscienciously careful for the Eternal happiness and salvation of their Children for their natural affections being now sanctified do work in them for the spiritual good and happiness of their Children Prov. 4.3 4 5. I was my fathers son tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother Solomon was his fathers and mothers darling their love did run out exceedingly upon this son and he tells us which way their love and kindness was express'd he taught me also and said unto me Get wisdom get understanding He tells us also how the affections of his good mother did work Prov. 31.2 3. What my son and what the son of my womb and what the son of my vows The son of her womb was the son of her vows whom she had devoted to God those Parents who have known both states the state of Wrath and the state of Grace and have experimentally felt what it is to pass from death to life and from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God cannot but desire that the same change be wrought upon their children And as they who love themselves with a holy love do take God for their eternal life and happiness and Christ for their Redeemer to redeem them from all evil and to bring them to this happiness and the Spirit for their Sanctifier to fit them for this happiness So they that love their children with this holy Love will desire and endeavour that they be partakers with them of the same happiness 2. I proceed to give you three Characters of ungodly Children 1. They are such Children as will not be subject to the authority of their Parents The reverence of Children to their Parents is so incorporated into the whole body of Religion that all Religion is in vain without it this fully appears Levit. 19.3 Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father and keep my sabbaths I am the Lord your God Observe this duty is here joyn'd with keeping the Lords Sabbaths wherein Religion did always very much consist but it 's often seen that disobedient children are great prophaners of the Lords-day they are always bad but usually worst on that day and some of them may remember that their first breaking out into scandalous sins was on the Lords-day We are here further taught That this duty of Reverence to Parents is joyn'd with all Religion to God for saith God in effect it 's in vain for any to pretend to call me their Lord and their God if they do not fear their Parents and theresore wicked children are numbred among the most flagitious and worst sinners Ezek. 22.7 In thee have they set light by father and mother they villified and despised them and made nothing of them such break all the bonds of Religion and many hasten through a shameful and untimely death into a dreadful and tormenting eternity whose wickedness first began in scorning and despising their Parents 2. They are such children as will not obey the Commands of their Parents The godly Commands of Parents are the means which God hath appointed and doth often bless to make the children godly Gen. 18.19 I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment and God commands all children to obey all the holy and lawful commands of their parents Ephes 6.1 Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right It 's the parents right that their children should obey them and it 's Gods right that they should obey them in the Lord and this saith the Apostle Col. 3.21 is well-pleasing to the Lord so that those children do neither fear provoking God nor care to please him who will not obey their parents and so are children of their parents sorrow and of Gods wrath 3. They are such children as are unthankful to their parents the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 5.4 That it is good and acceptable before God for children to requite their parents and they have great things for which they should labour to requite their godly parents viz. for all their care and cost and pains to keep them alive and for all their diligence and faithfulness in endeavouring to make them blessed and all the requital which the poor parents desire is that their children would but love and obey God and not damn themselves but these ungodly children are so far from requiting them that like so many Dogs and Lyons they tear in pieces the hearts and bowels of their tender parents 3. I now come to confirm this That it 's ordinary for godly parents to have ungodly children and for this end I shall first give you some instances recorded in Scripture 2dly I shall instance in several cases wherein this is verified 1. I shall only give you four instances recorded in Scripture for the confirmation hereof 1. Instance is in Adam and Eve these were both godly parents and therefore in that first Evangelical promise Gen. 3.15 we have notice of the two great parties in the world the one was the Woman and her seed and the other the Serpent and his seed and of the enmity betwixt them and though there is only mention made of the woman yet the man
bow themselves and their children who should be a staff and support to them do break their hearts and cause their grey-hairs to go with sorrow to the grave I now come to make application of this discourse Vse 1. Let such parents praise and honour God whom God hath bless'd with wise and holy and obedient children whether by those words in Psal 144.12 David means children accomplish'd with natural or spiritual endowments or both I shall not determine but to apply them to the case in hand I say it 's the great mercy of God to you that when so many children are as noisome weeds your sons should be as hopeful plants grown up in their youth and when so many make themselves ugly and deform'd with sin your daughters should be as corner-stones in which is seen the beauty of the building and the art and skill of the workman polished after the similitude of a palace Do not hence conclude that you are better parents than others or have had more care in the education of your children than others but ascribe all to the free grace of God who will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy 2. Let none presume to censure godly parents for their wicked children To him that is afflicted saith Job pity should be shew'd him from his friend Have they not trouble enough already but will you add to their affliction They have not hereby forfeited the good thoughts and esteem which you should have of them and if you judge them for this ye must judge as wise and holy Saints of God as ever were in the world though God herein doth sharply correct them yet he will not allow you to sit in judgment and to pass sentence upon them I say to you as Job to his friends Hold your peace let them alone and leave them to stand or fall to their own Master 3. This should fill the hearts of these holy parents with revenge upon Sin and Satan which have so debauch'd and defiled and destroy'd their dear children If a man should murder your child a spirit of revenge would rise in you and you would say to such a one I will have thy life and blood for the life and blood of my child but Sin and Satan have destroy'd both the precious soul and body of the child therefore labour as for other reasons so for this also to be reveng'd of them Labour to do as David did by the Lyon and the Bear which took a Lamb out of his flock he slew both the Lyon and the Bear and delivered the Lamb so do all ye can to reseue your poor lambs out of the jaws of Satan however labour to hate Sin and Satan more to promote Gods honour and kingdom and the salvation of souls more and this is the way to be reveng'd on Sin and Satan for the ruine of your children 4. I do hence exhort all holy and obedient children to acknowledge the grace of God to them that they are or have been the joy and crown of their parents It is his distinguishing grace that made you to differ from all wicked children and perhaps from some that came out of the same womb and sucked the same mothers breasts as you did Consider four things which are great matter of praise 1. That ye are the children of holy parents that ye may comfortably come to God in prayer and say we are the children of thy servant our father we are thy servants and the children of thy handmaid our mother bless God for your parents good counsels and examples and for a great part of an age of prayers which ye are daily receiving the benefit of if your parents are dead and in heaven it may put you into a holy and spiritual frame to think of the graces of God that did shine in them 2. That the same graces which dwelt in your good parents are in you Paul speaks of it as matter of praise to God that the same faith was in Timothy which dwelt first in his Grandmother Lois and his Mother Eunice and the Apostle John rejoyced greatly that he found the children of the elect Lady walking in truth 3. That thou art freed from those stings of conscience which graceless children shall one day feel for their disobedience to their parents thou mayest joyfully reflect that thou wast the joy of thy holy parents and that their lives have been made sweeter and their crosses easier by thee that thou art the honour and seal of their holy education when wicked children are the shame and reproach of their parents 4. That thou hast a right to that rich and precious promise annext to the fifth Commandment and mention'd Ephes 6.2 3. So that thou may'st be assur'd that it shall go well with thee both in this world and in the world to come I do seriously profess I had rather have a right to that one promise made to obedient children than to the best estate and inheritance under the Sun I shall finish this discourse 1. In prescribing some means to be us'd by those that may be or are parents to prevent this calamity 2. I shall direct those parents that groan under this calamity how to bear it 3. I shall give a serious exhortation to such children who are the grief and bitterness of their parents First I shall prescribe means to be us'd to prevent this calamity 1. Use all holy prudence and care in your choice of a yoke-fellow for if ye make your selves the husbands or wives of fools ye are like in time to become the fathers or mothers of fools when before the flood the members of Gods Church married with a wicked generation Genes 6.2 they brought forth a wicked posterity but to have a holy yoke-fellow is the way to have a holy seed and therefore what ye would most desire to have for your selves that labour to find in the person who is to be one flesh with you thou wouldst have thy self born of God thou wouldst have the Image of God and the life of Christ in thy self Labour that these things be in the person whom thou chusest for thy yoke-fellow but never make choice of one for thy husband or wife whom thou shouldst not chuse for thy companion 2. Be faithful and upright with God Prov. 20.7 The just man walketh in his integrity and his children are blessed after him If you would have grace and mercy for your children love and please the God of all grace and mercy whatever secret sins are in thee kill those sins for thy poor childrens sake lest the sins you too much harbour in your own hearts do break out in your childrens lives Parents may often see their own sins against their heavenly father in their childrens disobedience to them when your children despise you remember your want of honour and fear and reverence of God when they vex and trouble you remember how ye have griev'd and provoked him when they decline your company remember how
come to repent with the damned in hell and with the devils to believe and tremble For this end I shall 1. Endeavour to convince you of your Folly 2. Direct you how to attain true Wisdom First I shall endeavour to convince you of your Folly ye see the Text calls a wicked son a foolish son God who knows you best and hath a true judgment of you calls you fools and would have all the world to be of the same judgment with himself and therefore to account you fools and ye will at last call your selves fools when ye come to have the portion of fools and except ye judge your selves fools ye cannot be wise And that ye may as in a glass see your own folly I shall propound to you these five Questions and as God said to Job so do I in his name say to you Job 38.3 Gird up your loins like men I will demand of you and answer ye me 1. Are ye not very fools in that ye do in your hearts and lives deny the being of God There are no worse fools than they that say in their hearts There is no God Psal 14.1 For such a one saith in effect that there is no Religion no Sin no Heaven nor Hell yea he saith that he himself is nothing and that there are neither Heavens nor Earth nor Seas nor Men nor Beasts nor any other creatures for if there be no God there can be nothing else so that ye have the name of fools written on your foreheads and as it 's said Eccles 10.3 Ye say to every man that ye are a company of fools 2. Are ye not fools to make such a foolish choice It is the infinite goodness of God that ye have life and death blessing and cursing set before you and that ye have a God and Christ and the Holy Spirit and the heavenly glory to chuse and ye have Beings capable to chuse them and may take them for your own and use them as your own every day and that ye are called and commanded to chuse them and have time and opportunity to chuse them and shall certainly have them if ye chuse them and yet these as Solomon speaks Prov. 17.16 are but as a price in the hands of a fool that hath no heart to it Consider there are two sorts of Affections in all humane creatures and all are wise or fools according as they set and place these there are affections of union as love desire and delight which do unite the heart to their objects and there are affections of opposition as hatred and anger which do separate the heart from their objects And are ye not monstrous fools in that ye hate and abhor God and your Redeemer in whom there are all reasons for your love and desires and joy and in that ye love and desire and delight in sin and the devil and death and hell in whom there are all reasons for the hatred and revenge of your souls To love those things which are altogether loathsome and and to hate what is altogether lovely is a plain argument of your madness and folly 3. Are ye not fools in suffering every thing to deceive you The Scripture tells you that the devil is a deceiver it tells you of the deceitfulness of your hearts of the deceitfulness of sin of the deceitfulness of riches of the deceitfulness of wine and strong drink of the deceitfulness of harlots who promise pleasure but prove a deep ditch and a narrow pit of the deceitfulness of a lying tongue which promiseth that lyes shall serve the lyars turn and do his work but proveth to be but for a moment of the deceitfulness of theft and unjust gain which seems sweet at present but soon after proves as gravel in the mouth and yet notwithstanding all the shame and rags and stings and torments of conscience which have come upon you by trusting in these yet ye will still believe them and suffer your selves by these deceivers to be cheated of God and Christ and of your souls and of your time and of heaven 4. Are ye not fools in being so set and bent to ruine and destroy your selves Prov. 18.7 A fools mouth is his own destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul Eccles 10.12 The lips of a fool shall swallow up himself ye are so bent on your own ruine that your hearts rise in anger and hatred against your good Parents and Ministers and all that labour to save you and ye account them your worst enemies who would not have you damn'd Miserable children allow your selves but one hours serious consideration of your eternal estate and ye will see reason to condemn your selves for a company of proud and ignorant fools in attempting to run down God and his Kingdom and Religion and in valuing your cups and lusts and lies at such a rate as for them to exchange the eternal life and happiness of your souls 5. Are ye not fools in not preparing for death and judgment which are ready to overtake you To convince you of this be inform'd That men are prepared for death and judgment who by faith and repentance and holiness are become heirs of the promises of the Gospel and so have a right unto and fitness for all that glory which in performance of these promises God will give them the possession at those great days but men are unprepared when they are under the wrath and curse of God and are condemned to those eternal torments which are threatned in the Scriptures and will at death and judgment be executed upon them Now prove your selves by these things and ye may then see what fools ye are in not preparing for these days for if ye were prepared ye should then enter into a world where all will love you God and and Christ and all Angels and all Saints will love you and ye will for ever be holy and blessed in their love to you and in your love to them but being unprepared ye must then be cast into a world where all will hate you and where you will hate all the holy and blessed God will there hate you and be a consuming fire against you the devils and all the damned in hell will hate you and you will hate them and we find that our Saviour brands him for a fool Luke 12.20 who promiseth to himself an easie and merry life for many years when that very night he was to lose his soul and he gives the character of foolish virgins Matth. 25.2 to those who were unprepared for that great and terrible and sudden cry The bridegroom is come go ye out to meet him Poor children let these common things be imprinted on your hearts Death is certain the day of death is as certainly appointed as was the day of your birth and as your birth kept its time so will your death keep its time ye cannot sin away death though ye sin away the sense of death Consider also