The Great Charity of Instructing Poor Children A SERMON PREACHED At St. Botolph Aldgate UPON LORD'S-DAY Mar. 24. 1700. On the Occasion of A Charity-School Newly Erected in that Parish By JOSIAH WOODWARD Minister of Popler LONDON Printed by K. Astwood for Ra. Sympson at the Harp in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. TO The Right Honourable Francis Lord Guilford My LORD THAT Noble Delight and Industry wherewith your Lordship advances the Knowledge and Service of God demonstrates the Honour that Almighty God does You in making You Eminent in that Work for which He sent his Son into the World And on this Account those Schools of Charity which your Lordship together with Other Persons of great Worth and Quality have studiously Advanced in this City and other Parts those Good Books which are by these Means distributed into poor Families and those Catechetical Libraries which are about to be compiled in this Nation and our Plantations abroad will be acknowledged with sensible Respect and Gratitude by all but such as have slight Thoughts of the Benefits of God manifest in the Flesh to destroy the Works of the Devil Which is such a Pitch of Gross and Odious Insensibleness as one would hope could never have appear'd in a Christian Land but yet alas we have too many Notorious Instances of it thro' the desperate Depravity of Men in their Minds and Manners I KNOW I need not mind your Lordship tho' some others cannot be call'd upon too often to Consider it That our Adored Lord and Saviour arose as a Sun of Righteousness and Truth to give Light and Warmth to this Dark and Degenerate World And that the Splendid Beams of his Glorious Gospel excel the * Prov. 20. 27. Candles of Humane Reason and those Tapers which the best Philosophers held forth to Men as much as the Glorious Sun exceeds those Twinkling Lamps and Torches wherewith we endeavour to supply its absent Light Yet alas thro' the Depravity of Humane Understanding and Men's condemning Love of Darkness more than Light We find some like the Moles and Bats declining the Splendor of Divine Revelation and doting on the Dimness of Humane Reason Saying with Philostratus Porphirie and the Antient Humanists or rather with Julian and former Apostates Let my Soul take its Risque with Philosophers and the Followers of Natural Reason rather than with the Disciples of a Revealed Religion and the Admirers of the Book which God sent from Heaven Like the wayward Jews who were for deserting the Pillar of Heavenly Fire which led them into Canaan and conspired to make a Captain of their own who might lead them back into Egyptian Darkness again An amazing Choice and what cannot otherwise be accounted for but by what the Apostle hath told us * 2 Cor. 4. 4. Namely That If the Gospel be hid 't is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them that believe not lest the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine into them WE see indeed with sorrowful Hearts that it pleases God to permit the Legions of the Prince of Darkness to oppose the Kingdom of his Dear Son And in this great and general Contest all Men upon Earth are engaged on one side or other For our Saviour has declared * Mat. 12. 30. that none can be considered as Neuters but that Such as are not with him are against him And tho' there be but few of the Devil 's Confederates that are hardy enough to own the side they take but call it the Defence of Humane Reason or Humane Liberty or some such Thing yet alas they busily do the Devil's Work they sap the very Foundations of the Christian Religion which is the only true and subvert the Authority of its Sacred Author IT is therefore My Lord to the great Honour of God and the great Comfort of devout Minds that we find some Persons of Eminent Rank Piety and Honour who in the Vigor of Youth in the Height of Worldly Blandishments and in the Crowds of Corrupt Examples bravely Trampling on All that the Usurping God of this World can offer to draw them to his Party and who in Christian Zeal for the Prince of Light oppose the pernicious Encroachments of the Spirits of Darkness and are daily instrumental in discovering to ignorant Souls the certain Paths which lead to Eternal Light and Bliss In which Glorious Work Your Lordship and the Worthy Gentlemen with You are very happily engag'd and will certainly find the Blessed Account of it in the Accomplishment of those Great and Precious Promises which are made to such as glorifie their Creator and administer to the Salvation of Men which are Things most truly Great and Noble for which a Wise Man would chiefly wish to Live and a Good Man would not grudge to Die And that your Lordship may long be successful in these Divine Enterprizes and at last reap the Immortal Glory of them Is the Earnest Desire and Incessant Prayer of My LORD Your Honour 's Most Respectful AND Obedient Humble Servant Josiah Woodward A SERMON c. PROV V. 23. He shall die without Instruction and in the greatness of his Folly He shall go astray SOLOMON Who had a very Virtuous Education and was Honour'd with Singular Communion with God in his Youth was inspired by the Holy Ghost in his Infinite Love to the Souls of Men to write this Book of Proverbs for the Instruction of Youth as he tells us in the beginning of the Book Prov. 1. 4. To teach the Young Man Knowledge and Discretion That is to shew them how blessed it is to be Religious betimes and to Embrace those Principles of Wisdom and Virtue which all that despise them in their Youth come to lament in their Age crying out in the Bitterness of their Spirit at last How have I hated Instruction and my Heart despised Reproof Prov. 5. 12. WE are therefore to Consider this Wise Prince as a Tutor to Youth in this Chapter and we see he begins it like a Grave Catechist to his Children My Son attend unto my Wisdom and bow thine Ear to my Vnderstanding Ver. 1. In which he intimates That since he spake to them from the Bowels of a Father and in the Wisdom of God all Young Persons however conceited of their own Wit and addicted to their own Will as Youth is apt to be ought to submit and bow their Minds and Hearts to his Divine and Fatherly Instructions And knowing the Unsteadiness of Youth in Virtuous Purposes to Engage them more firmly herein he shews them in the Sequel of the Chapter to what a Deplorable Condition such Young Persons usually come who slight the Counsels of their Parents and Friends and run into those Excesses to which their Youthful Lusts prompt them He instances in the Lust of Vncleanness and insists upon it throughout the greatest part of this Chapter disswading young People
ashamed to acknowledge themselves ignorant of that in which they perceive many little Children able to be their Tutors So that we cannot be too urgent with all Parents and such as have the Management of Children that they begin early to instruct them in the Scriptures and in their Catochisms and that they take Care that they learn to read betimes that they may of themselves Draw water out of the Wells of Salvation For it is a most deplorable and moving Case that God should send us a Book from Heaven concerning our Eternal Salvation and that any among us should say as those Isa 29. 12. I cannot read it for I am not learned T is written in unknown Characters as to me because I was never taught to read We many times now hear such Ignorant Persons blaming their Parents for neglecting them in their Youth when they come to perceive the want of such Learning as they might have attained in their Youth and t is to be feared that too many such Parents will hear the more doleful Accusations and Curses of their wretched Children in their Torments hereafter Where it may probably be said by many a Person had my Parents taught me better I might have escaped these Everlasting Burnings This leads me to my Third Observation viz. III. THAT the Neglect of Good Education and Early Instruction is the Ruine of many a Person in both Worlds ' They are brought up negligently they live viciously and dye desperately This was so sadly verify'd in the Case of Eli's Sons 1 Sam. 3. that t is enough to terrifie every sensible Person out of such Neglect His Sons were first Children of Darkness then Sons of Belial and then Sons of Perdition And thus alas it usually fares with Uncorrected Ungovern'd and Uncatechiz'd Children as it will further appear in the five following Particulars which demonstrate the dismal Case of Ignorant and Undisciplin'd Youth 1. THEY cannot live as Christians if they know not the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion A Man can act no better than his Principles dictate to him And such as are not taught the Principles of the Christian Religion are never like to have them An express Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is necessary to the Salvation of a Christian Mar. 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned But how can they Believe on him of whom they have not heard How can they come to know the Person the Offices the Covenant the Sacraments and the Will of our Lord and Saviour except they learn it by the Instruction of their Parents and Friends out of their Bibles and Catechisms 'T is true the Foundation of the Sacred Morals of our Religion is laid in Nature it self and the Equity Fitness and Reasonableness of them is discernable by Natural Light For Why of your selves judge ye not that which is right Says our Blessed Lord Luke 12. 57. But then the Light of Nature is so dim and faint that it will soon be obscured and overlaid by sinful Customs and if the Light which is in Men be darkness how gross is that Darkness Mat 6. 23. How extravagantly vicious will those Affections and Passions be which have no Light by which they may steer and no good Principles from which they may act Such uncatechized Children I say cannot be good Christians yea they usually prove the worst of Men. For 2. For want of being grounded in the Essentials of Christian Doctrine they are easily misled into any Error or Heresie It may be Observed that there was scarce ever any foolish Opinion started but the vain Author found some as vain as himself to follow him in it As in the Case of Mahomet Mugleton and others And it can be nothing but Ignorance that is the Mother of such Devotion The Ignorant catch at any thing And hence proceed those Unhappy Divisions and Parties that are among us which is in a great measure owing to the want of due Catechizing The Enemy sowed Tares whilst those were asleep that should have sown better Grain 3. These Undisciplin'd and Uncatechized Persons usually prove ill Members of the State and the very Pest of the Neighbourhood in which they live One may indeed call them the very Vermine of the Publick Body Hence come those Swarms of idle pilfering and purloining People of which we hear daily Complaints and feel the dismal Effects Some of which are so crafty in their Devices and so harden'd in their Wickedness that they seem to be the very Black Guard of the Prince of Darkness and a fruitful Nursery of a sort of People which fill the Goals and load the Gallows A very sad but a very great Truth 4. These Untaught and Uneducated People are they who chiefly bring a Reproach on our Religion and the Church of Christ amongst us They live like Infidels in a Christian Land And many of them being bred up to no Employment at Home are forc'd by their Necessities to seek their Bread abroad and so they carry our Shame together with their Villanies into Forreign Parts And many Forreigners take up a Prejudice against our Nation and against our Religion by what they see and suffer from these Profligates which has proved a great Bar to the Progress of the Christian Religion 5. THAT which is yet the most dreadful Thought of all is That the God that made them will reject them at the last They are a People of no Vnderstanding saith the Prophet Isaiah therefore he that made them will not have Mercy upon them and he that formed them will shew them no Favour Isa 27. 11. They bear the Image and Superscription of their Father the Prince of Darkness and will be adjudged to him by the just Judgment of him In whom there is no Darkness at all They have long lived in Defiance and Enmity to him that came to be the Light and Life of the World they hated the Light of the Gospel and the Guidance of his Holy Spirit they have pleased themselves with the Delusions of the Devil and therefore they fall a Prey to him as Apostates from their Creator And as they loved Darkness more than Light they must inevitably take their Portion in Eternal Darkness For They die without Instruction and go astray from God and his Beatifick Presence O Dreadful End of such as are neglected in reformed Enough to create Horror in every Soul that considers it Who is there that has any thing of the Spirit of Christ in him that would not think a great part of his Care Pains and Estate well laid out if he may but be Instrumental to save some few yea but one single Person from this Eternal Ruine And that I may encline every one that hears me to take this moving and mournful Case into Consideration I now come to apply what has been said SINCE the Case of gross Ignorance is thus dreadful and deplorable We may see Infer 1. To how Divine and Blessed a State the Holy Gospel
from it with all the Argument and Earnestness that the Matter can be prest Shewing that it is a Deep Pit in which People bury their All at once It being a Vice that blinds the Mind oppresses the Conscience hardens the Heart and gives such an Arbitrary Power to the Sensual Faculties as over-bears all that's Good And he tells them that tho' the beginning of such sinful Ways seems Smooth as Oyl and Sweet as Honey which is all that can be said for them yet they appear in the End as bitter as Wormwood and sharp as a two edged Sword being the direct Road to Hell and to Eternal Weeping and Wailing For as the poor wandring Youth hates Instruction and will not bear Restraint but counts those his Enemies who shew him his Danger and admonish him to do better he comes at last to that dreadful Case foretold in the Text viz. to be abandoned of God and in a great measure forsaken of the Spirit of Light and Vnderstanding and so he dies without Instruction and in the greatness of his Folly he goes astray The Holy Ghost says here it shall be so with him intimating that this is the usual End of such a Vicious and Profligate Youth he comes most commonly to this Tragical Exit and Conclusion Namely to dye as wretchedly as he lived and to go off his Stage of Vice and Vanity in Horror and Confusion THIS is the dreadfulest Thing under the Sun To die without the Knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ which is Life Eternal to be given up to the Spirits of Darkness and to be led Captive in their Chains and hoodwink'd by their Delusions 'till he comes to be involv'd and immers'd in their Torments This is the Depth of the Misery of Man WHAT Parent will not find their Bowels pained to consider this as the Case of any of their Children You could not bear it to see a Lion or a Bear snatch up a Child of yours in its Devouring Mouth and carry it off as its Prey You cannot bear the very Thoughts of the Devil's Appearance in some Horrible Shape and carrying away your Child in a Visible Manner before your Eyes Yet alas how many Parents permit the Devil that Roaring and Devouring Lion as St. Peter calls him to seize their Chilin a way as certain and as terrible tho not so Visible THEY hear their Children blaspheming God and offending him daily grosly and familiarly by the suggestion of the Devil which demonstrates them to be under his Power and Management yet some laugh at all this and there are but few that are duely concern'd about it How few are effectually awaken'd to teach their Children their Catechism and the Holy Scriptures that they may gird them with that Sword of the Spirit whereby they may defend themselves from the malicious Fury of Apostate Spirits How few are concern'd to teach their Children the Way to Eternal Bliss thro' a Converting Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that they may not thro' the Greatness of their Folly and Grossness of their Ignorance go astray and plunge themselves into the Pit of Eternal Misery WHERE there is this pernicious Neglect of Catechizing in Parents and such as have the Over-sight of Youth it is an Error which is seldom corrected by Sermons afterwards because they know not the very Terms and Language of the Holy Scriptures nor the first Rudiments and Principles of Christian Doctrine And thus alas the Text comes to be dreadfully exemplified They die without Instruction They knew not the Lord and Saviour of Men in his saving Offices and are ignorant of their own sinful and perishing Condition and of the Terms on which Salvation is offer'd them and so they live and die in destructive Ignorance and go astray from the Fold of the True Shepherd and fall a Prey into the Mouth of Him that lies in wait to devour THIS is methinks one of the most moving Cases that one can think of and calls the loudest for Christian Compassion and therefore I shall further Explain it in the Following Observations 1. ALL Persons are born in a State of Ignorance and Darkness as to Spiritual Things being without the due Knowledge of God and having no suitable Concernment about the Things which belong to their Everlasting Happiness The Text supposes that all Young Persons need Instruction and that 't is the Dreadfulest Thing in the World to die without it 2. Good Instruction in Youth is God's appointed Means to bring People to the saving Knowledge of himself and the Attainment of Salvation The whole Design of this Book verifies this and 't is exprest in a multitude of places throughout it 3. The Neglect of Early Instruction and good Education is the Ruine of many a Person in both Worlds They live viciously and die desperately they pass from the Errors and Works of Darkness to the place of Utter and Eternal Darkness They die without Instruction and go astray and perish in their Ignorance and Folly I. LET us in the first place Consider that which I first Observed Namely That all Persons are born in a State of Ignorance and Darkness as to Spiritual Things being without the due Knowledge of God and the Way of Salvation The Text supposes that all Young Persons need Instruction and that it is the dreadfulest Thing in the World to dye without it And consequently that Pious Instruction is the most seasonable Blessing that can come to any one in his Youth 'T IS well Observ'd by Zophar one of Job's Friends Job 11. 12. that Man is born as the Wild Ass's Colt utterly Rude and Unuseful except it be brought up to Hand by a very Early and Careful Management and then it is of great Use and Advantage to us And we see it plainly so in our Children If they are left to themselves they are rude froward stubborn wanton undutiful and unmannerly Like a neglected Garden which brings forth Weeds of it self but needs great Care and Pains to store it with useful Plants THERE is Alas a general Corruption of Humane Nature ever since the Apostacy of our first Parents We our selves also saith the Apostle were sometime foolish disobedient deceived serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Tit. 3. 3. 'till the Love of God his Saviour appear'd to him by Divine Illumination And so it is with us all 'till the Grace of God makes us better For God is the Father of Lights and the Author of every good and perfect Gift Jam. 1. 17. and we are directed to Ask spiritual Wisdom and Vnderstanding of him Ver. 5. IF any doubt of this Let him Consider whence it is that such a Reasonable Creature as Man should delight in Things so Unfit and Improper as all the Ways of Vice are Whence is it that Children need no Teacher to lead them to Lying Pride and Stubbornness Whereas they need much Instruction and Correction too mingl'd with many Promises and Allurements to bring them to that which is Good
Apostle tells us that all our other Works tho' never so splendid will avail us nothing without Charity 1 Cor. 13. And indeed there are so many Commands in the Gospel which require it and so many Promises which enforce it that we must quit our Christian Faith if we renounce this Christian Grace SUPPOSING therefore that your Christian Breasts glow with Charitable Affections and Dispositions you have only two Things to look to in the Exercise of your Charity Namely First That you give to a good Design And Secondly That you deliver it to such Hands as will faithfully employ it according to your Intention 1. AS to the First Contribution towards the Teaching of Children to read and to the Instructing them in the Principles of Religion and Virtue is one of the most Extensive Good Desings that we can readily think of For Instance 1. YOU 'LL hereby prevent much Wickedness in the World You 'll be likely to bring those Lips to praise God who might otherwise blaspheme his Holy Name You may hereby diminish and we hope in the Progress of it thin the Kingdom of Satan and increase and greaten the Number of the Flock of Christ 2. HEREBY you take the likeliest Way to make the meaner sort of People useful in their Generation Such as perhaps might otherwise have robb'd or injur'd you may thro' Christian Instruction become a faithful Servant to you or an useful Artist by you or an honest Neighbour near You Yea perhaps out of those little Nurseries of Virtue and Good Manners there may arise some Eminent Citizens who may themselves be able to relieve others and to be Benefactors to that place which was so careful of them and bountiful to them in their Feeble and Helpless State 3. HEREBY You administer to them in the best sort of Gifts You become Eyes to the Blind Knowledge to the Ignorant Wisdom to the Foolish and perhaps Salvation to such as might otherwise have perish'd without Instruction When we see a poor neglected Child groveling in a Dunghill begging in the Streets or wallowing in Wickedness Let us Consider that this poor Creature has an Immortal Soul as well as we yea perhaps he has good Natural Parts and if he were but well Educated he might be of Great Use in his Generation However we are sure he has a Soul for which Christ died and might share in the infinite Glories of Heaven if due Care were taken of him O! how can any Christian Bowels but yearn over such a Melting Object IT was a particular Case very like to this that moved the present Divinity-Professor of Halle in Saxony Dr. Franken to compassionate the Ignorance of poor People and by his Exhortations and Interest to procure the Erecting of a Colledge for the Maintainance and Instruction of about a hundred poor Children But I must pass on to what remains 4. AS by this Charity you 'll have many Prayers put up to Heaven for you so whatever Good they are brought to do thro' this their Virtuous Education will in a great measure redound to your Account For Such as turn many to Righteousness will shine as the Stars for Ever and Ever Dan. 12. 3. 2. THIS clears the First Point Namely The Goodness of the Design And now as to the Second Namely Your being sure that what you give is faithfully disposed of according to your Charitable Intention Your own Eyes see it in those Comely Classes of Youth before You and your Ears have heard the Proof of their Instruction in the principal Doctrines of our Holy Religion In which they give a good Example to other Youth in the Exactness and Audibleness of their Answers in their devout Behaviour and their Melodious Singing of Psalms in which I pray God incline all our Children to follow them AND this minds me of an Act of Charity in which Every One may contribute towards the Advancement of these Christian Designs Namely In Hearty Prayer for God's Blessing upon them In this the poorest Person that is may be a Benefactor And Oh! May we all be Earnest in Prayer to God that it may please him to Fill the Earth with the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour as the Waters cover the Sea That as in the Sea there is no Gap or Discontinuance of the Expanded Waters so there may be no Ignorance of Christian Doctrine upon Earth and so no Ground whereon to Erect the Kingdom of Darkness But that All People may know the Lord from the least to the greatest from the Child that is coming into the World to the Old Man that is going out of it that so none may incur the Dreadful Doom of the Text that is To dye without Instruction and go astray from God and his Kingdom Which God Almighty grant for the Sake of Jesus Christ who died to Turn us from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Amen FINIS