A SERIOUS EXHORTATION TO THE Necessary Duties of Family and Personal Instruction Made formerly to the Inhabitants of the Parish of Tredington in the County of Worcester and now upon request published for their use By William Durham B. D. Minister of the Gospel there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Train up a Child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. 22.6 London Printed by Tho. Newcomb dwelling in Thames-street over against Baynards Castle 1659. TO The truly Religious and my much honoured the Lady Vachel of Coly neer Reding Madam IT is no mean priviledge to be born of godly Parents and such who are stedfast in the faith for although Grace be no more ex traduce by traduction from our Ancestors then our souls but both immediately from God yet besides the benefit of their prayers their Godly examples and their Religious care in the education of their children have by Gods blessing a wonderful influence in moulding their hearts towards Godliness The fairest Gem in Solomons Crown was the special care which his Parents had to teach him to know God and his Law It was Timothies great advantage that his Mother and Grandmother were so famous for Religion In this great Priviledge few persons of your rank are greater sharers then your self Sir Francis Knollys Knight of the Garter Treasurer of the houshold and Councellor to Q. Eliz. Your Grandfather an Exile with his Family for Religion in those bloody days of Queen Mary and an eminent Instrument in that happy Reformation in the time of Queen Elizabeth whose name is yet eminent in Forain parts and no less precious at home for his many good services done to the Church of God Sir Francis Knollys After him your late dear Father of whom I may say as the * Epistol lib. 2. Learned Zanchy saith of William Lantgrave of Hessen that he was Optimi parentis Optimus filius the most Religious Son of a most Religious Father who was the greatest Countenancer of Religion and cherisher of Religious men in those parts all his time whose pains and purse were never spared sor their encouragement and defence even in the worst of times as is yet very well remembred with thankful hearts by many who bless his memory The pious labors of divers eminent Ministers of Christ Dr. Twist Dr Tho. Taylor whom he cherished under his wing give the world a taste how much it owes to his memory How great his care was to instruct his children in the Faith may be seen by their carriage in the Church of God when they were grown up to riper years Witness him who whilest he lived Sir Francis Knollys your brother was deliciae humani generis for his candor sweetness courtesie and love to goodness the delight and love of all that had the happiness to know him I heartily desire that there may be the like Religious care taken for the education of that Infant upon whom that Estate is descended that he may tread in the steps of his worthy Ancestors and inherit their vertues as well as their possessions Your Ladiship might be my next great instance who have so well improved those Principles of Religion instill'd in your education that your Piety Charity and Religious Government of your Family I may call it in the Apostles Language The Church in your house may be a pattern to Posterity which will not readily be taken out I must not take in all that might be spoken but consider what your Ladiship will be willing to hear Who in this as in your whole course have proposed your Saviour for your example who when he had done any great work commanded them not to publish it It is much more delightful to your Ladiship to do good then to hear of it when you have done it What the benefits and advantages of instructing Families are I have endeavored to manifest in this following Exhortation and being importuned to communicate it to mine own charge I have taken the humble confidence to put it under your Ladiships name for which attempt I the rather hope to gain your pardon because all that is said here is but a transcript of your own practice in your Family You will finde it plain so are the people for whom it is mainly intended but I hope honest and sutable to the minde of God So God may have glory his people committed to my trust advantage and this small testimony of my thankfulness for the many real expressions of your favors may finde acceptance at your hands he hath his ends who is Madam Your Ladiships much obliged Nephew and most humble servant William Durham From my study in Tredington this 7 of December 1658. TO My well beloved Friends and Neighbours the Inhabitants of the Parish of Tredington Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ BELOVED THat which was the hearts desire of the Apostle Rom. 10.1 and prayer to God for Israel is really mine for you that you may be saved That wise God who in his Providence hath set me over you in things pertaining to your souls hath through Grace made me in some measure sensible of the weight of mine imployment and the excellency of those souls committed to my trust Were your souls like those of inferiour creatures only as salt to preserve your bodies from putrefaction and did they die together with you it were more excusable if you were less curious in the cultivating of them but since they are immortal and must live when these houses of clay are dissolved and that nothing is a proportionable price for them but that blood of God it concerns us highly to take care what will become of them when we go hence and shall be seen no more The great part of a Christians portion lies in reversion that which we enjoy here though full of inward comfort is nothing in comparison of what we expect There 's an inheritance in Heaven 1 Pet. 1.4 which is incorruptible undefiled c. whose worth the tongue of men and Angels cannot express for the obtainment of this glorious inheritance I daily bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ on your behalf and that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory Eph. 3.14 to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that you may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye may be fill'd with all the fulness of God Joh. 17.3 and in a word that your souls may prosper through the knowledg of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent because this is life eternal This is the main end and aim as of all that pains I have otherwise taken among you so of this following exhortation which was formerly made to you in publique That your hearts which seemed much warmed thereby to a ready compliance with your
execute their wrath and malice upon poor beguiled souls O now you that have the bowels of Parents tell me whether it be not a matter of concernment to teach your children to know God and Jesus Christ Whether the joys of Heaven are not worth the having And the torments of Hell so inconsiderable that 't is not worth while to avoid them O do do not betray your own flesh and bloud and those precious souls which lodge in houses of clay by your negligence into those eternal flames nor bereave them of those eternal joys Sect. 12. Their souls will bless you when they come to Heaven for all your care and pains in sowing the seeds of Religion in their minds by a godly education If the Saints in Heaven shall know their former relations as it is probable how will your children then bless God for your conscientiousness in the discharge of your duty whereby they had the happiness of coming to the saving knowledge of that God whom now they shall enjoy to all eternity On the other hand consider how they will revile and curse you if they meet you in Hell whither they are condemned with you through the neglect of your duties Methinks I see such a miserable soul casting balls of Hell fire into his fathers face and yelling out such hideous words Cursed be the hour wherein I was conceived and the day wherein I was born thy child Hadst thou done thy duty in instructing me in the fear of God and in the knowledge of his ways I might have been a glorious Saint in Heaven whereas now through thy neglect I am become a miserable firebrand in Hell I had indeed from thee a temporary life which I had better never have enjoy'd but thou hast betrayed me to an eternal death I am undone undone for ever by thy perfidiousness and thou who wast the father of my body hast been the murderer of my soul Perdidit nos aliena perfidia Parentes sensimus parricidas Austin Ep. 23 ad Bonif. out of Cyprian in Epist de Lapsis With what face canst thou behold me frying upon these coles to which I am betray'd by thy unfatherly carelesness Had I been thy slave nay thy horse thy dog thou wouldst have provided what had been fit for me but being thy child thou hast neglected me in that which most concerned me my soul When Quintilius Varius had by his rashness and indiscretion lost three Legions of his Masters the Emperor Augustus in Germany the Emperor was observed to be long after very pensive sometimes pulling off the hair from his beard sometimes beating his head in a frantick manner against the posts and to cry out Redde mihi Legiones Quintili Vari Restore me my Legions which thou hast lost How much more bitterly shall these undone creatures cry out to their Parents in Hell Reddite nobis animas Restore us our souls which you have lost I have heard at many executions the dying Malefactors make sad complaints against their Parents negligence in this kind charging their bloud upon the not performance of their Parents duty What may be expected from such persons in the flames of Hell where all manner of respect and love is banisht I am apt to think that it will be a great part of the damneds Parents misery in Hell to hear the reproaches and revilings of their children whom their neglect of doing their duty hath betray'd unto that place of torment Sect. 13. You may then expect a blessing in them and what they undertake when they are taught to obey for conscience sake All other both natural and civil ties are too weak to keep children to their duties 2 Sam. 15 but this will do it Absalom though an own son lifted up his hand against David a man after Gods heart to destroy him 1 Sam 24.5 6. David durst not do so to Saul a father in law and a wicked tyrant who sought his life What is the reason of the great disobedience and undutifulness of children to their Parents but that Parents are so careless of teaching them to know God and have not imprinted their duties upon their consciences to restrain them from such courses I do not say that all that are so taught are obedient and a comfort to their Parents no Grace is not ex traduce by generation no more then their souls The Spirit blowes where it listeth many a gracious man hath to his grief a graceless and stubborn child But this I am sure of that they who neglect the performance of this duty toward their children which God requires cannot with any good confidence expect that duty which their children owe to them they only may expect it who conscionably make use of the means which God hath appointed them Sect. 14. You will much help forward the Minister in his publick work who shall but labor in the fire and take much pains to small purpose if you assist not in private The children are yours and you must not cast all the work upon the Ministers backs and you your selves not touch it with one of your fingers It is not one daies instruction in a week that will carry on the work you must take all occasions to put them on in private There is no time wherein you may not take some advantage to do them good when thou sittest in thine house Deut. 6.7 when thou walkest in the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up This will advance them much and you your selves shall find the profit on 't Docendo discetis as one of the Fathers acknowledges of himself While you teach them and hear them learn you will learn with them and imprint what you have learned more lastingly in your memories Sect 15. The very Heathens will rise up in judgement against you Plato de legibus Plutar. de Ed. lib. Epict. Enchir. Pythag. Aurea carm they had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian apud Epict. lib. 1. cap. 27. and condemn you for your neglect of this duty How exceeding careful the wiser sort of them were in this particular he that hath but cast an eye into their Writings will easily perceive They had their Manuals and Compendiums of their doctrine to teach them their duty both to God and man they had reduced their doctrine to some few short heads which their Scholars were to have perfectly by heart What a Pithy downright Catechisme is that of the Poets Disciteque ô miseri c. Pers Sat. 3. v. 66. Vid. Casaub Quid sumus quidnam victuri gignimur Ordo Quis datus c. That every man should be able to give an account What we are What was the end of our Creation What is the brevity and unconstancy of life and he certainty of death What and how admirable Gods Power and Wisdome and Goodness and Providence shines in the governing and ordering of the world What bounds we should put to our desires of earthly things
commands when they see thee practizing what thou enjoynest them It was the reproach of Appius Appius Lucretiae Regum juris quod ipse composuerat oblitus Flor. lib. 1. c. 24. In commune jubes si quid censesve tenendum Primus ipse subi Claud. Prius disce qui doces Lanct that he forgot the Law of his own making and that he who had expelled Tarquin for a rape himself committed one Pompey was famous for giving good rules but as infamous for breaking them first himself When a Father or a Master of a Family doth truly fear God Suarum legum Author Eversor Tacitus Vid. Muscul Psa 7.7 he will both by his Precepts and Example endeavor to bring his whole houshold to the knowledge and obedience of God too but if he be a wicked person himself whatsoever commands he may lay upon them his corrupt practice will hazard and indanger the ruine of them all Mind that place in Joshua well Josh 24.15 I and my house will serve the Lord it is not I without my house a good man would willingly bring all especially those of his Family to heaven with him nor is it my house without me I am contented that they shall know and serve him but I will not This is all one as if one should say I am willing that my Family should go to heaven but for my self I am resolved to go to hell But it is I and my house I will enjoyn them no more then I will do my self I shall walk before them by mine own example but I will not leave them to their own choice whether they will serve God or no. It 's a pernitious liberty which suffers men to be either of no Religion or of a false one You must provoke them to this good work by doing it before them or else they will be apt to think that it is onely a device to keep children in awe but not a duty necessary to salvation Thus have I according to the grace of God given me Conclusion endeavored to perswade you to lay the foundation whereon the Fabrick of your salvation is to be raised Other foundation can no man lay let every man take heed how he builds thereuponi fanyman build upon this foundation 2 Cor. 3.10 11 12 c. wood hay stubble his work shall be burnt with fire but if any man build gold silver precious stones his work shal abide and he shall receive a reward You have seen the sad inconveniencies which attend the neglect of this work and the great advantages that accrew to those who exercise themselves in it Profit is a spur to Piety Moses his eying the recompence of the reward quickened him in his Duty The Lord give you understanding in all things that you may know where your interest and greatest concernment lies And now Brethren I beseech you by the tender mercies of God by the precious merits of Jesus Christ by all that is dear and precious to you that you suffer this word of Exhortation to prevail with you to the performance of your respective Duties God will have much glory and your poor Souls will one day find the comfort on 't And as for me it will be an abundant recompence of this and all other pains which I have taken amongst you if I may find your hearts more and more inflamed after the saving knowledg of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the Gospel Finally what remains Act. 20.32 but that I commend you to God and to the word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified Humbly beseeching the God of peace Heb. 13.20 that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant that he would make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen READER THere remaining some spare room and meeting with this short Catechism used heretofore to the benefit of many Christians by that eminent and faithful servant of Christ Mr. Robert Lilly late Minister of Campden I thought fit to annex it here as out of a desire to promote thy spiritual good so to testifie that reverend respect which I bear to the memory of that worthy Person now with God Twelve Questions and Answers fit to be learned and understood by all those who desire worthily to communicate at the Lords Table Quest 1. WHat is the Ground of your coming to receive the Lords Supper Answ Because it is an Ordinance which Jesus Christ hath appointed in his Church for the spiritual good of every true Member of it Q 2. What is that spiritual good Christ hath appointed it for A. He hath appointed it as for a holy remembrance of himself so for a special means to confirm the faith of every true Beleever in him Q. 3. What need you or any man believe in Christ A. Yes I and all men are sinful both by Original and Actual sin and must die eternally if the Lord Jesus Christ do not save us which he will not do unless we beleeve on him Q. 4. How can you conceive that the receiving of Bread and Wine should be a means to confirm Faith A. Yes Because as they are a sign of Christs Body and Blood so they are a seal to confirm a special part of the Covenant between God and a Beleever and to give him an interest in it Q. 5. What is the special part of the Covenant which it both confirms and conveys to a Beleever A. That by Faith as he shall have his sin pardoned and Gods favor recovered which is signed and sealed in Baptism so in feeding on him by Faith he shall be nourished and preserved in that estate unto Everlasting life Q. 6. Hath every one that receives this confirmed and conveyed to him A. Yes every one that hath Faith if he come not unworthily for so he may hinder his own spiritual good Q. 7. May a Beleever come unworthily A. Yes in some sort if he do not carefully perform his Duty as he should both before he receive in receiving and after receiving sanctifying them all by prayer Q. 8. What is the Duty that a Christian must do before he receive A. He must duly examine himself whether he have Knowledge Faith Repentance Obedience Love and carefully renew them all so oft as he cometh to receive Q. 9. How may he know by his examination whether he hath these Graces yea or no A. By this Rule every one of them if he can truly say that his Performance is some his Endeavors are more his Desiâ—e is infinite Q. 10. How is a Beleever to renew these Graces A. In laboring to see the imperfections of them in seeing them to bewail them confess them crave pardon for them with a holy resolution to redress them Q. 11. What is the Duty which a Beleever must do in receiving A. In beholding the Bread and Wine thankfully to discern the Lords Body and by faith to receive them as the seal of God that by his faith he shall be preserved in Gods love and that they as instruments of God exhibit it to him Q 12. What is the Duty that a Beleever must do after receiving A. As to remember the Covenant made in receiving and continually to make use of it so to remember himself whether he have received that spiritual comfort to be had in it if he have to be thankful and make use of it if not to search out the cause and be humble for it FINIS READER BE pleased to correct these Errata's ere you read the Book because many of them marr the sense the literal slips especially in the Margin are less considerable you may mend them as you read Page 12. Line 3. for would r. worlds line 24 25. the words are misplaced in the beginning of each line in the 24. for thorough r. in some measure in the 25. for in some measure r. thorough p. 14. l. 17. r. in a wrack p. 16. l. 19. r. they will find p. 17. l. 5. for Baleans r. Baleares p. 21. l. 11. for Estones r. Estones l. 25. for vari r. vare p. 33. l. 22. for what r. which p. 53. l. 6. for be r. he l. 7. for he r. be p. 71. r. Greg. Nazianzene l. 22. for Eynus r. Cyrus