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A39737 A sermon of the education of children preach'd before the right honourable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guild-Hall Chapel on Sunday, Novemb. 1, 1696 / by William Fleetwood ... Fleetwood, William, 1656-1723. 1696 (1696) Wing F1249; ESTC R15389 18,831 43

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call to mind the in●xpressible Benefits of this Death the Pardon and Forgive●ess of all the Sins which they repent of and forsake the Hope and good Assurance of which Pardon and Peace and God's Favour is as much the Life the Strength and Com●rt of the Soul as Bread and Wine are the Support and Comfort of the Body Upon this Knowledge of the End of the Institution and of the Benefits that we receive by Christ's Death it remains only that the young ones be acquainted with the Preparation that is necessary to their coming to the Lord's Supper which they will find in the Answer to the last Question of the Catechism which contains the whole of what they are to do They are to examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former Sins whether they steadfastly purpose to lead a new and better Life for the time to come whether they have a lively Faith in God's Mercy through Christ i. e. Whether they verily believe that God was so exceeding Merciful and Gracious to Mankind that for the Sake of Christ's Obedience Death and Sufferings he will certainly forgive the Sins of such as shall repent and leave them and whether in full perswasion of this Mercy and these Gracious Promises they set about Repentance Whether they thankfully remember Christ's Death i. e. Whether upon the consideration and remembrance of the mighty and amazing Miseries to which their Sins exposed them and from which the Death of Christ alone has freed them they do not call to mind this great Deliverance with the greatest Joy and Thankfulness and bless and magnifie the Name of God who hath wrought this wouderful Redemption for them by the Death of Christ his dear and only begotten Son And Lastly whether they are in Charity with all Men. This is the Preparation and all the Preparation that is necessary to the coming to the Lord's Supper And if People would be content to learn wherein this Duty consists in the shortest plainest and the surest Method they would go no farher than the Church-Catechism or if a little farther it should be but to the Communion-Service in which they will be sure to find all that is needful or convenient for them to know or do before and at and after this Holy Sacrament I have neither Authority nor Intention to discommend or disallow the use of other Books that treat of these Matters but you will take it on my Word I hope that the shortest and the plainest Rules of Direction are still the best that wherein soever other Books differ from this they are not to be depended on And that multiplicity of Books is apt to beget Confusion As far therefore as you will let my Judgment weigh with you I recommend it to your Care that you let the Church Catechism be the Ground and Foundation of what your Children are to know of the Christian Religion and that other good Books be call'd in as Helps to their Devotion only or to explain the Particulars contain'd therein if they be difficult Whilst you are teaching and your Children learning all these Things you must be sure of all Things in the World to go before them with a good Example that is to recommend impress and make your Lessons Credible They will understand believe and practice better if they see you live as you teach them to live Let them know you pray to God constantly with your Family that you love and exercise Truth and Honesty and Justice in all your Dealings let them hear and see you chide your Servants and Dependents for every Lye they tell and every Fraud and Falshood they are guilty of let them never hear you swear or curse or speak any Thing disrespectfully of God or Providence or Holy Scriptures or any thing of Religion and they will then believe you are in earnest and be more careful of doing as you bid them and more fearful of offending Let them see you go your self to Church upon the Lord's Day and as many of the Family as can be spar'd with your Convenience and there behave themselves as becomes the Servants of God in his own House and more immediate Presence And let them never see even in the after Part of that good Day any thing Light Extravagant or Rude but something of Respect and Honour shewn to the good Exercises that are over and to the Day devoted by the Church of Christ to God's Service Away with that severe sullen morose Religion with which some Judaizing and mistaken Christians pass that Day on one Hand and that prophane contemptuous court-like Observation of it on the other but let a decent Christian and good natur'd Carriage temper these Extreams that your Children may neither dread the approach of Sunday above other Days nor yet long for it as a Day of Sloth and Idleness I hope I may without Offence take this Occasion to desire such of the Separation as are within my Parish to take all Care they can that both their Children and their Servants go along with them to the Places where they serve God themselves or to some other certainly and require an Account of their so doing that the Liberty of absenting themselves from their Parish-Churches indulg'd to them by Man's Law be not turn'd to the Libertinism of serving God no where and Irreligion and Prophaneness find those People whom the Church looses We must indeed on all sides be sollicitous lest he who sowes Division amongst us reap the Fruits thereof and be the greatest Gainer of this in earnest there was never greater need than now for Christianity and good Morality had never more or greater Enemies and therefore all our joint Endeavours will be little enough to oppose the soft Insinuations of their secret Underminers and the most impudent and bold Attacks of their avowed and open Adversaries I am sorry we can date the mighty Growth and Progress of these Mischiefs within the Compass of so few Years when we were hoping still for better Things But let this evil State provoke us to a greater Care and Zeal in the Defence of Vertue and Religion for the future You must all of you help to make this ugly Digression pertinent and useful by taking all imaginable Care to breed up a Generation better than the present and such as may do these wicked Days all the Disgrace and Shame they can by a most firm adherence to the Christian Faith by a lively Sense of Virtue and Religion in the Soul made manifest by a most Virtuous and Religious outward Practice I have done you see an unusual Thing in fixing a Preface to a Sermon but it was to make the Sermon more yours than any one 's else and if the Sermon be better read for the Sake of the Preface or if the Preface gain its end without the Sermon I shall obtain the Point I aim at and will answer for the absurdity or newness of the Method You know I am every way your Debtor in