as the the troubled Sea Isa 57.20 which cannot rest it will be casting out the mire and dirt which before lay at the bottom Nullum vinditae genus tam in promptu habet quam hoc maledicendi Davenantius Prov. 25.28 The evil of the heart is usually vented first at the mouth but it will soon appear in the other Members When once the mouth is full of cursing and bitterness the feet will be swift to shed blood till destruction and misery be in mens ways Rom 3.14 15 16. He that will not be overcome of evil must take care to rule his own spirit He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like to a city broken down and without walls easily overcome Nothing can conduce more to the calming of our spirits when they begin to rise against such as are offensive to us Psal 103.10 Psal 130.3 2 Sam. 16.6 7 10. than to consider how obnoxious we have been and still are to the great God David's patience towards Shimei was admirable when he cast stones at him and cursed him still as he went No doubt the consideration of the sins whereby he had provoked God made him the more calm toward that vile wretch Use 3. Rest not in this That you are not overcome of evil but endeavour as much as you can to overcome evil with good Do not your Relations perform the duties of their place to you be you the more circumspect and diligent to perform the duty of yours to them Are Neighbours unkind to you let the law of kindness be in your mouth and acts of kindness in your hands to them Vis ut ameris â—na Do any hate you let your love work to overcome that hatred 1. Keep your hearts in a constant awe of God commanding you When they draw back as they will be apt to do think of God standing by you and saying Have not I commanded you If others make no great matter of sinning against God do you say as Nehemiah But so will not I because of the fear of God Neh. 5.15 This was it that kept Samuel to the duty of praying for a people that had dealt very unworthily by him As for me says he God forbid that I should sin against the Lord 1 Sam. 12.24 in ceasing to pray for you 2. Have much and often in your eye the great example of all goodness Christ whose name you bear He met with a great deal of evil from an unthankful World yet he went about doing good still Acts 10.38 How kind was he in word and deed to his greatest enemies to the very last When Judas came to betray him the worst word he gave him was Friend Mat. 26.50 Friend wherefore art thou come And when Peter in zeal for his Master's safety had drawn and cut off the ear of one of the Officers that came to take him he touched his ear and healed him Luke 22.51 Consider him therefore who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself Heb. 12.3 lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds If he whom you call Lord and Master did thus should not you do so much rather To further you in this work take these few Considerations 1. By doing thus you will shew your selves to be genuine Christians and truly spiritual Jam. 3.14 15. To render evil for evil is devilish good for good something humane but no more than Publicans used to do but to render good for evil that is Christian What do ye more than others Mat. 5.46 The fruit of the spirit is in all goodness Eph. 5.9 If then there be found in you such fruits of the Spirit as are mentioned Gal. 5.22 Love joy peate long-suffering gentleness goodness c. it will be a token that the good Spirit of Christ is in you 2. It will tend very much to amplifying of the Kingdom of Christ Haec illa virtus est qua primitiva ecclesia excelluit accrevit ferendo non resistendo ad hanc quia redditi sumus inhabiles res Christianismi in deterius ruunt in dies Aretius 2 Cor. 13.11 and the bettering of the World One great reason why Christianity hath made no greater progress in the world in latter times is because Christians have not been so much conversant in this duty as they were in the Primitive times The rendring evil for evil makes the World a doleful place an house a Bedlam for fury and disorder A City a Wilderness for rapine and confusion A Kingdom a Land that eateth up the Inhabitants thereof as was said of that Numb 13.32 But to render good for evil tends to make the World a peaceable habitation where God and Men may delight to dwell If this duty were more practised the Wolf would sooner dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard lie down with the Kid as is prophesied Isa 11.6 3. It 's a sign that God hath more blessings in store when he hath given a Man a heart to perform this duty His labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Besides the eternal reward in Heaven God doth usually give a temporal reward on earth There is this encouragement given to afford bread to an hungry enemy That God will reward it Prov. 25.21 22. Saul was among the Prophets when he presaged good to David for not suffering him to be hurt when his Spear was taken from him while he lay sleeping 1 Sam. 26.25 Blessed be thou my son David thou shalt both do great things and also shall still prevail It hath been observed That such children as have been without cause discouraged by their parents so as not to have a like share in their favour nor a portion of their substance with the rest and yet have continued every way dutiful to them have been blest by God above the rest And such Servants as have had hard and froward Masters and yet have continued diligent and faithful in their Service have been wonderfully prospered when they have set up for themselves 4. This is the most glorious way of overcoming others It 's God's and Christ's way Hosea 11.4 I drew them with cords of a man with hands of love What glory would it be to a man that it should be said of him as Psal 9.6 Thou hast destroyed cities if he himself be in the mean time destroyed by his own lusts To be slow to anger is better than the mighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato and he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a city Prov. 16.32 5. Hereby you will keep a sweet serenity in your own spirits There is not only glory and honour but peace to every one that worketh good Rom. 2.11 How was David transported with joy when Abigail had been a means of keeping him from avenging himself with his own hand on Nabal and his house His mouth was full of blessings He blesseth the Lord God of Israel that sent her he blesseth her advice 1 Sam. 25.32 33.
must be so by actual calling John 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me Or as not yet actually in being in the World but in the loyns of their Parents whether Saints or Sinners God may have a Seed even among the Children of wicked Men and as sometimes he may pass by the Children of gracious Men the Parents may be a Seed of God and Children not so sometimes he may overlook the Parents and take the Children the Parents may be wicked and the Children holy God is a Soveraign and may chuse where he will and sometimes he pitcheth upon the most unlikely Subjects a wicked Ahaz may have a godly Hezekiah for his Son and a good Josiah a wicked Jehoiachim for his This distinction I lay down because though I understand the Doctrine in the first place of the religious actually in being among a People yet not only of them God sometimes acting for a Nation with respect to those he is to have among them This premised I come to shew in what respect the godly may be said to be the strength of a People and this I shall by a little following the Metaphor in the Text. The Holy Seed is here called the Substance or Stock of a People so that in what respect the strength of a Tree is in its Stock in those or several of them the strength of a People is in the Religion of them 1. The Stock of a Tree is the most firm and durable part of it when the Leaves are shaken off the Branches many of them drie and withered nay though it be close Lopt and all the Bows cut down yet still it continues and lives keeps its place and retains its Sap. So it is with the truly religious at least as to their Spiritual State as we intimated in the explication of the Text when Hypocrites and Temporaries drop off from the Body of Professors and quit their Stations in a Church and their religious Profession yet the godly still continue hold their own keep their standing They are all united to Christ the Root as well as to teach other in the Body and as parts together of the same Stock and so are preserved and continued in Life by Sap derived to them from the Root the constant supplies of the Spirit and Grace of Christ In this respect we may say he that doth the will of God abideth for ever 1 John 2.17 and they that have an Unction from the Holy One abide in him verse 20 27. 2. The Stock is that which propagates its kind cut off all the Bows and yet the Stem will shoot forth again send out new Leaves and Fruit and Seed from which other Trees will come So here the righteous propagate their righteousness communicate to others beget Children to God are Spiritual Parents and have a Spiritual Off-spring How many Children come in upon their Parents Covenant not only as to outward priviledges in the Church but as to real Grace The promise is to them and their Children Acts 2.39 and as it takes place in all of them as to Church Membership so it doth in many as to Saintship And besides how many are wrought on by their instruction won by their example awakened by their admonitions overcome by their persuasions How many have cause to bless God for religious Parents religious acquaintance religious Instructors as well as godly Ministers who have been instrumental in their conversion Thus when many particular Branches of righteousness are plucked off as to their temporal State in this Life yet the Holy Seed continues the Stock is pepetuated in a succession of righteous ones Men usually spare the Tree for the sake of the Stock Isa 65.8 As the new Wine is in the Cluster and one saith destroy it not a Blessing is in it A Man finds a Cluster or two of Grapes on a Vine and by those few perceives that there is Life in the Tree and some hopes of more fruitfulness hereafter and therefore doth not cut it down so will I do says the Lord for my Servants sake that I may not destroy them all he spares the rest or many of them doth not destroy them all for his Servants sake for the sake of the righteous among them Job 22.30 according to marginal reading The Innocent shall deliver the Island which suits best with the following Clause it is delivered by the pureness of my hands Eliphaz tells Job before what advantage he should himself have by returning to God and acquainting himself with him verse 21. from whom he supposes him to have departed and to be estranged by sin and here he tells him what benefit should redound to others his goodness should not only do good to himself but keep off evil from them For the better understanding this take two things by way of Concession and a third by way of Position 1. I grant that the religious part of a People may not always be active as Men in a natural or civil way in delivering them or keeping off evils from them they may have no proper and direct efficiency in it for 1. Sometimes they may want power and ability for it they may be but few and inconsiderable for Number the Holy Seed may be very thin sown there may be but a few Grains of Corn among a great deal of Chaff but a little Wheat among abundance of Tares Or those that are may be weak and low as to their outward condition in the World for not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1.26 and so may be in ill case to contribute much by an active concurrence to the help of others 2. Sometimes they may be simple and unskiful in outward affairs want that Wisdom and Worldly Policy which might be needful in many Cases for the warding of imminent dangers or removing incumbent troubles Not many wise Men after the Flesh are called as well as not many mighty or noble Saints may be wise for their Souls prudent and knowing in the Misteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and yet but Babes in other things The Wisdom they have is from above Jam. 3.17 respects things above and they may be meer Ignoramuses in any thing else 3. They may have no hand in publick affairs no share in the Government nor be intrusted or made use of by those that are in Power they may be suppressed and brought into bondage by others as the Israelites were in Aegypt and the Jews in Babylon they may be so much in suffering by others that they be in no capacity of acting for them 4. Sometimes Gods Judgments upon a People may be such as no Instruments and so not the holiest Men among them can keep them off by any natural efficiency and all attempts in such a way may be in vain Such was the destruction of the Old World by the Flood and of Sodom by Fire and Brimstone and of several places by Inundations Earthquakes c. 2. I grant that sometimes the
your selves in the Love of God And then the Case and Question is this What we must do to keep our selves in the Love of God A solemn and weighty Question and wherein every Soul of us is nearly concerned There are three things that require some Explication Q. 1. What is meant by your selves A. Every one himself and every one each other so far as he can 2. What is meant by the action which each is to see put forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep to observe to preserve firmly safely constantly I have kept the Faith 2 Tim. 4.3 Thus we keep and thus God keeps us Jam. 1. ult John 3.22 Rev. 12.17 Joh. 17.11 John 17.15 In all which Places the word is the same in the Text to keep fast and safe and faithfully with all Care and Diligence and Conscience as we would keep a thing for our Life Prov. 4.23 Keep thy Heart with all Diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life From all which thus explain'd ariseth this Proposition It is the Duty of every Child of God Obs to keep themselves in the Love of God This Proposition is grounded upon a threefold Supposition 1. That some men are in the Love of God really and eternally 2. That this Love wherewith God loveth his Chosen Rom. v. 8. 11 12 13. is a special Love a peculiar and distinguishing Love 3. That it is a Duty as well as a Priviledge to keep our selves in the Love of God our Activity as well as Gods Act. Which will be hereafter more explained Before we come to the main Question we will answer this Question How Love can be said to be in God for Love is a Passion in the Creature and Passions are Imperfections which are contrary to Gods Perfection A. 1. It is true Nothing of Imperfection is in God but Love is in God as a Perfection because Love is in God in the abstract that is essentially for Abstracts speak Essences God is Love 1 John 4.8 The Love of God is either natural or voluntary thus Divines distinguish and that well Mat. 3.17 Joh. 3.35 Joh. 5.20 Joh. 17.24 1. The Natural Love of God is that wherewith God loves himself That is the reciprocal Love whereby the three Persons love each other This Essential Natural Love of God is therefore necessary God cannot but love himself 2. The Love of God is voluntary thus he loves his Creatures with a general Love 1. Because he made them and made them good therefore he preserves them Gen. 1.31 for though Sin be really evil and none of Gods making but contrary to God and hated of God yet God loves the Creatures as his Creatures although sinful with a general Love Mat. 5.44 45. 2. He loves some Creatures with a special Love and by this he loves Jesus Christ as Mediator Joh. 3.35 Eph. 1.6 1 Joh. 4.9 Rom. 8. ult 1. This Love of God to Christ as Mediator is the Foundation of Gods Love to his Elect. 2. By a special Love God loves his Elect. John 13.1 Of this Love it 's said that it is inseparable Now this is the peculiar Love which God bears to some above others Not because they were more lovely than others nor because God foresaw they would believe and love him but because God loved them first antecedently to all those things Eph. 1.3 4 5. Deut. 7.6 7 8. Eph. 2.3 4 c. to 10. and because he loved them therefore Christ shall come and die and therefore they shall believe in him and love him The summ is this Our Love to God is the Effect and not the Cause of Gods Love to us yea Christ himself as Mediator is the Effect of Gods Eternal Love This is primitive Doctrine John 6.37 All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me V. 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him 1 John 4.19 He hath loved us first Rom. 10.20 I am found of them that sought me not Rom. 5.8.10 God commended his love toward us that while we were yet Sinners and Enemies Christ died for us Upon which I would have old and new Donatists which make God to love all alike in order to their Salvation and that there is no special Grace let them read St. Augustine Tom. 9. Tract 102. on John Tom. 7. Lib. contra Donatistas post Collat. p. 403. also pag. 402. likewise in Brevic. p. 387. Collat. cum Donatistis Collat. tertii diei Item Tom. 9. Tract 87. on John Item Tom. 2. Epist 48. p. 118. and many more places I have therefore named all these because there is a sort of Men risen up among us Gal. 1.6.7 corrupters and perverters of the Word and Wayes of God who raise up Donatism and Pelagianism from the Death I know some make this Love of God in the Text to be meant not of Gods Love to us at all but of our Love to God only Contrary I judge it spoken principally of Gods Love to us not excluding our Love to God but comprehending it as a great sign that God loves us when we truly love God According to this sence I shall proceed to speak to the present Case which is a practical Question How Christians shall do to keep themselves in the Love of God Quest 1. In General One whom God loves and favours Answ must do as the Favourite of a Prince useth to do to keep himself in his Princes Love and Favour He will study what the will of his Prince is and will do all that he can to please him He will set himself wholly to promote his Princes Interest and Honour and to gratifie his Desires yea he will be infinitely shy of displeasing him So will a Child of God carry himself towards God to keep himself in the Favour and Love of God This is a great Art to study Ephes 5.17 to know what is the will and Pleasure of God and to conform to it The Reason whereof is this Because 1. The Will of God is a Sovereign Will to all the World therefore to thine and mine there is no controuling of it Who can say unto God What dost thou When any mans will comes in competition with Gods Will thou knowest what thou hast to answer Dan. 3.16 17. and what thou hast to do Act. 4.19 But if mans commanding Will be agreeable to Gods revealed Will which is the Standard then we please and not displease God in submitting to man because subordinate things do not clash 2. Because the Will of God is a holy Will and we can never keep our selves in the Love of God 1 Pet. 1.15.16 but by what is agreeable to his Holiness and that is when we our selves are Holy because this is not only the Will of God but the Image of God Eph. 4.24 created after God Now God loves Children that are most like him for Likeness is the Cause of Love Thus much in General
Carieer to their own Destruction And therefore take heed do not indulge them in their foolish Humours but bring them up c. Having thus fixed our Corner-stones now to our Building In the CASE before us I find two Truths supposed and one question in form but really bipartite proposed 1. The two Truths and those sad ones suppos'd 1. That it hath been is and may be the Lot of gracious Parents to have unconverted wicked Children 2. That this wickedness of these unconverted Children hath been and is too too often occasion'd by their gracious Parents sinful 1. Severity 2. Indulgence 2. The Question or case of Conscience to be resolved which is Bipartite What may gracious Parents best do towards the Conversion of those their Children whose wickedness is occasion'd by their sinful 1. Severity 2. Indulgence I. Of the First Truth 1. The first Truth suppos'd viz. That it hath been is and may be the Lot of gracious Parents to have unconverted wicked Children Let me adde of the Best of Parents to be afflicted with very wicked yea the worst of Children Had not Adam an envious murtherous Cain Gen. 4.8.11 The first branch of the Universal Root wholly rotten Noah a cursed †Gen. 9.22 Cham Abraham a mocking persecuting Ishmael Gen. 22.9 Gal. 4.29 Lot a Moab and Ammon the Sons of Incest and the Fathers of an Idolatrous brood that to the death hated Gods chosen Israel Gen. 19.37 38. Isaac a profane Esau Gen. 25.25 Heb. 12.16 Eli two Sons Hophni and Phineas both Sons of Belial prodigies of Lust and Wickedness 1. Sam. 2.12 to 17. ver 22. David an ambitious Adonijah 1 King 1.5 2.13 an incestuous Amnon 2 Sam. 13.14 a murtherous traiterous rebellious Absolom 2 Sam. 13.28 29. 15.10 Jehosaphat a bloody idolatrous Jehoram 2 Chron. 21.4 6 11 13. Josiah a wicked Jehojachin and another as bad if not worse a wretched false perjur'd Covenant-breaking Zedekiah 2 Chron. 36.5 12 13. Ezek. 17.15 18. But enough of this sigh even to the breaking of your hearts when you think of many very many others in former Ages and in our Own dayes and City that might be added to fill up this Black Catalogue 2. This wickedness of these unconverted Children hath been and is too too often occasion'd yea advanced by the Sinful severity or indulgence of their unwary thô gracious Parents This Head divides it self into TWO Branches viz. Parents Sinful severity and indulgence 1. Sinful severity and of this 1. What it is not 2. What it is 1 What it is not 1. A grave wise holy strict demeanour towards our Children such a carriage as whereby we may procure Glory to God Honour to our selves and so to preserve and keep up that Authority which God hath stampt upon us is not sinful Severity To carry it so and so to keep our distance as to give our Children no occasion to undervalue or despise us 1 Tim. 4.12 * Tit. 2.15 So as that they may see and own the Wisdom of God shining in us that our Children may pay us that reverence and respect that God requires of them 1 King 3.28 This is not to be accounted sinful Severity but behaving our selves worthily in Ephratah Ruth 4.11 2. All just anger or the rising up of the Heart in an holy displeasure against Sin in our Children is not sinful severity Parents may be angry and yet not sin Eph. 4.26 Nay Parents would certainly sin if on just occasion given by their Children they should not be angry but with these proviso's 1. That the cause for which they are angry be good and warrantable Such as we can give a good Account of to God An anger like that of our Saviour who looked round about on his malicious observers with anger being griev'd for the bardness of their hearts Mark 3.5 When our anger is accompanied with grief because God is dishonour'd by our Childrens offending against Truth Piety Justice Humanity because we see them neglect their duty hurt their own or others Souls or Bodies 2. That the Object of this anger be right i. e. when that which we are angry at is not so much the persons of our Children that offend as their offence it self their Sin Fault Disobedience Not so much the Patient as the Disease 3. That the End be right viz. that the fault we are offended at may be amended by our Children and that they for the future may be warned not to offend in the like again 4. That a due decorum may be observed both as to the measure and duration of our Anger When it is neither too hot nor too long When it is a Rational Holy Temperate displeasure a moderate anger when right Reason and Scripture fit in the Box and Guide the Chariot saying as the Lord to the Sea Thus much thus long and no more no longer Thus far no sinful severity 2. Grave counselling and admonishing our Children in and to that which is truly good Eph. 6.4 All serious discountenancing of and severe frowning on them when in an evil way nay sharp reproofs and rebukes Tit. 1.13 Yea being so far a terror to them as to let them know we bear not the stamp of Gods Authority in vain Rom. 13.3 4. Nay farther smart chastising of them proportionable to their Age and offence Prov. 29.15 Provided we express fatherly love and tenderness in all out of a true desire of their Repentance and Reformation All this is not to be lookt upon as sinfull Severity but as the faithful discharge of a necessary parental duty which is by so much the more excellent because it is so much neglected and so hard to be performed in a right manner 2. What Sinful Severity is or wherein it discovers it self Sinful Severity betrayes it self in and by the irregular passions austere looks bitter words and rigid Actions of those Parents who abuse their Parental Power 2. That the wickedness of unconverted Children is oftentimes occasion'd by this Sinful severity of their Parents They are provok'd and that to Sin 1. By irregular Passions specially that of an inordinate and immoderate Anger 1. Rash anger when Parents are soon angry with their Children when they will not give leave to their Judgments to consider before they are angry The wise man tells us Jam. 1.19 Multos absolvemus si prius coeperimus judicare quam irasci Sen. de ira the discretion of a man defers his anger and that it is his Glory to pass over a Transgression Prov. 19.11 But brands rash anger with the mark of folly He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly Prov. 14.17 'T was grave advice to one not to be angry at any time till he had first repeated the Greek Alphahet To be angry without any cause or upon every trivial slight occasion for any thing that is not material in it self or in it's consequent for meer involuntary and casual offences and slips in our Children such as without great care could
design'd by God himself to succeed in the Throne of Israel yea and against his solemn Oath sworn unto him to bring him to him that he might be murthered 1 Sam. 20.31 This both griev'd and provok'd Jonathan ver 34. Or with that incestuous bloody Creature Herodias who commands Her Dancing Daughter to ask of Herod more than half His Kingdom viz. John Baptists head Mat. 14.8 3. When Parents meerly to gratifie their Humour Self-will Lusts Passions Fury chastise beat and almost kill their Children with unjust and immoderate lashes stripes punishments 1. Vnjust when the Parent hath no lawful cause or reason so to do What just Plea could that unnatural Saul make for casting his Javelin to smite his Innocent Son Jonathan 1 Sam. 20.33 After he had spit out the Poison of his Heart in his words he fills up the measure of his wickedness in this bloody deed suitable to his murtherous Heart 2. Immoderate when the sharpness of the punishment exceeds the greatness of the Crime Here the Lord the Righteous-Judge takes care by his Supream Authority that those that have authority over others should not according to their own Lusts Will and Pleasure rage and vent their fury and passion on criminals Deut. 25.2 3. Now if Justice oblige us to keep our mind free and compos'd in punishing the greatest Strangers and most hainous Malefactors that we may exactly proportion the penalty to their fault how much more should a Father whose Name breathes nothing but benignity and sweetness observe the same moderation when his business is to chastize the Child of his own Bowels And if not instead of reforming he doth but provoke his Child Thus much concerning Sinful Severity what it is and how far provoking in all which I neither have nor could bring one instance either Father or Mother in the whole Scripture that had the Character of a Godly Person that is charged with the crimson-guilt of a Sinfully severe Parent 3. What may godly Parents best do for the Conversion of those Children whose wickedness is occasion'd by their sinful Severity To this I answer 1. More generally Physician heal thy self To cleanse the polluted stream let 's begin at the puddl'd fountain 1. As much as may be cease your complaints to men of finding so much cause of grief and sorrow in your untoward Children instead of Joy and Comfort That they are pungent thorns instead of refreshing roses stabs instead of staffs Exclaim no more at least not morosely or in passion against thâ— pride Levity vanity frowardness obstinacy debauchery incorrigibleness of your wretched Children especially in the hearing of those Children 'T is too probable they will be apt to lay their own Bastards at their Fathers door and impute all their gross miscarriages to their rigid Fathers harshness contempt and want of Love Had not I been unhappy in so stiff a Father he might have been happy in a more complaisant Son Had my Father treated me with more Bowels 't is possible I should have readily answer'd his tenderness with a melting heart bended knee and sincere obedience 2. Instead of opening your mouths to men go immediately and in sincerity unbosom your whole Souls to God Cast your selves at his foot humbly acknowledge your great defects and failings in the management of that Authority that God the supream Father hath stampt upon you Humble your self deeply before the Lord for all your former Irregular and exorbitant Passions stabbing looks hard speeches morose behaviour partial demeanour dreadful Omens and forejudgeings of the sad fate of your at present disobedient Child Weep I say not not so much but not only for your Child but for your self Had the root been sound as it ought the branch had not been so rotten as it is Had the Father been more a Fig-tree the Son had not been so much a Thistle If the Vine hath the least taint of Sodom no wonder if the Wine hath an ugly tang of Gomorrha Weep I say and pray pray and weep and instead of a Bead drop a Tear at the close of every Petition for the full and free pardon of these thy Relational Sins in and through the Blood of that Son that never offended his and thy Father Begg and Begg earnestly for Grace Strength Wisdom which is first pure then peaceable that thou mayst be kept from the like misdemeanour for the future 3. Act towards your Children in all things as a Father Keep your Relation in your Eye 1. Love your Children as a Father A Man would think this advice were * 1 Thes 4.9 As touching Love ye need not that I write unto you for ye your selves are taught of God to Love Isa 49.15 needless It seems all one as if I should perswade the Sun to shine the Fire to burn nay a man to be a man This Law of Love to Children is written by the Finger drawn by the Pencil stampt and ingraven by the deepest impress of Nature on the Hearts and bowels of all Parents Indeed I have spent more than a few minutes in searching the Scriptures on this account and thô I find many express Texts that oblige us to Love God Christ our Neighbour the Brother-hood our Wives yea our Enemies yet I can light but on one that doth in express Terms command Parents to Love their Children viz. Tit. 2.4 where we find the young Women are to be taught to Love their Children For which the Best reason that I can give for the present is the same that he gave why the Romans among all their Laws had enacted none against the horrid Sin of Parricide viz. Because the Romans either could or would not suppose men to be such Monsters as to be guilty of so black a Crime The Scripture supposes that while we retain the Nature of men or own the Name of Fathers we cannot but love our Children Well then Love your Children but Love them as Fathers Fathers This very single Word contains an Iliad of Arguments Were I at leisure 't were easie to draw out all the Rhetoricans Topicks of Perswasion out of its Bowels Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Name is as an ointment poured forth it sends forth nothing but the perfume of Lâ—ve meekness tenderness Do but sincerely Love your Children as Fathers and then be sinfully severe if you can Love your Children not so much for their lovely countenance their pleasing Grace and sweetness which how charming soever is but a fading flower a skin-deep vanity but principally as those that are bone of your bone flesh of your flesh to whom you have communicated your blood and very nature And let not this Love be like a dead picture or Idol in your breast without Life or Action but a living active principle a spring that may vigorously and effectually influence all the powers of your Soul for the procuring of all that which is truly good to your poor Children Obj. But how can I possibly love such naughty
aversation It intimidates the Child destroyes his mettle and courage for any honest or honourable undertaking smothers yea extinguishes all his fire and vivacity transforms him into a meer sot mope dullard block utterly unfit for use and service nay more it often throws him into the deepest gulph of grief and melancholy sickness death and then it may be when too late the unhappy Parent will see cause to relent and abhorr himself for his unjust severity 6. Parents remember they are Children and but Children Their age may be some Apology for them Their Heads are green yours are grey More years may teach them better manners They are your Children your own Flesh Blood Bowels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle your Children If the stream be corrupt it derives it from your selves the Fountain Psal 51.5 The young Serpent came from the old Cockatrice 7. Since Severity will not do the feat see what sweetness mildness gentleness holy tenderness and indulgence will do Peragit tranquilla potestas quod violenta nequit The pillow may help to break the flint which the Hammer and Anvil cannot It prevail'd with flinty Saul 1 Sam. 24.16 The cordial may prevail where the corrosive cannot The sight of the pardon more commands the heart of the desperate Traytor than that of the Ax or Gibbet 8. To All these adde Scriptural admonition fervent Supplication Patient waiting on and humble Submission to the Will of God Mic. 7.7 8 9. Thus much concerning Sinful Severity we proceed to the Second and that is Sinful Indulgence Our Apostle knowing right well how apt Parents are to swerve from the golden mean of Parental discipline and whilst they Labour to avoid the Rock of Sinful Severity how prone they are to plunge themselves into the gulph of Sinful Indulgence doth in the same Text prescribe a Soveraign Antidote against that fatal pleurisie of fond Affection in these words but bring them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. Whilest the severe Parent is breathing a vein in his distemper'd Child he cautions him to take care he doth not pierce an Artery Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath But on the other Hand if the Child labours under an imposthume and needs the Lâ—ncet our Apostle doth here command the discreet use of it and â—â—ll by no means permit that the sinking Child should be sooth'd or stroakt and demulc'd into certain ruine Children must be nurtur'd thô they may not be provok'd Parents must not be cruel Ostrichès and leave and expose their young ones to harm and danger nor yet must they be such fond Apes who are said to hug their Cubs so closely as that they kill them with their embraces And that on this Account because 2. The wickedness of unconverted Children is too too often occasion'd yea and advanced by the sinful Indulgence of their godly Parents Sinful Severity with Saul hath slain it's thousands sinful Indulgence with David it 's ten thousands Poor cocker'd Children when 't is too late find the little Finger of a fond Mother to weigh far heavier and to sink the Soul far deeper than the weighty Loins of a severe Father and at a long run will find more of Sting in a Rod of Roses than in a scourge of Scorpions In the Stating of this case I shall proceed as before and shew you 1. What Sinful Indulgence is not And so 1. Natural ordinate moderate parental Love and such as is mixt with the most yerning bowels most deep and tender compassions is not sinful Indulgence Nay to be without these Natural Affections Rom. 1.31 is not only wretched Stoicisme but sinful cursed and more than brutish astorgy Even the Storks and Sea-monsters will teach us to love our Off-spring Love my Children I may and must 1. With all the sorts and kinds of Love of desire of Union and Communion with them of the sweet enjoyment of them of benevolence and good will willing ready and prepared to desire and wish them all good of beneficence and bounty Tit. 2.4 Gen. 21.19 1 King 3.25.26 1.7 10 18 19. 1 Tim. 5.8 actually endeavouring to do them all good possible both as to their Souls and Bodies All our Spiritual gifts must be for the profit of their Souls for their Direction Consolation Salvation and as for their Bodies their Backs must be our Wardrobes their Bellies our Barns and their Hands our Treasuries And with a Love of Complacency and delight Our Children may and ought to be the joy and rejoycing of our Hearts no greater joy than to see our Children like Olive-plants round about our Table specially if we see and find them walking in the Truth John 2. Ep. 4. John 3. Ep. 4. 2. With all the properties of parental Love viz. Sincere and unfained a Love not in word and tongue only but from the Heart in Deed and in Truth A forward chearful Love not drawn or driven but flowing as from a Fountain An expensive open-handed as well as open-hearted Love A fruitful Love producing not only fair Leaves Buds and blossoms of pleasing smiles and large promises but the mature fruits of beneficial performances An holy just fervent constant Love a most gentle dear tender compassionate Love whereby we are ready to Sympathize with them and forward to succour them in their misery to regard them when they neither regard us nor themselves To take in good part the desires of their Souls when they find not to perform To accept of a sigh in regard of a service a mite instead of a Talent a groan instead of a duty the very stammering of my Child above the eloquence of a Beggar Mal. 3.17 Looking on a returning Prodigal as a Son and pitying as a Father not punishing as a Judge Psal 103.13 14. Remembring their frame and knowing that both they and we are poor dust All this and much more is not sinful Indulgence To carry them in our Bosoms as Moses did the Israelites Num. 11.12 or so in our Hearts as to be willing to impart our very Souls unto them in and for God because they are dear unto us as Paul 1 Thes 2.7 8 11. To Bless them in Gods Name Faith Fear as Jacob did Gen. 49.28 To countenance and encourage them in and reward them for well doing 1 Pet. 2.14 Est 6.3 To Love those most that Love God most to give such Benjamins five messes a double treble Portion an Isaak's Inheritance this is not sinful Indulgence 2. What sinful Indulgence is It stands in the Excess and exuberancy of our Love and affections and in too much slacking and remitting the reins of Government When we do as it were abandon and give up our minds and studies to coax and please and gratifie the humours yea satisfie the Lusts of our foolish Children when we make their Wills our Laws our Rules when the doting Parent is led by the Heart shall I say or Nose by his audacious Child and must be at his
home That that man makes himself a ridicule that leaves his own house on fire and runs to quench his Neighbours and quitting his own Family infected with the Plague hastens to the cure of his Neighbour 2. We find this good Eli as old as he was could be tart and sharp enough to another to godly mourning praying Hannah when he thought only she had been drunk before the Lord upon but the bare suspicion of a sin How long wilt thou be drunken put away thy wine from thee 1 Sam. 1.13 14. 'T is true his reproof arose from misprision but that misprision sprang from zeal 3. But what now In the Case before us you cannot but expect to find him screw'd up to a note beyond Ela inflam'd ad Octo the zeal the fire the furnace heated seven times more than usually the burning zeal of his Gods House must needs consume him For satisfaction read 1 Sam. 2.22 to 26. Now Eli was very old and heard All that his Sons did unto all Israel and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the Congregation and he said unto them To shame To Torment To hell with them To the Worm that dies not To the fire that never shall be quenched Was this his Sentence No no. But to amazement Hear what he says 4. He said unto them Why do ye such things for I hear of your Evil dealings by all this People ver 24. Nay my Sons for it is no good report that I hear ye make the Lords People to trangress 25. If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for Him See here Indulgence to a prodigy to the notorious Crimes of his Wicked Sons 1. How soon do we find the case alter'd to Hannah he spake as an Holy Priest a just Judge to these as a fond indulgent Father If corrupt nature be allow'd to speak in Judgement and to make difference not of Crimes but Criminals not of Sins but Offenders the Scales will not be Equal 2. Had these wretches but a little slack'd their duty or heedlesly omitted some rites of the Sacrifices this Censure had not been so unbecoming 3. But to punish the thefts rapines sacriledges Adulteryes of his Sons with a meer Why do you so was no other than to shave that head that deserved the Ax. As it is with Ill humours A weak dose doth but irritate and anger them not purge them out so it fares with habituated Sins and so it did here ver 25. They hearkned not to the voice of their Father An easie reproof doth but encourage wickedness and makes it think it self so slight as that Censure imports Nay a vehement reproof if no more to a capital Evil is at most but like a smart Shower to a ripe Field which only layes that Corn which is worthy of a Sickle It is a breach of Justice not to proportion the Punishment to the Offence to Whip a man for murther to punish the purse only for incest to burn Treason in the hand to award the Stocks to Burglary to lay on the Verge where the Ax or Gibbet are deserv'd is to patronize Evil instead of avenging it Thus we have seen the Childrens Wickedness and the Fathers Indulgence But is there not a Melius inquirendum in the case Yes yes From a fond and partial Bar to a strict and impartial Tribunal 3. God himself and the greatest party concern'd and the most injured interposes Poor Eli could not have devised or studied a more compendious and effectual Way to have plagued himself his House his Posterity than by this his sinful kindness to his Childrens Sins What variety of judgments doth he now hear of 1. From the Messenger of God! 1 Sam. 2.27 to the end Because he had now doated in his old age there should not be an old man left of his house for ever because it vexed him not enough to see his Sons Enemies to God he shall see his own Enemies in the habitation of the Lord ver 32. Because himself forbore to take vengeance of his Sons and esteem'd their lives above the Glory of his God and Master therefore God himself will take the Sword into his own hand and kill them both in one day ver 34. chap. 4.11 Because he abus'd his Authority and conniv'd at Sin and honour'd his Sons before God therefore his house shall be stript of his honour and it should be translated to another ver 30.32.35 Because he suffer'd his Sons to please their wanton appetites in taking meat from off Gods Trencher therefore those which remain of his house shall come to his Successors and beg a piece of Silver to buy a morsel of Bread ver 36. Because he was fond and partial to his Sons God will execute all this and more on him and them severely and impartially 1 Sam. 3.11 to 15. 2. Observe I beseech you observe indulgent Citizens we do not read of any Sin that Eli was charg'd with but with that which is Epidemical I fear among you and lookt upon as a peccadillo and if a Sin at most but venial What were these dreadful menaces against Eli but Premonitions to us these murthering Canons to Him but our Warning-pieces God sayes yea God Swears that he will judge Elies house and that with beggery with death with desolation And that the wickedness of his house should not be purged with Sacrifices or Offerings for ever 1 Sam. 3.11 to 15. Do not your Ears tingle at the mention of these things do you not wonder that the Neck and Heart both of Poor Eli were broken at the report of them 4. We have heard the Sentence and notwithstanding Elies Repentance and the Saving of his Soul yet for the necessary Vindication of Gods Honour Holiness Justice here below see the dreadful Execution 1. The Philistines and Israel join in Battelâ— Israel is smitten and fled There fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen and the Ark of God taken 1. Sam. 4.10 11. 2. The two Caitiffs that had liv'd before to bring Gods Ark into contempt and had now liv'd to carry it into captivity both slain by the Philistines 3. Eli now ninety eight years old at the news of this falls backward from his Seat and breaks his Neck 4. To make the Tragedy compleat the Wife of that cursed Phinchas as not minding Father Husband Self Child with her last breath pants out a doleful Epitaph on the captive Ark and stamps it on her Childs forehead Call it Ichabod for the Ark of God is taken 1 Sam. 4.21 Before we proceed let 's cast our Eye back and but glance on the Sin that was the grand cause of this strages 1 Sam. 2.29 Because he honoureth his Sons above me for the iniquity which he knoweth because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not 1 Sam. 3.13 Hinc illae Lachrymae O Cruel Indulgence The Jury hath sat upon
would not have accomplisht and by that cunning fetch of the Woman of Tekoah brings into the light that birth of desire whereof he knew David was both bigg and ashamed 2 Sam. 14.21 See here the mask of Royal Indulgence It is not David that recalls Absalom Not He he only does it to answer the humble Petition of an importunate Subject and to follow the advice of Joab a discreet Councellor The King said Behold now I have done this thing that ye desire go therefore bring the young man Absalom again But stay Another fetch Let him turn to his own House and let him not see my face v. 24. for fear the People should cry shame on this unjust Indulgence 2. Absalom the Rebel Absalom the Traitor 2 Sam. 15.10 Having prepar'd the People for a Rebellion by a wicked insinuation of his Fathers unjust Government he sets up as King in Hebron and the Conspiracy was strong His Eye is on the Metropolis His first March must be to Jerusalem To make room for the young Rebel the poor old Father must pack up and be gone v. 14. with an heavy heart weeping eye cover'd head and bare feet as it were Never did he with more Joy come up to this City than now left it with Sorrow And how could he do otherwise when the Insurrection of his dearly beloved Son drove him out from his chief City and Throne yea from the Ark of God 1. His first Prank was a sufficient Earnest of what was like to ensue An Act of the highest incestuous Uncleanness that ever the Sun saw They spread Absalom a Tent upon the top of the House and Absalom went in to his Fathers Concubines in the sight of All Israel 2 Sam. 16.2.22 23. The Practice was like the counsel v. 22. as deep as Hell it self An Act uncapable of Forgiveness Beside the usurping the Throne to violate the Bed of his Father unto his treason to adde incest is no less unnatural that the World might see that Absalom neither hoped nor cared for the reconciliation of a Father And as if the villany could not have beâ—n shameful enough in secret he sets up his Tent in the top of the House and lets all Israel be witness of his own sin and his Fathers shame Ordinary sins are for Vulgar Offenders but Absalom sins like himself eminently transcendently and doth that which may make the World at once to blush and wonder The filthiness of the Sin is not more great than the impudence of the Matter 2. His pursuit 2 Sam. 15.14 Absalom is now on his High march ready to make his onset David rallies up all the forces he could make not so much to Assault his Son as to defend himself But see his charge 2 Sam. 18.5 The King commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai his three Generals saying Fight neither against small nor great for they poor deluded Souls are come forth in the simplicity of their hearts are meerly drawn in and Know not any thing 2 Sam. 15.11 but against the Head and Ringleader of these Rebels that Son or traitor rather that came forth of my Bowels and seeks my life 2 Sam. 16.11 Is not this Davids Charge No not such a Syllable in their Commission But thus which is not to be mention'd without a blush Deal gently for my sake with the young man even with Absalom 2 Sam. 18.5 But stay what do I hear Is this the voice of David what that David that formerly was forced to employ his Arms for his defence against a tyrannous Father-in-law and is now forced to buckle them on against an unnatural Son What he that has muster'd his men commission'd his Generals marshal'd his Troops what is this his charge and word and signal for the Battel Doth he at once seem to encourage them by his eye and restrain them with his tongue Oh! David what means this ill-placed Love this unjust cruel mercy Deal gently with a traitor of all Traitors with a Son of all Sons with an Absalom The graceless murtherous incestuous traiterous Son of so good so tender a Father And all this for my sake whose Crown Kingdom Blood he hunts after For whose sake must this wretch be pursued if he must be forborn for thine He was still courteous thô hypocritically to thy followers affable to Suitors plausible to all Israel that so he might be perfectly cruel to thee Wherefore are these Arms if the sole cause of the quarrel must be the Attractive perswasive motive of Mercy Yet thou sayst Deal gently We see even in the holiest Parents on Earth corrupt Nature may be guilty of most unjust tenderness of bloody Indulgence But let 's advance a step farther 3. The Battel is joyn'd The God of Justice takes part with Justice lets Israel foolish Israel feel what it is to take part with and to bear Arms for a traiterous Usurper 2 Sam. 18.6 to 9. the Sword devours twenty thousand of them and the Wood devour'd more than the Sword Among the rest the loyal Oak singles out the Ringleader of this horrible Conspiracy and by one of his spreading Arms becomes at once his Gaol and Gibbet The Justice of God twists an Halter of his locks and no marvail if his own Hair turn'd traitor to him who durst rise up against his Father Joab is inform'd that the Beast is noos'd comes and sees him hanging makes no demurr but immediately thrust three darts through the Heart of the bloody Traitor Wâ—â—t the poor Souldier forbore to do in obedience v. 12 13. that the General doth in zeal v. 14. not fearing to preferr his Sovereigns safety before and beyond all little respects whatever as being more tender of the Life of his Prince and the peace of his People than the weak or strohg affections of a misguided Father v. 14 15. 4. Now for the Catastrophe the last Scene the Battel 's ended David hears the Trumpets sound a Retreat What news Our Care is wont to be where our Love is How fares the Army Joab Abishai Ittai my Generals how is it with them My Crown does it stand more firm and fixt or is it fallen Speak Ahimaaz say Cushi None of this in the least but to the everlasting reproach of fond Parents Is the young man Absalom safe v. 29. Ahimaaz prudently answers The Lord hath deliver'd up the men that lift up their hand against my Lord the King v. 28 29. Ahimaaz turn thou aside and stand thou here Behold here comes Cushi with a joyful heart and open mouth Tydings my Lord the King for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee v. 32. But these are not the Tidings that David so much pants after Cushi thou must learn to distinguish betwixt the King and the Father and tell him plainly Is the young man Absalom safe v. 32. That murtherous incestuous Traitor whom thou callest the young man is dead O King And let the Enemies of my Lord the King and
Correct 'em therefore but in Love Wisdom Measure Season Obj. But I hear the bleatings of fond Parents O forbear good Sir forbear These are hard sayings The Land the City is not able to bear them 'T is nothing but Love that makes us to bear with our Children Alas who could find in their Hearts to beat so sweet a Child Sol. Nothing but Love That 's not so the Holy Ghost gives thee the lye It is not Love but real Hatred Pro. 13.24 22.15 29.15 17. not to Correct offending Children Obj. But they are little and time enough hereafter Sol. Betimes While there is hope Nip them in the bud Prov. 19.18 small hopes afterward if neglected now Obj. I cannot endure to hear him cry Sol. Let not thy Soul spare for his crying 'T is strange to see how the Holy Ghost meets with these fond Parents at every turning Obj. But would you have me cruel to my own Child Sol. No. And therefore Correct him Thou art unmerciful and cruel to thy Child if thou dost not Correct him Pro. 23.13 He will dye and perish if thou Correct him not His Arm is gangreen'd he dies if thou dost not cut it off He is in an Apoplexy cup him lance him scarifie him or he is gone and that for ever Obj. Alas Childrens faults are nothing Sol. What is their Stubornness Pride Lying Disobedience it may be Cursing Swearing nothing These all lead to Hell from whence thy Rod is ordain'd and sanctified by God to deliver him Prov. 23.14 Obj. But this is the way to make my Child hate me yea to make him a Dullard a Sot so that I shall never have any comfort in him Sol. Better that thy Child should hate thee for doing thy Duty than thy God for committing sin yea a comprehensive complicated sin All the sins thy child commits upon thy neglect of Correction are thine own but read and believe Solomon Pro. 29.17 Correct thy Son and he shall give thee rest yea he shall give delight unto thy Soul 3. When ever you Correct be sure you admonish your Child So in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 join'd Thus David saith thy Heavenly Fa-doth He Chasteneth first and then teacheth Psal 94.12 Lay Gods Law and his sin against that Law before him I have known a man that when he Corrected his Child would bring his Bible forth cause his Child to read such a Scripture as spake home to the Case and this hath pierced deeper than the Rod. Not beat with rigor nor yet with silence nor give strokes without words which may possibly cause the Child to see his fault and come to an amendment In publick Justice there goes Eviction of the fact before the Sentence and a word of Admonition before Execution If our Child heedlesly fall into the dirt we do not let him lye and beat him but first help him up settle all rhings well about him after that Correct him but close all with charging him to look better to his feet 4. To Correction and Admonition Add faithful fervent constant supplications Without this all other means are ineffectual 'T is thy Heavenly Father that must do the feat at last 'T is he alone must work effectually in thy poor Child both to will and do Bring him to Bethesda put him in there begg thy God to stir the waters and to make them healing With the woman of Canaan carry thy Child to Christ Mat. 15.22 Remember Job He sent and sanctified his Children Job 1.5 Would'st thou have thy Child a Samuel a Solomon an Austin Be thou an Hannah a Bathsheba a Monica 1 Sam. 1.12 to 19 20. Pro. 31 2. Let thy Child be the Child of thy Prayers Vows Tears and that 's the way to make him a Child of thy Praises Joys and Triumphs with the Father in the Parable Luk. 15.32 5. For a close of all Add a good Example Cause it to appear to thy Childs Conscience that thou hast begun to mend first to repent of thy darling sin of Indulgence That done thou mayst fairly hope that this Load-stone may draw him to Repentance Parents Examples are high Magneticks 2 King 14.3 15.3.34 Obj. Say both Severe and Indulgent Parents These things have we done and that faithfully and yet our Children remain wicked Sol. 1. However none have more cause to expect and with patience to wait for Gods blessing on use of means because your Children are certainly under Gods faithfull Promise Gen. 17.7 Isa 44.3 2. You have delivered your own Souls Ezek. 3.19 3. Your Endeavours graciously accepted Isa 49.4 2 Cor. 8.12 4. Your Prayers shall return into your own bosom Psal 35.13 Quest How may we best cure the Love of being Flatter'd SERMON VIII PROV XXVI v. 28. A Lying Tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering Mouth worketh ruine IT was the Psalmist's complaint of that Age he lived in That there was no faithfulness in their mouths that while they flatter'd with their tongue their throat was an open Sepulcher Psal 5.9 10. equally devouring and insatiable In these words we may take up as mournful a complaint of our own Age or in the words of the Psal 12.1 The faithful fail from among the Children of men whilst Lying Tongues first afflict the Innocent and then hate those they afflict which is the Method that opener Enemies do observe and is the subject of the former part of the Verse Among these men Truth and Justice have no place nor bear sway but is it any whit better among pretended Friendships Flattering mouths work Ruine such smooth and Oily tongues do more slily and yet not less surely undo us The former ruine us by others the latter ruine us by our selves and these the more dangerous and cruel because they do destroy under the Covert of abused friendship making that which should be sacred among men a means to effect the most barbarous Tragedies of this the latter part of the Verse speaketh which doth present us with a Picture that in different positions sets forth the counterfeit of the greatest and most amiable beauty the counterfeit of Friendship appears in the face and at first view but if you change your place and view it at nearer distance it presents to your view a secret dangerous and destructive Enemy one that worketh ruine With this I must entertain you who either hear or read me and make it as I suppose Solomon designed it a Preservative against the ruine which Loved and affected flattery draws upon men There are few I think none but have been sometime or other more or less wounded with the sting of this Scorpion I begg you will patiently suffer me to bruise the head on the wound the Sting hath made that you may be heal'd at least the deadlyness of the Venom may be prevented This I am to endeavour while I state this Case How may we best Cure the Love of being flatter'd Solomon in our
our principal perfections in Heaven and Earth These he recommends by the most affectionate and obliging the most warming melting Perswasives the superlative Love of God to us and our Communion with the Saints in Nature and Grace In the former Verse the Apostle argues for the reality of the effect as an evidence of the Cause Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ that is the Saviour of the world foretold to the Prophets and expresses the truth of that Faith in a sutable conversation is born of God and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him Grace is not less powerful in producing tender reciprocal affections between the off-spring of the same heavenly Father than the subordinate endearments of Nature The pretence is vain of Love to God without loving his regenerate Children And in the Text he argues from the knowledge of the Cause to the discovering of the sincerity of the Effect By this we know that we love the Children of God with a holy affection if we love God and keep his Commandments There is but one difficulty to be removed that the force of the Apostles reasoning may appear 't is this a Medium to prove a thing must be of clearer evidence than what is concluded by it Now though a demonstration from the Cause be more noble and scientifical yet that which is drawn from the Effect is more near to Sence and more discernable And this is verified in the Instance before us for the Love of God who is absolutely spiritual in his Being and Excellencies doth not with that sensible fervour affect and passionately transport us as Love to his Children with whom we visibly converse and who are receptive of the most sensible testimonies of our Affection Accordingly the Apostle argues He that loves not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen As the Motives to love our Brethren from our conjunction in Nature and familiar Conversation are more capable to allure our Affections and more sensibly strike the Heart than the invisible Deity who is infinitely above us by the same reason we may more easily judge of the truth of our Love to them than of our Love to God To this the Answer is clear the Apostle doth not speak of the Love of God as a still silent contemplative affection confined to to the superior Faculty of the Soul but as a burning shining affection like Fire * Lumine qui semper proditur ipso suo active and declarative of it self in those effects that necessarily flow from it that is voluntary obedience to his Commands and thus it becomes manifest to the renewed Conscience and is a most convincing proof of the sincerity of our Love to the Saints The Text being cleared affords this Doctrine Doctrine The sincerity of our Love to the Children of God is certainly discovered by our Love to God and Obedience to his Commands For the Illustration and Proof of the Point I will briefly shew 1. Who are described by this Title the Children of God 2. What is included in our Love to them 3. What the Love of God is and the obedience that flows from it 4. How from love to God and willing obedience to his Commands we may convincingly know the sincerity of our love to his Children To explain the first we must consider that this Title the Children of God is given upon several accounts 1. By Creation the Angels are called the Sons of God and Men his off-spring The reason of the Title is 1. The manner of their production by his immediate Power Thus he is stiled The Father of Spirits in distinction from the Fathers of the Flesh For though the conception and forming of the Body be the work of his secret Providence yet 't is by the hand of Nature the Parents concurring as the second Causes of it but the production of the Soul is to be entirely ascribed to his power without the intervention of any Creature 2. In their spiritual immortal Nature and the intellectual operations flowing from it there is an Image and resemblance of God from whence this Title is common to all reasonable Creatures and peculiar to them for though the Matter may be ordered and fashioned by the hand of God into a figure of admirable beauty yet 't is not capable of his likeness and image so that neither the Lights of Heaven nor the Beasts and plants of the Earth are called his Children II. By external Calling and Covenant some are denominated his Children for by this Evangelical Constitution God is pleased to receive Believers into a filial relation Indeed where there is not a cordial consent and subjection to the Terms of the Covenant visible Profession and the receiving the external Seals of it will be of no advantage but the publick serious owning of the Gâ—â—pel entitles a person to be of the Society of Christians and filius and foederatus are all one III. There is a Sonship that arises from supernatural regeneration that is the communicating a new nature to man whereby there is a holy and blessed change in the directive and commanding Faculties the Understanding and Will and in the Affections and consequently in the whole Life This is wrought by the efficacy of the Word and Spirit and is called by our Saviour Regeneration because it is not our original carnal Birth but a second and celestial 'T is with the new man in Grace as with an Infant in Nature that has the essential parts that compose a man a Soul endowed with all its faculties a Body with all its organs and parts but not in the vigor of mature age Thus renewed Holiness in a Christian is compleat and entire in its parts but not in perfection of degrees there is a universal inclination to all that is holy just and good and a universal aversion from sin though the executive power be not equal And regenerate Christians are truly called the Children of God for as in natural generation there is communicated a Principle of Life and sutable Operations from whence the Title and Relation of a Father arises so in Regeneration there are derived such holy and heavenly qualities to the Soul as constitute a Divine Nature in man whereby he is partaker of the Life and Likeness of God himself from hence he is a Child of God and has an interest and propriety in his Favour Power and Promises and all the good that flows from them and a Title to the eternal inheritance Secondly I will shew what is included in our Love to the Children of God 1 Pet. 1.22 1. The Principle of this Love is Divine The Soul is purified through the Spirit to unfeigned Love of the Brethren Naturally the Judgment is corrupted and the Will depraved that carnal respects either of Profit or Pleasure are the quick and sensible incitements of Love and till the Soul be cured of the sensual contagion the
of the Papists would carry it to advance the Merit of good works if the bearing yea and religious bringing up of children were the cause and means by which Women should be saved what would become of those pious Virgins yea Wives and Widows who have either prov'd barren or through some other defect have brought forth no children It would follow according to this supposition That they would be excluded salvation which yet could not be consistent with what their great School-man * Aquin. sum Theol. 2da 2ae Q. 152.4 asserts in celebrating the praises of Virginity which he extols above Matrimony tho elsewhere he concludes Matrimony to be meritorious and in his Comment on the Text saith Virginitas est excellentior Matrimonio Suppl Q. 41. A. 4. Actus matrimonialis semper â—â—ritorius The Woman shall be saved altho she go by generation i. e. if she marry and be not a Virgin Whereupon he adds This by implying a Repugnancy imports the augmentation of Salvation q. d. by the generation of Children for the Word of God she shall rather or be more saved But be sure however it be difficult to reconcile the Popish Authors with themselves all that come to Heaven are truly of Gods meer grace meritoriously saved by Christ In whom there is no distinction of Sex or condition but all believers male or female are one in him o Gal. 3.28 Col. 3.11 through whom there is no difference of married or unmarried as to justification and Salvation Some in deed learned Protestants * D. N. Knatchbull follow'd by Dr. Hammond do interpret by with relation to Child-bearing as if the Apostle did mean by the bearing or generation of a son the child born i. e. the seed of the woman namely Jesus ‡ Luke 1.35 Gen. 3.15 who should bruise the Serpents head by whom alone Adam and Eve and their posterity should be sav'd if they continue in Faith c. And so to pass by what some of the Ancients ‖ Origen in Mat. Rom. August de Tim. l 12. c. 7 c have written allegorically and less solidly upon the word Theophylact reports some to have understood it of the Virgin Mary whom he would not have it restrained to but rejects that Exposition However some Papists * Tirinus c. would have it understood of her whom they worship ‡ Clarus Bonarscius al. Scribanius as sinless contrary to Scripture and right Reason For then the comfort from this Scripture would have been appropriated to the Virgin Mary and to no other woman But the Apostle speaks in this verse of that which is future and not past as he had constantly done in the forgoing verses which will evince also that the above said Protestants do not fully reach the sense of Paul here when they interpret it of the womans bearing the seed that had been promised and which was the mean foretold and fulfilled for bruising the Serpents head and so for rescuing the woman from that eternal punishment which was justly deserved by her sin However rhey imagine they have a colour for their Opinion from the Context viz. Ver. 12. The woman i. e. Eve being deceived was first guilty of eating the Forbidden Fruit but was rescued from the punishment by the promised seed i. e. by the Messiah born of her to redeem that Nature he assum'd yet not absolutely but on condition of Faith c. and continuing in all these So the advantage should not only accrue to Eve her self but to all her posterity It must be granted as an undoubted truth that Christ is the seed of the Woman meant in the first promise the Son tho not immediately of Eve the Mother of all men o Gen. 3.16.20 he is the Saviour by whom alone salvation to eternal glory is attainable Yet to restrain this child-bearing in my Text only to the bearing of Christ as it is more Novel so it seems too narrow to reach the Apostles meaning sith as one p Zanch. Tom. 3. l. 4. p. 727. notes this state is best accommodated to every faithful Woman as well as Eve and the blessed Virgin continuing constant in the exercise of Faith and Love of Christ to promote her own salvation as anon we shall see the Plural in the next clause doth import and that we may clearly understand the Apostle doth here speak of conjugal conversation he doth expresly name child-bearing not signifying the child born but the act of bearing children as 't is used elsewhere in this very Epistle p 1 Tim. 5.14 and also in prophane Authors ‖ Hippocrat in Epist ad Demag Xenophon 2. There be who render this Particle for as noting the final cause * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter Episcopius Scharpius Finis servatae mulieris Wherefore she shall be saved unto this end namely that she may procreate and bear children and consequently if she continue in the holy Exercises following in my Text she shall be eternally sav'd But this conceit so far as I apprehend wants a sufficient ground for the use of this Particle elsewhere in the New Testament in such a contexture with a Genitive case And the Apostle cannot here be easily understood of the end wherefore the woman is sav'd sith he makes salvation it self the end and speaks here of the Graces with which Christian Women are qualified and their Exercises to which they are engaged as incumbent on them to the attaining of that great end which is with a non obstante or notwithstanding oppos'd to the sad consequent of that deception which the woman was first guilty of and so brought her self and posterity to be obnoxious to As for Hensius * In locum his conjecture that child-bearing here notes marriage which he saith for the scarcity of the Greek he would have so called from the principal end of it child-bearing 't is a meer fancy without probable ground being the Apostle useth the same compound word in this Epistle verbally as diverse from marriage tho no doubt bearing and bringing up of children is a very proper and signal Office of a married woman 3. Some would have it rendred from as noting the term from which out of or through which the escape or deliverance is made as 't is said of those in the Ark they were saved from the Deluge out of or through the waters q 1 Pet. 3.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we in our Translation read by the waters and elsewhere r 1 Cor 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall be sav'd so as by fire i. e. as those from or out of the fire connoting the difficulty of escaping and not being consumed q. d. She shall pass safe from or out of child-bearing and be delivered as a fire-brand out of the burning s Amos 4.11 Yet as a learned man * Dr. Hammond thinks this doth not fully reach the Apostles meaning here because that which