yea drink abundantly O beloved q. d. Thou shalt no sooner ask than be answer'd I accept thy graces and duties thy bitter repentance and thy fragrant holiness they are most sweet to me notwithstanding their imperfections and ye O my Friends whether blessed Angels or gracious Souls do you chear your selves with the same spiritual dainties wherewith I am refreshed This is much but there is more in the next expression I shall name (w) Cant. 6.5 Turn away thine eyes from me for they have overcome me q. d. I am ravish'd and vanquish'd by thy fixed eye of faith in short see the Spouse's closing request (y) Cant. 8.14 Make hast my beloved and be thou like to a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of Spices q. d. as I began this Song my dearest Saviour with passionate desires of thy first coming by the Preaching of the Gospel so though I thankfully praise thee for all the communion I have had with thee yet I cannot my Lord but more passionately long for thy glorious coming to take me with thee from these bottoms of death and valleys of tears to those eternal heights where nothing springs but life and glory that instead of this Song I may sing a new one to the Lamb and to him that sits upon the Throne unto all eternity Thus but in a far more Seraphick manner than I am able to express the Soul-loving God as the God-loving Soul (z) Zeph. 3.17 are rejoycing in each other with joy till they rest in each other's love In short the Soul that loves God is never so well as when most immediately with him and while there 's any distance many a love-glance passeth between God and the Soul even in the greatest croud of business and diversions 4. A putting a love-interpretation upon all things God looks upon the very miscarriages of those whom he loves as their infirmities and puts a better interpretation upon them than they dare do themselves (a) Mark 14 37 â—8 40. The Disciples slept when Christ bade them watch they wist not what to answer him Christ himself excuseth it better than they could in saying the spirit truly is ready but the flesh is weak And the loving Soul is as loath to take any thing ill at the hands of God when 't is never so bad with the Soul he blesseth God that it is no worse God and the loving Soul do those things towards each other which nothing but love can put a good interpretation upon the truth is without love 't were intollerable e. g. God requires that Service of the gracious Soul that he requires of no other viz. to bless God when persecuted to rejoyce in tribulations to hope against hope c. God puts the Soul that loves him upon those trials that he puts upon no other viz. Those chastisements from himself those reproaches from men those buffetings from Satan which are peculiar to Saints but the Soul heartily loveth God under all these Again the Soul grows upon God in prayer and the more it receives from God the more insatiable it is and God loves the Soul the better for it When afflictions are extream those that love God put the affliction upon the account of God's faithfulness On the other hand when the poor Soul is foil d and Satan runs with the tidings of it to set God against him God pities the Soul Zech. 3.1 2. c. and rates the Accuser And he shewed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him and the Lord said to Satan the Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee Joshua was cloathed with filthy garments take away the filthy garments from him c. Here 's Joshua the High Priest while executing his Office in offering Sacrifices and Prayers for the people Satan arraigns him as a Prisoner at the Bar and the accusation being true and vehement Satan takes the upper hand but now Jesus Christ as well the Patron as the Judge of Saints cuts him short with a vehement reproof and tells him those sins could not make void that choice which they could not at first hinder and farther Christ as it were tells him they had been severely punished half burnt and wasted by the heat of Gods displeasure and would he now re-kindle that fire No Satan thy charge is as it were thrown out of the Court his sins shall be pardoned his graces multiplyed and upon the well-discharging of his office he shall have places to walk among them that stand by Alluding to the walks and galleries about the Temple q. d. Thou shalt walk with these glorious Angels they shall be thy Companions and Guardians where Satan hath no place So that Christ loves a Soul the more not the less for Satan's accusations To all these effects add these Concomitants or those things that have agreement with or are near of kin to Divine Love which do not really differ from it only express some part or manner of it In short 't is love under some other form or notion I shall only mention two Concomitants 1. Devotion which is an absolute delivering up of our selves to Gods Worship and Service so as by no flatteries or dangers to be diverted (e) 1 Tim. 4.15 Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all Herein lyes the strength of Religion and the spiritual pleasure of it herein the Soul can say with some kind of triumph (f) Isa 12.2 3. Behold God is my Salvation I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and Song he also is become my Salvation Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation Christians we must not only be barely frequent in religious actions but we must act as those that are given up to God we must mind the fervour of Religion We must be exceeding watchful over out thoughts to keep them from vanity and over our affections to keep them from entanglement I would therefore commend it to you to single out every morning some short passages of Scripture or some encouraging promise that hath affected you to roll in your minds or to lye upon your hearts all day to maintain this holy fervour nothing works and keeps such an impression upon the heart as Scripture 2. The other concomitant is Zeal which is the most intense degree of desire and endeavour to please and honour God 'T is the boiling up of the affections to the greatest heat this must be the companion of every grace now Zeal is exprest against sin or in duty In the exercise of Zeal against sin I beg of you to observe this Rule viz. Whatever act of Zeal you express towards others double it first upon your selves whatever evil you reprove or would reform in others be doubly strict against it in your selves
benefit of holiness the more holy you may be 2. Knowledge will be most useful for the Avoiding of sin The more knowledg you have of the nature of sin the abundance of it in your selves its offensiveness to God The more knowledg you have of the rule the exactness the purity the Spirituality and extent of the Law and so the better able you are to judge what sin is and what its consequences are the better you may escape it The clearer your knowledg and the stronger your convictions are of the evil of sin the more Arguments you are furnished with to perswade your hearts against it A good treasure of Spiritual knowledg will best help you to maintain your Spiritual warfare When you know not only your Leader and your weapons and your reward but your Enemies too and their stratagems and way of lighting you are like then to be most couragious in your combate 3. Knowledg will be greatly useful to you for your Profiting by ordinances The better you understand the nature and use and ends of them the more good you are like to get by them The more you know of the word the more you will still learn by it If the foundation of Spiritual knowledg be well laid Ordinances will more easily build you up Not only the work of Ministers would be more easie if their hearers were better Catechized there would not be such danger of missing the mark by shooting over peoples heads they would not lose so much labour nor spend so much strength in vain they should not need so much to study plainness and be inculcating principles and lisping out the first rudiments of Religion as to those that are but babes in knowledg But hearers likewise would receive the word with more profit they would more easily be brought down under convictions feel the power of Exhortations be quickned to duties yield to reproofs entertain admonitions and tast the sweetness of God's consolations and so more easily obtain the end of their hearing To conclude if your understandings were more enlightned your affections would either be sooner warmed or their heat be more regular if more truth were known more duty would be done if our doctrine were better understood our application would be more effectual 2. Spiritual knowledg is most delightful Prov. 24.13 14. The knowledg of wisdom is said to be to the soul as the hony and hony-comb to the taste The knowledg of truth which is the proper object of the understanding doth usually carry something of pleasure in it and the more excellency there appears in any truth the more delectable a thing it is to know it But there be no truths so excellent as Spiritual ones such as concern God and Christ and the mysteries of Salvation and therefore the knowledg of none is so delightful What high and refined delights doth the contemplation of God in all his holy attributes and excellencies afford to glorious Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect How do those Heavenly creatures despise the gross and faeculent pleasures of the sensual World And though Saints here upon Earth cannot rise so high in their delights because not so high in their knowledg yet they may find incomparably more pleasure in knowing the things of God even according to their present capacity than the greatest voluptuaries can in the enjoyment of the creature If a Philosopher can take more pleasure in the study of nature or a Mathematician in his demonstrations than a sensualist can in his feasts and treatments if lines and angles can do more for the mind of the one than meats and drinks for the palat of the other How far then do the delights a gracious soul finds in the study and search of Divine truths transcend both And this pleasure is yet more heightned by the Interest Saints have in the truths they know when they are not only excellent in themselves but of the greatest consequence to them To know God and that as their God to know Christ and that he is a Christ for them to know the Saints priviledges and that they belong to them to know the promises and that they have a share in them to know there is a Heaven a state of future glory and blessedness and that themselves are concerned in it this must needs be a delightful knowledg You can take some pleasure in seeing a rich country and pleasant seat and fine houses but much more if you see them as they that are to inherit them If a natural man may take some pleasure in the mere notion of divine truths how much more may he do it that is concerned in them 3. This knowledg doth greatly adorn and beautifie the Soul It is a considerable part of the soul's perfection Col. 3.10 The Image of God is said to consist as in righteousness and true holiness so likewise in knowledg How full of it was Adam in Paridise And how full of it are Angels in Heaven The more men know of God the more like they are to him and the more they resemble him the more beautiful and perfect they are You count a clear eye not only useful to the body but a piece of beauty in it Light in the mind is an ornament to the Soul as well as a help Saints in Heaven that are most perfect are most knowing and the fulness of their knowledg is a great part of their perfection 4. It is a most becoming thing most suitable to you as Christians suitable to your new nature your new state your Spiritual relations and Spiritual priviledges It ill becomes them who are called into Gods marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Who are the children of Light Eph. 5.8 and the children of him who is the Father of Lights Jam. 1.17 they that are said to be in the Light 1. Joh. 2.9 nay to be Light Eph. 5.8 yet to he without light An ignorant Saint is as great a Soloecism in Christianity as a Graceless Saint and that is such a Saint as is no Saint 5. Consider the mischief and danger of ignorance 1. It exposeth you to errors and delusions Math. 22.29 Who so apt to be misled as he that hath no eyes He that knows not which is the right way may easily be drawn into a wrong one He that walks in darkness knows not whither he goes Joh. 12.35 Affection is a good follower but a bad leader It is too blind to be a guide It embraces its object and yet knows it not It must be beholden to the eye of the mind light in the understanding or else all its motions will be but wandrings It will be sure to rove where it is not led It is an egregious paralogism of them that argue against the translation of the Scriptures into vulgar languages that that is the way to increase errors and divisions among Christians For that multitude of errors which is among us is not the effect of too much knowledg but too little as Mens losing
holy of the Lord twice in this 13. verse and this not in reference only to the seventh day but in reference to the first day of the week which this Evangelical Prophet had then by divine revelation in his eye How much more doth it concern us who are reserved to this glorious Administration under the Gospel to own the Divine right of the Evangelical Sabbath Surely it is the voice of the glorious Trinity that calls it my holy day God the Father by Creation God the Son by Redemption and God the Holy Ghost by Sanctification sending down a rich and plentiful effusion of Gifts and Graces upon the Apostles for the enabling them to go forth and convert the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospel To deny God his own right is Sacriledge and Atheism We learn from hence that we must give God the whole Entire day my day saith God a few hours or the forenoon vvill not serve Gods turn but he challengeth the whole time as his own peculiar There is a great dispute amongst Divines when the Sabbath begins and when it ends the text determineth the controversie saith God all is mine The vvhole 24 hours is Sabbath look how many hours vve reckon to our days so many hours vve must reckon to Gods days also if vve vvill be ingenuous Obj. But vvho is able to spend the vvhole 24 hours in religious duties without any intermission Answ None neither is it required for neither do we our selves on our days spend the whole 24 hours in the imployments of our particular places and callings but vve allow our selves a sleeping time and a time for preparing our food and a time for eating and drinking and other refreshments of nature both for our selves and our relations and so doth God also provided always 1. That vve be not overlavish and prodigal in our indulgences to the flesh and the concernments of the outward man that vve exceed not our limits of Christian sobriety and moderation 2. Provided that we do not those things with common spirits we must eat and drink and sleep as part of the Sabbath-work with heavenly minds and Sabbath affections The occasional Sabbaths amongst the Jews gave them a greater latitude no more time of those days being counted holy than was spent in the publique service of the day which continued but from nine of the clock in the morning when the morning sacrifice was to be offered and ended at three of the clock in the afternoon at evening sacrifice But the weekly Sabbath was holy in the whole extent of it not indeed by constitution but by institution and consecration God blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it i. e. set it apart for divine and holy uses of which more infra In our sanctifying of the Sabbath Rule or Note we must have an equal respect to the negative prohibition as to the affirmative injunction i. e. to what is forbidden as well as what is commanded è contra And this is a rule which holds in the exposition of all the Commandments of the Law and of the Gospel Cease to do evil and learn to do good The negative and affirmative precept have such a mutual relation one to another that one doth infer the other and take away one and you destroy the other It is impossible to do what is commanded without due care of avoiding what is prohibited neither can that man rationally pretend to keep the Sabbath that lieth a bed all day because he doth not work not he that followeth his servile labour because possibly he may perform some religious duties What God hath joined together let no man put asunder Carnal sports and pleasures are as great a profanation of the Sabbath as the most servile labour and drudgery in the world Dicing and carding do as much violate the Law of the Sabbath as digging and carting playing as much as ploughing dancing and morrice-games as much as working in the smiths-forge Bowling and shooting as well as hewing of wood and drawing of water The reasons are clear for 1. Sports and pleasures are as expresly forbidden as bodily labour in our ordinary vocation for he that said thou shalt do no manner of work said also thou shalt not find thine own pleasures c. 2. Sports and pleasures are as inconsistent with a Sabbath frame of spirit as the grossest labour in our calling yea I 'le undertake that a man in his particular calling may more easily get good thoughts of God and of eternal life c. than a person that is drench't and immers't in vain delights and sports In such cases men are usually so intent upon their sports and pastimes that it is not easie to edge in a good serious thought in the midst of sensual delights Tota in toto tota in quâliâ—et parte A man in his carnal pleasures is like the soul in the body All in all and all in every part of their pleasing vanities pleasures do fox and intoxicate the brain when as labour is apt to make them serious and considerate 3. Reason Pleasures are as great diversions from the duty of a Sabbath as labours It is conceived Adam should have had a Sabbath in Paradise had he persisted in innocence why not because his dressing of the garden would have wearied him for weariness is the fruit of sin but his dressing of the garden would have been a diversion from attending his Creator in the Ordinances of a Sabbath 4. Carnal pleasures leave a defilement on the spirits and so do totally unfit the soul for communion with God That Character lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God how fully doth it agree to such kind of profaners of the Sabbath Pleasures draw off the mind from God and justly cause God to withdraw from the soul how totally doth this indispose to Sabbath work In heaven they cease not day and night saying holy holy holy c. Oh Christians never think of reconciling carnal pleasure and Communion with God together it is impossible 7th Obs Not speaking thine own words The Sabbath is polluted by words as well as by works Christ will judge men in the great day for their words and by them will he either justifie thee for sanctifying the Sabbath or condemn thee for profaning of it I am afraid it is the great controversie God hath with this nation not only profane but even professors are all guilty of not sanctifying the name and Day of God in their talk and discourses upon the Sabbath Day If Jesus Christ should join himself to our Tables Luke 24.15 16 17. or lesser companies as he did with the two Disciples going to Emaus and ask us what manner of communications are these which ye have one with another how might the question fill our faces with paleness and strike us speechless Alass who can tell what day it is by mens discourses and conferences one with another how vain foolish unprofitable and unsavory is most
will sing Praise to the Name of the Lord most High And sometimes he calls upon others 1 Chron. 16.9 Sing unto him sing Psalms unto him and tell of his wondrous Works Nay sometimes he summons the whole Earth to join in this duty 1 Chron. 16.23 Psalm 68.32 Sing unto the Lord all the Earth shew forth from day to day his Salvation And holy Hezekiah he propagated this service 2 Chron. 29.30 Nay in their times when the Royal Majesty was lodg'd in Judah Singers were a peculiar Office enjoined constantly to sing the Praises of the Lord 1 Kings 10.12 And Jehosaphat appointed Singers 2 Chron. 20.21 Nay and Asaph Heman Jeduthun and Ethan men eminent and holy were employed in this holy service 2 Chron. 5.12 But why should I light a Candle at Noon-day Thus this harmonious service was most usual and most acceptable in the times of the Law And I need not straggle from my Text to bring in Gospel-Precept for this sweet Ordinance And the Apostle takes care to acquaint other Churches with the same injunction So Colos 3.16 Col. 3.16 Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And so firmly the Apostle states this Musical Service this exhilarating Ordinance that he himself act his own injunction though fettered in a Prison and makes Barnabas a Companion of his Song as well as of his Sorrows Acts 16.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They Hymned God i.e. they celebrated his Praises with a Hymn and as Bede saith Lorinus Bede with singing 2. From Scripture-Argument And I shall only take out one shaft out of the whole Quiver I shall use one Argument among many which is this viz. We always find this duty of singing Psalms linked to and joyned with other Moral Duties Thus the Psalmist joyns Singing and Prayer together Psal 95.1 6. O come let us sing unto the Lord Psal 95.1.6 in the first Verse O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker in the sixth Verse There is Prayer and Singing connexed Singing being supposed to be of equal necessity and authority with other Ordinances And so the Apostle James Jam. 5.3 joins these two together Is any among you afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalms So you may observe both these Services are equally calculated for man's necessity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. 119. Quad Orthodox Thus Paul and Silas join them in their practice Acts 16.25 And so Justin Martyr in his 117. Question ad Orthodoxos tells us that in his time They Sang and sent up Prayers to God the Primitive Church confirming David's Injunction and the Apostolical Command So that by these instances we may observe That the duty of Praying and Singing have walk'd in the same equipage and lay claim to an equal Authority from Divine Writ the Scripture jointly favouring both 3. From Scripture-Pattern Moses both pens a Psalm viz. the Ninetieth and sings a Holy Song and the 15th of Exodus Is the record of it So David tripudiates in the practice of this delightful service Psal 104.33 Psal 104.33 Nay David composeth Psalms and Hezekiah appoints them to be Sung 2 Chron. 29.30 So David and Asaph Hezekiah and the Levites all join to Sing forth the praises of the Lord. Nay our dearest Jesus the King of Saints and the Redeemer of Mankind practiseth this sweet duty and calls in his blessed Apostles to make up the Quire Mat. 26.30 Rev. 15.3 Mat. 26.30 And when they had Sung an Hymn they went up into the Mount of Olives Our blessed Saviour honours this Ordinance with his own practice and this he did a little before his death so to seal this Ordinance with his blood as well as to consecrate it with his lips Thus this Celestial Quire of Christ and his Apostles six this sweet Ordinance in the Church for future successions 4. From Scripture-Prophesie And here I may speak of Singing as Paul speaks of Timothy's Ordination 1 Tim. 4.14 It was given by Prophesie There are divers Prophesies in the Old Testament concerning this Ordinance in the New So in Psal 108.2 Upon which Mollerus Mollerus observes That in that Text David pours forth ardent Prayers and wishes for the Kingdom of Christ And so Divines observe that the Psalm 100.1 2. are Prophetical Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye Lands serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with Singing To which may be added that pregnant prophesie recorded in Isa 52.8 Isa 52 8. Speculatores simul jubilabunt opinare quantum sit gaudium futurum ob Redemptionem ad eptamper Christum Musc My watchmen shall lift up their voice with their voice together shall they sing which clearly prognosticates this Musical Ordinance in Gospel times And Musculus much favours this Interpretation when he saith These watchmen shall Jubilee when they shall consider the great joy approaching for the Redemption obtained by Christ And there are two things which not only establish but sweeten and honour an Ordinance 1. Promises 2. Prophesies Christ himself was the fruit and issue of both Secondly we may take notice of the sweetness of this Duty Singing is the Soul's Jubilee Our Spiritual recreation The shout of the heart Our tuning of our Hallelujahs The sweetest solace of a Sanctified Soul David was in a kind of rapture when he cries out I will Sing praise to the Lord while I have my being Psal 104.33 Psal 104.33 One well observes of Singing There is a dilating of the sound and a drawing out of the voice which gives more tïme for the fixing of the heart upon that which is Sung and so puts the Soul upon a sweeter Meditation Psal 10.4 34. Psal 104.34 And we may animadvert it That when we Sing Psalms there is more than ordinary raising and lifting up of the Soul there is an elevation to a higher degree of Communion with God It is the Soul 's high Mount towards Heaven the Saint flies higher towards the Element and Sphere of joy Then we are fledged for sublime things One asserts There is not a greater resemblance of Heaven upon Earth than a company of God's people Singing a Psalm together Then the Soul rejoyceth in Divine goodness and exults in Divine excellencies meditates on Divine promises And whatever we make the matter of our Singing it will much affect the heart 1. If we Sing of God Of his goodness It inflames our heart to love Of his Wisdom It raiseth our heart to admiration Rom. 11.33 Of his Power It engageth the heart to Faith and Confidence Nay of his Judgments It over-awes the heart to a due and reverential Fear 2. If we Sing of any thing concerning our selves If for the diversion of a trouble It fills the heart with humility If for the obtaining of a mercy It boils up the heart in Desire 3. If we Sing of
Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever And when they began to sing and to praise the Lord set ambushments against the Children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir which came against Israel and they were smitten Israel's success follows Israel's singing If the people of Israel will look to their Duty God will look to their Enemy and lay that Ambush which shall ensnare and overthrow their power 3. With Evident Miracles This we find upon Record Acts 16.25 26. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard them and suddenly there was a great Earth-quake so that the Foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately the doors were opened and every ones hands were loosed Behold here an eminent Miracle Prisons saluting the Prisoner's Liberty Paul and Silas singing set God on working and if their Tongues were loosed in Duty their hands shall be loosed for Liberty Singing like praying can work wonders Lorinus observes Angelicà peculiari â—peâ—d Sâ—lâ—tio Vinculorum accidit Lorin Case that the prisoners Chains were taken off and their bands loosed by the peculiar power and work of Angels And now I come to the main Case How we may make melody in our hearts to God in Singing of Psalms Answ 1. We must sing with understanding We must not be guided by the Tune but the Words of the Psalm we must mind the Matter more than the Musick and consider what we sing as well as how we sing The Tune may affect the fancy but it is the Matter affects the heart and that God principally eyes The Psalmist adviseth us in this particular Psalm 47.7 and so doth the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.15 Otherwise this sweet Duty would be more the work of a Chorister than of a Christian and we should be more delighted in an Anthem of the Musician's making then in a Psalm of the Spirit 's making A Lapide observes that in the Text 1 Cor. 14.15 the word understanding is Maschil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profound judgment We must sing wisely if we will sing gratefully we must relish what we sing In a word we must sing as we must pray now the most rude Petitioner will understand what he prays 1 Cor. 14.15 If we do not understand what we sing it argues carelesness of Spirit or hardness of Heart and this makes the Service impertinent Upon this the worthy Davenant cries out Facessunt Boatus Papistarum qui Psalmos in Templis reboant sed linguà non intellectu Dav. Non clamans sed amans cantat in aure Dei Aug. Adieu to the bellowing of the Papists who sing in an unknown Tongue God will not understand us in this Service which we understand not our selves One of the first Pieces of the Creation was Light and this must break out in every Duty 2. We must sing with affection Love is the fulfilling of this Law It is a notable saying of Augustine It is not Crying but Loving sounds in the Ears of God In Isa 5.1 It is said I will sing to my Beloved The pretty Child sings a mean Song but it delights the Mother because there is love on both sides It is love not skill makes the Musick and the Service most pleasing When we go about this Work we must lay our Book before us a heart full of love The Primitive Christians sang Hymns to Christ whom they entirely loved Love indeed is that ingredient which sweetens and indulcorates every Service 3. We must sing with real Grace This the Apostle admonishes us Col. 3.16 It is Grace not Nature sweetens the Voice to sing We must draw out our Spices our Graces in this Duty The Hundred forty four thousand which were Elected and Glorified Saints sang the New song Rev. 14.3 Singing is the tripudiating of a gracious Soul Gratia est devotionis radix Gorran Gorran well notes That Grace is the Root of true Devotion Wicked men only make a noise they do not sing they are like crackt Strings of a Lute or a Viol they spoil they do not make Musick The Righteous rejoice in the Lord Psal 33.1 The Raven croaks the Nightingale sings the Tune As God will not hear Sinners when they pray so neither when they sing the singing of Wicked men is disturbance not obedience Indeed the Saints singing is a more solemn Ovation Praising Him who causeth them to triumph in Christ 2 Cor. 2.14 The Saints above sing their Hallelujahs in Glory and the Saints below must sing their Psalms with Grace Fashion Puppets as you please they cannot sing it is the alive Bird can chirrup that pleasing noise 4. We must sing with excited Grace Not only with Grace habitual but with excited and actual the Musical Instrument delights not but when it is plaid upon In this Duty we must follow Paul's advice to Timothy 1 Tim. 4.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up the Grace that is in us and cry out as David Psalm 57.8 Awake Love awake Delight The Clock must be pluckt up before it can guide our Time the Bird pleaseth not in her Nest but in her Notes the Chimes only make Musick while they are going Let us therefore beg the Spirit to blow upon our Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out when we set upon this Joyous Service Cant. 5.16 God loves active Grace in Duty that the Soul should be ready trim'd when it presents it self to Christ in any Worship 5. We must sing with spiritual joy Indeed singing only makes joy articulate it is only the turning of Bullion into Coyn as the Prophet speaks to this purpose Isa 65.14 Isa 65 14. Singing is only the triumphant gladness of a gracious heart a softer Rapture We must sing as David danced before the Ark 2 Sam. 6.15 with shouting and rejoycing in God We sing to Christ And Dr. Bound observes There is no joy comparable to that we have in him this is joy unspeakable and full of glory Joy must be the Selah of this Duty 6. We must sing with Faith This grace only puts a pleasingness upon every service if we hear the Word must be mixt with Faith Heb. 4.2 if we pray it must be the prayer of Faith Jam. 5.15 We must bring Faith to Christ's Table or else as Austin saith Dormit Christus si dormit Fides Dormit Christus si dormit Fides Aug. if Faith sleeps Christ is likewise asleep and so Faith must carry on this Ordinance of Singing especially there must be a credence in the Hallelujahs above we must believe that the Saints here are only tuning their Instruments and the louder Musick will be above that in glory there will be such pleasing sounds which the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 2.9 No Ear ever heard 7. We must sing in the Spirit As we must pray in the Spirit Jude v. 20. so we must sing in the Spirit the Spirit must breathe as well as Grace act or the Voice sound in this Duty
Davenant well observes they are called spiritual Songs ratione Originis in point of their Original Spiritu Sanct. impellente excitante Dav. the Spirit excites and impels the Soul to this holy Service and he observes that the Spirit is the prime Artificer in this work Thus in the foregoing Verse to the Text Ephes 5.18 the Apostle adviseth us to be filled with the Spirit and in the Text it self he calls us to be singing of Psalms and Hymns c. When the Spirit fell upon the Apostles Acts 2.1 then they spake those glorious things recorded and so must we sing being sublimated and raised with the Spirit This Wind as the Spirit is call'd John 3.8 must fill our Organ In Psalmis canendis praecipua Christianorum cura esse debet ut cor ritè afficiatur Dav. Quatuor sunt conditiones rectè canendi 1. Vocis abieritas 2. Operis conformitas 3. Cordis attentio 4. Pia rectitudo Gor. Cantas ut placeas populo non Deo francis vocem c. Bern. before we can make any Musick 8. And what Davenant suggests is very pertinent here In singing of Psalms our principal care must be of our Hearts and to follow the Wise man's counsel Prov. 4.23 to keep our Hearts with all diligence And this Learned man gives us a good reason For they who neglect their Hearts may please men with the artificial suavity of their Voice but they will displease God with the odious Impurity of their Hearts And we must watch our Hearts for vain and sinful Thoughts will fly-blow this Duty as well as others Gorran well observes There are four Conditions of right Singing There must be 1. The Alacrity of the Voice 2. The Conformity of the Work 3. The Attention of the Heart 4. A Rectitude towards God And holy Bernard draws up an Indictment against Offenders in this kind Thou singest saith he to please the people more than God thou breakest thy voice musically break thy Will morally thou keepest a Consonancy in thy Voice keep a Concord and Harm my in thy Manners A holy heart and life make them that sing to chant melodiously First purifie then thou wilt tune thy Heart 9. Neglect not Preparatory Prayer Prayer prepares for singing as well as other Ordinances Indeed Jehovah est Archimusicus the great Harmonist who must put every heart in tune he must screw up every peg of affection and strain every string of meditation in this Ordinance The Wise man observes Prov. 16.1 The preparations of the heart are from God Preparations in the plural number preparation to Hearing Preparation to Praying Preparation to receiving of the Holy Supper and so preparation to Singing Our singing must needs be melody to the Lord if it be assisted by the Lord God will surely hear the melody he himself makes in a gracious heart engaged in this duty Thus the Case may be answered Vse 1 This checks those who despise this Ordinance Who look upon it as Noise but not singing as the crackling of thorns but not the Musick of Hearts But these do not consider 1. The Holy Ends of this Duty viz. Sâ—ientiam quam compâ—ravimus ex serâ—pturis exprominus ad fratrem aedificandum In est appetitus piis gen randi pâ—â—s fideles Clem. Alex. 1. Psalms are sung for Instruction We instruct one another in this service this duty is for Spiritual and mutual Edification As a Learned man well observes That knowledge we acquire from the Scriptures we draw out in this duty for our brother's edification We edifie our brother by singing as well as by speaking by warbling forth the Word in Holy Singing as well as by urging and pressing the Word in Holy Discourse A Proclamation is never the less authentical because it is proclaim'd by sound of Trumpet the Tune only accents the Matter Clemens Alexandrinus well observes There is an appetite in good persons to strengthen their brethren and this may be done in singing as well as in other Ordinances 2. Psalms are sung for Admonition This the Apostle expresly intimates Col. 3.16 Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns we may reprove a sin in singing of a Psalm as well as in the quoting of a Text and incourage Vertue as well by lifting up our voice as by giving of our praise Thus David Psal 51.13 We may truly be Satyrists in this very Ordinance When we sing a Psalms of Judgment we may awaken sinners and when we sing Psalms of Mercy and loving-kindness we may incourage Saints 3. Psalms are sung for Praise and Thanksgiving Then as the Psalmist speaks Psal 17.8 We awake our Glory which Interpreters call the Tongue an excellent instrument for praising God Singing of Psalms is only the Eccho of Praise the rebound of a joyous heart in a laudatory Speech Praise loudly and Musically proclaim'd that men may hear our Thanksgivings and bear testimony to our gratulatory enlargements as the passenger bears witness to the Musick of a Grove there the pleasant birds sit and sing Now do such consider the rare effects of this Duty viz. of singing to the Lord and they are 1. Singing can sweeten a Prison Thus Paul and Silas indulcorated their bondage by this service Ne sit hora gratiae immunis gaudio Conventus nostri sonent Psalmos Cypr-Hoc genus delectationis est animae nostrae valdè cognatum Deus Psalmos instituiâ— ut ab iis simul caperetu utilitas Voluptas Chrysost Acts 16.25 As prayer can shed a perfume so singing can cast a delight on the most displicent dungeon this truly Divine Service can turn a prison into a paradise a place of restraint into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God As Cyprian used to triumph Our Conventions sing our Psalms 2. Singing can prepare us for sufferings When Christ was ready to be offered up he sang an Hymn with his Disciples Christ sups and sings then dyes Joy in the Lord whereof singing is only the rebound arms against the dint of suffering It is a good saying of Chrysostome Hoc genus delectationis c. This kind of delight is most natural to the Soul God appointed Psalms that from thence profit and pleasure may flow together Singing raises the heart above the discouragement of suffering nor can we so well muse upon our pains while we are so sedulously tuning our praises 3. Singing lightens and exhilarates the Soul We may say of this duty as Tremelius speaks of David's harp that by the Musick of it the storms of Saul's Spirit were allayed and he was composed and serene Singing both reveals and amplifies our joy It is not only a discovery but an improvement Psalmis nos oblectemus ex hisce hilaritatem nostram promanare annotandum est As a learned man well takes notice Let us delight our selves in singing Psalms and from them let us draw our Chearfulness and Delight Let all our sweet Waters gush from this spring Nor do such consider
any duty in that manner that is suitable and necessary thereunto ought to be laid aside but 5. To these I shall here add the external duties of religion and sacred ordinances to be used in the discharge of the work of the day 1. Is confession of sin a fast day is for atonement and therefore confession of sin is necessary As we read of Ezra when he heard of the sin of the Jews in their making affinity with the people of the Land he rent his garment and sat astonied till the evening sacrifice and made confession of their sin Ezra 9.7 8 9 10. So in Nehem. 9.1 2. we read the Children of Israel were assembled with fasting and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their Fathers And so Daniel in his solemn fast which he set himself to in the behalf of the Captivity now almost expired he makes an ample confession of sin as we read Dan 9.4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. And as a fast is an extraordinary duty so confession of sin ought to be more than ordinary in such a day and what may suffice at another time may not be sufficient then It ought to be more extensive with respect to the several kinds and acts of sin with respect to the aggravations of sin and with respect to the persons that are under guilt and with respect to the inward principles of sin in the heart out of which all actual sins do spring As Daniels confession of sin extended to the kinds of it the several aggravations of it and to the persons that were concern'd in it as their Kings Princes Fathers people of the Land those that were near and those that were far off as we find in that chapter And this confession of sin is requisite to the deeper humiliation of the soul to the condemnation of our selves and to the justifying of God whereby he may have the greater glory 2. Is supplication which is the imploring mercy from God either with respect to the pardon of sin committed or the preventing those judgments that are impending or the removing such as are inflicted As we find Daniel in the time of his fasting after his confession made earnest supplications for forgivenesses of sin v. 9. for the turning away God's anger and fury v. 16. for the shining of his face upon his sanctuary v. 17. for the repairing the desolations of their City call'd by his name v. 18. and for the people in general ibid. And therefore fasting and prayer are frequently mentioned together in Scripture Luke 2.37 Acts 10.30 Acts 14.23 24. 1 Cor. 7.5 though prayer in general comprehends confession and thanksgiving in it as well as supplication yet in a stricter acceptation petition for mercy doth most properly express the import of the word and the main matter of the duty And this the King of Nineveh enjoined in the fast appointed by him Jonah 2.8 Let man and beat be covered with sackcloath and cry mightily to God So that supplication and crying to God is another great part of the duty of the day 3. Hearing the word for the word is necessary both for the discovery of sin for our present humiliation and for the discovery of our duty with respect to future reformation both which are necessary to an acceptable fast And the word of the Gospel sets before men a door of hope that their sin may be pardoned and judgment removed It presents God not only as reconcileable but delighting in mercy It sets before men many instances of God's hâ—aring prayer and the prevalency of repentance and humiliation with him And particularly what acceptance solemn fasting hath found with him in several ages And all this mightily tends to the furthering the great duties of the day And it is observed of the fast kept by the children of Israel Nehem. 9.3 that they read in the book of the Law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day and another fourth part they confessed and worshipped if repentance spiritual mourning and soul humiliation be necessary to the day as I shall shew presently then the hearing the word may be of great use thereunto As when Josiah heard the words of the Law he rent his cloaths and humbled himself 2 Chron. 34.27 and Ahab upon the like occasion humbled himself though not in the like manner and we read how God appointed Jeremiah and Jeremiah Baruch to read the roll that was written from the mouth of God in the ears of the people upon their fasting day Jer. 36.6 and what was the cause of Ninevehs repentance and humiliation was it not Jonah's preaching as our Saviour speaks of it Math. 12.41 They repented at the preaching of Jonah though his preaching was only this yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed The word is effectual through Christ to bring the impenitent to repentance and to renew the exercise of repentance in those that have already repented which is a proper work for a fast day 4. Renewing our Covenant with God which in private fasts is to be done betwixt God and a man 's own soul and in publick fasts by the mouth of the preacher and the peoples consent thereunto And this Covenant is either the general Covenant that we renew or else a particular Covenant with respect to some particular duties that we ingage our selves unto Or else both together As in the publick fast observed by the children of Israel in Nehem. 9. both Princes and Nobles and people renewed their general Covenant to walk in God's Law which was given by Moses the servant of the Lord and particularly they covenanted not to give their Daughters to the people of the Land nor take their Daughters for their Sons as we read Nehemiah Chap. 10. ver 19 20. and the Covenant being written their Princes Levites and Priests did seal to it So if a Church or people have contracted guilt upon themselves by the omitting of some duties or the committing of any sins for which the Lord may have a controversie with them It is a proper work upon a day of fasting to ingage themselves to a reformation by a solemn renewing their Covenant with God And though we have not a particular Instance of this in the New Testament yet the Law of saith that requires men now to take hold of God's Covenant and in all cases to make use of it so in some special cases to renew it also Not that it needs renewing as to the substance or sanction of it on God's part but we are on our part to renew it with God by laying new ingagements and obligations upon our selves to carry it in all things according to the Law of this covenant in the restipulating part of it 5. The next duty of the day is Thanksgiving Though this seems not the proper duty of the day yet is not to be omitted for the due consideration of God's mercy tends to the aggravation of sin and so to make mens confessions and
thy trust and requireth thy help to the utmost power for their good assist them herein and see that they do it and use thy gifts and parts and knowledg in praying with them that they also by thy example might be induced to this duty and by hearing thee pray in their company may learn to pray also Light of Nature did dictate to the heathen Mariners Jon. 1. that prayer to God was a means to save them in the storm therefore the Master of the Ship the Head of that Society called Jonah from sleep to Prayers and this they did not only severally but conjunctly v. 14. they cried unto the Lord and said We beseech thee O Lord We beseech thee c. and shall the Heathen Master of the Ship do more in that Society whereof he was chief than a Christian Master of a Family in that Houshold Society whereof he is head Moreover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lores Penates Dii domestici qui domi coluntur Ego Deos Penates hinc salutatum domum devortar Ter. Phorm Vestae vis ad aras focos pertinet itaque in ea dea quae est rerum Custos intimarum omnis precatio sacrificatio extrema est nec longè absunt ab hac vi dâ—i penates sive à penu ducto nomine sive ab eo quod penitùs insident Cic. de nat Deor. l. 2. that the Light of Nature doth dictate that there should be conjunct worshipping of God in mens houses the practice of the Heathen makes manifest they had their houshold gods so call'd because they thought they had the rule over them and their Housholds and the keeping and preserving of their Families though indeed they could not defend themselves nor them that did in their houses worship them as Juno in her speech to Aeolus Gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequor Ilium in Italiam portans victósque penates Yet these Gods they served in their houses and sacrificed to them in which Sacrifice their custom * Godw. Rom. Ant. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Videntur fuisse dii penates qui ad tuendam rem domesticam colerentur De Dieu in Gen. 31.19 was to eat up all that was left at the Offering thinking it an hainous matter to send any of that Sacrifice abroad to their friends or to the poor Of this sort were the Teraphim an Idol or Image made for mens private use in their own houses Laban had such houshold Gods Gen. 31.19 30. Why hast thou stollen away my Gods By this you see that the Light of Nature doth dictate houshold worship to be given to God and the Heathens did it to their false Gods And if you called Christians will not in your houses jointly pray unto the true God let the Heathens stand up as witnesses against you However take this Argument containing the sum of the five foregoing Propositions 2. Arg. If all men are bound to take God for their Ruler governing them by a Law writen in their hearts which doth dictate to them that there is a God and jointly to be prayed unto in mens Families then it is their duty so to do The reason of this is because if they be bound to do it and do it not they sin But all men are bound to take God for their Ruler as in the first Proposition is shewn governing them by a Law as in the second written in their hearts as in the third which doth dictate to them that God is as in the fourth and to be jointly prayed to in their Families as in the fifth Therefore it is their duty so to do For the proof of the last part of the minor Proposition viz. That the Light of Nature doth dictate that Men or Masters of Families ought to pray conjunctly with the Members of their Families consider this Seeing Societies as such are totally dependent upon God and mens gifts are communicative and solemnities are operative nature teacheth us that God ought to be solemnly acknowledg'd worship'd and honour'd both in families and in more solemn appointed assemblies Mr. Baxter Reasons of Christ Rel. part 1. p. 74. If the Light or Law of Nature doth dictate that Masters of Families ought to use all means to prevent the damnation of the immortal Souls in that Domestick Society of which they are Heads and Governours and to further their eternal happiness having opportunities so to do then it doth dictate that they ought to pray conjunctly with them The reason of this is because Prayer is a means made together with them which the Light of Nature doth dictate profitable to prevent their misery and further their happiness as in the fourth Position before laid down and they have opportunities for this means But the Light or Law of Nature doth dictate that Masters of Families ought to use all means to prevent the damnation of the immortal Souls in that Domestick Society whereof they are Heads and Governours and to further their eternal happiness having opportunities so to do For if the Light of Nature doth dictate they ought to take care of their bodies that are mortal it doth tell them they are much more to take care of their Souls which are immortal and must for ever live in happiness or misery as in Position first second and third Therefore the Light or Law of Nature doth dictate that it is their duty to pray conjunctly with their Families and if the Law of Nature doth the Lavv of God doth because the Law of Nature is God's Law Argument 3. The third seat or head of Argument shall be taken from what God is to Families as such in these four Propositions God is the founder of all Families as such therefore Families as such should pray unto him 1. Familia est inter plures pirsonas quae sunt sub unius potestate vel naturâ vel jure subjectae vel societas constituta secundùm naturam quotidiani usus gratia Estque conjugalis patria Herilis Liebent Col. Polit The houshold Society usually is of these three Combinations Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters or Servants though there may be a Family where all these are not yet take it in its latitude and all these Combinations are from God The Institution of Husband and Wife is from God Gen. 2.21 22 23 24. and of Parents and Children and Masters and Servants and the authority of one over the other and the subjection of the one to the other is instituted by God and founded in the Law of Nature which is God's Law The persons singly considered have not their beings only from God but the very being of this Society as such is also from him and as a single person is therefore bound to devote himself to the service of God and pray unto him so an houshold Society is therefore bound jointly as such to do the same because as such a Society it is from God utriusque est par ratio And hath God
yet we perish much through our Parents and Masters neglect There stands my Father saith the Son and there stands my Master saith the Servant that never prayed with us we do accuse them they never did and they cannot say they did Will you not then wish you had never been Parents to such Children nor Masters to such Servants As you would avoid this be faithful to your trust and mindful of your duty lest thou wish O Vtinam coelebs mansissem ac prole carerem MOTIVE III. 3. Consider You have but a little time before you for the performance of this trust You and your Families shall live together but a while and if once you are parted by death it will be too late whether you die first or some of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoc. Sâ—es est in vivis non est spes ulla sepultiâ— 1. Suppose some of them dye before you if your Conscience be not feared and your hearts past feeling will you not be almost distracted when you follow them to their Graves to reflect and consider here is one dead out of my house with whom I never prayed we did dwell together and eat together and work together many years but we never prayed together Oh! what if his Soul be gone to Hell through my neglect What if he be damned and I be found guilty of his damnation Prayer was a means appointed by God to have done him good but I did not do it who knows if I had called him to Prayer and I had been confessing sin but God might have broke his heart for sin and given him repentance of which I saw no sign before he died And now Oh! what now if there be one Soul the less in my house and one the more in Hell Oh! this is that which wounds my Soul this is that for which my Conscience now doth sting me that when I had him with me I did not do my duty and now he is gone he is gone and now it is too late O my child my child whither art thou gone whither art thou gone O that he may live with me again were it but for a year or two a month or two that we might do together our before neglected duty If you be wise timely prevent such uncomfortable reviews 2. Suppose you die before them for if they do not die and leave you you must die and leave them and can you die without trembling for anguish of your heart without terrours in your Souls and fearful gripes in your Consciences more bitter than the pangs of Death to consider you leave a wicked prayerless Family behind you through your own neglect Would it not trouble you to leave them poor Wife and Children nothing to live upon if this hath been through your sloth and will it not should it not much more trouble you to leave an ignorant Wife Children and Servants unacquainted with God unaccustomed to prayer and all through your neglect Might you not then say if I had left them poor yet if I had left them good and fearing God and given to prayer by my example I could now have died with joy and left them all with comfort but now I lie a dying it is the wounding of my Soul to take so sad a farewel of my Family If I do live it shall be otherwise if I recover and God trust me with life and time yet further I will hereafter do it but my heart is sick my Spirits fail me and I perceive the symptomes of death are upon me and though I am loth to take my leave of my Wife and Children because I have been no more careful of the good of their Souls yet I see I must I must bid farewel unto them Come then dear Wife farewel Gemitúquo haec addidit alio Non alias hinc ad lacrymas Fata vocant Salve aeternum aeternúmque vâ—le Virg. Aeneid l. xi farewel I shall now be no longer thine and thou shalt be no longer mine but this had been no matter if I and thou had both been his whom we should have prayed unto together but we did not Woe is me poor dying man that we did not Farewel dear Children now farewel adieu adieu for ever but oh how shall I take my leave of you with whom I have not done what God required But yet I must whether I will or no I must now leave you But let me give among you what I have gotten for you Therefore to you my Wife I give so much and to this Child so much and to that so much But when I think I worked for you but never prayed with you this doth trouble me Oh! this doth trouble my departing Soul However you will have my Goods the grave and worms shall have my body but who oh who must now have my Soul This will be a sad parting when ever it shall come and yet this parting hour is a coming Pray now with them and in that manner too that then you may be comforted On the contrary if you discharge your duty faithfully and unfeignedly whether your Family be good or bad when you shall die you might take comfort that you did your duty So Mr. Bolton that was abundant in conjunct Prayers in his Family could comfort himself and did say on his Death-bed to his Children I think verily none of you dare think to meet me at the great Tribunal in an unregenerate condition MOTIVE IV. 4. The love that you should bear unto your Families should engage you often to pray together with them Diligatur Proles non ut nascatur tantum verum-etiam ut renascatur nascitur enim ad paenam nisi renascatur ad vitam Aug. de nupt conc l. 1. cap. 17 Ipsae ferae saevae immanes bestiae prolem nutrire solent at non tantùm curare debent parentes ut liberi sui vivant sed etiam ut Deo benè vivant Ames Cas Cons Will you shew your love unto your Children in providing Portions for them that they may live in credit in this life and will you not so much as pray with them that they may live in glory in the life to come Will you do much for their Bodies and nothing for their Souls You that are fondest Husbands and Fathers never love Wife and Children as you ought till you love their Souls The Soul is the best and more noble part and love to the Soul is the best and more noble Love But to love the Body and neglect the Soul is but cruel brutish Love What do you more for your young ones than the birds and beasts do for theirs Do you feed their bodies do not birds and beasts do the same for theirs Love your Wife Children and Servants as you ought and this will provok you to pray together with them MOTIVE V. Oeconomia est veluti paradisus in quo plantantur arbores quarum fructus odore dulcore suo imbuunt omnes vitae
receive a Prophet into the House without advising with her Husband 2 King 4.10 In disposing of her Husband's Goods we find still the man's hand in it the propriety is in him and the use is to her So that unless there be a notorious Impotency in him or some Tacite or General Consent or some case of present and absolute Necessity as in the case of Abagail she ought not to dispose her Husbands Goods Indeed he ought according to the general Obligation of their Relation and according to the particular Discretion of his Wife intrust her in the ordinary affairs of her sphear and by his Bounty enable her to do good where there is need and not to put her by his penuriousness upon the temptation of purloining from him but if he do forget his duty let not her forget hers which is to do him good and not evil all the days of her life Prov. 31.12 But her hardest task is in the loving and thankful bearing of Reproof which is a bitter pill to flesh and blood especially when there is a proud and contentious spirit But herein she ought to consider that she is not without infirmities which as none hath so much opportunity to see so none is so much obliged to represent unto her as her Husband And to answer him with a froward tongue or a cloudy brow or a careless negligence is the greatest ingratitude and discouragement in the world But if her heart be full of Reverence to him and especially if she believe his heart to be full of love to her this pill will be well digested and by the blessing of God work a real amendment in her 3. The Real effects of the Wife's Reverence to her Husband is seen in her Bebaviour towards him which ought always to be chearful and respectful She must not allow or nourish that crossness of humour to be sullen or dumpish when he is pleasant or on the contrary contemptuously frolick when he is sad but must (u) Omnes illius vultus sumet ridenti arridâ—bitâ— moesto se praebebit mâ—stam servata semper authoritate matronalis integritatis virtutis ut magis illa ex amico proveniant animo quam adulterino L. Vives ubi supra compose her carriage her garments her converse to give him content and to increase his delight in her For if his heart be once estranged from her unless the fear of God with-hold him he may quickly render her condition unspeakably miserable She ought therefore always to express Contentedness in her estate and that will help and move him to be content in his She must entertain him into his House with a (x) Magna amaritudo est in domo uxor tristis Ambr. to 5. p. 265. chearful countenance that he may delight to be at home and study the arts how to pacifie him if ought have provok'd him or how to convince and reform him if ought have insnar'd him She must observe when and how his meals his clothes his lodging do please him and shew the greatness of her respect in these lesser things For even about such things arise the most frequent and sharp contests which a discreet and godly woman will labour to prevent not only because disquiets do (y) Nec aliquid est quod ita alienet virum ab uxore ut crebra rixa uxoris lingua omaruleâ—a Compar'd to a continual dropping which drives a man out of his house Prov. 27.15 Lu. Vives ubi supra alienate the heart but because she cannot live under his frown nor eat nor sleep contentedly while he is angry And notwithstanding the freedom and familiarity of their converse together yet she must still behave her self with all respect towards him and that familiarity must not beget contempt His love must not make her to forget her (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Col. hom 10. duty nor his fondness her respect The more he condescends to her the more she must descend into her place and thus oblige him by her demeanour She must consider that it 's better to (a) Quae malunt fatuis imperare viris quam obtemperare prudentibus eorum sunt similes qui in via coecos ducere malunt quam videntes itineris peritos sequi Plutarch praec conj obey a wise man than to rule a fool as it is better to follow a skilful guide than to lead one that 's blind Few Husbands so bad but the discretion and respect of a Wife would reform them and few Wives so ill-temper'd but the wisdom and affection of a Husband would make them better And so much for their particular Duties to each other I know that many will turn off all this by saying We all fall short of our Duty in these things we ever did and ever shall and so they neither grieve for their miscarriages past nor seriously indeavour to reform them and so leave the cure desperate because the Disease is common But a just and holy God will not be so mocked He gives not his sacred Laws to be so lightly put off If we make not conscience here we make a conscience no where yea though the best will fail unless we study with all our skill and strive with all our strength to be faithful in all these things our other Duties will be abhorred He that regards not all regards not at all in God's account And if Divine Vengeance do not meet with them in this life as it often doth yet without doubt it waits for them in another But I hope better things of you and things that accompany salvation though I thus speak I come at last in the Fourth place to present you with some Directions how to accomplish these Duties that so husbands and wives may most certainly be blessings to each other And they are these 1. Maintain Purity in Soul and Body in Single-age This will greatly dispose you for the Duties of a Married life and also lay up a Blessing for it Let every one of you know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour 1 Thess 4.4 He that gives the reins to his vitious affections before Marriage will find them as impetuous after Marriage For Marriage as (b) Mr. Whately One well saith is like Salt which will keep sweet that which is untainted but restores not that which is already unsavoury A chast and honest heart will with the blessing of God by marriage be preserved but a filthy heart will find occasion to be naught in any condition Beware therefore of the beginnings of Lust flee them like poyson forbear such (c) Laâ—aena quaedam marita juveni rem foedam roganti Darem inquit si meum peteres nam quod petis patris erat dum essem virgo nunc mariti postquam nupsâ— Lu. Viv. de Cr foem p. 699. company and discourse as debauch the heart avoid speculative uncleanness snd keep the heart stored with religious thoughts and the body imployed
faithless confidence a fond credulous presumption arising from a groundless over easie perswasion of the mercy of God towards us this kind of Presumption may be joyn'd vvith some sense and conviction of sin and the dangerous consequence of it but presently salves all vvith the general air and breath of a Promise misconstrued and misapplied The Mistakes are these 1. This is more Fancy than Faith or Hope 'T is a vain imagination that deludes men into a belief and expectation of that vvhich they are in no likelihood of in no capacity for they promise themselves vvhat God hath never promised cry peace peace vvhen God hath not spoken peace 2. Such an one doth not rightly distinguish between the vvorkings of natural affection towards any good propounded and the rational actings of Hope for the obtaining of it in a probable or certain vvay in the use of due and proper means Heaven glory and eternal Life are good vvords and better things at the first mention of them vve naturally desire them and vvish for them but shall vve be carried away vvith a meer sound of vvords must vve needs have all vve hear of vve shall quickly bring our selves into a fools Paradise this vvay dreaming vve eat and yet awake an hungry there is more ado than so to inherit the Promises vve must prove our title first the Promises give us an interest in Heaven but 't is Christ that gives us an interest in the Promises he opens the mouth of a Promise to speak comfort to us in him they are all Yea and Amen but out of him they all cry no no vve have nothing for you vvho are out of Christ they vvill deny all the vvorld that come not in his Name and never let out any thing of their treasure to such no vvringing out of one drop of solid comfort The bare History or outward Relation of the Mercy of God in the letter of the Word gives us no interest in the things promised the carnal Jews as Paul observes had the Promises and boasted of them but got little by them Christ is the door of every Promise let us not think to make a forceable entry to climb up at the vvindows like Theives to steal out mercy as if vve cared not how vve came by it you vvill find vvhat is so gotten vvill thrive accordingly and quickly come to nothing What I drive at is this 't is not the report of the vvorth or amiableness of a thing but an apprehension of the possibility of it as to us that causes hope till vve are clear in this our hope cannot act rationally if it have no other ground besides our own desires and natural inclinations raised and kindled in us by the specious appearance and ravishing beauty of some taking objects this argues rather vvhat vve vvould have than any likelyhood of obtaining of our vvishes vvhich is of the very essence of hope earnest desires are very apt to run out into a forward presuming hope vve know not vvell vvhy or vvherefore Quae volumus facile credimus 3. Another mistake in this fond credulous presumption is that it takes up promises in its own sense and not in the true sense and meaning of God So the Jews John 8.33 cryed they were Abrahams seed c. and the Promise run in these very words to Abraham and his seed therefore who but they must be included in it but it was the Spiritual seed that God meant not that after the flesh they are not all Israel which are of Israel Rom. 9.6 No sayes Christ you are the Children of the Devil of your Father the Devil John 8.44 and they took up stones and threw at him ver 59. being not able to bear any contradiction to their false hopes So when we read those Promises of salvation to those that come to Christ believe in him call upon his Name we must not understand them as if a bare form of Godliness and crying Lord have mercy upon us would bring us to heaven No My brethren the Mystery of Religion lies deeper than so 't is the labour of the heart that requires the greatest diligence intention and seriousness imaginable strong workings within great agonies and contentions of Spirit in our dealings with God in any duty The life of our Worship does consist in these inward spiritual motions of the Soul towards God This is that coming that believing that praying to which Salvation is promised The grace of Hope enquires after the Secrets of the Covenant the real intent and mind of God in every Promise prayes for a right understanding of all particulars Open my eyes that I may see the wonders of thy Law Psal 119.18 Besides the true meaning of a Promise a Child of God is very solicitous to know whether God do indeed mean him and speak to him and offer those pearls to him whether he be a person rightly qualified and under all those due circumstances that belong to persons entertaining such an hope 't is a great comfort and satisfaction to a Believer when God does own his hope and encourage him in it by some sensible demonstrations of his undoubted interest in such and such Promises he hears God saying to him take eat this is thy portion purchased by Christ for thee thou art my Child and this is childrens bread it belongeth to thee While we are musing and praying over a promise God does sometimes feed us out of that promise himself and with his own hand puts many a sweet morsel into our mouths O this is overcoming kindness this is a double a treble welcome to have such fare and the Master of the Feast standing by and looking on and carving to us himself and crying out as it is Cant. 5.1 Eat O my friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved When we have shut our Bibles and have done with a promise and are setting down the Cup of Salvation out of our hands God many times makes us to mend our draught and go deeper than ever we did drink yea drink abundantly O beloved But presumption is a bold guest thrusts in uninvited catches at this and that in a rude manner The word Presumption notes a taking before-hand before 't is offer'd before 't is due before he is called he runs away with a promise puts his own sense upon it and deludes himself with vain hopes from it and when the King comes to review his Guests shall be cast out into outer darkness Mat. 22.11 12 13. 4. Another errour or mistake in presumption is that it picks and chuses out some Promises and rejects others the priviledges of the Saints it catcheth at freedom from condemnation eternal life and glory but the Promises of Grace Sanctification and Holiness it minds not it hopes to see God without Holiness and to go to Heaven as well as the best it is more for the wages than for the work But the grace of Hope fastens upon every Promise gathers honey out of every flower
fed with these comforts have no losses or crosses in the world we are apt to grow proud secure wanton to forget God to cast off Duty to dream of an earthly paradise to say it's good being here to neglect spiritual and divine things 't is high time therefore for God by these waies to cut us short thereby to reduce us to a little better temper of soul If the sap run out too much into the branches there 's no way to preserve the root but by the cutting off the luxuriant branches God will have a thousand Estates to be lost rather than that one soul should be lost the burning of Cities is nothing if that be necessary to the saving of souls 4. Suppose all be lost in that All we lost but little for the All of this world is but one remove from a mere Nothing Perdidit infoelix totum nil is applicable to the losses of the rich as well as of the poor Is there any thing in this but what might be expected from the nature of the thing therefore there should be no disturbance about it Who will be concern'd at the melting of snow what wise man will be moved for the breaking of a glass 'T is strange that a Jonah should be in such a pet for the withering of a gourd Prov. 27.24 Riches are not for ever and doth the Crown endure to every generation 1 Cor. 7.31 The fashion of this world passeth away All the estate here is made up of Moveables that usual distinction which is good in Law is not so in Divinity 5. Again thou sayest all is lost perdiderat omnia quae dederat Deus sed hahuit ipsem qui omnia dederat Deum August but if thou beest a child of God the best is yet secure God and Christ and Grace and Heaven are yet thine and no loss is very considerable so long as these are safe O believer in all thy losses be quiet and chearful God who is thy portion is the same for ever Job lost all he had from God but God himself he did not lose and in him he had all that he had lost Never complain till God be lost Fas tibi non est de fortunâ conqueri salvo Caesare said Seneca to Polybius Let the stars disappear if we may have the Sun who will be troubled let earthly things vanish so long as God abides 't is enough Had we the whole world to lose one God would abundantly recompense the loss of all of it Many are inward gainers by their outward losses by having the less of the Creature they have the more of God O happy exchange the worse their condition is without the better it is within in respect of grace and comfort 6. 'T is an excellent frame of spirit under losses to be patient and contented All the possessions of Job when he was in the height of them did not reflect so much glory upon him as his blessed submission when he was deprived of them then God blessed him now in another sense he blessed God All are convinced they should do this when God gives but 't is very rare for any to do it when God takes away Micah's mother had some shekels of silver taken from her and she falls a cursing Judg. 17.2 this precious Saint had all taken from him yet no cursing as Satan had belied him no nothing but blessing God 'T is an excellent temper comfortably to enjoy outward blessings whilst God shall continue them contentedly to part with them when God shall remove them Suave est si quid dás parvus dolor hoc ubi tollis When I see any carrying it thus I conclude that earthly things are not too fast rivetted in their hearts as 't is a sign the tooth is loose which is drawn out without much pain and that they are duly affected towards God heaven and heavenly things These are some of the things the due consideration whereof would much help on Contentment under Losses And so much for the using of this Means towards the furtherance of tranquillity of mind with respect to what may disturb it in and about the Estate How Consideration ought to be acted in order to Contentment under cr ssâ—s in Relations 2. Secondly I 'le instance in Relations In and about whom there is as much of mercy or affliction of comfort or discomfort and consequently of content or discontent as in any one thing whatsoever The Discontent usually is occasioned and vented in these three Cases The want of Relations much desired The death of Relations much beloved The uncomfortableness of Relations who are spared Now Consideration wisely and faithfully managed would be of great use to allay all storms and to keep the heart even and calm in all these Cases and therefore my next work is to shew what we are under each of them to consider in order to the promoting of this frame But I must of necessity be briefer under this Head than I was under the former that I may not draw out this Discourse to too great a length Wherefore I will but shortly set the Particulars before you that you are to consider of and leave the enlargement of them to your selves in your consideration 1. When Relations are much desired but denied and withheld there is too often discontent How as to the want of Relations desired As to instance only in Children what daily inquietudes of spirit are there in some because of the want of these they have many other Comforts but the not having of this imbitters all Abraham himself was much troubled about it Gen. 15.2 3. Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless Behold to me thou hast given no seed and lo one born in my house is mine heir But Rachel's passion rose very high Give me Children saith she to her husband or else I die Gen. 30.2 Children are very great blessings they are promised as such Psal 128.3 4. and in other places and indeed they are one of the sweetest flowers that grow in the garden of earthly comforts hence 't is hard for persons contentedly to bear the want of them But whoever you are upon whom this affliction lies pray labour after a contented mind under it and in order thereunto Consider 1. It is the Lord who withholds this mercy for he gives it or withholds it as seems good to him Providence is not more seen in any of the affairs and Concerns of men than in this of Children that there shall be many or few some or none Gen. 32. all falls under the good pleasure and dispose of God When Rachel was so passionate under the want of these Jacob rebuked her sharply am I in God's stead who hath withheld from thee the fruit of thy womb Psal 127.9 Lo children are an inheritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward Psal 113.9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful Mother of
A SUPPLEMENT TO THE Morning-Exercise At CRIPPLE-GATE OR Several more Cases of Conscience Practically Resolved by sundry Ministers The Second Edition Our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and Godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our conversation in the World 2 Cor. 1.12 Conscientia est nescio quid divinum nunquam perit officium nostrum nobis semper ad memoriam revocat Doroth. Bibl. Pat. T. 4. p. 769. Quaerimus quomodo animus semper aequalis secundoque cursu eat propitius sibi sit sua laetus adspiciat hoc gaudium non interrumpat sed placido statu maneat nec attollens se unquam nec deprimens Seneca de Tranq anim p. 678. LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Sign of the Atlas in Cornhil near the Royal-Exchange MDCLXXVI To that part of Christ's Flock to which I am more specially related Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour Beloved Christians AS I called in a Contribution of Help for the composing of a Legacy for others before my Civil Death so I now tender you A Supplement to that Exercise for your better liveliness of Spiritual Life I shall say nothing to commend these Sermons to you my Brethren are all herein unanimous to seek the Church's Profit not their own Applause only this I must say to prevent mistake viz. If any curious Reader shall find matter of Exception besides the Errors of Printing which I confess are too many the blame must be Personal because this joynt-work is no otherwise Social than as single Pearls strung together make one Neck-lace I easily grant here 's not yet a stating of all important Cases yet be this known to you whoever shall follow these Directions shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the work of the Lord nor miss of an abundant entrance into his Everlasting Kingdom Live up to what you have attained and you may be confident that what is further wanting God will as you want it supply it Be assur'd of this that you will get more skill and strength for all necessary Graces and Duties by an humble serious constant Course of Godliness than you possibly can do by captious Criticismes and wrangling Contentions about lesser things in which too many spend their Lives I herein appeal to your Consciences should not these Sermons answer expectation but according to your judgment either the Cases are ill chose or not well stated in that the Matter is either defective or redundant the Language too curious or too careless the Directions too common or too singular I appeal from your Passions to your Consciences and down-right charge you in the Name of my Master who must be your Judg that you read with other Spectacles These are not calculated to humour you but to better you These are not Duties to be cavil'd at but to be practised O that you may be effectually perswaded 1. That your Love to God Sermon 1 must be predominant and growing or you degrade your selves below the Beasts 2. That your Love to Man must be universal and spiritual Sermon 2 Sermon 3 or you can't evidence your Love to God 3. That your Love to the World must truckle under both be subservient to both and never be otherwise for if the World master you 't will â—â—in you Oh that your awakened Sermon 4 Consciences may now allarm you 4. To catch at Salvation while it is Sermon 5 offer'd lest you perish for ever Though 't is a vexed Problem 5. What Knowledg is necessary to Salvation yet can you satisfie your Consciences without diligent Endeavours to proportion your Knowledg to the Means you enjoy And to bring forth Fruits every day as those that in some Sermon 6 measure feel 6. What 't is to be in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and Sermon 7 8. that the Word 7. Preach'd and 8. Read may be so impress'd upon Heart and Life that it may be an infallible Evidence you are taught of God And when through weakness of the Flesh your Duties may prove Sermon 9 wearisom 9. Learn to refresh your selves with the Songs of Zion But would you have more particular Directions They are before you Sermon 10 Here you may learn true Christianity 10. In the daily Improvement of Sermon 11 your Baptism Here you may learn 11. How to propagate Religion to Posterity by riveting Truth upon your own Hearts and teaching it to Sermon 12 others but while you are giving Milk to Babes 12. Excuse not your selves upon any account whatsoever from frequent and hungry feeding upon stronger Meat Be you as willing to seal to the Conditions of the Covenant as you are desirous God should seal to the Promises of it But who is sufficient for these things Pour out your Hearts therefore and Sermon 13 list up your Souls to God in all manner of Prayer 13. Let extraordinary Sermon 14 Prayer answer that title 14. Your secret Prayer speak secret Communion Sermon 15 with God 15. Let your Family prayer bring down Blessings upon your Family that you be neither Holy nor Happy alone but that when your Family-relations shall cease they may bless God to Eternity that ever there were such Relations between you Now therefore Sermon 16 16. Let Husbands and Wives be the liveliest Emblems in the World of Sermon 17 Christ and his Church 17. Let Parents and Children be the Evidences and Pledges of God's special presence with this and the next Sermon 18 Generation 18. Let Masters and Servants adorn the Gospel by their exemplary Faithfulness to their Heavenly Master Thus doing Sermon 19 19. Your Thoughts will be cured and in them you 'l enjoy God Sermon 20 20. Your Tongues will in some sense be God's glory as well as yours But Sermon 21 then 21. You must cautiously avoid the catching Canker of Detraction Sermon 22 22. So you shaâ—l by your Conversations convince the World there 's an Excellency in Christianity And that all this may be as well acceptable Sermon 23 to God as approved of Men 23. Do all in the Name of Christ and Sermon 24 while you thus embarque with Christ 24. He 'l steer you safe between Presumption and Despair those Rocks upon one of which most perish Hereby also 25. You 'l make your Port with the chearing Joys of an Sermon 25 Heroick Faith 26. And keep above all Vexing Discontents with your Sermon 26 Worldly Condition 27. And what Afflictions God's wise Love shall Sermon 27 inflict you 'l be able to bear them with more than a Roman Courage 28. And though reproachful Reproofs may bear hard upon you you 'l not Sermon 28 fret but welcome them as a precious Balm But when you have done your best yet through the Remainders of Corruption Guilt will be contracted 29. You can't but be restless till it be removed 30. Then you Sermon 29 30. may rather hope for than
some commands may be observed without so much as common grace as duties meerly moral but this must have a great measure of the spirit it speaks much acquaintance with God through experience of his wayes and much conformity to Christ in a well composed conversation in short it includes the highest perfection possibly attainable in this life yet let not this difficulty fright you for through Christ our sincere love though weak is accepted and our imperfect love because growing shall not be despised 8. This is the first and great command in respect of the End 8 Ratione finis All the commands of God are referr'd to this as their end and last scope which was first in the mind of the Law-giver 9. This is the first and great command in respect of the lastingness of it 9 Ratione perperuitatis Thou shalt love the Lord thy God it is not only spoken after the Hebrew (e) Futurum pro imperativo way of commanding but it notes singular perseverance Most of the other commands expire with the world as all or most of the commands of the second table but this remains and flourishes more than ever When Repentance and Mortification which now take up half our life when Faith which is now as it were Mother and Nurse to most of our Graces when Hope which now upholds weak faith in its languors when all these shall as it were dye in travail perfection of grace being then in the birth love to God shall then be more lively than ever That love which as it were passed between God and the Soul in letters and tokens shall then be perfected in a full enjoyment Our love was divided among several objects that cut the banks and weakned the stream henceforth it shall have but one current Our love is now mixt with fear fear of missing or losing what we love but that fear shall be banished There shall never be any distance never any thing to provoke jealousie never any thing to procure cloying never any thing more to be desired than is actually enjoyed Is not this then the first and great Commandment is it not our priviledge and happiness to be swallowed up in it this may suffice to evidence it to be our duty But then What abilities are requisite for the well performance of this duty and how we may obtain those abilities 3. What Abilities are requisite to the performance of this duty and how may we attain those Abilities This we must be experimentally acquainted with or all I can say will at best seem babling and therefore let me at first tell you plainly nothing on this side Regeneration can capacitate you to love God and it is God alone that giveth worketh infuseth impresseth the gracious habit of Divine Love in the Souls of his people Our love to God is nothing else but the eccho of Gods love to us Through the corruption of our Nature we hate God God implanted in our Nature an inclination to love God above all things amiable but by the fall we have an headlong inclination to depart from God and run away from him and there is in every one of us a natural impotency and inability of turning unto God The grace of love is no Flower of Nature's Garden but a Forreign p Non secundum bona naturalia sed secundum dona gratâ—ita Aquin. plant We may possibly do something for the meerly rational inflaming of our hearts with love to God e. g. God may be represented as most amiable we may be convinced of the unsatisfyingness of the Creature we may understand something of the worth of our Souls and what a folly it is to expect that any thing but God can fill them and yet this will be at the utmost but like a solid proof of the truth of the Christian Religion which may Non-plus our cavils but not make us Christians This may make love to God appear a rational duty but it will not of it self beget in us this spiritual Grace It is the immediate work of God to make us love him I do not mean immediate in opposition to the use of means but immediate in regard of the necessary efficacy of his Spirit beyond what all means in the world without his powerful influence can amount unto 'T is the Lord alone that can direct our hearts into the love of God q 2. Thes 3.5 Exoplat a Leo quod non ambigit posse praestari Ambros God is pleased in a wonderful and unexpressible manner to draw up the heart in love to him God makes use of Exhortations and Counsels and Reproofs but though he works by them and with them he works above them and beyond them r Deut. 30.6 19 20. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that thou may'st live And again I call heaven and earth to record this day against thee that I have set before thee life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that both thou and thy seed may live that thou may'st love the Lord thy God and that thou may'st obey his voice and that thou may'st cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy dayes He is thy life i. e. effectively and that by love saith Aquinas it is reported s Sales of the love of God p. 63. that it often happens among Partridges that one steals away anothers eggs but the young one that is hatcht under the wing of a stranger at her true Mothers first call who laid the egg whence she was hatch'd she renders her self to her true Mother and puts her self into her Covey 'T is thus with our hearts though we are born and bred up among terrene and base things under the wing of corrupted Nature yet at and not before God's first quickning call we receive an inclination to love him and upon his drawing t Cant. 1.4 we run after him God works a principle of love in us and we love God by that habit of love he hath implanted hence the Act of love is formally and properly attributed to man as the particular cause u Psal 18.1 116.1 Vâ—â—tius I will love thee O Lord my strength and I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice the Soul works together with God in his powerful working the Will being Acted of God Acteth It is a known saying of w Non ideo bene currit vt rotunda sit sed quia rotunda est Augustine The wheel doth not run that it may be round but because 't is round The Spirit of God enables us to love God but 't is we that love God with a created love 't is we that acquiesce in God in a gracious manner What God doth in the Soul doth not hurt the liberty of the will but strengthens it insweetly and powerfully drawing it into
conformity with the will of God which is the highest liberty where the x 2 Cor. 3.17 spirit of the Lord is there is liberty It is a poor liberty that consists in an indifferency Do not the Saints in heaven love God freely yet they cannot but love him As the only Efficient cause of our loving God is God himself so the only procuring cause of our loving God is Jesus Christ that Son of the Father's love who by his Spirit implants and actuates this grace of love which he hath merited for us Christ hath a Col. 1.20 made peace through the blood of his Cross Christ hath as well merited this grace of love for us as he hath merited the reward of glory for us Plead therefore Dear Christians the merit of Christ for the inflaming your hearts with the love of God that when I shall direct to rules and means how you may come to love God you may as well address your selves to Christ for the grace of love as for the pardon of your want of love hitherto Bespeak Christ in some such but far more pressing language Lord thou hast purchased the grace of love for those that want and crave it my love to God is chill do thou warm it my love is divided Lord do thou unite it I cannot love God as he deserves O that thou would'st help me to love him more than I can desire Lord make me sick of love and then cure me Lord make me in this as comfortable to thy self as 't is possible for an adopted Son to be like the Natural that I may be a Son of God's love both actively and passively and both as near as it is possible infinitely Let 's therefore address our selves to the use of all those means and helps whereby love to God is b Fovetur augetur excitatur exeritur nourished encreased excited and exerted I will begin with removing the impediments we must clear away the rubbish e're we can so much as lay the Foundation Impediment 1. Self-love Impediments of our love to God this the Apostle names as Captain general of the Devil's Army whereby titular Christians manage their enmity against God in the dregs of the last dayes this will make the times dangerous Men shall be lovers of their own c 2 Tim. 3.1 2. selves When men over-esteem themselves their own endowments of either body or mind when they have a secret reserve for self in all they do self-applause or self-profit this is like an errour in the first concoction get your hearts discharg'd of it or you can never be spiritually healthful the best of you are too prone to this I would therefore commend it to you to be jealous of your selves in this particular for as conjugal-jealousie is the bane of conjugal love so self-jealousie will be the bane of self-love Be suspicious of every thing that may steal away or divert your love from God Imped 2. Love of the world this is so great an obstruction that the most loving and best beloved Disciple that Christ had said (d) 1 Joh. 2.15 love not the world nor the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him and the Apostle James makes use of a Metaphor (e) Jam. 4.4 calling them Adulterers and Adulteresses that keep not their conjugal love to God tight from leaking out toward the world he chargeth them as if they knew nothing in Religion if they knew not this that the friendship with the world is enmity with God and 't is an universal truth without so much as one exception that whosoever will be a friend of the world must needs upon that very account be God's enemy the Apostle Paul adds more weight to those that are e'en press'd to Hell already (f) 1 Tim. 6.9 10 11. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves thorow with many sorrows but thou O man of God flee these things c. when men will be some-body in the world they will have Estates and they will have honours and they will have pleasures what variety of vexatious distractions do unavoidably hinder our love to God when our hearts are hurried with hopes and fears about worldly things and the world hath not wherewithall to satisfie us how doth the heart fret under its disappointments and how can it do otherwise we would have happiness here Sirs I 'le offer you fair name me but one man that ever found a compleat happiness in the world and I dare promise you shall be the second but if you will flatter your self with dreams of impossibilities this your way will be your folly though 't is like your posterity will approve your sayings (g) Psal 49.13 and try experiments while they live as you have done but where 's your love to God all this while 't is excluded by what Law by the Law of Sin and Death by the love of the world and destruction for Christ tells us all that hate him love death (h) Prov. 8.36 Imped 3. Spiritual sloath and carelessness of Spirit when men do not trouble themselves about Religion nor any thing that is serious Love is a busie passion a busie grace love among the passions is like Fire among the Elements Love among the Graces is like the Heart among the Members now that which is most contrary to the nature of love must needs most obstruct the highest actings of it the truth is a careless frame of Spirit is fit for nothing a sluggish lazy slothful careless person never attains to any excellency in any kind what is it you would intrust a lazy person about let me say this and pray think on 't twice e're you censure it once Spiritual sloath doth Christians more mischief than scandalous relapses I grant their grosser falls may be worse as to others the grieving of the Godly and the hardning of the wicked and the Reproach to Religion must needs be so great as may make a gracious heart tremble at the thought of falling but yet as to themselves a sloathful temper is far more prejudicial e. g. those gracious persons that fall into any open sin 't is but once or seldom in their whole life and their repentance is ordinarily as notorious as their sin and they walk more humbly and more watchfully ever after whereas Spiritual sloath runs through the whole course of our life to the marring of every duty to the strengthning of every sin and to the weakning of every grace Sloath I may rather call it unspiritual sloath is a soft moth in our spiritual wardrobe a corroding rust in our spiritual Armory an enfeebling consumption in the very vitals of Religion Sloath and
Earth as among the Indians or Abyssines But our business is to see what knowledge we our selves considering our condition dismissing others in differing circumstances are to labour after in obedience to God's command and for our more holy and comfortable walking with God and carrying on the affairs of our Salvation And therefore though my text lead me directly enough to the former yet I shall confine my self to the latter making it my business rather to press men to labour after much knowledge than trouble my self or others with unedifying distinctions about or uncertain catalogues of fundamentals or truths absolutely needful to be known which I suppose few in the World be so Magisterial as Peremptorily to define And for my part if I could certainly determine which those truths are I should take heed to whom I told them least I should encourage men slothful enough of themselves to rest satisfied in a lesser measure of Spiritual knowledg when a greater might be gotten 3. These things premised I come to answer the case in some propositions of which the first shall be this Prop. 1. That supposing it were certainly defined how much knowledge and the knowledge of what truths were sufficient to Salvation Yet no man that is in a capacity of getting more knowledge ought to acquiesce in just so much Luk. 12.48 To whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required For the more full understanding of this proposition take these following rules Rule 1. By how much the better means men have for the getting of knowledge so much the more they ought to know There is more knowledge required in them that have more means than in them that have less Every servant's improvement is to be according to his talent and the gain of one is not sufficient for him that hath received five nor the gain of five for him that hath received ten According to the means men have so their duty is to be judged of and their accounts will be expected I suppose it can scarce be doubted but that 1. They that live under the Gospel since Christ's coming in the flesh ought to abound more in Spiritual knowledge than they that lived before his coming and that for this very reason because the means of knowledge have been greater since his coming than before it not only as to the extensiveness of them in the publication of the truth in those places where it was not heard before but as to the efficacy of the means themselves and the more clear revelation of the will of God in some things which were formerly but less clearly revealed The pouring out of the Spirit was not only for the further spreading of the truth but for the more plain and full manifestation of it The great mysteries of Religion which under the Old Testament dispensation were more obscure as being wrapt up in types and figures which were though a shadowing of them out yet a kind of covering to them are now under the Gospel more clearly set forth without those veils in their native lustre and brightness What was then future is now come to pass What then was Prophecy is now become History So that there being as to the means more advantages for our knowledge than there was for theirs who lived in those ages we are engaged to labour after more And excepting Prophecies and immediate Revelations I see no reason why vulgar Saints may not now know more than Patriarchs did then And if they may I dare say they should 2. They that live in the Reformed World in this age of Light should abound more in knowledge than they that lived before the Reformation in the darkness of Popery A little knowledge might have gone further then than a great deal more now The means of knowledge are now much greater than 3 or 4 hundred years ago they were There is not only more humane learning abroad in the World than then there was but the Original Languages in which the Scriptures were written are better known The Word is more soundly and powerfully preached Controversies in Religion are more throughly discussed more good books are written more cases stated more errors detected and in a word many truths which though always to be found in Scripture yet were almost lost in the World in the Ignorance of those ages are anew discovered 3. They who live under better means of Instruction now should ordinarily be more knowing than such as have not the like means They that have the word preached to them more plainly powerfully frequently should know more than they who sit under an idle ignorant Ministry They that may hear a Sermon every day if they will than they that can scarce hear one Sermon in many months And so should they likewise who live in Religious Families where God is daily worshipped Children and Servants daily instructed know more than they who live under profane or ignorant Masters or Parents Rule 2 They that have more time for the gaining of knowledge are concern'd to know more than they that have less time Not only by how much the longer men enjoy such means the more they should know and more than such as have lived a less season under them Upon which account the Apostle blames the Hebrews Ch. 5.12 because when for the time they ought to be Teachers they had need that one should again teach them which were the first Principles of the Oracles of God And 2 Tim. 3.7 He speaks of some that were ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth But likewise by how much more leisure men have for studying the Scriptures and attending on the means of Grace while they do enjoy them so much the more proportionably they should know They that have plentiful Estates easie employments few avocations may and therefore ought to seek after a greater measure of knowledge than they who by reason of more burdensome callings a lower condition in the World and the necessity of providing for themselves and their Families are not in a capacity of spending so much time in attending on those means whereby a greater proportion of knowledge might be gained They that have their time lying on their hands and know not how to fill it up but with enquiring after News and Fashions studying Pleasures and diversions how much knowledge might they arrive unto if they spent but half that time in studying the truth and enquiring after the things of God Rule 3. By how much the better capacities men have for the receiving of knowledge so much the more caeteris paribus they are to know They that have riper parts quicker apprehensions stronger memories a deeper reach should know more than they that are naturally more weak and less capable of learning Although I suppose there be none that have the use of their reason but they are capable of understanding so much of the things of God as is absolutely needful to Salvation and may be
Families Husbands towards their Wives Wives toward their Husbands both toward their Children and they again toward their Parents In a word Men are to study those things which are most profitable such as will better their condition and not only improve their understanding You know a sick Man had rather have a good Medicine than fine Clothes he minds more the easing of his Pain than the dressing up of his Body That which will make you spruce will not always make you well Fine trappings will not Cure a lame Horse nor the Painting of the Face heal the Diseases of the Spleen or Liver That knowledge which adorns your Mind yet may not always mend your Heart To conclude this Men must labour to know the truth as it is in Jesus Eph. 4.21 So to know it as to feel it and be under the influence of it or to know the truth to that end for which Christ teacheth it that is that Men may be better as well as wiser more ready to do their Master's will as well as know it Men know the truth as they should and as Christ would have them when their knowledge puts them upon the great duties of Mortification and Sanctification v. 22. That ye put off as to your former Conversation the Old man and v. 23 24. Be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind and put on the New man Prop. 7. Every Man should labour to get as much Spiritual knowledge as he can by the means of the knowledge he hath and as he can get without the neglect of other necessary duties It is not for nothing that the Apostle prays for the Collossians Ch. 1.9 that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all Wisdom and Spiritual understanding and exhorts the Corinthians Epist 1.14.20 though in Malice they were Children yet in understanding to be Men. If Christians ought to grow in every Grace why not in knowledge which is it self a Grace and helpful to all other Graces We are to be accomptable for the means we have of getting our knowledge increased and therefore sure are to labour that we may get it encreased And though a less measure of knowledge might serve turn to bring a Man to Heaven yet 1. It is contrary to that Spirit of Ingenuity that largeness of Heart towards the things of God which is supposed to be in Believers to stint themselves in the knowledge of the truth and to be content to know only just so much as may carry them to Heaven That were to study Spiritual truths not so much because they love them as because they cannot want them and so not of choice but necessity 2. Even where a less measure of knowledge might save a Man yet a greater should be endeavoured after because it might be otherwise so useful For 1. It might make his work more easie Clearness of knowledge takes off much from the Difficulty of Duty The better a Man sees his work the more easily he may do it The most skilful Artist may sumble when he works by a dim light That Man is like to go on most readily in his way who not only knows the right one but the wrong ones too those turnings and by-paths which might mislead him and seeing the Monuments of others mistakes may be warned by their wandrings 2. More knowledge might make his way more pleasant The more delectable Objects a Man hath to entertain his Eyes the more delight he may take in Travelling When Night-journeys as they have more of Danger so have less of Pleasure A clear sight of Spiritual things may help a Christian in his way not only as a Direction but as a Delight 3 It might make himself more useful more helpful to others Nec in hoc tantùm te accerso ut proficias sed ut prosis Sen. Epist Though less knowledge might suffice us for our selves as to our general Duties yet more will make us helpful to others and enable us better for the performance of relative Duties The more knowledge we have the more we may communicate Those that understand most themselves may best instruct and direct others They that are well skilled in their own duties are most sit to teach others theirs Rom. 15.14 Filled with knowledge able also to admonish one another And thus we see in these propositions what knowledge we are to labour after in order to Salvation Only I add two Cautions against two ordinary vices which Men are very liable to in their enquiring after knowledge Nihil igitur certius est quà m alterū Angelicae cognitionis genus quo post Deum quae in Deo sunt reliqua intelligunt non ita perfectum esse quin in hoc cognitionis genere quotidie proficere possint novi Semper aliquid discendo ac novo modo cognoscendo Zanch. de dei ope ib. Caut. 1. Take heed of curiosity which is the itch of the mind It is not a kindly appetite but a fond longing or an ambitious vain affectation of knowing those things which we are least concerned or not at all concerned to know and which if known would do us little good It is a lust and therefore not to be indulged in our selves but mortified It appears 1. In making inquiries into these things which God hath not revealed Deut. 29.29 Secret things belong to the Lord our God but things that are revealed unto us and to our Children c. This curiosity our Saviour checks in his Disciples Act. 1.6 Wilt thou say they at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel Our Saviour replies It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power God hath revealed enough to us in his Word for our use and furtherance in Faith and Holiness and to desire to know more is to desire to be wiser than God would have us We must not pry into those things which it is only God's Prerogative to know The Angels themselves know not some things and we should be content as well as they not to be omniscient It is dangerous peeping into God's Ark you know who smarted for it 1 Sam. 6.19 If knowing what God hath revealed do not save us I am sure searching into what he hath not revealed will not God hath told us so much of his mind in the word as may take up our whole Man in the study of it and we cannot busie our selves in inquiring into his secrets without neglecting the study of those things which are revealed and are most useful for us 2. Curiosity appears in enquiring into the reason of God's will If Rulers in the World will not have their Laws disputed If volumus jubemus be their stile and though they do not give the reason of their Commands yet they count their Commands reason enough for their Subjects obedience Sure we should allow God as much as we do his Creatures We should reckon God's will is never unreasonable His
accompany with most life and power As it is in other cases so it is for the most part here you are commonly more affected with what you hear Men speak than with what they write Ministers may write or print their Sermons but not their Affections not that Power and Spirit of the word which themselves feel and you perceive in them You are most like to be warmed by the word when you hear it coming out of a hot heart When you see your Teachers affected with the truths they deliver and speaking like those that feel what they speak you are most like to be affected too Though indeed the great reason of hearing is because it is God's Ordinance and he hath not only taken care that the word should be written that so all may read it but hath appointed Officers too purposely to Preach it that so all may hear it But withal be sure to be regular in your hearing Take heed how you hear Luke 8.18 and take heed what you hear Mark 4.28 and from both will follow that you must take heed who you hear too Hear those that are most knowing and best able to instruct you those that are most sound and least like to mislead you Do not choose to put your Souls under the conduct of blind-guides Seek for the Law at their mouths whose lips do best preserve knowledge And when you have found such keep close to them Settle your selves under the guidance of some faithful Pastor upon whose Ministry you may ordinarily attend That running to and from which is usual among us is quite another than what Daniel speaks of ch 12.4 and I am sure is not the way to encrease knowledge Rolling stones gather no moss Such rovers seldom hit upon the right way Such wandring Stars may be soonest bemisted They that thus run from one Minister to another may soon run from one opinion to another and from one errour to another I dare safely say you may get more sound knowledge of the things of God by constant attendance upon the Ministry of one of less abilities than by rambling up and down to hear many though of the greatest gifts It is a great advantage to your gaining knowledge to hear a Minister's whole discourse and be able to take up the full design of his work and not merely to hear in transitu by snatches to pick up here a notion and there a notion or hear one Man's Doctrine in the Morning and another's Application in the Afternoon It is no wonder if Men that run to and fro Eph. 4. be tossed to and fro They that are so light of hearing may easily be carried about with every wind of Doctrine the word of Christ seldom dwells in such vagabond hearers 1. Pray earnestly for knowledge We are to cry after wisdom and lift up our voice for understanding Prov. 2.3 Ask it of God Jam. 1.5 Especially address we our selves to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle of our profession Heb. 3.1 The great Prophet and Doctor of the Church in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 Who of God is made unto us Wisdom 1 Cor. 1.30 Who liveth in the bosom of the Father and declares him to us John 1.18 He that was his Father's Counsellor in making his Laws and his Messenger in publishing them is best able to make us understand them As it is our duty to Hear him so it is his business to instruct us Only beside the use of all other means we must look to him for his teaching He only can make all means effectual and none learn as they should but they that learn of him There is no learning like that we get upon our knees that is the only saving knowledge which we fetch from Heaven If you put your Children to a Trade you will have them learn it of such as are most skilful in it If you would your selves understand any art well you seek for the best Artist you can to instruct you Who can teach you all things like him that knows all things who can enlighten you like him who is the true light John 1.9 Men when they teach their Scholars oftentimes complain of their dulness they can but propound their notions to them not beget an understanding in them And Ministers complain of their hearers as the Apostle did of the Hebrews ch 5.11 that they are dull of hearing Quod â—aev à in parte mamillae Nil a lit Arcadico juveni Juven They spend their strength upon them but cannot work the truth into them But the Lord Jesus Christ is such a Teacher as is beyond all Teachers He can give the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation as it is called Eph. 1.17 and promiseth to do it John 14.26 He can give inward light as well as outward eyes as well as objects understandings to receive the truth as vvell as truths to employ your understandings 7. Take sit time for the getting knowledge You have a great deal to learn you had need be early up that you may have the most time and the best time Begin young before your minds be corrupted with errors or possessed with prejudices before you have learned too much of those things which must be unlearned if ever you would learn the things of God It is a great advantage in this case when Men are instructed in the Scriptures from their childhood 2 Tim. 3.15 when the first thing they learn is to know God and Christ and themselves their own condition their duty their hopes The time of youth is the best time for getting knowledge as of other things so of Spiritual things Qui legem discit in puerit â similis est ei qui scribit in charâ—à novâ qui in senecture similis est ei qui scribit in charta vetere R. Eliaz. apud Drâ—â— There is then least within to keep knowledg out and what is then received usually enters most deeply and proves to be most durable The more pliable the wax is the deeper the impression and the deeper the impression is the more like it is to last Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. 22.6 It is I am sure a preposterous course to learn other things before you learn what is most necessary to get a Trade before you have a Religion to learn to know the World before you know God 8. If you say this concerns your Children rather than your selves I add be much in teaching others the things of God that is the way to learn them more fully your selves The communicating your knowledge is the way to encrease it You will get more than you give and while you impart it you will best retain it While you instruct others God will instruct you and you may come to see more in his truths when you teach them others than ever you did when you learned them first
your selves not that every professor of the Gospel is to be a publick Preacher of the Gospel Private persons are not to invade an office to which God never called them but yet private Christians may be a kind of private teachers they may read the Scriptures in their houses who yet may not take upon them to explain it in the publick they may catechize and as Abraham Gen. 18.19 teach their Children and their housholds to know the way of the Lord who yet are not to instruct congregations they may exhort one another and admonish one another and teach one another in Godly discourse and conference communicating each others experiences and solving each others doubts who yet are not to usurp a work into their hands for which Christ hath appointed a particular Office in his Church 9. Be sure to practice what you know and live up to what you have learned Doing duty is the way to gain knowledg Ordinarily the more holy you are the more really wise you are or are like to be The better your hearts are the clearer your heads will be as to the knowledg of those Spiritual things you are most concerned to know You will most easily learn to know what you love most to do Though the receiving the truths of God be the immediate office of the understanding yet the affections where they are right Cupiditas hostis intelliâ—â—â—ae will help the understanding in its work The purifying of the heart will rid it of those lusts which are wont to steam and vapour up into the head and darken the eyes oâ— the mind and hinder it from a right receiving of Spiritual truths Where sanctification is promoted in heart and life knowledg will certainly be increased too They that exercise themselves unto Godlyness and thereby shew their love to God's Law shall not want for the knowledg of it They that love his wayes shall not want for a guide The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will teach them his covenant Psal 25.9 If any Man do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God c. John 1.17 Vse 1. This doctrine informs us 1. How miserable they are that are without knowlede poor ignorant blind sinners that know nothing of God and Christ and the mysteries of the Gospel and the way of duty but especially they that enjoy the means of knowledg and are in a capacity of obtaining it Woe be to them that are ignorant in an Age of knowledg blind in a land of light see so little even in a valley of vision that are ignorant in England ignorant in London that are ignorant because they will be ignorant are in the dark because they love darkness We may even wonder at many what shift they make to maintain their ignorance when so much knowledg is abroad but that they draw the curtains and close their eyes and wink away the light and instead of looking for saving knowledg they hope to be excused by their ignorance What though such as are under an invincible ignorance of revealed truths may not be damned for not believing what they have not heard or for not doing what they have not known they are miserable enough in not knowing what might save them as well as in their not practising the little they do know which though it be not sufficient to make them happy yet is sufficient to make them inexcusable And what is this to those that are so deeply ignorant under the means of knowledge who is there among us but might come to know so much as is needful to his Salvation who is there but might hear good Ministers or hath some good Relations or might converse with some good people or read some good book Who is there but hath or may have a Bible and a Catechism and so long as Men have the Bible in their hands they can never be excused if they perish in their ignorance So long as Christ is the Prophet of his Church and promiseth his Spirit to them that ask him and offereth so freely to instruct them the case of those that are among and converse with God's people and yet remain ignorant must needs be desperate Is it so great a matter to hear the word to read the Scriptures and to pray to God for an understanding of them who will pity a man that perisheth for thirst and yet sits by a fountain or that starves for hunger and yet may come every day to a full granary 2. How foolish are they that cry down knowledg and consequently cry up ignorance Make that the mother of devotion which is indeed the Parent of irreligion as if they were like to do most who know least as if they were the best servants who were least acquainted with their Master's will or might be wise to Salvation and yet ignorant of the truth Others there are too who under the name of Head-knowledg do upon the matter cry down all knowledg at least vvhich themselves have not reached and care not for seeking after Because some men have only a notional knowledg floating in their heads these persons are ready to condemn all knowledg under that notion They have got a fine word by the end and are resolved to make much of it A form of speech they have taken up as a way of excusing their own sloth and ignorance by declaiming against those that are better taught Heart-knowledg without Head-knowledg is nonsence in divinity as well as reason it is but fire without light and so at the best but that which the Apostle ascribes to the Jews Rom. 10.2 A zeal of God but not according to knowledg 3. How wicked are they how great is their sin that keep others from knowledg Some there be that would perswade men from labouring after it tell them private persons need not be so knowing they may be saved with less learning and less teaching a little knowledg will carry them to Heaven if they do but live honestly and do their duty And is it possible for a man to live honestly without knowledg or do his duty without understanding his duty I add to believe as he should without knowing what to believe can you be religious by instinct or do the will of God by guess though you never inquire after it why do they not as well tell men that they may be rich enough if they do but keep to their shops and sell their goods though they do not understand their trade or that they may maintain their health if they do but eat and drink though they cannot distinguish between meat and poyson others there be who if they cannot perswade men against knowledg vvill do their best to hinder them from the means of obtaining it Such are the Popish Clergy that keep the people from reading the Scriptures vvould have God's revealed will kept secret or known to none but themselves who never intend to do it at least no more of
God 3. Odes or spiritual Songs may belong to natural things what we ought to debate discuss viz. The Race Order Harmony and Continuance of the World and God's infinite Wisdom manifested in it 2. Some distinguish these according to the Authors of them 1. Psalms they are the Composures of holy David 2. Hymns they are the Songs of some other excellent men recorded in Scripture as Moses Heman Asaph c. 3. Spiritual Songs they are Odes of some other holy and good men not mentioned in Scripture as the Song of Ambrose Nepos and others 3. Some aver that these several speeches mentioned in the Text answer the Hebrew distinction of Psalms Among them there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mizmorim which treated of various and different Subjects 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which only mentioned the Praises of the most High 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were Songs more artificially and musically composed and some Divines observe were sung with the help of a musical Instrument But I may add Are not all these several species mentioned to prefigure the Plenty and the Joy which is reserved for the Saints within the Vail when they shall join in consort with the glorious Angels in singing their perpetual Hallelujahs to their glorious Creator 3 The manner of Singing Our Text saith with Melody with inward joy and tripudlation of Soul If the Tongue make the Pause the Heart must make the Elevation The Apostle saith to the Colossians Colos 3.16 We must sing with grace which is as some expound it 1. Cum gratiarum actione with giving of thanks And indeed thankfulness is the very Selah of this duty that which puts an accent upon the Musick and sweetness of the Voice and then we sing melodiously when we warble out the Praises of the Lord. 2. With gracefulness with a becoming and graceful dexterity And this brings both profit and pleasure to the Hearers as Davenant observes Psalms are not the Comedies of Venus or the jocular Celebrations of a wanton Adonis but they are the Spiritual ebullitions of a composed Soul to the incomprehensible Jehovah with real grace God's Spirit must breathe in this service Et prodessâ— veliat dâ—lectâ—re Dav. Cantemus cum gratia à Spiriâ—u Sâ—ncto donata Chrysost Hoc quod praecinitur sine gratià Dâ—i impleri non potest Oecâ—m Sine corde nulla est modalatio Bod. here we must act our joy our confidence our delight Singing is the triumph of a gracious Soul the Child joying in the praises of his Father In singing of Psalms the gracious heart takes wings and mounts up to God to joyn with the Celestial Quire It is grace which sits the heart for and sweetens the heart in this duty And where this qualification is wanting this service is rather an hurry than a duty it is rather a disturbance than any obedience 4. The Master of the Chore the Preceptor that is the Heart We must look to the Heart in singing that it be purged by the Spirit and that it be replete with spiritual Affection He plays the Hypocrite who brings not the heart to this Duty One observes There is no Tune without the Heart Singing takes its proper rise from the Heart the Voice is only the further progress And indeed God is the Creator of the whole man and therefore he will be praised not only with our Tongues but with our Hearts The Apostle tells us He will sing with the spirit 1 Cor. 14.15 And David informs us his heart was ready to sing and give praise Nâ—n vox sed votum non musica cerdula sed cor Aug. De modo benè vivendi Bern. Psal 57.7 8. 108.1 Augustine admonisheth us It is not a Musical-string but a Working-heart is harmonious The Virgin Mary sings her Magnificat with her heart Luke 14.47 And Bernard tells us in a Tract of his That when we sing Psalms let us take heed that we have the same thing in our Mind that we warble forth in our Tongue and that our Song and our Heart do not run several ways If we in singing only offer the Calves of our Lips it will too much resemble a Carnal and a Jewish service 5. The End of the Duty To the Lord. So saith the Text viz. To Jesus Christ who is here principally meant Our singing must not serve our Gain or our Luxury or our Fancy but our Christ our Lord and dear Redeemer In this Duty it is his Praises we must mainly and chiefly celebrate And most deservedly we magnifie the true God by Psalms and Singing when the Heathens celebrate their false and dung-hill-Gods Jupiter Neptune and Apollo with Songs and Hymns One well observes Singing of Psalms is part of Divine Worship Deus est canendi Vnicus Scopus Bod. and of our Homage and Service due to the great Jehovah Bodius takes notice that God is the true and only scope of all our singing And truly if the Spirit of God be in us he will be steddily aimed at by us Thus Deborah and Barak sang their Triumphal Song to the Lord Judges 5.3 The several parts of the Text being thus opened they may be set together again in this Divine and Excellent Truth Doct. Non franges vocem sed frange voluntatem non serves tantùm Consonantiam Vocum sed concordium Mo um Bern. Aug. In the Ordinance of Singing we must not make Noise but Musick and the Heart must make Melody to the Lord. So the Text. Augustine complained of some in his time That they minded more the Tune than the Truth more the Manner than the Matter more the Governing of the Voice than the Raisedness of the Mind And this was a great offence to him Singing of Psalms must only be the joyous breathing of a raised Soul and here the cleanness of the Heart is more considerable than the clearness of the Voice In this Service we must study more to act the Christian than the Musitian Many in singing of Psalms are like the Organs whose Pipes are filled only with Wind. The Apostle Col. 3.16 tells us we must sing with our Heart We must sing David's Psalms with David's Spirit One tells us God is a Spirit and he will be worshipped in Spirit even in this duty Now to traverse the Truth 1. We will shew the Divine Authority of this Ordinance 2. We will shew the Sweetness of it 3. The Universal Practice of it 4. We shall shew the Honours God hath put upon this Ordinance 5. And then come to the main Case 6. And make Application For the first We shall shew the Divine Authority of this Ordinance 1. By Scripture-Command 2. By Scripture-Argument 3. By Scripture-Pattern 4. By Scripture-Prophesie 1. From Scripture-Precept And here we have divers commands laid upon us both in the Old and New Testament David who among his honourable Titles obtains this to be called the Sweet Singer of Israel 2 Sam. 23.1 he frequently calls upon himself Psal 7.17 I
our Enemies This likewise draws the heart to a just indignation Zeal and Compassion The very matter we Sing doth abundantly sweeten this Duty Nay further 1. Singing is the musick of Nature The Scriptures tell us the Mountains Sing Jer. 44.23 The valleys Sing Psal 65.13 The trees of the wood Sing 1 Chron. 16.33 Nay the Air is the Bird's Musick room where they chant their musical notes 2. Singing is the Musick of Ordinances Augustin reports of himself Aug lib. 3. conf cap. 6. Bâ—za That when he came to Millain and heard the people Sing he wept for joy in the Church to hear that pleasing Melody And Beza confesses That at his first entrance into the Congregation and hearing them sing the 91 Psalm he felt himself exceedingly comforted and did retain the sound of it afterwards upon his heart The Rabbies tell us That the Jews after the feast of the Passeover was celebrated they sang the 111 Psalm and the five following Psalms and our Saviour and his Apostles sang an HYMN immediately after the Blessed Supper Mat. 26.30 Mat. 26.30 3. Singing is the Musick of Saints 1. They have performed this duty in their greatest numbers Psal 149.2 2. In their greatest straits Isa 26.19 3. In their greatest flight Isa 42.10 11 4. In their greatest deliverances 5. In their greatest plenties Isa 65.14 In all these changes Singing hath been their stated duty and delight And indeed it is meet that the Saints and servants of God should Sing forth their joyes and praises to the Lord Almighty Every Attribute of him can set both their Song and their Tune 4. Singing is the Musick of Angels Job tells us The Morning Stars Sang together Job 38.7 Now these Morning Stars as Pineda Pineda comment in Job tells us are the Angels to which the Chaldee Paraphrase accords naming these Morning Stars Aciem Angelorum an host of Angels nay when this heavenly Host was sent to proclaim the Birth of our dearest Jesus they deliver their message in this raised way of duty Luke 2.13 They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivering their messages in a laudatory Singing the whole Company of Angels making a Musical Quire Nay in Heaven there is the Angels joyous Musick Creaturarum Psalmus est Stella they there sing Hallelujahs to the most High and to the Lamb who sits upon the Throne Rev. 5.11 5. Singing is the Musick of Heaven The glorious Saints and Angels accent their praises this way and make one harmony in their state of blessedness Ibi nil nisi laus Dei nisi amor Dei Aug. and this is the Musick of the Bride-Chamber Rev. 15.3 The Saints who were tuning here their Psalms are now Singing there Hallelujahs in a louder strain and articulating their joys which here they could not express to their perfect satisfaction here they laboured with drowsie Hearts and faltering Tongues But in glory these impediments are removed and nothing is left to jar their joyous celebrations Now thirdly we come to shew the Vniversal practice of this Duty Singing Psalms and Spiritual Songs to God is not more sweet than Oecumenical It hath been always the way of Saints thus to express their joy in the Lord. This Duty hath been practised 1. By all varieties of Persons 1. By Christ and his Apostles as hath been shown Mat. 26.30 The glorious Sun and Stars have shined in favour upon this joyous Service and left their practice of it upon Record The Supernal and upper Orders of the World have not been too high for this Spiritual Harmony 2. Godly Princes have glorified God in this Duty 2 Chron. 29.30 Their Thrones have not raised them above this Spiritual service King Jehoshaphat assaults his enemies not only with the brandishing of his Sword but with the Singing of his Song 2 Chron. 20.21 Princes who have swayed regal Scepters have sang Spiritual Songs and have minded the Quire as well as the Crown David not only takes the Scepter into his hand to rule the people but takes the Harp into his hand to sing the praises of the Lord. 3. Worthy Governours Nehemiah takes care that as soon as the wall of Hierusalem was set up Singers should be appointed to perform this part of God's Worship Nehem. 7.1 These Eminent Magistrates held not only the reins of Government but lifted up those hands which held them with the voices in Singing the Praises of God Magistracy is a spur not a curb to Duty I need not mention Ethan Heman and Asaph Eminent and Worthy Men engaged in this pleasing service 2 Chron. 5.12 4. Holy Prophets They did not only prophesie of things to come but they practised Duties for the present more especially this And as David pens Prophetical so he sings Musical Psalms and professes his dying and his singing Air should both expire together Psal 146.2 Psal 146.2 This Duty should lye by him on his Death-bed and as Moses in the 32 Chapter of Deuteronomy he will close up his life with a Swan-like with a Saint-like Song So the 22 Chapter of the second of Samuel was a song of Thanksgiving for manifold mercies a little before his death 5. The body of the People As Singing is not too low for Kings so not too choice for Subjects the whole multitude sometimes engaged in the harmony Then Israel Sang this Song Numb 21.17 The Peoples voice may make melody as the lesser birds contribute to the Musick of the Grove their chirping notes filling up the harmony 6. Eminent Fathers Basil Basil August lib. 9. Conf. cap 6. Non discumbitur priusquam Oratio ad Deum sit c. Tertul. calls the Singing of Psalms Spiritual incense Augustine was highly commendatory of this service and assures us Ambrose and Athanasius were coincident with him in this particuler 7. Primitive Christians and here I shall only mention what Tertullian relates of the practice of those times he lived in When we come to a feast saith he we do not sit down before there is Prayer and after the meal is past one cometh forth and either out of the Holy Scriptures or else from some composure of his own begins a Spiritual Song 2. In all Ages This service of Singing to God was soon started in the World Moses the first Penman of Scripture he both Sung a Song and Penned a Psalm as we hinted before In the Judges time Deborah and Barak Sang a Triumphant Song Judg. 5.1 2 c. During the time of the Kings of Judah the Levites sang the praises of God in the Sanctuary A little before the Captivity we find the Church praising God in Singing Isa 35.2 In the time of the Captivity Israel did not forget the Songs of Zion though they were in Babylon Psal 126.2 After their return from Captivity we soon find them return to this joyous Service Neh. 7.1 their long Exile had not banished this Duty Towards the close of their Prophets prophesying the Church is again engaged in
to the Sheeps passing out of the Fold when they were to be Tithed for God Levit. 27.32 they were to be told with a Rod one two three c. and the Tenth was the Lords God will not covenant with us in the lump and body but every one was to be particularly minded of his Duty 't is not enough that our Parents did engage for us in Baptism as the Israelites in the Name of their little ones did avouch God to be their God Dent. 29.10 11 12. No man can savingly transact this Work for another we must ratifie the Covenant in our own Persons and make our own professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ 2 Cor. 9.13 This Work cannot be done by a Proxy or Assigns our Parents Dedication will not profit us without some personal Act of our own if we live to years of discretion Once more this must be done not only in words or visible external Rites which may signifie so much as personal Covenanting with God but a Man must ingage his heart to God Jer. 30.21 yea this is a business that must be done between God and our own Souls where no outward witnesses are conscious to it God speaketh to the Soul in this transaction Psal 35.3 Say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation and the Soul speaketh to God Lam. 3.24 thou art my Portion saith my soul and Psal 16.2 O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my God thus the Covenant is carried on in Soul-Language Now upon this Personal inward Covenanting with God our right to all the priviledges doth depend 2. Renew often the sense of your Obligation to God and keep a constant reckoning how you lay out your selves for him Acts 27.23 His I am and him I serve Phil. 1.21 To me to Live is Christ Some few Renegado's renounce their Baptism but most Christians forget their Baptism 2 Pet. 1.9 He is blind and cannot see afar off and has forgotten that he was washed from his old sins therefore we should be continually exciting our selves both to obedience and dependence that the sincerity of our first Vow and Consent may be verified by a real and constant performance of it 3. You should use frequent self-reflection that you may come to know whether you are indeed washed from the guilt and silth of sin 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but now ye are sanctified but now ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God You should observe what further sense you have of the pardon of sin how you get ground upon your bondage of Spirit and grow up into some rejoycing of Faith for by these signs God intended our strong consolation Heb. 6.18 And the Eunuch when he was Baptized went his way rejoicing Acts 8.39 Hath God applyed his Covenant to me Taken me into the Family Planted me into the Mystical Body of Christ and shall not I be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation So for Sanctification see whether God's Interest doth prevail in you or the Interest of the Flesh what Power and strength of Will you get against Corruption easily Gal. 5.16 17. whether sin be more subdued and you can govern your Passions and Appetites better Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's should find something of this in themselves otherwise their Baptism is but an empty formality Fourthly and Lastly You must use it as a great help in all Temptations as when you are tempted to sin either by the delights of Sense a Christian hath his Answer ready I am no Debtor to the Flesh or I am Baptized and dedicated to God in the way of Mortification and Holiness to obtain pardon and Life 1 Cor. 6.15 Shall I take the Members of Christ c. this Soul this Body this Time this Strength is Christs not to please the Flesh but the Lord Or by the terrors of Sense Dionysia comforted her Son Majoricus an African Martyr when he was going to suffer for owning the God-head of Christ with this Speech Memento Fili Baptizatum esse in nomine Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Remember my Son that thou art Baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and be constant So when you are tempted by the Devil taking advantage of your Melancholy and grievous afflictions to question God's Love and Mercy to Penitent Believers Remember the Covenant Sealed in Baptism that you may keep up your Faith in God through Christ which pardoneth all your sins and hath begotten us to a lively hope We must expect to be Tempted the Devil tempted Christ after his Baptism to question his filiation so solemnly attested Compare Mat. 3.17 with Mat. 4.16 Luther saith of himself that when the Devil tempted him to despair or to any doubts and fears about the Love of God or his Mercy to Sinners he would always Answer Ecce ego Baptizatus sum credo in Christum Crucifixum Behold I am Baptized and Believe in Christ Crucified And he telleth us of an Holy Virgin who gave this reply when the Devil abused her Solitudes and injected any despairing thoughts into her mind Baptizata sum I am Baptized and entred into God's Covenant and will expect the pardon of my sins by Jesus Christ Thus should we all the daies of our Life improve our Baptism till we have the full of that Holy and Happy estate for which we were first purified and washed in God's Laver. By what Scriptural Rules may Catechizing be be so managed as that it may become most Vniversally Profitable Serm. XI Proverbs 22.6 Train up or Catechize a Child in the way he should go or in his way and when he is old he will not depart from it THIS most Excellent Book of Sacred Aphorisins or Divine Proverbs is by some not unfitly compared to a costly Chain of Orient Pearls among which though there be a fair Connexion yet there is little or no Coherence I shall therefore immediately enter on the words themselves and in them I observe a Precept and a Promise an important Duty and a perswasive Motive 1. A grand important necessary Duty enjoyned Train up or Catechize a Child in the way he should go In which words we have 1. The Act or Duty prescribed Train up or Catechize Piously and prudently instruct and educate 2. The Object or Person that is to be trained up a Child By a Synechdoche all such Younger ones and Inferiours as are committed to the care and conduct of their Superiours 3. The Subject-matter wherein these Inferiours are thus to be trained up In the way he should go In that way or manner of life which most suits and becomes him that makes most for God's Glory and his own temporal spiritual and eternal good 2. Quo semel est in buta recens servabit odrem testa diu Aâ— plurimum So. Observation 2. A Cogent Argument or prevalent Motive to excite and quicken to the faithful discharge of this important Duty And
but incur the great displeasure of God for so doing 2. But there is another way of discerning the Lord's body in this supper and that is by a spiritual tast and relish for the palate hath not a greater ability of discerning the different relish in the variety of meats man feeds on than the soul of man that hath its spiritual senses exercised hath in tasting the things of God and of judging the different sweets thereof This is that spiritual faculty that Jesus Christ speaks of when he tells Peter that he savoured of the things of man Math. 16.43 but not of the things that be of God Now this you must well observe you that do partake of this Supper whether you do relish the love of the Lord Jesus in his dying for sinners and for you in particular is this great love of Christ sweet to your souls sweeter than honey or the honey comb can you admire the heights and depths of this love and wonder that the Son of God should take a body to be bruised wounded slain for the vilest of sinners among which you reckon your self as one do you find this love of his to you draw your hearts to a love of him and a delight in him and a readiness to part with all for him this is indeed to discern the Lord's body in this supper and by this you are enabled to see a vast difference betwixt this supper and all the feasts of fat things that ever you were at in all your lives If it be so with you then are you qualified for this supper and are by Christ's command obliged to partake thereof 2. Those that have fellowship with God in Christ they are those Christ hath obliged by his command to partake of this supper This is another qualification the Apostle gives us in 1 Cor. 10.18 20 21. where discoursing of the nature of Divine and likewise of Diabolical sacrifices of the reason of the Priests and Peoples eating some part thereof he also shews the reason of our partaking of the Lord's Table which though it is not properly a sacrifice that is there offered yet it holds some resemblance unto the sacrifices of the Law and to the Peoples eating thereof inasmuch as it is a Commemoration of that one sacrifice Christ offered up to the Father for our sins of the benefits of which one sacrifice those that communicate at the Lord's Table do as effectually partake as if Christ was offered up as often as you there do eat and drink Now saith the Apostle of the Legal sacrifices v. 18. they which eat thereof are partakers of the Altar that is are partakers of the blessings of that God to whom that altar is erected and to whom those sacrifices are offered And not only so but there is yet a further meaning which is that those that eat of the Altar do thereby declare that they take the God of that Altar to be their God from whom they expect all that good they are capable of in this life and that which is to come and likewise they thereby declare that him and him only will they worship and serve Now this engagement of themselves to God signified by eating of the sacrifice is that fellowship spoken of v. 20. where the Apostle further tells you that there is the very same intendment in those sacrifices that are offered to Devils and the peoples eating of those feasts that attended those sacrifices they thereby did signifie that they took those Devils to be their Gods and resolved for the future to worship and serve them as Gods which is the proper meaning of that 20 v. But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils i.e. I would that you would not associate with devils or enter into a confederacy with them to serve and worship them as the Idol-feasts do signifie Now if the Idol-feasts signified the confederacy betwixt the Devils and their worshippers so also did the feast that attended the Jewish sacrifice signifie a fellowship betwixt the true God and his worshippers whereby the true God was acknowledged as their God and that they would worship and serve him only Thus the Apostle having illustrated the meaning of eating of the Jewish and also of the Gentile sacrifice he proceeds to accommodate those notions to that of the Lord's Table v. 21. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils ye cannot be partakes of the Lord's Table and of the table of devils The meaning is this you cannot serve two such contrary Masters as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus and devils also for if you eat of Idols feasts you thereby declare you own devils as Gods and then coming to the Lord's Table you thereby declare you only acknowledg the true God to be your God in and through Jesus Christ your Sacrifice and Mediator which practices are very absurd and contradictory The Conclusion is this that those that partake of the Lord's Table are such that from the heart do take the God of that Christ whose death is remembred in that Supper to be their God and that do believe that God is really reconciled to them by that sacrifice and they declare likewise hereby they will worship and serve this God in this Christ and him only now if any of you are thus engaged to God in Spirit you have fellowship with him and you are those that have right to partake of this Supper Having thus opened the words of the Text I shall now give you that chief point I would have you observe which is this Doct. That it is the indispensable duty of all such members of Jesus Christ that can discern the Lord's body in this Lord's Supper and have fellowship with the Father by this crucified Jesus to come to this Supper and to partake thereof There is not any thing in the Doctrine I shall insist on except this one which is to prove it is your duty to partake of it and that it is therefore indispensable because the neglect of it is a very great sin Which I prove by this one argument Jesus Christ who instituted it he hath commanded you to remember him in it and therefore if you do it not you break his command and what is that but to sin against him for what else is sin but either to do what your God and Saviour forbids or not to do what he commands this is so plain that it were but to waste time to use more words for the clearing thereof What I have therefore more to say is to shew you those many things that accompany this sin that tend to aggravate it that when you understand not only that the neglect of this duty is a sin but a very great one you may be deterred from continuing any longer in it 1. I beseech you consider whose command it is you break it
not the Christ but that I am sent before him He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom c. he must increase but I must decrease John would not suffer any envy or prejudice to remain in the hearts of his Disciples against Christ upon his account but seeks to check it presently But he being now not present with them the Pharisees more easily ingaged them in this opposition and objection against Christ about Fasting to join with them therein And the zeal that John's Disciples had for the reputation of their Master might somewhat incline them also to it for they saw the people following Christ which they thought might be some eclipse to it and consequently to their own as they were his Disciples And besides they knowing the austerity and abstinence that was practis'd by John his meat being locusts and wild honey such food as he found in the wilderness they might be more easily offended at that greater liberty that was taken by Christ and his Disciples about eating and drinking Especially at this time when their Master was in Prison they thought fasting might be more seasonable than going to a feast as Christ and his Disciples did at the house of Levi as Grotius observes upon the place Next we have Christ's reply to the Objection and he presents it in a parable as I said the parable of a Bridegroom who at his wedding hath his Bridemen and Bridemaids attending him in the wedding chamber who according to the Hebrew Dialect are here called the Children of the Bride-chamber And is it then a proper season for their fasting while they are in the wedding-chamber and the Bridegroom with them Wherein Christ doth represent himself as a Bridegroom and his Disciples as the Children of the Bride-chamber And he doth now represent himself thus the rather to put these Disciples of John in remembrance of their Masters speech when he call'd Christ the Bridegroom As we read John 3.29 He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom And should then his Disciples fast and mourn while Christ the Bridegroom was with them And their Master John he profest that he was the friend of this Bridegroom and rejoyced greatly to hear his voice John 3.29 And therefore why should they be offended at his Disciples that they did not fast and mourn when their Master John rejoiced and had his joy fulfill'd in hearing his voice as we read John 3.29 And herein Christ doth intimate to them that if they were indeed his Disciples and the children of the Bride-chamber they would not fast neither for the children of the Bride-chamber cannot fast while the Bridegroom is with them But he adds The days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them and then shall they fast in those days And so I come to the Text. Wherein we may observe by the way 1. That Christ doth exempt his Disciples from observing those fasts that the Pharisees and John's Disciples were in the practice of Chemnitiu Harm in loco And the rather because they were observed especially on the Pharisees part Ex simulato pietatis studio out of ostentation of piety and for self-justification As he did exempt them from their other traditions so also from their fasts 2. That the Bridegroom was to be taken away which is to be understood of Christ's fleshly presence for his spiritual presence never was nor never will be taken away from his Church And this presence discontinues till his coming to judg the world and then the cry will be heard at Midnight Behold the Bridegroom cometh Mat. 25.6 The Bridegroom that was once visibly present on earth with his Disciples is so taken away that he will not be in that manner present with them again till his return from heaven And his taking away doth either respect the acts of men who by cruel hands took him from prison and from judgment and nail'd him upon the cross Isa 53 8. and took him out of the Land of the living Or else it respects the act of his Father who took him up into heaven after he had finisht his work here upon earth as it is said 1 Tim. 3. ult Received up into glory which is the more probable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though there is nothing in the original word to determine it to either sense 3. He also declares what the practice of his Disciples would be after his taking away Then shall they fast in those days so that he doth not deny the practice of Fasting to his Disciples but rather commends it only it was not at present seasonable as it afterwards would be Qu. But why should they fast after he was taken away Ans 1. Some say because till then the Holy Ghost was not given in such a degree as might fit them for such extraordinary duties Chrysost As Christ seems to intimate when upon this occasion he excuseth his Disciples as being not yet fit for such spiritual services No man putteth a piece of new Cloth into an old garment nor new wine into old bottles Mark 2.22 It 's true they might be able to keep fast days as the Pharisees did but Christ that values our duties by the frame of spirit exerted in them would not have them put upon extraordinary duties till they had a suitable measure of the spirit to enable them thereunto 2. Others and I think more properly understand the words of Christ with respect to the afflictions and persecutions that would come upon the Church after his ascension into heaven vvhich vvould give them great occasions of prayer and extraordinary supplications and vvhich vvould reduce them to such great sorrows and distresses vvhereby fasting vvould be not only seasonable but that principle of grace that vvould act them in other duties vvould also naturally lead them to it Not to take up again the practice of these Pharisaical Fasts as the Montanists would hence infer but the duty of Fasting as suited to Gospel times And these persecutions began early First by the Jews and then the Arrians and then the Heathen persecutions under the Dragon in the Roman Empire and then under the Beast with the seven heads and ten horns to whom the Dragon gave his seat and great power Rev. 13.2 And Christ foretold this to his Disciples before he vvas taken away That they that kil'd them would think they did God good service John 16.1 And that Nation should rise against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and there should be Famine Pestilence and Earthquakes Mat. 14.7 Now in these days should his Disciples fast Not that in these vvords Christ doth give an institution for fasting but declares what eventually would come to pass Neither doth he determine any particular days and times for fasting but only general during the absence of the Bridegroom they should fast in those days And indeed as soon as the Bridegroom was gone they began to have cause of mourning his absence it self was one great cause
of it 1. It seems partly to be dictated by the light of nature for the heathen observed it especially when any fore calamity was either felt or feared by them As in the case of Nineveh when Jonah denounced destruction to the City they presently betook themselves to fasting both King Nobles and People yea the very Beasts must be concerned in it Jonah 3.7 8. So when they would make their prayers more prevalent in such cases they would join fasting with their prayers As Baals Priests when they cried to their God Baal to hear them The Text saith they cried all day until the evening sacrifice 1 Kings 18.19 So that they did not only pray but fast also As they used lustrations sacrifices festivals in their religious rites and worship of their Gods so sometimes they had their Jejunia and religious fasts As we have some account of this in Tertullian in his Book adversus Phychicos By which they thought to make some satisfaction for their sin and to reconcile to themselves the Deity they had offended or to obtain some special favour they had need of 2. It is a duty by Institution and that both in the Old and New Testament the fast of the seventh month was by direct institution in the Old Testament And at other times God call'd them to it Sanctifie a fast call an Assembly said the Prophet Joel chap. 1.14 And God is said to choose it Isa 58. Is not this the fast that I have chosen And God's declaring there in that Chapter the right way of observing it doth prove the duty it self to be of his own appointment And the New Testament requires it also for the duty is of a Moral nature and therefore the obligation of it remains only with this difference 1. We are not to use those rites and outward expressions of sorrow that were practiced in those times which belonged to the rigour of that legal ministration As Rending the garment Joel 2.13 putting on of sackcloth Neh. 9.1 covering with Ashes Dan. 9.3 bowing down the head Isa 58.5 Putting earth upon their head Neh. 9.1 and sometimes putting off their sandal or shoes and plucking off the hair Ezra 9.3 and making themselves bald Isa 22.12 And the Pharisees used disfiguring of their faces Mat. 6. But saith Christ to his Disciples when thou fastest anoint thy head wash thy face which in their fasting the Jews should forbear though used at other times as appears by Daniels fasting chap. 10.3 I ate no pleasant bread neither did I anoint my self at all But saith Christ do not ye do so but anoint thy head and wash thy face c. and so use not such visible signs of sorrow that thou may'st not appear to men to fast 2. We ought not to fast with that legal frame of spirit which was upon the Jews in those days for every duty in the days of the New Testament is to be managed with a spirit suiting the Gospel ministration 3. As to its sanction there may be also the addition of humane authority in the appointing of fasts especially publick fasts when the publick state of affairs may require it the duty in general being of God's institution and the voice of Providence calling people to it the Magistrate in this case may determine the time if it be general to a Nation Or the Pastors and guides of the Church with respect to the several Churches over which they preside For where a duty is required of God and the circumstance of time not determin'd there Christian prudence in Magistrates or Churches is to be the rule for determination As the particular times for Baptism and the Lord's Supper are left to Christian prudence to determine 2. The manner how a religious fast is to be observed And that both with respect to the outward and inward man And if some cannot hear a total abstinence some courser food may be used as in Tertullian's time they had their Xerophagiae so called from a dry kind of food used by them Tertullian de jejun adv Psithicos 1. With respect to the outward man 1. Abstinence from food is requisite and necessary so far as may consist with mercy to the body For the very name of a fast implies this abstinence and not only the Jews but the very Heathen in their fasts did injoin this abstinence upon themselves and others as appears by that of Nineveh Jonah 2.7 2. As also meaner apparel than what may be used at other times though not to put on Sackcloth yet to lay aside ornaments and richer dresses upon such a day When the Israelites would express their sorrow for the sad tidings of God's refusing to go before them It is said they laid aside their Ornaments Exodus 33.4 Though they had a command for it yet nature it self did teach it them As it did the King of Nineveh who laid aside his robe when he fasted and mourned Purple and scarlet and shining apparel are not suitable to such a duty nature it self being judg Non est conveniens luctibus ille color And verily those gay and gaudy dresses which multitudes garb themselves with at this day are no whit suitable to the sad times upon which God hath cast us 3. Yea and humble gestures also which may best express a solemn serious mind Though no particular gesture is absolutely commanded yet nothing ought to be discovered either in the countenance or any actions and gestures of the body that may be unsuitable to the nature of the day and the solemn duties thereof wherein partly the light of nature and the custom of the place may direct and regulate us The Jews had three sorts of gestures that were used in worship The one was bowing the head call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The other was bending the knee call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The third was prostration of the body call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But where there is no particular gesture determined there Christians are left to their liberty only it is to be guided by a due respect to the greatest advantage of the duty and with caution against any just offence 4. Abstinence from secular affairs is requisite for a fast is a solemn devoting a certain part of time to God and to an extraordinary attendance upon him And if meats and drinks are to be forborn for to give advantage to the duties of the day so also bodily labours and secular business upon the same account The Jewish fasts were reckoned among their Sabbaths and so they were days of rest from bodily labours And there was a severe punishment to be inflicted upon the men that did any work upon their solemn fasts of the tenth day of the seventh month as we read Levit. 23.30 The same soul will I destroy from among his people Though the rigour of that legal ministration is abated under the Gospel yet it holds still in the moral and equitable part of it that whatever may hinder the managing of
may require frequent accesses to the throne of grace in a day But I humbly think at the least once a day which seems to be imported by that passage in our Lord's prayer give us this day our daily bread Since after our Lord's appointment of secret prayer in the text he gives us this prayer as a pattern to his Disciples Qu. 3. When persons are under temptations or disturbance by passions is it expedient then to pray 1 Tim. 2.8 Ans Since we are enjoin'd to lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting I judg it not so proper to run immediately to prayer but with some foregoing ejaculations for pardon and strength against such exorbitances and when in some measure cooled and composed then speed to prayer and take heed that the Sun go not down upon your wrath without holy purgation by prayer Eph 4.26 though I must confess a Christian should always endeavour to keep his course and heart in such a frame as not to be unfit for prayer upon small warnings The very consideration of our frequent communion with God should be a great bar to immoderate and exuberant passions Qu. 4. Whether may we pray in secret when others must needs take notice of our retirement Ans I must confess in a strait house and when a person can many times find no seasons but such as will fall under observation I think he ought not to neglect secret duty if his heart be right before God for fear of others notice we must prevent it as much as may be and especially watch our hearts against spiritual pride and God may graciously turn it to a testimony and for example to others Qu. 5. Whether we may be vocal in secret prayer if we can't so well raise or keep up affection or preserve the heart from wandering without it Ans No doubt but yet there must be used a great deal of wise caution about extending the voice De Orat. That of Tertullian counselling persons at prayer ne ipsis quidem manibus sublimius elatis c. Ne vultu quidem in audaciam erecto Sonos etiam vocis subjecios esse oportet aut quantis arteriis opus est si pro sono audiamur c. qui clarius adorant proximis obstrepunt imò prodendo orationes suas quid minùs faciunt quam si in publico orent Advises that both hands and countenance and voice should be ordered with great reverence and humility What arteries need we if we think to be heard for noise and what else do we by discovering our prayers than if we pray'd in publick yet surely if we can obtain some very private place or when others are from home and the extension of the voice be found to some persons by long experience to be of use such may lawfully improve it to their private benefit Q. 6. How to keep the heart from wandring thoughts in prayer Ans Although it be exceeding difficult to attain so excellent a frame yet by frequent reflecting upon and remembring the eye of God in secret by endeavouring to fix the heart with all possible watchfulness upon the main scope of prayer in hand by being very sensible of our wants and indigencies by not studying of impertinent length but rather being more frequent and short considering God is in heaven and we upon earth and by exercise of holy communion as we may through the implored assistance of the spirit attain some sweetness and freedom Eccl. 5.22 so likewise some more fixedness of spirit in our addresses before the Lord. Qu. 7. What if present answers seem not to correspond to our Petitions Ans We must not conclude it by and by to be a token of displeasure and say with Job Job 10.2 shew me wherefore thou contendest with me but acknowledg the soveraignty of divine wisdom and love in things that seem contrary to us in petitions for temporal mercies and submit to the counsel of Elihu 33.13 since he giveth no account of any of his matters neither can we find out the unsearchable methods of his holy ways to any perfection 11.7 There be other cases and scruples that might be treated of as about prescript words in secret prayers to which I need say but little since such as are truly converted (d) Gal. 4 6. Rom. 8.26 Zech. 1◠10 Acts 9.11 have the promise of the spirit of God to assist and enable them and they need not drink of another's bucket that have the fountain nor use stilts and crutches that have spiritual strength neither are words and phrases but faith and holy groans the nerves of prayer Yet for some help to young beginners doubtless it 's of use to observe the style of the spirit as well as the heavenly matter of several prayers in the holy Scriptures Psal 23.6 139.17.18 Neither need I to press frequency to a holy heart that is saln in love with spiritual communion for he delights to be continually with him the thoughts of God are so precious to him his soul is even sick of affection and prayes to be stayed with more of the flagous and comforted with the apples in greater abundance Cant. 2.5 To some though I fear how few how far it is lawful and expedient to withdraw for the necessity of the frail body in this vale of tears It may be replyed (g) Jam. 5.11 Hos 6.6 that the Lord is very pitiful and gracious to our frailties that he had rather have mercy than sacrifice in some cases Though I doubt these Phaenixes are but rare that are in danger of expiring in prayer as martyrs of divine love as Gerson expresses Gers T. 2. kk 5. Having now finisht with what brevity I could the foregoing queries I should treat about short sudden occasional prayers commonly call'd ejaculations but indeed that requires a set and just discourse yet because of a promise above recited I shall give a few tasts of it and then conclude with some application Ejaculatory Prayer Is a sudden short breathing of the soul towards Heaven upon instant and surprizing emergencies In holy persons it 's quick and lively rising from a vehement ardour of spirit swifter than the flight of eagles and keeps pace with a flash of lightning It flies upon the wings of a holy thought into the third Heavens in the twinkling of an eye and fetches auxiliary forces in times of straits There are many presidents recorded in sacred page upon great and notable occasions with strange success When good magistrates are busie in the work of reformation Neh. 13.14.22 let them imitate Nehemiah when redressing the profanation of the Sabbath Remember me O my God concerning this c. When Generals and Captains go forth to war Josh 1.17 observe Israel's apprecation to God rather than acclamations to men The Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses In time of battels or pursuit of the enemy valiant Joshuah darts up
the glory of heaven where all our prayers shall be turned into praises When every sigh below shall be an accent to the heavenly musick above and the tears of the valley shall be turned into orient gems in the diadem of glory Here we groan under wants and desires empty within and live on the craving hand But there palms in the hand white robes and everlasting joys upon the heads and hearts of Saints How may the duty of of daily Family Prayer be best managed for the spiritual benefit of every one in the Family Serm. XV. Joshua 24.15 latter part But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. JOshua being old and stricken in age and desirous before his departure out of the world solemnly to engage the people of Israel to adhere to God and his holy worship gathered all their Tribes to Shechem called for the chief of them that were Governours and Representatives of the whole body of the People (a) Quatuor crant in qualibet urbe gradus officioram 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senes vel Sâ—natus 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 capira â—atâ—um singularum tribuum primotes primi eminenâ—toâ—â— in urbe 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judices 〈…〉 veram 〈…〉 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apparitores 〈◊〉 res judicates exequebantur â—â—culo lâ—ro p pulum corebant ad observantiam praeceptorum Schind Lexic Pentag namely for the Elders of Israel or the Senate that did chiefly manage the affairs of Church and State for their Heads the most eminent of each Tribe and prime Rulers thereof for their Judges that sate in Courts to hear Causes and execute judgment betwixt man and man and such Magistrates that ruled over them for their peace and welfare and for their Officers who did see to the execution of the sentences and judgments of Superiour Magistrates All these being present Joshua makes a brief historical narrative of God's signal providences and singular benefits to them and their Fathers in this order First His calling of Abraham from Idolatry to the knowledg of the true God and profession of true Religion ver 2 3. Secondly His multiplying of his Seed ver 3 4. Thirdly His delivering them out of Egypt and making a way for them through the Red-sea which returning destroyed the Egyptians that did pursue them ver 5 6 7. Fourthly His preserving them in the Wilderness ver 7. Fifthly The Victories that he gave them over the Amorites when they fought against them ver 8. Sixthly His defending them against Balak the Son of Zippor King of Moab and restraining Balaam from cursing of them ver 9 10. Seventhly His miraculous providence in drying up the waters of Jordan that they might pass over ver 11. Eighthly His delivering the men of Jericho and their several enemies into their hands ver 11. Ninthly That it was not by their own Sword nor by their own Bow that they subdued the Nations but God by weak and contemptible Creatures as Hornets drove them out from before them ver 12. Tenth His giving them the possession of such Cities which they had not built and to eat of the Vine-yards and Olive-yards which they had not planted thus he brings to their remembrance the great and wonderful things that God had done for them A capite bona valeâ—udo inde omnia vâ—geta sunt atque erecta aut languore demissa prout animus eorum viget aut marcet Et erunt Cives erunt Socii digni hac bonitate in totum orbem rectimores revertentur Seâ—ec de Clement lib 2. cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ego domus mea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usurpantur 1. Pro domicilio The mercies of God to man being strong enforcements of man's duty to God upon these moral grounds and reasons Joshua in the 14th verse earnestly exhorts them to fear the Lord and to serve him in sincerity with a pure heart without hypocrisie and in truth without false pretences and counterfeit shews of godliness as becometh such as worship the most Holy the most Wise and glorious God and declareth his own fixed resolution That he and his house would serve the Lord as if he should say I have given you a Catalogue of the great and many mercies of God vouchsafed to you and I have exhorted and charged you all in the Name of the Great and Eternal God to fear and serve him but if ye will not I do here declare profess and publish my purpose and resolution in the ears of all you the Elders Heads Judges and Officers and all others that I and my house will serve the Lord be it known unto you that I will not only serve and worship God my self but will also set up his worship in my house and both I and mine will serve the Lord. The original words in Old and New Testament translated House have various significations amongst the rest these 1. For an earthly habitation properly taken this house cannot serve the Lord but the Inhabitants in this house must serve the Lord. 2. Pro Sepulchro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dupert Eheu fugaces Labuntur anni nec pietas morum rugis instanti Senectae afferet indomitaeque morti Hor. lib. 2. Od. 14. Dum loquimur fugerit invida aetas carpe diem quam minimum credula postero Idem l. 1. Od. xi 2. For the grave where we must all shortly take up our Lodgings and be carried on mens backs from our now dwelling houses to this sleeping house We that are now alive shall be in a little time housed in the earth while we live we dwell in several houses one house can contain or entertain but a few but what a large capacious house is the Grave that shall hold all the living Job 30.23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living There is no praying to or praising of God in this house in the houses where you now dwell you may you ought but in this you are going to and oh how quickly might you or I be in it you will be past praying and past hearing and calling upon God when death and dust have stopped your mouth 's and tyed your tongues Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledg nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest Sirs you are going you are going every day every hour every moment to this house whether you are eating or drinking or sleeping whether you pray or not pray in your houses where now you dwell you are going to this house where you can never pray Therefore pray NOW or NEVER serve God and pray unto him now where you dwell or you must hold your peace for ever except you cry and roar and lament your negligence and folly in a Lake of burning brimstone because you did not pray
in your houses upon earth Psal 6.5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks Isa 38.18 For the grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth 3. Pro re familiari 3. For earthly riches possessions and goods Mat. 23.14 These cannot serve God but with these men might serve and honour God by laying them out when and as God commands Prov. 3.9 4. For our weak and frail body in which our souls do dwell in a state of sin and imperfection 2 Cor. 5.1 4. Pro corpore naturali This house must serve the Lord though the Soul be the principal part which God requires Rom. 12.1 5. For the state and place and glory of the blessed 5. Pro sede seu statu beatorum Reliquorum sententiae spem afferunt si te fortè hoc d lectat posse animos cum è coâ—poribus excesserint in coelum qu si in domicilium suum pervenire Cicero Tusc Quest And blessed are they that are in this house for sure I am they in this house are still praising God loving him and delighting in him 2 Cor. 5.1 an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens This is called an house 1. Because there the Saints do dwell with God as children in their father's house 2. Because there they have clear distinct knowledg of and perfect love to God their Father 3. Because there they are safe from all their enemies and from all dangers as houses are our castles of defence 4. Because there all God's children shall be gathered together and called home and live in love for ever 5. Because of the excellent beauty of that state and place as houses of Kings and Nobles are set forth with rich and costly furniture what is that then of the King of Kings the place of the glorious God! 6. For persons belonging to the house or family And thus it is taken either (1) Deo adorando venerando adoravit veneratus est religioâ—è coluit More generally for a People or whole Nation 6. Pro domesticis Ezek. 2.3 the children of Israel are called a rebellious nation ver 5. a rebellious house Ezek. 3.1 Speak to the house of Israel ver 4. go get thee to the house of Israel ver 7. but the house of Israel will not hearken for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted or (2) Homini operando vel opera officiis subjectus fuit More strictly for a stock or tribe So the house of Benjamin is taken for the tribe of Benjamin 2 Sam. 3.19 Or (3) Terrae lâ—borande arando sementem praeparande aravit coluit exercuit Schind Lexic Pentag Most strictly for an houshold or persons living together in one proper house The whole people of the Jews did consist of several Tribes a tribe of several Families a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serviit Deo homini terrae a family of several housholds an houshold of several persons Josh 7.14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by housholds and the houshold which the Lord shall take shall come man by man In this place I take it strictly for an houshold properly at least necessarily included of which more in the first Argument to prove the Question before us Will serve the Lord The original word is used concerning God concerning Men concerning the Earth The first is only to our present purpose and signifieth the Religious worship which we ow to God Deut. 6.13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and him shalt thou serve Psal 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serve the Lord with fear Of this more also in the first Argument to the Question which I am limited to which is well enough grounded upon the Text as will appear in the proof drawn from it The Question is this How might the duty of daily Family Prayer be best managed to the spiritual benefit of every one in the Family For the more distinct proceeding in this Question I shall inquire after these five things 1. Q. How it will appear or be proved that it is a duty incumbent upon proper Families jointly to pray to God 2. Q. Whether it be the duty of proper Families or those that live together in one house under the government of the Master of the Family to pray daily to God together or what are the reasons for the daily performing of it 3. Q. How these daily Family Prayers should be so performed and managed that every one in the Family might be benefited thereby 4. Q. With what Arguments Masters of Families might be urged and they press their own hearts withall to a conscientious serious and constant performance of Family Prayer 5. Q. What are the common pleas and excuses ordinarily alledged to stop the mouth of Conscience or to shift off the guilt from themselves in the neglect of it and how they may be made appear to be frivolous and vain In the first I shall speak of the duty it self In the second of the time and frequency of it In the third to the manner of it In the fourth to the motives to it In the last to the Objections against it Question First Q. 1 Whether it be the duty of proper Families or Housholds to pray to God together Aff. Argument 1. That it is the duty of those that live together under the government of the Master of the Family to pray together will appear and be proved from this chapter whereof the Text is a part by making good these four propositions 1. That by Joshua his house is meant or at least necessarily included Joshua his houshold or proper family 2. That serving of God taken generally as here it is doth comprehend and include prayer as one way whereby Joshua and his house together would serve the Lord. 3. That Joshua made this resolution as he was guided by the Holy Ghost 4. That Joshua in the name of God and by Authority received from him doth exhort all the Families of Israel to do the same in their houses which he doth promise and resolve for himself and his house and this upon moral grounds and reasons for which all Families are obliged to do the like Proposition 1. By Joshua 's house is meant or at least included 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Instrumento veteri non simpliciter pro aedificio capitur sed pro ipsa familia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continens pro contento Pro quaque familia nempe mi ore in una domo degente Pisc t. in loc Domus patris pro domo in qua est pâ—terfamilias Oleaster Mariana his houshold or proper family That this
to us all if God had spared him her or them if your house had been consumed by flames and God had turned you all out of doors before morning would you not have said It would have been a mercy if God had safely preserved us and our dwellings and caused us to rest and sleep and rise in safety Why Sirs will you not acknowledg mercies to be mercies till God hath taken them away from you and if you do should you not give the praise daily unto God Was it not God himself that watched over you while you did sleep and could not did not watch your selves When you all did sleep you knew not where you were nor what dangers you were exposed unto nor how you might prevent them but God then was good unto you and should you not conjunctly acknowledg this when you do wake and rise and see that God hath kept you and do enjoy the comfort and the benefit of his watchful Providence over you Psal 127.1 Except the Lord keep the City the Watchman waketh but in vain 2. for so he giveth his beloved sleep And as you have had many Family mercies in the night to bless God for in the morning so you have many Family mercies in the day to give thanks to God for at night before you go to bed If you see not cause to acknowledg God's goodness towards you you are blind if you do and have not hearts you are worse Methinks you should not quietly sleep till you have been together on your knees least God should say this Family that hath not acknowledged my mercy to them this day nor given me the glory of those benefits of which to them I gave the comfort shall never see the light of another day nor have the mercies of one day more to bless me for When sleep doth close their eyes so shall death too they shall live no longer and rise no more this night they shall go to their beds and the day or two after shall be carried to their graves I wonder Sirs that you do not dream of an angry God because thus slighted by you I wonder that you do not dream of some sore judgment or other that might overtake you before the Sun doth rise What if God should say unto you when you are laid down in your beds THIS NIGHT your Souls shall be required of you you that went to bed before you had given me the praise of the mercies that I had given unto you all the day and before you had prayed for my protection over you in the night and should send some suddain sickness to make you feel that he is offended with you for this neglect might not God say shall I keep and preserve that Family till the morning that would not so much as ask me so to do and if I do will not acknowledg it to be a mercy or a kindness to them Take heed though God be patient do not provoke him Reason 2. You should pray to God daily in your Families because there are sins committed every day in your Families 2. 2. Ad candem à defectibus nostris excitamur Do you indeed sin together and will you not pray together what if you should be damned all together Doth not every member of your Family commit many sins every day How great is the number then of all when considered or put together What! so many sins every day under your roof within your walls committed against the glorious blessed God and not one Prayer one sin should be lamented with a thousand tears but you have not one tear shed by one and another by another in Prayer together for a thousand sins Is this to repent daily when you do not confess them daily Would you have God to pardon all the sins of your Family say would you or no If you would not God might justly let you go to your Graves and Hell too with the guilt of sin upon your Souls If you would is not pardon worth asking for Would you have it and not beg it at the hands of God would not all judg that man worthy of death that being justly condemned might yet have life for asking for and will not How do you how can you quietly go to your beds and sleep with the guilt of so many sins upon your Souls and have not prayed to have them blotted out What do you take to make you sleep What is your pillow made of that your heads can rest upon it under the weight and load of so much guilt Is indeed your bed so soft or your heart so hard that you can rest and sleep when to all the sins of commission in the day you add this sin of omission in the evening Lay to heart your daily Family sins and you will feel a reason why you should pray to God in your Families daily Reason 3. 3. You should pray in your Families daily unto God 3. Ad eandem plerisque tum cerporaelium tum spiritualium bonorum indigentiis premimur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indiget vir viro sed omnes Deo etiam Hercules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Od. lib. 8. Omne bonum Dei donum because you have many daily Family wants which none can supply but God God wants not your Prayers but you and yours want God's mercies and if you will have them should you not pray for them Can you supply your Families wants If they want health can you give it them If they want bread can you give it them except God first give it unto you Why then did Christ direct us to pray Give us this day our daily bread If they want grace can you work it in them or do you not care though they die without it Is not God the giver of every good gift Jam. 1.17 Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights Mercies are above and good things are from above and prayer is a means appointed by God to fetch them down Jam. 1.5 If any man want wisdom let him ask it of God Do you think you do not want wisdom to discharge your duties to God and man that you do not want wisdom to manage your family for their temporal spiritual and eternal good If you think so you are fools and if you think you want it not by those very thoughts you may discern your want of it If you think you have enough it is plain that you have none and should you not ask it of God if you would have it If you and yours want health in your Family should you not ask it of God Can you live without dependance upon God or can you say you have no need of God's help to supply your wants then you speak contradictions for to be under wants and not to be dependent beings is a contradiction to think you do not live in dependence upon God is to think you are
Cum isto milite praesens absens ut siâ—s Ter. Eu. present at Prayer absent in mind when present in body God is not pleased with the prostrating of the body when your hearts joyn not in the work Do not so dissemble on your knees with God and man Are you then desiring the mercies prayed for whether pardon of sin strength against sin love to God repentance for sin an interest in Christ and evidences thereof when your minds and thoughts are wandering about other things Which if they do let Conscience call to thee to mind the * Vt vivas igitur vigila HOC AGE Hor. l. 2. Sat. 3. work thou art about for is not this to sin against God when you pretend to be serving of him and to be provoking of him when you should be praying to him to be reconciled unto you and turn away his anger from you Conjunct Prayer should be made with one mouth and with one mind Acts 1.14 They prayed together with one accord * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui rectè orare cupit debet necessario in se esse collectus von distractus aut sensibus dissipatus aut vagus Ames Cas Cons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est vox musica significat concentum concentus autem à cantu eo differt quod cantus unius sit concentus non nisi plurium hic vero concentum animorum significat Camer prael Verbo Graeco elegans subest metaphora 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de musico vocum concentu harmonicóque sono dicitur tanquam si diceretur non minùs gratam esse Deo concordem pluriuâ— erationem quà m concentus musicus hominum curibus sit gratus Novar in loc ex Crit. Sac. which word is translated Rom. 15.6 one mind that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God but where your thoughts are wandering in Family Prayer though there be but one mouth there be many minds these persons do not accord in Prayer which is great discord before God There should be a sympathy and agreement of hearts in conjunct Prayer Matth. 16 19. If two of you shall agree on Earth as touching any thing they shall ask A harmony of hearts should be in Prayer the word is borrowed from Musicians when several playing together do make an accord in Musick a consent of many voices in one thence translated to the mind denotes a concent of more hearts in one such Prayers make sweet harmony in the ears of God Keep your minds fixed then else though you do agree to go together into one Room to pray there will not be an agreement of hearts when you pray Direction III. 3. Direct Those that joyn should not only attend but also assent to the matter of the Prayer so far as it is agreeable to the Word of God When the corruption of the heart is acknowledged believe that this is true the misery of an unregenerate state lamented believe it to be true when Grace is prayed for as necessary to your salvation and that you are undone without it believe this as a most certain truth for if these things be spoken by him that prayeth and heard by you that joyn and not believed your hearts will not be humbled when sin is confessed nor earnest after Grace when it is prayed for and so you will lose the benefit of that Prayer Direction IV. 4. Direct Do not only believe these things in Prayer but make particular application thereof unto your selves When original sin is acknowledged think and say in your own hearts Lord this is my condition my heart is thus corrupt loathsom and vile When wants are expressed and supplies begged go along with what is said and apply it particularly to your selves Lord this is my want the want of Christ is my want O that he may be given to me the want of love to God and delight in him is my want O that I might love thee O that I could love thee and so in other things this is my sin and these are my doubts and my fears this is my burden and this is my temptation according as these are insisted on in prayer and this will make the duty to be for your spiritual benefit and profit These are the Directions for them that are to joyn with him that is your mouth to God The Directions more common to all that prayer might be managed to spiritual profit are these following Direction 1. Sciamus non alios ritè probèque se accingere ad orandum nisi quos afficit Dei Majestas Calv. Inst Speculator adstat desuper Qui nâ—s diebus omnibus Actúâ—que nostros prospicit A luce prima in vesperam Hic testis hic est arbit r Hic intuetur quicquid est Humana quod mens concipit Hunc nemo fallit Judicem Aur. Prud. Cathemer Hym. 2. For further direction in this point how you should do all in the Name of Christ see the Serm. on Col. 3.17 1. Direct Get and keep upon all your hearts awful lively impressions of the perfection of that God that you pray unto Take heed of coming with low irreverent unsuitable thoughts of God but conceive of him and believe and work and press it upon your hearts that the God you kneel before is most holy most wise most gracious and merciful most just eternal unchangeable all-sufficient true in his threatnings righteous in his commands faithful in his promises every where present and knowing all things that he observeth all your words and ways and looks into your hearts and thoughts that this God you cannot deceive though you should deceive your selves and one another Consider and believe that this God is present among you and doth know your ends your desires and what you are as well as who you are Then think is this that God that we are to speak unto to kneel before and shall we not so manage this duty that we might please this God and if you do you shall find it shall be for your spiritual benefit Direction 2. 2. Direct Put up your prayers to this great and glorious God in the name of Jesus Christ There is no access for sinners to God but by and through a Mediator You shall reap no benefit by praying except you go in the name of Christ Joseph told his Brethren they should not see his face except they brought Benjamin with them Gen. 43.5 nor we the face of God without Christ Eph. 3 12. Heb. 7.25 Col. 3.17 Heb. 13.15 This praying in the name of Christ doth not consist in the bare mentioning of his Name with our tongues but to pray in obedience to his command in his strength for his Glory trusting his promises resting on his merits expecting audience and acceptance only for his sake Direction 3. Quid odiosius aut etiam Deo magis execrandum putamus hac fictione ubi quis veniam peccatorum postulat interim aut se peccatorem non esse cogitans aut certè peccatorem
laetissimum affectum O securissimum amorem Dei quem Zelus non excruciat quem rivalis delectat sine absynthio sine aloe sine felle totus dulcis consentaneus cordi Nieremb de art vol. p. 336 337. Dost thou not pray alone without God without meeting with God Hadst thou there had thy heart enflamed with the love of God and tasted of the sweetness in communion with God would not this have filled thy heart with love to God and Souls in thy house and burning zeal that they might be partakers of the same Divine refreshments could'st thou hold thy peace after such discoveries while thy poor Family are without or would'st thou no time call them together that they also might experience the same delights that thou hast found As the woman of Samaria call'd her Neighbours Joh. 4.28 29. If thou hadst got some earthly Jewel thou might'st be loth that others should share with thee in the value of it because in earthly things participation causeth a diminution if a sum of money be divided amongst many the more one hath the less will fall to the others share Art thou indeed afraid of this Fear it not There is enough in God for thee and thine too Communication in spirituals causeth multiplication even in him that doth communicate to others If thou bee'st an Instrument to draw thine to the Love of God and to joy and delight in him this would fill thee with the greater joy Methinks then when thou hast been alone and God hath graciously been with thee thou shouldest go down into thy Family with burning love to God and them and say Come my Wife Children Servants leave your work and business for a while There is much sweetness in communion with God There is indeed delight which comes into the Soul by holy fervent Prayer I would not have you feed on husks while there is not only bread but dainties too in seeking God I do not love to see you always mudling in the world and be strangers unto God Come then come away for my Soul doth long that you should tast what I have found Thus thou wouldest think surely with thy self if thou speakest not out to them if thou didst meet with God in secret When it is not so with thee but thou can'st constantly neglect Prayer in thy Family reflect upon thy self whether in this sense thou didst not pray alone that thou didst not find God with thee warming of thy heart Tell me could'st thou be content to eat thy food constantly alone without thy Wife and Children and can'st thou be content to pray alone only As you eat together so pray together also Obj. 3. But I am ashamed to pray with others and that hinders me Answ 1. Ashamed to pray ashamed to do thy duty The more shame for thee Be ashamed to sin and of this shame for it is sinful and is to be lamented and prayed against and striven against and overcome Wilt thou tell God at the Day of Judgment that thou wast ashamed to pray in thy House and Family 2. But why ashamed when you are only with your own Family and those you daily converse withal and are head and chief and governer of 3. It is for want of use set upon the work and you will quickly overcome this Obj. 4. But I am not ashamed of the duty but of my own weakness I have not gifts and parts to manage this duty If I were gifted as other men be I would perform it as other men do Answ 1. Where do you live in London What! an old housekeeper in London or where there hath been much means of Grace and are you so ignorant that you are not qualified to pray in your Family This is your sin and will one sin be pleadable to excuse you from another One of the Ancients of the Parish and plead ignorance are you not asham'd 2. It is not parts and gifts and florid expressions that God looks at but an humble penitent broken and believing heart Have you not this neither If you have not get it quickly or you must to Hell If you have God will accept of such a Sacrifice bring it then 3. Study your sins and wants and mercies and get a sense of all these upon your heart and you will be able to express them in your Family in such a manner as may be more for their profit than the constant omission can be If a man feel himself sick or hungry do you think he could not find words to make his complaint and ask for help Study the Scripture and your own hearts and these will be good prayer-Books to furnish you for the duty Besides by praying you shall learn to pray 4. Do not deceive your self and say it is for want of gifts when it is more for want of a heart and love to the duty To discover this Suppose a Law were made by our Governours that every Master of a Family that doth not pray in his house with his Family shall be cast into the Lions Den What would you do then Would you rather venture your life and be torn in pieces by Lions than set upon this duty with that Knowledg and those Gifts that now you have Would you not find something to say to save your Lives And is not the Law of God as binding as the Laws of men and the Dungeon of Hell as dreadful as the Lions Den Go then set upon your duty Obj. 5. But there are some graceless and wicked persons in my Family that I cannot say we desire this or that spiritual blessing grace Christ c. for I see no ground to judge they desire any such thing Answ 1. Have they no grace and must they not pray that they may have some O cruelty Is he exempted from duty because he is not good or wilt thou say that such must only pray alone and be excluded while such from conjunct prayers Whither will this carry you Even to the shutting of all graceless or at least visibly wicked persons from all prayers in publick Congregations as well as from Family duty But this is so gross that I suppose you will not own it You have no reason then for the other 2. How do you know when you are confessing sin and acknowledging the evil of it but God might affect and break their hearts and they be changed on their knees and so be saved from damnation and will you deny them that means that God may bless for their conversion 3. Do you indeed use all other means to your utmost power to have them better Do you reprove them and shew them the danger they are in and perswade them to turn from sin to God and this with constancy and compassion to their Souls Or do you scruple this too Wilt thou neither pray with them nor speak to them when thou oughtest to do both I doubt it is thy sloth that hinders thee or the wickedness of thy heart and that thou pleadest
reverence her Husband This is the Dictate of our Creator both by the Light of Nature and of Scripture This is the constant language both of the Old Testament and of the New And is more purposely handled and prest by the two great Apostles of the Jews and Gentiles that so all Christians however descended should submit unto it The Apostle Paul Ephes 5.22 c. Col. 3.18 c. The Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 3.1 c. Not that these are all their respective Duties but these are specified either 1. (n) Mr. Byfield on Col p. 111. Because in these are the most frequent failings Husbands too commonly being defective in their Love and Wives most defective in their Reverence and Subjection Or 2. Because these two are the sum of the rest and no other Duties are either Possible or Acceptable without them And my present Work is to digest and urge these in a solemn and impartial manner that it may appear Our Religion doth not only propound Rewards to make us happy in the world to come but doth also direct the methods of setling our quiet and comfort in this present world For certainly it is not the Having of Husbands or Wives that brings contentment but the mutual Discharge of both their Duties and this makes their Lives though never so poor an Heaven upon Earth But herein I can but draw up an Abstract and send you where you may be far better provided In the mean time let us all in the prosecution hereof sadly reflect on our former failings and sincerely resolve on future amendment according to that whereof we shall be convinced by the word of Truth And here I shall indeavour these Four things 1. To propound the Mutual or Common Duties of Both. 2. The special Duty of every Husband 3. The special duty of every Wife 4. Directions how to accomplish them That so they may most certaily be Blessings to each oher First let us see what are those Mutual Duties that lie common between Husband and Wife wherein Both of them are equally at least according to the place and power of each concern'd and oblig'd And they are These following 1. Mutual Cohabitation For the man he (o) Gen. 2.24 must leave father and mother and cleave to his Wife And the Woman she (p) Psal 45.10 must forget her kinred and her fathers house The Husband (q) 1 Pet. 3.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must dwell with the Wife and the Wife (r) 1 Cor. 7 10. she must not depart from the Husband though he be an Infidel And indeed the Ends and Duties of marriage are such as will not ordinarily dispense herewith For Example 1 Cor. 7.3 4.5 Let the husband render unto the Wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife Defraud you not the one the other except it he with consent for a time that you may give your selves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency Which plainly shews that even the sober use of the Marriage-bed is such (s) The wife of Galeac Caracciola denying this debt upon the direction of her Confessor on pain of Excommunication was judg'd a sufficient Reason of Divorce In vita a mutual debt that it may not be intermitted long without Necessity and Consent Nay in the †Deut. 24 5. Old Law the greatest necessity should not send the husband from his wife the first year that their affections might be throughly settled and that he might chear up his Wife which he hath taken * For the man is the head the Woman is as the body for the head and body to be sundered it is present death to either Gataker Serm. p. 203. Neither indeed can any of the following Duties towards each others Souls or Bodies be throughly performed nor many grievous snares avoided without dwelling together And therefore neither desire of Gain nor Fear of Trouble no occasional Distasts nor pretence of Religion should separate those from Conjugal converse and (t) Alibi fluctuare sese existimet in domo autem apud uxorem suum tanquam in portu optat◠conquiescere Daven in Col. Cohabitation unless with consent and that but for a time whom God hath joyned together 2. Mutual Love This though in a peculiar manner it be the Duty of the Husband Col. 3.18 Husbands love your Wives yet it is required also of the Wife Tit. 2.4 they must love their Husbands Indeed this is the (u) First you must choose your Love and then you must love your choice Smith Serm. Conjugal Grace the great Reason and the great Comfort of Marriage Not a sensual or doting Passion but genuine conjugal and constant out of a pure heart fervently Not grounded on beauty wealth or interest for these may soon wither and fail nor only upon Graoe and Piety for this may decay to the least degree and in the opinion of both parties quite disappear but it must be grounded upon the Command and Ordinance of God whereby of Two they are made * Vna caro non nexu amoris nec commixtione corporum nec procreatione liberorum sed vinculo conjugii Zanch. One flesh So that though either of them be poor deform'd froward though unregenerate wicked Infidels yet in Obedience to God and in Conscience of the Marriage-Vow which obligeth for better and for worse they ought to love each other with a (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Eph. hom 29. superlative Love and when the sacred knot is once tyed every man should think his wife and every wife her husband the fittest for them of any in the world And hereupon the (y) Cael. Rhodig l. 28. p. 1575. Heathens took the Gall from their nuptial Sacrifices and cast it behind the Altar to intimate the removing of all bitterness from the Marriage-state there should be nothing but Love And this Love must be as durable and constant as are the grounds of it to the Persons of each other until death and to the memory and posterity of each other when they are dead and gone and thus the good wife is understood by some to do her husband good (z) Prov. 31.12 all the days of her life not only of his life but when he is dead to his Posterity What strange instances of this lasting love former (a) Portia the wife of Brutus A ria the wife of Cecinna Pae us In Valer. Max. Ages hath given and some (b) The Bannyon Wives among the Indians burn themselves to ashes at the funeral of their husbands Herbert in his Travels Pagans at this day is in History both evident and admirable This true-hearted Love will bring true Content and constant Comfort into that Condition will make all counsels and reproofs acceptable will
this exercise is a thing of greater difficulty to me than such easie Undertakers are aware of and really to perform all the Duties I am to enquire into in a manner well-pleasing to our heavenly Father will cost them and us all more pains than only to read or preach an hour or two upon them which yet might lead into many important concerns of government and obedience Believe it herein we have all need enough of serious and frequent teacbing again and again (a) Heb. 5.12 for our conduct in the Relations whereunto God hath cast us In order then both to my preaching at present and all our future practice as a ground for the Resolution of this Question Question What are the Duties of Parents and Children and how are they to be managed according to Scripture I am directed to the words read Wherein we have the mutual offices of Children and Parents required and virtually at least prescribed with annexed reasons to enforce them severally upon each Relatives which afford this Proposition That God's pleasure and Childrens encouragement should move Christian Children to obedience and Parents to a moderate government in all things Here is a large theme but I shall endeavour as nigh as I can to speak much in a little hoping I shall obtain your pardon though I let slip some considerable Particulars if by some general anticipations and cautions I do in a Sermon decline those numerous special Cases which in a larger Treatise on this Subject might fairly step in and lay claim to some special satisfaction It were an excursion for me now to speak of Children and Parents in any other than the most famous signification * Analogum per se positam stat pro famostore analogato of the words taken not figuratively but properly not for those in a political but natural Relation yet as under the Christian Institution vvhere vve are ever to have regard to our blessed Lord and Master Indeed Children comprehend both sons and daughters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen 46 29. the fruit of the body not excluding grand-children of what age or quality soever as indissolubly bound in duty to those who begot and brought them forth of both sexes Father and Mother the Parents of their flesh (b) Heb. 12.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 23.22 from whom they were originally derived And that the Apostle doth here direct the command to Inferiors before Superiors as in the 18. verse and elsewhere (c) Eph 5.22 6.1 5. to Children before Parents is not that Children and their duties are first in order of nature or time for there are offices of inbred parental love and care before they can be known or observ'd by children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but writing chiefly to children come to the use of reason he begins with them who are subject and ought first to perform duty The anticipation of time here connoting the honour due to Superiors he doth in the first place put those in mind of their duty who are to obey as usually more defective rather than those that have authority over them in this oeconomical conjunction Either in that this office of obedience is less easie and pleasing to our nature than that of parental love which is allur'd to exert it self readily by the right discharge of the former or in that the subjection of children is the foundation on which the good government of Parents doth depend and a means to make themselves ready for that authority which else they will be unfit for as Antoninus lays down the axiom which many of the moralists used viz. You cannot well govern others unless first governed * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For my method then in answering the complicated enquiry before me whiles I follow the Apostle in my Text I shall need no Apology to insist on I. The Duty of Children with the extent thereof urged from that which is most cogent to perswade to it and disswade from the neglect of it II. The Office of Parents enforc'd from the special consideration of that the Apostle suggests to move to it III. The manner and means of managing both offices or discharging both duties more generally and particularly according to the mind of God in his word The two former may be look'd upon as the explication of my Text and Proposition and an exhortation press'd with reasons or motives to the Duties and the last as Directions to perform them I. The Duty of Children with the extent thereof urged from that which is most cogent to perswade to it and disswade from the neglect of it This is express'd and imply'd in the former of the verses I have read to you wherein we have three Particulars to be spoken to 1. The Duty 2. Extent or latitude of it 3. Motive to it 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. The Duty of Children from the precept Children obey your Parents The word imports an humble subjection to their authority and government with a ready performance of what they require it being an explanation of that which in the law is engrav'd with God's own hand honour (d) Exod. 20.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importing how highly they are to be valued and not lightly esteemed In another place it is ye shall fear every man his mother and his father (e) Lev. 19.3 with 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 awful fear being no other than a deep veneration both which are to be fairly read in the acts of genuine obedience for that doth flow forth from a compound disposition of love and fear mixed in an ingenuous child who is readily mov'd to obey in contemplation of that authority and affection implanted in the Parent towards it To speak more distinctly this obedience to Parents may contain in it these four things 1. Reverence 2. Obedience 3. Pious regards 4. Submission The three first of these may be reducible to active and the last to passive obedience 1. Reverence which is a due and awful estimation of their persons as to this relation placed in eminencie above their children to acknowledg them from God himself the Supreme Parent of us all (f) Acts 17.28 the authors preservers and governors of their lives and upon that account to honour them in their hearts speeches and behaviours from an honest desire to please and filial fear to offend them whose children they are of what rank soever they now appear in the world and therefore to comport themselves so in all the actions of their lives before God and men that they render themselves acceptable to their Parents Yea to both of them the law requires reverence to the Mother as well as the Father (g) Levit. 19.3 with 30. the word which is in one verse fear is in another translated reverence to the claim of which the Mother there seems to be favour'd with some kind of priority because Children who have most needed their Mothers in their tender
woman and others (l) Psal 22.9 Cant. 8.1 Luke 11.27 or else they give us examples of Mothers who were commendable patterns as were Hannah (m) 1 Sam. 1.22 the Virgin Mary (n) Luke 1.28 with 11 27. David's Mother (o) Psal 22.9 and that affectionate one who stood before Solomon to plead for her child (p) 1 Kings 3.21 or afford us such Texts as by consequence do infer it as in Jacob's blessing (q) Gen 49.25 and a contrary curse on others (r) Hos 9.14 the charge to Manoah's wife to avoid things hurtful to her milk (s) Judg. 13.4 considering her constitution and the climate she liv'd in the Apostle gives it as the character of good women that they have nurs'd up Children (t) 1 Tim. 5 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Moses his Mother did him awaiting Providence to perform this natural office to her own child and was not as the weeping Prophet laments some in his time worse than Sea-monsters like Ostriches of the wilderness (u) Lam. 4.3 I do not remember in holy Writ that any Mother put forth her own child to suck and though there be mention made of Rebekah's nurse (w) Gen. 24.59 35.8 and others (x) 2 Sam 4 4. 2 Kings 11.2 yet in all probability they were common dry-nurses or nurse-keeping women such as had skill to be about Child-bearing women fit to advise and attend them Be sure Rebekah had no child till about twenty years after she was married and if she or any had milch-nurses it may be their own Mothers might die in Child-bed or not be able to perform their office But Naomi when old and past Child-bearing became a dry-nurse unto Ruth's child being assistant to her daughter at her lying-in (y) Ruth 4 16. with 1.12 When though there be some pain in suckling however less I suppose in following the natural way of laying the child to yet there is also a pleasure and benefit which may well sweeten and usually compensate in ordinary cases The careful Father should contribute his endeavours to promote all this and accommodate his wife in the nursery with all convenient requisites to preserve the temporal life of the child But then there is also a care with reference to the spiritual life of the child to attend this which Christian Parents are oblig'd to by dedicating of their Infant seed unto the Lord according to his appointment for the solemn enrolling of his Disciples (z) Mat. 28.19 Acts 21.5 6. 16.33 10 47 which matriculation of a child should not be unseasonably delay'd but perform'd in a due Christian manner sith obedience in the Lord (a) Eph. 6 1. will be required of it as soon as it is able to do any thing which implies that as Hannah dedicated her Samuel to the Lord in covenant under the Old Testament dispensation (b) 1 Sam. 1.28 so it is to be devoted to the Lord and consecrated to his use as he hath instituted under the New Testament dispensation and that is a solemn enrollment by Baptism amongst Christians who by this Rite are signally declared to be in covenant with him his Disciples and Members of his spiritual houshold (c) Gal. 3.27 Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Cor. 12.13 Jo. 4.1 2. Deut. 29.10 11. Acts 16.33 who in that relation are to yield obedience unto their Parents in him and as unto him How else can we so easily imagine that Christian Children should be oblig'd to obey their Parents in the Lord but as they are by their Parents who have most right to them devoted to his service I confess I cannot understand Now it is highly reasonable that they who have been instruments to bring a stain upon their Children (d) Rom. 5.12 16 17. Eph. 2.1 2. should also be as instrumental as they can even as Believers under the Old Testament were to bring them unto God in the use of the means he hath now prescribed to get them washed with the blood of sprinkling by giving them unto God in the Covenant as they then did (e) Gen. 17.10 11 13. Rom. 11.17 20. Mat. 18.13 4. 19.13.14 Luke 18.15 Tit. 3.5 Favores sunt ampliandi For undoubtedly under this gracious dispensation there is no abridgment of any priviledg to the Infant-seed of Believers which they before enjoy'd so that they should not now be brought to the Lord that he may own and bless them and the promises be pleaded on their behalf whose Parents are heirs (f) Gal. 3.14 27 29. 1 Cor. 7.14 for as much as the Father 's right to the promises gives the Children some kind of right to the same inheritance (g) Acts 2.38 39. Mat. 28.19 â— Câ—r 1.16 〈◊〉 2.12 13. 〈◊〉 17.10 11 Jer. 32.39 Isa 44.3 yea the promise and precept do answer each other as a deed and its counterpart There was no need of particularizing every subject to be baptized any other than those vvho vvere discipled it being so vvell known who had the Covenant-seal by the common practice of the Jews under the former dispensation of the Covenant And now the Lord Jesus Christ in commissioning his Ministers to disciple and baptize all Nations then all in them discipled chiefly designed to instruct them in what manner and form they should baptize those that belong to his Kingdom viz. into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which had not been before used but now upon the discharging of Circumcision was every where to be observ'd Thus Christian Parents are at first to contribute their endeavours toward their Childrens spiritual life And for this temporal life further they are also to provide food (h) Gen. 42 2. Exod. 13.3 Mat. 7.9 10 11. and rayment (i) Gen 37.3.21.15 and to allow fit and honest recreation for their Children (k) Zach. 8 5. to keep them in health and physick when they are sick (l) 1 Kings 14.2 2 Kings 4.22 Jo. 4.47 Mat. 17.15 equity and necessity oblige to it with a solicitous care to preserve their lives from dangers as much as may be in their power (m) Exod. 2.2 3. and to see according to their quality and calling that they be accommodated with conveniencies for body and mind (n) Gen. 21.15 Deut. 1.31 Hence another particular of Parental care is 3. Education of their Children which is a very comprehensive Duty begins early and lasts till their Children be emancipated Our Apostle in another Epistle (o) Eph. 6.4 reduceth this to two heads 1. Nurture and 2. Admonition of the Lord. Some conceive the former doth more respect manners or civility the later Doctrine or piety though 't is not necessary to take them so restrictively 1. Christian Parents are charg'd to educate or bring up their Childrin in nurture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ateneris assuesceâ—e multum i. e. such a kind of domestick learning as befitteth a child according to that of the Wise
thou shouldest not deal by another as thou wouldest not be dealt by thy self The Law then is good and the punishment is as great Thy Soul may go for an ill word consider of it has an evil word sufficient pleasure to compensate for eternal pain Sure it is wisdom to forbear such words if we may pay so dear for them 4. By considering the odiousness of it in others and in them we may see it in its true colours things are too near us to be aright discerned by us when they are observed in our selves A Lyar a False-witness a Back-bitâ—â—r a Tale-bearer how do you like such men Would you have your Child trained up in such things Why then will you allow them in your selves How came they to be more tolerable in you than other men Is it that it is no matter what becomes of you How comes it that you have cast off all care of and love to self that you would have every body better than your self 5. By reflecting upon the reproaches we have had from our own hearts for it and the inconveniencies we have suffered and the dammages others have reaped by it beyond our possible reparation is it not time then to take up 6. By remembring that God observes it and will Judg thee for it A Reverend man would awe thee if there was danger especially of the Pillory and how canst thou cast off the fear of God to talk before him so loosely How wilt thou like to have all thy vain and vile words read and aggravated at the last day It will be one part of that dayes work Jude 15 16. 2. There is matter that it is our Duty to Discourse of the general Nature of which I shall lay before you as 1. Such as though of a common and inferior Nature as referring to things of this Life yet is of consequence to our selves or Neighbours to be debated for the right understanding or better managing of our joynt or several concerns this as tending to Justice Charity Peace or the like by the good use it may be of is Sanctified and becomes our duty and we may not without sin decline it when duly provoked to it for as mean as these matters seem God hath concerned himself to make severe Laws that we worst not one another in them by which we are obliged to improve and imbetter each other as we can and surely most of all when by a word it may be done How does Job's Conscience approve him in his having been a faithful Counsellor Job 19.15 I was eyes to the Blind And what a Character does Christ give to the Peace-makers Mat. 5.9 They shall be called the Children of God And yet further the command to Worldly business six dayes in seven does more than allow Worldly Discourse especially when it hath a moral use So that as it is a vain Superstition of some not to touch these things so is it of others to decline necessary profitable talk of them as if it were a piece of Service to God to be useless unto men while by his providence we are among them Know then where by weakness your Brother needs advice and by a greater stock of wisdom you are able to give it it is his duty in order to the prudent management even of his Worldly affairs to ask it and yours as freely to give it for you therefore have it and cannot otherwise give a good account of it Caution Let me only caution that on this pretence you Lanch not out into Discourse of this Nature Unseasonably as on the Lord's Day unnecessarily for mere talk's sake immoderately to the burying of all other Discourse or hindering more important business of your own or Brother's it would also be carefully avoided that we intrude not our selves as busie-bodies into the Discourse of others matters while we are unconcerned and to Persons unconcerned for which we are like to go unthanked whereby our Brother may be wronged and no body is edified 2. It may be our duty to Discourse of what is done in the World wherein God's Justice Power Wisdom Faithfulness or Goodness is advanced One design of God's marvellous working is to furnish us with fit matter for talking His Signs in Egypt are particularly noted to have had this reference That they might tell in the Ears of their Sons and Sons Sons what things he had wrought in Egypt that they might know that he was the Lord Exod. 10.2 God's works are one of his Books that we should much confer about David pleases himself to see the whole World as set about a round Table conferring their Notes of what they had seen and observed of God in his works from Generation to Generation Psal 145.5 6. I will speak of the glorious Honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous works and men shall speak of the might of thy terrible Acts and I will declare thy greatness they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness This seems to be talk for the Generality of men there is something in it peculiarly pleasing to all palats and an Example often affects when a Precept would be over-looked and I am confident if we could prudently Discourse of the works of God we might more advantage the profaner sort of men than by talking to them out of the Word for they are prejudiced against that and shut upon it streight as perceiving whereto that would but they are pleased with story and lye more open to it that there is greater hope e're they be aware of their being caught with it Psal 107.42 That this Discourse may be profitable take the following advice 1. Make wise Observation look with both Eyes on what happens look into it look after God in it and spy what Attribute is eminently glorified by it Psal 107.43 Whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. 2. Make faithful representations lye not for God The Romish Legends by their multitude of Fables have greatly minished the veneration of all Miracles One fly spoils a whole pot of Oyntment the same does one lye in a most useful History 3. Make Charitable Interpretations as to persons or parties be not too severe in censuring them that God makes Examples It was the fault and folly of the Jews Christ tells us they were out and we as well as they may be out let us be warned by them Luke 13.1 2 3. 4. And make pious applications and still put in your self as concerned where you note any thing to be learned 1 Cor. 10.5 11. Psal 90.11 12. Many profane the Providences of God by their slight Discourses of them without regard to God or his Glory in them but you on the other hand by observing Rules may hallow his Name and spread his fame 3. It is yet more especially our duty to be Discoursing to one another of what God hath said to the World for our mutual Direction Caution and
Christianity calls for quietly and readily to resign up all our comforts to God's dispose Christian 't is a great part of thy religion to be content under these crosses not to have thy comforts ‖ Omnia ista nobis accedant non haereant ut si abducantur fine ullâ nostri lacetatione discedant Senec. Ep. 74. torn from thee as the plaister is from the flesh but to come off easily as the glove doth from the hand 5. Where there is ground of hope that the everlasting state of dead Relations is secured as there is for the Adult who lived in the fear of God for Children descending from Parents in covenant with God there 't is mere self-love which must cause discontent For had we true love to the dead we should rejoyce in their advancement as Christ saith Joh. 14.28 if ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I go to my Father You are troubled because they are not with you but you should joy in this that they are with Christ which is far better Phil. i. 21. 8. Think how others have undergone this tryal Aaron had his sons cut off by a dreadful Judgment but 't is said of him he held his peace Levit. 10.3 Job 1.21 2 Sam. 12.15 c. See Val. Max. l. 5. c. 10. So it was with Job and yet he blessed the Lord So long as there was hope of the life of the child David prayed and fasted but when he saw God's will was done he rose up and eat and afflicted himself no more Nay I might recite several examples of Heathens who did to the shame of us Christians bear the death of dear Relations with great equanimity and undisturbedness of spirit Well I hint these several things to you when any of you are thus tryed I allow you a due and regular grief and sense of God's afflicting hand but there must be no vexing or discontent under it which the Considering of the forementioned particulars may very much prevent or remove 3. Thirdly Wben Relations continued prove uncomfortable How as to uncomfortable Relations this occasions daily risings of heart and much discontent O the sad fires of passion which hereby are kindled in many too many hearts and houses The comfort of Relations is grounded upon suitableness where that is not the rose is turned into a briar or thorn What is unsuitable is uncomfortable as the yoke that doth not suit or fit the neck is alwaies uneasie Now this unsuitableness refers either to the natural temper or to something of an higher nature in both 't is very afflictive but especially in the latter There is an unsuitableness in respect of the natural temper or disposition I intend in this principally Husband and Wife the one is loving mild gentle of an even and calm spirit sweet and obliging in his or her converse the other is quite contrary froward passionate cholerick hard to be pleased alwayes quarelling c. Here 's a cross now and a heavy cross too but what 's to be done by them that bear it so as that they may learn Contentment under it why let them be often in considering these things 1. That God hath a special hand in this affliction 'T is he who brings persons together in this relation he made the match in Heaven before it was made on earth and therefore he is to be eyed in all the Consequences that attend it if it be comfort he is to be blessed for it if it be discomfort he is to be submitted to under it 2. Though this be a sharp tryal yet 't is for good where it 's sanctified It drives many nearer to God weans them more from the world keeps them humble draws out their graces gives them experience of supporting mercy learns them to be more pitiful to others and the like 3. May be this is the only affliction with which some are exercised In all things else 't is mercy only in this thing God sees it good to afflict surely such have little reason to be discontented What under such variety of signal mercies canst thou not bear contentedly one signal affliction 4. The Cross is heavy but patience and contentedness will make it lighter Levius fit patientiâ quod corrigere est nefas The more the Beast strives the more the yoke pinches the more quiet he is the less it hurts him and so it is in that Case which I am upon 5. Possibly more suitable Relations were once enjoyed but forfeited So that if you will be angry it must be with your selves not with God 6. Death will soon put an end to this Cross and we shall shortly be in that state wherein we shall have nothing unsuitable to us But 2. There is an unsuitableness in higher things such as do more immediately concern the honour of God and the everlasting condition of Souls as Grace and no Grace Holiness and sin Godliness and Vngodliness Here now I principally intend Parents and Children though other Relations may be included also Here is a Parent that fears God that lives an holy and godly life that owns the good wayes of God and walks in them c. But his Child or Children are of a quite other Spirit and take a quite other course oh they live in sin and wickedness in open enmity to God carrying it as the Sons of Belial they curse swear drink defile their bodies profane Sabbaths neglect duties scoff at Godliness puff at all good counsel discover a Spirit obstinately set against God c. This is an affliction of a very great stature taller by the head and shoulders than several that have been spoken unto before yet many godly Parents groan under it whose head and hearts are broken by ungodly Children and never was this affliction more common than now when youth is so much debauched I verily believe many good Parents could with much less grief bear the death of their Sons were they but fit for it than that which they daily undergoe through the wickedness of their lives Truly these are much to be pitied yet I would desire them to labour to be contented and submissively to bear this heavy cross In order to which frame let them consider 1. That 't is no new thing for good Parents to have bad Children Sometimes it so happens that when the Father is bad the Son is good but it more frequently happens and God suffers it to be so that the world may see Grace doth not run in a blood that when the Father is good the Son is bad It hath been so from the beginning Adam had his Cain Noah his Cham Abraham his Ismael Isaac his Esau David his Amnon and so in many others and it will be so to the end of the world Pray think of this though 't is a cutting yet but common affliction 2. Children are ungodly yet there is hope at last they may be reclaimed As stubborn as they are God can make them yield he can change
anointing Oyl which being poured on the Head was both gentle and pleasant and a Pledge of the Communication of Spiritual priviledges whence no inconveniences would ensue The last clause of the words belonging not unto our present design I shall not insist on their explication Some few things must be further premised unto our Principal intention concerning the nature of those Reproofs which are proposed as a matter of such Advantage in the Text. And 1. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used signifieth to Argue to Dispute to Contend in judgment as well as to reprove rebuke or reprehend Its first signification is to Argue or to plead a Cause with Arguments Hence it is used as a Common Term between God and man denoting the Reasons real or pretended only on the one side and the other So God himself speaks unto his People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 1.18 Go to now and let us Plead reason or argue together And Job calls his Pleas or Argument in Prayer unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 23.4 I would fill my mouth with Arguments Wherefore that only hath the true Nature of a Reproof which is accompanied with Reasons and Arguments for the evincing of what it tends unto Rash groundless wrathful precipitate Censures and rebukes are evil in themselves and in our present case of no Consideration Nor indeed ought any one to engage in the Management of Reproofs who is not furnished with Rule and Argument to evince their necessity and render them effectual Sometimes things may be so Circumstanced as that a Reproof shall so carry its own Reason and efficacious Conviction along with it as that there will be no need of arguing or Pleas to make it useful So the look of our Blessed Saviour on Peter under the Circumstances of his case was a sufficient Reproof though he spake not one word in its Confirmation But ordinarily Cogent Reasons are the best conveyances of Reproofs to the minds of men be they of what sort they will 2. Reproofs do alwayes respect a Fault an evil a miscarriage or a sin in them that are reproved There may be mutual admonitions and exhortations among Christians with respect unto sundry things in the course of their Faith and Obedience without a regard unto any evil or miscarriage The general nature of a Reproof is an admonition or exhortation but it hath its special nature from its regard unto a fault in Course or particular fact And hence the word signifies also to Chastise wherein is a Correction for and the means of a recovery from a miscarriage 2 Sam. 7.14 I will reprove him by the Rod of men that is Chastise him This therefore is that reproof which we intend a warning Admonition or Exhortation given unto any whereby they are rebuked for and with respect unto some moral evil or sin in their course way practice or any particular miscarriage such as may render them obnoxious unto Divine Displeasure or Chastisement for it is essential unto a regular reproof that in him who gives it it may be accompanied with or do proceed from an apprehension that the person reproved is by the matter of the reproof rendred obnoxious unto the displeasure of God 3. It may also be considered that Reproving is not lest arbitrarily unto the wills of men Whatever seems to be so it loseth its nature if it be not a duty in him who Reproves and come short of its efficacy No wise man will reprove but when it is his Duty so to do unless he design the just reproach of a busie body for his Reward The command is general with respect unto Brother and Neighbour Deut. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him But as to the particular discharge of this work as a Duty there must be either an especial Office or an especial Relation or a concurrence of Circumstances for its warranty God hath in his wisdom and care given Rules and bounds unto our Engagement unto Duties without a regulation whereby we shall wander in them with endless Dissatisfactions unto our selves and unnecessary Provocations unto others But the Duty of reproving with the love wisdom tenderness and compassion required in the discharge of it its Motives Ends and Circumstances its proper Rules and Limitations fall not under my present consideration but these things in general were necessary to be premised unto what do so That which the Text instructs us in may be comprised in this general Observation Reproofs though accompanied with some sharpness if rightly received and duly improved are a mercy and advantage incomparably above all the satisfactions which a joynt consent with others in sin and pleasures can afford The latter part of the Proposition I have mentioned only to express the ballance that is proposed by the Psalmist between the best and most desirable advantages of wicked society on the one hand and the sharpest or most displeasing severities that accompany the communion of thc Righteous or godly But I shall not at all handle the comparison as designing only some Directions how men should behave themselves under Reproofs that they may be a kindness and an Excellent Oyl unto them or how they may by them obtain Spiritual benefit and Advantage unto their own Souls And this however at present the matter may be managed is of it self of great Importance For as in the state of weakness and imperfection of mistakes and miscarriages wherein we are there is no outward help or aid of more use and advantage unto us than seasonable Reproofs so in the right receiving and improving of them as high a tryal of the spirits of men as to their interest in Wisdom and folly doth consist as in any thing that doth befal them or wherewith they may be exercised For as scorners of Reproofs those that hear them unwillingly that bear them haughtily and impatiently with designs of revenge or disdainful Retortions have the Characters of Pride and Folly indelibly fixed them by the Holy Ghost so their due Admission and Improvement is in the same infallible Truth represented as an evident pledge of wisdom and an effectual means of its encrease This is so much and so frequently insisted on in that great Treasure of all wisdom Spiritual Natural and Political namely the Book of Proverbs that it is altogether needless to call over any particular Testimonies unto that purpose Two things we are to enquire into in compliance with our present Design 1. How Reproofs may be duly received 2. How they may be duly improved whereunto the Reasons shall be added why they ought so to be I. That we may receive Reproofs in a due manner three things are to be considered 1 The general Qualification of the Reprover 2 The Nature of the Reproof And 3 The matter of it 1. The Psalmist here desires that his Reprover may be a Righteous man Let the Righteous smite me
let him reprove me To give and take reproofs is a Dictate of the Law of Nature whereby every man is obliged to seek the Good of others and to promote it according to their ability and opportunity The former is directed by that love which is due unto others the latter by that which is due unto our selves which two are the great Rules and give measure to the Duties of all Societies whether Civil or Spiritual Wherefore it doth not evacuate a Reproof or Discharge him who is reproved from the duty of attending unto it that he by whom it is managed is not Righteous yea is openly wicked For the Duty it self being an effect of the Law of Nature it is the same for the substance of it by whomsoever it is performed Yea oft-times such Moral or rather immoral Qualifications as render not only the Reprover less considerable but also the Reproof it self until thoroughly weighed and examined obnoxious unto prejudicate Conceptions do occasion a greater and more signal Exercise of Grace and Wisdom in him that is reproved than would have been stirred up had all things concurred unto the exact Regularity of the Reproof However it is desirable on many accounts that he who Reproves us be himself a Righteous person and be of us esteemed so to be For as such a one alone will or can have a due sense of the evil reproved with a right Principle and End in the Discharge of his own Duty so the minds of them that are reproved are by their sense of his Integrity excluded from those insinuations of evasions which prejudices and Suggestions of just causes of Reflections on their Reprover will offer unto them especially without the exercise of singular Wisdom and humility will all the Advantages of a just Reproof be lost where the allowed practice of greater sins and evils than that Reproved is daily chargeable on the Reprover Hence is that Reflection of our Saviour on the useless Hypocritical Diligence of men in pulling the mote out of their Brother's eyes whilst they have beams in their own Mat. 7.3 4 5. The Rule in this Case is If the Reprover be a Righteous person consider the Reprover first and then the Reproof if he be otherwise consider the Reproof and the Reprover not at all II. The Nature of a Reproof is also to be considered and this is three-fold for every Reproof is either Authoritative or Fraternal or merely Friendly and occasional Authoritative Reproofs are either 1 Ministerial or 2 Parental or 3 Despotical 1. There is an especial Authority accompanying Ministerial Reproofs which we ought especially to consider and improve Now I understand not hereby those Doctrinal Reproofs when in the Dispensation of that Word of Grace and Truth which is profitable for Correction and Reproof 2 Tim. 3.16 they speak and exhort and rebuke the sins of men with all Authority Tit. 2.15 but the occasional Application of the Word unto individual persons upon their unanswerableness in any thing unto the Truth wherein they have been instructed For every Right Reproof is but the orderly Application of a Rule of Truth unto any Person under his miscarriage for his healing and recovery Where therefore a Minister of the Gospel in the Preaching of the Word doth declare and Teach the Rule of Holy obedience with Ministerial Authority if any of the Flock committed to his charge shall appear in any thing to walk contrary thereunto or to have transgressed it in any offensive Instance as it is his Duty the discharge whereof will be required of him at the great Day particularly to apply the Truth unto them in the way of private personal Reproof so he is still therein accompanied with his Ministerial Authority which makes his Reproof to be of a peculiar nature and as such to be accounted for For as he is thus commanded as a Minister to Exhort Rebuke Admonish and reprove every one of his charge as occasion shall require so in the doing of it he doth discharge and Exercise his Ministerial Office and Power And he that is wise will forego no considerations that may give efficacy unto a just and due Reproof especially not such a one as if it be neglected will not only be an aggravation of the evil for which he is reproved but will also accumulate his guilt with a contempt of the Authority of Jesus Christ Wherefore the Rule here is The more clear and evident the representation of the Authority of Christ is in the Reproof the more Diligent ought we to be in our Attendance unto it and compliance with it He is the great Reprover of his Church Rev. 3.19 All the use Power Authority and efficacy of Ecclesiastical Reproofs flow Originally and are derived from him In Ministerial reproofs there is the most express and immediate Application of his Authority made unto the minds of men which if it be carelesly slighted or proudly despised or evacuated by perverse cavillings as is the manner of some in such cases it is an open evidence of an Heart that never yet sincerely took upon it his Law and Yoke These things are spoken of the Personal Repoofs that are given by Ministers principally unto those of their respective Flocks as occasion doth require wherein I shall pray that our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep would yet make us all more Faithful and diligent as the season wherein we live doth abundantly require it But moreover Church-censures in Admonition and Excommunication have the nature and ends of Ministerial reproofs But the handling of their nature and use with the Duties of those persons who justly fall under them and the benefit which they may reap thereby is too long and large a subject to be here diverted unto 2. Authoritative reproof is Parental Reproof is indeed one of the greatest and most principal Duties of Parents towards Children and without which all others for the most part do but pamper them unto slaughter and Ruine Neglect hereof is that which hath filled us with so many Hophni's Phinease's and Absolom's whose outragious wickednesses are directly charged on the sinful lenity and neglect in this matter even of godly Parents And indeed whereas some Parents are openly vicious and debauched even in the sight of their Children in a sensual neglect and contempt of the Light of Nature whereby they lose all their Authority in reproving as well as all Care about it and whereas the most have so little regard unto sin as sin whilst things are tolerably well in outward concerns that they neglect the reproof of it as such and many through a foolish contemptible prevalency of fond Affection will take no notice of the sinful follies extravagancies and miscarriages of their Children until all things grow desperate with them but sooth up and applaud them in such effects of Pride Vanity and Wantonness as ought to be most severely reproved in them the woful and dreadful degeneracy of the Age wherein we live owes it self
we are capable in Time or unto Eternity was indelibly implanted upon our Natures and indispensably necessary unto that Society among our selves with the great end of our joynt living unto God for which we were made All the mutual evils of mankind whether of Persons or of Nations designed or perpetrated against one another are effects of our fatal Prevarication from the Law of our Creation Hence Cain the first open violent transgressor of the Rules and bounds of Humane Society thought to justifie or excuse himself by a Renunciation of that Principle which God in Nature had made the Foundation of a Political or Sociable life with respect unto Temporal and Eternal ends Am I saith he my Brother's keeper Gen. 4. Yea God had made every man the keeper of his Brother so far as that they should in all things in their opportunities and unto their Power seek their good and Deliverance from Evil. In those things which are good unto us those which are Spiritual and Eternal have the Preeminence These nothing can prejudice but Sin and Mortal evils whose prevention therefore in one another so far as we are able is a Duty of the Law of Nature and the prime effect of that Love which we owe unto the whole Offspring of that one Blood whereof God hath made all Nations And one of the most effectual means for that end are the reproofs whereof we treat And the Obligation is the same on those that give them and those to whom they are given with respect unto their several Interests in this Duty Wherefore to neglect to despise not thankfully to receive such reproofs as are justly and regularly given unto us at any time is to contemn the Law of our Creation and to trample on the prime effect of Fraternal Love Yea to despise Reproofs and to Discountenance the discharge of that Duty is to open a Door unto that mutual hatred and dislike which in the sight of God is Murder See Lev. 19.17 with 1 Joh. 3.15 Let us therefore look to our selves for there is no greater sign of a degeneracy from the Law and all the ends of our Creation than an unwillingness to receive reproofs justly deserved and regularly administred or not to esteem of them as a blessed effect of the Wisdom and goodness of God towards us 2. Whereas the light of Nature is variously obscured and its directive power debilitated in us God hath renewed on us an Obligation unto this Duty by particular Institutions both under the Old Testament and the New The Truth is the efficacy of the Law of Creation as unto Moral Duties being exceedingly impaired by the entrance of sin and the exercise of Original native love towards mankind being impeded and obstructed by that confusion and disorder whereinto the whole state of mankind was cast by sin every one thereby being made the enemy of another as the Apostle declares Tit. 3.3 not being cured by that coalescency into evil Societies which respects only Political and Temporal ends the discharge of this Duty was utterly lost at least beyond that which was merely Parental Wherefore God in the Institution of his Church both under the Old Testament and the New did mould men into such Peculiar Societies and Relations as wherein way might be made meet again for the exercise thereof He hath so disposed of us that every one may know every one whom he is obliged to reprove and every one may know every one whom he is obliged to hear And as he hath hereby cured that confusion we were cast into which was obstructive of the exercise of this Duty so by the Renovation of positive commands attended with Instructions Directions Promises and Threatnings enforcing the giving and receiving of Reproofs with respect unto Moral and Spiritual ends he hath relieved us against that obscurity of Natural light which we before laboured under Should I go to express the Commands Directions Exhortations Promises and Threatnings which are given in the Scripture to this purpose it would be a work as endless as I suppose it needless to all that are conversant in the Holy Writings It may suffice unto our present purpose that there being an express institution of God for the giving and taking of Reproofs and that an effect of infinite Goodness Benignity and Love towards us not thankfully to receive Reproofs when it is our Lot to deserve them and to have them is to despise the Authority of God over us and his gracious Care for us When therefore it befalleth any to be justly and orderly reproved let him call to mind the Authority and love of God therein which will quickly give him that sense of their worth and excellency as will make him thankful for them which is the first step unto their due Improvement 3. A due consideration of the use benefit and advantage of them will give them a ready admission into our minds and affections Who knows how many Souls that are now at rest with God have been prevented by Reproofs as the outward means from going down into the Pit Unto how many have they been an occasion of conversion and sincere turning unto God How many have been recovered by them from a state of backsliding and awakened from a secure sleep in sin How many great and bloody sins hath the perpetration of been obviated by them How many snares of Temptations have they been the means to break and cancel What revivings have they been to grace what disappointments unto the snares of Satan who can declare The Advantage which the Souls of men do or might receive every day by them is more to be valued than all earthly Treasures whatever And shall any of us when it comes to be our concern through a predominancy of Pride passion and prejudice or through cursed Sloth and Security the usual means of the defeatment of these advantages manifest our selves to have no interest in or valuation of these things by an unreadiness or unwillingness to receive Reproofs when tendered unto us in the way and according to the mind of God But now suppose we are willing to receive them it will be enquired in the last place what Considerations may further us in their due Improvement and what Directions may be given thereunto An Answer to this enquiry shall shut up this Discourse And I shall say hereunto 1. If there be not open evidence unto the contrary it is our Duty to judge that every Reproof is given us in a way of Duty This will take off offence with respect unto the Reprover which unjustly taken is an assured entrance into a way of losing all benefit and advantage by the Reproof The reason why any man doth regularly reprove another is because God requireth him so to do and by his command hath made it his Duty towards him that is reproved And do we judge it reasonable that one should neglect their Duty towards God and us and in some degree or other make himself guilty of our
Apostle had shewed the Ephesians their Race and Course of Duties which they had to run in Eph. 4.5 6. 1.9 He acquainteth them also what oppositions they might expect and what Enemies they had to grapple with and what a Panoply or Armour they must put on and use Eph. 6.10 18. that so their Course might be successful 3. By finishing the Course with joy is meant to have it managed and compleated so as that the Comforts Prize and Glory of it might be theirs who run to discharge Trust and Duty with all Activity Prudence Constancy and Delight to face and conquer Difficulties with such masculine courage and success as best becomes the Spirit Hopes and Furniture of a Christian to make our matchless estimation of approaching Glory remarkable in all our strokes and steps No man is crowned that strives not lawfully 2 Tim. 2.5 Our Motions must be persevering swift and even and herein answerable to the great ends of God Christ in calling us to our Trust and Care and all our warrantable ends in our voluntary undertaking to be Combatants and Racers to hold Integrity so fast to prize the Crown so much to watch over Hearts so strictly and discipline the whole Man so exactly as that the Gospel may not be ashamed to own us nor Christ ashamed of us Our Trust nor Talents must not be imbezeled nor managed with slightness nor falshood nor any way abused by us lest those Comforts should be lost that are before us as the determined recompence of faithful Racers For God resolves to render to every man as his work shall be Rom. 2.6 10. 2 Cor. 5.10 Jer. 17.10 We know the Apostle's Care and Counsel 1 Cor. 9.24 27. Phil. 2.12 He knew all running would not serve the turn and he was apprehensive of all those Dangers Snares and Oppositions which called for universal Watchfulness Resolution Care and Courage and knew the Crown of Life could never fit the Sluggard's or Coward 's Temples Nor will God prejudice the Interest of Religion nor restrain and mortifie all those awakening Arguments which are to be derived from this Principle and Topick viz. That only faithful Racers must be Crowned with Life and Joys Query 2. How far must love to Life be conquered and subdued and every thing be disregarded for the right finishing of our course with joy 1. These things must be distinguished in order to the understanding of the Nature and Measure of this Duty and Attainment 1. It is one thing what may be loved and valued simply and abstractedly as only considered in it self and 't is another thing what may be loved and valued as compared with something else And 2. It is one thing what degree of value of Love and Care may suit the excellency and importance of the Object and another thing what may exceed it 3. It is one thing how I may love a thing when consistent with and conducing to our best Concernment and 't is another thing how I may love what is withdrawn from and set against it And 4. It is one thing to have Affections to be Snares and Hindrances and another thing to have them Helps and Furtherances to something better And 5. A moderate and subordinate love is one thing and a supreme and co-ordinate love is another And 6. It is one thing to love with true submission to God's commanding and disposing Will and another thing to love to the prejudice of God's Prerogative and Providence so as to murmur and quarrel with the great Jehovah for what he doth 2. And upon these Distinctions may we ground these following Propositions and Conclusions 1. Life and the Comforts of it are eligible and desirable as they are considered in themselves and in this sense God hath not forbidden the loving of them They come from God as emanations and expressions of his Goodness They are good and perfect gifts and lovely in their kind and plaees for had not Life been lovely it could have been no punishment to dye for all punishment is Malum Physicum propter Malum Morale and when it is laid in a privation the want cannot be evil if the thing we are deprived of be not good and lovely nor could the promise of long life have been a quickning Argument to Holiness and Duty as it is 1 Pet. 3.10 11. Exod. 20.12 had we not loved it Nor would God have promised to us as a Mercy what is not good and lovely Adam in Innocence had the love of Life implanted in him he did ill in that he feared the loss of Life too little to make him regularly careful to preserve it And it had been no argument of awful cogency that he should dye upon transgression had not the love of Life been deeply rooted and implanted in him for who can rationally fear the loss of what he cares not for It is plain that Adam's love to Life was the result of God's Creation and therefore good for it was in him in his Innocence And the Argument was framed to prevent Transgression as something possible but not yet existent and God was never angry with him till he through sin had forfeited his Life and this proved his love to Life to be every way consistent with a state of Innocence And for all the Comforts of Life they are desirable in themselves and lovely As Relation Eph. 5.25 Liberty 1 Cor. 7.21 and Birth-priviledges Acts 22.28 Credit Prov. 22.1 Outward Supplies Prov. 30.8 Yea Plenty of them Eccl. 7.11 10.10 And it is impossible and inhumane for any man simply to desire and attempt his own personal Misery and Destruction yea it is his sin to do it See Acts 26.29 Neither doth Grace it self mortifie or correct our love to Life and all its Comforts as simply considered in themselves for if it did it could neither be the trial nor the commendation of a gracious sober Christian to part with Life and Comforts since it would only be demanding from him what he cared not for Gen 22.1 2 12. 2. Life and the Comforts of it have their subserviency to better things and thus it is more our Duty not to disregard them Life makes us capable of serving God and of the enjoyment of him Our spiritual and eternal Life suppose natural Life and further 't is our state of usefulness and trial We cannot actually serve God any further or our Generation longer than we have our Lives and Beings here The usefulness and comforts of Relations are reciprocal How can I see or serve God with what I have not They are my helps and trust and trials Relations may be mutually won and ripened for eternal Glory by each others Conversation 1 Pet. 3.1 Credit is valuable because of usefulness to others and our own necessary confidences and encouragements 1 Tim. 3.7 Places of Honour and important Trust must not be disregarded Joseph Mordecai and Daniel were greatly serviceable through their great interest and estimation in their respective Princes Courts
sufficient for the Salvation of them in their circumstances yet there is a vast difference between the abilities of several persons and therefore men are not to take their measures for their enquiries after Spiritual things merely by the necessariness of the things themselves but likewise by the abilities God hath given them So that upon the whole the better means and advantages in any kind men have for the gaining of knowledge so much the more knowledge is required to be in them Rule 4. By how much the more use men have for their knowledge and by how much the more good they may do with it so much the more knowledge will be expected of them That knowledge which might do well in a private Christian yet is not ordinarily sufficient for a Minister That which would be much in the one might be but little in the other And that which might do well in a Child would not be sufficient in a Parent or Master of a Family They that are to instruct others in the knowledge of God ought themselves to be more abounding in it Prop. 2. Men should in their seeking knowledge first study those truths which are most confessedly necessary to Salvation and before those which are apparently less necessary and so Principles before Controversies things essential before such as are only Circumstantial And indeed by how much the nearer any truth is to the foundation so much the more they should labour after the knowledge of it as for instance men should acquaint themselves 1. With the Being and Attributes of God as the foundation of all service yeilded to him and expectations of rewards from him Psal 14.4 Heb. 11.6 He that knows not God to be holy how can he know that God requires holiness and then how can he himself be holy how can a man trust God if he know him not to be wise powerful faithful or love him if he know him not to be good or fear him if he know him not to be just and it will easily follow that he who knows not God as he can never worship him while he lives so he can never expect that he should save him when he dies 2. With the Doctrine of the Trinity three Persons in the Godhead the Father Son and Spirit John 1.5 7. John 14.16 John 15.26 each Person having his proper part in the Salvation of sinners The Father as the Original and Fountain of it the Son as the Manager and the Holy Ghost as the Applier 3. With their own natural state and condition their being by nature in a state of sin and misery as having sin'd against this Holy Righteous Eph. 2.1 2 3. John 16.8 Powerful God and thereby exposed themselves to his wrath and curse They that would be delivered from the curse must know themselves to be obnoxious to it They that would not perish must know themselves to be in danger of it Men are not like to enjoy God's favour unless they know that they have lost it 4. With the Doctrine of a Redeemer and that both 1. As to the Person Who he is That the Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God the Second Person of the Trinity is the Redeemer of sinners Math. 20.28 and the only one Act. 4.12 That God hath not left all mankind to perish in their sin and misery but hath out of his abundant Mercy and free Grace found out a ransom for them a Saviour to deliver them and that the Lord Jesus Christ is he and none besides him so that it is in vain to seek for Salvation in any else seeing he alone hath the words of Eternal life John 6.6.8 He that knows nothing of a Saviour knows nothing savingly nor can any man partake of Redemption without some knowledge of the Redeemer They can never come to God that know not by whom to come 2. And as to the way of his working that Redemption 1. That he did in order to the Salvation of sinners John 1.14 and 3.13 take the nature of man upon him was both God and Man in one person and still continues so to be He had those natures united in himself which he was to reconcile to each other 2. That not only he was able as being God fit as being man Rom. 3.24 25 26. Rom. 5.10 1 Tim. 2.6 to satisfie Divine justice for the injury sin had done it but that by his obedience and death he did it to the full He that knows God to be infinitely just and himself to be a sinner had need know something of a Sacrifice for sin or he can never have any well-grounded hopes of escaping the hands of such a God 3. That Christ being raised from the dead and ascended into Heaven sits at the Father's right hand Rom. 8.34 Mark 16.19 and by his intercession there is now making application of the redemption he wrought on Earth He ever lives to make intercession Heb. 7.25 Men would be in an ill condition if redemption were wrought and there were none to apply it if Christ had died for them and left them to intercede for themselves 5. Men should acquaint themselves with the Doctrine of Justification by Christ that sinners must be justified by the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus imputed to them if ever they be justified at all He is the Lord their Righteousness Jer. 23.6 They are accepted in the beloved Eph. 1.6 Found in Christ not having their own Righteousness c. but that which is through the faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by faith Phil. 3.9 All their own Righteousness inherent in them and wrought by them even after regeneration and by the help of the Spirit of grace being finite imperfect short of the Law and due to it 6. With the way of their being made partakers of this Righteousness that it should be received by Faith alone as the means God hath appointed for their being interested in it God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 and therefore they that are justified must be justified by Faith Rom. 5.1 All the holiness any Saint could ever arrive unto in this life would never entitle him to Christ's Righteousness if faith were wanting 7. With the nature properties and fruit of that faith that it must be an effectual lively Faith not only an assent of their minds to the truth of the Scripture Jam. 2.17 John 1.12 but the consent of their hearts to the terms of the Covenant a receiving whole Christ with an eye to all rhe good things he offers there and for all those holy ends and purposes for which he is propounded to them In a word they are to look upon Faith as the Principle of their Obedience and walking with God according to that rule of Righteousness God hath given them 8. With the Doctrine of sanctification that God is wont to fit and frame mens hearts at first to the duties of
Obedience he requires of them by the work of the Spirit upon their hearts changing them regenerating them and causing old things to pass away and all things in them to become new 2 Cor. 5.17 and further to increase that fitness for and readiness to Spiritual things by his guiding assisting and quickning them in those holy wayes into which he hath brought them and by those ordinary means the Word and Ordinances which he hath appointed for the working and improving of their Graces 9. With the reward God promiseth to their Faith and Obedience in the blessedness of their Souls at the end of this life and of their whole man after the Resurrection in their being for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 when the unbelief and disobedience of others will be punished with everlasting torments inflicted by him In a word whoever comes to God Heb. 11.6 must believe not only that he is but that he is the rewarder of those that diligently seek him Men ought in the beginning of Religion to look to the end of it have some sight of the goal when they enter upon their race know their wages when they set about their work The Doctrine of rewards furnisheth men with the greatest incentives to holiness ignorance or unbelief of future recompence must needs make men negligent of present service take away the knowledge of Heaven and Hell and ye take away all â—are and thoughts of Religion These things I lay not down as an enumeration oâ— Fundamentals or compleat scheme of Religion it is sufficient for 〈…〉 that they are some of the most necessary and substantial truths wherein the generality of Christians are concerned which they are therefore especially and in the first place to acquaint themselves with and before those things which are less necessary to Salvation as being further from the Foundation And indeed this is the very method of Nature Men usually seek those things first which are most necessary and other things afterward they first lay their Foundation and then set up their Superstructures Principles must be known before Conclusions can be drawn from them Those Doctrines of Religion must be first known from whence others are to be deduced and without the knowledge of which others can be but confusedly and darkly known This seems to have been the Apostle's Method Heb. 6.1 where he speaks of some Truths which they are in paticular I stand not to dispute which were Principles and first learned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost others as conducing to the perfection of the Saints unto the knowledge of which he would therefore have them go on He that knows not those things which must be known knows nothing yet to any purpose Prop. 3. Men should Labour after such a knowledge of the Truth as that they may be able to give a Reason of the hope that is in them 1 Pet. 3.15 To shew on what Ground they stand what is the Foundation of their Faith and Hope that the Religion they profess is indeed the true Religion and that the Doctrines they own are really Founded upon the Scripture of Truth Dan. 16.2 and in a word they should be able to give a Reason why they believe rather thus than otherwise and hold such Doctrines rather than the contrary They should Labour after such a Grounded knowledge of the Truths of the Gospel as that they may be able to say of them as well as of the Duties of it that they are fully perswaded in their own Minds and do not take up things upon trust Rom. 14.15 or believe the Truth upon the Credit of others It is a shame for Professors to be merely Believers upon Tradition to see with other Mens Eyes or be like the Heathen Idols that have Eyes and see not They are Men and have reasonable Powers and ought to make use of them even in the things of God so far as they are Revealed and Subjected to their Judgment The Spiritual Man Judgeth all things even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10.15 Though they are to submit their understandings to God yet they are not to resign them to Men. They that will judge for themselves in the things of this life should no less do in the things of the other That Man that will not trust another with his Estate or Purse should much less do it with his Conscience and Salvation Prop. 4. Men should especially give themselves to the study and labour after the knowledge of the present truths 2 Pet. 1.12 I mean those truths which are the special truths of the Times and Ages and Places in which Men live We shall find if we observe it that God who delivers hls Mind and Will to Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by several parts and degrees doth in some Ages make more clear discoveries of some truths in others of other truths and though the whole will of God and all those truths which we are any way concerned to know in order to our Salvation be sufficiently laid down in the Scripture yet there is sometimes more knowledge of one truth stirring in the World sometimes of some other Sometimes God calls his Servants more especially to Preach up and bear Witness to such or such a particular Truth which either was less known and understood before or is more opposed at present Immediately after Christ's resurrection the great truth of that time the then present truth was that Jesus was the Christ that very Messiah whom God had promised to the Fathers and the Jews themselves did expect This the Apostles did first of all Preach confirming it especially by his Resurrection from the dead Thus Act. 2.36 God hath made the same Jesus both Lord and Christ Act. 5.31 Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour So Philip to the Eunuch Act. 8.35 And Paul so soon as he was converted and sent to Preach presently declares that Jesus was the Christ Acts 9.22 And Peter to Cornelius Acts 10.42.43 And Apollos in Achaia ch 18.28 And afterwards we find that the Jews and Judaizing Christians pertinaciously adhering to the Law of Moses gave occasion to the more full Preaching of the Doctrine of free Grace and Justification by Christ alone and the abolishing of the legal Ceremonies as we may see in the Epistle to the Romans Galatians Colossians and Hebrews And after towards the end of the Apostles times the Heresie of Cerinthus gave occasion to the more full vindicating the Doctrines of Christ's Godhead Hieronym in Catal. Script Ecclesiast as we see in the Gospel of John And some hundreds of years after that the Pelagian Heresie gave occasion for the renewed publication of the Doctrine of free Grace by Austin Prosper and others And in the beginning of the reformation of Religion in the last age the first truths God called those Worthies that then lived to the Preaching of were those especially which concern the Lord Jesus Christ in his Prophetical and Priestly offices
there any thing of dishonesty in what I have been perswading you to Is it a dishonest thing to pray in your Families to instruct them in the things of God to be holy diligent and faithful What harm is there in all this Would it do you or yours any injury Would it hinder either your profit or pleasure Can godliness which hath the promise of this life and that which is to come undo you Should that which pleaseth God displease you Is it an unpleasant thing to see the beauty of holiness in your Family and to have yours serving God and you faithfully Is it an unpleasant thing to have God's commendation and peace and to have good hopes that all yours are God's and shall be delivered from the wrath to come and be heirs of a Crown of glory If you talk of pleasure no pleasure like them that are in duty and at the end of duty Well now What have you to say against your duty You cry pish this is the way to be a slave a mope a fool Is it true indeed that to be enlarged for God in ones place is a slavery how come such to be so full of peace and joy Is that the state of slaves no body is about to debar you of moderate liberty and recreation But will you call nothing liberty and recreation but that which exposes you and yours to ruine But if you take this course you shall be poor if you and your Servants may not lye cheat break Sabbaths you shall never be able to live How then come so many honest men that would not do any of all these things for a world to live so well Were Abraham Joshua David Cornelius all such poor men If diligence honesty and holiness undo men what will make them I hope you will not say that cursing lying fraud idleness sensuality and carelesness are better ways of thriving Well once more what have you yet to say against what I have been perswading you to Will you now without delay bewail your former neglect and in good earnest set to your work like a man that in some measure knows the power of divine precepts the worth of souls and the greatness of that charge that lyeth upon you O that there were in you such a heart O that all Masters of Families were resolved for that which humanity reason interest reputation and their comfort call for as well as the law of God and men oblige them to What blessed Families then should we have What noble Corporations what glorious Cities Might not Jehovah-Shammah be written then upon our Gates and holiness to the Lord upon every door O when shall it once be Now in hopes that some honest hearts are affected with what hath been spoken and are desirous to engage with all their might in their duties I shall briefly add a few Helps for the better performance of their duty First Get a heart inflamed with love to God This will make you much more concerned for his honour than your own this will cause you to promote his interest with vigor and remove whatsoever may be prejudicial to it love will break thorow difficulties and make duty easie love will engage you body soul estate head tongue hand heart all for God then you can't live without prayer and instructing your Servants If the love of God dwell in you I never fear the disputing your duty Secondly Get a deep sense of the worth of souls upon your spirits Remember he that made them values them highly he that bought them and paid dearly for them judged them worth his heart-blood they that are wise believe that their utmost care for them is not too much their loss is an irreparable loss and if they are saved and secured all losses are tolerable light inconsiderable A due sense of the worth of a soul would make you wonderful careful to prevent its miscarriage greatly solicitous to make sure its happiness Thirdly Beg of God a spirit of wisdom and government that you may know how to go in and out before your house like a man of prudence and Religion 1 Kings 3.9 Jam. 1.17 You know whence every good and perfect gift comes and if any man lack wisdom they must ask of him that is ready to answer such requests who will give liberally and not upbraid Beg of God the gift and grace of prayer and utterance beg experience and knowledg and use and improve fruitfully what talent God hath given you already Hierocles A wise man instructed of God is a Priest of God and the only man fit to do his work Fourthly Study the Scriptures much Attend upon a conscientious powerful Ministry and read some practical Books there you will find the most excellent precepts there you will meet with the most commendable presidents there you have the most powerful motives to your duty the most successful helps In a word there you will meet with the assistance of God's Spirit Psal 119.11 by them you will be kept from any unrighteous thing Fifthly Do as you would be done by remember what measure you mete to another Mat. 7.12 shall be measured to you again I believe David would scarce have been so ready to pass such a sentence as he did if he had well considered who was at the bar and it 's likely a less punishment than burning might have been pronounced against Tamar if Judah had remembred who was the Father of her Child Sixthly Take heed of pride selfishness and sensuality These are the great make-bates these make the world so full of confusion and trouble from hence come war and fightings Jam 4.1 this brings such disorder misery and sorrow unto Kingdoms Cities Houses if instead of these we had humility publick-spiritedness Prov. 3.10 temperance the world would be quickly well mended with us Seventhly Think much upon your account Death Judgment Heaven Hell and Eternity I had almost said believe this truly and think of it frequently and be unfaithful if you can I am perswaded that every wilful omission of a known duty and commission of known sin hath much of atheism and unbelief in it it is but yet a little while and Master and Servant must be equal death knows no difference the worms and rottenness will seize as soon on the one as the other and this might a little teach us humanity and moderation Consider that account that must be given of our opportunities of service and every talent we are intrusted with Suppose God's Messenger were just ready to knock at your door and you were surely to appear before God before to morrow morning what meekness diligence faithfulness would you then exercise and how hardly brought to do any thing to hazard God's displeasure how full of good counsel to every body why Luke 16.2 Heb. 9.27 Job 31.14 how knowest thou O man but this hour may be thy last This was that which did not a little prevail with Job to do his
duty and not to despise the cause of his hand-maid What then said he should I do when God shall rise up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Let death when he comes find you doing the best work Ar. Epict. l. 3. c. 15. Antoninus l. 2. n. 2. and faithful in your place I shall conclude this with the advice of that gallant Emperour Let it be thy earnest care constantly to perform every thing thou art about with justice to every one which you may well do if you go about every act as your last I am now come to the last thing which I promised to do and that is to shew What is the Duty of Servants and that I shall perform in the same method as I did before 1. By giving them some cautionary Directions 2. Some positive Directions and pressing these with some Motives and give them some Helps for the better performance of their Duty 1. I shall give Servants some cautionary Directions First Let Servants take heed of pride This was the sin of the Angels this made them Devils this was the sin of our first Parents 1 Tim. 3.6 this made them rebellious to God A humble heart is ready for any work or state that God in his providence calls him to any thing but sin will down with a humble man Remember pride unfits for the service of God and man makes one think himself fitter to command than to be commanded that makes one go on heavily with their work impatient of reproof ready to answer again malepert saucy ready to commit other sins to gratifie their pride A proud Servant will scorn to be catechized called to an account or be kept under those bounds that reason and Religion set Humility doth no body any harm brings no dishonour or inconveniency but is as good a security to reputation comfort and profit as any thing I know Secondly Take heed of disobedience to the lawful commands of your Master Think not that your arrogance bigness and parentage will bear you out It may be you think scorn that your Master should correct you and you say in your mind that you will give him as good as he brings know this that if you have a Master that may be low-spirited weak or poor and it may be such a one that is loth to deal with you as Law and Religion gives him leave yet are you too strong for God Is he afraid of your swelling and big looks Will he count you innocent Is not your rebellion and disobedience to your Master disobedience and rebellion against God And can his purity suffer long or his justice bear such impâ—â—â—â—y always without some signification of his displeasure Must the great ones of the world that break his Laws feel his power and shall such a despicable wretch as thou go unpunished Remember what is said of disobedience to the lawful commands of Magistrates holds here Whosoever resisteth shall receive to himself damnation Rom 13.2 Thirdly Take heed of negligence idleness carelesness By this you rob your Master of what in honesty you should and might have got for him by this you secretly waste your Master and answer not that trust that is put in you and is justly expected from you by this you give just occasion of displeasure to your Master by this you break your promise made to your Master and provoke God highly Mat. 5 26. Remember what a sentence the wicked slothful Servant must shortly hear Fourthly Take heed of mere eye-service Is the eye of God nothing to you and his warnings insignificant Col. 3.12 Doth not he in plain words forbid this O how many such Servants be there that when their Master is by are very diligent but when his back is turned then how lazy how wanton how careless Would you be served thus your selves if you were Masters Doth God take no notice at all and if he do how do you think he liketh such doings Is it a small matter to make light of his presence and if it be so you shall shortly find to your cost that his eye was more than your Master 's upon you and if you will not believe his knowledg observation and eye his hand shall shortly give you such a demonstration of both as you shall not be able to slight Fifthly Take heed of Lying By a lye you deny God's knowledg you make one fault two you make your self an enemy to humane society that is a sin which is hateful to every honest man and abominable to the Lord the lyar shall be shut out of Heaven Prov. 6.17 Rev. 21.8 and have his portion in that Lake that burns for ever I spare to speak how it spoils a man's credit and feeds jealousies in a Master and maketh him scarce believe you when you speak truth O! little do Servants think what folly they are guilty of by covering their faults with a lye Little do they think how dear that sin must cost them either here by deep repentance or hereafter by intolerable torments Sixthly Take heed of purloining or imbezeling any part of your Master's goods for your own use Tit. 2.10 Luke 16.6 Meddle with nothing but what is your own and is allowed you you would be loth any one should call you a Thief I pray then take care of that which will make you deserve such a name do not consent to any that are in the least guilty in that kind be not partners with a Thief and make not your self an accessory to another's wickedness by concealing any unfaithfulness of that nature in your fellow-servants after you have roundly warned them your self eat not of the junkets that sensuality wantonness and theft hath provided If you would know what such doings tend to in a word I may tell you they pamper lust many times end in uncleanness murder a prison a halter and if that were all it were not so bad in comparison by this you wrong God and man fear your conscience and make way for a world of other sins and bring speedy and sure damnation except a thorow repentance prevent it Seventhly Take heed of bad companions have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them O how many hopeful youths are blasted by wicked company I am not ignorant of the high pretences of love that such may have and what excuses they may palliate their wickedness with but please none to displease God never count him your friend nor one that will do you a kindness that would lead you to sin the devil damnation Eighthly Take heed of disclosing your Master's secrets do not speak any thing that may wound his reputation make no mention of his faults without you are called to it lawfully and then not without deep regret and trouble upon the account of God's honour and his soul Some Servants make nothing of prating against their Masters and Mistresses behind their backs little considering that this is a sin
but thought of every state here would be good enough 9. The less any have the less they are to account for at the Great Day Every man is accountable to God for what he hath of this world 's good for that is but a Trust and he that is the Lord and owner of all will reckon with men how this trust is fulfilled and according to the proportion which they are entrusted with so will the account be taken They therefore who have great Estates and do but little good with them will have a sad account to make at the Great Day Now how little is this considered We are alwayes grasping at more not considering that the more we have the more we stand accountable for when we shall be judged Do we improve what we have if we do not 't is mercy that the Lord intrusts us with no more One Talent will be too much if that be not traded for God why then should we be angry if we have not five All would live in large houses but vvill they be able to pay the Rent that such houses are set at if not 't is better for them to content themselves with a meaner habitation and so 't is with the thing which I am upon Many at the Great Day will rejoyce they had no more whilst many will wish they had not had so much 10. To conclude this Head doth any man better his Estate by discontent Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is that the way to improve it certainly No It often makes us to lose what we have but it never gets us vvhat vve want as was said before in the general In the distribution of his blessings God will not be dealt with in this way He that will eat or drink more than what is sufficient often vomits up all so he that will have more than what God sees convenient for him loseth all by this greediness I have been large upon this because of the Commonness of discontent in this Case and the exceeding great sinfulness of it You whom the Lord hath blessed with competent Estates especially You whom the Lord hath blessed with full Estates be sure you learn and live contentment and whenever the heart begins to be unquiet about the proportion allotted to you go over in your thoughts what hath been propounded for you to consider of and I trust you vvill find good by it 3. There is a third Case viz. Some have lost what once they had C nsideration to further Contentment under Lâ—sses or God pursues them in the way of their Callings with Loss upon Loss This is a trial under which means hearts are prone to be enflamed 't is no easie thing to bear it with patience and contentment Especially when losses come thick and go very deep Cogitaâ—dum est quanto levior dolor sit non habere quam perdere intelligemus paupertati eo minorem tormentorum quo minorem damnorum esse materiam Senec. de Tr-An Tolerabilius est faciliusque non acquirere quam amittere ideoque laetiores videbis quos nunquam fortuna respexit quam quos deseruit idem ibid. when a considerable part of the estate is taken away nay as it often falls out the whole Oh! this is greatly afflictive and wounds the spirits of men very much Of the two we find it by experience an easier matter to be contented under that poverty which a person hath alwayes been in than under that which he is brought into by some severe interposures of Providence Former plenty puts more bitterness into present penury 't is a greater affliction to common sense to have an estate and to lose it than to be without an estate where it was never had this fuisse foelicem is a great aggravation of misery But to the thing it self It pleased the Lord lately to lay this City in ashes and O how great how universal were the losses then sustained your houses were burnt down many of your goods consumed by the merciless flames the great supports of your livelyhood removed and many thousands of you had that Wound then given you that you must halt of all your daies Since that you feel the sad effects of War losses at Sea decay of Trade c. upon which it is not with you as formerly it was there 's a great diminution in your estates Now was and is all this undergone with contentment In these dispensations of Providences have you learnt contentment would to God it was so If it be not so as yet I would desire you to fall upon Consideration and I hope for the future it will be so How or wherein is Consideration to be acted so as that under worldly losses you may be contented why thus Consider God's hand is in them and they all issue out of his will Men may be the instruments but that 's all they do but accomplish that which God will have to be done Therefore whatever thy loss be for the matter and degree of it however it befalls thee eye God in it see it as ordained and ordered by him let thy thoughts fix upon this and thy heart will not dare to murmur What are thy losses to those which Job underwent all was swept away from him in a moment yet he considered the Supreme Agent in all this and this kept down all passion The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken Job 1.21 Abstulit sed dedit Sen. Ep. 64. Hos 2.9 blessed be the name of the Lord O saith he 't is the Lord and the Lord who gave I submit May not the great Soveraign of the world do with us and ours what he pleaseth may not he diminish and withdraw all our blessings as he he sees good he that gives may not he take hath not he a greater propriety in what we have than we our selves It being his corn his wine his wool and flax may not he dispose of it at his pleasure doth it not become us contentedly to * Quandocunque reddeâ—e jubebitur non queretur cum fortunâ sed dicet gratias ago pro eo quod possedi habuique Idem de Tranq An. return what he sees meet to lend us but for such a time Pray think of this or you 'l never learn in a losing state to be content 2. Possibly something is taken away but all is not more is left than what is taken He that might have stript thee to nakedness hath only cut off a skirt of thy garment hast thou any reason to fret against the Lord that would be highly base and dilingenuous He to whom all was forfeited takes but a part instead of the whole surely thou art not to impeach his justice but to admire his goodness 3. Whenever we meet with these rebukes 't would be well to consider whether we did not need them A full dyet is naught for distempered bodies 1 Pet. 1.6 therefore these Physician prescribes a more sparing dyet When we are full