much as I ought to have done to know thee and to do thy Will but have done my own will in many things and followed my own foolish and sinful inclinations I have broken many of thy most Holy and Just Laws in thought word and deed * Here they may make a particular Confession of their Sins whereby I have deserved thy Wrath and Curse Father of Mercies have mercy upon me forgive me all my sins for Jesus Christ his sake who dyed for sinners Give me a true and hearty Repentance for all mine Iniquities that I may not wilfully break thy Laws any more Lord never leave me nor forsake me Hold up my goings in thy Paths that my footsteps may not slide Grant that henceforth I may love thee with all my heart and may be afraid to sin against thee Work in me a true Faith and a lively hope make me humble meek and patient sober and temperate in all things Charitable and compassionate towards all that are in distress true and faithful in my words and sincere and upright in my Actions well content and thankful in every condition of Life and zealous for thy Glory Grant that I may daily grow in Grace and spiritual Knowledge Create in me a clean Heart and renew a right Spirit wethin me and cause me to walk in thy ways O Lord send thy Gospel through the World pour our plentifully the Blessings of thy holy Spirit on all thy People Bless and preserve our King and Queen Guide our Judges and Magistrates Sanctifie and assist the Ministers of the Gospel Be with all my Friends and Relations particularly bless and preserve my Father and Mother Reward them for their care and kindness towards me Make me a loving and dutiful Child unto them * If there be any Brothers or Sisters he may pray for them and for Grandfather and Grandmother if they be alive Comfort all that are in trouble and sanctifie their afflictions to them I thank thee O Lord for thy care of me this Night Watch over over me this day Bless and direct me in all I do or say Keep me mindful that I am always in thy sight that I may be in thy fear all the day long Cause me to remember that I must shortly dye and come to judgment that I may not mispend my precious time but employ it in a constant and chearful Obedience to thy holy and righteous Laws that when this vain and short life is at an end I may be made partaker of everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose Holy Name and words I pray Our Father c. This Prayer may serve likewise at Night until you come to the last part which begins with these words I thank thee O Lord for thy care of me this Night c. instead thereof you may say as follows I thank thee O Lord for thy care of me this day watch over me this Night and grant me quiet repose save me from every Evil thing for the sake of thy dear Son Jesus Christ in whose Holy Name and words I conclude my imperfect Prayers saying Our Father c. ADVICE TO CHILDREN BY A Divine of the Church of England LONDON Printed for S. Lowndes near the Savoy-Gate in the Strand ADVICE TO CHILDREN THERE is scarce any thing wherein all Nations and Men of all Religions do more agree than in the Common Duties of Children to their Parents Neither is there any thing that tends more to the comfort and happiness the beauty and strength of Society than for Children to perform all those Duties which they owe to their Parents And yet hew sad is it to think that a great many Children who have not only all the advantages which natural Religion affords but likewise the assistance of Divine Revelation do nevertheless carry themselves in that manner towards their Parents as if they either understood nothing of their Duty or were most prodigiously perverse and resolved to rebel against the Light to trample upon all the Principles both of Natural and Revealed Religion The Design of this short Treatise is to shew what the Duties of Children are towards their Parents and to suggest some Considerations to excite them to do their Duty 1. Duty of Children to honour their Parents and how they are to honour them First Children are bound to honour their Parents which imports First That they should entertain respectful and reverend thoughts of them as being under God the Authors of their Life and Being they must not think slightingly and under valuingly of their Parents whatever be their weaknesses and imperfections They ought to hate and abhor their Vices every thing in them that is evil dishonourable to God and contrary to his Laws and Commandments but still they ought to love and honour their persons And if at any time disrespectful and irreverend thoughts arise in their minds they ought to check them to accuse and be angry with themselves for them and to call to mind what God hath commanded them to do when he saith Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Secondly This imports that they ought to express their inward Reverence and Esteem by all the outward marks and demonstrations thereof in their words and deeds their looks and gestures these things are the Picture of the Mind they ordinarily represent the temper and disposition thereof so that if there be any thing of real esteem and regard towards any body in the heart it will discover it self by some of those outward expressions We see how Solomon carried himself towards his Mother 1 Kings 2.19 Bathsheba went unto King Solomon to speak unto him for Adonijah And the King rose up to meet her and bowed himself unto her and sate down on his Throne and caused a seat to be set for the King's Mother and she sate on his right hand Children are more apt to carry themselves irreverently and slightingly towards their Mother which is the reason as some think that she is set down first Lev. 19.3 Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father Thirdly This imports that they ought to cover the infirmities and weaknesses the imperfections and indiscretions of their Parents to do as Shem and Japhet did Gen. 9.23 when Noah their Father was drunken and was uncovered within his Tent. They took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backwards and covered the nakedness of their father and their faces were backward and they saw not their fathers nakedness Children are not to publish the faults and follies of their Parents but ought to conceal them all that they can However there are two things very consistent with this Duty First Children may and ought to do all that they can by their private modest and humble Advice to reclaim their Parents from their sinful practices Secondly If they find it not so fit for them immediately to advise
a loving Son unto her He knew how great an affliction it would be to her to be deprived of the Comfort of his presence in the World he knew to how many necessities and wants she should be exposed by his leaving of her and therefore he gives it in charge to the beloved Disciple to do the Duty of a Son unto her to be to her in his stead to honour her to love her to serve her to take care of her and provide whatever might be fit for her This shews all Children what is their Duty towards their Parents to wit that they ought to take care of them so long as they live and are able to do it they ought with all respect and kindness to perform unto them all those Offices which the Laws of Nature and Christianity require Fourthly May not the Examples of some Heathens 4. Motive from the Examples of some Heathens which have already been mentioned excite Christian Children to perform their Duty to their Parents There are a great many more instances might be added to this purpose I shall only mention two The first is of the brave Coriolanus that Great Roman Commander who being very ill used by his Country-men fled to the Volscians who were at that time at War with the Romans Within a little time after his coming amongst them he was made General of their Forces in which Service he had great Success against the Romans gaining several Victories over them whereby he was encouraged to approach to the very Walls of Rome His Country-men were terribly alarmed with this so that they were forced to make humble Addresses to him to deprecate his displeasure but to no purpose They sent their Priests in their sacred Vestments but to as little Effect But no sooner did his Mother attended with his Wife and Children come to him but he submitted himself to her Now says he you have overcome me indeed when the intreaties of my Mother are added to yours tho' Rome deserve my hatred yet for my Mothers sake I will spare it and immediately he withdrew his Army A second Example is that of the worthy Athenian Captain Cimon who not being able to redeem the Corps of his Father which was arrested for Debt sold himself and became a Slave that his deceased Father's Body might be freed from that Arrest that was upon it and so might have honourable Burial This great Man was famous for his Noble and Valiant Exploits for his great courage and excellent Conduct in Military Affairs but there was not any thing for which he was so much admired and loved as for this wonderful instance of Affection and Respect to his Father May not such shining Patterns amongst the Pagans make many Christians ashamed who come so far short of them in their Duty and Obedience to their Parents Shall not they rise up in Judgment and condemn Christians who tho' they have a more excellent compleat and perfect Rule tho' they have a great deal more Light to direct them in their Duty to their Parents and tho' they have much greater assistances to enable them to perform their Duty do nevertheless carry themselves so undutifully and unchristianly as if they had never heard of the Gospel of Christ yea as if they had been born without any impressions of Natural Religion on their Minds whereby all Nations are so far instructed and enlightned as to acknowledge that to honour obey love serve and assist our Parents is a Duty of unquestionable and indispensible Obligation The Conclusion shewing how Children ought to improve what hath been said From what hath been said Children may see how great reason they have to perform all those offices of Love Honour and Subjection to their Parents that God requires of them It remains that they seriously and impartially consider what their practice has been and whether they have done those things which God requires them to do towards their Father and Mother That you may do this to good purpose it 's fit that you employ some time in looking back on your Lives in considering how you have honoured loved and obeyed your Parents that you may see whether you have carried your selves towards them in words and deeds as became good Children who have a sense of Religion or whether you have not dishonoured neglected and disobeyed them If upon Examination of your selves you find that you have done your Duty that you have sincerely endeavoured to obey them in all things that you have loved them heartily and payed them that Respect which you knew was due unto them Bless God who hath given you to will and to do according to his good pleasure But because there are defects and imperfections which cleave to our exactest performances therefore it is needful that you beg of God to forgive you wherein soever you have been faulty or defective in those Duties you owed them Consider what these defects and imperfections are and resolve to amend them and go on in doing every part of your Duty to them with greater exactness and with all that perfection that 's possible But if upon inquiry into your hearts and lives you find that you have been very faulty and defective in the Duties you owe to your Parents that you have neglected to do what you ought to have done that instead of honouring them you have dishonoured them you have slighted and despised them you have moâ—kâ—d and scorned them you have reviled and reproached them if instead of obeying them you find that you have been stubborn and disobedient to them you have refused to follow their Counsels and Admonitions you have done your own Will and followed your own vain humour and fancy in contempt of their Will if instead of submitting to their corrections and chastenings you have refused submission to them and perhaps have rebelled against them if instead of loving them you have hated them and wished and desired their death if instead of relieving them in their wants and supplying them with what was necessary for them you have wasted their substance by your riotous and extravagant Living you have put off all bowels of compassion and tenderness towards them it I say you find that you have thus carried your selves towards them in a way so contrary to your Duty how ought you to lament and mourn for your wickedness and folly How ought you to accuse your selves for your great iniquity and to aggravate your crimes by all just and fit considerations You may in this manner expostulate the case with your selves What a sad and unworthy Wretch am I who have thus dishonoured hated and disobeyed my dear Parents who are under God the Authors of my Being in the World to whom I owe that I am Who have proved so undutiful to them who took care of me when I could not take care of my self who fed and cloathed me who were at so great pains and charge for me who have employed so much of their time and strength
with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life These words import not only our belief of a crucified Saviour who dyed and was buried for sin to save us from it but also our Repentance whereby we renounce sin as dead and buried to it for the time to come The general Design of this Sacrament being sufficiently plain and clear from these and other Scriptures it is to little purpose and oftentimes it proves to very ill purpose to enquire any further as to particulars for by so doing a great many persons judging of divine things by their own weak and foolish apprehensions have reasoned themselves if I may so speak both out of their Reason and Religion 2. Duty to season their Minds betimes with good Impressions Secondly When Children begin to speak and to discover some dawnings of Reason it is fit to season their Minds with some good Thoughts with some divine Impressions that Religion betimes may catch hold of their tender and innocent Minds before they are corrupted and defiled with bad Principles and vain unreasonable Opinions which they are apt to learn too soon from evil Company Teach them who made them who dyed for them for what end they were made whither good Children go when they dye and whither naughty Children go what a place Heaven is and Hell c. These and such like plain and easie things are to be told them which they can understand and which may make some impression on their minds In teaching Children such matters it is necessary to condescend to their weak capacity It is not fit to ask them such Questions at all times nor yet to say too much to them at any one time Such Instructions are to be dropt into their minds softly and leisurely so as not to oppress them but to recreate them not to be a burden to them but a pleasure It cannot be expressed how great Advantages attend such early Instructions these are the Seeds of Virtue which take root insensibly and spring up sometimes very unexpectedly the Impressions which they make continue a great while as Earthen Vessels retain the savour of that Liquor which was first put into them a long time after So powerful are these first Instructions that they are able to conquer even Nature it self The famous Lycurgus made this appear by bringing into the Market-place two Dogs of one Litter and presenting before them a Pot of Pottage and a Hare one of them which was trained up in Hunting run after the Hare and the other which was brought up in the House fell to the Pottage What a wonderful power may we daily observe in those early impressions which are made on mens minds Thereby it comes to pass that the most absurd and extravagant Opinions which have been suck'd in when one was young can hardly be removed by the clearest and strongest Reasonings 3. Duty to teach them to pray Thirdly Teach them so soon as may be to pray to God Morning and Evening To say after you or others whom you appoint for that purpose two or three short Petitions which are easie to be understood and as their Understanding and Capacity increaseth teach them the Lord's Prayer and after that some larger Form of Prayer which they may say after you till they can read it themselves or get it by heart You are to have a special care that they perform their Devotions in as grave and serious a manner as their years can admit You are to keep them from all sorts of indecent Actions and Postures when they say their Prayers For this end you are to teach them who it is they speak to when they pray and what these things mean which they pray for Chuse the fittest times for them wherein to say their Prayers as in the Morning when-ever they arise while their Spirits are most vigorous and their Thoughts most free At Night let them say their Prayers rather before Supper than after because after Supper they are more apt to be very dull and sleepy and thereby less fit for such a performance God is not to be served with the refuse of our thoughts and with sluggish sleepy desires but with our best and most lively affections and with the strength and fervour of our desires You are to prevent their omitting their Prayers at any one time because doing so once or twice they are apt to neglect them wholly or to return to them with great aversness Whereas Custom and Constancy in performing their Devotions will make them much more easie and pleasant to them When they are possessed with more perfect and solid thoughts about Religion with stronger and more lively impressions of Divine things and are able without great difficulty to express the sense of their Souls They may do what they find does serve best the great purposes of Devotion If praying without restraining themselves to any particular Form of Words contribute more to their fervency and elevation of mind in Prayer let them pray without using a Form But if they find that their Minds are more stayed and fixed and their fervency and devotion greater in the use of a Form than without it let them do that which they find best When they pray for outward and temporal things teach them to do it with an entire submission to the Will of God who hath promised perishing things conditionally that is so far as he sees the bestowing of them will be for his Glory and the good of his Children Therefore they must not be vehement and importunate in their desires and Prayers for such things but ought to pray for them with great humility and resignation to the Divine Will As for spiritual Blessings to wit the pardon of Sin the direction and assistance of the Spirit of God his Grace to help them in time of need power and strength to fight against the Devil the World and the Flesh c. These things are to be prayed for with all the importunity and earnestness that is possible The more vehement and fervent their desires and Prayers are for such things the more acceptable are they to God and the more likely to obtain from him the desires of their Souls for he hath promised to satisfie the longing Soul with good things 4. Duty to observe carefully their temper and disposition and to endeavour to reform what is amiss therein Fourthly Observe carefully their Temper and Disposition what Vices they are most inclined to If they are sturdy and proud peevish and passionate cunning given to lying flattery and dissimulation if they are conceited rash and unadvised c. Endeavour all you can to bend their minds another way For Example if they are sturdy and proud strive to humble them and break them to tame their proud Spirits accustom them to the doing acts of humility do not gratifie them in those things that are apt
you with loving kindness and tender mercies who prevents you every Morning and follows you all the day long with many signal instances of his Fatherly care and love giving you richly all things to enjoy for life and godliness If you find that you joyn in the Publick Prayers without any due Sense of God upon your Souls and without any real impression of those things to which you say Amen if you find that you repeat some words as do others but in the mean time your minds are busie in pursuing shadows in thinking of your Trades and Sports or Pastimes c. be ashamed that you do thus lose your precious time that you are guilty of such trifling in the most serious and sacred action Endeavour to be more affected with a right sense about what you do that you may offer up unto God the Sacrifices of broken and contrite hearts that you may pour out your hearts before him and may worship him with all your Soul and Mind Bid farewell to your Worldly Cares and to your Pleasures and Vanities when you come into his presence to pay your homage to him Serve him with your best affections with the strength and vigour of your desires and with all your power and might If you do this you may then expect with great assurance and confidence that God will give ear unto you and satisfy your longing Souls with good things he will make you taste and see how good he is But if you pray without being in good earnest your Sacrifices will be an abomination to him he will not regard your Prayers nor take any notice of you He will answer you according to the multitude of your Idols If you find that you lose time by your communicating in a careless and formal manner without considering the end and design of that holy Institution and without indeavouring to prepare your selves as you ought to do that you may eat and drink worthily at the Table of the Lord study to redeem this loss by partaking of this Sacrament for the time to come in a more devout and religious manner Be careful to approach with greater love and gratitude unto the Table of your Lord who not only allows you to come but kindly and lovingly invites and encourages you to do so Come with your Souls burning with love to him who dyed for you and who appointed you this Sacrament that therein you might remember his wonderful love and his astonishing compassion and mercy which he hath testified in laying down his life for sinners that he might purchase to them everlasting Life and Glory even to as many as repent and believe the Gospel Come with your hearts deeply wounded and pierced with sorrow for your sins and follies which were the cause of so shameful so painful and so cursed a death to your dearest Lord and Saviour Come with your Souls full of sincere and hearty purposes and resolutions of being new Creatures not to live any more unto your selves or unto the World but to him who dyed for you Come with your Souls likewise enlarged with thoughts of kindness and unfeigned Charity to all men with your minds delivered from all bitterness and wrath from all malice and envy that you may eat and drink at this Feast of Love with suitable dispositions of universal Love and Charity Come with a great desire to obtain strength from the God of your Salvation that you may be able to fight the good fight of Faith and may at last lay hold on Eternal Life In this manner you ought to endeavour to redeem the time by doubling your care and diligence in all those Duties of Religion in the performance whereof you have been formerly faulty and defective Thus you are to do likewise in every other Action which you perform to the glory of God When you find that you have been too formal and careless in what you have done and said for God for Example in admonishing others in instructing them in reproving them in comforting them c. endeavour to redeem time by doing those things with greater sincerity and zeal with a more pure regard to the Glory of God with a greater desire to approve your selves unto him who gives you the opportunity of doing somewhat for his Honour and with a greater Charity to the Souls of men Depend on God for a Blessing in all your endeavours beg of him that he may direct and assist you to do that which is good and well pleasing unto him and that he may so dispose the hearts of those whom you admonish instruct reprove or comfort that what you speak to them may not be lost but may have the desired effect for the glory of God and their happiness and welfare From what hath been said you may see how you ought to redeem your time The next thing which I proposed to speak to was to suggest to you some Considerations to excite you to do so Some Motives to excite you to do these things First 1. Motive from the shortness of your Time Consider how short your time is Your life is compared to a Vapour which appears for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4.14 It makes a little shew and appearance for a while and then it is gone It is compared to a Post to the Swift Ships and to the Eagle that hasteth to the Prey Job 9.25 26. And to the Wind and to a Weaver's shuttle Job 7.6 7. All which Comparisons serve to express how short and swift our time is how suddenly it flies away and is gone Man that is born of a Woman saith Job chap. 14.1 is of few days And Jacob when he was a great deal older than men live to be now even 130 years old told Pharaoh saying Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been What are 40 or 60 or 80 years when a man lives so long and looks back upon them all They appear to him but like a shadow or as a Dream or like a Tale that is told Ought not this to move you to be good husbands of your short time If it were in your own power to dispose of it according to your own humour and fancy you might then be pardoned to delay your great Work and Business till you thought good But now that it is not in your power to lengthen out your time one Minute what a madness is it for you to put off and neglect your greatest and chiefest Concern Now therefore be so wise as to make good use of your present opportunities and occasions of doing good That you may work out your Salvation with fear and trembling and may make your calling and your Election sure work while the day lasts for the night cometh wherein you cannot work If a man who is guilty of Treason or Rebellion against his Prince or of any other great Crime which deserves death were allowed a few days to sue out his Pardon that he might secure