when he employed him in that great Affair of the Marriage of his Son Isaac what pains did he take what prudence did he use what fidelity did he shew in the discharge of that great Trust giving himself no rest till he had accomplish'd the Business he was sent about God seems purposely to have left these two Instances upon Record in Scripture to encourage Fathers and Masters of Families to a Religious care of their Children and Servants And to shew the power of Religion to oblige men to their Duty I will add but one Instance more How did the Fear of God secure Joseph's fidelity to his Master in the Case of a very great and violent Temptation When there was nothing else to restrain him from so lewd and wicked an act and to which he was so powerfully tempted the consideration of the great trust his Master reposed in him and the sense of his Duty to him but above all the Fear of God preserved him from consenting to so vile and wicked an action How can I says he do this great wickedness and sin against God So that in prudence and from a wise consideration of the great benefit and advantage which will thereby redound to us we ought with the greatest care to instill the Principles of Religion into those that belong to us For if the Seeds of true Piety be sown in them we shall reap the fruits of it And if this be neglected we shall certainly find the mischief and inconvenience of it If out Children and Servants be not taught to fear and reverence God how can we expect that they should reverence and regard us at least we can have no sure hold of them For nothing but Religion lays an obligation upon Conscience nor is there any other certain bond of Duty and Obedience and Fidelity Men will break loose from all other Ties when a fit Occasion and a fair Opportunity doth strongly tempt them And as Religion is necessary to procure the favour of God and all the comfort and happiness which that brings along with it so it is necessary likewise to secure the mutual Duties and Offices of men to one another I proceed to the Third thing which I proposed namely III. To enquire into the Causes of the so common and shameful Neglect of this Duty to the exceeding great decay of Piety among us And this may in part be ascribed to our Civil Confusions and Distractions but chiefly to our Dissentions and Differences in Religion which have not only divided and scattered our Parochial Churches and Congregations but have entred likewise into our Families and made great disturbances and disorders there First This may in good part be ascribed to our Civil Confusions and Distractions which for the time do lay all Laws asleep and do not only occasion a general Licentiousness and dissoluteness of Manners but have usually a proportionable bad inâ—luence upon the order and Government of Families by weakning the Authority of those that Govern and by giving the opportunity of greater License to those that should be governed For when publick Laws lose their Authority it is hard to maintain and keep up the strict Rules and Order of Families which after great and long Disorder are very hard to be retriev'd and recover'd Secondly This great Neglect and Decay of Religious Order in Families is chiefly owing to our Dissentions and Differences in Religion upon occasion whereof many under the pretence of Conscience have broke loose into a boundless Liberty So that among the manifold ill Consequences of our Divisions in Religion this is none of the least that the Religious Order of Families hath been in a great measure broken and dissolved Some will not meet at the same Prayers in the Family nor go to the same Church and Place of publick Worship and upon that pretence take the liberty to do what they please and under colour of serving God in a different way according to their Consciences do either wholly or in great measure neglect the Worship of God nay it is well if they do not at that Time haunt and frequent Places of Debauchery and Lewdness which they may safely do being from under the eye of their Parents and Masters However by this means it becomes impossible for the most careful Masters of Families to take an account of those under their Charge how they â—pend their time on the Lord's Day and to train them up in any certain and orderly way of Religion And this methinks is so great and sensible an inconvenience and hath had such dismal effects in many Families as ought effectually to convince us of the necessity of endeavouring a greater Union in matters of Religion and to put us in mind of those happy Days when God was served in one way and whole Families went to the House of God in Companies and Fathers and Masters had their Children and Servants continually under their eye and they were all united in their Worship and Devotion both in their own Houses and in the House of God and by this means the Work of Religious Education and Instruction was effectually carried on and a steddy Authority and decent Order was maintained in Families men were edified and built up in Religion and God in all things was glorified And we may assure our selves that till we are better agreed in matters of Religion and our unhappy and childish Differences are laid aside and till the Publick and unanimous Worship of God do in some measure recover its reputation the good Order and Government of Families as to the great ends of Religion is never likely to obtain and to have any considerable effect Which I hope will make all men who heartily love God and Religion to consider seriously how necessary it is to put an end to these Differences that in our private Families as well as in the publick Assemblies of the Church we may with one mind and with one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ I beseech you therefore Brethren as St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1. 10. by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment that is so far as is necessary to the keeping of the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and to prevent Divisions and Separations among Christians I proceed to the Fourth and last thing I proposed and which remains to be very briefly spoken to namely IV. The very mischievous and fatal Consequences of the neglect of this Duty both to the Publick and to our Selves First To the Publick Families are the first Seminaries of Religion and if care be not there taken to prepare persons especially in their tender years for publick teaching and instruction it is like to have but very little effect The neglect of a due preparation of our Children and
which by their Sureties they made at their Baptism Train up a Child in the way he should go that is in the course of Life that he ought to lead instruct him carefully in the knowledge and practice of his whole duty to God and Men which he ought to observe and perform all the days of his Life Secondly Here is the consequent fruit and benefit of good Education And when he is old he will not depart from it This we are to understand according to the moral probability of things Not as if this happy effect did always and infallibly follow upon the good Education of a Child but that this very frequently is and may probably be presumed and hoped to be the fruit and effect of a pious and prudent Education Solomon means that from the very nature of the thing this is the most hopeful and likely way to train up a Child to be a good Man For as Aristotle truly observes Moral Sayings and Proverbial Speeches are to be understood only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to be usually and for the most part true And though there may be several exceptions made and instances given to the contrary yet this doth not infringe the general truth of them But if in frequent and common experience they be found true this is all the truth that is expected in them because it is all that was intended by them And of this nature is this Aphorism or Proverb of Solomon in the Text and so likewise are most of the wise Sayings of this Book of the Proverbs as also of Eccleasistes And we do greatly mistake the design and meaning of them when ever we go about to exact them to a more strict and rigorous truth and shall upon due consideration find it impossible to bring them to it So that the true meaning of the Text may be fully comprised in the following Proposition That the careful and prudent and religious Education of Children hath for the most part a very good influence upon the whole course of their lives In the handling of this Argument I design by God's assistance to reduce my Discourse to these Five Heads I. I shall shew more generally wherein the good Education of Children doth consist and severally consider the principal parts of it II. I shall give some more particular Directions for the management of this work in such a way as may be most effectual for its end III. I shall take notice of some of the common and more remarkable miscarriages in the performance of this Duty IV. I shall endeavour to make out the truth of this Proposition by shewing how the good Education of Children comes to be of so great advantage and to have so powerful and lasting an influence upon their whole Lives V. and Lastly I shall by the most powerful Arguments I can offer endeavour to stir up and persuade those whose Duty this is to discharge it with great care and conscience I. I shall shew more generally wherein the good Education of Children doth consist and severally consider the principal Parts of it And under this Head I shall comprehend promiscuously the Duty of Parents and in case of their death of Guardians and of God-fathers and God-mothers though this for the most part signifies very little more than a pious and charitable care and concernment for them because the Children for whom they are Sureties are seldom under their power And the Duty likewise of those who are the Teachers and Instructers of them And the Duty also of Masters of Families towards Servants in their childhood and younger years And lastly the Duty of Ministers under whose Parochial care and inspection Children are as members of the Families committed to their charge I say under this Head I shall comprehend the Duties of all these respectively according to the several obligations which lie upon each of them in their several relations to them And I shall reduce them to these eight particulars as the principal parts wherein the Education of Children doth consist First In the tender and careful nursing of them Secondly In bringing them to be baptised and admitted Members of Christ's Church at the times appointed or accustomed in the National Church of which the Parents are Members Thirdly In a due care to inform and instruct them in the whole compass of their Duty to God and to their Neighbour Fourthly And more especially in a prudent and diligent care to form their Lives and Manners to Religion and Virtue Fifthly In giving them good Example Sixthly In wise restraints from that which is Evil by seasonable Reproof and Correction Seventhly In bringing them to be publickly Catechised by the Minister in order to Confirmation Eighthly In bringing them to the Bishop to be solemnly Confirmed by their taking upon themselves the Vow which by their Sureties they enter'd into at their Baptism I. In the tender and careful nursing of Children I mention this first because it is the first and most natural Duty incumbent upon Parents towards their Children And this is particularly the Duty of Mothers This affection and tenderness Nature which is our surest guide and director hath implanted in all living Creatures towards their young ones And there cannot be a greater reproach to Creatures that are endued with Reason than to neglect a Duty to which Nature directs even the Brute Creatures by a blind and unthinking Instinct So that it is such a Duty as cannot be neglected without a downright affront to Nature and from which nothing can excuse but disability or sickness or the evident danger of the Mother or the interposition of the Father's Authority or some very extraordinary and publick necessity This I foresee will seem a very hard Saying to nice and delicate Mothers who prefer their own ease and pleasure to the fruit of their own Bodies But whether they will hear or whether they will forbear I think my self obliged to deal plainly in this matter and to be so faithful as to tell them that this is a natural Duty and because it is so of a more necessary and indispensable obligation than any positive Precept of reveal'd Religion and that the general neglect of it is one of the great and crying Sins of this Age and Nation and which as much as any Sin whatsoever is evidently a punishment to it self in the palpable ill effects and consequences of it Which I shall as briefly as I can endeavour to represent that if it be possible we may in this first Point of Education so fundamental and necessary to the happiness both of Parents and Children and consequently to the Publick Good of Human Society be brought to comply with the unerâ—ing Instinct of Nature and with the plain Dictate of the common Reason of Mankind and the general practice of all Ages and Nations First The neglect of this Duty is a â—ort of exposing of Children especially when it is not done as very often it is not with more than ordinary
Servants at home to make them capable of profiting by what they hear and may learn at Church is like an error in the first Concoction which can hardly ever be corrected afterwards So that in this first neglect the foundation of an infinite Mischief is laid because if no care be taken of persons in their younger years when they are most capable of the impressions of Religion how can it reasonably be expected that they should come to good afterwards And if they continue void of the Fear of God which there hath been no care taken to plant in them they will almost necessarily be bad in all Relations undutiful Children slothful and unfaithful Servants scandalous Members of the Church unprofitable to the Commonwealth disobedient to Governours both Ecclesiastical and Civil and in a word Burthens of the Earth and so many Plagues of Human Society And this Evil if no Remedy be applied to it will continually grow worse and diffuse and spread it self farther in every Age till Impiety and Wickedness Infidelity and Profaneness have over-run all and the World be ripe for its final Ruin Just as it was before the Destruction of the Old World when the wickedness of Man was great upon the Earth and all Flesh had corrupted their way then the Flood came and swept them all away Secondly The Consequences of this Neglect will likewise be very dismal to our Selves We shall first of all others feel the Inconvenience as we had the greatest share in the Guilt of it We can have no manner of security of the Duty and Fidelity of those of our Family to us if they have no sense of Religion no fear of God before their eyes If we have taken no care to instruct them in their Duty to God it is no-wise probable that they will make Conscience of their Duty to us So that we shall have the first ill Consequences of their Miscarriage besides the Shame and Sorrow of it And not only so but all the evil they commit ever after will be in a great measure chargeable upon us and will be put upon our score in the Judgment of the Great Day It ought to make us tremble to think with what bitterness and Rage our Children and Servants will then fly in our faces for having been the Cause of their eternal Ruin for want of due care on our part to prevent it In that Day next to God and our own Consciences our most terrible Accusers will be those of our own House nay those that came out of our own Bowels and were not only Part of our Family but even of our Selves But this also I shall have a proper Occasion to prosecute more fully in the following Discourses concerning the Education of Children to which I refer it Upon all these Considerations and many more that might be urged upon us we should take up the pious Resolution of Joshua here in the Text that We and OUR HOUSES will serve the Lord And that through God's Grace we will do all that in us lies by our future Care and Diligence to repair our former neglects in this kind I shall only add this one Consideration more to all that I have already mentioned If Children were carefully educated and Families regularly and Religiously ordered what a happy and delightful Place what a Paradise would this World be in comparison of what now it is I beseech you therefore Brethren that these things which I have with so much plainness and faithfulness laid before you may sink into your hearts before it be too late and whilst the thing may be remedied that you may not for ever lament this neglect and repent of it when the thing will be past Remedy and there will be no place for Repentance But I hope better things of you Brethren and things that accompany Salvation though I thus speak SERMON I. OF THE Education of Children PROV XXII 6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it I Have on purpose chosen this Text for the subject of a Preparatory Discourse in order to the reviving of that so shamefully neglected and yet most useful and necessary Duty of Catechising children and young persons But I shall extend it to the consideration of the Education of Children in general as a matter of the greatest consequence both to Religion and the Publick welfare For we who are the Ministers of God ought not only to instruct those who are committed to our charge in the common Duties of Christianity such as belong to all Christians but likewise in all the particular Duties which the several Relations in which they stand to one another do respectively require and call for from them And amongst all these I know none that is of greater concernment to Religion and to the good Order of the World than the careful Education of Children And there is hardly any thing that is more difficult and which requires a more prudent and diligent and constant application of our best care and endeavour It is a known Saying of Melancthon that there are three things which are extremely difficult parturire docere regere to bear and bring forth Children to instruct and bring them up to be Men and to govern them when they arrive at Man's estate The instruction and good Education of Children is none of the least difficult of these For to do it to the best advantage does not only require great sagacity to discern their particular disposition and temper but great discretion to deal with them and manage them and likewise continual care and diligent attendance to form them by degrees to Religion and Virtue It requires great wisdom and industry to advance a considerable Estate much art and contrivance and pains to raise a great and regular Building But the greatest and noblest Work in the World and an effect of the greatest prudence and care is to rear and build up a Man and to form and fashion him to Piety and Justice and Temperance and all kind of honest and worthy actions Now the Foundations of this great Work are to be carefully laid in the tender years of Children that it may rise and grow up with them according to the advice of the Wiseman here in the Text Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it In which words are contained these two things First The Duty of Parents and Instructers of Children Train up a Child c. By Childhood here I understand the Age of Persons from their Birth but more especially from their first capacity of Instruction till they arrive at the State and Age which next succeeds Childhood and which we call Youth and which is the proper Season for Confirmation For when Children have been well Catechised and instructed in Religion then is the fittest Time for them to take upon themselves and in their own Persons to confirm that solemn Vow
is ordered that it shall be brought to the Church where the remainder of the Office is to be solemnly perform'd I know that of late years since our unhappy Confusions this Sacrament hath very frequently been administred in private And Ministers have been in a manner and to avoid the greater mischief of Separation necessitated to comply with the obstinacy of the greater and more powerful of their Parishioners who for their ease or humour or for the convenience of a pompous Christening will either have their Children baptized at home by their Minister or if he refuse will get some other Minister to do it which is very irregular Now I would intreat such persons calmly to consider how contrary to Reason and to the plain design of the institution of this Sacrament this perverse custom and their obstinate resolution in it is For is there any Civil Society or Corporation into which persons are admitted without some kind of Solemnity And is the Privilege of being admitted Members of the Christian Church and Heirs of the great and glorious Promises and Blessings of the New Covenant of the Gospel less considerable and fit to be conferr'd with less Solemnity I speak to Christians and they who are so in good earnest will without my using more words about it consider what I â—â—y in this Particular III. Another and very necessary Part of the good Education of Children is by degrees to inform and carefully to instruct them in the whole compass of their Duty to God their Neighbour and Themselves That so they may be taught how to behave themselves in all the steps of their Life from their first capacity of Reason till they arrive at the more perfect use and exercise of that Faculty when if at first they be well instructed they will be better able to direct and govern themselves afterwards This Duty God does expresly and very particularly charge upon his own peculiar People the People of Israel speaking of the Laws which he had given them Duet 6. 7 Thou shalt says He teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up And this God long before promised that Abraham the Father of the faithful would do Gen. 18. 19. I know Abraham says He that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord. This Work ought to be begun very early upon the first budding and appearance of Reason and Understanding in Children So the Prophet directs Isa 28. 9 10. Whom shall he teach knowledge Whom shall he make to understand doctrine Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts For precept must be upon precept c. To this end we must by such degrees as they are capable bring them acquainted with God and themselves And in the first place we must inform them that there is such a Being as God whom we ought to honour and reverence above all things And then that we are all his Creatures and the work of his hands that it is He that hath made us and not we our selves That He continually preserves us and gives us all the good things that we enjoy and therefore we ought to ask every thing of Him by Prayer because this is an acknowledgment of our dependance upon Him and to return thanks to Him for all that we have and hope for because this is a just and easy Tribute and all that we can render to Him for his numberless favours and benefits And after this they are to be instructed more particularly in their Duty to God and Men as I shall shew more fully afterwards And because Fear and Hope are the two Passions which do chiefly sway and govern Human Nature and the main springs and Principles of action therefore Children are to be carefully inform'd that there is a Life after Death wherein men shall receive from God a mighty and eternal Reward or a terrible and endless Punishment according as they have done or neglected their Duty in this Life That God will love and reward those who do his will and keep his commandments but will execute a dreadful punishment upon the workers of iniquity and the wilful transgressors of his Laws And according as they are capable they are to be made sensible of the great degeneracy and corruption of Human Nature derived to us by the Fall and wilful transgression of our first Parents and of the way of our Recovery out of this miserable state by Jesus Christ whom God hath sent in our Nature to purchase and accomplish the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind from the Captivity of Sin and Satan and from the Damnation of Hell IV. The good Education of Children consists not only in informing their Minds in the knowledge of God and their Duty but more especially in endeavouring with the greatest care and prudence to form their Lives and Manners to Religion and Virtue And this must be done by training them up to the exercise of the following Graces and Virtues First To Obedience and Modesty to Diligence and Sincerity and to Tenderness and Pity as the general dispositions to Religion and Virtue Secondly To the good government of their Passions and of their Tongue and particularly to speak truth and to hate Lying as a base and vile quality these being as it were the foundations of Religion and Virtue Thirdly To Piety and Devotion towards God to Sobriety and Chastity with regard to themselves and to Justice and Charity towards all men as the principal and essential Parts of Religion and Virtue First As the general dispositions to Religion and Virtue we must train them up 1 st To Obedience Parents must take great care to maintain their Authority over their Children otherwise they will neither regard their Commands nor hearken to and follow their Instructions If they once get head and grow stubborn and disobedient there is very little hope left of doing any great good upon them 2 dly To Modesty which is a fear of Shame and Disgrace This disposition which is proper to Children is a marvellous advantage to all good purposes They are modest says Aristotle who are afraid to offend and they are afraid to offend who are most apt to do it as Children are because they are much under the power of their Passions without a proportionable strength of Reason to govern them and keep them under Now Modesty is not properly a Virtue but it is a very good Sign of a tractable and towardly Disposition and a great preservative and security against Sin and Vice And those Children who are much under the restraint of Modesty we look upon as most hopeful and likely to prove good Whereas Immodesty is a vicious temper broke loose and got free from all restraint So that there is nothing left to keep an impudent person from Sin when fear of Shame is gone
they have the least knowledge of it in many particular Cases And because they have so little sense of this great Virtue they should not be allowed to cheat no not in play and sport even when they play for little or nothing For if they practice it in that Case and be unjust in a little they will be much more tempted to be so when they can gain a great deal by it I remember that Xenophon in his Institution of Cyrus which he designed for the Idea of a well educated Prince tells us this little but very instructive Story concerning young Cyrus That his Governor the better to make him to understand the nature of Justice puts this Case to him You see there says he to Cyrus two Boys playing of different stature the lesser of them hath a very long Coat and the bigger a very short one Now says he if you were a Judge how would you dispose of these two Garments Cyrus immediately and with very good reason as he thought passeth this sudden Sentence That the taller Boy should have the longer Garment and he that was of lower stature the shorter because this certainly was fittest for them both Upon which his Governor sharply rebukes him to this purpose telling him that if he were to make two Coats for them he said well but he did not put this Case to him as a Tailor but as a Judge and as such he had given a very wrong Sentence For a Judge says he ought not to consider what is most fit but what is just not who could make the best use of a thing but who hath the most right to it This I bring partly to shew in what familiar ways the Principles of Virtue may be instill'd into Children but chiefly to prove that Justice is a manly Virtue and that there is nothing wherein Children may be more easily misled than in matter of Right and Wrong Therefore Children should be taught the general Principles and Rules of Justice and Righteousness because if we would teach them to do Justice we must teach them to know what Justice is For many are unjust merely out of Ignorance and for want of knowing better and cannot help it 4 thly To Charity I mean chiefly to the poor and destitute because this as it is an essential so is it a most substantial Part of Religion Now to encourage this Disposition in Children we must not only give them the Example of it but must frequently inculcate upon them such Passages of Scripture as these That pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction That as we sow in this kind so we shall reap That he shall have judgment without mercy who hath shewed no mercy That at the Judgment of the Great Day we shall in a very particular manner be call'd to an account for the practice or omission of this Duty and shall then be absolved or condemned according as we have exercised or neglected this great Virtue of the Christian Religion SERMON II. OF THE Education of Children PROV XXII 6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it V. THE good Education of Children consists in giving them good Example This course David took in his Family as appears by that solemn Resolution of his Psal 101. 2. I will behave my self wisely in a perfect wayâ— I will walk within my house with a perfect heart Let Parents and Masters of Faâ—ilies give good Example to their Children and Servants in a constant serving of God in their Families which will nourish Religion in those that are under their care And let them also be Exemplary in a sober and holy Conversâ—tâ—on before those that belong to them And let not your Children as far as is possible have any bad Examples to converse with either among your Servants or their own Companions lest by walking with them they learn their way and get a blot to their Souls There is a contagion in Example and nothing doth more slily insinuate it self and gain upon us than a living and familiar Pattern therefore as much as in you lies let Children always have good Examples before them Especially let Parents themselves be exemplary to them in the best things because their Example is of all other the most powerful and carries greatest Authority with it And without this Instruction will signify very little and the great force and efficaâ—y of it will be lost We shall find it very hard to persuade our Children to do that which they see we do not practise our selves For even Children have so much sense and sagacity as to understand that actions are more real â—han words and a more certain indication of what a man doth truly and inwardly believe Example is the most lively way of teaching and because Children are much given to imitation it is likewise a very delightful way of instruction and that of which Children are most capable both because it is best understood and is apt to make the deepest impression upon them So that Parents above all others have one Argument to be Religious and good themselves for the sake of their Children If you desire to have them good the best way to make them so is to give them the Example of it in being good your selves For this reason Parents should take great care to do nothing but what is worthy of imitation Your Children will follow you in what you do therefore do not go before them in any thing that is evil The evil Example of Parents is both a temptation and encouragement to Children to Sin because it is a kind of Authority for what they do and looks like a justification of their wickedness With what reason canst thou expect that thy Children should follow thy good Instructions when thou thy self givest them an ill Example Thou dost but as it were beâ—kon to them with thy head and shew them the way to Heaven by thy good Couâ—sel but thou takest them by the â—and and leadest them in the way to Hell by thy contrary Exâ—mple When ever you swear or tell a lye or are passionate and furious or come drâ—nk into your Family you weaken the Authority of your Commands and lose all reverence and obedience to them by contradicting your own Precepts The Precepts of a good man are apt to raise and inflame others to the imitation of them but when they come from one who is faulty and vicious in that kind himself they are languid and faint and give us no heart and encouragement to the exercise of those Virtues which we plainly see they do not practise themselves It is the Apostle's Argument Thou therefore that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thou that teachest thy Children to speak truth dost thou tell a lye Thou that sayest they must not swear dost thou profane the Name of God by customary Oaths and Curses Thou
the Paps that gave me suck 'T is to You that I must in a great measure owe my everlasting undoing Would it not strike any of us with horror to be thus challenged and reproached by our Children in that great and terrible Day of the Lord I am not able to make so dreadful a representation of this matter as it deserves But I would by all this if it be possible awaken Parents to a sense of their Duty and terrify them out of this gross and shameful neglect which so many are guilty of For when I seriously consider how supinely remiss and unconcerned many Parents are as to the Religious Education of their Children I cannot but think of that Saying of Augustus concerning Herod Better be his Dog than his Child I think it was spoken to another purpose but is true likewise to the purpose I am speaking of Better to be some Mens Dogs or Hawks or Horses than their Children For they take a greater care to breed and train up these to their several ends and uses than to breed up their Children for eternal Happiness Upon all these accounts Train up a Child in the way he should go that when â—e is old he may not depart from it That neither your Children may be miserable by your Fault nor you by the neglect of so natural and necessary a Duâ—y towards them God grant that all â—hat are concerned may lay these things seriously to heart For his mercies sake in Jesus Christ To Whom with Thâ—e O Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory both now and ever Amen OF THE Advantages of an early Piety A SERMON Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jâ—ry In the Year 1662. ECCLES XII 1. Remember now thy Creator in the dâ—ys of thy Youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw â—igh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them IN the former Discourses concerning the Education of Children I have carried the Argument through the state of Childhood to the beginning of the next step of their Age which we call Youth when they come to exercise their Reason and to be â—it to take upon themselves the performance of that Solemn Vow which was made for them by their Sureties in Baptism To encourage them to set seriously and in good earnest about this Work I shall now add another Discourse concerning the Advantages of an Early Piâ—ty And to this purpose I have chosen for the foundation of it these Words of Sâ—lomon in his Book called Ecclesiastes or the Preacher Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the â—vil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them It will not be necessary to give an account of the Context any further than to tell you that this Book of the Royâ—l Preacher is a lively description of the Vanity of the World in general and particularly of the Life of Man This is the main Body of his Sermon in which there are here and there scattered many serious Reflections upon our selves and very weighty Considerations to quicken our preparations for our latter End and to put us in mind of the days of darkness which will be many as the Preacher tells us in the Chapter before the Text. Among these is the Admonition and advice in the words of the Text Which do indeed concern those that are young but yet will afford useful matter of Meditation to persons of all Ages and Conditions whatsoever Of great thankfulness to Almighty God from those who by the Grace of God and his Blessing upon a pious Education have entred upon a Religious course betimes And of a deep sorrow and Repentance to those who have neglected and let slip this best Opportunity of their Lives and of taking up a firm Resolution of redeeming that loss as much as is possible by their future care and diligence And to them more especially who are grown old and have not yet begun this great and necessary Work it will minister occasion to resolve upon a speedy retreat and without any further delay to return to God and their Duty leâ—t the Opportunity of doing it which is now almost quite spent be lost for ever The Text contains a Duty which is to remember our Creator and a Limitâ—tion of it more especially to one particular Age and Time of our Life in the days of our Youth Not to exclude any other Age but to lay a particular Emphasis and weight upon this Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth that is more especially in this Age of thy Life To intimate to us both that this is the fittest Season and that we cannot begin this Work too soon And this is further illustrated by the opposition of it to Old Age When the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh of which thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them This is a Description of Old Age the evils whereof are continually growing and which in respect of the cares and griefs the distempers and infirmities which usually attend it is rather a burthen than a pleasure In the handling of these Words I shall do these three things First I shall consider the nature of the Act or Duty here enjoin'd and that is to remember God Secondly I shall consider what there is in the Notion of God as Creator which is more particularly apt to awaken and oblige us to the remembrance of Him Thirdly I shall consider the Limitation of this Duty more especially to this particular Age of our Lives the days of our youth Why we should begin this Work then and not put it off to the Time of Old Age. I. I shall consider the nature of the Act or Duty here enjoin'd which is to remember our Creator For the understanding of which Expression and others of the like nature in Scripture it is to be consider'd that it is very usual in Scripture to express Religion and the whole Duty of Man by some eminent Act or Principle or Part of Religion Sometimes by the Knowledge of God and by Faith in Him and very frequently by the Fear and by the Love of God because these are the great Principles and Parts of Religion And so likewise though not so frequently Religion is express'd by the Remembrance of God Now Remembrance is the actual thought of what we do habitually know To remember God is to have him actually in our minds and upon all proper occasions to revive the thoughts of Him and as David expresseth it to set him always before us I set the Lord says he always before me that is God was continually present to his mind and thoughts And in opposition to this we find wicked men in Scripture described by the contrary quality forgetfulness of Godâ— So they are described in Job Job 8. 13. Such are the paths of them that forget God that is of the wicked And the same description David gives
you understanding in all things Concerning FAMILY-RELIGION A SERMON Preached at St. LAWRENCE JURY JULY the 13 th 1684. JOSH. XXIV 15. But as for me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. I Shall now proceed to the Second Point contained in the Text namely II. The pious Care of a good Master and Father of a Family to train up those under his Charge in the Worship and Service of the true God As for me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. And this is the more necessary to be spoken to because it is a great and very essential part of Religion but strangely overlook'd and neglected in this loose and degenerate Age in which we live It is a great part of Religion for next to our personal Homage and Service to Almighty God and the Care of our own Souls it is incumbent upon us to make those who are under our Charge and subject to our Authority God's subjects and his Children and Servants which is a much more honourable and happy Relation than that which they bear to us Our Children are a natural part of our selves and the rest of our Family are a Civil and Political part And not only we our selves but all that we have and that belongs to us is God's and ought to be devoted to his service And they that have the true Fear of God themselves will be careful to teach it to others to those especially who are under their more immediate Care and Instruction And therefore God had so great a confidence concâ—rning â—braham as to this particular as to undertake for him that being so very good a man himself he would not fail in so great and necessary a part of his Duty For I know him says God of him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment God passeth his Word for him that he would not only take care to instruct his Children and the rest of his numerous Family in the true Religion but that he would likewise lay a strict Charge upon them to propagate and transmit it to their Posterity And this certainly is the Duty of all Fathers and Masters of Families and an essential part of Religion next to serving God in our own Persons to be very careful that all that belong to us do the same For every man must not only give an account of himself to God but of those likewise that are committed to his Charge that they do do not miscarry through his neglect In speaking of this great and necessary Duty I shall do these four things First I shall shew wherein it doth consist Secondly I shall consider our Obligation to it both in point of Duty and of Interest Thirdly I shall enquire into the Causes of the so common and shameful neglect of this Duty to the exceeding great Decay of Piety amongst us Fourthly As a Motive and Argument to us to endeavour to â—etrieve the practice of this Duty I shall represent to you the peâ—nicious Consâ—quences of the neglect of it both with regard to our Selves and to the Publick In all which I shall be very brief because things that are plain need not to be long I. I shall shew wherein the Practice of this Duty doth consist And in this I am sure there is no need to be long because this Duty is much better known than practised The principal Parts of it are these following First By setting up the constant Worship of God in our Families By daily Prayâ—rs to God every Morning and Evening and by reading some Portion of the H. Scriptures at those Times especially out of the Psalms of David and the New Testament And this is so necessary to keep alive and to maintain a sense of God and Religion in the minds of men that where it is neglected I do not see how any Family can in reason be esteemed a Family of Christians or indeed to have any Religion at all And there are not wanting excellent Helps to this purpose for those that stand in need of them as I think most Families do for the due and decent discharge of this solemn Duty of Prayer I say there are excellent Helps to this purpose in the several Books of Devâ—tion calculated for the private use of Families as well as for Secret Prayer in our Closets So that besides the reading of the H. Scriptures which are the great Fountains of Divine Truth we may do well likewise to add to these other pious and profitable Books which by their plainness are fitted for the instruction of all Capacities in the most necessary Points of Belief and Practice Of which sort God be thanked there is an abundant store but none that I think is more fitted for general and constant use than that excellent Book so well known by the Title of The whole Duty of Man Because it is conveniently divided into Parts or Sections one of which may be read in the Family at any time when there is leisure for it but more especially on the Lord's Day when the whole Family may the more easily be brought and kept together and have the Opportunity to attend upon these things without distraction And which I must by no means omit because it is in many Families already gone and in others going out of Fashion I mean a solemn acknowledgment of the Providence of God by begging his Blessing at our Meals upon his good Creatures provided for our use and by returning Thanks to him for the benefit and refreshment of them This being a piece of Natural Religion owned and practised in all Ages and in most Places of the World but never so shamefully and scandalously neglected and I fear by many slighted and despised as it is amongst us at this Day And most neglected where there is greatest Reason for the doing of it I mean at the most plentiful Tables and among those of highest Quality As if Great Persons were ashamed or thought scorn to own from whence these Blessings come like the Nation of the Jews of whom God complains in the Prophet Hos 2. 8. She knew not that I gave Her Corn and Wine and Oyl and multiplied her Silver and Gold She knew not that is She would not acknowledge from whose Bounty all these Blessings came Or as if the poor were obliged to thank God for a little but those who are fed to the full and whose Cups overflow so that they are almost every day surfeited of plenty were not at least equally bound to make returns of thankful acknowledgment to the Great Giver of all good things and to implore His Bounty and Blessing upon whom the eyes of all do wait that He may give them their meat in due season O crooked and perverse Generation Do you thus reason Do ye thus requite the Lord foolish and unwise This is a very sad and broad Sign of the prevalency of Atheism and Infidelity among us when
so Natural and so Reasonable a piece of Religion so meet and equal an acknomledgment of the constant and daily Care and Providence of Almighty God towards us begins to grow out of Date and use in a Nation professing Religion and the Belief of the Being and Providence of God Is it not a righteous thing with God to take away his Blessings from us when we deny Him this just and easy Tribute of Praise and Thanksgiving Shall not God visit for this horrible Ingratitude And shall not his Soul be avenged on such a Nation aâ— this Hear O Heavens and be ye horribly astonished at this I hope it cannot be thought misbecoming the meanest of God's Ministers in a matter wherein the Honour of God is so nearly concerned to reprove even in the Highest and Greatest of the Sons of Men so shameful and heinous a Fault with a proportionable Vehemence and Severity Secondly Another and that also a very considerable Part of this Duty consists in instructing those committed to our Charge in the Fundamental Principles and in the careful Practice of the necessary Duties of Religion instilling these into Children in their tender years as they are capable of them line upon line and precept upon precept here a little and there a little and into those that are more grown up by proper and suitable means of instruction and by furnishing them with such Books as are most proper to teach them those things in Religion which are most necessary by all to be believ'd and practis'd And in order hereunto we should take care that those under our Charge our Children and Servants should be taught to read because this will make the business of Instruction much easier so that if they are diligent and well-dispos'd they may after having been taught the first Principles of Religion by reading the H. Scriptures and other good Books greatly improve themselves so as to be prepared to receive much greater benefit and advantage by the publick teaching of their Ministers And in this work of Instruction our great care should be to plant those Principles of Religion in our Children and Servants which are most fundamental and necessary and are like to have the greatest and most lasting influence upon their whole Lives As right and worthy Apprehensions of God especially of his infinite Goodness and that He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity And a lively sense also of the great evil and danger of Sin A firm belief of the Immortality of our Souls and of the unspeakable and endless Rewards and Punishments of another World If these Principles once take root they will spread strangely and probably stick by them and continue with them all their Days Whereas if we plant in them doubtful Doctrines and Opinions and inculcate upon them the Notions of a Sect and the Jargon of a Party this will turn to a very pitiful account and we must expect that our Harvest will be answerable to our Husbandry We have sown the Wind and shall reap the Whirlwind But of this I shall have occasion to speak more particularly and fully in the ensuing Sermons concerning the good Education of Children And this work of Instruction of those that are under our Charge as it ought not to be neglected at other Times so is it more peculiarly seasonable on the Lord's Day which ought to be employed by us to Religious purposes and in the Exercises of Piety and Devotion Chiefly in the Publick Worship and Service of God upon which we should take care that our Children and Servants should diligently and devoutly attend Because there God affords the Means which he hath appointed for the begetting and increasing of Piety and Goodness and to which he hath promised a more especial Blessing There they will have the opportunity of joining in the publick Prayers of God's Church and of sharing in the unspeakable beneâ—â—t and advantage of them And there they will also have the advantage of being instructed by the Ministers of God in the Doctrine of Salvation and the way to Eternal Life and of being powerfully incited to the practice of Piety and Virtue There likewise they will be invited to the Lord's Table to participate of the H. Sacrament of Christ's most blessed Body and Blood which being the most Solemn Institution of the Christian Religion the frequent participation whereof is by our B. Lord in remembrance of his Dying Love enjoined upon all Christians we ought to take a very particular care that those who are under our Charge so soon as they are capable of it be duly instructed and prepared for it that so as often as Opportunity is offer'd for it they may be present at this Holy Action and partakâ— of the inestimable Benefits and Comforts of it And when the Publick Worship of that Day is over our Families should be instructed at Home by having the Scriptures and other good Books read to them and care likewise should be taken that they do this themselves this being the chief Opportunity that most of them especially those that are Servants have of minding the business of Religion and thinking seriously of another World And therefore I cannot but think it of very great consequence to the maintaining and keeping alive of Religion in the World that this Day be Religiously observed and spent as much as may be in the exercises of Piety and in the care of our Souls For surely every one that hath a true sense of Religion will grant that it is necessary that some Time should be solemnly set apart for this purpose which is of all other our greatest Concernment And they who neglect this so proper Season and Opportunity will hardly find any other Time for it Especially those who are under the Government and Command of others as Children and Servants who are seldom upon any other Day allowed to be so much Masters of their Time as upon this Day Thirdly I add further as a considerable Part of the Duty of Parents and Masters of Families if they be desirous to have their Children and Servants Religious in good earnest and would set them forward in the way to Heaven that they do not only allow them Time and Opportunity but that they do also strictly and earnestly charge them to retire themselves every Day but more especially on the Lord's Day Morning and Evening to pray to God for the Forgiveness of their Sins and for his mercy and Blessing upon them and likewise to Praise Him for all his Favours and Benefits conferred upon them from Day to Day And in order to this they ought to take care that their Children and Servants be furnish'd with such short Forms of Prayer and Praise as are proper and suitable to their capacities and conditions respectively because there are but very few that know how to set about and perform these Duties especially at first without some Helps of this kind Fourthly and lastly another principal Part of this Duty consists in giving good
Exâ—mple to our Families This was David's Resolution Psal 101. 2. I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way I will walk within my House with a perfect heart Take great care to be exemplary to thy Family in the best things in a constant and devout serving of God and in a sober and prudent and unblameable Conversation One of the best and most effectual ways to make those who are under our Care and Authority good is to be good our Selves and by our good Example to shew them the way to be so Without this our best Instructions will signify but very little and the main force and efficacy of them will be lost We undermine the best Instructions we can give when they are not seconded and confirmed by our own Example and Practice The want of this will weaken the Authority of all our good Counsel and very little Reverence and Obedience will be paid to it The Precepts and Admonitions of a very good Man have in them a great power of Persuasion and are apt strongly to move and to inflame others to go and do likewise But the good Instructions of a bad Man are languid and faint and of very little force because they give no heart and encouragement to follow that Counsel which they see he that gives it does not think fit to take himself But of this likewise I shall have Occasion to speak more fully in the following Discourses concerning the good Education of Children And thus much may suffice to have spoken of the First thing which I proposed namely wherein the Practice of this Duty doth consist I proceed to the Second namely II. To consider our Obligation to it both in point of Duty and of Interest First In Point of Duty All Authority over others is a Talent intrusted with us by God for the benefit and good of others and for which we are accountable if we do not improve it and make use of it to that end We are obliged by all lawful means to provide for the temporal welfare of our Family to feed and cloath their Bodies and to give them a comfortable Subsistence here in the World And surely much more are we obliged to take care of their Souls and to consult their eternal Happiness in another Life in comparison of which all temporal Concernments and Considerations are as nothing It would be accounted a very barbarous thing in a Father or Master to suffer a Child to starve for want of the necessaries of Life food and raiment and all the World would cry shame upon them for it But how much greater Cruelty must it in reason be thought to let an immortal Soul and one for whom Christ died perish for want of knowledge and necessary Instruction for the attaining of eternal Salvation The Apostle St. Paul thinks no words bad enough for those who neglect the temporal welfare of their Families He that provideth not saith he for his own especially for those of his own House hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel that is he does not deserve the Name of a Christian who neglects a Duty to which from the plain Dictates of Nature a Heathen thinks himself obliged What then shall be said for them who take no care to provide for the everlasting Happiness and to prevent the eternal Misery and Ruin of those who are so immediately under their Charge and so very nearly related to them We are obliged to procure the Happiness of our Children not only by the Laws of Christianity but likewise by all the Natural bonds of Duty and Affection For our Children are a part of our Selves and if they perish by our fault and neglect it will be a perpetual Wound and Sting to us their Blood will be upon our heads and the guilt of it will for ever lye at our doors Nay we are obliged likewise in Justice and by way of Reparation to take all possible care of their Happiness for we have conveyed a sad Inheritance to them in those corrupt and evil inclinations which they have derived from us And therefore we should with the greatest care and diligence endeavour to rectify their perverse Natures and to cure those cursed dispositions to evil which we have transmitted to them And since God hath been pleased in so much mercy to provide by the abundant Grace of the Gospel so powerful a Remedy for this hereditary Disease of our corrupt and degenerate Nature we should do what in us lies that they may partake of the Blessing and Benefit of it And as to other Members of our Family whether they be Servants or other Relations of whom we have taken the Charge common Humanity will oblige us to be concerned for their Happiness as they are Men and of the same Nature with our Selves and Charity likewise as they are Christians and Baptized into the same Faith and capable of the same common Salvation does yet more strictly oblige us by all means to endeavour that they may be made partakers of it especially since they are committed to our Care and for that reason we must expect to be accountable to God for them So that our Obligation in point of Duty is very clear and strong and if we be remiss and negligent in the discharge of it we can never answer it either to God or to our own Consciences Which I hope will awaken us all who are concerned in it to the serious consideration of it and effectually engage us for the future to the faithful and conscientious performance of it Secondly We are hereto likewise obliged in point of Interest because it is really for our service and advantage that those that belong to us should serve and fear God Religion being the best and surest Foundation of the Duties of all Relations and the best Caution and Security for the true discharge and performance of them Would we have dutiful and obedient Children diligent and faithful Servants Nothing will so effectually oblige them to be so as the Fear of God and the Principles of Religion firmly settled and rooted in them Abraham who by the Testimony of God himself was so eminent an Example in this kind both of a good Father and a good Master of his Family found the good success of his Religious care in the happy effects of it both upon his Son Isaac and his chief Servant and Steward of his House Eliezer of Damascus What an unexampled Instance of the most profound respect and obedience to the Commands of his Father did Isaac give when without the least murmuring or reluctancy he submitted to be bound and laid upon the Altar and to have been slain for a Sacrifice if God had not by an Angel sent on purpose interposed to prevent it What an admirable Servant to Abraham was the Steward of his House Eliezer of Damascus How diligent and faithful was he in his Master's service So that he trusted him in his greatest Concernments and with all that he had And
I mean in not teaching them to govern their Passions is the true cause why many that have proved sincere Christians when they came to be Men have yet been very imperfect in their conversation and their Lives have been full of inequalities and breaches which have not only been matter of great trouble and disquiet to themselves but of great scandal to Religion when their light which should shine before men is so often darken'd and obscured by these frequent and visible infirmities 2 dly To the government of their Tongues To this end teach Children Silence especially in the presence of their Betters And assoon as they are capable of such a Lesson let them be taught not to speak but upon consâ—deration both of what they say and before whom And above all inculcate upon them that most necessary Duty and Vertue of speaking truth as one of the best and strongest bands of Human Society and Commerce And possess them with the baseness and vileness of telling a Lye for if it be so great a provocation to give a man the Lye then surely to be guilty of that Fault must be a mighty Reproach They who write of Japan tell us that those People though mere Heathens take such an effectual course in the Education of their Children as to render a Lye and breach of Faith above all things odious to them Insomuch that it is a very rare thing for any Person among them to be taken in a Lye or found guilty of breach of Faith And cannot the Rules of Christianity be render'd as effectual to restrain men from these Faults which are scandalous even to Nature and much more so to the Christian Religion To the Government of the Tongue does likewise belong the restraining of Children from lewd and obscene words from vain and profane talk and especially from horrid Oaths and Imprecations From all which they are easily kept at first but if they are once accustomed to them it will be found no such easy matter for them to get quit of these evil Habits It will require great attention and watchfulness over themselves to keep Oaths out of their common discourse but if they be heated and in passion they throw out Oaths and Curses as naturally as men that are highly provoked fling stones or any thing that comes next to hand at one another So dangerous a thing is it to let any thing that is bad in Children to grow up into a Habit. Thirdly As the principal and essential Parts of Religion and Virtue let Children be carefully bred up 1 st To Sobriety and Temperance in regard to themselves under which I comprehend likewise Purity and Chastity The government of the sensual Appetite as to all kind of Bodily pleasures is not only a great part of Religion but an excellent instrument of it and a necessary foundation of Piety and Justice For he that cannot govern himself is not like to discharge his Duty either to God or Men. And therefore St. Paul puts Sobriety first as a primary and principal Virtue in which men are instructed by the Christian Religion and which must be laid as the foundation both of Piety towards God and of Righteousness to Men. The Grace of God for so he calls the Gospel that brings Salvation unto all men hath appeared teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world It first teacheth us to live soberly and unless we train up Children to this Vertue we must never expect that they will either live righteously or godly in this present World Especially Children must be bred up to great Sobriety and Temperance in their Diet which will retrench the fewel of other inordinate Appetites It is a good Saying I have met with somewhere Magna pars virtutis est bene moratus venter a well manner'd and well govern'd Appetite in matter of meats and drinks is a great part of Virtue I do not mean that Children should be brought up according to the Rules of a Lessian Diet which sets an equal stint to all Stomachs and is as senseless a thing as a Law would be which should enjoin that Shooes for all Mankind should be made upon one and the same Last 2 dly To a serious and unaffected Piety and Devotion towards God still and quiet real and substantial without much shew and noise and as free as may be from all tricks of Superstition or freaks of Enthusiasm which if Parents and Teachers be not very prudent will almost unavoidably insinuate themselves into the Religion of Children and when they are grown up will make them appear to wise and sober Persons phantastical and conceited and render them very apt to impose their own foolish Superstitions and wild Conceits upon others who understand Religion much better than themselves Let them be taught to honour and love God above all things to serve him in private and to attend constantly upon his publick Worship and to keep their minds intent upon the several parts of it without wandring and distraction To Pray to God as the Fountain of all Grace and the giver of every good and perfectâ— gift And to acknowledge Him and to â—render Thanks to Him as our most gracious and constant Benefactor and the great Patron and Preserver of our Lives To be careful to do what He commands and to avoid what He hath forbidden To be always under a lively sense and apprehâ—nsion of his pure and all-seeing Eye which beholds us in secret And to do every thing in obedience to the Authority of that Great Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy and with an awful regard to the strict and impartial Judgment of the Great Day 3 dly To Justice and honesty To defraud and oppress no man to be as good as their word and to perform all their Promises and Contracts and endeavour to imprint upon their minds the Equity of that Great Rule which is so natural and so easy that even Children are capable of it I mean that Rule which our B. Saviour tells us is the Law and the Prophets namely that we should do to others as we would have others do to us if we were in their Case and Circumstances and they in ours You that are Parents and have to do in the World ought to be just and equal in all your dealings In the first place for the sake of your own Souls and next for the sake of your Children Not only that you may entail no Curse upon the Estate you leave them but likewise that you may teach them no Injustice by the Example you set before them which in this particular they will be as apt to imitate as in any one thing because of the present worldly advantage which it seems to bring and because Justice is in truth a manly Virtue and least understood by Children and therefore Injustice is a Vice which they will soonest practise and with the least reluctancy because