the Wise man The house of the wicked shall be overturned but the Tabernacle of the upright shall flourish And therefore the Psalmist pronounceth them blessed who thus fear the Lord saying Blessed is he that feareth the Lord and walketh in his wayes for thou shalt eat the labour of thine hand happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee How then can such expect a blessing from God either upon themselves or upon their relations or upon their pains and endeavours who do not set up God and his Worship in their houses seeing it is that whereby Gods blessing is entailed 2. Those Children and Servants who are religiously educated and principled are likeliest to prove comforts to their Parents and Masters What a comfort must it needs be to thee who art a Master of a Family to see thy houshold through the blessing of God on thy care and pains to be walking Heaven-ward Yea when thou comest to lye upon thy death-bed Oh what a comfort will it then be unto thee that thou hast good ground to believe that thy Children are Gods Children and the Servants of Jesus Christ thou maist then with stronger confidence commend them unto Gods Fatherly care and protection and with greater assurance expect Gods blessing upon them after thy death 3. There is no such means to make your Children loving and dutiful unto you and your servants faithfull in the discharge of their duty as to instruct them in the principles of Religion and to plant the fear of God in their hearts In which respect Solomon saith A godly Son maketh a glad Father viz. by his dutiful and respectfull carriage towards him And that servant who shall find true grace either first wrought or further increased in him by his Masters means will endeavour with the utmost of his power to do him what faithfull service he can in way of thankfulness So that if Parents and Masters of Families respect either that charge God hath laid upon them whereof they are to give an account to him at the great day or that good and benefit which themselves may reap thereby they will see good and just ground to be diligent and constant in the discharge of holy duties with their Family R. V. Another reason may be taken from the manifold mischiefs which usually follow and accompany the neglect of family duties 1. From hence come all Domestick brawls and contentions hence it is that the house is divided against it self Husband against Wife and Wife against Husband Master against Servant and Servant against Master Parent against Child and Child against Parent which would be prevented were the Lord better known and more duly worshipped amongst them For where God is served with perfect purity there is perfect peace But where God is not served there is no peace but jarrs and contentions strife and debate which giveth great advantage unto Satan the arch-enemy of mankind who like a roaring Lyon walketh about continually seeking whom he may devour 2. From hence it is that Magistrates are enforced to execute the penalties of the Laws upon so many namely because they are not Religiously educated but suffered to have their wills in their youth Which appeareth from the sad complaints of many malefactors at the place of Execution against their Parents and Masters for their careless omission of their duty towards them saying if they had had any care or conscience of our education if they had corrected and restrained us betimes from our wicked courses we had never come to this dogs-death and shamefull end 3. From hence it is that so many Families are so dissolute and prophane abounding with all manner of sin and wickedness as lying swearing Sabbath-breaking drinking whoring and the like as if there were a seminary of little Devils an houshold of fiends And truly when Families leave God in not doing the good they should God leaves Families to do the evil they should not So that sin hath there free place where Gods service hath no place And sins of commission do usually follow sins of omission it being ordinary with God to punish one sin with another to punish the neglect of duty with the committing of sin by leaving men so to themselves that they break forth into the committing of great and hainous sins A general complaint there is in these dayes of the undutifulness and disobedience of Children of the negligence and unfaithfulness of Servants yea and of the loose lewd lives of both in many Families whereof if we would search the true ground and cause we shall find it rather in the superiours than in the inferiours For howsoever inferiours cannot be excused yet questionless the fault is chiefly in superiours and Governours because they are careless and negligent in the discharge of their duty towards them not praying with them nor Catechising and instructing them as they should For where religious duties are shut out of any Family there usually the door is set wide open to looseness and profaneness 4. The neglect of Religious dutiâ—s in thy Family will make thee guilty of Murther even of Soul-murther which is the greatest of all For whereas the Souls as well as the bodies of thy Children and Servants are committed to thy care and charge if any of them should perish through thy default thou art deeply guilty of their eternal death and damnation and their blood will be required at thy hands As Iacob was accountable to Laban for the â—oss of every Lamb or Sheep at his hand was it required So is every Master of a Family accountable to God for every soul under his roof If any of them perish through his default God will require it at his hands God will require the blood of thy Child the blood of thy Servants at thy hands one day If therefore you will be free from the blood of your Children train them up in the fear and nurture of the Lord pray for them and with them Catechize them c. The Point being confirmed by Scripture and Reason come we now to the Uses thereof CHAP. III. The Vse of Reproof of those Masters who make no Conscience of family-Family-duties Use 1. SEeing it is a Duty incumbent upon Parents and Masters of Families to be carefull that not only themselves but also all under their charge even their whole Family do faithfully serve the Lord then they are greatly to be reproved who are neither carefull to serve God themselves neither take they any care of their Family but as there is no fear of God in their hearts so neither is there any fear of God in their Families Yea instead of Gods service there is all manner of wickedness and prophaneness so that their houses are as so many filthy cages of unclean birds so many styes of all manner of abominations Of whose houses we may say what Solomon said of the Harlots house 'T is the way to Hell that is the high and ready way unto eternal
lay out the strength of our bodies in the Service of God Then may we have occasion to bless God and say Lord thou mightest have left me to have spent my strength in sin in the gratifying my carnal lusts but blessed be thy name who hast made me willing to spend and be spent in the service of my God III. Labour to keep close to God in holy duties It were well if in the performance of holy duties we did keep close to the duties themselves few go so far But it must be our care not only to keep close to the duties but likewise to keep close to God in the duties We must labour not only to mind what we are about but likewise have an eye upon God and to hold communion with him therein In the use of every ordinance let our main desire care and endeavour be to find God therein and not to rest satisfied without meeting him and conversing with him Let us never go from God without God Never go from the ordinance of God without some special communion with God therein without finding our hearts raised and affected in the duty and revived and refreshed in his presence IV. In regard of our great inability and insufficiency for the performance of any spiritual duty after a right manner In the first place let us beg of God that by his Spirit he would enable us thereunto For it is the Spirit of God only that can help our infirmities he can soften our hard hearts quicken our dead hearts enlarge our straightned hearts c. And in praying for the assistance of the Spirit let us plead the promise of God saying Lord thou hast promised in thy Word that thy Spirit shall help the infirmities of thy Servants Oh make good that promise unto me let me feel and find the sweet breathings and actings the lively quicknings and enlargements of thy Spirit upon my heart carrying me forth with much life and vigour in the duty I am now going about This pleading the promise of God puts a strong ingagement upon him to perform what he hath said CHAP. XXI Of walking Circumspectly and Exactly IV. ANother singular duty incumbent upon the Regenerate is To walk circumspectly and exactly according to that of the Apostle See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise The word in the Original translated circumspectly cometh of two words which signifie to go to the extremity of a thing We must be willing to go to the utmost of every command The same word is used by the Evangelist St. Matthew when Herod charged the Wise men to search most diligently and narrowly to make a close and a thorow search for the young Child Jesus So that by this Phrase is intended great accurateness and exactness in our Christian conversation which the Spirit of God accounteth the greatest point of wisdom as appeareth from the following words not as fools but as wise men It is no part of folly but a great point of wisdom to be circumspect in the whole course of our lives I know the men of the World count preciseness of life the greatest folly that may be and therefore often call those precise fools who endeavour to live soberly righteously and Godly in this present World But at last it will appear the greatest point of Wisdom For the better clearing and pressing this duty I shall shew you wherein this exact walking doth consist 1. In walking by rule As the Carpenter when he would do his work exactly doth all by rule So must the Christian that would walk accurately he must walk by the Word of God which is the only adequate rule of holiness He must eat and drink and buy and sell and work and rest and all by this rule Therefore saith the Apostle As many as walk by this rule peace be on them and on the Israel of God Let our walking be never so specious and glorious yet if it be not strait and according to the rule of Scripture as it will afford no true solid comfort at the last so neither will it find acceptance with God For as nothing is a sin how great a shew of evil soever it beareth but that which swerveth from the direction of Gods Word So nothing is a good work how great a shew of goodness soever it beareth but only that which is according to the direction of his Word Therefore Moses giveth this in express charge to the Israelites Ye shall observe to do as the Lord your God hath commanded you ye shall not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left 2. Our exact walking consisteth in having respect to the inward and spiritual part of the Law as well as to the outward and external In every command of God there is both an outward and external part and also an inward and spiritual part The former I may call the letter of the Law the latter the Spirit of the Law This our Saviour excellently clears in his Sermon on the Mount where reciting the sixth Commandment he saith Thou shalt do no Murther there is the letter of the Law And then adds by way of Explanation But I say unto you whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of Iudgement there is the Spirit of the Law So afterwards reciting the seventh commandment saith Thou shalt not commit Adultery there is the letter of the Law And then adds But I say unto you that whosoever looks on a Woman to Lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart There is the Spirit of the Law or the Spiritual part thereof The most diligent observation of the letter or external part of the Law without a care of the inward and spiritual part is as a body without a soul a dead thing which is no way acceptable unto the living God Hence our Saviour spent so many words to convince the Pharisees who were many of them punctual in their outward observations that they were yet horrible Hypocrites violating that Law in their hearts which they so boasted of and pleaded for with their mouths being Murtherers in heart Adulterers in heart though they committed no such wickedness in the outward man And hereby is the hypocrisie of many professors of Christianity discovered who reach no farther than the outside of Religion whose Godliness is nothing but carnal service and bodily exercise Whereas the Law is spiritual as the Apostle speaketh reaching to the very inwards of the Soul And saith our Saviour God is a Spirit and will be worshipped inwardly with the spirit as well as outwardly with the body Whosoever therefore walks exactly contents not himself with the externals of Christianity but labours to bring up his heart to the inwards thereof striving to suppress evil thoughts to mortifie unclean lusts and all inordinate affections to abhor and watch against secret impurities as well as open impieties This is to walk exactly and
beginning it is said Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy And in the close it is added The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it that is sanctified it and set it apart to be wholly consecrated to him and to his worship and service That Parents and Masters of Families may the better discharge their duty herein observe these directions 1. Look that your Children and Servant go with you to the Ministry of the Word and let none be left behind without necessary and urgent occasion It being the ordinary means God hath sanctified for the reforming of their lives and the saving of their souls When Iacob went to Bethel to Worship he took his whole houshold with him When Elkaâ—ah went up to offer unto the Lord his Sacrifice all his house went with him In like manner do thou carry thy houshold with thee to the house of God 2. After the publick Ordinances be carefull to call together all under thy charge and let there be a repetition of the Sermons Preached either by thy self or some one of thy Family who can write best And then examine them one after another What they remember of the Sermons they have heard labouring to make them plain unto them and to apply them also Thus did our blessed Saviour with his beloved Disciples for after his Preaching when he was come home he said unto them Have ye understood all these things which ye have heard And Mark saith When they were alone he expounded all things to his Disciples Whereupon one observeth That Christ by his example doth instruct every Master of a Family how to carry himself in reference to those under his charge on the Lords dayes after their departure from the publick Congregation And truly much good will hereby redound as unto your selves so likewise unto all under your charge For 1. It will make them give better attention unto the Ministry of the Word when they know they shall be called to an account and examined what they have heard 2. It would much help and confirm as your selves so your Children and Servants in the understanding and believing of what hath been delivered publickly by the Minister if you would repeat and search the proofs of Scripture which were brought for the confirmation of the doctrine III. Another duâ—y to be performed in and with your Families for the better sanctification of the Lords day is singing of Psalms which as it was much practised by the Saints and people of God of old under the Law so is it both a lawfull and a meet thing to be used by Christians now under the Gospel and that as publickly in the Church so privately in the Family 1. We find it was an ancient custome of the people of God to sing Psalms in their Families according to that of the Psalmist the voice of rejoycing is in the Tabernacle of the righteous that is in the dwelling places and houses of good men 2. We have our Saviour herein for a pattern of whom it is recorded that after the eating of the Passeover which was in a private house he sung a Psalm with his Family IV. Another duty to be performed in and with your Family for the better â—anctification of the Lords day is Reading some part of the holy Scriptures whereof before Chap. VII As also some good Sermon or Treatise of practical truths V. Another duty is Family-prayer Whereof before Chap. VI. VI. Another is Catechising those under your charge whereof see Chap. VIII A conscionable performance of these will exceedingly help forward the sanctification of the Lords day and that without tediousness VII Another duty incumbent on Parents and Masters is godly conference Conferring before your Children and Servants about some good and profitable matter especially of the Sermons you have heard The counsel which the Apostle giveth concerning our words and discourses as it ought to be carefully observed and followed by us at all times so especially on the Lords day Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouths but that which is good to the use of ediâ—â—ing that is to the winning of them who are not converted or to the further building up of those who are already converted And the Prophet Isaiah forbiddeth the speaking our own words on the Sabbath day that is all discourses which are meerly Worldly and about earthly things more than charity and necessity requireth Under which prohibition of not speaking our own words is implyed a direction to speak the word of God or those things which tend to the honour of God and the spiritual good of others VIII That you may the better discharge your duty in looking to the sanctification of the Lords day Be sure you suffer none under your roof to spend any part thereof either in idleness or in sports and pastimes 1. Not iâ— idleness it being not a day of idleness but of spiritual action 2. Not in sports and pastimes especially such as tend to carnal and sensual delight For the Lord hath forbidden every man the following his own pleasure on his holy day And the truth is sports and pastimes are greater impediments to the worship and service of God than the ordinary works of our calling in that they do more subtilly steal away the heart from holy duties than those do Whereupon St. Austin thought it better to plow on the Lords day than to dance and sport Obj. Some Object and plead the hard labour their servants have undergone the week before and thence think they may be allowed a little recreation on the Lords day A. 1. The rest of the Lords day is the best and fittest recreation for the refreshing of their bodies who have been tired with labour the six dayes before And if they be spiritually minded the best and fittest recreation for the refreshing of their souls is singing of Psalms the perusing their spiritual evidences for Heaven the solacing themselves in the meditation of Christ of what he hath done and suffered for them holy conference and the like 2. If you think bodily recreations necessary for your servants health why do you not rather allow them some part of your own time on the week-dayes than to rob God of any part of his day which he hath wholly appropriated to the duties of his Worship and service Whereas the Lord might have reserved six dayes for himself and allowed but one unto us he hath dealt so bountifully and graciously with us as to reserve but one to himself and leave six for our business And shall we be so ungratefull as to encroach upon it and Sacrilegiously steal away some part of that small time which he hath reserved to himself for our Servants recreation CHAP. X. Of Exemplary lives in Parents and Masters of Families V. ANother duty incumbent on Parents and Masters of Families is To shew themselves patterns of piety and Godliness unto their Children and Servants by an holy
for the spiritual and eternal good of our poor souls Help us to keep alwayes upon our hearts a deep sense as of the certainty of our death so of the uncertainty of the time thereof that we may live as those who believe we must shortly dye Lord take us into thy keeping and protection this night Grant we may lodge in the arms of Jesus that we may rest in his bosome Give unto us such sweet and comfortable rest and sleep that our bodies may be refreshed and we the better enabled to serve thee the next day in our several places and callings In mercy remember thine all the World over And in special we pray thee for this sinfull Land and Nation Pardon our sins be reconciled to us in Jesus Christ. Let thy Gospel have a free passage therein Pour the choicest of thy blessings upon the head of our King that he may be a blessing unto us Bless all our Magistrates with the Ministers of thy Word and Sacraments Pâ—tty the afflicted members of Jesus Christ. Bless all Christian Families this in particular giving unto every member thereof all needfull saving sanctifying graces And now accept our Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving which we offer unto thee for thy manifold favours and mercies conferred on our souls and bodies especially and above all for that great gift of thine the Lord Jesus Christ and for all those great things he hath done and suffered for our redemption We bless thy name as for the enjoyment of the Gospel so for any spiritual good we have received thereby that any of us have fiducially and cordially closed with the tenders and offers of Jesus Christ. We bless thy name that thou hast withheld us from the company and wayes of those who live without God in the World giving themselves up to work all wickedness with greediness and hast set our hearts to seek the Lord and wait for thy Salvation For every other good thing whether temporal or spiritual concerning this life or a better blessed and praised be thy great and glorious name And now O Lord we beseech thee in mercy to overlook all the weaknesses and infirmities which have accompanied this holy duty Sprinkle both our Persons and our Services with the blood of that immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus To whom with thee O Father and the holy Spirit be rendred as is most due all honour and praise and glory both now and for evermore Amen A Prayer for a single Person O Eternal and ever-living Lord God the fountain of all blessing the Father of Mercy and God of all Consolation I thy poor creature altogether unworthy to appear in thy sight to present my Prayer and supplication unto thee do yet in the name and mediation of thy beloved Son Jesus Christ prostrate my self at the footstool of thy grace looking for acceptance and assistance in and through him For his sake look graciously upon me pardon my sins which are many and hainous Lord I cannot but acknowledge that besides the guilt of Adam's sin there is in me a fountain of corruption which I brought with me into the World from whence hath plentifully flowed many poisonous streams of actual transgressions and that in evil thoughts evil words and evil actions which I have committed through the whole course of my life from my tender infancy to this present time I have been alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in me I have walked after the course of this World fulfilling the desires of my flesh and of my mind minding earthly things I have broken thy Law neglected thy Gospel refused the offers of Christ and am in great doubt that to this day there hath been no good work wrought upon me but that I continue in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity Lord I cannot but acknowledge I have shamefully abused the ricâ—es of thy goodness forbearance and long-suffering which should have led me to repentance as also thy Fatherly corrections and chastiâ—ements laid upon me in love and for my good oh how little have I been bettered thereby How do I spend my time and strength for the getting of earthly riches and satisfying my self with sensual pleasures and in the mean time am careless of my precious and immortal soul Lord I have often for my profit and pleasure sake omitted and put off the holy exercises of Religion which ought to have been performed by me and have been exceeding dead and dull lifeless and heartless in performing those good duties I have taken in hand I have been unfruitfull under a plentiful dispensation of the means of grace unthankfull under those favours and mercies thou hast conferred on me unfaithfull to those manifold vows and promises I have made unto thee my God Truth Lord my sins are many and hainous but this is my comfort that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners and why not me why not me I acknowledge my self to be a great sinner but yet again thy Word testifieth That Jesus Christ came to save the chief of sinners Therefore will I not despair of mercy but am resolved to cast my self and the burden of my sins into the arms and upon the shoulders of Jesus Christ. Be pleased to accept of what Christ hath done and suffered for me and to accept of me in him Turn me O Lord unto thee and through him let me be reconciled unto thee Slay the enmity and subdue the rebellion of mine heart against thee Wash my polluted soul with his most precious blood cloath my nakedness with the long white robe of his righteousness fill my emptiness out of that fulness which is in Jesus Christ. Enrich my soul with all needfull saving sanctifying graces Let the faith of Gods Elect let the love and fear of thy name be shed abroad in my heart Oh that every grace may more and more flourish in me and my lusts more and more wither and decay in me Let my covetousness dye let my pride and envy and passion and sensuality dye let the whole body of death be destroyed that I may no longer serve sin Oh give me grace in this my day to know the things that belong to my peace to make a right use of this time of my visitation As Christ is now frequently tendred in the Ministry of the Gospel as a Saviour to poor sinners So Lord give me grace fiducially to close with the offers and tenders of him that Christ may be mine and I his And as thou hast been pleased to afford unto me the means of grace so I pray thee help me to carry my self in some measure suitable and answerable thereunto that I may not be a shame but rather a credit to Religion and my profession thereof To this end teach me to deny all ungodliness and Worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Blessed Lord seeing without thy blessing it will be in vain to put forth my own
which is the fiercest kind of torment that is and most intollerable 78. 4. A Worm which setteth out the sting or torment of an evil Conscience which shall lye eternally gnawing and griping the hearts of the damned 80. II. By the place where the Damned abide which is Hell 81. III. By the Perpetuity and Eternity of their torment there which is the very Hell of Hells that which most of all breaks the hearts of the damned 82. II. Another truth to be embraced in order to the work of Regeneration is That there is hope of mercy for the greatest Sinners 88. Which appeareth from a due consideration 1. Of Gods Power to save the worst of Sinners 90. 2. Of Gods willingness to save them 91. 3. Of the all-sufficiency of Christs Sacrifice 103. 4. Of Christs readiness to embrace all Sinners who will come unto him and receive him upon the terms of the Gospel 105. The Duties to be practised in order to Regeneration 110. Several Objections of carnal and unregenerate men against the use of the formentioned Means answered 132. The second branch of the use of Exhortation unto the Regenerate which consisteth of divers heads 1. To admire and adore Gods special mercy and goodness in the work of Regeneration 146. 2. To be thank full unto God for the same with Arguments thereunto 156. 3. To walk worthy of that dignity by living singular and exemplary lives 158. The singular duties incumbent upon the Regenerate 1. To make Conscience of their precious time and to improve it to the best advantage 162. 2. To embrace every opportunity of doing and receiving good 164. 3. To be carefull of the manner of performing good duties 167. 4. To walk circumspectly and exactly which consisteth 1. In walking by rule 173 2. In having respect to the inward and spiritual part of the Law as well as to the outward and external ib. 3. In a careful avoiding all occasions of evil and temptations thereunto 174. 4. In abstaining from appearances of evil as well as from apparent and direct evil 175. 5. In a moderate use of lawfull things 177. 5. To beware of Covetousness and over-loving the World as being the root of all evil 180. 6. To live by faith 186. 7. To be spiritually minded by a frequent contemplation of Spiritual and Heavenly things 193. 8. To labour in the use of all good Means for the mortification of the whole body of sin with all its affections and lusts especially those which are most praedominant John 3.1 2 3. 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Iews 2. The same came to Iesus by night and said unto him Rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him 3. Iesus answered and said unto him Verily Verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God CHAP. 1. The Exposition and Observations arising out of the first and second verses FRom the beginning of this third Chapter to the 22. verse is set forth the conference between our blessed Saviour and Nicodemus In which are three things observable 1. A description of Nicodemus verse 1. 2. The occasion of the conference which was Nicodemus his coming unto Christ expressed verse 2. 3. The conference it self from verse 3. to 22. I. Nicodemus is thus described verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Iews He is here set forth 1. By his name Nicodemus which is distinctly set down as for the truth of the history so for the honour of the man It is observable that in the holy Scriptures there is most care of setting ' down the names of good men that have in their life time some way or other set forth Gods glory and made themselves examples worthy of imitation For God will honour such as honour him he will have their memorial blessed As therefore we desire to have our memorial blessed let us now labour to honour God in our several places callings conditions and relations by a conscionable discharge of the duties belonging to them and then we may rest assured God will some way or other honour us 2. By his Sect He is expresly said to be a man of the Pharisees who were a select Sect among the Iews of highest account for their seeming sanctity and strict profession Whereas in truth they were very hypocrites for they did all to be seen of men Which because Christ discovered and made known to the people they proved his greatest enemies and persecutors 3. By his Office It 's in general said that he was a ruler of the Iews Which is not to be taken as if he were the only or chief governour of the Jews but to shew that he was none of the common sort but one of those who had authority and government amongst the Iews It is observable that few of the Pharisees and Rulers received Christs Doctrine and believed on him as appears by their own expression Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him which interrogation importeth a strong negation implying that none or few of the Rulers or Pharisees believed on Christ. They were so puffed up with the pride of their high-places so swoln with conceitedness of their strict profession and seeming sanctity and so possest with prejudice against the spiritual and heavenly doctrine of Christ that their hearts boyled with much envy and indignaâ—ion against him and thereupon sought many wayes to entrap and ensnare him Yea out of very malice they thirsted after his blood and never ceased till they took away his life Yet here we find one who was both a Pharisee and a Ruler become a Disciple of Iesus Christ whom Christ instructeth as in the doctrine of regeneration so in other main principles of Religion and thereupon became a true believer whence we may observe Observ. That the dew of Gods grace often falleth on the most graceless That the greatest of sinners are ofttimes received to mercy and embraced in the arms of free grace This God doth as for the magnifying the riches of his grace so for the encouraging great and notorious sinners to return from their sins and to look up unto him for mercy For are the greatest sinners ofttimes received to mercy then there is hope of mercy for thee how many and heinous soever thy sins are St. Paul speaking of Gods mercy to him who was not only an heinous sinner but the chief of sinners declareth how God shewed mercy to him that he might be a ground of hope and encouragement unto other great and heinous sinners For this cause saith he I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting Intimating that one special end Christ aimed at in shewing mercy to such a
creatures shall run hither and thither and not get a drop of Water to cool their scorched tongues Ah sinner sinner how canst thou but quake and tremble at the thought of this fire at which the very Devils do quake and tremble Suppose thou wert condemned to be cast as many of the Martyrs were into a boyling Caldron or flaming fire oh how dreadful and terrible would the apprehension thereof be unto thee and how wouldst thou cry and roar through the extremity of the torment But alas what is a boyling Caldron to that boyling Sea of fire and brimstone And what is a flaming fire of Wood and Coal here to the fire of hell kept in highest flame by the breath of Gods wrath Surely this as far surpasseth that in heat as our Chimney fire doth exceed the fire painted on the Wall This me-thinks should sowre the pleasure of all thy sinful lusts and provoke thee forthwith to set upon that stricter course of life that more serious circumspect conscientious walking whereby thou maist escape these heavy things Ah sinner look about thee while it is called to day run over to Christ lay hold on his righteousness stoop to his Scepter beg of God that whatsoever he deny thee he would not deny his Son to thee by whom alone thou canst be freed from this tormenting fire Otherwise woe and alas that ever thou wert born But oh how wonderfully prodigal are we generally of our souls when that for the vile things here below we are so ready to prostitute them to the lust of Satan and to expose them to the torments of hell-fire Whereas alas What is it to gain the World and to lose our Souls What to spend our dayes in mirth and jollity and in a moment to be cast into hell It is easie for a secure unbelieving soul to read and hear of this fire But woe and ten thousand woes to all such who shall feel and endure and prove by their experience how hot it is 4. Another resemblance whereby the misery of the damned is set forth is a Worm Their Worm shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched Which very words Christ applyeth to the damned in hell Mark 9.44 46 48. This metaphor of the Worm setteth out the sting of conscience and anguish of soul and sheweth that hell pains go through a man without and within In the forementioned place there be two especial things in the torments of hell which are thrice repeated together namely the Worm and the fire the Worm that dyeth not and the fire that is not quenched And it is observable that in all the three verses the Worm is set in the first place as it were to teach us that the principal torment in hell is the Worm rather than the fire And what is the Worm but the sting or the torment of an evil conscience which shall lye eternally gnawing and griping the hearts of the damned in hell As of the putrefaction of the body there breedeth a worm which eates and consumes the body so from the corruption of the soul tainted with sin there ariseth the Worm of Conscience which gnaweth and vexeth the soul with continual anguish Men talk much of hell-fire and it were well they would talk more of it But yet there is another torment that would be thought on too and that is this Worm of an evil conscience which whilest the fire burneth this will bite and sting the soul with torment intolerable This Worm of Conscience consisteth especially in two things 1. In bringing to remembrance thy former sinfull lusts and pleasures of which nothing remaineth but thy present shame and pain Then shall thy conscience gnaw thee by bringing to thy remembrance thy former oaths and cursings thy mispent time thy cozenings and defraudings yea all thy secret impurities as well as thine open iniquities as also thy sinful omissions of good duties how seldom thou prayedst with thy family or in thy closet how little care thou hadst of thy precious soul slighting the opportunities and means of grace Ah sinner the remembrance of these things will exceedingly pierce thy soul and afflict thine heart with bitter grief and sorrow Soul how camest thou in hither ah this was mine own doing t' was my negligence and carelesness and wilfulness and wickedness A little care a little wisdom a little labour and pains might have prevented all this If I would have hearkened to God hearkened to conscience in time none of all this misery had ever come upon me Oh wretch that I was oh foolish sottish wilful wretch how have I undone my self what ever I now feel and roar under I have none to blame but my self t' was mine own doing that I am fallen headlong into this place of torment 2. In despairing of freedom and deliverance from thy present misery This is one special thing which will very much add to thy present torment that thy condition though most sad and dreadfull yet is hopeless Didst thou conceive any hope of deliverance after thousands and millions of years hell would not be hell unto thee But this is that which will lye like a mountain of lead upon thee that there is no hope of deliverance In the consideration whereof consisteth the gnawings of the Worm of Conscience These are the resemblances whereby the misery of the damned is set forth IV. The misery of the damned is further fet forth in Scripture by the place where they abide which is â—ell For that is the most usual word attributed to the place of the damned In the old Testament that word which properly signifieth the grave is oft translated hell and by way of resemblance Tophet is taken for hell because in the place called Tophet great fires were made wherein they Sacrificed their Children In the New Testament there are two words ordinarily used to express hell One implyeth a place of darkness The other translated from the name of the place where the forementioned Tophet was called Gehinnom the valley of Hinnom whence hell is called Gehenna The place of the damned is also called a bottomless pitt by reason of the unsearchable depth of it and a lake These and other like names of terrour are attributed to the place where the damned are tormented but where that place is in Scripture is not expresly revealed and therefore cannot be defined only we may know that it is out of Heaven even below it It is the most fearful place that ever was or can be and it is a great point of wisdom in this World so to carry our selves as we may never come by our experience to prove where and what it is V. The misery of the damned is likewise set forth in Scripture by the perpetuity and eternity of their torment Their Worm dyeth not and their fire is not quenched but continueth to burn without end And therefore is called unquenchable fire and everlasting fire As the Salamander is said to live
stirring thee up to any good duty omitted oh turn these motions into performances and presently fall upon the practice of those duties whether it be praying in thy closet or in thy Family or such like Doth the Spirit of God beam any light from the Word into thine understanding whereby thou art more throughly convinced of thy miserable condition by nature of the excellency of the new birth of the necessity thereof unto Salvation Labour to improve this light to the stirring up in thee an earnest longing desire after the work of Regeneration Hath the Spirit of God in a Sermon so convinced thee of some grofs scandalous sin or sins that thou art pricked at the heart and deeply humbled under the sense and apprehension of them oh content not thy self with some sudden pangs of affection but forthwith go into some secret place and there take the advantage of thy present relenting frame of heart for the more free and full confessing of thy sins unto God and ingaging thy self by a solemn covenant unto him to be more watchfull over thy self as against thy former lend and wicked courses so against the occasions leading thereunto Ah sinner it will be thy Wisdom carefully to observe and diligently to improve all the motions and stirrings of Gods Spirit in thy Soul and Conscience by seconding the work of this holy Spirit in thee Lose not the Wind and Tide the Wind may lye the Tide may turn and where art thou then 't will be hard Rowing against Wind or Tide Thou little thinkest what advantage such motions wisely improved may be to thy soul and what prejudice the slighting and neglecting of them may be unto thee for ought thou knowest thine eternal happiness or misery may depend upon the improving or slighting the same VIII Be much in the company of the godly walk with them who walk with God He that walketh with the wise shall be more wise he that walketh with the humble shall be more humble he that walketh with the holy shall learn holiness As there is no greater hinderance to the work of Christ than the society of the wicked So there is no greater furtherance to it than the society of those who fear God For there is none will be so ready to pitty and compassionate you to counsel and direct you in the way to Heaven as these none so ready to provoke and egg you on unto godliness to encourage and cheer you up when you do well and to reprove you when you do amiss as these none so ready to communicate their experiences to you O come say they and we will tell you what the Lord hath done for our souls So that in the company of the godly there is much good to be got they being like Lanthorns which disperse their light round about If thou beest much in their company thou shalt hear much of God much of Christ and much of Heaven they use to be talking much of the riches of that Countrey and the glory of that holy City whether they are travelling They will be opening to you the excellency of Jesus Christ the riches of his love the all-sufficiency of his Sacrifice his willingness to receive all poor sinners who will go unto him and adventure their souls upon him And who knoweth how much their discourse may warm thine heart and raise up thy desires after Christ. Agrippa was almost perswaded to be a Christian whilest he was talking with St. Paul And the Ennuch was not only almost but altogether perswaded whilest he was conversing with Philip. As therefore thou desirest to further the work of grace begun in thy soul be much in the company of those who are gracious who will be exceedingly helpfull to thee therein as by their prayers so by their counsel and good example For their lives tell thee what it is to walk in the Spirit what to mortifie the flesh and to live aboâ—e all the alluring vaâ—ities of the world Oh Christians encourage poor sinners to come among you let your discourses be practical Sermons let your wayes be living copies of that holy doctrine which you have received let your conversation be full of love life pitty compassion towards them be ready to teach counsel encourage and help them on after the Lord. Teach not sinners to say by the barrenness and unsavouriness of your lives there is no more of God to be gotten in the dwellings of the Righteous than in the tents of Wickedness Thus have I shewed you the Means on our part to be performed for the furthering the new birth and the work of Regeneration in your souls And now give me leave to propound one Question to you Are you resolved with the grace and assistance of God speedily to put your selves upon the practice of these Directions or no If you think these things more than necessary and are ready to say What need so much ado as if without so much hearing so much reading so much praying and the like there were no hope of Regeneration and Salvation you may then sit down and take your ease But know for certain that without a conscionable use of these Means you are like to fall short as of Regeneration here so of Salvation hereafter For where God hath appointed Means he doth not ordinarily work without them and therefore if you will not use Gods Means no wonder if you go without his grace Ah sinners I beseech you for the sake of your precious souls do not willfully refuse to be happy do not wittingly plunge your souls into everlasting miseries Be willing to be happy awaken your sleepy stir up your lazy hearts to be doing Heaven is not gotten with a wish everlasting glory is worthy your utmost pains and will not be gotten without it What say you after all that hath been said Are you willing to be converted to become new men and to take up a new course If you are not yet when will you Are you content to dye in your present state If you were now breathing out your last and just passing into another World would you not wish you had hearkened to counsel Though thou wilt live the life yet art thou content to dye the death of the obstinate and hardned Be not Brutes and mad men If Christ be best at death if holiness will be best at last if you know and believe that when you come to dye you shall wish you had made Christ sure then sure your standing out against Christ now your refusing grace now is the first-born of follies O be wise consider what 's before you Christ and the World holiness and sin life and death choose now for your selves and if you will be advised let your this dayes choice be the same which you are resolved shall be your dying choice If you would not choose to dye in your sins to dye Drunkards to dye adulterers to dye Scoffers to dye unbelievers live not out this day in such a dreadfull state CHAP.
or such evil purpose And now at length resolve to be thrifty to be more watchfull over your selves and more provident for hereafter You have but a little time to live yet much may be done in that little Throw not away that inch which remains after the many years that are gone and can no more be recalled 4. Consider the shortness of thy life it is but a moment to eternity And is it not pitty to lose any thing of that which is precious and short 5. Consider as the shortness So the uncertainty of thy life You know what was said to him who promised life to himself for many years Thou fool this night thy soul shall be taken from thee And it may be thou maist this next night receive the like doom And if thy time be ended and thy work to be begun oh how sad is thy case like to be 6. Consider as the shortness and uncertainty of thy time So the greatness of the work to be performed therein thy Lusts must be mortified thy graces strengthned thine evidences for Heaven cleared up c. Here is a great deal of work to be done in a little time Doth it not then concern thee speedily to bestir thy self and not to lose a minute 7. Consider the present time is only thine to improve Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation Oh then why wilt thou trifle away the time which is properly thine and promise to thy self great things in a time which is none of thine For even the next hour yea the next minute thou maist be cut off by the stroak of death and then all opportunities of doing and receiving good are taken away II. Another singular thing which the Regenerate ought to do above others is To embrace every opportunity of doing and receiving good By doing good I mean not only beneficence to the poor but also a conscionable performance of all Christian duties whether they concern the glory of God the edification of our brethren or the Salvation of our own souls Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might saith the Wise man that is whatsoever opportunity of doing good is afforded unto thee do it vigorously and speedily not deferring it till it be too late Mark his reason in the next words For there is no work in the grave whither thou art going As if he had said In this life thou hast many opportunities of doing good but in the grave thou shalt have neither power nor opportunities When thy night cometh there is an end of working therefore while it is day and while thou hast an opportunity up and be doing Doth the Lord afford unto thee any opportunity either of laying up for thine own soul or of laying out for the good of thy brothers soul be carefull to embrace the same yea and to improve it to the best advantage Having a price put into thy hands oh let it not carelesly slip away left thou full dearly repent thereof saying Oh what an opportunity have I lost of benefiting both my self and others how might I have furthered both mine own and others Salvation by building up one another in the most holy faith But fool that I was I have carelesly neglected these precious opportunities which will never never be regained Oh how will the thought thereof one day or other gall thy Conscience That thou maist be the more stirred up to embrace and improve every oportunity God by his providence affordeth unto thee 1. Consider how worldly men hugg their opportunities for the World and wilt not thou embrace thy opportunities for Heaven The tradesman neglects not his opportunity of buying and selling but carefully attends the same The Merchant will not lose his Exchange-time nor the Marriner his Wind and Tyde The Lawyer will not lose his Terms Nor the Husband-man his Seed-time or Harvest If thou lose thy Seed-time of grace thou thereby losest the Harvest of glory 2. Consider how few thy remaining opportunities may be For ought thou knowest the time is near at hand when thy praying opportunities and hearing opportunities and receiving opportunities and relieving opportunities with the like will be past and gone How then doth it concern thee to improve them whilest thou hast them and to use thy present as if it were the last season and opportunity would be afforded unto thee If thou art in the company of a godly experienced Christian thou hast then an opportunity of gaining much spiritual good and advantage to thine own soul as by observing his graces so by propounding thy doubts and scruples unto him Oh let not such an opportunity pass away without some spiritual improvement If thou art called to visit a dying friend or neighbour oh what an opportunity hast thou put into thy hand to do his soul good by advising him to think of death and to prepare for it to make his peace with God to cast himself and the burthen of his sins upon Christ to build the hope of his salvation only upon that rock the Lord Jesus Christ. If in walking abroad or travelling on the road thou fall into company what good maist thou do by some savoury and spiritual discourse of God or of mans miserable condition by nature or of the state of redemption by Jesus Christ or the like oh how much might thy care this way abound to thy account Remember the words of the Apostle Exhort one another daily while it is called to day If the Lord hath given thee a Family and furnished thee with abilities for their instruction and edification let not the souls that are with thee be lost through thy neglect Thou hast daily opportunities to be sowing thy seed in their souls which may spring up to their eternal life And for thy neighbours that live about thee let them find thee a good neighbour to them and that they will best do if thou endeavour to help them to be good Christians CHAP. XX. Of performing good duties after a right manner III. ANother singular duty incumbent upon the Regenerate is To be carefull of the manner of performing good duties Not only to be conscionable in the use of Ordinances but likewise to work up their hearts to a conscionableness in the manner of doing them 1. For therein especially is our respect to God manifested As for the duties themselves many respects may induce us to the outward performance of them as obedience to authority desire of a good name hope of meriting thereby or the like But it is respect to God who searcheth the heart that moveth men to do the good duties they take in hand after a right manner so as they may be pleasing and acceptable unto him 2. The most holy duties we take in hand are clean perverted and depraved through our failing in the manner of performing them Yea holy duties are thereby turned into sin as the Prophet Isay implyeth He that killeth an Ox for Sacrifice is as if
he slew a man he that Sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a dogs neck Though the Sacrificing of Oxen and Lambs were good and commanded by God himself yet because they failed in the manner of performing them they were no more acceptable to God than the killing of men or cutting off a dogs neck which things were forbidden by the Law and abomination to the Lord. 3. Failing in the manner of performance makes God not only to reject our duties but to pronounce a woe and a curse against the performers of them Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently Though it be the work of the Lord that work which the Lord appointeth to be done yet notwithstanding if it be done negligently not after a right manner cursed is he that doth it 4. It is the right manner of performing duties that obtaineth a blessing from God It may be thou hast heard much and prayed much and fasted much and yet hast found little good or benefit thereby Examine whether thou hast not been dead and dull formal and perfunctory in them doing them as if thou didst them not If so no marvail that thou hast received so little good by them As therefore thou wouldst be loth to pray in vain or hear in vain or fast in vain as thou wouldst be loth to lose the things which thou hast wrought see to it that thou be as carefull of the manner as of the matter of them how thou dost them as that thou dost them Do what thou dost with all thy soul yea and with all thy might and then thou maist expect a plentiful and gracious return For the right manner of performing good duties take these few directions I. Be sure you take Christ with you both for assistance and acceptance 1. For assistance For without me saith Christ you can do nothing That is without Union with Christ and Communion with him you cannot perform any acceptable service unto God You may fall upon the duty of prayer and attend upon the Ministry of the Word but without assistance from Christ you can neither do the one nor the other as you should Whensoever therefore you set upon any good duty in the first place beg strength and assistance from Christ and rest and lean upon him for his help go not to pray or hear but in the strength of the Lord. 2. Take Christ with you for acceptance both of your persons and services Christ is the beloved Son of God with whom he is so well pleased that likewise in him he is well pleased with all those that come to God by him and look for neither audience nor acceptance but upon his account alone The truth is as our persons are vile and wretched and all as an unclean thing so our Services even our most holy Services are all polluted and tainted with the corruption of our natures and therefore they are odious and abominable in the sight of God who may justly reject both us and them and will do it unless covered with the worthiness of our Lord Jesus Christ but in him we shall not fail to obtain gracious acceptance Whensoever therefore we go unto God in prayer or in any other ordinance let us carry Christ with us in the arms of our faith Plut arch in the life of Themistocles reports that it was the usual custome of some of the Heathens namely the Molossiaâ—s that when they would seek the favour of their King they took his Son in their arms and so went unto him And questionless it would be the wisdom of Christians in seeking the face and favour of God who is the King of Heaven and of earth to take the holy Child Jesus with them without whom they may not see his face II. Stir up thy self and all thy strength put forth thy self to the uttermost strive to be lively active and stirring in Spirit Get the Spirit of faith and of power this will be oyle to the wheels and wind to the Sails which set all a going let this be wanting and thy best services will be lifeless and dead Services in which the Lord takes no delight There is a threefold strength we should labour to put forth in all our holy duties 1. Strength of Intention 2. Strength of Affections 3. Strength of Body 1. We must intend our work as if it were for our lives for so it is whether it be the work of praying hearing meditating or the like We must put forth the strength of our intention as well as of our attention not giving way either to drowsiness of body or distractions of mind But oh what light matters are apt to steal away our minds and thoughts in the performance of holy duties If one of our superiours were talking with us he would expect that we should mind what he saith and not turn aside to talk with every one that passeth by us But when God is speaking to us in the ministry of his Word or we are speaking unto him by prayer how ordinarily do we turn aside to every vain thought and trifling business which offereth it self to us Intend God more earnestly and this will fire your thoughts 2. Strength of affections is required in every good duty Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might saith the Wise man This may especially be applyed to the duties of Gods worship and service that we do them vigorously with all the strength of our affections Which the Apostle requireth where he bids us be fervent in spirit serving the Lord. The word in the Greek notes an ebullition or boyling up of our spirits to the height There is nothing in the World more unbecoming the Worship of God than flatness of spirit and coldness of affection when a man serves God as if he served him not It was Davids commendation that the zeal of Gods house did eat him up Which expression sheweth the vehemency of his zeal and strength of his affections as in reforming Gods house so in performing the duties of his Worship and service For this was Iacob honoured and called Israel because he prayed with the strength of his affections and is therefore said to wrestle with God in prayer whereby he prevailed As thou desirest to prevail with God in Prayer thou must with Iacob wrestle with him putting forth the strength of thine affections which will be a special means to keep away vain wandring thoughts So long as honey is boyling hot flies will not venture on it So if the heart and affections be boyling hot in prayer vain thoughts are not apt to enter in 3. Strength of body must likewise be put forth in every good duty For Col must be worshipped as with our spirits so with our bodies And blessed is the strength which is put forth in the service of God Carnal men are apt to lay out the strength of their bodies upon their lusts Why then should not we be as ready to
to use those delights for themselves and not for God or to use them more for gain than for refreshment they are thereby turned into sin In like manner sometimes to feast with our friends and neighbours is lawfull but to be too frequent therein or intemperate feeding without fear as the Apostle Iude hath it never tasting the sweetness of God in the Creature nor having respect to that communion which should be amongst Saints is to abuse Gods good Creatures So to be diligent in the works of our calling is in it self both lawfull and commendable But when we shall be so diligent in our particular calling that we neglect the duties of our general calling as Christians I mean when we are so taken up with our Worldly businesses and imployments that we can find no time for serving God either secretly in our Chambers or privately with our families is to make our lawfull calling sinfull unto us Much more when we mingle fraud and deceit with our dealings and cannot be content with that gain that comes in by righteousness and honesty in all our wayes this is to turn our lawfull calling into a mysterie of iniquity The best of Gods Children are apt to use the lawfull things of this World unlawfully and to abuse them by their excess therein Did not our Saviour warn his Disciples that they should take heed of abusing as their meat and drink unto surfetting and drunkenness so their callings to worldliness and covetousness Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkenness and cares of this life Who would not have thought the Disciples of Christ far enough from these sins yet they must take heed to themselves therein If the green Tree may so easily take fire what will not the dry do Oh then how doth it concern us to set bounds to our selves in all lawfull things not to exceed either in our recreations or in our vocations or in our eating drinking and the like but to observe the golden mean the rather because the Devil in nothing more prevaileth with Gods people than in their immoderate and inordinate usage of things lawfull Knowing full well that the Godly will not easily be drawn to the committing of such things as carry wickedness in their foreheads he therefore layeth his snares for them in the use of things lawfull as their meat and drink their apparel and recreation their trading and traffick with the like Wherein his snares being not so visible he oftentimes prevaileth with them The Apostle declaring what a cruel crafty and malicious adversary the Devil is whom he setteth forth to be as a roaring Lyon that walketh about seeking to devour he thereupon adviseth us to be as sober in the use of things lawfull and indifferent so watchfull over our selves lest we be foyled therein For your better help herein take these few directions 1. In the free use of lawfull things be ever jealous of your selves lest you abuse them to intemperancy and excess This hath been the folly of many that presuming too much as on their Christian liberty so upon their own strength have adventured upon such temptations as have occasioned their fearfull falls 2. Labour to make a spiritual improvement of all those lawfull comforts which God hath affordâ—d to you for your delight And so whilest you refresh your bodies you will cherish your souls Thus in your eating and drinking often meditate of Gods bounty in providing so plentifully for you and not only take in meats but likewise give out gracious discourses and instructions For what can it be but egregious folly when you are feeding your bodies to neglect your souls In putting on your cloaths meditate on the robe of Christs righteousness which alone can make you amiable in the sight of God desiring with the Apostle to be found cloathed therewith at the great day 3. Consider that to use your lawfull comforts to the utmost extent is the next door to sin He who will go to the utmost extent of what he may lawfully do is in danger to go beyond it and to do also that which is unlawfull He who will walk upon the brink of a River may fall into the Water And he who will take the utmost liberty he may is very near falling into sin CHAP. XXII Of the danger of Covetousness as being the root of all evil ANother singular duty incumbent upon the Regenerate is To beware of Covetousness and over-loving the World as being the root of all evil I do not say that our hearts being changed and renewed we ought thereupon wholy to abandon the World and give over all Worldly businesses and imployments For grace and a worldly calling may very well stand together yea a man may be a sincere holy Christian and yet a great dealer in the World nay grace ingageth a man to be a good husband to improve the estate God hath bestowed on him But yet we ought not insatiably to desire and inordinately to hunt after riches as if they were the only things or the great things to be sought after this is Covetousness It is not the having of riches but the immoderate desiring and loving of them and overvaluing them which denominates a man Covetous A man may have much of this Worlds goods and yet be no Worldling And another may have little and yet be covetous This sin is especially in the heart Q. May not a Godly man desire riches seeing they are often in Scripture termed blessings which God hath promised as a reward of his Service A. There is a moderate desire of riches which is lawfull and an immoderate or inordinate desire which is unlawfull Then is our desire of riches moderate when we desire no more than is needfull and can be content to want that when God will have it so Q. What may be accounted needfull A. 1. That which is meet for the state and calling wherein God hath set us 2. That which is requisite for the charge committed to us As if a man have Wife and Children and Servants or Kindred lying upon his charge what is needfull and sufficient for them may be desired and sought after 3. That which is needfull for the future livelihood and maintenance of Wife and Children may lawfully be desired and sought after The Apostle layeth it down as a duty that Parents ought to lay up for their Children Besides this moderate desiring and seeking after riches there is an immoderate desiring and inordinate seeking after them As when a man is not content with that portion which God by his Providence doth afford unto him but insatiably thirsts after more And rather than fail of his desire will both neglect his God and his soul and also venture on the use of any unlawfull means as lying swearing false weights and measures with the like for accomplishing the same which is wickedness in any but especially in such as make a profession of Religion
sins subjects to yield a voluntary subjection of our selves unto the commands of sin Q. How may we know when corruption is mortified in us A. When it is not only restrained and kept from such ordinary breakings out into actual sins but the lusts and motions that issue from it are a grief to us yea we hate and detest them and groan under the burden of them we watch against them fight against them earnestly desiring to be delivered from them crying out with the Apostle O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin and corruption For the more profitable pressing this so necessary and difficult a duty I shall 1. Shew you some Motives and arguments to enforce the same 2. Some Means whereby it may be effected 3. The Manner how it ought to be performed The Reasons forcing this work of Mortification upon the Regenerate are these 1. After Regeneration there remaineth a body of sin and corruption in the best which if we endeavour not by the help of Gods Spirit to mortifie and subdue will gather strength and become mighty to the great hinderance of our duty and darkning all our comfort 2. Corruption doth not only remain in us as long as we live in this World but it is alwayes in continual work either stirring us up to evil or keeping us from that which is good or defiling our best actions In which respect saith the Apostle the flesh lusteth against the Spirit And from his own experience he cryeth out I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members so that I cannot do the good which I would but rather do the evil which I hate How doth it then concern us daily and hourly to fight and strive against these lusts which are continually working and warring in our members hindering and spoiling all our duties breaking our peace undermining all our hopes and comforts and seeking our lives we must either kill or be killed 3. By a conscionable performance of this duty we shall be freed from those hainous and scandalous sins into which other mens lusts do carry them Should corruption have its way and course without resistance in the best of us it would soon break forth into the most loathsome and disgracefull sins that are committed by the very worst of men as we see in David Solomon and others Is it not then needfull for us to keep down and withstand the first motions and risings of sin in our hearts before it break forth into such wicked and disgracefull acts which will blast our credit and reputation and bring a scandal upon our Religion and profession 4. Mortification of sin was one special end of Christs death who dyed to save his people from their sins not to save them in their sins but from their sins as from the guilt and punishment so from the power of them And indeed whom Christ delivers from the damnation of sin he first delivers also from the dominion of sin Whom he intends to save from hell he first saveth them from iniquity he saves their souls by killing their sins If thou findest any lust to remain unmortified in thee bearing rule in thine heart and sway in thy life thou hast just cause to question thy interest in Christ and his salvation They that are Christs have Crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts II. The Means whereby the work of Mortification may be effected by us are these I. When thou feelest corruption working in thee and stirring thee up to evil then call to mind and lay to heart the ensuing considerations 1. Consider the shortness of the pleasure of sin with the length of the punishment following thereupon without true and unfeined repentance The one for a moment the other everlasting The pleasure is but short but the punishment is for ever and ever The torments of the damned in hell are intensively most grievous in themselves but that which mainly and infinitely adds to the greatness of them is because they are eternal They are tormented day and night for ever and ever The Worm is alwayes gnawing and the fire continually burning therefore called unquenchable fire Oh what a folly must it then needs be yea and madness beyond admiration for the short fruition of these perishing pleasures and transient contentments here to implunge our selves into everlasting burnings Oh how terrible is the thought of eternity in those tormenting flames where the damned would think themselves happy if after they had endured them so many thousand years as there are Sands on the Sea-shore or Stars in the Firmament they might then be assured of enlargement But when all that time is past and innumerable millions of years and ages are run out they are as far from an end as at their first entrance Why wilt thou then purchase a little sensual delight at so dear a rate for a moments pleasure to incurr everlasting woe and misery O the fire of hell if thou wouldst send down thy thoughts thither would burn up thy Lusts which otherwise will be the fuel to burn thy soul. 2. Consider thy extream folly in gratifying thy sinfull Lusts thereby thou hast chosen and preferred thy fleshly pleasure thy carnal content before the glory of God the everlasting joyes of Heaven and the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Oh monstrous madness and unconceivable folly at which the Angels blush and Heaven and Earth cannot but stand amazed 3. Call to mind and consider some of the threatnings in Gods Word as against sin in general so against that particular Lust which thou findest most working and stirring in thee and unto which thou findest strongest inclinations in thy self First Call to mind and consider sâ—me of the threatnings against sin and sinners in general Upon the wicked saith the Psalmist God shall rain fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. And saith the Apostle Indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil Secondly When thou findest any inclination in thy self to a particular sin as unto drunkenness seriously consider that of the Wise man who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath contentions c. they that tarry long at the Wine they that go to seek mixt Wine When thou findest any inclination or temptation unto uncleanness seriously weigh that of the Apostle Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate shall inherit the Kingdom of God And again Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge When thou findest any inclinations unto Covetousness call to mind that of the Prophet Isaiah Wo unto them that joyne house to house and lay field to field till there be no place and that of the Apostle The love of money is the root of all evil which while some have
death and condemnation These men howsoever they would be esteemed good Masters and good Governours yet are they far from such in that they neglect the main duty belonging to good Governours which is to take care of the souls of those under their charge and willingly suffer all manner of wickedness and prophaness to rule and bear sway in their Families and that without any check or controul I dare boldly say it were much better for a man to put his Child into a Pâ—sthouse than into such a Family in that wickedness is more infectious than the Plague spreading infinitely polluting every one it comes near And whereas the Plague and Pestilence can but kill the body the contagion of sin is apt to destroy both body and soul. And therefore what is usually written upon the doors of such houses as are visited with the Plague Lord have mercy upon us may far better be written upon the doors of such houses where through the neglect of Family-duties sin and wickedness doth abound I know there are very many both Parents and Masters who having provided for the bodies of those under their charge think they have sufficiently discharged their duty towards them But I would demand of such if their care be only to provide for the bodies of their Children and Servants what do they more to them then to their beasts If they only cloath them and pay them their wages what do they more to them than the Turks and Infidels who know not God do to their Children and Servants If their care be only to provide for them an earthly inheritance without any care to make them Heirs of an Heavenly inheritance what do they more to them than Iews who are ignorant of Christ and his Gospel do for their Children Let such know that it is their duty to provide not only for for perishing Carcasses but also for the immortal souls of all theirs And it is a vain and foolish imagination for any to think they have done their duty when they have apparelled nourished and brought up their Children and Servants considering they have a far greater account to make before God for their souls of which if any should perish through their negligence and unfaithfullness how dreadfull will their account be oh what answer will they be able to make when the blood of their Children and Servants souls shall be required of them CHAP. IV. An Exhortation unto all Parents and Masters of Families to make Conscience of Family-duties Use 2. LEt the second Use be an Use of Exhortation to stir up all Christian Parents and Masters of Families to be carefull that their whole house do faithfully serve the Lord as well as themselves that they take up Ioshuah's resolution as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. As you would not be guilty of the blood of your Children and Servants souls and as you would not have them cry out against you in everlasting fire see that you bring them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Every Governour should be that in the body politick of his own house which the heart is in the natural body of man as it communicateth life and vital spirits to the rest of the members So must the Master of the houshold endeavour to impart the spiritual life of grace to all that are members of his body politick And his house by a constant conscionable performance of holy and religious duties there should be a little Church For the maintaining the Worship of God makes every house to become a sanctuary an house of God Hence divers pious Governours in the new Testament are said to have Churches in their houses as Philemoâ— Aquila and Priscilla and Nimphas whose houses were called Churches as in respect of the Saints in their houses so in respect of the worship of God among them Oh what an honour will this be to us when upon this account our habitations shall be called rather Churches than private houses Temples of God rather than the dwellings of men For the more profitable pressing of this Use I shall shew you what be the duties and services which are especially required of Parents and Masters of Families in reference to those under their charge CHAP. V. Of Family Prayer with quickning Motives thereunto I. PRayer which is one principal part of the service of God in all Families and therefore ought to be performed by the Governour thereof who as he is a King to govern his Family so a Priest to offer up a Morning and an Evening Sacrifice of Prayer and praise unto God in and with his Family This we find commended to us in the practice of the Patriarchs who when they removed to any place they builded an Altar where God was to be called upon by the whole Family Thus did Abraham Isaac and Iacob David though a King yet prayed with his Houshold as their Governour for it is recorded of him that having offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord he returned to bless his houshold that is say Expositors to bless God with his Family and to beg Gods blessing on them In the New Testament the Apostle writing to Masters of Families concerning their duties adjoyneth this continue in Prayer implying it to be one special duty incumbent on them to be constant in Family-prayer Of Cornelius it is said that he was one who feared God with all his house which gave much Almes to the people and prayed to God alway which implyeth that he prayed daily with his Family These examples are recorded by the Holy-Ghost as Copies for us to write after But for your more full conviction of that obligation that lyes upon you for the performance of this duty let the following arguments be duly weighed Arg. 1. The first Argument shall be drawn from that trust that is committed unto governours of Families Here observe 1. That Governours of Families are intrusted with the souls with the Religion of their Families not that they may prescribe unto them or impose upon them what way of Religion they please or that inferiours may be excused by the errours or neglects of the Superiours but it is committed to their care and they have received a charge from the Lord to look diligently to all that are under them that they duly worship God observe his ordinances and keep â—â—s statutes That there is such a care incumbent on them is evident under the Law the Master of the Family was by the appointment of God to look to the circumcising of all the Males of his house both those that were born in his house and those that were bought with his money In the fourth commandment the Master of the Family is charged not only to keep the Sabbath in his own person but to look to his family also Thou shalt do no work therein that 's not all nor thy Son nor thy Daughter nor thy Man-servant nor thy
to the husband so that they prove blessings and comforts each to other Children likewise are blessed and sanctified to their Parents and Servants to their Masters Yea Family-prayer produceth Gods blessing upon their callings and enjoyments upon their losses and crosses both are thereby blessed and sanctified unto them 2. Family-prayer as it is a sanctifying ordinance so it is a seasoning ordinance it seasons the whole house with the fear of God It is recorded of Cornelius that he was a devout man one that feared God with all his house who prayed to God alwayes his constant course of praying with his Family questionless did season his whole house with the fear of God As Prayer-less Families are for the most part destitute of the fear of God so in those Families where a constant course of Praying is kept up there the hearts of many are seasoned with the true fear of God As Abraham was a Praying-master so he had praying-servants For inferiours are very apt to write after the Copy of their Superiours and to follow their example Thus by a praying Master Children and Servants are taught to Pray 3. Family-prayer is a special preservative against common calamities Polanus in his Syntagm relateth how in the year 1584. there was such a terrible Earth-quake that overthrew all the houses in a whole Town in Switzerland save one wherein the Master of the Family was at the same time praying with his Wife Children and Servants If God doth not preserve praying-families from those common judgements and calamities which befall others yet he will so sanctifie those calamities unto them that they shall turn to their good according to that gracious promise All things shall work together for good to them that love God V. Consider the manifold mischiefs that usually sollow and accompany the neglect of Family-prayer As 1. Neglect of Family-prayer is usually accompanied with the neglect of all other Religious duties which is found true by sad experience For whoever heard that the Scriptures were read or Catechising used in any Family where Prayer was omitted So that Prayer-less houses are as Sepulchres wherein all Religion lyes buried 2. Neglect of Family-prayer exposâ—th the whole houshold to the wrath and fury of God as the Prophet Ieremiah implyeth where he saith Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy name Where by the fury of God is meant his wrath in the highest degree his anger boyled up to the height Oh who can abide this scalding wrath And by pouring out Gods fury is meant Gods inflicting his fierce wrath in the greatest measure in the highest degree The words though they are set down in the form of a Prayer yet they are a prediction as well as a petition of Gods dreadfull wrath and fury to be undoubtedly inflicted upon all Prayerless-families For the Prophet put up this Prayer unto God as foreseeing the certain ruin and destruction of such Families as called not upon the name of the Lord He knew that God would assuredly pour out his fury upon their Families who did not pour out their souls unto him Oh that all Masters and Governours would seriously think and meditate on this fearfull imprecation of the Prophet against all Prayerless-families that so they might dread the omission of so necessary a duty as much as the scorching wrath and fury of God yea as the scorching fire of hell for what is hell it self but the feeling of this wrath and fury of God I shall close this with answering three Questions and as many Objections 1. Q. How often should we Pray with our Families A. 1. Every day For first our Saviour hath intimated so much unto us in his plat-form of Prayer by teaching us to Pray for our daily bread in these words Give us this day our daily bread that is bread needfull for the present day And in regard we daily stand in need of bread therefore our Saviour would have us pray daily for the same 2. Have you not daily wants to be supplyed wants for your selves and wants for your Children and Servants Have you not daily infirmities in your Family to be healed Are you not daily subject to dangers and temptations And do you not daily sin against God Is it not necessary then that you daily Pray unto God for the supply of all your wants for the healing of all your infirmities for the preventing of the dangers you are daily subject unto for the strengthning you against all your temptations for the pardoning of all your sins Surely our daily wants our daily infirmities our daily dangers our daily temptations and our daily sins do all call upon us for daily prayers And as you and yours daily partake of Gods mercies is it not just and equal that you all should daily bless God for the same The truth is every day supplyeth new matter both of Prayer and praise and therefore there is just cause daily to offer up our Sacrifice of Prayer and praise unto God 2. Q. How oft in each day are we bound to pray with our Families A. Family-prayer ought to be performed twice at least viz. In the Morning and in the Evening 1. For first this is commended unto us by the Morning and Evening Sacrifice under the Law which we find given in command unto the Jews And are not Christians under the Gospel as well as those under the Law obliged to offer up their Morning and Evening Sacrifice 2. Equity requireth this duty at your hands as the mercies of God are renewed upon you and yours every Morning and the showres of his compassion fall down upon you every night so you should not forget to offer up both a Morning and an Evening Sacrifice of Prayer and praise unto him who is so continually mindfull of you 3. Q. What time in the Morning and Evening is fittest for the performance of Family-prayer A. For this no certain rule can be prescribed in regard of the several occasions which may fall out in a Family and by reason of age sickness and the like in the Governours thereof Yet it were to be wished that the Morning Sacrifice if possibly may be betimes in the Morning before Servants go about the works of their calling as being the fittest time for holy exercises when the Spirits are freshest and freest from Wordly thoughts and distractions And it were to be wished that the Evening Sacrifice may be before Supper in regard that afterwards we are generally more heavy and sleepy and will find it more difficult to keep up our hearts and spirits in the duty Having thus resolved the Questions come we now to the Objections raised against the duty of Family-prayer CHAP. VI. Objections against Family-prayer Answered 1. Obj. SOme Object their inability to pray they know not how to perform the duty A. 1. Let the sense of thine own weakness drive thee unto God for power and strength Beg
your reading may be the more profitable observe these few directions 1. Before you read lift up your heart unto God in some short Prayer beseeching him who is the Father of light to enlighten the blind eyes of your understandings that you may understand what you read so to strengthen your memories that you may remember it and that he would give you Wisdom to apply faith to believe and grace to practise what you read Which Prayer is necessary before reading because as the Apostle speaketh Naturally we understand not the things of the Spirit of God neither can we know them because they are spiritually discerned And it is only the Spirit of God that revealeth them unto us which we have no hope to attain but by fervent Prayer 2. The Word must be read and heard with all holy reverence and attention as being the Word of the great God whereby he revealeth himself and his will cleerly unto us for the building us up in all grace and Godliness 3. In reading every one ought to take special notice of such passages as are either more weighty in themselves or proper to them for their particular cases use and occasion 4. In reading or hearing any portion of Scripture let every one apply it to himself as spoken to him By this means may every one be much edified by every part of the Word of God CHAP. VIII Of Family-Catechising with quickning Motives thereunto III. ANother duty incumbent upon Parents and Masters of Families in reference to those under their charge is to instruct them in the principles of Religion in a Catechistical way For to Catechise is to teach the first principles of Christian Religion whereby they who are young may be acquainted with God betimes This we find given in command unto Housholders under the Law for saith the Lord Thâ—se words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up Where by Children are not meant only natural Children but likewise servants it being usual with the Hebrews by Children to understand all under subjection We have a Prophesie that there shall be as it were a succession of Christs name from generation to generation His name shall endâ—re sor ever his name shall be continued as long as the Sun or as the phrase imports His name shall pass from Father to Son Every Father then must by Christian instruction declare the name of Christ to his Son that so the name of Christ may pass from Father to Son from generation to generation which prophesie concerns the time of the Gospel wherein Parents are commanded to bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord or to nurture them up in instruction as the word in the Greek properly signifieth This duty is commended to us by the example of Godly Housholders in all ages I know saith God of Abraham that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord. We likewise find David often instructing his Son Solomon 1 Chron. 28.9 And that this was the practice of the Saints in the time of the Gospel appeareth from the expressions of the Apostle Ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God And leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ which imply a form of Catechism which was used by the Christians in those dayes And oh that all Christian Parents and governours of Families in our dayes would make conscience of instructing and teaching their Children and Servants in the principles of Religion out of some good Catechism Observing these two Caveats 1. That this duty be done frequently on some day or dayes every week 2. That it be done by little at once for to be too long or tedious therein is apt to dull the understanding and to cause wearisomeness in the learner For the better pressing this duty I shall add a few motives or arguments I. The first Argument or Motive may be taken from the benefits which will follow thereupon 1. Timely instruction will season their hearts that they are like to be better for it all the dayes of their lives and therefore saith the Wise man Traiâ— up or as the Word signifieth Catechise a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it But as a Vessel will retain long the savour of that liquor it was seasoned first withall So will men the instructions they have learned in their youth 2. It is an excellent means to keep them from the errours and heresies of the times For Children well Catechised and instructed in the principles of Religion are in great measure antidoted against the danger of seducing doctrines The Apostle saith There must be heresies which are of a spreading nature and therefore by our Saviour compared to Leaven What better preservative against the infection of false doctrines errours and heresies than to be well Catechised Observe who they be that are easiest seduced by false teachers who they are that have embraced their erroneous tenets and you shall find that they were such who were never well Catechised nor grounded in the principles of Religion As therefore you would not have your Children and Servants poysoned with the erroneous Doctrines of false teachers do your endeavours to get them well rooted and grounded in the knowledge of the truth 3. It is an excellent means to make them hear the publick Ministry of the Word with more profit For thereby they will be enabled to Examine the Doctrine which they hear by the analogie of faith It is foretold that in the latter dayes there shall be false teachers who shall privily bring in damnable heresies And therefore we are not to receive all for truth which is delivered in the Pulpit but as the Apostle exhorteth us to prove and try all things and to hold fast only that which is good which we shall never be able to do unless we be first well Catechised and instructed in the principles of Religion as also well acquainted with the Scriptures If therefore you who are Parents and Masters of Families would discharge your duty herein how would Errours vanish Religion flourish and how would knowledge and grace abound in your Children and Servants II. Another argument may be taken from the manifold damages which usually follow a neglect of Family Catechising 1. It is the ground of that ignorance and spiritual blindness which overfloweth this Nation For as darkness proceedeth from the want of light so ignorance must needs proceed from the want of teaching 2. It is the ground of that looseness and prophaneness that is in many Families For where Gods service hath no place there sin will
be sure to have free place Where the light of knowledge is not set up by Catechising there the deeds of darkness will be sure to break forth Where there is no spâ—aking to God by Prayer nor speaking of God by Catechising you may be sure there will be speaking against God and all the wayes of holiness 4. It is the ground of that barrenness and unfruitfulness under the Means of grace that is to be found amongst many in these dayes For were Children and Servants better Catechised they would better understand the mysteries of the Gospel and much more profit by the Ministry of the Word than they do It is found by experience that the most intelligent and best practised hearers are such as have been well Catechised and instructed The seed which thou thus timely sowest will spring up to a plentifull harvest 4. Such Parents and Masters as neglect this duty do what in them lyeth to damn their Children and Servants as well as themselves For how can it be expected but that those Children and Servants who through want of the light of knowledge walk in darkness should unavoidably stumble into hell Oh that so many Parents and Masters should be so cruel and unnatural to their Children and Servants as to neglect this duty the blood of souls is upon you Obj. Against this so necessary a duty some are apt to object and say To what purpose should we Catechise our Children considering that through the tenderness of their years they are not capable of the Mysteries of Salvation A. 1. Though Children are not so capable of apprehending cleerly the mysteries of salvation as they will be afterwards yet none can deny them to understand so much as to be capable of the seeds of grace which daily experience confirmeth 2. It is found by sad experience that Children uncatechised as they grow in years so they grow in sin and wickedness whereby they become more backward and untoward to the learning of any thing that is good yea and opposite thereunto If you do not the Devil will Catechise them betimes and of him they will quickly learn O prevent as much as may be that enemies sowing his tares be before hand with him take the first season to cast in your good seed The first season is the fittest season Obj. Should we constantly observe these Religious exercises in our Families which you thus press upon us we should hinder our servants work and thereby hazard our estates and so shew our selves worse than Infidels A. 1. This is a meer delusion of Satan to keep you from the discharge of your duty For know assuredly that the time spent in religious exercises with your Family is so far from hindering your servants work that it will rather further it and bring such a blessing upon it that shall return upon your selves For profit and increase is the gift of God who will give it to such as fear him and observe his commandments Oh then say not of Family-duties as Iudas did of that oyntment which Mary poured on our Saviours feet why is this waste Think not that time waste and lost which is spent in the service of God and in the performance of the duties of your places and relations 2. A wilfull neglect of Family-duties is like to bring the curse of God upon your estates yea upon your selves and all that belong unto you Read what Moses saith in Deut. 28.15 16 17 18 19 20. 3. Who can produce the man that did really suffer in his estate by the loss of that time which he spent with and for God Surely as the whetting of the Sythe is no hinderance but rather a furtherance of the Workman So the exercises of Religion can be no hinderance to your Family-affairs but rather a great furtherance unless you think this an hinderance to stay to take Gods blessing along with you without which what are all your own and servants pains but vain and fruitless 4. Suppose you should suffer somewhat in your estate by the loss of that time which you spend upon Religion you will have no cause to repent thereof For whilest others with Martha are carefull and troubled about Worldly things thou with Mary hast chosen the better part Thou hast lost a little of thy Temporals to gain Spirituals and Eternals for thy self and thine How wise are those men who prefer Temporals before their Eternals and will advance their estates upon the ruines of their souls CHAP. IX Of Sabbath sanctification in Families IV. ANother duty incumbent upon Parents Masters and governours of Families is To look to the sanctification of the Lords-Day to see that the Christian Sabbath be sanctified as by themselves so by their whole Family even by all under their charge This is expressly enjoyned in the fourth Commandment which is directed not so much to Children and Servants as to Parents and Masters of Families who are there commanded not only in their own persons to keep holy the Sabbath day but to see that their Children and Servants do it also For thus the Commandment runs The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt not do any work Thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy Man-servant nor thy Maid-servant Which Phrase as Zanchy well noteth implyeth that it is the duty of Parents and Masters of Families to see that their Children and Servants do not any way prophane the Sabbath-day but that they keep it as an holy rest The sanctification of the Sabbath consists 1. In a resting upon the day 2. In a consecrating that rest to the Worship and service of God Therefore it is the duty of all Parents and Masters of Families to take care that both themselves and all under their charge do keep it 1. As a day of rest 2. As an holy rest I. As a day of rest resting in special from all the works of their ordinary calling The very name Sabbath which in Hebrew signifieth rest and the express prohibition in the fourth Commandment of doing any work on that day do shew that it is a day of rest How blame-worthy then are some Masters who contrary to the express command of God do set their Servants about the ordinary work of their calling on the Lords day Let such know that what is got by their Servants work on that day is but the gain of wickedness which will prove their loss at last II. It is the duty of Masters to take care that their Families keep the Lords day as an holy rest by consecratng that time which they set apart from their Worldly business to the worship and service of God in the duties belonging to such an holy-day For the Sabbath was not simply ordained that we and our servants should rest from our bodily labour but that we should in a special manner worship God on that day So much is implyed both in the first and last words of the fourth Commandement In the
offering up a Morning Sacrifice of Prayer and thanksgiving Lord we acknowledge our great unworthiness to come into thy presence to present our Prayers and supplications unto thee But though we are unworthy yet Christ is worthy We beseech thee therefore for his sake to look graciously upon us to pass by our unworthiness and to strengthen our weakness To this end as we draw near unto thee so be thou pleased to draw near unto us enabling us to pray as with humility and sincerity so with zeal and fervency of spirit and with faith in Jesus Christ looking for audience and acceptance in and thorow him Blessed Lord God we cannot but acknowledge thou didst at first create us in a blessed and happy estate even after thine own image endowing us with true knowledge holiness and righteousness But we soon fell from that state of innocency and blessedness in the loynes of our first Father Adam and implunged our selves with him into a dreadfull gulf of sin and misery For O Lord besides the guilt of Adams sin we have contracted from him a Mass of corruption which hath poysoned our very natures polluted and defiled all the faculties of our souls with all the parts and members of our bodies So that we may more truly in regard of our spiritual uncleanness cry out Vnclean Vnclean than the Leper under the Law in regard of his bodily uncleanness And O Lord to this corruption of our natures we have added many many actual sins of our own which as they have been hainous in their quality so in their number and multitude have far exceeded the hairs of our heads and the sands on the Sea-shore which cannot be numbred The which we have committed through the whole course of our lives from our infancy to this present time So that we are now grown old in sin and overgrown with corruption Though the time thou hast allotted us here to live is very little even as a moment to Eternity yet alas how little of this little have we lived to thee our God or to the good of our own souls having mis-spent the greatest part of our dayes in vanity and pleasure We have continued ignorant of thee how much means of knowledge have we had and yet how little knowledge have we gotten oh how little have we done for our souls or the other World We have not considered what is like to become of us hereafter How little care and pains have we taken to make sure for Eternity we have taken the course to undo our selves for ever We have broken every one of thy most holy and righteous Laws ten thousand thousand times Yea we have sinned against thy Gospel in slighting the offers of grace Though thou hast sent unto us Ambassadour after Ambassadour to wooe and beseech us to abandon our sins and to receive Jesus Christ yet alas how have we slighted thy messengers and turned a deaf ear to all thy gracious invitations Though we are willing to take Christ for our Saviour to preserve us from hell and damnation yet alas how unwilling are we to take him for our Lord and King to yield obedience and subjection unto him Lord we cannot but acknowledge our great unthankfulness under those manifold favours and mercies thou hast in a plentiful measure conferred on us as also our unprofitableness under thy Fatherly chastisâ—ments laid upon us in love and for our good our discontentedness at our present state and condition And oh how careless and negligent have we been in the discharge of the duties of our places callings and relations Oh the multitude of worldly and covetous thoughts of proud and ambitious thoughts of wicked and prophane thoughts of wanton and unclean thoughts yea and of blasphemous and atheistical thoughts that lodge in the hearts of most of us and there revel it day and night And O Lord we cannot but acknowledge the deadness of our hearts the distractions of our minds in the performing holy duties We are active and lively about our worldly businesses but oh how dull and flat are we in our religious exercises praying as if we prayed not and hearing as if we heard not Lord make us truly apprehensive of our sins and misery that we may humble our selves under a sense of them and turn unto thee by true and unfained repentance Turn us O God and we shall be turned draw us and we will run after thee And O Lord whilest we are returning unto thee meet us we pray thee in the way and like a tender Father embrace us with the arms of thy mercy Our sins we confess are many and hainous yet we know and believe thy mercies are far more and the merits of Jesus Christ are far greater and therefore we are resolved to adventure our souls as upon the mercies of theâ— our God so upon the merits of Jesus Christ into whose arms we here cast our selves Oh be pleased to make us partakers both of the merit of Christs death in freeing us from the guilt of sin and of the virtue of Christs death in freeing us from the power and dominion of sin that it may not rule and raign in us as formerly Lord work in us a loathing and a true hatred of every sin especially of such we have been most addicted to and have most delighted in To this end convince us what a folly yea madness it is for the short fruition of a momentany pleasure here to implunge our selves into everlasting burnings Oh convert every unconverted soul among us bring us to Christ make us adventurers for the other World let us be resolved henceforth for an holy and righteous life instruct us in thy wayes and teach us thy Sâ—atutes Break the power of our sins subdue our rebellion and make us willing to be the Lord's Change our evil natures and give us another Spirit Help us sincerâ—ly to choose thee as our portion to love and fear and trust in thee and to walk humbly with thee all the dayes of our life Help us to set our affections on things abovâ— and no longer on this earth let us dye daily to sin and this World let us exercise our selvâ—s in keeping a good Consâ—iâ—nce towards God and men let us work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and give all diligence to make our calling and election sure and let not our labour herein be in vain Keep us O Lord from our iniquities keep us from the way of lying from all unrighteous and unjust dealing from wrath and evil speaking let us be true temperate peaceable and mercifull as the children of our heavenly Father Help us to be serious and savoury and tender and watchfull and hold us on constantly in our holy course to the end of our dayes Lord take us into thy keeping and protection this day keep us from all danger especially from sinning against thee To this end make us watchfull both against the occasions of sins and temptations thereunto Keep us we pray thee
from â—dleness as knowing that our idle time is the Devils working timâ— who is most busie with us when we are most at leisure And bless all our undertakings So spâ—ritualize our hearts and affections that we may have heavenly hearts in earthly imployments and so may serve thee our God whilest we are serving our own necessities Together with us bless we beseech thee thy whole Church Call thine ancient people the Jews and bring in the fulness of the Gentiles And particularly we pray thee for our own Nation the Land of our Nativity pardon the crying sins thereof Showre down thy blessings upon it both temporal and spiritual In special we pray thee so to bless our royal Soveraign that under him we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Bless likewise all our Magistrates and Ministers of thy holy Word Thou the Lord of the harvest send plenty of Labourers into thy harvest And O Father of mercy look down with the eye of pitty and compassion upon all thine afflicted ones let thy mercies be suitable to their several needs and necessities Bless all Christian families this in particular enrich every soul with all needfull saving graces Blessed Lord God according to our bounden duty we offer up our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving unto thy blessed Majesty in the name and mediation of thy beloved Son Jesus Christ. Blessing and praising thee for our health wealth food and rayment for our preservation from our first being to this present time We bless thy name above all for that gift of gifts the Lord Jesus And for the Gospel wherein thou hast freely offered Christ with all his benefits to us We bless thee for whatever grace hath been wrought in any of us by the Gospel and for that good hope thou hast given us through grace We bless thy name for the last nights quiet rest this dayes protection hitherto Add we Pray thee this mercy give us grace to live as in thy sight who seeth all our wayes and art privy to every secret thing which we do And now O Lord accept our persons though sinfull and our service though full of weaknesses in thy beloved Son with whom thou art well pleased In whose name and words we further call upon thee saying Our Father which art in Heaven c. An Evening Prayer for a Family O Most great and glorious Lord God and in Jesus Christ a loving and a gracious Father We thy poor and unworthy Servants being by thy good providence brought to the end of this day desire to conclude the same with an Evening spiritual Sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving Lord we do here profess we come not in our own names nor in our own strength we are unable of our selves to perform any spiritual duty after an acceptable manner But we come in the alone name and strength of thy beloved Son Jesus Christ beseeching thee for his sake to pass by our unworthiness to quicken our dead hearts and to carry us forth with life and vigour in the duty we are now going about Blessed Lord God we do acknowledge our selves to be vile wretched sinners Sinners by nature sinners by birth sinners in the whole course of our lives having sinned as if we had come into the World for no other end but to sin against thee Though thou hast been pleased to restrain us from many hainous scandalous sins yet Lord thou knowest what evil thoughts do lodge in our hearts and what Lusts bear rule and sway there Blessed Lord God though we are in some measure convinced of the need and necessity that we have of Jesus Christ that we are undone for ever without an interest in him yet how have we slighted and rejected the tenders and offers of him in the Ministry of the Gospel and preferred our lusts and the pleasures of this World before him We have indeed outwardly made profession of the Gospel yet have we disgraced the profâ—ssion thereof by our carnal and sinfull conversation Lord we cannot but acknowledge our desires cares and endeavours have run out more after the things of this life than after the things of a better life We have slighted thy judgements abused thy mercies prophaned thy Sabbaths and polluted all thy holy Ordinances When we have drawn near unto thee with our bodies and honoured thee with our lips then have our hearts been far removed from thee when we have had communion with thine Ordinances we have oftentimes had little communion with thee our God therein Blessed Lord our sins are many and hainous yea there seemeth a kind of infiniteness in our sins but we know and believe there is indeed an infiniteness in the mercies of thee our God and in the merits of Jesus Christ and therefore with an utter disclaiming of all righteousness of our own as filthy rags we place our whole confidence for life and salvation upon thy mercies in Christ. As thou hast laid our help upon him so on him will we lay our hope for the pardon of our sins here and for eternal salvation hereafter Lord be pleased to accept of his all sufficient Sacrifice and perfect satisfaction thereby made to thy justice for all our sins Pardon us we pray thee and free us as from the guilt and punishment so from the power and dominion of all our sins that we be no longer the servants of sin but may be henceforth the servants of God Lay hold on all our souls and bring us in effectually to Jesus Christ. Subduâ— our rebâ—llion take away our unwâ—llingness answer all our objections and excuses and work our hearts to a resolved adventuring upon him an hearty acceptance of him and a total resignation of our selves for ever to him to his goverâ—â—ent and dominion Lord we beseech thee not only to jâ—stifie us by thy grace but likewise to sanctifie us by thy Spirit that we may be an holy people serving thee in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives Mortifie our flesh with the affections and lusts let us be proud no longer nor covetous nor envious nor froward nor mâ—litious Let thy grace be sufficient for us both for the killing of our dearest lusts and strongest corruptions and for the quickning of us on in a conscionable discharge of the Duties of our places callings and relations by which grace let us be carryed on throughout our whole course in an holy humble and sincere conversation Lord let it suffice us that we have spent so much of our precious time in seeking after earthly things help us now in earnest to seek after spiritual and heavenly things after spiritual grace and heavenly glory We pray thee convince us thorowly that upon the little inch of time in this life depends the length and breadth of all Eternity and that as we live here we shall fare everlastingly hereafter And O let the consideration thereof stir us up to a fruitfull improvement of our short time to the best advantage
Christ only excepted who was conceived by the holy Ghost free from this sin As every other creature receiveth the nature and disposition of their kind and stock thus Lyons a ravenous disposition Doggs a doggish disposition so the Children of sinfull man a sinfull disposition an inclination rooted in their natures to all kinds of sin which continueth in them as long as they live and is never quite rooted out of any so long as he continueth here on earth Which the Lord in his wisdom hath so ordered 1. That thereby they may be the more humbled and kept from spiritual pride 2. That they might have more frequent occasions of going to God by prayer for help and strength against the working of corruptions in them Q. What is actual sin A. A particular breach of Gods Law Q. How many wayes do men fall into actual sins A. 1. By omitting or not doing the good which God in his Word requireth 2. By committing or doing the evil which God in his Word hath forbidden 3. By a sinfull manner of performing that which is good The best duties we take in hand are exceedingly corrupted through our failing in the manner of performing them Q. What is the punishment of sin A. All curses and plagues in this life at the end death and after that eternal torment in hell Deut. 28.16 17. Rom. 6.23 2 Thes. 1.8 9. Q. Is any man able to free himself out of that wofull plight whereinto he hath implunged himself by sin A. Surely No. 2 Cor. 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves Much less can we do any thing of our selves to free our selves from so great a misery as sin hath brought us into We are dead in sin Eph. 2.1 And dead men cannot raise themselves to life Q Can any other creature deliver man A. No meer Creature Psalm 49.7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give unto God a ransome for him This may be applyed to all the Creatures in the World to all the Saints and Angels in the World none of them can by any means redeem his brother So that in regard of mans own power or in regard of succour from any meer creature there remaineth nothing but matter of despair Q. Is there any means to free man out of his corrupt and miserable estate A. Yes God himself hath given unto man a Saviour Act. 5.31 When it was manifested none could help God himself gave an helper and a Saviour unto us Q. Who is mans Saviour A. Jesus Christ. 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the World to save sinners Iesus is an Hebrew word and signifieth a Saviour The Angel that gave this name addeth this reason thereof He shall save his people from their sins The other name Christ is a Greek Word and signifieth anointed Iesus shews him to be a Saviour Christ an able Saviour because anointed that is set apart by God and endowed with all fulness for the work of our redemption Q. What is Iesus Christ. A. He is the eternal Son of God who in the fulness of time took mans nature The only begotten Son of God the second Person in the Trinity who in the fulness of time took mans Nature upon him This is Jesus Christ. He is called the only begotten Son of God because he is the alone Son of God by nature For though others be Sons of God by Creation as Adam was and the Angels Others by adoption and regeneration as the Saints of God Yet none is his Son by nature but Jesus Christ who is therefore called the only begotten Son of God Joh. 1.14 which is to be understood of an eternal and incomprehensible generation which would rather be admired than enquired into Q. Why must mans Redeemer be man A. 1. In general that he might suffer and dye for mans Redemption Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of blood is no remission of sin â— Christ therefore that he might dye for our Redemption took upon him our Nature for as God he could not dye 2. That he might satisfie the justice of God in the same manner wherein it was offended For the justice of God did require that satisfaction should be made in the same nature which had sinned Man therefore having sinned it was requisite that man should dye for the satisfying Gods justice and appeasing his wrath Whereupon saith the Apostle Since by man came Death by man came the Resurrection of the dead 1 Cor. 15.21 3. That he might feel our frailties and from sense and experience learn pitty and compassion Which reason the Apostle rendreth Heb. 2.16 17. He took on him the seed of Abraham that he might be a merciful and faithfull High-Priest that is that he might be merciful as one man is to another And in Heb. 4.15 We have not an High-Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Q. Why must mans Redeemer be also God A. 1. That he might be able and sufficient to endure that which for mans sin he undertook The burden which he underwent was the wrath of an infinite God and there was need of a divine power to support under the divine wrath His humane nature would have been overwhelmed with the heavy weight of Gods wrath had not the divine nature strengthned and upheld it 2. That he might vanquish all the enemies of our Salvation and overcome Satan hell and death which no meer creature could do Christ being God by his death he overcame death and him that had the power of death that is the Devil 3. That his obedience and sufferings might be of an infinite price and value That which made the Obedience and the Death of Christ to be of such an infinite value was that it was the obedience and the death of the Son of God of him who was God as well as man The Deity being one nature in the person of our Redeemer an infinite dignity accompanyed his person and every thing that was done and suffered by him Which affords a singular ground of comfort to all humbled sinners sensible of their sins and misery due unto them for the same in that the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ is of infinite worth and merit far above the merit of their sins being the death and sufferings of him who was God as well as man Oh what comfort yea what matter of triumph did this afford unto the Apostle Paul as appeareth in Rom. 8.33.34 For treating of the fulness and aâ—sufficiency of Christs satisfaction by his death in the former part of the Chapter in the latter part he speaks as one ravished with abundance of comfort and thereupon presently challengeth a dispute with any concerning the fulness of Christs satisfaction by his death Let conscience saith he and carnal reason let Law and sin Hell and Devil
bringeth in Christ himself applying that rite This is my body which is broken for you Q. What is signified by powring out the Wine A. The shedding of Christs blood Or his suffering unto death and powring forth his soul an offering for sin Q. What is signified by the Ministers giving Bread and Wine to the Communicants A. Gods giving and offering his Son to them In the Sacrament God doth offer and tender Christ to every Communicant yea he doth as it were put him into our hands with his own hands Q. What is meant by those words of the Minister Take Eat Drink A. Gods will for our applying Christ to our selves He doth not only in a dumb shew make offer of Christ but by his Minister speaks unto us and saith I will and require you to take my Son to apply him to your selves that so you may live by him What can we more expect on Gods part to move us to receive his Son Q. What doth the peoples taking the Bread and Wine set out A. Their receiving Christs body and blood That is a spiritual receiving of Christ made man and made a Sacrifice to themselves and that by faith For faith is that instrument whereby we receive Christ and all his benefits as they are offered to us in the Gospel and sealed unto us in the Sacrament Faith is to the soul as the hand is to the body That which is offered to a man for his good the hand receives to be his own Thus God offering his Son unto us faith first perswades the heart of Gods good will to man and of his true intent to bestow Christ upon him and thereupon applyes and takes Christ to himself as his own By faith the things signified are as truly received for the nourishment of the soul as the signs are received fâ—r the nourishment of the body Faith is not only our hand to take hold of Christ but our mouth to take him in to take him down into our hearts whereby he becomes our nourishmâ—nt and strengâ—h Q. What is the duty of every Communicant before he goeth to the Lâ—rds Table A. Examinâ—tion 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man examine himself aâ—d so let him eat of that bread and driâ—k of that Câ—p. Concerning this see my Directions for the worthy receiving the Lords Supper Chap. 24. Q. What is Prayâ—r A. Prayer is an offering up our dâ—sires to God in the name of Christ for such good things as he hath promâ—sâ—d to give and we stand in need to receive Prayer stands not in the bare use of a form of good words but is the pouring fâ—rth the soul and the desireâ— thereof after God and the good things he hath to bestow Isa. 26.9 In the name of Christ. God heareth not sinners that is coming in their own name But sayes Christ himself Joh. 15 16. Whatsoever ye shall aâ—k the Father in my name he will give it you For such things as he hath promised to give and we stand in need to receive Our prayers must be according to Gods Will. And this is according to the will of God that we ask what he hath promised and what he knows we have need of And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us 1 Joh. 5.14 The Parts of Prayer are 1. Confession or the acknowledgement of our sins and transgressions 2. Petition or the asking or craving from the hands of God such things as we want 3. Thanksgiving or the praising of God for the mercies we have received Q What shall be the state of men after death A. I. In general 1. The bodies of all men shall be raised out of their graves and shall live again 1 Cor. 15. 2. All men shall be brought to Judgement 2 Cor. 5.10 II. In particular 1. Belâ—â—vers shall go into everlasting life 2. Uâ—believers and ungodly into everlasting fire Mat. 25.34 41. FINIS â— Sam. 2.30 Mat. 6.1 Joh. 7.48 1 Tim. 1.16 (a) Mat. 6.30 Mat. 8.26 Mat. 14.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (b) Mark 9.24 Heb. 12 2◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui multis praefectus est aut multos doctrinâ dignitate antecelliâ— Joh. 1.18 Col. 2.3 Mat. 15.28 Isa. 42.3 Luk. 19.10 Isa. 49.15 Psal. 103.13 Mat. 11 28. Mat. 1.21 Rom. 6.14 Mark 9.23 Mark 16.16 Maâ— 9.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 5.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundum qualitates â—oâ— secundum ipsam vel ani-nae vel corporis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifieth as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 6.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regeneratio Secundum carnem Joh. 3.6 Rom. 7.21 22 23. Habitat sed non regnat manet sed non dominatur dejectum sed non ejectum tamen c. Benard in Serm. 10. on Psa. 90. Rom. 6.12 2 Cor. 8.12 Eph. 4.22 Rom. 6.6 Col. 3 5. Inductio unious formae est destructio alterius Eph. 2.5 Rom. 6.4 1 Pet. 1.3 Jam. 1.18 1 Pet. 1.3 Joh. 3.4 Tit. 3.5 Jam. 1.18 1 Pet. 1.23 Eph. 1.13 Rom. 1.16 1 Cor. 4.15 Philemon verse 10. Eph. 4.24 Eph. 2.10 Joh. 3.3 Psal. 103.11 2 Thes. 2.13 1 Thes. 4.3 Mat. 24.35 Eph. 4.24 Job 14.4 Joh. 3.6 Rev. 21.27 Rev. 22. Hab. 1.13 Psal. 5.4 2 Cor. 6.14 Heb. 12.14 Psal. 50.5 Psal. 89.7 Joh. 3.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 132.4 Psal. 49.12 Jer. 10.14 In illis tantum sunt opera Dei in hac est imago Dâ—i Aug. Rom. 2.28 29. 1 Tim. 4.8 Heb. 6.17 Jam. 2.5 Prov. 27.1 Heb. 3.15 Heb. 11.26 Rom. 6.23 Rom. 6.16 1 Joh. 3.8 Prov. 10.7 Prov. 3.33 Zech. 5.4 Psal. 32.1 Isa. 57.20 1 Tim. 6.7 Job 1.21 Heb. 9.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amos 5.19 Luk. 16.22 Rev. 6.11 Heb. 12.23 Rev. 6.16 Rom. 2.5 Psa. 145.17 Luk. 16.19 20 21. Rom. 2.6 In die judicii cum justi introducentur in regnum Dei injusti autem abjicientur for as Aug. in Psal. 72. * Zeph. 1.15 Rom. 8.1 Act. 17.30 31. Rev. 6.16 Mat. 24.30 Mat. 16.27 Tit. 2. â—13 Mat. 17.2 Mat. 24.30 Mat. 24.31 Mat. 25.31 2 Thes. 1.7 Act. 24.25 Eccl. 11.9 2 Cor. 5.10 Rev. 20.13 Exod. 19.16 Mat. 24.31 Rev. 6.15 16. Jer. 8.6 Rom. 2.15 1 Cor. 4.5 Rom. 2.5 1 Cor. 11.31 Psal. 16.11 Luk. 13.28 Numb 5.18 27. Isa. 33.14 Dan. 4.33 Mat. 18.22 Dan. 5.6 Mat. 5.46 Prov. 1.24 c. Mat. 25.41 Psal. 16.11 Gen. 5.24 Mat. 8.12 Eccl. 11.7 Rev. 19 20. Rev. 20.10 Isa. 30.33 Mat. 13.42 2 Thes. 1.8 Jer. 33.14 Dan. 7.10 Isa. 66.24 Mark 9.44 46 48. Isa. 30.33 2 King 23.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non videns Neh. 11.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 5.29 30. Rev. 9.11 Rev. 20.10 Mark 9.44 Mark 3.12 Mat. 18.8 Mich. 7.19 Psal. 86.5 Eph. 2.4 2 Chron. 33.3 c. 1 Tim. 1. 13 c. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thes. 1.11 (b) Exod.