the blessed of the Father Labour by these and all other means that God the Father have the greatest place in your childrens hearts Teach them to know and prize Jesus Christ without this they cannot be true Christians shew them all the fulness and glory of the Godhead in Jesus Christ Labour to make them see his glory as the only begotten Son of God and all that he as Mediator and Redeemer hath done in the state of his humiliation and is doing and will do in the state of his exaltation for the salvation of lost sinners Labour to imprint these great Truths upon their hearts 1. That it was the Will and Law of God the Father that God the Son in our nature should be a sacrifice for our sins this fully appears Heb. 10.5 c. A body hast thou prepared or fitted me meaning to be a sacrifice and saith he Lo I come to do thy will O God and Psal 40. Thy law is in my heart meaning that will and law of the Father which bound him to offer and sacrifice himself for our sins 2. That Jesus Christ by his obedience to the death of the cross did perfectly obey and fulfil this law and will of God the Father 3. That all salvation and happiness is by the Covenant of Grace setled upon all and only those who believe and obey the Gospel only for the sake of this sacrifice and obedience of Jesus Christ and therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all that is by Christs fulfilling the will of his Father in once sacrificing himself for sinners we and all true believers are sanctified that is perfectly saved Ye must also acquaint them with the office and work of the Holy Ghost which our Saviour tells us John 16.13 is to guide or lead them into all truth that is to inable them to believe and love and obey the saving-truths of God reveal'd in the Gospel for to the end that they may know and keep their baptismal-covenant they must know how all the Three sacred persons the Father Son and Holy Ghost are interested in the great work of Salvation 3dly Labour to convince your children of the Excellency of the Life of Religion and obedience to God commend this to them as the most honourable life for our Saviour tells us John 12.26 If any man serve me him will my father honour What shall be done to the man saith Ahasuerus whom the king will honour But who is able to tell what shall be done to the man whom the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will honour Let them also know that this is the wisest life it's Jobs inquiry Where shall wisdom be found and saith he Job 28.28 Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding And further that it is the safest life for God is a shield and rock and wall to all that obey him and although such things which they have in common with other men are expos'd to danger and loss yet their persons and their whole portion is always safe and also that this is the most gainful life for hereby Saints gain God and Christ and Heaven and lose nothing for we cannot lose by a Saviour who saves us from all evil and brings us into the possession of all good and though death it self strips us naked of all things under the Sun yet death is unspeakable gain to all who live this life and ye must further assure them that this is the most pleasant life for it is a life of faith and love and praise and joy and a life of victory over sin and they who live this life have all things to please them they have God to please them Christ and his Merits to please them and a prospect of a holy and a blessed Eternity to please them ye would never be the fathers and mothers of fools if ye could perswade your children to be so wise as to prize and love a life of obedience to God 4. Commend to your children the glory and amiableness of the House and Church of God this is the body whereinto they are baptized take your child with you and go walk about Sion and go round about her and tell the towers thereof and mark well her bulwarks and consider her palaces as ye are taught Psal 45.9 Present to their view King Jesus and at his right hand standing the Queen his Church in gold of Ophir Psal 45.9 say to them as the Angel said to John Rev. 21.9 Come hither and I will shew you the bride the Lambs wife shew them that glorious sight Rev. 12.1 The woman cloathed with the Sun and upon her head that bright and glorious constellation a crown of twelve Stars that so the company of those who live in communion with God and Jesus Christ may be desirable and delightful to them and that they may forsake evil company which is often the bane of youth 5. Teach them to esteem aright of Gods Ordinances for by baptism they are solemnly admitted into that house and family which is blessed with these as the means of salvation Labour to beget in them good thoughts of Gods Ministers for ye shall ever find that those children will despise you who make light of them teach them to pray ye can never have comfort in your children till they cry to God Abba Father teach them to know and prize and long for the Lords-Supper and therein to take Christ and all Salvation in a little bread and wine teach them to honour and delight in the Lords-day as the Diamond in the ring of time those children are always the honour and joy of their godly parents who make conscience to keep holy the Lords-day 6. Make them sensible that time is short and precious that an eternity of glory and misery is at hand and that death and judgment and heaven or hell are at the door of young children I shall further add five Directions to godly parents to prevent this sad calamity 1. Labour to save your children from those sins which provoke God and will destroy them as well as from those sins which will also bring loss and reproach upon you some are sadly affected to see their children given to drunkenness or whoredom or the like sins but are not so much concern'd for their unbelief and impenitency and want of love to God and for their covetousness which shews such parents to have too much of the love of the world and too little love to God and their childrens souls but we must take our measures of the evil and danger of sin from the word of God which tells us 1 Cor. 6.9 10. that the covetous as well as drunkards and whoremongers shall not inherit the kingdom of God and this will teach parents not only to mourn over a debauch'd child but also over a covetous though he be a wealthy child 2.
Ye deny his Power in daring to war against him and like those hectoring Atheists Job 15.25 26. Ye stretch out your hands against God and strengthen your selves against the Almighty ye run upon him even on his neck upon the thick bosses of his buckler as if ye were able to fight God and overcome the Almighty Ye deny his Holiness and think that God is altogether such a one as your selves Psal 50.21 And that ye may not be terrified by your enmity and unlikeness to him ye will please your selves in fancying that God is like you as if ye must rather be a pattern to him than he be a pattern to you and so ye will perswade your selves that he is the God of Atheists and Whoremongers and Drunkards and Lyars and Thieves and not the holy God of a holy people Ye deny the Truth of God one of the greatest and best truths that ever God spake to man is that 1 Joh. 5.11 God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son and yet herein ye would make him a liar in not believing this solemn record which he gave of Christ a liar is one of the worst characters of the devil and this ye give to the true and holy God These things I write as it were upon the brazen faces of all ungodly and disobedient children 2. Ye break the Covenant in refusing to take God for your God and happiness the greatest promise that ever God made to man is that Hebr. 8.10 I will be to you a God but this signifies nothing to you ye will not accept of him for your chief honour and treasure and joy it is no honour to you to have the great Jehovah for your Fâ—ther ye see no good in him and account not your selves the better for him and if ye lose him ye think ye lose nothing ye neither love nor desire him nor take any delight or pleasure in him 3. Ye have broken the Covenant in renouncing God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in whose Name ye were baptized your lives declare that ye had rather have the love of a debauch'd companion than the love of the Father of Jesus Christ ye despise the Lord Jesus and account the great price of redemption to be worth nothing and would rather keep your sins than be saved from them ye defie the wrath of God and scorn that the Mediator should make your peace with him ye resist the Holy Spirit and would rather be made filthy and wicked and be taught to lye and swear and steal than that the Spirit should teach you to love and serve and delight in God 4. Ye have broken the Covenant in taking part with the devil and the world and sin against the Father Son and Holy Ghost and this ye have done two ways 1. In believing the promises of the devil the world and sin and in not believing the promises of God the devil the world and sin are the three great cheats of mankind and they deceive men by making seemingly great and high promises and by these they have prevail'd with man to break both the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace the devil tempted our first parents not to believe that word of God which he gave them to deter and keep them from sin which word is written Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the devil tempted them to look on that word as a lye and makes them that great promise Genes 3.4 5. wherein he promiseth them that if they eat the forbidden fruit they shall not only be safe from all evil saying Ye shall not surely dye but that they shall also be preferr'd to greater happiness than God had then placed them in for saith he your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil and by believing this promise of the devil they brake the Covenant of Life and brought that deluge of sin and misery which came upon all mankind and since he prevail'd with men not to believe the word of God which he spake to keep them from sin and destruction now his work is to tempt them to make God a lyar in the word which he hath spoken to save them from sin and ruine by Jesus Christ and this is the word of the Covenant of Grace which promiseth eternal life and salvation to all that believe in Christ and repent of their sins and live the lives of new creatures according to the rules of the Gospel but the devil tempts men to break this Covenant by promising them life and all happiness in a course of sin and these wicked children believe the devil herein and bless themselves in their sins saying with those bold ranters Deut. 29.19 We shall have peace though we walk in the imagination of our own hearts to add drunkenness to thirst and thus ye break your Covenant with God and make a Covenant with Death and Hell 2. In obeying the devil the world and sin and in disobeying God ye call God your Father in heaven but ye do the lusts of the Devil your father in hell ye walk according to the course of this world Ephes 2.2 and are the servants of sin Rom. 6.20 and ye hate and fight against God your Maker and Redeemer and were it possible for you ye would every day kill him who only hath immortality And thus like a company of renegado's ye live as if ye were baptized in the name of the devil the world and the flesh to renounce the Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to the Church of God ye were born members of the Church and subjects of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and by baptism were solemnly admitted into that great and holy and victorious and blessed society Hebr. 12.22 23. Mount Sion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem the general assembly and Church of the first-born written in heaven but ye have forsaken this Church and turn'd your selves out of the family and house of the living God and are become of the same party with the devil and his seed and have laboured to fill the world with sin and the kingdom of Satan and ye would have Jesus Christ to have no Name or Kingdom or Ministers or Ordinances or People in the world Thirdly Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to your parents This appears in that those black characters already given of wicked children are found on you whereunto I shall add this one which includes all the particulars of your disobedience which can be mention'd namely Ye do not love your parents for love worketh no evil unto but always willeth and seeketh the good of the beloved Love ever inclines persons to please them whom they love and to love and delight in their company and causeth such looks and words and behaviour as are expressions of love how pleasant hath it been sometimes to me to see as it were
is also included so that by the woman and her seed we are to understand Adam and Eve and Christ and his Church and by the Serpent and his seed are meant the Devils and all the devils children and forasmuch as we find Adam and Eve of the same party with Christ and his Church and in enmity with the Devil and his seed we conclude them to be godly persons and godly parents Moreover we find Genes 4. that they brought up their children in that Religion and to worship God in the use of those Ordinances which he had then instituted as a means of their salvation these two were the first-fruits of Christ the first persons that ever entered into the Covenant of Grace and Christ might say to them as Jacob said to Reuben Gen. 49.3 Ye are my first-born my might and the beginning of my strength At first the whole Church of God was only in these two persons and yet these are the parents of that cursed and bloody Cain And I shall observe three things in this history that render this case very doleful 1. That Eve was so exceeding glad for the birth of Cain some are of opinion that she thought she had brought forth the promised Messiah and that made her break out with joy saying Gen. 4.1 I have gotten a man from the Lord and yet this is he of whom the Apostle speaks 1 John 3.12 He was of that wicked one meaning the devil This is a common case that parents are exceedingly glad for the birth of a child and call their friends and neighbours to rejoyce with them and yet that sweet and pleasant babe proves the greatest torment to their parents which ever they met with in their whole age 2. Consider his crime he barbarously murdered his own brother Gen. 4.8 Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him He considered not how this would grieve the heart of his good Father and Mother nor that he was the elder brother and therefore ought to have nourished the life of the younger and to have been a pattern of holiness and love to him neither did he consider that he hated and murder'd not only a brother but also a holy child of God and for that which he ought to have honoured and loved him because his brothers works were righteous and he considered not how his brothers blood would cry to God for vengeance against him no bonds or arguments or reasons will prevail with ungodly children 3. Consider the dreadful judgment of God both upon himself and his posterity Gods judgment on his soul was so dreadful that he desperately cries out Gen. 4.13 Mine ini quity is greater than that it may be forgiven he was cast out of the favour of God excommunicated from the Church and all his posterity were excluded from communion therewith they are call'd the sons and daughters of men in opposition to the Sons of God and at last all perished in the deluge of waters and yet I say this bloody and cursed monster was the son the eldest son of the two first godly parents that ever were in the world 2d Instance is in Noah the first instance was in the first godly man in the old world as the ages before the flood are called 2 Pet. 2.5 This instance is in the best man in the new World after the flood this Noah hath a great character in the Scriptures Gen. 6.8 9. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations When all the earth was debauch'd and corrupt Gen. 6.11 12. yet then was Noah just and upright and walked with God it 's he that is called in 2 Pet. 2.5 A preacher of righteousness It is he that was so much in the favour of God that he and his family were singled out to be preserved in the Ark when all the world besides were drown'd and perish'd in the waters yet this holy Noah was the Father of that wicked Ham whom all the waters of Noah as the Scripture calls that deluge were not effectual to eure of his wickedness but he went a wicked man into the Ark and came wicked out insomuch that his own holy Father was inspired by a prophetical spirit to curse both his son and posterity and the crime mentioned Gen. 9.22 25. was his irreverence and disrespect to his father 3d Instance is in Isaac that holy Patriarch who so greatly feared God that his son Jacob gives God that honourable name Gen. 31.42 The fear of Isaac meaning the God whom Isaac feared yet he and that good mother Rebekkah were the parents of a wicked Esau whom God is said to hate Rom. 9.13 I know we read Gen. 25.28 that Isaac loved Esau but we see that children may be greatly beloved of their parents and yet abhorred and cursed of God 4th Instance is in David call'd a man after Gods own heart whom God rais'd up to be king of Israel he was a Pen-man of a considerable part of the holy Scriptures such an eminent type of Christ that Christ himself is often call'd David in Scripture yet he was the tender father of that wicked Absolom who bloodily murdered his brother Amnon and miserably and shamefully dyed in Treason and Rebellion against his Royal Father whose bitter lamentation is yet in our ears 2 Sam. 18.33 O my son Absolom my son my son Absolom would God I had died for thee O Absolom my son my son 2dly I shall further instance in four Cases wherein this is often verified 1. Those Children who are most beloved of their parents do often prove the most wicked Children Absolom was David's darling insomuch that although he set his whole kingdom in a flame and constrained his father to fly for his life yet when David sent out his Army to suppress that rebellion he gives this charge to his Commanders in the audience of the Soldiers 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently for my sake with the young man even with Absolom And it often happens that the Children who have most of their Parents love and delight and whose looks and talk they are most taken with and whom they are most apt to boast of and are most unwilling to part with and in whom they promise themselves most content and pleasure do often prove the greatest scourge and torment to their parents for it is not the love of the godly parents but the love of God that makes children holy and happy 2. This is often the sad case of some holy Ministers of the Word I know it 's a Popish and peevish humour in some to say that Ministers children never do well indeed every thing of Ministers is most exposed to the observation of people and therefore the wickedness of their children is most observ'd and talk'd of but the holy learned and every-way prosperous and blessed seed of divers godly Ministers is sufficient to confute and shame the ignorance of people herein and yet it is true that many
was said before they cannot be so much the joy and delight of one another but when they lye down this makes them water their bed with tears and they awake with sorrow with a wicked child on their hearts 2. They cannot take so much comfort as they would in the other children that are godly not that they love them less but rather more but their joy in them is much interrupted hereby Suppose among many children there be but one ungodly child that one is a disturbance and annoyance to the whole family that one sinner as Solomon speaks in a more general case destroys much good it grieves them to think that whereas that one child was in the same Covenant and had the same dedication to God by Baptism and the same affection and education from the parents with all the other children yet the rest are vessels of mercy but this seems to be a vessel of wrath 3. They cannot take so much comfort in the victory over their own sins when they see the same corruptions which are abhorred and mortified and forsaken by the parents breaking out and reigning in the children 4. This interrupts their joy in God and Jesus Christ when such parents must with the same faith believe Gods wrath to their children as they believe his love to themselves and when they look upon God as their Father they must look upon him as an enemy to their Children and when they say We hope Heaven is our portion and place it must grieve them that their children will not go with them thither Sixthly The greatness of this affliction appears further by the concommitants of it I shall only instance in three things that usually accompany it which make it more grievous 1. Such children do often impoverish their parents Solomon tells us that a wicked child wasteth his father and chaseth away his mother such children care not if they starve their poor parents so that they can feed their own lusts and it 's often seen that a plentiful estate is consum'd by riotous children 2. Such children do often debauch and corrupt the other children and make their brethren in nature to be their brethren in iniquity and often their brothers and sisters are easier inticed to sin by a wicked brother than drawn to God by a godly father and if any of the other children be godly these wicked ones do hate and revile and persecute them like wicked Cain who slew his brother because his works were righteous 3. They bring reproach upon that good Religion which their good parents profess and practise and thus Eli's sons made men abhor the offerings of the Lord and with some the holy lives of the parents cannot wipe off the reproach which is cast on Religion by the wickedness of their children Seventhly The greatness of this affliction appears by these eight Aggravations of it 1. It aggravates their grief to remember what pleasure and delight these children were to them in their childhood it torments them now to see their sweet and pleasant smiles turn'd into scornful and disdainful looks at their parents and their pretty broken words turn'd into oaths and lies and other rotten speeches and to think that these who once were so forward to clasp about their necks and to kiss them and to run at their commands do now lift up the heel against them 2. It aggravates their sorrow to see themselves so miserably disappointed in their former hopes of these children Hope deferred saith Solomon makes the heart sick but to be cross'd and disappointed in hopes of so great mercy doth even break the heart When these parents remember how pleasant it was to them to hear these children lisp out their Catechisms and to hear their good words of God and Christ it cannot but be very grievous to them that the same children which they did with Hannah lend to the Lord should sell themselves to the devil 3. It aggravates their sorrow that their children are so void of love to their parents and to see that the company of lyars and drunkards and whoremongers and thieves is more delightful to them than the company of their parents 4. It aggravates their sorrow to look upon the holy children of others when they may say Yonder are children that make a glad father and mother when the children of our bodies and counsels and prayers and vows and tears live as if their father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite 5. Aggravation is in case the parents have but one child and that proves foolish and disobedient and of this there be many instances the Scripture to set forth the saddest kind of mourning compares it to the mourning for an only son Jer. 6.26 Make thee mourning as for an only son most bitter lamentation Zech. 12.10 They shall mourn as one that mourneth for an only son I know these Scriptures speak of parents mourning for the death of an only son but it 's not so sad to follow an only son to the grave as to see an only child live to the dishonour of God to be a curse to his generation and to be continually destroying his precious soul it 's a very bitter case when as much love and kindness and care and cost and pains and prayers and fastings are bestowed upon one child as other parents bestow upon many children and notwithstanding all this one child should prove such a monster of wickedness as if the sins of many ungodly children met in him 6. Aggravation When Gods holy Ministers are the Fathers of fools which I have told you often happens and this is a most dreadful case for such who have the keys of the kingdom of heaven and yet must bind over their own children to the wrath of God such know the terrors of the Lord and the torments of Hell more than others and therefore must be more affected to believe that this at present is the portion of their own children 7. Aggravation When such children whom their parents design'd to serve God in the Ministry of the Gospel do prove ungodly this is matter of great lamentation for the parents to intend them for the highest office in the Church and give them education for that end that these children should make themselves as salt without savour which is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men 8. Aggravation When children are a grief to their parents in their old age and do as it were throw dirt upon their hoary heads which is their crown of glory it 's the command of God Prov. 23.22 Despise not thy mother when she is old Solomon tells us Eccles 12. That the days of old age are evil days their very age is a troublesome and incurable disease now the grashopper every light thing is a burden to them and therefore it must be more troublesome to them to be then tormented with wicked children when the strong men as Divines think Solomon calls the legs do
your hearts have wandered from God in his Ordinances 3. Bewail and beg pardon of God for your failings heretofore to your parents for many do often reap from their own children what they formerly sow'd by their sins against their parents and their miscarriages to their parents do fall upon them in the wickedness of their children the best may sadly reflect upon their want of due honour and obedience and thankfulness to their parents ye may remember your peevish looks undecent behaviour to them your grieving them in quarrelling with your brethren and sisters your unjust censuring them for partiality in their love to their children and judging them to want love to you when you were wanting in your duty to them and many who are now godly parents themselves may remember that by greater sins in their youth they were the grief and bitterness of their fathers and mothers and therefore pray mightily to God to pardon you and not to visit these sins upon you in the disobedience of your children 4. Pray to God not to visit your sins upon your children When Manasseh was in Heaven Amon his son followed the steps of his unconverted estate and Jehoiakim was carried captive into Babylon for the sins of Manasseh Pray that your children may not be like you in any thing wherein ye are unlike God and that their teeth may not be set on edg for the sowre grapes that ye have eaten 5. Be deeply affected with the corruption of nature in your children For as no man will value a Saviour for himself who is not convinc'd of the sin and misery which he must be saved from so ye must be sensible of your childrens sins or else ye cannot labour for their salvation When your sweet babes are born ye rejoyce to find that in Gods book all their members were written but ye should also be sensible of that body of sin they are born with and that by nature they are young Atheists and Infidels and haters of God and basphemers and whoremongers and lyars and thieves and murderers for they are naturally inclin'd to these and all other fins and are by nature children of the wrath of the infinite God and being convinc'd of this ye will find that your chief care of them should be to save them from this dreadful state of sin and misery 6. Be convinc'd what a great deal of work lies upon you to endeavour the salvation of your children young children always make a great deal of work they make work for parents and work for servants and work for all that are about them but to save them from sin and hell is the greatest work that belongs to their parents for this purpose they have a great deal a work to do in their own hearts they must know and believe and love and obey the doctrine of salvation themselves that they may be able and sit to instruct their children therein for a man cannot train up his child in the way he should go if he do not know the way himself We read Deut. 6.6 7. These words shall be in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children it 's fitly render'd in the margin thou shalt whet or sharpen them the word of God is more keen and sharp when it hath first done its work on the parents hearts and so comes from their hearts to their children Parents must keep their own graces in exercise to put authority and savour in all that they say and do for the salvation of their children Grace must work in their prayers grace must rule their tongues grace must guide the rod and grace must shine in their lives and then it 's a great work which is to be wrought in the children it is a great work for them who are born of the flesh to be born of the spirit a great work to make Religion and Godliness natural to them to make the children of the devil to become the children of God Almighty and parents must constantly labour in the use of means to accomplish this work 7. Be mighty in prayer for your children for all the good ye desire for them must come from God and therefore must be beg'd by prayer it is in vain for them to be taught of us except they be taught of God Whose words Lord saith holy Augustine were they but thine which by my faithful mother thou hast sung in my heart Pray and pray in faith and hope thy ears saith Augustine again were at my mothers heart when she pray'd for me ye must pray with tender and melting hearts the same Father tells us that his mothers tears watered the earth when she pray'd for him and ye must pray for their salvation this also Augustine calls the hinge of his holy mothers prayers for him 8. Solemnly dedicate them to God by baptism and then ye must heartily consent that God alone be the eternal life and happiness of you and your children and that Jesus Christ be their and your Redeemer to redeem you and them from all sin and misery and to bring both to God and that the Holy Ghost be their and your Sanctifier that by him you and they may have a Scripture-right unto and be made meet and fit for this happiness 9. When they are capable of it instruct them in the Covenant which by baptism they were solemnly entered into For this end ye must diligently teach them these six things 1. To know the evil and danger of sin for till they come to know what sin is and what it is to be saved or damn'd and what it is to lose or enjoy God they will not value or accept of Christ but will despise the Redeemer of the World as good for nothing ye must therefore labour to make sin odious and Christ precious to your children and then they will value Christ and obey you It was prophesied of John the Baptist that he was to prepare the way of the Lord and to turn the children to the parents so let it be your care to make way for Christ in your childrens hearts and if ye prevail in that they will be obedient to you 2. Inform your selves and them in the doctrine of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost for this is the doctrine whereinto they are baptized and by baptism they are solemnly entered into Covenant with these sacred persons against the flesh Satan and the world shew them the glory and love of God the Father in chusing ordaining fitting and sending Jesus Christ and in commanding him to be a sacrifice for us inform them that God the Father is the fountain of life for Christ lives by the Father the fountain of Authority for Christ received all power in heaven and earth from him the fountain of all the Christian Religion for Christ first heard these truths from the Father and then made them known to us and the fountain of glory for the Father hath exalted Christ and all glorified Saints are
for your other wicked children 4. Consider thou hast greater things to affect thee with grief and sorrow than thy wicked children there are whole Empires and Kingdoms of men and women and children who have as precious souls as thine or thy childrens these dishonour the same God and perish under his wrath and multitudes that have the Scriptures and Ordinances despise the same Christ and the same Gospel as thy children do and why shouldst thou be more concern'd for one or more of thy wicked children than for the whole world that lies in wickedness 5. Let your sorrow be guided by Scripture and Reason that ye may not provoke God and defile your souls and wound your consciences by sinful groans and tears For this end observe two Rules First Mourn more for their sins whereby they provoke and dishonour God and defile and destroy themselves and others than for any shame or loss in worldly things that befall you hereby that it may appear that the love of God and your childrens souls and not the love of the World hath the greatest influence on your sorrow for I fear that there is usually in good parents too much of carnal sorrow and too little of godly sorrow in their mourning under this great calamity Secondly Let not thy sorrow disease thy body and impair thy health God doth not require us to mourn more for our childrens sins than our own and he never makes it our duty by sorrow for either to destroy our bodies which are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the truth is that godly sorrow is the health of the soul and never hurts the body for Grace is always a friend and never an enemy to nature and therefore do not deprive thy self of all opportunities to honour God and serve his Church do not make thy yoke-fellow desolate nor thy children Orphans by such sorrow that will neither please God nor ease thy self nor do any good to thy wicked and miserable children 6. Labour to get your Graces strengthened under this great affliction for ye have need of more knowledge and wisdom and faith and hope and love and meekness and patience to inable and fit you to bear this than most other affections and ye must see and enjoy more of God and Christ to keep up your hearts under this than under most other troubles yet by the strength of Christ ye may be inabled not only to bear but to glory in this tribulation and the greater the trouble is the more good ye may gain by it 7. Comfort thy self in that the greatest and best things which thou hast most pray'd for and trusted unto and expected and chiefly loved and desired are all safe and sure 1. Thy God is and will be blessed and glorious for ever whatever becomes of thy child all his infinite perfections are working for his glory Christ himself is Gods and doth the whole work of a Mediator as his servant and for his glory all the blessed Angels and Saints will for ever honour and admire and love and praise him 2. God the Father Son and Holy Ghost are for ever thy own and will to all eternity be glorified in making thee blessed and glorious thou hast a bad child but a good God all thy work will be done thy sins pardoned and kill'd thy graces perfected and body and soul glorified and shall an ungodly child make all thy consolations herein small to thee Lastly Consider this trouble will last but a little while I confess I do not know or can upon search find any thing that can lift up the heart above this trouble but the knowledge and sense of the infinite love of God in Christ to a mans self and of that holy and glorious eternity which this love will shortly bring him unto to tell you that this is and hath been the case of other godly parents may allay something of your grief But what is this but to tell you that others are and have been as miserable as you or to tell you that as wicked children as yours have been sanctified and saved yields some hopes but it can amount to no more than to think they may be sav'd or thy may be damn'd and there is as much reason to fear the one as to hope for the other But for a man to see a gainful death ready to loose him into that world where there is none of this sorrow and to know that at the day of judgment his wicked children will be no more to him than bloody Bonners or Gardiners or damn'd Devils and that he himself shall sit with Christ to judge them and that he shall love and delight in the holiness and justice of the Judg of all the World in passing that sentence upon them Depart ye cursed into everlasting sire prepared for the devil and his angels This is sufficient to overcome all immoderate grief for his ungodly children Lastly I shall finish this discourse in a serious exhortation to these ungodly children who are the grief and bitterness of their good parents And herein I shall 1. Endeavour to convince them of their sins 2. Of their misery 3. Perswade them to forsake their sins that so they may be freed from that misery First I shall set before you the greatness of your sins in these four particulars 1. Ye have broken your Covenant with God 2. Ye have broken the Bonds wherein ye were bound to the Church of God 3. Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to your parents 4. Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to your other relations First Ye have broken your Covenant with God whereinto ye were solemnly enter'd by baptism for it 's clear by that Scripture before mention'd Levit. 19.3 That by casting off the authority of your parents ye have disowned the Lord to be your God Your breach of Covenant with God appears more fully in these four particulars 1. Ye do in your hearts and practices deny the Being of God the first Article of the Covenant is that ye should acknowledge and believe that the Lord he is God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is Hebr. 11.6 But this is the language of your hearts and lives That there is no God Ye deny God to be the first and best Being in preferring the creatures before him and saying in effect That the creatures are all and the great Jehovah is but as a cypher to you Ye deny his Omnipresence he fills all places where ye are but ye take no notice of him the presence of a Father or Master hath some influence upon you but it works not at all upon you that there is a God in the room Ye deny his infinite Wisdom that Wisdom of God in contriving the work of Salvation by Jesus Christ I say that Wisdom which is so glorious and wonderful to the principalities and powers of heaven is to such proud and ignorant boys and girls as you but a foolish and ridiculous thing
that death is near whatever ye think of your lives they will be but as a vapour or shadow or smoke as God speaks them to be and though ye put death far from you yet it will be within a hands-breadth of you one day or hour may put an end to your space of repentance and conclude your day of grace and salvation and dispatch you into that world where no new creatures are made ye now defie death as if ye were a fit match for the king of terrors ye scorn the grave and scoff at the day of judgment and deride everlasting burnings but when God shall pour upon you your own wickedness Jer. 14.16 then ye will too late condemn your selves for fools when ye come to reap the fruit of your own folly Secondly I come to give you directions to direct you to true Wisdom that ye may be such wise children as to make glad fathers and not to be the heaviness of your mothers 1. Do not dare to put off your repentance any longer it is not too late to repent so long as God calls you to repentance and gives you time for it Yet is the accepted time yet is the day of salvation God and Christ and Angels and the Church and your bleeding parents are yet ready to receive you in love and joy but it will shortly be too late to repent though it can never be too soon Dear children ye must either perswade your selves that the word of God is a lie and so think ye are secure from hell because ye deny the Bible that threatneth it or ye must presume that ye are not ungodly children as indeed ye are or else ye must conclude that your present state is not safe and good and that therefore ye must either repent or be damn'd and perhaps the devil himself doth not tempt you to resolve that you will never repent but to think that it is yet time enough and that therefore ye will repent hereafter I have sometimes dreaded to hear debauch'd children confidently say That they do not question but they shall be converted and become good when at present they hate to be reformed yea I am perswaded that some secure them selves in their sins by presuming that the prayers of their good parents for their conversion and salvation will at last be heard but how many such have been as Solomon speaks of others Prov. 14.32 driven away in their wickedness in whom that dreadful Scripture hath been fulfill'd Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy I shall here seriously reason this case a little with you Why should ye continue one moment longer in those sins which ye must repent of or perish and defer repentance for which ye shall have cause for ever to rejoyce and bless God when it is done Are ye not wicked enough already that ye must stay to be worse Have ye not defil'd your selves and provok'd God and refus'd Christ and afflicted your parents long enough already Poor souls if there be one hour yet left wherein ye are sure that ye shall not die and fall into hell or one hour wherein sin is better than grace and wherein it is better be a child of the devil than a child of God or if ye can come into the kingdom of God and begin an eternal life an hour too soon take that hour and spend it on your lusts but if not stop presently and let this be the hour wherein ye begin to believe and repent and reform and wherein ye begin to set your faces towards heaven with an unmovable resolution to walk in the way of faith and obedience till ye come there Direct 2. Judge whether ye have more reason to obey the devil or to obey God as the Apostles said to their Persecutors Acts 4.19 Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken to you more than unto God judge ye So say I to you whether it be right to obey the devil rather than God judge ye Consider God hath authority to command you for he is your Maker your Preserver and Redeemer and ye owe your selves to him but the devil neither made nor kept nor bought you and therefore can have no right to command you Consider further that all the Commands of God are the Commands of his Love for he doth not only command you as your Lord but also as your Father and Saviour and therefore he commands you to take himself to be your God and happiness to take his Son Jesus Christ to save you from all evil and to make you for ever holy and blessed but the devil commands you out of hatred and malice and all his commands are the commands of a Murderer and therefore he commands you to defile and to destroy and to damn your selves he commands you to be blind and ignorant to hate and scorn God and Christ and to love sin and death and hell Consider also that God is able to reward your obedience and to punish your disobedience he is that only law-giver who is able to save and to destroy James 4.12 He can crown you with eternal glory if ye obey him and can cast you into everlasting flames if ye disobey him but the devil who is cursed and tormented himself cannot make you happy if ye obey him nor miserable if ye do forsake and renounce him 3. See the great difference betwixt those wise and holy children who live in obedience to God and their parents and you who live in disobedience to both it is not wealth or poverty or beauty or deformity or sickness or health but sin and grace that make the greatest difference betwixt persons and ye must know God and Christ or else ye cannot understand the worth of a Saint nor the vileness of a Sinner Some of you may look into your own families and there see some of your brethren and sisters like pleasant and fruitful plants about your fathers table when ye are as briars and thorns and weeds in the family they are the crown and joy and you the calamity of your parents all that see them may look upon them as a seed whom the Lord hath blessed but all that see you have reason to judge you to be a cursed generation Poor children is it better to be like Cain than like Abel or like cursed Canaan than like Shem or like Ishmael than like Isaac or like Esau than like Jacob Are not your souls and bodies as precious as the souls and bodies of your good brethren and sisters or can the devil and sin and the world be better to you than to them or is not death and judgment as near you as it is to them or have not ye as much reason to love and obey God and your parents as they or can ye endure the loss of Heaven or torments of Hell better than they if not why should not ye be as good as they are 4.
Parents Groans OVER THEIR Wicked Children SEVERAL SERMONS On PROV XVII 25. Published for the Benefit of all but especially of good Parents and their Children By EDWARD LAWRENCE M. A. sometimes Minister of the Gospel at Baschurch in the County of Salop. 1 Sam. 2.25 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their Father because the Lord would slay them LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel and Joseph Collier at the Bible under the Gate on London-Bridge 1681. To my beloved Children Deborah Samuel Edward John Thomas Elizabeth Mary Benjamin Nathanael and to all the Children of Christian Parents My dear Children I Am sensible of my unworthiness and unfitness to be seen in Print it is now above Twenty years since by the power and goodness of God I was unexpectedly rescued from the jaws of death which was the reason I then published that little book called Christs Power over bodily Diseases and I had never been the Author of a book of this Title had not two of you but especially one made me the Father of fools I shall here say no more particularly to you two but that sound repentance and the fruits thereof in a setled reformation of life will yet be your glory and my joy but if ye hate to be reform'd which God forbid I shall mourn till I dye for the loss of Children but ye will be tormented for ever for the loss of God Children I have not of the things of this world to leave you I do acknowledge the wisdom of God in not judging me sit to be intrusted with these things but it 's enough for us if we can call God our own though we cannot call the riches of the world our own some of you do with comfort remember how we have often worshipped God together in singing with delight those words Psal 37.16 17 18 19 20. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked c. I here leave you this Letter of the counsel and advice of your aged and loving and faithful Father who sees death looking him and you in the face and beholds the Judg before the door this will speak to you when death hath silenc'd me and it speaks the same things which God and Christ and your own Consciences speak to you and it speaks to you as it were in the hearing of the world 1. Put a true value on your own Beings for ye cannot love God and Christ if ye do not love your selves ye are of that kind of creatures who are made much higher than all other visible creatures and but a little lower than the Angels ye are capable to know and chuse and love and delight in God and to speak of him and to entertain your selves continually with him ye are of those creatures in whose happiness God glorifies all his perfections he made this world for man he commanded his only-begotten Son to sacrifice himself for man and sent him to be born and to live and dye and to rise again and to intercede in heaven for man he hath reveal'd all the Truths of the Christian Religion for the good of man and therefore ye should think it greater madness to sell your precious souls and bodies to the Devil and your lusts for the short and dirty pleasures of sin than to sell a purse of gold or a cabinet full of jewels for a bag of chaff or cherry-stones and should account it below you to give your selves to any but to God 2. Know that as your Beings are great so your happiness or misery will be very great Riches or poverty sickness or health this present life or the death that deprives you of it are things too little to make you blessed or miserable all the curses of God or the blessings of the Gospel will be upon you presently and ye can neither live like men nor like Christians till ye know what it is to be sav'd or damn'd and what it is to lose or enjoy God 3. That ye may escape the wrath and obtain the glory set before you let it be your chief end and interest to know and honour and enjoy God use the creatures as his witnesses to testifie and declare the being and glory of God to you for God hath not only made and appointed them to fill your hearts with food and gladness but also that in the use of them ye may feel and find and fill your souls with God but especially behold the glory of God as he is presented to you in the glass of the Scriptures that he may have that name in your hearts which he hath in his word Present him to your souls as God over all blessed for ever that ye may conclude that he who is so infinitely good as to be his own happiness is sufficient to make you happy And that this God may be your eternal life and happiness ye must know and behold his glory in the face of Jesus Christ who is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and therefore behold his glory as the Father of such a Son and as the Lord of such a servant for Jesus Christ is the Lords Christ Luk. 2.26 Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.23 and executes his office of a Mediator in obedience to the will and to the glory of God the Father whose glory ye may behold in his calling him to such a high office in his accomplishing him for the execution thereof in prospering him and making him successful in his whole work in giving him such a blessed seed in making him victorious over all his enemies and in rewarding him for his great service and obedience so that according to the intent of the Scriptures forenamed ye must labour to get such a sight of the glory of God shining upon you in the face of Jesus Christ as will make an impression of his image in your souls And therefore loathe and abhor sin which is against the glory of God and which is the only evil that can make you lose such a glorious God And for this reason be convinc'd of the vanity of this world which is but a poor thing when the glory of God shines on your souls for ye will be most blessed in him when this world shall be dissolv'd and pass'd away And let this make Jesus Christ glorious and acceptable to you whose office and work it is to redeem you from all sin and misery and to make you blessed for ever in the likeness and enjoyment of this glorious God And let this also cause you to endeavour to fill all persons with the great Name of God and Christ that ye may gain them all the hearts and love and service ye can and therefore in all company let God and Christ have your good word 4. Know that to love and delight in God is the best imployment for the days
of that which is to come which is to be prefer'd before the best estate in the world Pray to God for his blessing and see every customer as sent from him and love them as your selves let all that deal with you have cause to say that they deal with the members of Jesus Christ 18. And for you that are or may be Apprentices my counsel and command to you is this Let those Scriptures dwell in your hearts which teach you your duty and encourage you therein as Ephes 5.5 6 7 8. Col. 3.22 23 24 25. Tit. 2.9 10. 1 Pet. 2.18 19 20 21. Commit them to memory and bless God that he condescends to be a teacher of servants be content with your present condition which may be the easiest time of your whole age be not apt to find fault for that will make you uneasie to your selves and to the family let all your words and looks and actions be such as do witness that ye do in your hearts honour your Masters and Mistresses and Christ in them bear correction patiently though ye be wrong'd the sufferings of Christ are set before you as your patern herein Pray daily for your Masters and their families for ye ought to improve all your interest in God for their good pray to God to fit you for your calling that he who teacheth the husbandman to plow and sow Isa 28.26 may teach you herein To conclude Love one another according to all the Obligations that are upon you but never put it in the power of any one to undo the other Kill all lustings after the honours or riches or pleasures of the world Remember I have told you that as love fulfils all the Law of God so lust fulfils the law of the Devil I will say no more chuse him for your Father that cannot dye And as Mr. Bolton said to his children so say I to you Do not dare to meet me at the day of judgment in an unregenerate state June 6. 1681. Your loving and faithful Father EDWARD LAWRENCE To all Christian Parents IT is not only for the sake of my self and children but also for the sake of you and yours that I have published this little book but especially out of respect to the glory of God that we may leave a seed to bless him in this world when we are glorifying him in the better world it will cost you but a little money to buy it and but a little time for you and your children to read it if those of you who are able do give to every one of your children one of these books and do likewise bestow some of them upon the children of the poor this will be no advantage to me and when ye come to give your account will be no loss to you I am a lover of children and have often lifted up my heart in prayer to God for them where I have seen them I wish this may be a blessing to you and them pray that we may leave that Religion which came originally from the Father of Jesus Christ and is reveal'd to us in the Scriptures to our posterity and that they may have hearts to live according to the rules and principles of it more than we have done Farewell June 6. 1681. Your Servant for Jesus sake EDW. LAWRENCE ERRATA Page 35. line 19. instead of cinque read sink Page 82. line 21. read afflictions Parents Groans over their wicked Children Prov. XVII 25. A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her that bare him IT is one great argument of the vanity of this world that we may be spoil'd of all that is dear to us under the Sun by the sins of other men A common and sad instance of this is That the Comforts of godly Parents here are very much at the will and pleasure of their own Children For had a good man all other delights that the creatures can yield and did wash his steps in butter and dip his foot in oyl Nay suppose he had all the pleasures of Godliness that are ordinarily attained in this life yet he will be a man of sorrow if a wicked Child make him the Father of a fool This doleful case is presented to us in this Text which I have chosen for the subject of this discourse that I may duly affect my own and others hearts with this great calamity In the Text two things are clearly set before us 1. A case taken for granted and that is That godly Parents have often foolish Children 2. The misery of that case is expressed that is That such Children are a grief to their Fathers and bitterness to the Mothers that bare them The Explication of the Text. A foolish son that is a wicked and ungodly son or daughter for it 's usual in this book of the Proverbs that both sexes are intended when but one is expressed Wicked Children think themselves wise wiser than their Parents or Masters or Ministers for vain man would be wise though he be like a wild Asses colt Job 11.12 But all the Devils children are fools for he that will obey and imitate the Devil who is a murderer of all his own children and will not obey and imitate Christ who is the Redeemer and Saviour of all his Children I may say of him in the words of a wise Woman A fool is his name and folly is with him Is a grief to his Father By Father and Mother in the Text I understand a godly Father and Mother who are most affected with this case Is a grief some render the word anger or indignation and both grief and anger are intended for a foolish son maketh his good Father both angry and sad And bitterness to her that bare him that is to his good Mother called her that bare him to aggravate the Mothers misery and the Childs sin It cannot but torment the good Mother to think that she did with so much sickness and pain and sorrow bear and bring forth one that proves a child of the Devil and is like to be a firebrand of Hell and it 's a great aggravation of the childs sins to imbitter the life of her that was a means of life to him and to hasten that womb to the worms which with such pangs and throws brought him into the world The Text will be further opened in the following discourse which I shall reduce to these three Heads First That it is ordinary for godly Parents to have wicked and ungodly Children Secondly That this is a very great calamity to these godly Parents Thirdly Use 1. It is ordinary for godly Parents to have wicked and ungodly Children this is implied in the Text And I may say of this what Solomon speaks of another case Eccles 6.1 It is an evil which I have seen under the Sun and it is common among men In the handling of this I shall 1. Give some Characters of godly Parents 2. Some Characters of ungodly Children
3. I shall give you several instances for the confirmation of it 1. I shall only give you two main Characters of godly Parents First They are conscienciously careful for their preservation Secondly For the Eternal happiness and salvation of their Children 1. They are conscienciously careful for the preservation of the natural lives of their Children as trees support and feed the branches that grow out of themselves And as it 's natural to the brutes to defend and keep their own young so nature it self teacheth and inclineth Parents to defend and preserve and provide for the fruit of their own bodies and for this end to supply them with food raiment and physick and to fit them for callings and seasonably to provide for them meet yokefellows and every way to take care that they neither perish or be made miserable but godly Parents in whom natural affections are sanctified and improved by Grace do all these out of a principle of Godliness as persons who have to do with God herein they do it in a sense of their dependance on God and pray for daily bread to feed their Children and are thankful when they feel it come warm from their Father in Heaven they do it in obedience and faithfulness to God and with a design that their Children may live to be born of God and to be a blessing to this world and be blessed in the other world As for those unnatural monsters who feed their lusts with that which should maintain their Children they are so far from being Godly Parents that they are worse than Infidels in not providing for their Families and are like the Devil who as I said is a Murderer of his own Children 2. They are conscienciously careful for the Eternal happiness and salvation of their Children for their natural affections being now sanctified do work in them for the spiritual good and happiness of their Children Prov. 4.3 4 5. I was my fathers son tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother Solomon was his fathers and mothers darling their love did run out exceedingly upon this son and he tells us which way their love and kindness was express'd he taught me also and said unto me Get wisdom get understanding He tells us also how the affections of his good mother did work Prov. 31.2 3. What my son and what the son of my womb and what the son of my vows The son of her womb was the son of her vows whom she had devoted to God those Parents who have known both states the state of Wrath and the state of Grace and have experimentally felt what it is to pass from death to life and from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God cannot but desire that the same change be wrought upon their children And as they who love themselves with a holy love do take God for their eternal life and happiness and Christ for their Redeemer to redeem them from all evil and to bring them to this happiness and the Spirit for their Sanctifier to fit them for this happiness So they that love their children with this holy Love will desire and endeavour that they be partakers with them of the same happiness 2. I proceed to give you three Characters of ungodly Children 1. They are such Children as will not be subject to the authority of their Parents The reverence of Children to their Parents is so incorporated into the whole body of Religion that all Religion is in vain without it this fully appears Levit. 19.3 Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father and keep my sabbaths I am the Lord your God Observe this duty is here joyn'd with keeping the Lords Sabbaths wherein Religion did always very much consist but it 's often seen that disobedient children are great prophaners of the Lords-day they are always bad but usually worst on that day and some of them may remember that their first breaking out into scandalous sins was on the Lords-day We are here further taught That this duty of Reverence to Parents is joyn'd with all Religion to God for saith God in effect it 's in vain for any to pretend to call me their Lord and their God if they do not fear their Parents and theresore wicked children are numbred among the most flagitious and worst sinners Ezek. 22.7 In thee have they set light by father and mother they villified and despised them and made nothing of them such break all the bonds of Religion and many hasten through a shameful and untimely death into a dreadful and tormenting eternity whose wickedness first began in scorning and despising their Parents 2. They are such children as will not obey the Commands of their Parents The godly Commands of Parents are the means which God hath appointed and doth often bless to make the children godly Gen. 18.19 I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment and God commands all children to obey all the holy and lawful commands of their parents Ephes 6.1 Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right It 's the parents right that their children should obey them and it 's Gods right that they should obey them in the Lord and this saith the Apostle Col. 3.21 is well-pleasing to the Lord so that those children do neither fear provoking God nor care to please him who will not obey their parents and so are children of their parents sorrow and of Gods wrath 3. They are such children as are unthankful to their parents the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 5.4 That it is good and acceptable before God for children to requite their parents and they have great things for which they should labour to requite their godly parents viz. for all their care and cost and pains to keep them alive and for all their diligence and faithfulness in endeavouring to make them blessed and all the requital which the poor parents desire is that their children would but love and obey God and not damn themselves but these ungodly children are so far from requiting them that like so many Dogs and Lyons they tear in pieces the hearts and bowels of their tender parents 3. I now come to confirm this That it 's ordinary for godly parents to have ungodly children and for this end I shall first give you some instances recorded in Scripture 2dly I shall instance in several cases wherein this is verified 1. I shall only give you four instances recorded in Scripture for the confirmation hereof 1. Instance is in Adam and Eve these were both godly parents and therefore in that first Evangelical promise Gen. 3.15 we have notice of the two great parties in the world the one was the Woman and her seed and the other the Serpent and his seed and of the enmity betwixt them and though there is only mention made of the woman yet the man
godly Ministers in all ages have groan'd under this sad calamity Eli was a holy Priest of God but his two sons were Devils incarnate monsters of men scandalous sacrilegious and adulterous sons of Belial as appears 1 Sam. 2. And this is no rare thing that the Prayers Studies Sermons Examples of many good Ministers are often made successful to bring others to Heaven when they can by no means restrain their own children from running to Hell and their own children make them do the work of their Ministry with grief when often the children of drunkards worldlings and whoremongers will be their crown and glory in the day of the Lord Jesus 3. This is often true when both parents are godly indeed when either father or mother is wicked no marvel if the children be hardned in their sins by their examples but it 's usually seen that when children have both the instruction of the father and also the law of the mother and when they cry to all the Ministers and Christians about them to help them by their prayers and counsels to save their children yet all prevail not but the holy father and mother can scarce keep one anothers hearts from being broken by their stubborn and disobedient children 4. The children of godly parents often prove wicked when God doth sanctifie and bless and save the children of ungodly parents we see sometimes trees of righteousness growing in the families of the wicked when briars and thorns grow up in the families of the righteous We read Matth. 1. that Ahaz a very wicked king begat holy Hezekiah and good Hezekiah begat Manasseh who was an Idolater of the highest rate a Witch and such a bloody murderer that the Chronicle of his reign tells us 2 Kings 21.16 He shed innocent blood very much till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other though afterwards he is set forth to be the greatest pattern of the grace of God in the Old Testament as Paul is in the New Testament It is no new sight to see children of the best Saints in the way to Hell and children of Atheists and Persecutors in the way to Heaven Nay though some parents do persecute their own children for loving and fearing God yet they cannot debauch them when all endeavours of godly parents will not prevail to make their children hate sin and love God and this is one of the saddest instances of that great mystery of Providence mentioned Eccles 8.14 There he just men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked again there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous 2. Head It is a very great calamity to godly parents to have wicked and ungodly children A foolish son saith the text is a grief to his father and bitterness to her that bare him To the same purpose is that Prov. 17.21 He that begetteth a fool doth it to his sorrow and the father of a fool hath no joy a foolish son damps all his joy and Prov. 19.13 A foolish son is the calamity of his father I shall set forth the greatness of this trouble by these Eight particulars 1. By the matter of these parents grief 2. By the passions that this calamity doth move and affect 3. By comparing this with other afflictions and shewing how this exceeds them 4. By shewing that this makes these parents do all their work with grief and sorrow 5. By shewing that this embitters all their other comforts 6. By the sad concommitants of it 7. By the several aggravations of it 8. By instancing in some cases wherein this calamity is more grievous First The matter of these parents grief is very sad as appears in these seven things 1. That their children are so defiled and debauched with sin which is so loathsome to these holy parents it vexed the righteous soul of Lot to see and hear the filthy conversation of the beastly Sodomites how grievous then must it be to these godly parents to see and hear the filthiness of their own dear children it is a grievous thing to a man that loves God and Godliness and Souls to see a drunkard staggering in the streets or to hear any man blaspheming and reproaching his Maker and Redeemer but none can tell but those that feel it what a sad spectacle it is to sober and godly parents to see their own children drunk or how it torments them to hear their own children lying and blaspheming God and his Saints 2. That their children are the children of the Devil and under the power of Satan and ridden by him and carried captive by him at his will it was a lamentable case of that good Mother who came to Christ saying Matth. 15.22 Have mercy upon me O Lord thou son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil yet this was not her daughters sin but only her great affliction but how doleful is it to these parents who have renounced the devil themselves and live in continual warfare with him to see the hearts and mouths and lives of the children whom they have devoted to God fill'd and possess'd with the devil whose children they are and whose lusts they will do if the devil tempt the parents their own graces will resist and overcome his temptations but they cannot secure their children from being overcome and from falling into the condemnation of the devil but with sad hearts do see the Lyon of Hell running away with the lambs of their flock and cannot recover them 3. That their children are under the wrath and curse of God it did sadly affect the father of that lunatick son mentioned Matth. 17.15 to see his son fall oft into the fire and oft into the water How would he screech at such a sight and cry Ah my dear child will be burnt my child will be drown'd but much more terrible is it to these parents who know the terrors of the Lord to know that their children have cut off the entail of the Covenant of Grace and are every moment ready to fall into the hands of the living God! when such parents are with faith reading the curses of Gods Law how doth it cut them to the heart to think that they are then reading their childrens doom 4. That their children are under those black characters which are given in Scripture to ungodly men for the faith of these parents makes all persons have that name in their hearts which they have in the Word And as God is no respecter of persons so Faith so far as it prevails respecteth not the persons of any no not of a mans own children but because they are more under their notice and observation than others and because they are more concern'd for them therefore the deeper impressions do these characters make on their hearts so that this is the misery of these parents that whilest they look on persons through the glass of the Scriptures and see many to be the
jewels and treasure and children and heirs of God and the glorious bride and spouse of Christ they must and do judge their own wicked children to be a generation of vipers and serpents and dogs and swine and lyons and bears and wolves as God calls them in his Word 5. That the anger and displeasure of God appears so much against these good parents herein indeed the sense of their own folly must make them justifie God in this sharp correction and cause them to say with Solomon Prov. 26.3 As it is meet that there be a whip for the horse and a bridle for the asse so is it that there be a rod for the fools back But this is very grievous that God should correct them with a scourge made of their own bowels and should chasten a blessed father with a cursed child his holy anger must be acknowledged herein for when the child despiseth his father God himself doth justly spit in the fathers face 6. The shame and disgrace which comes to them hereby Prov. 19.26 He that wasteth his father and chaseth away his mother is a son that causeth shame Every one will be ready to reflect upon their parents and to say Surely these children were never taught to serve God who do so sacrifice themselves to the service of the devil 7. Both parents are deeply affected for the trouble and misery that comes hereby to one another their love to and sympathy with one another makes the burden of both more uneasie The good father is not only troubled with a wicked child but also for the bitterness and sorrow of his wife and the good mother is not only troubled with the wicked child but also for the grief of her husband the mothers heart bleeds to see the tears and to hear the groans of the afflicted father and cries out Oh what a child have I brought forth that so much deprives me of the comfort of a loving husband and is like to break his heart and to make me a desolate and disconsolate widow The father mourns to see the tears and the sad countenance and to hear the groans of the distressed mother and is ready to cry out Wo is me that the child of my bowels is destroying the wife of my bosom and yet these hard-hearted children are not affected herewith but let the parents sigh they will sing let the parents weep and mourn they will rant and roar and care no more to break their parents hearts than to break a Tobacco-pipe and will not abate a lie or oath or cup to save the lives of their tender parents Secondly The greatness of this calamity appears by the passions in the parents which are moved and affected hereby I shall only instance in three passions Fear Anger and Sorrow 1. Fear This is a troublesome passion and godly parents are never out of fear of their wicked children they are afraid that every one that knocks at the door and that every post and every friend that comes to visit them brings them some sad tidings of their disobedient children I shall amplifie this by instancing in three great Evils which such parents are greatly perplexed with the fear of 1. They are afraid lest their children are in the practice of some great sins this was Jobs fear when his children were feasting together Job 1.5 Job said It may be my sons have sinn'd and curs'd God in their hearts their children are seldom out of their sight but the good parents are in fear of this they know their children are always expos'd to the devils temptations and to the snares of the world and to the allurements of evil company and that their corrupt hearts are set to comply with all and that they have provoked God to give them up to their own lusts and therefore they are in continual fear lest these poor children are lying or swearing or cursing or whoring or drunk and defiling and debauching and destroying themselves and others 2. They are in fear lest some heavy judgment of God will befall them in this life And thus David when his son Absolom was in the head of a high rebellion against his father and the battel was to be fought with the Rebels was fearful lest his son should then perish in his sins these parents know that their poor children are out of Gods way and as birds wandring from the nest Prov. 27.8 are expos'd to all manner of danger they know what the word threatens against them and what fearful instances there are of the vengeance of God upon disobedient children and therefore they are in fear lest their sins should bring them to some untimely and shameful death 3. They are in fear of their eternal damnation they are sensible that their children are children of wrath and do live in those sins for which the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience and these parents believe what Hell is for as faith in the promises is the substance of things hoped for so faith as it believes the threatnings is the substance of things feared and therefore they cannot but tremble to think that their dear lambs whom they so tenderly nourish'd and cherish'd are in danger every moment to be cast into the fire that is prepared for devils 2. Anger is another passion that is moved in godly parents with the wickedness of their children and this is troublesome for a man is never out of trouble whilst he is in anger and the more the wills of these parents are bent to have their children godly the more are they displeas'd and provok'd to anger by their sins they are angry to see them provoke that God whom they themselves are so careful to please and to see them destroying their precious souls which they are labouring to save and to see them waste those estates on their filthy lusts which they have got by their care and labour and prayers they cannot but think of them with anger and speak of them with anger and look at them with anger and thus their children which should be their delight and pleasure are a continual cross and vexation to them 3. Sorrow They are deeply affected with grief and sorrow for the wickedness of their children the parents graces cause them to mourn for their childrens sins their saving-knowledge makes their hearts bleed to see their children scorn and despise that glory which they see in God and Christ and whilst they by faith are feeding on Christ it grieves them to see their children feeding themselves with the dirty pleasures of sin their love to God makes them groan that their children love sin the worst evil and hate God the chiefest good Thirdly I proceed to shew the greatness of this calamity by comparing it with other troubles and shewing how this exceeds them I shall instance in four other Troubles 1. This is a greater calamity than to be without Children so that if God had said of those Parents as he said of him Jer. 22.30