with you and in you and keeping a Book of Accounts in which is inserted and recorded what it observes Now then ought you not to repair this damage to your utmost and since you have done and go on to do them so much hurt should you not do them all the good you can and be heartily glad when it is in your power to do it have you shewn them many things by which they have offended God and will you not shew them by counsel and practice those things that will please him I beseech you to bestir and lay out your selves and your all for the making of them amends and the recovering them out of that Snare of the Devil into which you have helpt to bring them In what I now say I do not put you upon impossibilities nor the doing of that which is without the reach of your power I do not bid you sanctifie them by forming Christ and planting Grace in their hearts I do not bid you raise them out of the Grave of Corruption and breath into their Souls the Breath of Spiritual Life that must be effected by the Arm of Omnipotency none else can do it none hath a Regenerating Power but he that hath a Creating Power but you may pray for them in your private Retirements and you may pray with them that God would be pleased to give them his Spirit and to work his Grace in them You may take your Children and your Servants with you and carry them to God and beg of him that he would pity and help them As you read when our Lord Iesus was here upon Earth Tabernacling among Men they came to him from all parts of the Land begging of him a Cure for themselves and their Children and their Servants as the matter did require Now Christ is in Heaven he hath the same power that you must needs believe and grant for here he was in his State of lowest Humiliation there he is in his State of highest Preferment and Exaltation After his Resurrection he told his Disciples all Power was given him both in Heaven and Earth and distance of place doth not hinder He can help afar off as well as at hand his Arm being long as well as strong There is no need of this great Physician leaving his Fathers Right Hand and coming down in Person to cure Diseased Souls by sending his Word he can heal them as he did formerly Psal. 107. v. 20. And his Glory hath not in the least detracted from his Mercy His Heart is now what it was as loving and tender his Bowels are not shrunk up nor do his Compassions fail Iesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 As his Hand of Power is not shortened so his gracious Ear is not grown heavy therefore go to him taking Faith along with you and say Lord my Children were born blind O! do thou anoint them with thine Eye-salve that they may receive their sight Open their Eyes that they may see wonderful things out of thy Law and the precious things of thy Gospel that they may see the sinfulness of Sin and the beauty of Holiness that they may see their own undone condition and the absolute need they have of Christ together with the all-sufficiency of his Righteousness and the riches of his Grace the sweetness of his Government and the easiness of his Yoke Go to him and say Lord my Children are grievously troubled with a Devil a proud Devil a lying Devil a disobedient stubborn obstinate Devil O that thou wouldest make thy Power known in the casting of him out Once more go to him and say Lord My Children have got the Leprosie of Sin it hath spread it self all over them O do thou say I will be ye clean My Children are Enemies in their Minds by wicked works Enemies to Thee and all that is spiritually good O do thou reconcile them that of Enemies to Thee they may become Enemies to Sin and for the time to come they may love thy Father thy Self and Spirit thy Truth and Ways Lord My Children are the Slaves of Satan and they delight in their Chain they serve divers Lusts and are pleased with their Bondage and count their Drudgery a Recreation O! let these Lawful Captives of the Mighty be delivered break their Chains asunder and bring them into the Liberty of thy Children and as they have yielded their members Servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now and for the time to come they may yield their members Servants to righteousness unto holiness Rom. 6.20 And what you do to this purpose for your Children do also for your Servants take them up in the Arms of your Love and Prayer and lay them at the foot of God and beg him that he would sanctifie and save them And as you can thus pray and plead with God for them so you can add hereunto if you will There are other things which you can do You cannot infuse into them a Principle of Grace but you may teach them the Principles of Religion you may shew the way in which they should walk though you cannot put that way in their hearts as we have that expression Psal. 84.5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee in whose heart are the ways of them You cannot bow their Wills to God's nor raise and spiritualize their Affections nor set them upon their proper Objects those things which are above but you may inform their Judgments You cannot write the Law of God in their hearts nor put his Fear into their inward parts but you may acquaint them with the Law of God and read the Bible to them and hear them read both it and other Othodox good Books but the Bible most and rather than the best Books in the World So again you cannot make them good but you may set a good Example before them and write a very fair Copy for them to imitate and invite them to tread in your steps saying to them as Paul did Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ and walk so as ye have us for an example It is certain all this is in your power you may do it and oh that you would Oh that you would abound in the doing of it considering how much you have done against them how greatly you have prejudiced them how much they have suffered through your means how much they have been tainted by you Really you are obliged to this this is no more than what you owe to these poor Creatures and if you are careless negligent and wanting herein you are unjust you with hold that which is meet and it tends to your own poverty and sorrow at the last it is in the power of your hand to do it therefore do not withhold it from them to whom it is due it is a Debt and that both of Charity and of Equity up then in your several Families and apply to this excellent
profess Religion and have joyned themselves in Communion with those who do really desire and aim at the greatest strictness and most exact holiness so that there is apparent necessity of doing what we can towards the reviving of this excellent practice which hath been by so many so unkindly so sinfully shut out of doors And to this end I shall do these two things First I shall prove that the setting up of the Worship of God and Religious Exercises in Families is a Duty Secondly Lay down some Arguments by which this may appear your reasonable Service We begin with the former That Family-worship is a Duty and that I prove by these three things The Practice of the Heathen The Precepts of the Scripture And the Practice of Saints I. This was the Practice amongst the Heathens though they had no more than the dim Light of Nature yet by that they did see this to be their Duty These not having the Law written were a Law to themselves and have done by Nature many of the things contained in the Law Rom. 2.14 And among others this We find they had their Lares their Penates such as they counted and called their Houshold-Gods and unto them they did offer up Sacrifices in their Families and unto them they did together perform acts of Religious Worship And therefore Prayer to God in Families is a part of Natural Worship because discovered by Natural Light and for the shameful neglect thereof the poor blind Heathen will rise up against multitudes of the Men and Women of this untoward Generation Shall they be more liberal to their Gods of Dung than we are to the Lord of Glory Shall they do more for the Honouring of their false Gods than some of us do for the living and true God who made Heaven and Earth and who is the Author of your Being the God of your Comforts and the Father of all your Mercies by the Hand of whose Power ye were made and upon whose Cost ye spend How sore and dreadful punishment will you deserve if the very Heathen shall condemn you If they were more observant of their Idols than you are of God it will be unspeakably more tollerable for them in the Day of Judgment than for you Think upon and apply to your selves what the Apostle Paul said to the wicked Jew Rom. 2.27 Shall not Vncircumcision which is by Nature if it fulfil the Law Iudge thee who by the Letter and Circumcision dost transgress the Law The clearer that Light is which men do enjoy if they rebel against it the greater is the Sin which they commit the greater is the guilt which they contract and therefore the fiercer that wrath which they deserve II. Family-Worshiping of God is the matter of the Precept It is a burden if any will be so vile as to think or call it so which the great God whose we are hath bound upon us Let me particularly instance in Family-Prayer which sweet and precious Incense I would gladly have all your houses perfumed daily with It must be granted that it is not expresly commanded in Scripture not totidem verbis in so many words but it is included in express commands and from those commands by necessary consequence it will appear to any one that doth not shut his own Eyes to be the Mind and Will of God concerning us For observe First We are expresly commanded to make use of all Prayer Take notice of that word All all Prayer i. e. all kinds of holy Prayer Ephes. 6.18 The Apostle had before told them they must wrestle with Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickednesses in high places and having thereupon counsell'd them to make sure of a sufficient strength being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and Armour of Proof the whole Armour of God he doth here in this Verse advise them to a wrestling with God and indeed it is excellent advice for he that can like a Prince wrestle with God in a way of Supplication will come off a Conqueror when he is called out to wrestle with Devils in a way of Opposition Observe the words Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Mark that with all prayer Now there are many sorts of Prayer namely Ejaculatory Prayer in which the holy Soul shoots out a Dart to Heaven and on a sudden lifts a Request up to God which may be done at any time and in any place in Company at Dinner in the Street as you are walking in the Shop as you are working or trading and in this way you may sweeten and sanctifie your worldly Affairs by mingling spiritual and gracious thoughts with them Thus while good old Iacob had his Sons before him and was telling them what should befal them in the last days in the midst of it his Soul got on the wing and mounted up to Heaven in that short but sweet expression Gen. 49.18 I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord and there is stated fixed prayer when a person doth at appointed times and in a solemn manner set it self to pour forth its Requests before God and make its desires known to him There is Publick Prayer in the Congregations and Assemblies of the Saints when not only two or three but scores hundreds thousands are met together in the Name of Christ and the Minister as the Mouth speaks to God and the hearts of the People go along with him by a real consent and to his Confessions Petitions and Thanksgivings add their Amen And there is Secret Prayer performed in the greatest retirement when a person hath withdrawn himself from all company and no body seeth nor hears but God alone and so it can be more free and open not hiding its groans from him but spreading all its desires before him and acquainting him with that which it would not have any one in the World besides to know And then there is Family-Prayer wherein the Governour gets the Children and Servants and all the Members thereof together and goeth with them to the Throne of Grace in order to the paying of their Homage unto God and the obtaining from God a blessing upon himself and upon them Now this kind of Prayer is in that Scripture required as well as any other God doth here by the Apostle require our praying with all prayer and if with all prayer then with Family-prayer Secondly We are commanded to pray every where 1 Tim. 5.8 I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every place not only in the Temple and in the Synagogue but every where in any place where it is convenient and you may be safe As God is no respecter of Persons so not of Places as Beggars go up down scattering their Vermin in all places and at every door so you should every where be scattering your Treasure
committed in the day Now by a parity of Reason we may affirm that praying every day Morning and Envening is praying always or continuing instant in prayer And truly this is the least you can do if you would be grateful if you would bring glory to God if you would be exemplary in your places and to do this is good So the holy Prophet assures us in Psal. 92. which he intituled A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day vers 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy Name O most High This is good there is all good in it honest and profitable and pleasant good it is a paying of God what we owe to him and it will bring over advantage to us and it carries a great deal of sweetness along with it But when is it good to do this upon a Sabbath-day the Lord's-day yes it is good then it is very good then it is then specially in season because that day is given us not so much for the outward rest of the Body as for the inward and spiritual refreshing of the Soul that being taken off and set at liberty from the Labours and Toils of the World we may be wholly taken up with and imployed about the Service and Worship of God but though this be good singularly good upon our Sabbath-days yet it is not good only then for it is always good at other times as well as then so the same Psalmist assures us in the next Verse To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and and thy faithfulness every night Mark that word every every night and by consequence every morning day by day in the morning because then the mind is more fresh and free and lively not yet intangled with nor deprest and fetter'd with secular Affairs but more fit to wait upon God and engage to holy works which call for and deserve the best and happiest frame And in the night the pleasant peace stilness and silence whereof doth render it very accommodate to and proper for the most sacred serious and solemn exercises In the morning prayer should open the door to business give your first visit to God who is your best Friend and at Evening let Prayer lock up the door and draw the Curtain Before the Body lies down in its Bed let the Soul return unto its Rest. This is a most excellent way for you to enjoy your selves and your God too a most excellent way to bring down from Heaven a Blessing upon your Labours in the day and to put a sweetness and refreshing into your sleep at night In this way you commit your selves and your all to God and engage God for you III. Family-worshipping of God hath been the practice ef Holy men in all Ages Saints standing upon Record in the Scriptures have soughâ— and served God in their Families and with them and so have all others in succeeding Generations who have been sound both in Head and Heart and acted by right Principles They have loved the work and delighted in the performance of it out of Conscience and Choice As for those Persons whose Heads have been Flie-blown and their mnds corrupted with Errour they are to be the Objects of our Compassion and Pity and the good Lord cause his Light to shine into their Minds in order to their better information and the reducing them from the Errour of their way but their practices are by no means to be made use of as your Directory or followed as your Pattern For if any have imbibed false notions it is no wonder that their lives and actions are crooked and irregular shamefully deficient in some things and no less extravagant in others Let us look to the precious and eminent Saints of God those that lived and died in the Faith and obtained a good report You are commanded to be followers of them who through Faith and Patience have inherited the Promises who are now possessed of those great things which they before lived in the belief and joyful expectation of who were here graciously accepted of God and are now received and glorified by him Let you and me my dearly Beloved follow them and tread in their steps Keep the same way now for it is the way Everlasting and turn not aside from that neither to the right hand nor to the left and equal their pace make as much haste as the best of them did considering that your time is as uncertain as theirs and it may be shorter only walk with circumspection not blindfold avoiding those things which were blame-worthy in them for even they were but Men and that imperfect Men compast about with infirmities having in them flesh as well as spirit Imitate them therefore in that which was good in them and will be so in you and in nothing else I may very well apply that of Paul to the present case and let you and me mind it as our Rule Phil. 4.8 Whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report and were so in them in all or in any of them think of those things and go you and do the like so long as they wrote fair imitate them but beware of their blots I am and oh that all professing Religion would be for the reviving of the old godliness Primitive Government in Churches and Primitive Godliness in Christians are like old Gold the best Ier. 6.16 Thus saith the Lord stand there in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest to your Souls The old way is the good way meddle not with new upstart Doctrines and Practices that is best which is eldest Now then come we to the Business before us upon enquiry we shall find that the setting up of Prayer and other Religious Exercises in the Family was the good old way that way in which those precious Saints walked here upon Earth who at last got safely to Heaven and whose Prayers are changed for Eternal Allelujahs I will not multiply Instances but bring three or four out of the Old and New Testaments and in the Mouth of so many Witnesses I hope you will look upon the thing as evident and established First I Appeal to you Was not this the way in which this great and excellent Person Joshua walked He was a Person that God put great Honour upon he was the Man that must give Israel Possession of the Land of Promise and this was his way He had walked in it and he was not ashamed to own it before all Israel both the good and the bad yea to declare openly unto them his fixed and immoveable resolution of persevering therein This is plain in the Text As for me and my house we will serve the Lord not I alone but I and they too I with them whoever was or would be of his
should delight to do his work because He gave us Being Now if there be so much reason in God's making them why every individual every particular single Person should serve and worship God why they should thus come before him with praises and thanksgivings there is as great reason why Families should do so too nay there is the very same reason For God made Families too Families have their Being from God Nay there is a double reason for he hath put forth a double act of Mercy and Power He did both make the Persons and the Family Psal. 68.4.5 Sing unto God sing praises to his Name extol him that rideth upon the Heavens by his Name IAH and rejoyce before him One well observes that our thoughts of God should not be low and mean but high and heavenly lifting up his Name above the most excellent and glorious Creatures because they all are his Servants and he makes use of them as he pleaseth riding upon the Heavens as his Chariot and because he only hath Being of himself and gives Being to all those things that are But what other reason is to be given for this read on A Father of the Fatherless and a Iudge of the Widdow is God in his holy Habitation So then he is a God of Bowels his Compassions work and fail not he is a good Friend to the Poor and Helpless Orphans and Widdows whose Tears and the Cries of whose Necessities sometimes and among some persons can hardly obtain the consideration of their case but God will be a careful Father of the Fatherless and a righteous Judge for the Widdow But what is this to the present purpose though it be not yet I was willing to take notice of it as that which may be comfortable to some and now look into the next Verse and we shall meet with something apposite to our case Sing unto God and extol him that rideth upon the Heavens by his Name IAH But why so God setteth the solitary in Families He sets them in an House those that were destitute so some render it poor wretched destitute were not worth a foot of Land had not where to lay their head he provides a place for them and an Habitation others read it those that were solitary and so do our Translators such as are all Solitary single Persons and all alone and upon that account lead a melancholick and uncomfortable life God sets them in Families they were once poor Servants in other mens Families where they were fain to labour and toil and some of them were beaten unmercifully and pinched in their Dyet but since God hath been graciously pleased to raise them and to give them Families of their own they have now Yoke-fellows to delight in and Children to rejoyce in and Servants to work for them and wait upon them Nay it is God that doth not only set in Families but doth for many multiply and magnifie them they have numerous Families and plenty for them Those that had but a small matter to begin with are now arrived at a very considerable Estate and have not only wherewith to answer their necessities and to silence the lamentable bitter heart-piercing Cries of hungry craving Children but enough and to spare and therefore these should worship at his footstool and both speak and live his praise Psal. 107. The Prophet doth in a pang and rapture as it were for several times one after another break out in this holy wish Oh that men would praise the Lord Oh that men would praise the Lord Oh that men would praise the Lord vers 8.15 21 31. But what is the matter What do you enquire and would you indeed know There is matter enough abundant matter they that have hearts devoted to the praising of God will never want matter of praise The Prophet in those Verses wisheth that men would praise him for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of men His works are so wonderful that they call for admirings and there is such a goodness in them that they deserve praises And the Children of Men are greatly obliged to abound in these praises because they are no less concerned and interested in these works they being done to and for them But this is only spoken in general particulars are more affecting and if any one here hath not taken notice of many he hath been very heedless and unworthy But the Prophet doth multiply particulars in that Psalm as he will find that peruseth it I shall take only one out of the heap as serving our occasion vers 41. He setteth the poor on high from or after affliction and maketh him Families like a Flock The Man was poor before exceeding poor possibly not worth a Groat yea and he was in affliction too though Poverty is it self a sore affliction there needs no other yet it doth not go alone the poor Man is slighted by his Friends and trampled upon by his Neighbours and it is likely afraid to stir out of his own door lest a Serjeant should clap an Arrest upon his back but now after this affliction God raiseth him up and sets him on high He is now grown a considerable Person a Man of Estate a Gentleman in the Countrey an Alderman in the City it is well if he be humble now he is high and doth not forget himself and that God too who advanced him and hath given him a Family like a Flock and as a considerable Flock so a rich Pasture for him and it to feed in there you see Families are of God's making Hast thou O Woman a careful Husband that minds his business and provides well thou hadst him from God Hast thou O Man a prudent Wife that orders well it was God laid her out for thee Have you both Children that are the Crown of your Conjugal Relation it was God that bestowed them upon you they all are his Off-spring When Iacob was upon his Journey towards the Land of his Kindred Esau went out to meet him and God having conquer'd and influenced his Spirit he embraced him and fell upon his Neck and kissed him and seeing the Women and the Children he said Who are those with thee Gen. 33.5 Iacob answered The Children which God hath graciously given thy Servant Children are God's gift and they are a gracious gift which carrieth in it a great deal of goodness and mercy That is the first thing God is the Author of Families and since they had their Being from him it is fit he should have service and worship from them so long as they have a Being II. My second Reason shall be drawn from that Honour which we all should bring to God He that is the most excellent and glorious Being may challenge for he doth deserve glory at the hands of all his Creatures And they have wickedly forfeited their Being who do not make their contributions and cast in something nay all they can into the Treasury of his Glory Here
upon Earth to Sun your selves in his Beams to solace your selves in his Arms to Delight your selves in that fulness of Joy which is in his presence and to bathe your selves in that River or rather Ocean of Pleasures which is at his Right Hand for evermore You that have walked in the same way shall come to the City of God the heavenly Ierusalem of which the Lord and the Lamb are will be the everlasting light and having set your Hand to the work of God and having had your Heart in it you shall enter into the same rest You that have mourned together and together mingled your Groans and Tears and poured out bitter Complaints against your Sins and your Selves shall then rejoice together and that with exceeding Joy because of your own and each others thorough Cure and perfect Health You that have confest your faults together both Heart and Life-sins shall then be deliver'd from them and triumph over them all You that have prayed together upon Earth and with all the power of your Souls Besieged the Throne of Grace shall in Heaven sing praises together even Eternall Allelujahs and to make the Consort compleat and that melodious Harmony the more ravishing you shall be joined with an innumerable Company of Angels and all the Saints that were Redeemed unto God by the Blood of the Lamb. Oh! how deliciously sweet will it be to your Souls who have been the Father of a gracious Family or the Mother of it if at the last and great day when the whole World shall be summon'd to appear and give up their account to God you shall be able to say Lord here am I and the Children which thou hast given me these thou gavest to me in thy goodness and these I gave up to thee in Covenant and accordingly I brought them up for thee I am not ashamed to own them for mine and I trust that in Christ thou wilt be graciously pleased to call them thine now thou art making up thy Jewels these I did carefully teach thy fear and did also lead them in the way that thou didst chuse and they were willing to learn and ready to follow they were my hope when but little and my comfort when grown up and now Lord we present our selves before thee in hope of being accepted by thee and finding favour and then our Lord Jesus shall look upon you with a gracious Eye and say I know you you are some of my old Friends and Acquaintance you did rejoice and work Righteousness and remembred me in my ways and in those ways I did meet with you Come ye blessed of my Father you are welcome to me and you will be so to him inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world you have been industrious seekers and now you shall be successful and happy finders you have been running the Race now you shall receive the Prize you have been sowing in Prayers and Tears and a Consciencious performance of Duty and now you shall with joy reap the Harvest your Faith shall be swallowed up of Vision and your Hope of Fruition This is no more my dearly Beloved than what you and such as you may with good ground hope for and live in the joyful expectation of and the lively hope of it may very well allay the bitterness of Death and afford you that comfort which may through Christ keep your Souls in perfect peace even when you are in the greatest agonies and strugglings with the King of Terrors When you are ready to draw your latest Breath and to bid farewel to all the world and to set up your Sails for the other world and to shoot the Gulf your Conscience can bear you witness that you have heartily submitted your selves to God and believingly closed with the Lord Iesus Christ renouncing all confidence in the Flesh and making mention of his Righteousness as that only by which you must be justified yet that you have not had an idle and unactive Faith but endeavoured to walk in all the Ordinances and Commandments of the Lord blameless and that you have been sincerely desirous to improve your interest and power for the honour of God and accordingly have order'd and brought up your Family for him and so have spent your time together in his fear and service I say you may hereupon chearfully commit your own Souls to him as to a faithful Creator and also your Children to him them you may leave in his Hand as the proper Objects of his Covenant Love and Fatherly Care hoping that you shall meet again in his Blessed Presence and live for ever in his Kingdom and Glory You see I have brought from your selves you that are Masters Mistresses Parents Heads and Governours of Families Eight Arguments for your setting and keeping up in them the Worship of God and Religious Exercises and upon every one of them I have insisted long and enlarged much that if it be possible I might convince your Judgments and work upon your hearts and affections Now the question is what you think of and say to these things For mine own part though I do not and hope never shall overvalue any of my own labours yet I would set a great estimate and high price upon all the truths of which I am sure these things which I have brought to you are some how much soever they may taste of the Earthen Vessel in which they come to you yet know assuredly they are of God And let me add it is a common Saying and a true one that Interest governs the World though it is no less common and true that men are greatly mistaken about their real and grand interest placing it where it is not But I say if your own interest have any place and power with you if you would secure and promote it you will find not only good but abundant reason for the doing of that which I am pressing upon you viz. Setting up the Worship of God in your Families And if any of you have hitherto been strangers to it I earnestly beseech you to shew your selves persons of teachable and tractable Spirits easie to be intreated and evidently to manifest your fear of God and love to your selves by your speedy doing it take not up with some inclinations towards it or good purposes or resolutions for the future but up and be doing fall presently to practice for Gods sake and for your own sake and for your Families sake do not defer and put off do not say you will do it afterward for though that should stop the mouth of a sleeping lazie Conscience it will by no means please an holy God Besides that is no other than a wretched fallacy and base cheat that a malicious Devil and a treacherous deceitful heart would put upon you that Old Saying carrieth a great truth in it Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit He that is not fit and willing to day will be
times better to break thy natural Rest than to lose thy Duty One quarter of an hours hearty fervent and believing Prayer will more revive thy spirits and be a far greater refreshing to thy Soul than an hours drousing and render thee more lively more good more comfort is to be got upon thy knees than upon the pillow therefore rouze up thy self awake thy Soul and Body and say with David Psal. 61.1 O God my God! early will I seek thee Get up get up the sooner in the Morning take unto thee the wings of the Morning and flee away that so thou maist get up to thy God and be with him Let me mention two things by way of Motive First The sweetness that is in Secret Prayer You Christians that have tasted it make your reports and commend it to your Friends and Acquaintance tell them what you have found David would not conceal the Loving-kindness of his God but invited others to come and hear what had been done for his Soul so to do argues a thankful spirit and in this very particular many of you may find abundant matter to inlarge upon for it is no jejune barren Subject It is a most pleasant Converse that a gracious Soul hath when it is alone with God O the intimacy and closeness of that Communion which it enjoys when there is no body else by O the humble familiarity and holy freedom that it can at such a time use The Prophet said Psal. 39.1 He would keep his mouth with a Bridle while the wicked was before him Yea and Prudence will tell the Saints there is a necessity for their doing so when the Saints are before them and their dearest Friends they are forced to suppress many things there are such black thoughts in their minds such stirrings and workings of corruption in their Heart as are not fit to be imparted unto any upon Earth So that though their Hearts are ready to burst they cannot ease themselves by giving vent but when they are got alone and no body hears but their Father which is in Heaven they know how to pour out their complaints into his Bosom and open their case though with shame and blushing because it is so bad and fetch things up from the bottom and tell God all that is in their Hearts Psal. 38.9 Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee Secondly There is great advantage comes in by secret Prayer As sweetness in it so good by it and that in this respect as it is a means to fit a Person for praying with others when thou hast been upon thy knees with God in thy Closet thou maist comfortably hope that thou shalt find him graciously accompanying thee into thy Family and there helping thine infirmities by giving thee a larger measure of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication for thy better inablement to manage and go thorough with thy Duty there When Scholars at the University have a Speech to make in the Colledge or Schools they will say it over by themselves first Chase thy own Soul in thy Retirements that so thou maist be warm and warm others in thy Family Now in the performance of your private Devotion I commend to you an holy freedom and that in these two things First Be very ingenuous in your Confession of sin this is one great special piece of your Duty It is a singular way of giving glory to God and of easing a burden'd oppressed Conscience When therefore you go about it do it thoroughly confess thy sins with shame but be not asham'd to confess them he that covers his sin shall not prosper no not in that not in his covering them for what he covers God will reveal who loves to bring to light the hidden things of dishonesty There are two Reasons for a free and full confession of sin to God the one is Because it is in vain to keep back any since he knows them all for he searcheth the Heart possesseth the Reins understands the Thoughts afar off compasseth the path knoweth our down-sitting and up-rising is better acquainted with us than we are with our selves having our secret Sins in the light of his Countenance The other Reason is Because he is ready to forgive and hath promised whoso confesses and forsakes his sins shall find mercy as much mercy in God as he finds sin in himself Doth the penitent Confessor find crying sins in himself He shall find tender mercies in God yea a multitude of them Secondly Be large in thy desires Let not modesty prevail against thy necessity and hinder thee in thy begging but open thy Mouth wide to ask as well as to receive Consider you go to one that is a Fountain never emptied by the streams it sends forth to one that hath an inexhaustible Treasure and doth not in the least impoverish or lessen himself by inriching of others The Sun hath never the less light by shining upon the World nor hath the Ocean less Water by feeding the Rivers God is able to make thy Cup run over and thy Cistern too yet retain his own Divine Fulness which can neither be more nor less than it is because it is infinite And as thou goest to such a Fulness so to one that is thy Father It might well discourage and damp thy Spirit hadst thou to deal with a Stranger or only with a Friend but it is thy Father to whom thou dost in Prayer address such a Father as hath not his Fellow neither for Fulness nor Affection Therefore when thou art in his Presence and at his Foot speak out and carry away no burden nor want which thou dost not acquaint him therewith let him have as full an account of all from thine own Mouth as thou canst draw up that is the way to have the removal of those burdens and relief under those wants and for thine encouragement frequently meditate upon those two Scriptures Iam. 1.5 God giveth unto all men liberally and upbraideth not and that in Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Iesus Christ. II. Besides secret Prayer in your Closet or Chamber make Conscience of Family-prayer Having been alone with God and by thy self sit not down content with that but apply to the remaining part of thy Duty call those that are under thy charge and carry them to God together with thee As when the woman of Samaria had heard the discourses of our Lord Jesus while they were by themselves she was so taken with them that she left her Water-pot and went to the City and called her Neighbours to come and see him and converse with him too Would you not be willing to have your Family go to God in glory Sure you would and if so then bring them now with you to God in duty All that are capable of joining with you and of understanding what you do and say yea bring your little ones your young and
and end our day and other things too with God we cannot rationally expect to prosper if we do not begin with him and in case we do not end with him our labour may be lost and all that we have done may ravel out again Our necessities would engage and spur us on to this In the Morning we should seek him for direction assistance and blessing upon the work and business of the day For Direction else we shall mistake our way and lose our selves it not being in him that walketh to direct his steps he that thinks himself wise enough to be his own guide will find himself a Fool for thinking so For assistance because in him we live and move and have our being and without him we can do nothing nothing supernatural nothing natural the concurrence of his grace is necessary to all our Spiritual and holy actions the concurrence of his providence is as necessary to all our natural and civil actions if he subduct from us we cannot stir a finger nor move a foot And for a Blessing for upon that all our success depends we had as good sit still if we take not God along with us Solomon tell us in one place the diligent hand makes Rich in another place that the blessing of the Lord makes Rich the former can never do it without the latter In the Evening we should beg of him Protection for it is his hedge that secures us his wing that covers us Psal. 4.8 Thou Lord only makest me to dwell in safety no Guard comparable to a God beg of him rest and sleep for it is he that with a tender hand closeth the eye and binds up the senses and giveth his beloved sleep beg of him refreshing by that sleep else you will have sick sleeps and disorder'd Spirits and akeing heads after them Once more our daily receivings do oblige us to the offering up of this our Morning and Evening Sacrifice In the Morning we are in gratitude bound to bless him for watching over us while we slept and that with a never-slumbering Eye and for his not holding our Eyes waking of which poor Asaph complain'd Psal. 77.4 And that you are not in the same case with poor Iob in Iob 7.13 14. Who when he said his bed should comfort him and his couch should ease his complaint was scar'd with dreams and frighted with visions We have cause to bless God in the Morning that when we sought rest in our Beds we found it there and that our sleep was not our terrour And again in the Evening we have cause to bless God for the help of the day that he directed and strengthen'd and prosper'd us in the work of our Heads and Hands and for the Mercies of the day Health Ease Relations Friends Food Raiment and that we relish our Enjoyments and taste any sweetness in our Enjoyments for a little matter would vitiate and corrupt our Palates and render our pleasant things as insipid and unsavoury to us as the white of an Egg or a dry Chip nay bitter and loathsom Iob 20.12 His meat in his bowels is turn'd it is the gall of asps within him It is one thing to have outward Mercies and another to have the comfort of them and these two go not always together but are often separated when we have them both surely we should be wickedly ungrateful if we do not own and honour him who is the Father of those Mercies and the God of that Comfort V. For the better offering up of these your Morning and Evening Sacrifices in and with your Families be sure to make choice of the fittest and most proper time God doth all his works in their time so should we do ours that will be the Beauty of them The blessed Man brings forth his Fruit in its Season and that is lovely pleasant Fruit. Now which is the most proper and convenient time for the Duty I shall not take upon me here to determine for the occasions and circumstances of Families are various and different yea and not seldom those of the same Family wherefore the Governours of Families are to make use of their own Prudence and Discretion in the choice thereof you are most likely to know it best only do you chuse that which is best and I shall lay down two Rules in general by which you may judge what is so First That is the best time for Prayer in which you can promise your selves the greatest freedom from all other business and to meet with the fewest avocations from the work and disturbances in it Secondly That is the best time for Prayer in which you find your selves in the best composure wherein your Minds and Hearts are in the fittest frame for the Duty most serious most spiritual most lively and have good reason to conclude those who are to join with you in the work will be so too as well as your self This is highly desireable and in a special manner to be look'd to A wise Man will see that his Instrument be in Tune before he will begin to play his Musick Do you here see to it that your Hearts be in Tune otherwise you cannot hope that your Prayer will be God's delight Now here I must be plain with you that I may be faithful to you and faithful I must be because I am accountable and how else shall I answer it to my Judge I charge no body in particular that would not be becoming in such a place in such an Assembly but I draw my Bow at a venture God himself direct the Arrow that it may hit the mark and pierce to the Heart of those who are guilty And I do advise every one of you to reflect and search into your own Lives and examine your Practices and if your Consciences smite you and say as Nathan to David Thou art the Man Thou the Woman take it to your selves and I give you free leave to think your selves the persons whom I meant and that was said I intended to and for you only know it for your good The God of Heaven accompany what I shall say with his Spirit and Blessing and lay it on the sore place and make it stick in order to the working of a Cure There are my Friends two things of which I am inform'd and upon their account there are great thoughts of Heart among serious gracious Christians One is that of unreasonable and unseasonable Gaming I mean in the houses of Professors such as call themselves Christians and would be counted the Friends and practisers of that Religion which is pure and undefiled before God and the Father as for others who are the Servants of Sin and Satan I leave them to the righteous Judgment of God But as I have heard since I entred upon this Subject there is in the houses of Professors sitting up at Cards till it is late ten eleven twelve of the Clock at night yea sometimes till morning I ask them by the
desire him to fulfil them for my sake And to the doing hereof he doth encourage us by a gracious promise of success both that he himself will fulfil such desires such Prayers For this he gives them his word and we may be sure he will be as good as his word Iohn 14.13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son or by the Son whom he hath raised with his own right Hand and constituted the sole Mediator and for our greater assurance and comfort he repeated it in the next Verse If ye shall ask any thing in my Name I will do it not only take care that it shall be done but I my self will do it which is a strong Argument and clear Evidence of Christ's being God since he doth the work of God in hearing and answering of Prayer And he likewise tells us in Iohn 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you only you must necessarily suppose that what you so ask must be according to his Will and for our Good 1 Iohn 5.14 This is the confidence which we have of him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us we shall be sure to obtain it to have the Petitions we desire of him There is a certainty of speeding when we pray aright in the Name of Christ and with Faith in that Name that which so goeth up in a Cloud of Prayer shall descend in a Shower of Mercy there is nothing shall hinder it none on Earth none in Hell can and none in Heaven will for the Father and Christ are one one in Nature and one in Will both are perfectly agreed as in other things so in this of fulfilling such Prayers you shall have your desire Christ will do it and so will the Father both will consent both concur and co-operate This is as a late worthy Divine hath observed part of that Glory which God hath put upon Christ all must be done in his Name Prayer ask in my Name Church-meetings when two or three are met together in my Name Church-censures 1 Cor. 5 4 5. In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Iesus Christ to deliver such an one unto Satan Ministers are to Preach in his Name and to Baptize in his Name therefore whensoever you pray to the Father be sure that you do it believingly in the Name of Christ both in publick and in private both when you are by your selves alone and when with your Families and that First For your own sakes that when you knock it may be opened to you and you may have what you ask and find what you seek that instead of being with anger rejected your Prayers may be graciously received and be sanctified by the Golden Altar and being accompanied with the Incense of our Blessed Advocate may come up as so many Odours and find the desired acceptance and do it Secondly For your Families sake that by this means they may be put upon Enquiries after this precious Lord Iesus for this will be to them an occasion of asking you and others concerning him who and what he is And so they may come to some knowledge of him whom to know is Life Eternal as the way to it and the beginning of it they may know him as the one and only Mediator between God and Man as the great Master of Requests that is at the Fathers Right Hand ready to receive all the Petitions of his poor but dear People and as ready to expunge the faults and supply the defects of them and so to present them to the Father and to back them with his own Intercession which is powerful and prevailing the Father heareth him always and this being accompanied with the Spirit and Blessing of God may prosper to the working in them some love and good liking of him and by consequence kindle in them some desires after an Interest in him as in one that is great and good as in one that they stand in absolute need of without whom they cannot be saved nor find favour with God but must everlastingly perish and be undone since there is nothing that can commend them to God but Jesus Christ no Wings that can secure them but those of this Sun of Righteousness nothing that can wash out their stains and filth but his Blood nothing that can cover their nakedness and shame but his Robe nothing that can make their Beauty perfect but his Comeliness put upon them In short in this way and with your help they may come to understand that it is not their good meanings nor their good doings not their civility and honest dealings with Men not their keeping clear of bad actions the gross pollutions that are in the World through Lust no nor their running in a round of duty that will justifie them but only the compleat perfect Obedience of Christ and his precious Blood as of a Lamb without spot and that it is not their Prayers though long and fervent that will prevail with God but only the Mediation and Intercession of Christ. And to this end I would give you this advice further content not your selves with a bare naming Christ in your Prayers but make an honourable mention of him after such a manner as this Our dear Lord Jesus Jesus who is the Lord our Righteousness who loved us and washed us in his own Blood and made us Kings and Priests unto God Jesus who dyed for our Offences and rose again for our Justification By frequent repetitions of such things in your Prayers and suitable Discourses at other times the Lord Jesus may become acceptable and precious to them through whom and for whose sake both you and they must become acceptable to God if ever ye be so Having spoken so largely to this Subject my earnest Request is that you all would set up and keep up this necessary and excellent duty of Morning and Evening-prayer every day in your respective Families carefully observing and putting in practice those Rules which have been laid down for the better performance of it and my hearty Prayer for you who do so is that you may have help from Heaven in the work and afterward receive such gracious answers and plentiful returns as may raise and fix in you a resolution of calling upon God as long as you live There is but one Objection against this holy practice which I judge worthy to be taken notice of and I will do what I can to silence the Objection and to do him good that humbly makes it Object Some poor Creature may put in and say Sir you have with much Importunity and Zeal stirred us up to the performance of Family-duties and in particular that of Prayer and I have with diligence attended to what hath been spoken and cannot but acknowledge there is much
as in all other things so particularly in this I do advise and earnestly beseech you to be as tender and careful of the Interest of the great God as you are of your own and more too Fourthly When you have been waiting upon God in the ways of his Publick Worship and have had the Counsels of his holy Will made known to you and the great Mysteries of Religion opened at your return to your own houses do you retire your selves and be alone with God lest by being in company with others and falling into discourses of another nature you lose the things you had heard and those impressions wear out that were made upon you and also allow convenient time to all in your Families for their Private Devotions remembring they have precious immortal Souls the Salvation of which they are as much concern'd to work out as your selves are of your own I have somewhere read of a King I wish there were more like him who while he was teaching a poor Boy that belonged to his Kitchen being askt the reason why he did so answered The poorest hath a Soul as precious as mine and cost the same price no less than the Blood of Christ. And when you see a fit season call them all together and bless God for the Truths you have heard and pray that he would bless them to you and bring them back to your own and their minds by the repetition of them and demand of them an account which to do is a very probable way to keep them from sleeping in the Congregation and from a supine carelesness and vain foolish absurd gazing about and also of imprinting something upon their minds and thoughts which may have a powerful influence upon their hearts and lives and do them good afterward yea as long as they live and when this is done praise the Name of the Lord by singing of a Psalm and pray to him for acceptance of and a blessing upon what you have done and so commit your selves and yours to his Fatherly Protection in the Night and his gracious Conduct the following Week in the course whereof let there be nothing contradictory to your Lord's-days profession or inconsistent with it I beseech you draw an eaven Thred in Religion These four things which I have spoken to you are good for you and necessary to be done but they are generals Therefore now I shall proceed to some more particular Directions for the Instructing of your Families which I would have you carefully to observe and the great God shine upon your endeavours that so they may prove very successful to your comfort and joy First Begin with instructing them about the Being of a God Though this Truth be ingraven in their hearts though the things that are made do plainly Preach to them his Eternal Power and Godhead yet be not you silent but speak the same thing to them over again and again and so betimes even as soon as ever you can principle them against that brutish yet growing Atheism which is an Enemy to all Religion and opens a wide and effectual Door unto all Villany and Profaneness That Person who denies the Being of a God is a sit Tool for the Devil to make use of yea to imploy about his worst Services and basest Drudgery And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Fathers said good David 1 Chron. 28.9 Know there is a God and in particular know him that hath been and is thy Fathers God and let him be thy God too Love him chuse him cleave to him Shew them the Heaven and the Earth and the things that are in them and that these could not make themselves but must of necessity be made by another how many second Causes soever may be enumerated we cannot take up our rest in any of them but must pass thorough them all and ascend to the first Cause and that first Cause that ens entium that Source and Original of all Being is God and besides him there is none else Ier. 10.11 The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Tell them that upon this God all things that are have an absolute and necessary dependence The Beam doth not more depend upon the Sun than the Sun and all do upon God for them to subsist without him is a thing utterly impossible if he should withdraw his hand Man would crumble Earth would sink the Heavens would shrink and the Angels themselves drop from their present height into that first nothing out of which they were fetch'd by the Divine Power Let them from you know that they themselves are his Off-spring and indebted to him for their Being being by him formed in the Womb and brought out of it and that he hath looked after them and taken care of them ever since when they hung upon the Breasts he carried them in his Arms and taught them to go and held their Souls in Life and provided for them ever since and therefore they are not their own but his he hath the Sovereign Right to them and to Reign over them and that upon this account they are bound to love this God and to fear this God and to serve and honour him as long as they have any Being Acquaint them with his being an holy God in his Nature in his Will in all his Ways and Works glorious in Holiness and of purer Eyes than that he can behold Iniquity and that he hath given out a Law that is holy just and good which they and all are bound to obey the Commandments of it not being grievous And that he is every where present observing how his Will is observed and his Law obeyed and his Creatures order and demean themselves he takes notice both of the Evil and the Good of them that fear him and them that fear him not and doth so strictly observe that he sets down in his Book of Remembrance those that fear him and think upon his Name and can set the sins of the wicked in order before them yea the same order in which they were committed with all the circumstances that cloathe them And that he hath appointed a day wherein he will Judge the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained and bring to light the hidden things of dishonesty and render unto every one according as their Works have been whether good or evil Rom. 2.7 8 9. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness indignation and wrath Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Iew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Iew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God That he hath
a Child and spake as a Child Neither was it a thing to be blamed or wondred at what else was to be expected from him Though sometimes excellent Wisdom appears in Young ones as in Timothy who knew the Scriptures of a Child And Ambrose saith of Agnes Corpore juvencula animo cana fuit she had a youthful Body and an aged Mind Young Samuel had in Grace out-striped old Eli But saith Paul When I came to be a Man I put away childish things And it is greatly to be wished that all would do the same and not be Children all their days That when they write Man they would act like Men bidding an everlasting farewel to childish Tricks and childish Discourses childish Pleasures childish Actions and Carriages Yea and if there be any such things as manly follies have nothing to do with them How do any think to train and bring up their Young ones to the Wisdom and Discretion and holy Prudence of Men when they themselves are playing the Children before them Therefore as I said before be you grave and serious let Wisdom breath in all your discourses speak much the Language of Heaven let it be stampt upon all your actions for one act of folly will detract more from your Reputation than twenty prudent ones will be able to repair and make up again let it shew it self in all your Converses be so familiar as to know your place so let out your Love to Man as still to keep up your Fear of God so converse with Friends here as not to interrupt your Communion with your heavenly Father be so courteous as still to be Religious so sociable as to keep within those bounds which God hath set you I would not be understood as speaking one word no not a syllable against cheerfulness a sober and well regulated Mirth for it is not only allowed by God which is enough to prove its lawfulness but also commanded which renders it a Duty Eat thy Bread with a merry Heart rejoice with the Wife of thy Youth yea and of thy Age too and Paul doubles the Precept Rejoice evermore and again I say rejoice and the Psalmist tells us Praise is comely for the upright not Complaints but Songs not always Prayer but Praise the Garment of Praise is the Beautiful Garment which sits most neatly upon a Saints Back and with this they shall be Invested when taken up to Glory and admitted into the Joy of their Lord and this I desire them to consider who please themselves in a dejected melancholick Temper and think they never look well and as becomes them unless it be when they have a Cloud upon their Countenances and Tears trickling down their Cheeks and if ever they would speak properly it must be in sighs I wonder who told them so it must be no other than the Devil who is an inveterate and implacable Enemy as to their Holiness so to their Peace and Comfort Sure I am that alacrity and cheerfulness is your Friend and promotes the Health of your Bodies and furthers the lively vigorous motions of your Souls in their most noble Employments it is Health to your Navels and Marrow to your Bones and Oil to your Wheels And this is also sure that chearfulness doth become you it is most becoming because most proper for you most suitable to that God who is your Father to that Jesus who is your Head and Husband to that Covenant upon which you have laid hold to those Promises in which you are interested to those Hopes under which you are planted and to that safe sweet blessed state into which you by Grace are brought and that it doth become you is evident from hence because it doth belong to you Light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart and it is fit you should reap that which Heavens Hand hath sown for you There are no Persons in the World that have such a Right and Title to Joy as Believers have wicked Men indeed have none at all no though they be Rich yet are commanded to weep and howl for the Miseries that shall come upon them Iames 5.1 For a Temporal Heaven they shall have an Eternal Hell And further it is sure that chearfulness is one way to commend Religion to others The World is mistaken about it and hath taken up a wrong notion of it which it holds fast viz. that it is a dull heavy mopish and melancholick thing that it is morose and ill-natur'd an Enemy to Manners and Mirth but that is a false notion a grand mistake it doth not forbid chearfulness but directs and orders it it teacheth Men to be merry and wise and I do heartily wish all that chearfulness were quite banished which is inconsistent with the Rules and Principles of our Religion The World would be far better without it what need is there of that Laughter which Solomon call'd Madness or what good comes of it away with all that Iesting which the Scripture calls vain It is a sad thing for Men to live Iesting and after that go to Hell in Earnest you will find it best to be Merry and Religious Râ—s severa est verum gaudium true joy is a severe grave and serious thing and let that measure your days let there be lightsomness but nothing of lightness solidity but no froth let your Families be witnesses of your Integrity and see nothing in your Conversation that is below understanding Men nothing unworthy of gracious Christians But this is not enough Thirdly Let your Carriages be holy Our Saviour said to his Hearers what do ye more than others Mat. 5.47 You that have received more than others must do more than others you that have been made partakers of Grace must out do and out go and out-shine those that have no more than Nature it is not enough for you that you do nothing contrary to the Divine Precepts that you do not point-blank run cross to the Rule of the Gospel Negative Religion will never commend you to God nor carry you to Heaven you must conform to those Precepts and walk up to that Rule so shall you have Peace and find Mercy I have hoped for thy Salvation and done thy Commandments not legally but Evangelically Psal. 119.166 Yea he that hath the Commandments of God in his Heart may have Salvation in his Eye He that leads a Life of obedience may live a Life of Hope and so godliliness richly pays for the pains it calls for therefore I say unto you walk in print so walk as to set Copies for others to write after so that you may say to them Walk so as you have us for an Example You do very well know how ready young ones are to produce you for their warrant and they think your Example is sufficient authority and should signifie as much as an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did formerly in the Schools which stopt the Mouth of Contradiction no Argument to the contrary
contend with their Masters they have saith he not only reason to despise and dislike them but unless they amend to rid their hands of them and put them out of their Houses Therefore we have cause to conclude Iobs meaning was this Fourthly When any Servant had matter of complaint as to any Household grievance he gave them free liberty to acquaint him with it they needed not be afraid to present their case to him whom they should find to be their Patron as well as their Master and as ready to do them right as to expect service from them as the same Author saith Sometimes Servants complain that their Reward or Wages is too little sometimes that their Work is too much and lieth too hard or heavy upon them When Iobs Servants contended with him about those or any such matters he did not bid them hold their tongue or get them gone much less did he say as Pharaoh did there shall be more work laid upon you that you may labour therein but he heard them patiently and gave them redress if their Complaints were just which many Masters would not do or else he convinced them by his Wisdom and the weight of his Arguments that their Complaints were causeless and unreasonable which most Masters could not do He was always willing and ready to rectifie whatever was amiss and to remove every thing that was really a grievance go ye and do likewise It is past dispute that Masters and Mistresses have a place above their Servants God himself hath by the all-disposing hand of his wise Providence set them upon the upper ground and they have a power over their Servants so long as they continue such but yet they are not to abuse them nor trample them under their feet no no you ought to be humble meek and lowly though never so great so high and rich The Sun is a glorious Creature and much above the Earth yet how comfortable is it to the things therein how kind and benign its Beams and Influences be you so in your Places not only righteous to them but courteous not Labans not Nabals To this end frequently remember and consider that as you are Persons in Authority so you are under Authority you your selves have a Master too you are above your Servants but there is a God in Heaven who is infinitely more above you and hath Persons Times and Things in his own hand and at his own dispose and doth make frequent turns and changes in the World and it is his delight to abase the Proud If any of you will pride it in the place of Masters and Mistresses God can easily and he quickly may bring you down into the place rank and condition of poor Servants and such an alteration will be very uneasie to you unless God brings your Spirits down to your Condition it will be very uneasie a strait Shooe drawn upon a big foot pincheth it and puts it to pain Fifthly Be loving and Kind in all your Carriages Love like Varnish puts a beauty and gloss upon all things and like Sugar or Honey a sweetness into them it is a most glorious representation of God to us the Scripture saith he is Love It was an excellent Chariot which King Solomon made for himself Cant. 3.9 10. of the Wood of Lebanon there was sweetness the Pillars thereof were Silver and the bottom was Gold and the covering of it of purple there was Richness and Princely State but what follows sets off and commends all the rest the middest of it was paved with Love for the Daughters of Ierusalem Yes had there been no love there one might as well have rode in a Cart as in Solomons Chariot Love goeth with the Holy Soul to Heaven and there it is perfected and there it eternally abides and is the Heaven of Heaven it is the brightness of its glory and the sweetness of all its delights Faith and Hope are two excellent Graces and of singular use here but they will both cease Faith being swallowed up of Vision and Hope most gladly resigning its place to Fruition but Love remains Heaven would not be Heaven without Love call that place Hell where Love is not that House Hell where Love dwells not You that are Husbands and Wives be loving and kind to one another in your looks and in your lips let there be the law of kindness that will strengthen your interest in your Family and power over it as well as sweeten your own life and Relations whereas your quarrels and contentions do and will render you mean cheap and contemptible in the eyes of your Inferiours Some may think it great to ride Master and to have their will but they lose much more in their honour than that comes to Therefore if at any time there happen a disagreement between you keep it close and private between your selves not suffering it to take air if there be a spark of discontent kindled put it out with all speed and let it not break forth into a flame Be also kind and loving to your Servants and to your Children when you give out your Orders to them do not do it in an imperious way some think it becomes them to speak altogether in thunder but let them remember that it pleased the great God to speak to his Servant Elijah in a still voice To command with Love is the most likely way to be obeyed with delight and cheerfulness When you Teach and Instruct them do it with gentleness the moderate Rain doth more sweetly soak into the Earth and refresh the Fruit of it than Thunder-Showers which falling with violence lay the Corn and the Grass and damnifie both it is better to instill into them knowledge and good Principles than to knock and beat them in Love doth most sweetly unlock and open the ear and makes a free and easie passage for Instructions and Councels to enter in and it doth mollifie and soften the heart so that it is rendred more ready to receive impressions more faithful and careful to retain them When you do reprove them as reprove them you must when they do deserve it silence in such a case is sinful He that suffers Sin to rest upon his Child or Servant brings guilt upon himself and becomes a partaker with him in his evil deeds He that doth not reprove for Sin encourageth in it and for not reproving shall be reproved But whensoever you do reprove let it be done in Love Adam had disobeyed God in eating the forbidden Fruit God did not wink at it resolved to punish him for it and did yet he came to him in the cool of the day Always dip the Nail in Oyl for that is the way to make it drive best and pierce deepest otherwise the Board may split or the Nail bow and break through a stubborn resistance When you are angry with them moderate your passion and mingle it do not stir up all your wrath but in the midst thereof remember
remove do it the sooner the better Let not meer secular advantages keep thee there It is better being out of the warm Sun than out of Gods blessing And you that are fixed as a Wife Child an Apprentice count the want of Family-duty as your Affliction and groan under it as such and in your private addresses beg down if possible Mercy and Grace upon them Pray heartily for them who will neither pray for you nor for themselves the godly Wife for the ungodly Husband the gracious Child for the profane Parent and the Religious Servant for the Wicked Master or Mistress yea wrestle mightily in Prayer for them and with Iacob weep as well as make supplication and be sure to live up to the Laws of the Relations you stand in filling up your days with the duties of your places that though they will not practise Godliness they may see the power of it in its influences upon you If the Wife be peaceable and quiet loyal and loving respecting and reverencing her Husband the Children very dutiful and obedient the servants submissive diligent and faithful every one walking in the fear of God giving no cause of quarrelling with you or blaspheming Religion for your sakes In a word let your whole conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ. You see I have spent a great deal of time and taken no small pains in studying preaching and writing out all this discourse Oh! that it may not be in vain but all the better that have heard or shall read it to that end the good Lord accompany it with his Spirit and blessing bring you to this work keep you at it and help you so to manage your selves and families that after a Life of Prayer on Earth you may be taken up to a Life of Praise in Heaven where all your Wants shall be supplied all your Prayers answered and all your hopes accomplished then you will see the Word was your best rule the Ministers of Christ your real Friends and Religion your grand Interest when fury shall be poured out upon them that know not God and Hell shall receive the Families that call not upon his Name where there shall be no end of their torment and pain nor of their roaring cursing and blaspheming of that holy and righteous but terrible God whom they would not be persuaded to love seek and serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A POSTCRIPT HAVING said so much as I have done in this Book to the graver sort of Persons your Parents and Governours dear young ones and that not only for their sakes but yours also I have judged it fit to accompany that advice and counsel to them with a few words to you because you likewise are very nearly and greatly concerned and all means possible are to be made use of for the preventing your present miscarriage and eternal ruine You are now in the Morning of your Age and prime of your strength you have set forth and entred upon that Journey which will certainly bring you to your last home where you must take up your everlasting abode from whence there can be no remove and that will be either Heaven or Hell the Glorious Mansions above or the Bottomless Pit below where it is absolutely necessary for you to take heed to your ways and ponder all your goings to set out right at first and then to go straight on without turning either to the right hand or to the left otherwise you will be lost for if the way be not good the end cannot be peace as for such as turn aside unto their croâ—ked Paths the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity Psal. 125.5 It is too evident that multitudes of young ones through corrupt inclination and bad conduct have gone out of the way of life betimes and could never find it afterward Having made an early choice of Sin they grew harden'd in it and there being a judicial Tradition of them to the power thereof they went on to commit it with greediness living and dying its Votaries and Vassals and is it not sad to consider may it not well be matter of bitter lamentation that such Excellent Noble Creatures should be spoiled such precious immortal Souls should be irrecoverably lost that such sweet and lovely Blossoms should be utterly blasted that they who once were the hope of their Parents and might have been the Ornaments and Blessings of their Country should prove burthens and curses to them both God forbid that any of you should be so too for we have too many such already Therefore I pray God that you may and desire that you would be serious betimes get alone sit down and consider what you are where you are whether you are going what is for your interest and what against it labour to know and knowing mind those things which belong unto your peace youth will not always last nor the pleasures of it which you do now count so very sweet and delicious and run such desperate ventures for the enjoyment of A Sickness may quickly be sent of God and cover your faces with a dismal paleness pick the Marrow out of your Bones suck all the Milk out of your Breasts and convert all your strength into weakness faintness and tremblings your smiles may be turned into frowns your mirth into mourning your laughter into heaviness and your songs into sighs groans and shrieks Your own Consciences may arm against you as your enemy and God may so appear as to be your terrour and you may be then made to possess the iniquities of your youth when all the honey is spent and nothing but the sting left the pleasure is over and only the guilt remains whereby you are bound over to the suffering of the judgment written If you be not wise in this condition you may live and die and then you will see cause to wish you had never been born O! be you I beseech you be ye your own friends provide for your own peace and welfare and instead of working out your Damnation with joy jollity and self-pleasing chuse to work out your Salvation with fear and trembling since all the pleasures of Sin are but for a season do you seek out for and make sure of those which are at Gods right hand for evermore and since this life will be but short when drawn out to its greatest length do you lay hold upon that which is quite out of the reach of death that life which came from God and will be perfected in him And know how great a number soever the Prodigals and Profligate Youths of the present Age do amount to yet if you will be serious and truly religious you will not be alone there have been many choice and excellent Persons that went before you the Names of some together with their Character you meet with in the Sacred Records an Isaac who loved Meditation a Iacob that was set for the blessing and by a Vow bound