have the dew of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth may you be richly stor'd with grace and come behind in no gift thoroughly furnished for every good work yea and fill'd with all the fulness of God but withall be very humble great in value and usefulness but little in your own eyes that will not be to your loss but much to your advantage for God gives grace to the Humble and no less to your Honour Humility eclipseth and obscures no Mans glory but sets a singular lustre and gloss upon it making it shine with a greater brightness Holy and Humble Paul was one of the most Eminent Servants God ever had in the World and his speaking of himself as being less than the least of all Saints detracted nothing from his real worth nor did it hinder his being equal with the chief of the Apostles if we may speak of a chief among them among whom our Lord appointed a Parity at that time there was no such thing as a Pope I would not speak one word to swell or puff any of you up if you study and know your selves as you ought you will soon find defects infirmities corruptions enough to keep the best of you down yet I cannot but say you are my Joy and Crown and as I do every day make mention of you in my Prayers so I can and frequently do bless and give thanks to my God upon my remembrance of you and that upon sundry accounts which I speak of for your encouragement and the promoting your farther progress I have reason to hope it is the true grace of God in which you stand and as you have a Name to live so you have been made partakers of the Life it self for as you do all make a good and excellent Profession so I know none of you that stain and contradict it by a scandalous walking You have been stedfast in shaking and falling Times some did indeed go off in the Days of sore Persecution not having on the whole Armour of God nor being able to indure Hardship as the good Souldiers of Jesus but they were few so few that we did not miss them we do not want them the Lord grant that they may find Mercy of the Lord at the great Day I shall be glad to meet them in Heaven You have received and owâ—â—d me as an Angel or Messenger of God and the delight you take in my Ministry hath evidenced it self and still doth by your constant attendance upon it In this Sceptick Age you have been Wise to Sobriety in this Erroneous Age you have been sound in the Faith neither admiring the pretended new Lights nor falling in love with those old rotten Errours which some have dig'd out of their Graves In this dividing Age you have kept the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace you are not for taking up a Yoke of Bondage but for standing fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free yet no Friends to Licenciousness While you flee to the Gospel for Relief and Comfort you own the Law for your Rule you do not divide Christ but take him just as God hath exalted him and doth offer him Prince as well as Saviour and not only to be an underling to pay your Debts and bear your Burdens and die for your Offences but likewise to be a King upon his Throne Commanding and Ruling you And as you rely only upon him for Righteousness so you desire to imitate and follow him in his Holiness and to shew forth his Vertues who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light Am I mistaken in any of you as to these things I hope I am not the Lord grant I may not I know of no wild Notions nor loose Opinions among you may there never be any but all of you have as one said Heads well-hearted and Hearts well-headed and so a soundness throughout May you approve your selves to God and Men being good Christians good Subjects good Citizens good Husbands and Wives good Parents and Children good Masters Mistresses and Servants good Friends and Neighbours filled with the Holy Ghost and Goodness and all the Fruits of Righteousness Love God Father Son and Spirit with a supreame intire and most intense love think the most vehement flame of your love too cold here Love the Church of God study seek and pray for her good Love all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity though in some things they differ from you let not that cause any alienation in Affection so long as they hold the Head count them Brethren and be dear over them as such love one another help one another quicken strengthen comfort one another provoke one another to Love and good Works rejoice in one anothers Mercies sympathize with one anothers Afflictions bear one anothers Burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ. Most dearly Beloved my Mouth is open to you and my Heart enlarged The great God knows I do as really desire and pray for the Prosperity and Salvation of you all and of all yours as I do mine own and in the following Sermons I have commended no other things to you than what I believe and know to be both your Duty and Interest and would my self be found in the practice of if we call our selves Christians let us be Christians Israelites and Israelites indeed what signifies the Name without the thing Gird up I beseech you gird up the Loins of your Minds make no trifling Objections listen not yield not to any wicked Temptations but apply to your Work act for God in your Places to the utmost shine bright in your own Sphere keep your Hearts continually in an holy frame fit for Communion with God in Duty be not now backward to it nor hereafter weary of it Though you have but a little stock of Knowledge and Parts fall to Trading and you will increase it Be not discouraged because you cannot do what you would God accepts of the Will when the Disciples were offended with a good Woman Christ's plea for her was She hath done what she could The Lord told his Servant he had been faithful in his little and thereupon gave him an entrance into his Joy Your little will find great acceptance and be rewarded with great Blessings so it be your Best In short would you stem the Tide of Profaneness which breaks in upon us with fury Would you save the Life of Practical Religion which is brought very low and in a deep Consumption Would you be instrumental for the preserving of a Seed to serve the Lord Would you be able to give a good account of your selves in the Day when God shall come to Reckon with you And do you desire the present and future welfare of those precious Souls which are committed to your Care then observe the Rules and follow the Counsels of God which are given in this Book And the God of Heaven accept you in the Beloved grant your
at present We frequently see that Sin doth carry its punishment along with it Soon after Cain had kill'd his Brother the Innocent Blood cried and Judgment was in part Executed Quickly after Iudas had play'd the Traytor God made him his own Executioner While Belshazzar was impiously Carousing in the Vessels of the Sanctuary there was an Hand-writing upon the Wall and that very Night was he slain So God hangs up some Notorious Criminals as it were in Chains in terrorem that others might be warned and frighted and some restraint laid upon and bounds set to wickedness which would otherwise overflow all and that some order might be preserved and kept up in the World On the other side God doth even in this Life frequently reward good Men and both give them Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Things and outward Blessings in Earthly Things thereby making it evident to all that have Eyes in their Heads and will observe that it is not in vain to fear God And though his upright Iob's are not so sordidly Mercinary as to serve him meerly for hire yet he is so infinitely good and gracious that they shall not serve him for nought but while they walk before him in their Integrity and make it their desire and endeavour to please and obey him he watcheth over them with a never-slumbering Eye and takes special Fatherly Care of them and doth them good they have peace in their Breasts and Families protection about them and all that they have and also Food convenient for them a supply of all their need And though some others of his People who are dear unto him and exceeding precious in his sight have but little a very little of this Worlds Goods but from Hand to Mouth yet they can be cheerful sitting down to a Dinner of Herbs and eat them with a merry Heart giving God thanks because they know they have the love of God in it and the Blessing of God with it and by consequence that little which they have is better than the Riches and great Revenues of many wicked their Brown Bread is better than the others Venison which is pepper'd hot with a Curse and their Cup of cold Water is better than the others most generous Wine because the Wrath of God is dropt into it and all shall at last be dearly paid for when Divine Justice shall bring in the Reckoning Shew them that the Service of God and a care to please him is the way to get the good things of the World both the Creatures and the Comfort of them for as we before said Godliness hath the Promises of this Life i. e. both of Life it self and what doth appertain to it And as it is the Blessing of God that maketh Rich so his Blessing is upon his People upon them and only upon them Others have no Interest in the Promise and therefore cannot lay claim to the Blessing nor groundedly expect and hope for it Profane Esau would fain have had the Blessing he ask'd it he beg'd it he wept for it but alas it was gone before Isaac had past it to his Brother Iacob and he was not to be alter'd Esau had contemned the Birthright and sold it for a Mess of Pottage and therefore he should not have the Blessing He found in his Father no place for Repentance although he sought it carefully with Tears Profaneness excludes from the Blessing But withal take some pains with them yea do all that you can to keep their Hearts from being ingaged to the World and their Affections from being wedded and devoted to these sublunary Enjoyments do not commend to them fine Cloaths gorgeous Attire and outward Bravery that is the way to make them proud but the Robe of Righteousness a putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ by Faith and Imitation and a being cloathed with Humility Do not commend to them earthly Riches which reach not the Soul which are uuncertain and take unto themselves Wings and flee away leaving the poor Owner in a worse condition than they found him but commend to them the good part that shall never be taken from them the Riches of Faith and an Interest in the Promises Not worldly Grandeur which is so slippery nor high places from which so many tumble and fall and break their Necks but great goodness great measures of Faith and Holiness great serviceableness in their several places labour to convince them of the littleness and vanity and nothingness of those things which the bewitched worldlings do so madly dote upon and so idolatrously hug and pursue still after with so much eagerness as if they could never have enough and indeed let them get never so much of them they will never find enough in them but in the fulness of their sufficiency they will be in straits Iob 20.22 Such Men are in straits during that fulness of sufficiency though they have abundance they do not think it enough their condition is high and their outward comforts are large but their spirits are too big for their condition and so they are pinch'd and pain'd like a Gouty Foot in a narrow and little Shooe And many times God chuseth that as his Season for the making both his Power and Anger known upon them when they are at the full they are eclipsed when their Cup runs over he empties them when they stand stâ—utting and vapouring as Nebuchadnezzar in his Palace Is not this great Babylon which I have built then Divine Providence trips them up and lays their Honour in the Dust. Turn away their Eyes from beholding these Vanities and direct them to more noble and amiable Objects that do better deserve their Love and will requite it at a greater rate make them to know there are other manner of Beauties and Glories to be had and therefore to be sought and looked after those Riches and Honour which are with Wisdom durable Riches and Righteousness Prov. 8.18 Tell them that one Drachm of Saving Grace is better than Thousands of Gold and Silver that Christ is better than Creatures God better than all the World and his Favour than Life his Smiles than the brightest Sun-shine therefore Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt and rather chose to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a Season Heb. 11.25 26. And David counted one day in God's Courts better than a Thousand elsewhere and would rather be a Door-keeper in the House of his God than dwell in the Tents of Wickedness Once more convince them if it be possible that beginning with God is beginning at the right end this is the best method and will be most successful To set our Affections upon things above is the directest and most compendious way of attaining those things which are here below Let a Man make sure of Christ and he may very well trust God with all his outward concerns The Lord is my shepherd let
strength in those Arguments which have been us'd and urg'd for the pressing it upon us so that I am convinced of the goodness of the thing and own it to be my Duty and would be glad to do it if I could but I am not in a capacity my ignorance is exceeding great and my parts full out as little I have no such Gifts as other Men have and so tremble to think of undertaking so great and weighty a thing as this should I make an attempt for certain I should most shamefully miscarry and render my self ridiculous it is to be fear'd that this is really the case of too too many in this City yea and possibly of some in this Congregation Answ. To such an one I will answer in these following Particulars I. Thou who makest this Objection art a very great Object of Pity and I do heartily pity thee What! O Man canst thou converse in the World and discourse with thine Acquaintance manage thine Affairs and carry on thy Trade and yet not Pray Canst thou deal with thy Customers and not with thy God Thou hast scarce thy Fellow in any sort of Wretches there is not a poor Creature in Town or Countrey that wanteth Bread and hath a craving Stomach but he can beg though he doth not know one Letter in the Book yet he can ask for an Alms nor is there a Malefactor in danger of his Life but will find something to say for himself though he cannot make out his Innocency nor clear himself of the Crime laid to his Charge though he hath nothing to say why the Sentence of Death should not be past upon him yet he can fall down upon his Knees and say Mercy my Lord Mercy and canst thou not do as much when thy Case is as bad and worse Thy Soul Man is ready to starve and so are the Souls of thy Family all in extream necessity and canst thou not beg Thou art worthy of death and so are they Sentence hath been already past and hast thou not any thing to say for the staying of the Execution Thou and thy Family have a great number of great wants and canst thou not ask a supply when it may be had for asking Thou art a poor sorry pitiful Creature indeed if there be one in the World It is a thousand pities thou shouldest have a Family a Wife and Children who canst neither provide necessaries for their Souls nor beg for them Thou hast indeed but little very little love and kindness for thy self and Family in thy heart and as little brains in thy head who canst not go to God and speak a few good words for them II. Since thou dost not to this day know how to Pray I advise thee to learn to do it and that speedily for it is high time when thou wast young and little thou didst not know great A. but now thou canst read distinctly roundly yea and write a legible hand how came that about thou didst learn it So when thou wast first bound an Apprentice to thy Master thou couldest do nothing at thy Trade no not a stroak thou wast a very Ignoramus thou couldest not tell the Price of those Commodities which thou wast to deal in much less judge of their goodness nay thou couldest not so much as tell their Names but now thou art expert and skilful and there are very few Persons that can out do thee in thy business and how came this about thou didst learn it In the present Case go thou and do the like thou sayst thou canst not Pray I say go thou and learn to Pray be thou who thou wilt for thy Worldly Quality I am sure thou art not too good for it and I hope thou art not too old beg therefore of God that he would teach thee the Disciples desired this very thing of Christ Luke 11.1 Lord teach us to Pray as Iohn also taught his Disciples and without more ado he did it go you and do likewise fall upon your knees and say Lord I am a poor ignorant Creature I do not know how to Pray O! do thou teach me And for your comfort and encouragement know First It is the work of the Spirit to assist poor Souls in Prayer it is one of the works of his Office Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what to Pray for as we ought that is as much as thou canst say of thy self neither know how to Pray to Pray as we should nor what to Pray for but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Secondly God hath graciously promised this Spirit to his Church and Children and that under the very notion of a Spirit of Prayer Zech. 12.10 I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem a Spirit of Grace and Supplication He will give much of it he will pour it out Thirdly God is most ready to make good his Promises this in particular He is both faithful and free Luke 11.13 If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Go therefore and beg of God that he would give this Spirit to thee III. Do thy endeavour making use of those means by which an ability to Pray I mean the gift of Prayer may be in some measure attained for we are not to please our selves with expecting much and doing nothing idle hopes are vain if you ask me what means you should make use of I briefly answer First Carefully observe others Godly Ministers and Christians when thou hearest them Pray mind how they pour out their requests unto God and get something out of their Prayers which is proper for thee as when Persons are in a Garden where they see variety of curious and pleasant Flowers they will pick one here and another there for themselves do the like with those apt and pertinent expressions which thou hearest from others make them thine own only in using them let tongue and heart go together Secondly Be very conversant in the holy Scriptures and there take notice of precepts and promises and turn them into Prayer begging that God would give what he commands and perform what he promiseth in particular acquaint thy self well with David's Psalms in which you will find abundance of excellent matter both for confession and petition for prayer and praise Thirdly Be much in studying your own and your Families State and consider how matters stand with you seriously think what sins there are and what afflictions what wants and what dangers and thereupon go to God and beg of him the pardon of those sins and power against them beg the sanctifying of those afflictions that they may be wholsom though bitter and out of the eater there may come Meat make a thankful acknowledgment of the Mercies you receive and give unto God the glory of them
House should serve his God and join with him in Family Duties Secondly Let us look some hundred of years before Joshua and consider the practice of Abraham who was called the Friend of God and the Father of the Faithful A most remarkable Person whose Children we shall all of us be willing and glad to be found at the last and great Day in order to which we are concerned to have and be expressive of his Spirit and tread in his steps Now I desire that all of us who are Governours of Families would seriously consider what God saith of him Gen. 18.19 The Lord said shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. I shall have occasion to make use of this Scripture more than once for several purposes That which I do at present observe from it is That there was Government kept up in Abraham 's Family and that the gracious Principles by which he was acted led him thereunto and that thing was very acceptable and pleasing to God God knew that he would do so and he knew it with a knowledge of approbation Abraham knew his place that God had made him Lord and King in his own House and he would use and exercise that power and aunhority with which as such he was invested He would command his Children and his Houshold not only wish and desire it nor only perswade and exhort to it but command it Now I think we may from hence without the least suspicion of violence or unfair dealing draw this as a good and necessary Consequence That since Abraham did command in his House as a King he also would teach and instruct them as a Prophet though there be many in the World who love Domination that do not care to take the trouble and pains of Instruction but doubtless Abraham being so good a Man was none of them He took care that those who were under his Roof should know the way of the Lord. He would teach them that good way for it is certain had there not been due means used for the making of them to know it it had been a vain and foolish absurd thing in him to command them to keep it Afterward we find that Moses did first teach and then charge Deut. 4.5 6. Behold I have taught you Statutes and Iudgments even as the Lord my God commanded me that ye should so do in the Land whither ye go to possess it keep therefore and do them And I would ask whether we can rationally think that Abraham would command his Children and Houshold to keep the way and while he was so doing not keep it himself Our Lord Iesus doth indeed charge the Scribes and Pharisees who sat in Moses Seat with binding heavy burdens and grievous to be born and laying them on mens shoulders when they themselves would not move them with one of their fingers But Abraham without doubt would not only move his Finger and Hand toward this burden of Duty but also with all his Heart put his Shoulder under it not counting it grievous but pleasant and delightful and as he instructed them by his teaching and obliged them by his command so he would sweetly allure and draw them by his example for otherwise we may well think and he might well fear that his Counsels and Commands though loving and reasonable would be lost and not have their desired effect for they might in such a case judge they had enough to excuse and warrant their not following his Counsel and not obeying his Command because though their Father and Master did order them to do so yet he would not do it himself There are indeed Parents will teach their Children sobriety but are drunk themselves command them chastity but are filthy and unclean themselves these pull down with one hand what they seem to build with the other Abraham I doubt not would practice what he taught and tread the way he would have them to go in Thirdly Did not Queen Esther do the same The Case of the Iews was very sad Haman being advanced by Aloashuerus and set above all the Princes Mordecai knowing him an Amalekite would not bow unto him nor do him any reverence this Affront put the Man into a rage and upon the study of Revenge Mordecai single and alone was too inconsiderable and mean a prey for him to stoop to therefore he laid a cursed Plot for the destroying all the Iews that were thoroughout the whole Kingdom and it was very like to take an Order was obtained for the destroying killing and causing to perish all Iews both young and old little Children and Women in one day this set them all upon fasting and weeping and wailing and many lay in Sackcloth and Ashes Mordecai sent to Esther word of this charging her to go in unto the King to make Supplication unto him and to make request before him for her people threatning her that in case she did altogether hold her peace enlargement and deliverance should arise unto the Iews from another place but she and her Fathers House should be destroyed God would take care of his people but her timerousness and neglect would issue in her own ruin Observe now the Answer which hereupon she returned to him Esther 4.16 Go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast ye for me and neither eat nor drink three days day nor night I also and my Maidens will fast likewise and so will I go in to the King which is not according to the Law and if I perish I perish Grotius saith These were two Maidens that waited upon the Queen one of them gave her her Hand for a support when she went abroad and the other held up her Train and there is no question to be made but they were either natural Iews or Proselytes i. e. such as had been brought off from Gentilism and Converted to the Iewish Religion and she and they fasted together I and my Maidens will fast not I alone but I and they and I am very confident you all will readily grant it was a Religious Fast which they then kept they did not only chasten their Bodies as David phras'd it by abstaining so long from all kinds of Meat and Drink but they did worship God together and sought him together and joined their Hearts and Powers in a mighty wrestling with him for their own Lives and the Lives of their People which were in such eminent and imminent danger and which would certainly be cut off unless God did by some wonderful Providence interpose for the preventing it But once more Fourthly We have the precious Example of our Lord Iesus Christ whom we are bound to imitate as he was in the world so should we be in the world 1 John 4.17 and we should run the Race that is set before us looking to Jesus Heb.
no gap to be found in it which an Enemy could enter in at till God afterward for wise and holy ends gave leave This must of necessity be a good Hedge because it was of God's own making thou hast set it and it also was a large Hedge fetching a great compass for it took in all it was about him his person thou hast set it about him about his Soul and his Body about his Graces and his inward Comforts his Life and Health and Strength and about his House the Habitation it self and all within Doors Wife and Children and Servants and all his Goods yea and about all that he had though at never so great a distance from home his Fields and his Cattel his Grass and Hay and Corn his great things and his little things too his Camels and Oxen yea and his Asses and Sheep and Lambs all that he had and the Scripture adds it was on every side He could look no way but he might see Salvation so that neither Devil could come at him nor any other Enemy without Divine permission Indeed afterward as that Chapter tells us when the Devil that inveterate and implacable Enemy falsly accus'd and charg'd that good Man telling God that he had all along been no better than a Mercenary and that a change of Providence would make a change in him if Providence did but frown upon him he would quickly fall a Cursing of God a very touch would turn him God did for the glory of his own Grace and the vindication of his Servants honour give the Devil leave to try what he could do by himself and his Instruments at the same instant resolving to allay the bitterness of the Cup to support him under the burden and at last to bring him off with honour and without loss or any cause of complaint which was at last done for Iob 42.12 God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning yet he then had a Blessing and that a great one there was not only protection but likewise a benediction for Satan could not but acknowledge that God had blessed the work of Job 's hands and that he experienced the power of that blessing and reap'd the fruit of it for his substance was increased in the Land by all which you may plainly see that the Father of Lies though his design was to bespatter Iob did yet speak truth when he said Job did not serve God for nought and as he did not so no body else ever did nor ever shall God is too good and gracious to suffer that such a reproach shall never cleave to his glorious Majesty The other Instance which I told you I would bring for the proving of this that Family-worshipping of God may be a singular means to keep off present Judgments is a tremendous and very remarkable Providence which while I was studying upon this Subject I happily met with in Polanus his Syntagma liber 5. cap. 22. de terrae motu And it is this In the Year of our Lord 1584. there was an Earthquake in Switzerland in the Territory of Bern in which one Hill being removed out of its place and violently carried and dasht against another did overwhelm and bury an whole Village that consisted of fourscore and ten Houses not any of them being spared and escaping save only the part of one House in which the Master of the Family with his Wife and Children were together at that very time upon their bended Knees praying and seeking of God IV. Setting up the Worship of God in Families is the way to promote your own Interest in them for God hath made a most sweet and gracious connexion of his own glory and Mens good so that in seeking the former they find the latter in keeping God's Commandments there is great reward upon seeking first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness other things shall be added cast in as an overplus Folly Sin makes Men and Women cheap and contemptible Godliness puts a Beauty upon them makes their Faces shine and renders them amiable considerable truly great in the Eyes of those that know them But it may be some of you do think your selves not at all concerned here and that you need not take any care nor bestow any thoughts upon this for your Interest is great and safe enough and you can well enough secure and maintain it with the greatest ease are not you the Master and the Mistress and have not you the Purse and the whole power in your hands And are not all under your Roof under you so that if any of them will not know their places nor keep their distance If they will not be observant of your orders obedient to your commands nor carry towards you with a due respect you can make them smart for it by pinching them in their comforts making them feel the weight of your hand and if that will not do by turning them out of Doors Let them affront or slight you if they dare Very well my Friends this is great and you are somebody at least in your own Eyes and it must be granted that all this you may do and being done it may turn to account but all this doth not will not make things so sure nor strengthen your interest so much as you may imagine no no be assured of this that when all is done your having the Power and the Purse in your hands will not befriend you at so great a rate nor so effectually secure to you the love and fear and awe of those with whom you have to do as exemplary Piety a Religious Life and putting the Duties of Godliness in practice I well know some Spirits are very rugged and boisterous not easily drawn and bowed to their Duty all means must be used and all little enough but this is certain it is no prudence when others are applied to omit the best The Smith would shew much folly in spending his time and tiring himself in beating and knocking of cold Iron when by putting it into the Fire till it be red hot he may form and fashion it as he pleaseth It is a gross Errour in Men proceeding much from Pride and Brutish Passion and plainly discovers their Ignorance to conceive that their huffing and hectoring their ranting and raging at their Children and Servants will procure them such a respect and esteem among them as Holiness will do and Prayer and living in a consciencious discharge of the Duties of their Places and that upon a Threefold Account First It is the way to engage God on your side who hath said He will honour those that honour him Do Men study to exalt God they themselves shall be exalted if his Name be precious to them theirs shall be so to him I will honour them saith God he will do it himself and that by taking them up at last to Heaven and cloathing them there with everlasting glory yea and he will make others honour them too
God speaking in Psal. 91. of one that loves him that loves his Name and Interest speaks of many things that he will do for him and among the rest he promiseth to honour him and he will be as good as his word it shall be done both in Time and to Eternity Secondly This is the way to instill into your Families right Principles that fear and respect which you have with them upon the other account is altogether forc'd you do by meer violence extort it from them and so it is not kindly nor will it be lasting they will reverence you before your Face but what will they do behind your Back Multiply very hard thoughts of you and speak as hard words against you where they safely may but in this way of holy Duty you take a course to rectifie their Spirits and sow in them those Seeds that may and in all likelihood will spring up to your own comfort and advantage for while you do endeavour to teach them the good will of God concerning them and to instill into their Hearts the love and fear of his holy Name they will at the same time and with the same pains and labour be taught to pay that reverence and fear which they owe to you shew them the way to honour God and they will thereby learn to give that honour which is due to you and it is to be hoped that what they do now will proceed from an inward Principle and what doth so is of all things the most durable and like to hold Thirdly Religion acted to the Life carrieth a Majesty along with it It was the Image of God instampt upon Man at first that did so excellently fit and qualifie him for the Government of this inferiour World it was this shining in his Countenance that struck an awe upon the other Creatures and made them submit to him As soon as Sin had defac'd that Image and he faln short of the glory of God they threw off the Yoke and grew stubborn and rebellious the more this Image is restored to Men the more there is of God appearing in them the more they live to God and walk with him the more will they recover their lost honour a Crown upon the Head a Sword a Scepter in the Hand will not render a Person so truly honourable as Religion will This strikes an awe even upon carnal Men when in the Company of such and often restrains them and keeps them from those exorbitances into which their own cursed Lusts would hurry them if this doth not gain you their Hearts so that they shall be knit to you it will commend you to their Consciences Let Men think and say and act as they please there is no such probable no such effectual way for the working in the minds of people a real and permanent goodness for the making of Children loving and dutiful and of Servants industrious and faithful as is an instilling into them the Principles of Religion and teaching them the good fear of the Lord when this is once done your Hearts may trust in them and you will find them devoted to the pleasing of you and set for the promoting your Interest that will preserve them from running into such sins as others do not stick at it will make them tremble at that which others will commit with greediness they shall not be supinely careless and negligent in your business nor shall they be Companions of Fools running with them into excess of Riot they shall not pilfer and steal from you that they may have wherewith to gratifie and fulfil a Lust they shall not embezzle your Goods nor betray the Trust you repose in them they dare not do these things there is a Conscience within that restrains them an Eye above which awes them You have two famous instances in Scripture for the proof of this which I shall mention the one of a great Man the other of a poor Servant The former is that of good Nehemiah What made him so excellent a Governour and so tender over the people studying their ease and comfort he had precedents enough to justifie him in another manner of Carriage toward them Neh. 5.14 15. For twelve years I and my brethren had not eaten the bread of the Governours He made not use of that which was his just allowance The former Governours which had been before me were chargeable to the people and had taken of them bread and wine besides forty pieces of silver yea even their Servants bare rule over the people so that this Oppression was grown to be a custom Why did not he keep it up The people having been accustomed to such a load would not have kicked now that was not it he did not fear the people but he fear'd God who alone was more than they and that was it that kept him from such practices as he tells us in the same Verse So did not I because of the fear of God The other instance is that of Ioseph who was indeed of a most Noble Descent the best Family in all the World but having fallen under the heavy displeasure of his envious Brethren they sold him and at this time he was a poor Servant nay of the worst sort a Slave and what would not such an one do to recover his liberty or to enlarge his comforts His Mistress burnt in Love to him and was earnestly set for an unlawful Enjoyment and thereupon tempted him to a compliance with her Lust. Carnal Reason now might have suggested here is a fair opportunity offered for advantaging your self a refusal will inrage her if you do not yield to her Love you kindle her Wrath and that will make the House too hot for you but if you do comply with the motion and accept her tender'd kindness you may be sure of a Friend you engage her favour and who knows but by having that you may recover your liberty however you may promise your self much from it but this would not take Ioseph had been taught better in his Fathers House and he had not forgot all he had brought from home with him such a Principle as was his preservation from t his fiery Dart an excellent Antidote against this insinuating Posyon and that was a Spirit of ingenuous gratitude and holy fear Gen. 39.8 9. My Master hath committed all that he hath to my hand there is none greater in his house than I neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee because thou wast his Wife how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God! You see here the power of good Principles and the blessed effect of Family Religion Whereas the neglect of this is of as malevolent influence and pernicious consequence An House where there is not holy instructions and exercises is like a Field or Garden not cultivated that will be over-run with Weeds When Masters of Families neglect their Duty to God they set their Children and Servants a wretched
and goodness of God that since poor Creatures are for ever ruin'd thorough your sinful neglect their Ghosts after their death do not continually haunt you and dogg you from place to place and from room to room and undraw your Curtains and with a ghastly Countenance and dreadful Looks stare you in the Face for their Blood lyeth on you yea it is you that have been their Murderers you have Murder'd their precious Souls you have poyson'd them by your bad and heathenish Examples by your living in a wretched ungrateful forgetfulness of God and in a sinful vile neglect of his Worship and Service not having his glory in your Eyes nor his fear before them You have been the death of them by with-holding from them that which was their due Family-instruction which you were obliged to have given them and other Family-duties which you were bound to have perform'd with them V. And lastly I judge it worth while as to the business in hand to enquire of you that are Parents Whether your Children have not been dedicated and given up to God in and by Baptism And of you that are Masters and Governours of Families whether you do not believe that the Fathers and Mothers of those who are your Apprentices and Servants have also dedicated and given them up unto God I know there is room and reason enough at this day for such a Question because the Administration of that Ordinance unto the Infants of Believers themselves is by so many denied and decried and therefore I ask again whether they have been brought under the Bond of the Covenant And whether they have had the Seal of the Covenant ministred to them Have they not been Baptized I do heartily wish that the Children of all professed Christians were and whatever dust hath been raised and is continued I doubt not but when that happy time shall come wherein the Iews shall be converted and brought to the owning and believing in our dear Lord Iesus that Controversie will be happily determin'd and Infant-baptism found to be not of Men but of God But I ask now whether yours have been Baptized If they have then First Know and consider that God hath a special right and propriety in them A more special Interest in your Children and Servants and a more peculiar right to them than he hath in and to others in the World He hath a right to others to all by vertue of Creation and Preservation as they are the work of his Hands from whom they receiv'd their Being at the first and by whom their Being is continued and their Souls held in Life but he hath another superadded right to these viz. by vertue of Donation the Parents Gift they have a natural right to dispose of their Children and these have disposed of theirs to God which was an act of the highest Wisdom and dearest Love all indeed are Gods Servants and let them carry toward him accordingly but Persons Baptized are his Sealed Servants Secondly Not to train such up for God is not only cruelty to them yea prodigious and barbarous cruelty but likewise it is apparent injustice to God yea it is Sacriledge the worst of Sacriledge It is accounted and is a wicked thing to rob Churches of their Vestments and Ornaments and Plate but what is that to a robbing God of Men and Women and Children and delivering them up to Vanity and Sin and the Devil certainly that propriety which God hath in them your Children and Servants is a great obligation upon you to bring them up for him and to instruct them in his work and service and to make them join with you therein that by being well acquainted with it and us'd to it they may be expert at it that they may carry as becomes them and act in a sweet suitableness to that Relation in which they stand to God and be in the better capacity of setting up his Worship afterward in their Families when they come to have Houses of their own that by this means Religion may be posteritiz'd and descend among you from Generation to Generation and when you are gone down to your Graves there may not want those who will stand up in their day to serve own and honour the God of their Fathers Thirdly Would it not be a trouble to you if those that are yours should prove wicked Without peradventure if you are Christians indeed as you profess your selves if you have any real goodness in you and not meerly a vain shew and empty name if you have any Sense if any Bowels if any softness and tenderness of Heart it cannot but be very affecting to you and exceeding grievous to you to think that any of yours should prove Sons and Daughters of Belial Persons that know not the Lord and that fear not the Lord sure I am the very fear of such a thing hath made some gracious Persons go bowed down and in the bitterness of their Spirits nay would it not grieve you that any of your Servants who are Gods should turn Rebels against him or that any of your Servants who are Gods more than yours should prove desperate Enemies to him and instead of delighting in his Service and laying out their All for his Glory and the Interest of his Name of whom you have had so long and ample Experience and unto whom they also are so much engaged should absurdly turn their Backs against him and do the sordid filthy works of sin and drudge for a Devil and after all their pains receive no other wages than death yea the second death which will be followed with a Burial in Hell out of which there is no Resurrection and there is one thing more which I commend to you as worthy of your solemn and frequently repeated thoughts viz. That it will greatly add to your guilt and by consequence no less add to your affliction and horrour if it be imprest and set home upon your Consciences that this miscarriage of theirs did come to pass through any gross and wilful neglect of yours and was the bitter effect of your failure in point of duty which you did owe both to God and to them Let me tell you how light soever any that hear me or read this Book may make of these things now in this damnably Atheistical and Profane Age yet you will find them like a Talent of Lead yea heavier than a Mountain when God is pleased to set them home Unto what hath been spoken with reference both to your Children and Servants there is something which I would add with respect to your Children in particular and that is this Fourthly You that are Parents consider I beseech you and lay to heart your own actual dedicating and giving your Children up to God Have you not done it I ask you again have you not done it And that in the most sacred and solemn way of a Gospel Ordinance while others did satisfie themselves with giving their Children a Name as if
dare non potest Man is too weak to perform the Law and the Law cannot give him strength In a word Man being now fallen corrupted infeebled and throughout depraved he cannot possibly keep the Law and therefore that cannot justifie him But there is another Covenant rightly called a better Covenant which God hath been pleased to make better for us as the case stands for it containeth in it better Promises Heb. 8.6 and is in the hand of a Mediatour Jesus Christ our fast Friend a Covenant by which David saw all his Salvation secur'd and in which he summ'd up all his desire knowing it to be everlasting ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23.5 In this Covenant as in all there is a mutual stipulation it hath its requiries and its promises by it Man is ingaged to believe in Jesus Christ with all his heart to accept of him and close with him as he is by the Father and himself offered in the Gospel to receive him in all his Offices as Prophet to Teach and as King to Govern and Command as well as Priest to Attone and Interceed and Bless and thereupon it promiseth Salvation it requires repenting of Sin and forsaking it and thereupon it promiseth Mercy and the blotting out of Transgressions it requires returning to God and the performance of sincere obedience and to every one that doth so God engageth himself to be their God for this is a Covenant of Reconciliation he engageth to pardon their Sins so fully so abundantly that they shall be as if they had never been white as Snow and to receive them into favour and to love them with an everlasting love and to give them grace and glory Crowning at length and satisfying them with happiness All those that have not laid hold upon and are not in this Covenant of Grace are to this day under the Covenant of Works and so in a state of Damnation and all those that are in the Covenant of Grace must come up to the terms of it Let Men in this erroneous teachie froward quarrelsom Age say what they will and make never so much noise the Covenant of Grace hath its Conditions though blessed be God what it requires it gives and we must carefully look that we come up to the terms of it and that there be in us an answerableness to its requiries if ever we would share in the blessings of it He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned repent and your Sins shall be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord but except ye repent ye shall all perish Christ will be the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that they obey him but he shall at the Great Day be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel And then it will appear that Obedience and Holiness are something that to fear the offending of God and a diligent care of pleasing him were other manner of things than many mistaken Persons do now take them to be Let your Families know that impenitency doth bind upon Men and Women the guilt of all their Sins and that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord and that Christ came to save from Sin as well as Wrath and to Redeem not only from Hell and Condemnation but likewise from a vain and vicious Conversation 1 Pet. 1.18.19 Sixthly Frequently put those who are Members of your Families and under your charge in mind of their being in Covenant with God and of their having been Baptized and so received the Seal or Token of the Covenant inculcate this in your Discourses with them I hope that all your Children and Servants to you I now speak who are Members of this numerous Congregation have been made Partakers of that great and precious Ordinance and you ought to tell them of it again and again for by that means you may do them much good in making them serious and thoughtful let them know from you that they were not by their Parents left at liberty to chuse whether they would be the Lords or not whether they would serve him or not whether they would bow their necks to the yoke of Christ or be the Sons and Daughters of Belial But their Parents whose they were and who had a right to dispose of them did in conscience of their own duty and in dear love to them bind them to God betimes they did devote and consecrate them to God they did as it were Seal Indentures between them and God so that now they are Gods Covenant People his Covenant Servants And tell them that being in Covenant with God they shall have all the good of the Covenant all the Mercies and Blessings of it in case they do not deal falsely therein they may rejoyce in it as that which is security enough they may live upon it and that comfortably in the worst times and they may plead it with God and say with David remember thy word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope But that it will be sad and dreadful for them to sin against it I mean wilfully sins in them are of a deeper die and have a louder voice than the Sins of others in the World and by them God is justly more provoked meerly to break one of Gods Commandments is nothing near so bad as to break Covenant with God that is an accent upon the head of Sin and doth greatly aggravate it and those Persons that are guilty thereof may expect and with trembling think how severe God will be at last and what fierce wrath he will pour out upon them when he comes to avenge the quarrel of his Covenant Labour to convince them what a dismal thing it would be for them to withdraw themselves from God whose they were by Covenant for them who had been in their Infancy by their Parents given up to God now to run cross to them and to null what they had done as much as in them lies and to give up themselves to Sin and to the Devil and to sell themselves to do evil this is a throwing dirt in the face of their Parents as if they had chosen ill for them and bound them to a bad Trade and an hard Master and this is a reproach to God as if he had been a Wilderness to them and a Land of Darkness and they had found iniquity upon him and this cannot but be an high provocation and must needs raise storms of wrath and fury Seventhly Be very much and often commending to them the Service of God and the Yoke of Iesus Christ that they may not be prejudiced by wrong notions nor mis-led by misapprehensions of him as the unprofitable Servant pretended to be who looking upon his Lord as Austere and made up altogether of Severity therefore would do nothing for him but e'en buried
Mercy even then let them see that you love them and that though their sinful Practices be odious to you yet their Persons are dear and all the fruit you aim at is the taking away their Sin and that you design your hottest anger for nothing else but a refining fire to separate their dross from them that afterwards they may come out like Gold When you chide them be sure it is not without a cause nor more than it doth deserve He is no Wise Man that for the roasting of an Egg makes a fire big enough to roast an Ox all that cost might have been saved and the thing better done In such a case a holy warmth is necessary and highly desirable but let not your tongue be set on fire with the fire of Hell no no let Grace be poured into your lips and out of them too mix your severest Chidings with convincing Discourses gracious Counsels and perswasive Arguments and while you would drive them from Sin at the same time draw them to Vertue and Godliness When you Correct them do it in Wisdom if Rods will do make no use of Scorpions yea and let Love lay on the Rod remembring God who contends in measure let them see clearly that your chastning of them is not for your pleasure but their own profit that they might be reduced from the errour of their way and made partakers of Gods holiness and when you Correct pray for them It is Gods Ordinance therefore beg a blessing of him upon his own Ordinance that through him it may prosper to the destruction of the corrupt Flesh and so the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iesus 1 Cor. 5.5 This is the ready way to gain them a most proper course to render all the means you use effectual upon them then will they look upon your very smitings as a kindness and upon your reproofs as an excellent Oyl that will not break their heads This is the way to make your Counsels theirs and to make them yet more your own by gaining their hearts As kindness makes subjection most easie to the inferiour and most pleasant the Yoak will not gaul if it be lin'd with Velvet so it commands with the greatest power it draws suaviter fortiter sweetly and strongly so that the Soul runs it allures and constrains too and at the same time it makes Government pleasant to the Superiour plucking Thorns out of the Crown and instead of them sticking it with Roses Whereas an imperious froward Lord or Master doth not only make his Family uneasie but himself too as their Yoak is heavy so his Seat will be hard and while he is all for Whip and Spur it will make both his arm and his heart ake to hold the Bridle Remember that Gods way is to draw with the Cords of a Man i. e. with rational Arguments for the convincing of the Judgement and with loving kindness in order to a moving upon and winning of the affections be ye followers of him as dear Children The more there is of love in your hearts and lives the more there is of God the more do you express and glorifie him and here let me add that which followeth hereupon or rather most sweetly accompanies it Sixthly Be not severe and rigid in your dealings with them but tender and compassionate It is said of the Egyptians that they made the Children of Israel serve with rigour and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage in Mortar and in Brick and in all manner of service in the Field all their Service wherein they made them serve was with rigour Tyranny Violence Fierceness citra ullam clementiam aut misericordiam without any clemency or mercy Exod. 13.14 therefore Egypt is called an Iron Furnace Deut. 4.20 but Israelites were forbidden to rule over one another after this manner If thy Brother be waxen poor and sold unto thee thou shalt not compell him to serve as a Bonds Servant Levit. 25.39 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour but shalt fear thy God ver 43. over your Brethren the Children of Israel ye shall not rule one over another with rigour v. 46. ye shall not rack him with labour nor with blows nor with threatnings ye Masters forbear threatnings Ephesians 6.9 not altogether sometimes they may be necessary but do not use them always nor often Well then God would have you not rigorous and oppressive but tender be so then as to instance in some particulars In their Sickness let them have what you can afford and their case doth require give them convenient Lodging due Attendance with all that is necessary both for Food and Physick that so they may see their Lives are valued by you and precious to you and that it is your will they should not want any thing that is fit for them How did the good Centurion regard his sick Servant Luke 7.2 3. His Servant who was dear unto him was sick and when he heard of Iesus he sent unto him the Elders of the Iews beseeching him that he would come and heal his Servant By taking care of them under their Distempers you will gain their hearts yet more and engage them to take the greater care of your business when their health shall be restored them In their Work do not over-task them do not call them to that which you know they have not skill to do nor lay upon them such heavy burthens as are above their strength to bear though such Task-Masters have been found among Egyptians let there be none such among professed Christians It is more becoming the Servants of Pharaoh who is called a Dragon-Leviathan than the followers of Iesus who is the Lamb of God a Lyon indeed for strength in his defending of them but a Lamb for meekness in his dealings with them when he invites Men and Women to take his Yoak upon them he tells them it is easie and his burthen is light and whether it be so or no ask one of his Servants who did draw in it and was able to speak from his own experience and he hath past his word for it and left it upon Record that his Commands are not grievious And in their failings be ye merciful to them if you are only concerned bear as much as is fit but if God be concerned too make them know your deep resentment but withall do what you can to restore them with a Spirit of meekness trample not upon them when down but lend them your hand toward the raising them up again to Repentance And by it I would not have you as I said before wink at Sin either in your Children or in your Servants for who knows how great a matter a little fire kindles how many Unclean Spirits may follow one that was admitted and found entertainment before Besides to bear with Sin in them is the way to provoke the anger of God against your selves because you do not punish Sin in them God
will punish that neglect in you Yet even in that case you ought to act with prudence and Christian moderation and let the offending Parties find that while your wrath burns against their sin your bowels yearn over them As when God threatned Adam and Eve for their Disobedience yet he threw out to them a plank after the Ship-wreck and before he turned them out of Paradise he opened to them a door of hope in that early and most gracious Promise the Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head And for the promoting of this tenderness in you consider your own obnoxiousness to God they have their miscarriages and you are not without but do offend in many things you did so when you were young as they are and to this day you are not faultless but if the Lord should be strict to mark iniquities you would never be able to abide it and therefore have need to go down upon your knees every day and humbly sue out your pardon and it is a plain case such as stand in need of a Pardon themselves should be very free to give it out to others and upon those terms only it is to be expected our Saviour having told us that if we forgive not men their trespasses neither will our Heavenly Father forgive us our trespasses 6. Mat. 15. That King was justly severe with his cruel Servant who owed him Ten thousand Talents and upon his intreaty had that vast debt forgiven him but meeting with his fellow Servant who owed him no more than Five hundred Pence laid hold on him took him by the Throat and cast him into Prison whereupon his Lord was wrath and delivered him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due So saith Christ shall my Heaveâ—ly Father do also unto you if ye from your heart forgive not every one his brother their trespasses Matthew 18 23. So that your Lives your Pardon your Salvation depend upon this if you will shew no mercy you are not like to find any that measure which you meet to others shall be meeted out to you again neither is this forgiveness to be past to a Brother only but to an Enemy to a Servant upon profession of Repentance and the promise of amendment How Pathetically did the Apostle Paul plead with Philemon for his forgiving of Onesimus and receiving him again into his favour and Family who had before been an unfaithful Servant but was at that time a Penitent and Convert Eightly and Lastly In the measuring out of your love and kindness make no difference but where the merit and desert of Persons did make one first This is the way to encourage virtue without discouraging any one Indeed it is too common and ordinary a fault and too frequently visible in Families for Parents to be partial unequal yea and unjust in the distribution of their favours when by-standers are not able to give any no not the least shadow nor colour of Reason for it One Child and possibly that too none of the best shall be the Darling and have all the countenance and respect and all the attendance and abundance of good things given it when the others are slighted and neglected as if they were not their own or not worthy to be owned though they have cost the Mothers much sickness in breeding them and as much pain in bringing them forth and as much care and trouble in their rearing of them up yet after all they are looked upon as the refuse and off-scouring of the Family and whereas they have a right to the priviledges of Children they are debased to the condition of Servants if not of Slaves This I my self have been a mournful spectator of feeling in me the workings of those pâ—ssions of grief and displeasure which such a matter might well raise and as for those Parents which are herein guilty I desire them seriously to consider these few things which I shall but briefly touch upon First What a great discouragement this is to thâ—se poor neglected Children Hereby you damp their Spirits and take off their edge possibly they are dull and heavy already and you take a course to make them more so if they be naturally quick and lively they are the more apprehensive and sensible of your unkindness and that causeth the greater dejection Secondly You create in them a grudge against him who is your fondling And lay the foundation of a present and future if not a perpetual breach and he or she who is the object of your unequal love may for that very reason be the sole object of their envy and rage I suppose you know how Ioseph's dreams did incense his Brethren against him and how do you know but your dreaming or rather doating folly may have as diresul an effect of one kind or another Thirdly You do provoke those Children to be less respective and dutiful to you Truly Parents if they be wise will so carry as to get their Childrens love for as they depend upon you now so you may when they are grown up stand in need of them though now they are but little ones yet remember they may come to be Men and Women and be great supports and comforts to you when you can do little for your selves and it is not your bringing of them forth not their meer having a being from you that will endear you to them in case there be afterward an apparent defect in your love you will find their memories are tenacious I heartily wish this may never be your case but there is too much reason to fear it and if it should come to pass you will see cause to repent but alas then it will be too late the matter is past cure Fourthly This partial and unequal affection of Parents may provoke against them the Divine displeasure Yea and make them to feel the smarting effects thereof God may write his anger in such plain and leigible Characters that they may run and read their sin in the punishment As in another case when God saw that Iacob loved Rachel but not Leah or Rachel more than Leah he opened the Womb of Leah and gave her Power to Concieve and bring forth but shut up Rachels Womb and struck her with Barreness 29. Genesis 31. and I will appeal to you have not some of you known Parents herein chargeable the Father or Mother have set their Hearts too much upon one Child and their Affections have run with a strong and violent stream in that Channel and it hath issued in lamentation and woe one of these two things have followed thereupon Either First God hath taken away that Child from them They hugg'd it to death as the Ape doth her young ones Ionah was exceeding glad because of the gouâ—d that shadowed his head and in some measure helped and relieved him against the vehement scorching heat of the Sun here joyced with great joy he was overjoyed and what followed God prepared a Worm when
great God doth thus when he had been at much cost and charge upon his Vineyard He looked it should bring forth Grapes and what Grapes it did bring forth Isaiah 5. our Lord Iesus doth so too Cant. 6.11 I went down into the garden of nuts to seek fruits of the valley and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded And when the laborious Countryman hath Sown his Seed and committed it to the Earth he freequently goeth into the Field to see how it comes up and what crop he is like to have So when the Merchant hath sent his Commodities to Sea he longs to hear of their safe arrival at the intended Haven and then waits for a rich return and what shall your Prayers and pains be neglected and forgotten as things meerly thrown away I grant they are not worthy God's regarding but are they not worthy your own Therefore I say when you have been taking pains in your Families and scattering holy truths and counsels there which are as so much precious Seed take notice what place it hath in them and what power upon them whether it passeth away as a tale that is told or roots and abides and what good comes of it what fruit there is like to be And though you meet with no success as yet be not weary of well doing but go on duty is yours success is Gods who gives it when where and as he pleaseth follow one counsel with another one instruction with another one reproof with another and one prayer with another do not sin in ceasing and giving over Something may come of it at the last The Husbandman waiteth fâ—r the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience Iames 5.7 He 〈◊〉 not Sow and Reap in a day the Seed lies a considerable time in the Furrows buried under the clods follow then the Wiseman's advise In the morning Sowe thy Seed and in the evening withold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or that or whether they both shall be alike good Eccles 11.6 Fifthly When you set upon holy duties particularly that of prayer see that you be well composed and enjoy a calmness of Soul we are required to lift up holy hands as in faith without doubting so in love without wrath I have known and heard of some that would go chiding and scolding to their Prayer in a chafe and fret but are they like to be welcome Sure it would be more adviseable to stay till they were cooler God did in a most tremendous manner destroy Nadab and Abihu for Offering Incense with strange fire what then must thou expect who Offerest thine with Hell-fire The same Persons will fall into a scolding fit again as soon as the Prayer is over what think you doth this speak Grace in their Hearts did they pray their Hearts into Heaven had they any communion with God sure if they had they would have risen off their knees more like to him When Moses had been in the Mount with God Forty days at his coming down his face shone there was a Light Beauty and Glory upon his Countenance he did not look speak nor act like a fury besides how can such an 〈◊〉 think that others should get good by his Prayerâ— when he himself gets none or that he should 〈◊〉 any one of this Family into Godliness when he doth noâ— pray himself into quietness Thou O Man being under such a distemper wouldest not go to thy King how then darest thou go to thy God If thou beest touchy and froward at in and after thy Prayer God is not like to be pleased Psal 18.26 With the froward He will shew himself froward Sixthly Do not chuse to live in those Families where there is not the Worship of God nor Religious exercises if thou art only a Lodger in such an house deal with the Master and in a Friendly manner put him upon it if he will not be persuaded thou hast cleared thine own Soul that Family is none of thy charge therefore that neglect shall not be charg'd upon thee only be thou careful to pray by thy self and with thy Family if thou hast one yea and with his too if he either desires it or will permit it but why dost thou chuse to lodge there couldst thou find no other place to pitch thy Tent in If thou canst why dost not go to it Suppose there be where thou now art more outward conveniencies consider God is not there and it cannot be good living where God is not for the pleasantness of the place Lot had a mind to dwell in Sodom but had not God been more merciful to him he had been consumed in the Flames of that vile City It was a dismal time with the Egyptians â—â—en in every one of their Houses there was one dead and must it not of neccessity be very uncomfortable to thee if alive unto God to live in a Family where they are all dead How did David bemoan himself while in the House of Saul though a Family unto which he was related yet because wicked he reckon'd it his unhappiness to be there Psalm 120.5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar Seventhly Take none into your Family but those who will keep you company while walking with God Carnal respect sway with many after which much mischief follows and the repentance of an whole Life Accept not of him for thy Husband who cannot or will not live with thee as a man of Knowledge a Child of God How shall He help thee on in thy journey to Heaven who will not himself walk in the way that leads thither Neither do thou O man if fearing God take her for thy Wife who will not draw with thee in the Yoke of Christ but rather despise thee in her Heart or mock and flout at thee when serving and honouring of the Lord. Some indeed good natur'd men do take such in hope of gaining them afterward but for certain they run a desperate venture let the Portion be never so great thou hadst better be without it than fasten a Clog to thy Heel or take a Viper into thy Bosom let Birds of a Feather get together what have Birds of Paradise to do with Vultures and Owls Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain but a Woman that fears the Lord shall be praised and should be chosen The like for Servants their skill parts strength and fitness are to be look'd to but Godliness is not to be overlook'd A wicked Servant may be a curse a moth to the house whereas a gracious one will be a blessing a treasure Lastly You that are Servants in Prayerless Families supply that defect if you may have leave only do it humbly and double your respects to your Governours if leave for that be denied be more in secret Communion with your God tho' they keep a bad House keep you a good Chamber and if thou mayest honestly