come to repent with the damned in hell and with the devils to believe and tremble For this end I shall 1. Endeavour to convince you of your Folly 2. Direct you how to attain true Wisdom First I shall endeavour to convince you of your Folly ye see the Text calls a wicked son a foolish son God who knows you best and hath a true judgment of you calls you fools and would have all the world to be of the same judgment with himself and therefore to account you fools and ye will at last call your selves fools when ye come to have the portion of fools and except ye judge your selves fools ye cannot be wise And that ye may as in a glass see your own folly I shall propound to you these five Questions and as God said to Job so do I in his name say to you Job 38.3 Gird up your loins like men I will demand of you and answer ye me 1. Are ye not very fools in that ye do in your hearts and lives deny the being of God There are no worse fools than they that say in their hearts There is no God Psal 14.1 For such a one saith in effect that there is no Religion no Sin no Heaven nor Hell yea he saith that he himself is nothing and that there are neither Heavens nor Earth nor Seas nor Men nor Beasts nor any other creatures for if there be no God there can be nothing else so that ye have the name of fools written on your foreheads and as it 's said Eccles 10.3 Ye say to every man that ye are a company of fools 2. Are ye not fools to make such a foolish choice It is the infinite goodness of God that ye have life and death blessing and cursing set before you and that ye have a God and Christ and the Holy Spirit and the heavenly glory to chuse and ye have Beings capable to chuse them and may take them for your own and use them as your own every day and that ye are called and commanded to chuse them and have time and opportunity to chuse them and shall certainly have them if ye chuse them and yet these as Solomon speaks Prov. 17.16 are but as a price in the hands of a fool that hath no heart to it Consider there are two sorts of Affections in all humane creatures and all are wise or fools according as they set and place these there are affections of union as love desire and delight which do unite the heart to their objects and there are affections of opposition as hatred and anger which do separate the heart from their objects And are ye not monstrous fools in that ye hate and abhor God and your Redeemer in whom there are all reasons for your love and desires and joy and in that ye love and desire and delight in sin and the devil and death and hell in whom there are all reasons for the hatred and revenge of your souls To love those things which are altogether loathsome and and to hate what is altogether lovely is a plain argument of your madness and folly 3. Are ye not fools in suffering every thing to deceive you The Scripture tells you that the devil is a deceiver it tells you of the deceitfulness of your hearts of the deceitfulness of sin of the deceitfulness of riches of the deceitfulness of wine and strong drink of the deceitfulness of harlots who promise pleasure but prove a deep ditch and a narrow pit of the deceitfulness of a lying tongue which promiseth that lyes shall serve the lyars turn and do his work but proveth to be but for a moment of the deceitfulness of theft and unjust gain which seems sweet at present but soon after proves as gravel in the mouth and yet notwithstanding all the shame and rags and stings and torments of conscience which have come upon you by trusting in these yet ye will still believe them and suffer your selves by these deceivers to be cheated of God and Christ and of your souls and of your time and of heaven 4. Are ye not fools in being so set and bent to ruine and destroy your selves Prov. 18.7 A fools mouth is his own destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul Eccles 10.12 The lips of a fool shall swallow up himself ye are so bent on your own ruine that your hearts rise in anger and hatred against your good Parents and Ministers and all that labour to save you and ye account them your worst enemies who would not have you damn'd Miserable children allow your selves but one hours serious consideration of your eternal estate and ye will see reason to condemn your selves for a company of proud and ignorant fools in attempting to run down God and his Kingdom and Religion and in valuing your cups and lusts and lies at such a rate as for them to exchange the eternal life and happiness of your souls 5. Are ye not fools in not preparing for death and judgment which are ready to overtake you To convince you of this be inform'd That men are prepared for death and judgment who by faith and repentance and holiness are become heirs of the promises of the Gospel and so have a right unto and fitness for all that glory which in performance of these promises God will give them the possession at those great days but men are unprepared when they are under the wrath and curse of God and are condemned to those eternal torments which are threatned in the Scriptures and will at death and judgment be executed upon them Now prove your selves by these things and ye may then see what fools ye are in not preparing for these days for if ye were prepared ye should then enter into a world where all will love you God and and Christ and all Angels and all Saints will love you and ye will for ever be holy and blessed in their love to you and in your love to them but being unprepared ye must then be cast into a world where all will hate you and where you will hate all the holy and blessed God will there hate you and be a consuming fire against you the devils and all the damned in hell will hate you and you will hate them and we find that our Saviour brands him for a fool Luke 12.20 who promiseth to himself an easie and merry life for many years when that very night he was to lose his soul and he gives the character of foolish virgins Matth. 25.2 to those who were unprepared for that great and terrible and sudden cry The bridegroom is come go ye out to meet him Poor children let these common things be imprinted on your hearts Death is certain the day of death is as certainly appointed as was the day of your birth and as your birth kept its time so will your death keep its time ye cannot sin away death though ye sin away the sense of death Consider also
your hearts have wandered from God in his Ordinances 3. Bewail and beg pardon of God for your failings heretofore to your parents for many do often reap from their own children what they formerly sow'd by their sins against their parents and their miscarriages to their parents do fall upon them in the wickedness of their children the best may sadly reflect upon their want of due honour and obedience and thankfulness to their parents ye may remember your peevish looks undecent behaviour to them your grieving them in quarrelling with your brethren and sisters your unjust censuring them for partiality in their love to their children and judging them to want love to you when you were wanting in your duty to them and many who are now godly parents themselves may remember that by greater sins in their youth they were the grief and bitterness of their fathers and mothers and therefore pray mightily to God to pardon you and not to visit these sins upon you in the disobedience of your children 4. Pray to God not to visit your sins upon your children When Manasseh was in Heaven Amon his son followed the steps of his unconverted estate and Jehoiakim was carried captive into Babylon for the sins of Manasseh Pray that your children may not be like you in any thing wherein ye are unlike God and that their teeth may not be set on edg for the sowre grapes that ye have eaten 5. Be deeply affected with the corruption of nature in your children For as no man will value a Saviour for himself who is not convinc'd of the sin and misery which he must be saved from so ye must be sensible of your childrens sins or else ye cannot labour for their salvation When your sweet babes are born ye rejoyce to find that in Gods book all their members were written but ye should also be sensible of that body of sin they are born with and that by nature they are young Atheists and Infidels and haters of God and basphemers and whoremongers and lyars and thieves and murderers for they are naturally inclin'd to these and all other fins and are by nature children of the wrath of the infinite God and being convinc'd of this ye will find that your chief care of them should be to save them from this dreadful state of sin and misery 6. Be convinc'd what a great deal of work lies upon you to endeavour the salvation of your children young children always make a great deal of work they make work for parents and work for servants and work for all that are about them but to save them from sin and hell is the greatest work that belongs to their parents for this purpose they have a great deal a work to do in their own hearts they must know and believe and love and obey the doctrine of salvation themselves that they may be able and sit to instruct their children therein for a man cannot train up his child in the way he should go if he do not know the way himself We read Deut. 6.6 7. These words shall be in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children it 's fitly render'd in the margin thou shalt whet or sharpen them the word of God is more keen and sharp when it hath first done its work on the parents hearts and so comes from their hearts to their children Parents must keep their own graces in exercise to put authority and savour in all that they say and do for the salvation of their children Grace must work in their prayers grace must rule their tongues grace must guide the rod and grace must shine in their lives and then it 's a great work which is to be wrought in the children it is a great work for them who are born of the flesh to be born of the spirit a great work to make Religion and Godliness natural to them to make the children of the devil to become the children of God Almighty and parents must constantly labour in the use of means to accomplish this work 7. Be mighty in prayer for your children for all the good ye desire for them must come from God and therefore must be beg'd by prayer it is in vain for them to be taught of us except they be taught of God Whose words Lord saith holy Augustine were they but thine which by my faithful mother thou hast sung in my heart Pray and pray in faith and hope thy ears saith Augustine again were at my mothers heart when she pray'd for me ye must pray with tender and melting hearts the same Father tells us that his mothers tears watered the earth when she pray'd for him and ye must pray for their salvation this also Augustine calls the hinge of his holy mothers prayers for him 8. Solemnly dedicate them to God by baptism and then ye must heartily consent that God alone be the eternal life and happiness of you and your children and that Jesus Christ be their and your Redeemer to redeem you and them from all sin and misery and to bring both to God and that the Holy Ghost be their and your Sanctifier that by him you and they may have a Scripture-right unto and be made meet and fit for this happiness 9. When they are capable of it instruct them in the Covenant which by baptism they were solemnly entered into For this end ye must diligently teach them these six things 1. To know the evil and danger of sin for till they come to know what sin is and what it is to be saved or damn'd and what it is to lose or enjoy God they will not value or accept of Christ but will despise the Redeemer of the World as good for nothing ye must therefore labour to make sin odious and Christ precious to your children and then they will value Christ and obey you It was prophesied of John the Baptist that he was to prepare the way of the Lord and to turn the children to the parents so let it be your care to make way for Christ in your childrens hearts and if ye prevail in that they will be obedient to you 2. Inform your selves and them in the doctrine of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost for this is the doctrine whereinto they are baptized and by baptism they are solemnly entered into Covenant with these sacred persons against the flesh Satan and the world shew them the glory and love of God the Father in chusing ordaining fitting and sending Jesus Christ and in commanding him to be a sacrifice for us inform them that God the Father is the fountain of life for Christ lives by the Father the fountain of Authority for Christ received all power in heaven and earth from him the fountain of all the Christian Religion for Christ first heard these truths from the Father and then made them known to us and the fountain of glory for the Father hath exalted Christ and all glorified Saints are
for your other wicked children 4. Consider thou hast greater things to affect thee with grief and sorrow than thy wicked children there are whole Empires and Kingdoms of men and women and children who have as precious souls as thine or thy childrens these dishonour the same God and perish under his wrath and multitudes that have the Scriptures and Ordinances despise the same Christ and the same Gospel as thy children do and why shouldst thou be more concern'd for one or more of thy wicked children than for the whole world that lies in wickedness 5. Let your sorrow be guided by Scripture and Reason that ye may not provoke God and defile your souls and wound your consciences by sinful groans and tears For this end observe two Rules First Mourn more for their sins whereby they provoke and dishonour God and defile and destroy themselves and others than for any shame or loss in worldly things that befall you hereby that it may appear that the love of God and your childrens souls and not the love of the World hath the greatest influence on your sorrow for I fear that there is usually in good parents too much of carnal sorrow and too little of godly sorrow in their mourning under this great calamity Secondly Let not thy sorrow disease thy body and impair thy health God doth not require us to mourn more for our childrens sins than our own and he never makes it our duty by sorrow for either to destroy our bodies which are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the truth is that godly sorrow is the health of the soul and never hurts the body for Grace is always a friend and never an enemy to nature and therefore do not deprive thy self of all opportunities to honour God and serve his Church do not make thy yoke-fellow desolate nor thy children Orphans by such sorrow that will neither please God nor ease thy self nor do any good to thy wicked and miserable children 6. Labour to get your Graces strengthened under this great affliction for ye have need of more knowledge and wisdom and faith and hope and love and meekness and patience to inable and fit you to bear this than most other affections and ye must see and enjoy more of God and Christ to keep up your hearts under this than under most other troubles yet by the strength of Christ ye may be inabled not only to bear but to glory in this tribulation and the greater the trouble is the more good ye may gain by it 7. Comfort thy self in that the greatest and best things which thou hast most pray'd for and trusted unto and expected and chiefly loved and desired are all safe and sure 1. Thy God is and will be blessed and glorious for ever whatever becomes of thy child all his infinite perfections are working for his glory Christ himself is Gods and doth the whole work of a Mediator as his servant and for his glory all the blessed Angels and Saints will for ever honour and admire and love and praise him 2. God the Father Son and Holy Ghost are for ever thy own and will to all eternity be glorified in making thee blessed and glorious thou hast a bad child but a good God all thy work will be done thy sins pardoned and kill'd thy graces perfected and body and soul glorified and shall an ungodly child make all thy consolations herein small to thee Lastly Consider this trouble will last but a little while I confess I do not know or can upon search find any thing that can lift up the heart above this trouble but the knowledge and sense of the infinite love of God in Christ to a mans self and of that holy and glorious eternity which this love will shortly bring him unto to tell you that this is and hath been the case of other godly parents may allay something of your grief But what is this but to tell you that others are and have been as miserable as you or to tell you that as wicked children as yours have been sanctified and saved yields some hopes but it can amount to no more than to think they may be sav'd or thy may be damn'd and there is as much reason to fear the one as to hope for the other But for a man to see a gainful death ready to loose him into that world where there is none of this sorrow and to know that at the day of judgment his wicked children will be no more to him than bloody Bonners or Gardiners or damn'd Devils and that he himself shall sit with Christ to judge them and that he shall love and delight in the holiness and justice of the Judg of all the World in passing that sentence upon them Depart ye cursed into everlasting sire prepared for the devil and his angels This is sufficient to overcome all immoderate grief for his ungodly children Lastly I shall finish this discourse in a serious exhortation to these ungodly children who are the grief and bitterness of their good parents And herein I shall 1. Endeavour to convince them of their sins 2. Of their misery 3. Perswade them to forsake their sins that so they may be freed from that misery First I shall set before you the greatness of your sins in these four particulars 1. Ye have broken your Covenant with God 2. Ye have broken the Bonds wherein ye were bound to the Church of God 3. Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to your parents 4. Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to your other relations First Ye have broken your Covenant with God whereinto ye were solemnly enter'd by baptism for it 's clear by that Scripture before mention'd Levit. 19.3 That by casting off the authority of your parents ye have disowned the Lord to be your God Your breach of Covenant with God appears more fully in these four particulars 1. Ye do in your hearts and practices deny the Being of God the first Article of the Covenant is that ye should acknowledge and believe that the Lord he is God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is Hebr. 11.6 But this is the language of your hearts and lives That there is no God Ye deny God to be the first and best Being in preferring the creatures before him and saying in effect That the creatures are all and the great Jehovah is but as a cypher to you Ye deny his Omnipresence he fills all places where ye are but ye take no notice of him the presence of a Father or Master hath some influence upon you but it works not at all upon you that there is a God in the room Ye deny his infinite Wisdom that Wisdom of God in contriving the work of Salvation by Jesus Christ I say that Wisdom which is so glorious and wonderful to the principalities and powers of heaven is to such proud and ignorant boys and girls as you but a foolish and ridiculous thing
Parents Groans OVER THEIR Wicked Children SEVERAL SERMONS On PROV XVII 25. Published for the Benefit of all but especially of good Parents and their Children By EDWARD LAWRENCE M. A. sometimes Minister of the Gospel at Baschurch in the County of Salop. 1 Sam. 2.25 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their Father because the Lord would slay them LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel and Joseph Collier at the Bible under the Gate on London-Bridge 1681. To my beloved Children Deborah Samuel Edward John Thomas Elizabeth Mary Benjamin Nathanael and to all the Children of Christian Parents My dear Children I Am sensible of my unworthiness and unfitness to be seen in Print it is now above Twenty years since by the power and goodness of God I was unexpectedly rescued from the jaws of death which was the reason I then published that little book called Christs Power over bodily Diseases and I had never been the Author of a book of this Title had not two of you but especially one made me the Father of fools I shall here say no more particularly to you two but that sound repentance and the fruits thereof in a setled reformation of life will yet be your glory and my joy but if ye hate to be reform'd which God forbid I shall mourn till I dye for the loss of Children but ye will be tormented for ever for the loss of God Children I have not of the things of this world to leave you I do acknowledge the wisdom of God in not judging me sit to be intrusted with these things but it 's enough for us if we can call God our own though we cannot call the riches of the world our own some of you do with comfort remember how we have often worshipped God together in singing with delight those words Psal 37.16 17 18 19 20. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked c. I here leave you this Letter of the counsel and advice of your aged and loving and faithful Father who sees death looking him and you in the face and beholds the Judg before the door this will speak to you when death hath silenc'd me and it speaks the same things which God and Christ and your own Consciences speak to you and it speaks to you as it were in the hearing of the world 1. Put a true value on your own Beings for ye cannot love God and Christ if ye do not love your selves ye are of that kind of creatures who are made much higher than all other visible creatures and but a little lower than the Angels ye are capable to know and chuse and love and delight in God and to speak of him and to entertain your selves continually with him ye are of those creatures in whose happiness God glorifies all his perfections he made this world for man he commanded his only-begotten Son to sacrifice himself for man and sent him to be born and to live and dye and to rise again and to intercede in heaven for man he hath reveal'd all the Truths of the Christian Religion for the good of man and therefore ye should think it greater madness to sell your precious souls and bodies to the Devil and your lusts for the short and dirty pleasures of sin than to sell a purse of gold or a cabinet full of jewels for a bag of chaff or cherry-stones and should account it below you to give your selves to any but to God 2. Know that as your Beings are great so your happiness or misery will be very great Riches or poverty sickness or health this present life or the death that deprives you of it are things too little to make you blessed or miserable all the curses of God or the blessings of the Gospel will be upon you presently and ye can neither live like men nor like Christians till ye know what it is to be sav'd or damn'd and what it is to lose or enjoy God 3. That ye may escape the wrath and obtain the glory set before you let it be your chief end and interest to know and honour and enjoy God use the creatures as his witnesses to testifie and declare the being and glory of God to you for God hath not only made and appointed them to fill your hearts with food and gladness but also that in the use of them ye may feel and find and fill your souls with God but especially behold the glory of God as he is presented to you in the glass of the Scriptures that he may have that name in your hearts which he hath in his word Present him to your souls as God over all blessed for ever that ye may conclude that he who is so infinitely good as to be his own happiness is sufficient to make you happy And that this God may be your eternal life and happiness ye must know and behold his glory in the face of Jesus Christ who is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and therefore behold his glory as the Father of such a Son and as the Lord of such a servant for Jesus Christ is the Lords Christ Luk. 2.26 Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.23 and executes his office of a Mediator in obedience to the will and to the glory of God the Father whose glory ye may behold in his calling him to such a high office in his accomplishing him for the execution thereof in prospering him and making him successful in his whole work in giving him such a blessed seed in making him victorious over all his enemies and in rewarding him for his great service and obedience so that according to the intent of the Scriptures forenamed ye must labour to get such a sight of the glory of God shining upon you in the face of Jesus Christ as will make an impression of his image in your souls And therefore loathe and abhor sin which is against the glory of God and which is the only evil that can make you lose such a glorious God And for this reason be convinc'd of the vanity of this world which is but a poor thing when the glory of God shines on your souls for ye will be most blessed in him when this world shall be dissolv'd and pass'd away And let this make Jesus Christ glorious and acceptable to you whose office and work it is to redeem you from all sin and misery and to make you blessed for ever in the likeness and enjoyment of this glorious God And let this also cause you to endeavour to fill all persons with the great Name of God and Christ that ye may gain them all the hearts and love and service ye can and therefore in all company let God and Christ have your good word 4. Know that to love and delight in God is the best imployment for the days
of your youth God is much concern'd for young persons the Proverbs of Solomon are written to give to the young man knowledge and discretion Prov. 1.4 and one great use of the word of God is to teach young men to cleanse their way Psal 119.9 Young men and maidens and children are call'd upon to praise the Name of the Lord Psal 148.12 13. We find many mourning with holy Augustine that they loved God so late but none complaining that they loved him too soon as young as you are in heaven and hell it 's better be a young child of God than a young child of the Devil young Saints are the glory of God the fulness and accomplishment of Christ the joy of Angels the security and support of Religion the crown of their Parents and the blessing of their Generation 5. Fill your time with the fruits of the Spirit see that your hearts be fill'd with grace and then your days will be fill'd with fruit be always receiving Christ and resigning your selves to him feel your hearts continually laying hold on eternal life and live as if ye were always running to heaven spend every day so that ye may lye down in peace at night that the Lords-day may be pleasant death gainful and eternity glorious 6. Improve Gods Ordinances of worship feel your vow of Baptism always fresh and strong upon you feel the difference betwixt the Lords-day and other days see that the word Preached be mixt with faith ingrafted in your hearts that it kill your sins and reform your lives pray continually and in that duty see that ye be with the spirits of children with your Father in Heaven let all your affairs pass through praying-hearts and reckon all your own which ye sincerely pray for Sing Psalms as those that make God your song and joy and as if ye were sensible that ye are in the gates of heaven ready to enter therein to joyn with that world of blessed Angels and Saints in admiring and praising God When ye come to the Lords-Supper see all that is presented to you receive all that is offered and do all that is commanded you 7. Be saithful to the Truth and then ye need not be afraid of your selves or of any other this is your greatest safety and ye may then feel the ground firm under you and may say with David Psal 26.12 My foot standeth in an even place and if ye are called to suffer chuse it rather than sin and seeing men cannot kill your souls let not the fear of them make you destroy them your selves 8. Decline evil company do not go with them to Hell who will not go with you to Heaven but if ye are called into such company feel your selves with God whilst ye are with them and carry it as those that are sensible that there is a God in the place exercise those graces which are contrary to and do cendemn their sins be humble with the proud meek with the angry loving with the malicious that they may be reproved by your graces and that ye may not be defiled by their sins 9. Labour to be a blessing to all persons let men see that in you for which they may have cause to love and praise God bear all wrongs but do none do what in you lyes to make all persons holy and joyful but make none sinful angry or sad forgive all but let none have need to forgive you exercise their love but do not by your sins exercise their patience give all cause to bless God for you but give not cause to any to wish they had never known you 10. Dread debts do not unnecessarily bring your selves under the bondage of debtors look upon it as more just and honourable to beg than to borrow if ye are not likely to pay except in that case ye plainly acquaint the lender with your condition that he may know what adventure he makes and when ye are able pay seasonably fully and thankfully I would have none to lend to any children of mine without first advising with me except they be in a hopeful way of trade and my advice to such of you is that you be afraid of being too much trusted for it 's often seen that they who go to the length of their credit are injurious to others and prove bankrupts themselves 11. Abhor Lying This is a sin which is an abomination to the Lord whom ye should always please it 's contrary to the Divine Nature which is in every one that is born of God Ephes 4.24 It 's an abuse of your tongues which should be your glory for the use of your tongues is to express your minds but in a lye your minds and thoughts do contradict your words it 's a wrong to others whom ye would have believe you when ye do not believe your selves it makes you unfit for humane society for who will converse with those whom they cannot believe ye hereby rot your names for a lyar is one of the worst characters of the devil of hell ye destroy your bodies and souls for ever for all lyars shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death 12. Do not dare to steal take nothing from any person but what ye can say ye received it from the hand of God and can praise him for it and can comfortably beg his blessing upon it kill those lusts which ye would feed with the fruit of other mens labours consider that when ye are tempted to this sin of theft ye are tempted to bring a curse on your estates and persons to thrust a dagger into your Fathers heart and to hasten your selves to an untimely and shameful death and a tormenting eternity 13. Deride and jeer no persons let your jests be harmless and make not your selves the fools of your company but whilst ye are cheerful as men and women lose not the savour of Christians 14. Haunt not Taverns or Ale-houses c. Go not into such places but when God calls you stay no longer than he will stay with you and do nothing there but what ye shall have cause to bless God for when ye come away 15. Be thankful to them who have shew'd mercy and kindness to me and you pray for them inquire how it is with their posterity and as ye are capable do them good remember Prov. 27.10 Thy own friend and thy fathers friend forsake not 16. Forgive all that have done me wrong and pray to God not to visit it on them or their posterity ye know I have had hard measure from some and I know that I have stood before God to speak good for them and to turn away his wrath from them 17. As for you that are or may be hereafter set up for your selves in a way of trade my counsel to you is this See that your persons be upright with God that ye may have a Scripture-right to the promises of the life that now is and
is also included so that by the woman and her seed we are to understand Adam and Eve and Christ and his Church and by the Serpent and his seed are meant the Devils and all the devils children and forasmuch as we find Adam and Eve of the same party with Christ and his Church and in enmity with the Devil and his seed we conclude them to be godly persons and godly parents Moreover we find Genes 4. that they brought up their children in that Religion and to worship God in the use of those Ordinances which he had then instituted as a means of their salvation these two were the first-fruits of Christ the first persons that ever entered into the Covenant of Grace and Christ might say to them as Jacob said to Reuben Gen. 49.3 Ye are my first-born my might and the beginning of my strength At first the whole Church of God was only in these two persons and yet these are the parents of that cursed and bloody Cain And I shall observe three things in this history that render this case very doleful 1. That Eve was so exceeding glad for the birth of Cain some are of opinion that she thought she had brought forth the promised Messiah and that made her break out with joy saying Gen. 4.1 I have gotten a man from the Lord and yet this is he of whom the Apostle speaks 1 John 3.12 He was of that wicked one meaning the devil This is a common case that parents are exceedingly glad for the birth of a child and call their friends and neighbours to rejoyce with them and yet that sweet and pleasant babe proves the greatest torment to their parents which ever they met with in their whole age 2. Consider his crime he barbarously murdered his own brother Gen. 4.8 Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him He considered not how this would grieve the heart of his good Father and Mother nor that he was the elder brother and therefore ought to have nourished the life of the younger and to have been a pattern of holiness and love to him neither did he consider that he hated and murder'd not only a brother but also a holy child of God and for that which he ought to have honoured and loved him because his brothers works were righteous and he considered not how his brothers blood would cry to God for vengeance against him no bonds or arguments or reasons will prevail with ungodly children 3. Consider the dreadful judgment of God both upon himself and his posterity Gods judgment on his soul was so dreadful that he desperately cries out Gen. 4.13 Mine ini quity is greater than that it may be forgiven he was cast out of the favour of God excommunicated from the Church and all his posterity were excluded from communion therewith they are call'd the sons and daughters of men in opposition to the Sons of God and at last all perished in the deluge of waters and yet I say this bloody and cursed monster was the son the eldest son of the two first godly parents that ever were in the world 2d Instance is in Noah the first instance was in the first godly man in the old world as the ages before the flood are called 2 Pet. 2.5 This instance is in the best man in the new World after the flood this Noah hath a great character in the Scriptures Gen. 6.8 9. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations When all the earth was debauch'd and corrupt Gen. 6.11 12. yet then was Noah just and upright and walked with God it 's he that is called in 2 Pet. 2.5 A preacher of righteousness It is he that was so much in the favour of God that he and his family were singled out to be preserved in the Ark when all the world besides were drown'd and perish'd in the waters yet this holy Noah was the Father of that wicked Ham whom all the waters of Noah as the Scripture calls that deluge were not effectual to eure of his wickedness but he went a wicked man into the Ark and came wicked out insomuch that his own holy Father was inspired by a prophetical spirit to curse both his son and posterity and the crime mentioned Gen. 9.22 25. was his irreverence and disrespect to his father 3d Instance is in Isaac that holy Patriarch who so greatly feared God that his son Jacob gives God that honourable name Gen. 31.42 The fear of Isaac meaning the God whom Isaac feared yet he and that good mother Rebekkah were the parents of a wicked Esau whom God is said to hate Rom. 9.13 I know we read Gen. 25.28 that Isaac loved Esau but we see that children may be greatly beloved of their parents and yet abhorred and cursed of God 4th Instance is in David call'd a man after Gods own heart whom God rais'd up to be king of Israel he was a Pen-man of a considerable part of the holy Scriptures such an eminent type of Christ that Christ himself is often call'd David in Scripture yet he was the tender father of that wicked Absolom who bloodily murdered his brother Amnon and miserably and shamefully dyed in Treason and Rebellion against his Royal Father whose bitter lamentation is yet in our ears 2 Sam. 18.33 O my son Absolom my son my son Absolom would God I had died for thee O Absolom my son my son 2dly I shall further instance in four Cases wherein this is often verified 1. Those Children who are most beloved of their parents do often prove the most wicked Children Absolom was David's darling insomuch that although he set his whole kingdom in a flame and constrained his father to fly for his life yet when David sent out his Army to suppress that rebellion he gives this charge to his Commanders in the audience of the Soldiers 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently for my sake with the young man even with Absolom And it often happens that the Children who have most of their Parents love and delight and whose looks and talk they are most taken with and whom they are most apt to boast of and are most unwilling to part with and in whom they promise themselves most content and pleasure do often prove the greatest scourge and torment to their parents for it is not the love of the godly parents but the love of God that makes children holy and happy 2. This is often the sad case of some holy Ministers of the Word I know it 's a Popish and peevish humour in some to say that Ministers children never do well indeed every thing of Ministers is most exposed to the observation of people and therefore the wickedness of their children is most observ'd and talk'd of but the holy learned and every-way prosperous and blessed seed of divers godly Ministers is sufficient to confute and shame the ignorance of people herein and yet it is true that many
jewels and treasure and children and heirs of God and the glorious bride and spouse of Christ they must and do judge their own wicked children to be a generation of vipers and serpents and dogs and swine and lyons and bears and wolves as God calls them in his Word 5. That the anger and displeasure of God appears so much against these good parents herein indeed the sense of their own folly must make them justifie God in this sharp correction and cause them to say with Solomon Prov. 26.3 As it is meet that there be a whip for the horse and a bridle for the asse so is it that there be a rod for the fools back But this is very grievous that God should correct them with a scourge made of their own bowels and should chasten a blessed father with a cursed child his holy anger must be acknowledged herein for when the child despiseth his father God himself doth justly spit in the fathers face 6. The shame and disgrace which comes to them hereby Prov. 19.26 He that wasteth his father and chaseth away his mother is a son that causeth shame Every one will be ready to reflect upon their parents and to say Surely these children were never taught to serve God who do so sacrifice themselves to the service of the devil 7. Both parents are deeply affected for the trouble and misery that comes hereby to one another their love to and sympathy with one another makes the burden of both more uneasie The good father is not only troubled with a wicked child but also for the bitterness and sorrow of his wife and the good mother is not only troubled with the wicked child but also for the grief of her husband the mothers heart bleeds to see the tears and to hear the groans of the afflicted father and cries out Oh what a child have I brought forth that so much deprives me of the comfort of a loving husband and is like to break his heart and to make me a desolate and disconsolate widow The father mourns to see the tears and the sad countenance and to hear the groans of the distressed mother and is ready to cry out Wo is me that the child of my bowels is destroying the wife of my bosom and yet these hard-hearted children are not affected herewith but let the parents sigh they will sing let the parents weep and mourn they will rant and roar and care no more to break their parents hearts than to break a Tobacco-pipe and will not abate a lie or oath or cup to save the lives of their tender parents Secondly The greatness of this calamity appears by the passions in the parents which are moved and affected hereby I shall only instance in three passions Fear Anger and Sorrow 1. Fear This is a troublesome passion and godly parents are never out of fear of their wicked children they are afraid that every one that knocks at the door and that every post and every friend that comes to visit them brings them some sad tidings of their disobedient children I shall amplifie this by instancing in three great Evils which such parents are greatly perplexed with the fear of 1. They are afraid lest their children are in the practice of some great sins this was Jobs fear when his children were feasting together Job 1.5 Job said It may be my sons have sinn'd and curs'd God in their hearts their children are seldom out of their sight but the good parents are in fear of this they know their children are always expos'd to the devils temptations and to the snares of the world and to the allurements of evil company and that their corrupt hearts are set to comply with all and that they have provoked God to give them up to their own lusts and therefore they are in continual fear lest these poor children are lying or swearing or cursing or whoring or drunk and defiling and debauching and destroying themselves and others 2. They are in fear lest some heavy judgment of God will befall them in this life And thus David when his son Absolom was in the head of a high rebellion against his father and the battel was to be fought with the Rebels was fearful lest his son should then perish in his sins these parents know that their poor children are out of Gods way and as birds wandring from the nest Prov. 27.8 are expos'd to all manner of danger they know what the word threatens against them and what fearful instances there are of the vengeance of God upon disobedient children and therefore they are in fear lest their sins should bring them to some untimely and shameful death 3. They are in fear of their eternal damnation they are sensible that their children are children of wrath and do live in those sins for which the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience and these parents believe what Hell is for as faith in the promises is the substance of things hoped for so faith as it believes the threatnings is the substance of things feared and therefore they cannot but tremble to think that their dear lambs whom they so tenderly nourish'd and cherish'd are in danger every moment to be cast into the fire that is prepared for devils 2. Anger is another passion that is moved in godly parents with the wickedness of their children and this is troublesome for a man is never out of trouble whilst he is in anger and the more the wills of these parents are bent to have their children godly the more are they displeas'd and provok'd to anger by their sins they are angry to see them provoke that God whom they themselves are so careful to please and to see them destroying their precious souls which they are labouring to save and to see them waste those estates on their filthy lusts which they have got by their care and labour and prayers they cannot but think of them with anger and speak of them with anger and look at them with anger and thus their children which should be their delight and pleasure are a continual cross and vexation to them 3. Sorrow They are deeply affected with grief and sorrow for the wickedness of their children the parents graces cause them to mourn for their childrens sins their saving-knowledge makes their hearts bleed to see their children scorn and despise that glory which they see in God and Christ and whilst they by faith are feeding on Christ it grieves them to see their children feeding themselves with the dirty pleasures of sin their love to God makes them groan that their children love sin the worst evil and hate God the chiefest good Thirdly I proceed to shew the greatness of this calamity by comparing it with other troubles and shewing how this exceeds them I shall instance in four other Troubles 1. This is a greater calamity than to be without Children so that if God had said of those Parents as he said of him Jer. 22.30
was said before they cannot be so much the joy and delight of one another but when they lye down this makes them water their bed with tears and they awake with sorrow with a wicked child on their hearts 2. They cannot take so much comfort as they would in the other children that are godly not that they love them less but rather more but their joy in them is much interrupted hereby Suppose among many children there be but one ungodly child that one is a disturbance and annoyance to the whole family that one sinner as Solomon speaks in a more general case destroys much good it grieves them to think that whereas that one child was in the same Covenant and had the same dedication to God by Baptism and the same affection and education from the parents with all the other children yet the rest are vessels of mercy but this seems to be a vessel of wrath 3. They cannot take so much comfort in the victory over their own sins when they see the same corruptions which are abhorred and mortified and forsaken by the parents breaking out and reigning in the children 4. This interrupts their joy in God and Jesus Christ when such parents must with the same faith believe Gods wrath to their children as they believe his love to themselves and when they look upon God as their Father they must look upon him as an enemy to their Children and when they say We hope Heaven is our portion and place it must grieve them that their children will not go with them thither Sixthly The greatness of this affliction appears further by the concommitants of it I shall only instance in three things that usually accompany it which make it more grievous 1. Such children do often impoverish their parents Solomon tells us that a wicked child wasteth his father and chaseth away his mother such children care not if they starve their poor parents so that they can feed their own lusts and it 's often seen that a plentiful estate is consum'd by riotous children 2. Such children do often debauch and corrupt the other children and make their brethren in nature to be their brethren in iniquity and often their brothers and sisters are easier inticed to sin by a wicked brother than drawn to God by a godly father and if any of the other children be godly these wicked ones do hate and revile and persecute them like wicked Cain who slew his brother because his works were righteous 3. They bring reproach upon that good Religion which their good parents profess and practise and thus Eli's sons made men abhor the offerings of the Lord and with some the holy lives of the parents cannot wipe off the reproach which is cast on Religion by the wickedness of their children Seventhly The greatness of this affliction appears by these eight Aggravations of it 1. It aggravates their grief to remember what pleasure and delight these children were to them in their childhood it torments them now to see their sweet and pleasant smiles turn'd into scornful and disdainful looks at their parents and their pretty broken words turn'd into oaths and lies and other rotten speeches and to think that these who once were so forward to clasp about their necks and to kiss them and to run at their commands do now lift up the heel against them 2. It aggravates their sorrow to see themselves so miserably disappointed in their former hopes of these children Hope deferred saith Solomon makes the heart sick but to be cross'd and disappointed in hopes of so great mercy doth even break the heart When these parents remember how pleasant it was to them to hear these children lisp out their Catechisms and to hear their good words of God and Christ it cannot but be very grievous to them that the same children which they did with Hannah lend to the Lord should sell themselves to the devil 3. It aggravates their sorrow that their children are so void of love to their parents and to see that the company of lyars and drunkards and whoremongers and thieves is more delightful to them than the company of their parents 4. It aggravates their sorrow to look upon the holy children of others when they may say Yonder are children that make a glad father and mother when the children of our bodies and counsels and prayers and vows and tears live as if their father was an Amorite and their mother an Hittite 5. Aggravation is in case the parents have but one child and that proves foolish and disobedient and of this there be many instances the Scripture to set forth the saddest kind of mourning compares it to the mourning for an only son Jer. 6.26 Make thee mourning as for an only son most bitter lamentation Zech. 12.10 They shall mourn as one that mourneth for an only son I know these Scriptures speak of parents mourning for the death of an only son but it 's not so sad to follow an only son to the grave as to see an only child live to the dishonour of God to be a curse to his generation and to be continually destroying his precious soul it 's a very bitter case when as much love and kindness and care and cost and pains and prayers and fastings are bestowed upon one child as other parents bestow upon many children and notwithstanding all this one child should prove such a monster of wickedness as if the sins of many ungodly children met in him 6. Aggravation When Gods holy Ministers are the Fathers of fools which I have told you often happens and this is a most dreadful case for such who have the keys of the kingdom of heaven and yet must bind over their own children to the wrath of God such know the terrors of the Lord and the torments of Hell more than others and therefore must be more affected to believe that this at present is the portion of their own children 7. Aggravation When such children whom their parents design'd to serve God in the Ministry of the Gospel do prove ungodly this is matter of great lamentation for the parents to intend them for the highest office in the Church and give them education for that end that these children should make themselves as salt without savour which is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men 8. Aggravation When children are a grief to their parents in their old age and do as it were throw dirt upon their hoary heads which is their crown of glory it 's the command of God Prov. 23.22 Despise not thy mother when she is old Solomon tells us Eccles 12. That the days of old age are evil days their very age is a troublesome and incurable disease now the grashopper every light thing is a burden to them and therefore it must be more troublesome to them to be then tormented with wicked children when the strong men as Divines think Solomon calls the legs do
bow themselves and their children who should be a staff and support to them do break their hearts and cause their grey-hairs to go with sorrow to the grave I now come to make application of this discourse Vse 1. Let such parents praise and honour God whom God hath bless'd with wise and holy and obedient children whether by those words in Psal 144.12 David means children accomplish'd with natural or spiritual endowments or both I shall not determine but to apply them to the case in hand I say it 's the great mercy of God to you that when so many children are as noisome weeds your sons should be as hopeful plants grown up in their youth and when so many make themselves ugly and deform'd with sin your daughters should be as corner-stones in which is seen the beauty of the building and the art and skill of the workman polished after the similitude of a palace Do not hence conclude that you are better parents than others or have had more care in the education of your children than others but ascribe all to the free grace of God who will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy 2. Let none presume to censure godly parents for their wicked children To him that is afflicted saith Job pity should be shew'd him from his friend Have they not trouble enough already but will you add to their affliction They have not hereby forfeited the good thoughts and esteem which you should have of them and if you judge them for this ye must judge as wise and holy Saints of God as ever were in the world though God herein doth sharply correct them yet he will not allow you to sit in judgment and to pass sentence upon them I say to you as Job to his friends Hold your peace let them alone and leave them to stand or fall to their own Master 3. This should fill the hearts of these holy parents with revenge upon Sin and Satan which have so debauch'd and defiled and destroy'd their dear children If a man should murder your child a spirit of revenge would rise in you and you would say to such a one I will have thy life and blood for the life and blood of my child but Sin and Satan have destroy'd both the precious soul and body of the child therefore labour as for other reasons so for this also to be reveng'd of them Labour to do as David did by the Lyon and the Bear which took a Lamb out of his flock he slew both the Lyon and the Bear and delivered the Lamb so do all ye can to reseue your poor lambs out of the jaws of Satan however labour to hate Sin and Satan more to promote Gods honour and kingdom and the salvation of souls more and this is the way to be reveng'd on Sin and Satan for the ruine of your children 4. I do hence exhort all holy and obedient children to acknowledge the grace of God to them that they are or have been the joy and crown of their parents It is his distinguishing grace that made you to differ from all wicked children and perhaps from some that came out of the same womb and sucked the same mothers breasts as you did Consider four things which are great matter of praise 1. That ye are the children of holy parents that ye may comfortably come to God in prayer and say we are the children of thy servant our father we are thy servants and the children of thy handmaid our mother bless God for your parents good counsels and examples and for a great part of an age of prayers which ye are daily receiving the benefit of if your parents are dead and in heaven it may put you into a holy and spiritual frame to think of the graces of God that did shine in them 2. That the same graces which dwelt in your good parents are in you Paul speaks of it as matter of praise to God that the same faith was in Timothy which dwelt first in his Grandmother Lois and his Mother Eunice and the Apostle John rejoyced greatly that he found the children of the elect Lady walking in truth 3. That thou art freed from those stings of conscience which graceless children shall one day feel for their disobedience to their parents thou mayest joyfully reflect that thou wast the joy of thy holy parents and that their lives have been made sweeter and their crosses easier by thee that thou art the honour and seal of their holy education when wicked children are the shame and reproach of their parents 4. That thou hast a right to that rich and precious promise annext to the fifth Commandment and mention'd Ephes 6.2 3. So that thou may'st be assur'd that it shall go well with thee both in this world and in the world to come I do seriously profess I had rather have a right to that one promise made to obedient children than to the best estate and inheritance under the Sun I shall finish this discourse 1. In prescribing some means to be us'd by those that may be or are parents to prevent this calamity 2. I shall direct those parents that groan under this calamity how to bear it 3. I shall give a serious exhortation to such children who are the grief and bitterness of their parents First I shall prescribe means to be us'd to prevent this calamity 1. Use all holy prudence and care in your choice of a yoke-fellow for if ye make your selves the husbands or wives of fools ye are like in time to become the fathers or mothers of fools when before the flood the members of Gods Church married with a wicked generation Genes 6.2 they brought forth a wicked posterity but to have a holy yoke-fellow is the way to have a holy seed and therefore what ye would most desire to have for your selves that labour to find in the person who is to be one flesh with you thou wouldst have thy self born of God thou wouldst have the Image of God and the life of Christ in thy self Labour that these things be in the person whom thou chusest for thy yoke-fellow but never make choice of one for thy husband or wife whom thou shouldst not chuse for thy companion 2. Be faithful and upright with God Prov. 20.7 The just man walketh in his integrity and his children are blessed after him If you would have grace and mercy for your children love and please the God of all grace and mercy whatever secret sins are in thee kill those sins for thy poor childrens sake lest the sins you too much harbour in your own hearts do break out in your childrens lives Parents may often see their own sins against their heavenly father in their childrens disobedience to them when your children despise you remember your want of honour and fear and reverence of God when they vex and trouble you remember how ye have griev'd and provoked him when they decline your company remember how
the blessed of the Father Labour by these and all other means that God the Father have the greatest place in your childrens hearts Teach them to know and prize Jesus Christ without this they cannot be true Christians shew them all the fulness and glory of the Godhead in Jesus Christ Labour to make them see his glory as the only begotten Son of God and all that he as Mediator and Redeemer hath done in the state of his humiliation and is doing and will do in the state of his exaltation for the salvation of lost sinners Labour to imprint these great Truths upon their hearts 1. That it was the Will and Law of God the Father that God the Son in our nature should be a sacrifice for our sins this fully appears Heb. 10.5 c. A body hast thou prepared or fitted me meaning to be a sacrifice and saith he Lo I come to do thy will O God and Psal 40. Thy law is in my heart meaning that will and law of the Father which bound him to offer and sacrifice himself for our sins 2. That Jesus Christ by his obedience to the death of the cross did perfectly obey and fulfil this law and will of God the Father 3. That all salvation and happiness is by the Covenant of Grace setled upon all and only those who believe and obey the Gospel only for the sake of this sacrifice and obedience of Jesus Christ and therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all that is by Christs fulfilling the will of his Father in once sacrificing himself for sinners we and all true believers are sanctified that is perfectly saved Ye must also acquaint them with the office and work of the Holy Ghost which our Saviour tells us John 16.13 is to guide or lead them into all truth that is to inable them to believe and love and obey the saving-truths of God reveal'd in the Gospel for to the end that they may know and keep their baptismal-covenant they must know how all the Three sacred persons the Father Son and Holy Ghost are interested in the great work of Salvation 3dly Labour to convince your children of the Excellency of the Life of Religion and obedience to God commend this to them as the most honourable life for our Saviour tells us John 12.26 If any man serve me him will my father honour What shall be done to the man saith Ahasuerus whom the king will honour But who is able to tell what shall be done to the man whom the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will honour Let them also know that this is the wisest life it's Jobs inquiry Where shall wisdom be found and saith he Job 28.28 Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding And further that it is the safest life for God is a shield and rock and wall to all that obey him and although such things which they have in common with other men are expos'd to danger and loss yet their persons and their whole portion is always safe and also that this is the most gainful life for hereby Saints gain God and Christ and Heaven and lose nothing for we cannot lose by a Saviour who saves us from all evil and brings us into the possession of all good and though death it self strips us naked of all things under the Sun yet death is unspeakable gain to all who live this life and ye must further assure them that this is the most pleasant life for it is a life of faith and love and praise and joy and a life of victory over sin and they who live this life have all things to please them they have God to please them Christ and his Merits to please them and a prospect of a holy and a blessed Eternity to please them ye would never be the fathers and mothers of fools if ye could perswade your children to be so wise as to prize and love a life of obedience to God 4. Commend to your children the glory and amiableness of the House and Church of God this is the body whereinto they are baptized take your child with you and go walk about Sion and go round about her and tell the towers thereof and mark well her bulwarks and consider her palaces as ye are taught Psal 45.9 Present to their view King Jesus and at his right hand standing the Queen his Church in gold of Ophir Psal 45.9 say to them as the Angel said to John Rev. 21.9 Come hither and I will shew you the bride the Lambs wife shew them that glorious sight Rev. 12.1 The woman cloathed with the Sun and upon her head that bright and glorious constellation a crown of twelve Stars that so the company of those who live in communion with God and Jesus Christ may be desirable and delightful to them and that they may forsake evil company which is often the bane of youth 5. Teach them to esteem aright of Gods Ordinances for by baptism they are solemnly admitted into that house and family which is blessed with these as the means of salvation Labour to beget in them good thoughts of Gods Ministers for ye shall ever find that those children will despise you who make light of them teach them to pray ye can never have comfort in your children till they cry to God Abba Father teach them to know and prize and long for the Lords-Supper and therein to take Christ and all Salvation in a little bread and wine teach them to honour and delight in the Lords-day as the Diamond in the ring of time those children are always the honour and joy of their godly parents who make conscience to keep holy the Lords-day 6. Make them sensible that time is short and precious that an eternity of glory and misery is at hand and that death and judgment and heaven or hell are at the door of young children I shall further add five Directions to godly parents to prevent this sad calamity 1. Labour to save your children from those sins which provoke God and will destroy them as well as from those sins which will also bring loss and reproach upon you some are sadly affected to see their children given to drunkenness or whoredom or the like sins but are not so much concern'd for their unbelief and impenitency and want of love to God and for their covetousness which shews such parents to have too much of the love of the world and too little love to God and their childrens souls but we must take our measures of the evil and danger of sin from the word of God which tells us 1 Cor. 6.9 10. that the covetous as well as drunkards and whoremongers shall not inherit the kingdom of God and this will teach parents not only to mourn over a debauch'd child but also over a covetous though he be a wealthy child 2.
Observe what sins your children are most prone unto and labour to fill them with revenge and hatred against those sins If your child have a foot or hand gangren'd ye will cut off the incurable member rather than bury your child so ye should do what ye can to pull out the right eye and to cut off the right hand and the right foot of sin in your children rather than suffer their bodies and souls to be cast into Hell As ye should especially kill those sins in your selves which your natures are most inclin'd unto so ye should do by your children who are so great a part of your selves we are taught Prov. 20.11 That even a child is known by his doing whether his work be pure or whether it be right Parents may much discern by the manners and ways of their children in their childhood what they are like to prove in their riper years and therefore they must observe them that they may encourage them in the good and discourage them in the evil which they then appear to be most bent unto 3. Chuse to place your children in families of holiness and prayer ye will not plant your trees among briars and thorns much less should ye chuse to place your children to serve those who will not serve God 4. Give them due correction this hath God commanded to kill their sins and to save their souls Prov. 23.13 14. Withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him with the rod he shall not dye thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell It is better thy child be whipt than damn'd and let not thy childs weeping and crying under the rod move thee to withhold due correction Prov. 19.18 Chasten thy son and let not thy soul spare for his crying If your childs bone be out of joint ye will have it set though he cry and bawl under the hand of the Surgeon and will say It 's better he cry now than be lame so long as he lives so it is better your children cry now under the rod of their father than that they should weep and wail for ever under the wrath of the infinite God and therefore that ye may perform this duty take these five Directions 1. Do not allow your servants to correct your children for correction is an act of authority and therefore cannot belong to those who are meerly your servants I would not have parents to permit their children to despise and abuse their servants but for parents to suffer their servants to correct their children is the way to make their children stubborn their servants proud and themselves contemptible in the eyes of both 2. Convince them that it is your duty to correct them for their sins and therefore it is adviseable that you make them get those Scriptures without book which bind you to correct them also some of those Scriptures which condemn the sins which you correct them for that their consciences may justifie you in doing your duty and that they may be more afraid of sin than the rod and of provoking God than offending you 3. Correct them betimes Prov. 13.24 and Prov. 19.18 Chasten thy son while there is hope Use the rod wisely to them before they become scourges and scorpions to you 4. Labour to be in a good frame when you correct them that love and prudence and meekness and not rage and fury may govern the rod and do not exercise too much severity towards them that ye may not provoke them to wrath lest the wrath of the children prove the grief of the parents 5. Pray to God for a blessing upon your correcting them that it may be effectual to drive out that foolishness which is bound up in their hearts Lastly Be good examples to your children let them not see you in any sin for that may infect them and make them despise you but let them always see you shining in the Image of God and that is the way to make them honour and obey you in the Lord live so that ye may say to them as Paul to the Philippians Chap. 4.9 Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in us do and the God of love and peace shall be with you 2dly I proceed to direct those parents who are under this calamity how to bear it 8 Directions 1. Abhor it as a great sin to faint under this affliction that is either to be disabled for thy duty or to sink in thy comforts for it 's a sign that thou didst place too much of thy happiness in thy children if their wickedness make thee faint under this calamity I shall only plead with thee as Joab did with David when he made that bitter lamentation for his son Absolom 2 Sam. 19.6 Thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither princes nor servants So I say to thee thou hereby declarest that thou regardest not God and Christ if thy soul faint under the burden of a disobedient child 2. Consider what I have proved that this is an affliction which ordinarily befalls Gods dearest children ye must not think of this as if ye were the first godly parents of ungodly children or as if herein some strange thing happened unto you I confess where a calamity seems singular or extraordinary it is more apt to overwhelm the afflicted because they will be then apt to think that there is some extraordinary displeasure in God against them and to say with the Church Lam. 4.12 Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger But this affliction is ordinary and is consistent with the saving and distinguishing grace of God to them and is a rod that hath usually lain on the lot of the righteous 3. Consider that there might have befal'n thee greater miseries than this I shall instance in three greater Evils which would have made thee more miserable 1. Thou mightest have been a wicked an ungodly wretch thy self and for the great Jehovah to have curs'd and damn'd thee for ever would have made thee unspeakably more miserable than to be tormented a while with a wicked child 2. Thou mightest have had an ungodly yoke-fellow to be as rottenness in thy bones Solomon seems to speak of a troublesome yoke-fellow as more grievous than a wicked child Prov. 19.13 A foolish son is the calamity of his father and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping This is like the constant dropping of rain into a house which rots the building spoyls the goods and ruins both house and inhabitants and forasmuch as thy yoke-fellow is nearer and ought to be dearer to thee than thy child to be afflicted therein is a greater calamity 3. God might have left all your children to perish in their sins but if ye have but one godly child your joy in that should much abate your sorrow
Ye deny his Power in daring to war against him and like those hectoring Atheists Job 15.25 26. Ye stretch out your hands against God and strengthen your selves against the Almighty ye run upon him even on his neck upon the thick bosses of his buckler as if ye were able to fight God and overcome the Almighty Ye deny his Holiness and think that God is altogether such a one as your selves Psal 50.21 And that ye may not be terrified by your enmity and unlikeness to him ye will please your selves in fancying that God is like you as if ye must rather be a pattern to him than he be a pattern to you and so ye will perswade your selves that he is the God of Atheists and Whoremongers and Drunkards and Lyars and Thieves and not the holy God of a holy people Ye deny the Truth of God one of the greatest and best truths that ever God spake to man is that 1 Joh. 5.11 God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son and yet herein ye would make him a liar in not believing this solemn record which he gave of Christ a liar is one of the worst characters of the devil and this ye give to the true and holy God These things I write as it were upon the brazen faces of all ungodly and disobedient children 2. Ye break the Covenant in refusing to take God for your God and happiness the greatest promise that ever God made to man is that Hebr. 8.10 I will be to you a God but this signifies nothing to you ye will not accept of him for your chief honour and treasure and joy it is no honour to you to have the great Jehovah for your Fâ—ther ye see no good in him and account not your selves the better for him and if ye lose him ye think ye lose nothing ye neither love nor desire him nor take any delight or pleasure in him 3. Ye have broken the Covenant in renouncing God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in whose Name ye were baptized your lives declare that ye had rather have the love of a debauch'd companion than the love of the Father of Jesus Christ ye despise the Lord Jesus and account the great price of redemption to be worth nothing and would rather keep your sins than be saved from them ye defie the wrath of God and scorn that the Mediator should make your peace with him ye resist the Holy Spirit and would rather be made filthy and wicked and be taught to lye and swear and steal than that the Spirit should teach you to love and serve and delight in God 4. Ye have broken the Covenant in taking part with the devil and the world and sin against the Father Son and Holy Ghost and this ye have done two ways 1. In believing the promises of the devil the world and sin and in not believing the promises of God the devil the world and sin are the three great cheats of mankind and they deceive men by making seemingly great and high promises and by these they have prevail'd with man to break both the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace the devil tempted our first parents not to believe that word of God which he gave them to deter and keep them from sin which word is written Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the devil tempted them to look on that word as a lye and makes them that great promise Genes 3.4 5. wherein he promiseth them that if they eat the forbidden fruit they shall not only be safe from all evil saying Ye shall not surely dye but that they shall also be preferr'd to greater happiness than God had then placed them in for saith he your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil and by believing this promise of the devil they brake the Covenant of Life and brought that deluge of sin and misery which came upon all mankind and since he prevail'd with men not to believe the word of God which he spake to keep them from sin and destruction now his work is to tempt them to make God a lyar in the word which he hath spoken to save them from sin and ruine by Jesus Christ and this is the word of the Covenant of Grace which promiseth eternal life and salvation to all that believe in Christ and repent of their sins and live the lives of new creatures according to the rules of the Gospel but the devil tempts men to break this Covenant by promising them life and all happiness in a course of sin and these wicked children believe the devil herein and bless themselves in their sins saying with those bold ranters Deut. 29.19 We shall have peace though we walk in the imagination of our own hearts to add drunkenness to thirst and thus ye break your Covenant with God and make a Covenant with Death and Hell 2. In obeying the devil the world and sin and in disobeying God ye call God your Father in heaven but ye do the lusts of the Devil your father in hell ye walk according to the course of this world Ephes 2.2 and are the servants of sin Rom. 6.20 and ye hate and fight against God your Maker and Redeemer and were it possible for you ye would every day kill him who only hath immortality And thus like a company of renegado's ye live as if ye were baptized in the name of the devil the world and the flesh to renounce the Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to the Church of God ye were born members of the Church and subjects of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and by baptism were solemnly admitted into that great and holy and victorious and blessed society Hebr. 12.22 23. Mount Sion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem the general assembly and Church of the first-born written in heaven but ye have forsaken this Church and turn'd your selves out of the family and house of the living God and are become of the same party with the devil and his seed and have laboured to fill the world with sin and the kingdom of Satan and ye would have Jesus Christ to have no Name or Kingdom or Ministers or Ordinances or People in the world Thirdly Ye have broken the Bonds of your duty to your parents This appears in that those black characters already given of wicked children are found on you whereunto I shall add this one which includes all the particulars of your disobedience which can be mention'd namely Ye do not love your parents for love worketh no evil unto but always willeth and seeketh the good of the beloved Love ever inclines persons to please them whom they love and to love and delight in their company and causeth such looks and words and behaviour as are expressions of love how pleasant hath it been sometimes to me to see as it were