faith stands in the soundness of the 1. Knowledge of Christ 2. Desire after Christ 3. Receiving of Christ as Lord and Saviour with confidence And in truth this is required in old men Because they have had the use of the means longer and more is required of them that have received much Yea they have had longer experience of Gods love in Jesus Christ Yea they have the place and honour of speech where they come therefore they Job 32. 4. Matth. 11. must not be like reeds shaken with the winde or like chaff carried with every puff Yea their bodies and outward man decayeth therefore they had more need to be sound in the strength of the inner man Oh that old men therefore would labour for this and not be as Zacharie John Baptists father or Sarah whose ages were means to weaken their faith Take heed of that Christians for this is a sure note of an heavenly man to be more flourishing Es 40 30 31. and fruitfull in age yong men shall faint and stumble and fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew as the Eagles Yea consider sadly that the comfort of old age depends upon the soundness of faith Dayes are come wherein they have no pleasure but faith Eccles 12. saith Oh forsake me not in my old age 5. They must be sound in Charitie As an Apple may be rotten two wayes In outward appearance and at the coare so Charitie may be unsound two wayes also when it is so to the outward eye by envie hatred malice when it is so to the Conscience of a mans self Now the godly aged must have neither of these rotennesses but must be sound in loving God good means and good men in loving Pro. 17. 17. them from the heart root in loving alwayes For old men in likelyhood are nearer heaven 1 Cor. 13. then yonger where all are governed by an eternal Law of Charitie If then they would not be outed they must be sound in love for how shall God who is love receive them into heaven who love not 6 They must be sound in Patience Oh that they could see God in all crosses that they could humbly submit to him that they could resolve to have a shoulder to bear so long as God hath an hand to lay on and that they could as thankfully carrie themselves to God in the worst times as Iob did and wait for Iob 1. the issue Here were sound patience indeed and in truth old men have need of it For age it self is a sickness and more inclined to frowardness by their infirmities yea they must be willing to hear Christian advice when age is readie to slip aside in both which respects they have need to be sound in patience As therefore they possess God in Christ by faith and men by love so themselves by patience and thus are old men squared SECT 6. 2. THe next part of Gods timber for his building are old women Now these must be of such behaviovr as becomes holiness Tit. 2. 3 4. not false accusers not given to much wine but teachers of honest things to yonger women Object If you argue that women need not come to 1 Cor. 14. 35. the Word to be framed by it because Paul saith Let them ask their husbands at home Sol. It is but a vain excuse for though Paul forbids the open and publike speech of women in the Congregations yet he takes for granted their submitting to Gods Word without which for want of good husbands they would be miserable Object But it may be women are well enough whether framed yea or no because they shal 1 Tim. 2. 15. be saved by childbearing Sol. Indeed this were a brave world for them if no childing women should go to hell All that Paul signifies is this that though women have lost many comforts which they might have had if sin had not entered by them yet By or Thorough the worst miserie of their estate here they may be saved if they continue in Faith Love Holiness and Majestie Object You may think happily that women need not trouble themselves with the Scripture because they have other work enough at home Sol. But their best work is to know Christ theiâ— Mediatour out of whom is no salvation Therefore Solomons mother requires two things of a virtuous woman To oversee the Prov. 31. wayes of her Family and to open her mouth iâ— wisedome that she may shew the law of Grace in her lips that is the Word of God According to this rule Timotheus mother and grandmother taught him the Scripture from his Infanterie and Macrina Basils nurse taught him Ierome also commendeth Paula for teaching her maids the Scriptures for which end Caecilia an honourable Roman Matron never went without the New Testament about her not to mention Sophia Symphorissa and other Martyrs in the Primitive Church And truly whatsoever may be said there is great cause why women should be squared by Gods Word They are weaker vessels and Religion is their best comfort among their weaknesses Women may have their names 1 Pet. 3. Phil. 4. 3. Acts 2. 47. written in the book of Life as well as men therefore must they be added to the Church which must be by Knowledge Faith and Obedience Besides examples of good women in Scripture do press them as the chief women of Thessolonica Dorcas Priscilla Mary Triphena Acts 17. 4. Acts 18. 26. Rom. 16. 4. 6. 12. Triphosa Persis who believed were in Christ and lived Weigh therefore how they must be framed in particular 1. They must be in behaviour as becomes holiness saith Paul That is their carriage must be such as must witness the inward holiness of their hearts both publikely and privately among themselves This must be discovered foure wayes In countenance by expressing the inward holiness of their hearts When Esay would Es 3. 16. prove the women of Sion to be proud he doth it by their countenance and when David Psal 130. 1 would prove that he had an humble heart he doth it from his looks so shall old Matrons do by themselves In gestures when they express the chastity of their hearts The Church is said to have Doves eyes both beautifull to allure her own Cant. and terrible to crush the temptations of wicked men In speech when it doth express the wisedom grace and modestie of the heart The fashion of the harlot is to be babling and loud Prov. 7. 11. but the modest woman keeps her tongue under a bridle In apparel when by the outward ornaments of the body the inward beautie of the soul is set forth The matter of it must be measured by Abilitie condition of Life and Age. The form of it must not be wanton strange savouring of lightness and singularitie lest God visit them for strange apparel Zeph. 1. 2. They must not be false accusers or make-bates or Devils for so the
Penal as Jacob did bear with Leahs blear eyes and Rachels barrenness and Elkanah who would not love Hannah the wors for a fault she could not help 8. He must suffer himself in some things to be advised by her This will comfort them Gen. 21. 12 1 Sam. 1. 23 against those things they suffer in their husbands love This will encourage them to undergo joynt care in the Family 9. He must not be bitter unto her Quest wherein Col. 3. 19. doth that stand Answ Not in crossing her in worldly wicked and want on things nor in a just reproving her folly but it stands in Affections words and deeds In affections when trifles draw the heart from love to sowre hatred In words when their tender natures are unjustly wounded by them In deeds when the wife is used like a drudge more like then like a wife as when she is deprived of houshold government when she is wilfully shortned in necessaries and when she is ill rewarded with blowes Christ is an absolute Lord Prov. 31. 27 as well as an husband and so may correct his Spouse but we are onely husbands and may not do that which can never be done without sin Now the reasons why husbands must honour their wives are these Because they are the weaker vessels Weakest members are most spared and brittle vessels are most tenderly used It is true they are vessels therefore they are for use they are helps to pietie helps to societie helps to house-government and helps to propagation yet are they weaker vessels therefore to be honoured as being for the Closet not for the Kitching Besides they are heirs together with their Gal. 2. husbands of the Grace of life This is the dignitie of that sexe that neither male nor female are lookt upon by a different eye in God but all are one in Christ Yea would ye not have prayers interrupted then thus honour your wives saith Peter Yea they are 1 Pet. 3. the gifts of God for all comfort and such gifts are prized What therefore remains but that husbands honour their wives If an husband say my wife is full of weakness therefore honour her as the weaker a Venice glass with good usage lasteth long If he say she hath bad qualities love not them yet honour her not because she deserves but because God commands SECT 13. THe second paire in this building of God are Couplings and they are 1. Children and 2. Parents 1. Children next to their duties to God are bound to doe their duties to their Parents These stand 1. In Reverence 2. In Obedience 3. In Thankfulness 1. They owe reverence to their Parents for acting of which there are 1. Duties which they must do 2. Sins which they must avoid 1. Their Duties are grounded in a singular love such as Ruth had to Naomi and they Ruth 1. are two standing in a reverent awe of them as God saith Ye shall fear every man his mother Levit. 19. 3. and his father God placeth the mother first because they soonest are despised thorough their own indulgence Next they must testifie this their reverence five wayes 1. By speaking reverently unto them as Isaac here am I my father and that son in the Gen. 22. Matth. 21. 30. 1 Kings 2. 20. Gospel I goe Sir and Solomon Aske on my mother 2. By humble craving their blessings Though they have no prophetical blessings as Isaack had for Iacob and Esau yet God Exod. 20. saith Honour thy Parents that thou maist live God hath promised them to be an ordinary means to get life of him for honourers of them 3. By rising up before them You know Prov. 31. 28 what Bathshebah saith Her children rise up and call her blessed 4. By bowing and baring to them as signs of civil honour Thus Ioseph though a mightie Prince and his father in want yet Gen. 48. 12 1 Kings 2. 19. bowes to the earth before him and Solomon to his mother 5. By not witnessing against them except Deut. 33. 9. in case of Treason and Rebellion for at such a turn Levi saw not his father nor his mother or brethren 2. Sinnes to be avoyded by children are First setting light by Parents Cursed be he Deut. 27. 16. saith God that sets light of his father that is gives not respect to him as God and nature requires Secondly Mocking of Parents The eye Prov. 30. 17 that mocks his father and despiseth the instruction of his mother let the Ravens pick out and the Eagles devour and this I speak upon my own knowledge that I knew a sonne many yeares who forsook the course of his good father neglected the counsel of his religious mother and as he was going homeward from his bowzing companions in the evening he fell among bushes and died before morning and was found by his friends that sought him with his eyes picked out either by Crows Ravens or some birds of prey Thirdly Cursing of Parents He that curseth Levit. 20. 9 his father and mother shall die the death saith God and our good Saviour doth second it Fourthly Smiting Parents For he that smiteth Mark 7. 10 Exod. 21. 15. father and mother shall die the death The very Heathens sowed such children in a sack with a Dog Cat Viper and Ape as Emblems of unnaturalnesse and drowned them together 2. They owe Obedience unto their Parents Obey the father that hath begotten thee and despise not thy mother when she is old saith Prov. 23. 22. Col. 3. 20. Solomon Children obey your Parents in all things for this is pleasing saith Paul To Obey is an humble being at the command of Parents and a patient holding out to the end as Isaack to Abraham when he was to be Gen. 22. sacrificed And this Obedience reacheth to all things to which the commanding power of Parents extends It must be shewed in all good things for body soul state either present or future Jer. 35. 6. 18. In things indifferent as the Rechabites who for it were looked upon by God with a good eye In harsh and unpleasing things as we see in Joseph when he was commanded to go to his envious brethren that loved him not and Gen 37. 13. 14. Gen. 22. in Isaack who was able enough to resist yet resisted not All the question will be how far children must Obey And it may be quickly answered Luke 14. 26. Puto genus pietatis Impium esse pro Domino John 2. Deut. 33. 9. so far as may stand with the honour of God for otherwise ye reade of Hating father and mother and ye see the best pattern Christ who checked his mother and obeyed not against the houre of his father at the beck and word of his mother Again they must obey so far as stands with the honour of Government for if a son be in place of honor and he commanded base things below him and unsuitable
with his state he may humbly deny Yea and so far must they obey as stands with the honour of the Family Gen. 2. God saith Forsake thy father and thy mother and cleave to thy wife How forsake them Not forsake the duty of honouring them or the dutie of helping them but the dutie of Cohabitation when they have a wife of their own and the duties of administring their houshold affairs when they have Families of their own to provide for 3. They owe thankfulnesse to their Parents which must be held forth in three duties First in relieving their Parents that they may recompense them as Paul phraseth it Parents helped them when they could not 1 Tim. 5. 4. help themselves so must they deal by their Parents that are helplesse Thus did Christ David and Ioseph Let all children look seriously upon these examples to follow them John 19. 26 1 Sam. 22. 3 Gen. 47. 12 or else remember that memorable story of Luther A good Father had put over his state to his sons in Germany reserving onely to himself a power by turns to come and take his diet at their Tables One of his sons being at dinner and having a goose before him spied his father coming and set thâ— â—oose underneath the table till his father was gone again Then takes he up the goose which God had wonderfully turned into a great toad which leaped into his face and notwithstanding all his striving it could not be removed till it had stifled him to make him an example of all unthankfull children Secondly In praying for them If for all that are in authoritie why not for them first Thirdly In burying them therefore it is now grown into a word Parentare to bury Parents and the solemnities are called Parentals Thus did Iacob Esau and Ioseph Oh that all children would be carefull to know these things in Gods building and do them I know what many children plead for themselves Object Saith one my Parents are childish and divers Sol. So wert thou and they were glad to please thee night and day Obiect Saith another my wife will not be content Sol. Oh in other things thou canst rule her in this thou wilt not to save thy purse Object Saith a third I am not able to do for them Sol. Indeed above this God requires not yet know that Parents will beg for children why not children for Parents Object Saith a fourth I had no great matter from my Parents Sol. For shame say not so they were a cause of thy Being by Generation of thy Living by Education and of thy Learning by Information by themselves or by others Say no more but children up and be doing or else remember Absalom who being unnatural to his Parents was hanged betwixt heaven and earth as unworthy of either or both If this or the like should be thy case Farewel life farewel heaven SECT 14. NExt I come to Parents and they must not Eph. 6. 4. provoke their children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. First they must not provoke them to wrath Surely this is not by suffering them to have their wills For a child set at liberty Prov. 29 15 makes the mother ashamed Neither is it by rebuking them when they do amisse for not to do this undoes many a child as you see in Adoniah Neither is it by correcting them when rebukes will do no good for he that 1 Kings 1. 5 6. Prov. 13. 24. spares the rod hates his son Neither it is by keeping them under subjection for this they must do out of love to God and their souls or sinne will grow What is it then It is a shewing too much rigour and severitie towards them As first when they deny to them what by law of Nature belongs to them according to state as meat drink cloth and breeding For if any man provide not for his own he is 1 Tim. 5. 8. worse in that then an Infidel Secondly when they burthen them with unjust commands Saul command Jonathan to 1 Sam. 20. 31. 34. fetch David out of a mischievous heart against him and so vexed Ionathan that he kept from his meat Thirdly When they vex them with reproachful words for what they cannot help as when Saul called his sonne The sonne of a 1 Sam. 20. 30. perverse rebellious woman The fault was Sauls own and not his sons if he married such a woman Fourthly when they rage them with undeserved blowes Saul took up a javelin to throw at Ionathan and saith the Text He 1 Sam. 20. 33 34. rose from the table in fierce wrath If Parents thus provoke their children to wrath they Col. 3. 21. will be discouraged either by dejectednesse or by fearfulnesse or by desperate stubbornnesse 2. They must bring up their children in Nurture and this is a framing of them like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men and women It includeth four things 1. Learning 2. Mannâ—rs 3. Labour 4. Correction 1. They must bring their children up in learning Paul was brought up at the feet of Acts 22. 3. Gamaliel and you know the care of Pharaohs Exod. 2. Dan. 1. daughter for Moses and of Nebuchadnezzar for Daniel how much more must Christians that know better The blessed Virgin though she were poore would not be guiltie therefore Luke 4. 16. John 8. 6. we reade of her son Iesus his reading and of his writing Object I know some have said I shall leave my children enough what needs learning But there is the more need for that Sol. The greater the ship is the greater is the fraight the greater the fraight the more skilfull had the Pilot need to be Object But the poore man will say alas I cannot bring him up to learning Sol. Truely the more is the pittie yet I wish them to consider sadly two things whether they do not spend two pence or three pence in a week worse and whether learning be not a better portion then wealth 2. They must bring them up in manners Riches without manners is but a Pearl in a swines snout Therefore here lies Parents next care If an Heathen when he saw a youth carrie himself unmannerly beat his Cur sic instituis Master saying Why doe you instruct him so much more are Parents to bee blamed Quest If you ask wherein doe manners stand Answ I answer 1. In Silence 2. In Speech 3. In Gesture 1. They must learn them to keep silence in two cases First In giving their betters leave to speak before them Elihu waited till the antients Job 32. 4. had done Secondly in not interrupting others while they are speaking for he that is hastie in his matters there is more hope of a fool then of Prov. 29. 20 him 2. In speech they must learn them to use fair speeches as that yong man to Christ good master and Luke to that high Christian most
noble Theophilus To speak modestly of themselves Maâ—k 10. 8. 17. Luke 1. 3. 1 Sam. 25. 41. as Abigail to Davids messenger Let thy handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. To salute lovingly as Boaz and his reapers The Lord be with you the Lord blesse thee And to thank for kindnesses Ruth 2. 4. as Paul to Aquila and Priscilla to whom not onely I give thanks but all the Rom. 16. 4. Churches of the Gentiles 3. In Gestures they must learn them To meet those that come towards them as Abraham did his strangers To rise before Gen. 18. 2. Levit. 19. 32. Gen. 18. their elders To stand before their betters as Abraham while his guests did eat To bow to them to whom they are subject as Solomon 1 Kings 2. 19. Luke 14 8. to his mother and to give the chief place to betters and to offer it to others of courtesie Oh what a bundle of pride would this dig out of childrens hearts before it come to a grown surliness and scorn 3. They must bring them up to labour either of body or of brain Idlenesse is a poyson to all especially to youth who by it have leisure to invent fantastical fashions or to gaze upon other fools in Israel and follow them Water be it never so clean with standing stinks and while men slept the enemy sowed tares So long as Sampson warred Matth. 13. he could never be overcome of the Philistims but when he idled it in Delilahs lap he lost strength eyes and life ere long It is true to trie a child to too much were severe nicenesse or paternal crueltie for 1 Cor. 13 when I was a childe I did as a childe But yet they must know as strength of body and parts increaseth they are born to labour not to loyter 4. They must subject them as they doe amisse to correction As it is not enough to plant a Vine except we prune and dresse it so nor is it enough to have children except we correct them We have the best example in the world and that is God correcting his children who must be our pattern God doth correct them with the rod of his Sonne Among the Romanes none that were free Acts 22. 25. born might be whipt but God correcteth every Heb. 12. 7. sonne and so must Parents God correcteth them in love He is angry with nothing in them but with their sinnes and so should it be with Parents Consul Brutus executed his trayterous sons Exuit patrem ut indueret consulem with his own hands he put off the father that he might put on the just Judge but Eli when his sonnes made themselves vile restrained them not Elies anger waxed luke-warm towards his sonnes and Gods anger 1 Sam. 2. Ira Ely tepuit in filios ira Dei exarsit in illum waxed hot against him He that will not correct will not take a knife as Abraham did though God bid him Again God moderates his correction He Lam. 2 stands like an adversary but in the midst of anger he remembers mercy and correcteth Hab. 3. with the rod of men Yea God measures out corrections answerable to sinnes He weighs a path for his anger by weight number measure So should Parents Though they correct with the rod of men yet if sonnes rise Psal 78. 50 to rebellion they must bring them forth and cast the first stone 3. They must bring up their children in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Admonition of the Lord to frame them like Christian men to this end 1. They must train them up religiously 2. They must guard their Religion and Pietie 1. In training them up religiously lies their greatest care and comfort by making their Children Gods children If Damatria could say I had rather have a Mallem habere filium mortuum quam bello inutilem dead sonne then to have a sonne unprofitable for warre much more should a Christian say I had rather have none then such as are uselesse to God If Aulus Fulvius said when his sonne Ego te non catilinae sed patriae genui was in Catilines conspiracie I begat thee not for Catiline but for thy Countrey much more should we say I begat not my children for the world flesh and devil but for God This training them religiously doth respect two things 1. Their admittance into the Church by Baptisme To have a childe the childe of the Church by Baptisme is the glory of a Christian He can not with truth and glory to God think that the children of the Jewes should have a greater priviledge then the children of Christians therefore as the first care of the Jew was for Circumcision so his first care is for Baptisme and Circumcision Col. 2. 11 12. that is made without hands 2. Their bringing up in the Church in the fear of God As in Ieremiah's visions God first shewed him the Rod of an Almond tree Jer. 1. 11. because it blossoms first so God likes the dayes of youth to be consecrated to God Therefore Parents must first instruct them so soon as they are capable It was a Law in Deut. 6. 7. 20. Psal 78. 5 6 Israel that the fathers should teach the children 2. They must instruct them according to their capacitie Train up a childe in his way saith Solomon as Iacob drave all his according Prov. 22. 6. to their paces They are like us in what they are unlike to God They may die in their youth and folly and then the sinnes of their youth will lie down with them in the dust They are born blind The first Adam was the Father of living ones the second Adam Pater viventium pater aeternitatis patres caecorum the Father of Eternitie and we are the Fathers of the blind Our bringing them up in Gods fear may by Gods blessing be a means of opening their eyes that they may be turned from darkness Acts 28. Col. 1. to light and brought out of the kingdome of darknesse into the kingdome of Gods dear Sonne 3. They must so near as they can make choise of the best masters for them As Moses had the chief instructer for the sciences of Egypt so Iehoash had good Iehojadah This among others is reckoned a cause of Iulians Apostacie that he had two wicked Heathens to be his masters Libanus and Iamblicus 2. They must guard their Religion and Pietie three wayes First by putting them under Gods protection by dayly prayer Secondly By providing for them some lawfull imployment for God annointed Saul while he was seeking his fathers Asses David was taken from the sheepfold and two famous Prophets Elishah and Amos were taken the one from the plough the other from the herd Thirdly by disposing of them for the best advantage for their souls in marriage We have a precept Take wives to your sonnes and Jer. 29. 6.