so Natural and so Reasonable a piece of Religion so meet and equal an acknomledgment of the constant and daily Care and Providence of Almighty God towards us begins to grow out of Date and use in a Nation professing Religion and the Belief of the Being and Providence of God Is it not a righteous thing with God to take away his Blessings from us when we deny Him this just and easy Tribute of Praise and Thanksgiving Shall not God visit for this horrible Ingratitude And shall not his Soul be avenged on such a Nation aâ— this Hear O Heavens and be ye horribly astonished at this I hope it cannot be thought misbecoming the meanest of God's Ministers in a matter wherein the Honour of God is so nearly concerned to reprove even in the Highest and Greatest of the Sons of Men so shameful and heinous a Fault with a proportionable Vehemence and Severity Secondly Another and that also a very considerable Part of this Duty consists in instructing those committed to our Charge in the Fundamental Principles and in the careful Practice of the necessary Duties of Religion instilling these into Children in their tender years as they are capable of them line upon line and precept upon precept here a little and there a little and into those that are more grown up by proper and suitable means of instruction and by furnishing them with such Books as are most proper to teach them those things in Religion which are most necessary by all to be believ'd and practis'd And in order hereunto we should take care that those under our Charge our Children and Servants should be taught to read because this will make the business of Instruction much easier so that if they are diligent and well-dispos'd they may after having been taught the first Principles of Religion by reading the H. Scriptures and other good Books greatly improve themselves so as to be prepared to receive much greater benefit and advantage by the publick teaching of their Ministers And in this work of Instruction our great care should be to plant those Principles of Religion in our Children and Servants which are most fundamental and necessary and are like to have the greatest and most lasting influence upon their whole Lives As right and worthy Apprehensions of God especially of his infinite Goodness and that He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity And a lively sense also of the great evil and danger of Sin A firm belief of the Immortality of our Souls and of the unspeakable and endless Rewards and Punishments of another World If these Principles once take root they will spread strangely and probably stick by them and continue with them all their Days Whereas if we plant in them doubtful Doctrines and Opinions and inculcate upon them the Notions of a Sect and the Jargon of a Party this will turn to a very pitiful account and we must expect that our Harvest will be answerable to our Husbandry We have sown the Wind and shall reap the Whirlwind But of this I shall have occasion to speak more particularly and fully in the ensuing Sermons concerning the good Education of Children And this work of Instruction of those that are under our Charge as it ought not to be neglected at other Times so is it more peculiarly seasonable on the Lord's Day which ought to be employed by us to Religious purposes and in the Exercises of Piety and Devotion Chiefly in the Publick Worship and Service of God upon which we should take care that our Children and Servants should diligently and devoutly attend Because there God affords the Means which he hath appointed for the begetting and increasing of Piety and Goodness and to which he hath promised a more especial Blessing There they will have the opportunity of joining in the publick Prayers of God's Church and of sharing in the unspeakable beneâ—â—t and advantage of them And there they will also have the advantage of being instructed by the Ministers of God in the Doctrine of Salvation and the way to Eternal Life and of being powerfully incited to the practice of Piety and Virtue There likewise they will be invited to the Lord's Table to participate of the H. Sacrament of Christ's most blessed Body and Blood which being the most Solemn Institution of the Christian Religion the frequent participation whereof is by our B. Lord in remembrance of his Dying Love enjoined upon all Christians we ought to take a very particular care that those who are under our Charge so soon as they are capable of it be duly instructed and prepared for it that so as often as Opportunity is offer'd for it they may be present at this Holy Action and partakâ— of the inestimable Benefits and Comforts of it And when the Publick Worship of that Day is over our Families should be instructed at Home by having the Scriptures and other good Books read to them and care likewise should be taken that they do this themselves this being the chief Opportunity that most of them especially those that are Servants have of minding the business of Religion and thinking seriously of another World And therefore I cannot but think it of very great consequence to the maintaining and keeping alive of Religion in the World that this Day be Religiously observed and spent as much as may be in the exercises of Piety and in the care of our Souls For surely every one that hath a true sense of Religion will grant that it is necessary that some Time should be solemnly set apart for this purpose which is of all other our greatest Concernment And they who neglect this so proper Season and Opportunity will hardly find any other Time for it Especially those who are under the Government and Command of others as Children and Servants who are seldom upon any other Day allowed to be so much Masters of their Time as upon this Day Thirdly I add further as a considerable Part of the Duty of Parents and Masters of Families if they be desirous to have their Children and Servants Religious in good earnest and would set them forward in the way to Heaven that they do not only allow them Time and Opportunity but that they do also strictly and earnestly charge them to retire themselves every Day but more especially on the Lord's Day Morning and Evening to pray to God for the Forgiveness of their Sins and for his mercy and Blessing upon them and likewise to Praise Him for all his Favours and Benefits conferred upon them from Day to Day And in order to this they ought to take care that their Children and Servants be furnish'd with such short Forms of Prayer and Praise as are proper and suitable to their capacities and conditions respectively because there are but very few that know how to set about and perform these Duties especially at first without some Helps of this kind Fourthly and lastly another principal Part of this Duty consists in giving good
you understanding in all things Concerning FAMILY-RELIGION A SERMON Preached at St. LAWRENCE JURY JULY the 13 th 1684. JOSH. XXIV 15. But as for me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. I Shall now proceed to the Second Point contained in the Text namely II. The pious Care of a good Master and Father of a Family to train up those under his Charge in the Worship and Service of the true God As for me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. And this is the more necessary to be spoken to because it is a great and very essential part of Religion but strangely overlook'd and neglected in this loose and degenerate Age in which we live It is a great part of Religion for next to our personal Homage and Service to Almighty God and the Care of our own Souls it is incumbent upon us to make those who are under our Charge and subject to our Authority God's subjects and his Children and Servants which is a much more honourable and happy Relation than that which they bear to us Our Children are a natural part of our selves and the rest of our Family are a Civil and Political part And not only we our selves but all that we have and that belongs to us is God's and ought to be devoted to his service And they that have the true Fear of God themselves will be careful to teach it to others to those especially who are under their more immediate Care and Instruction And therefore God had so great a confidence concâ—rning â—braham as to this particular as to undertake for him that being so very good a man himself he would not fail in so great and necessary a part of his Duty For I know him says God of him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment God passeth his Word for him that he would not only take care to instruct his Children and the rest of his numerous Family in the true Religion but that he would likewise lay a strict Charge upon them to propagate and transmit it to their Posterity And this certainly is the Duty of all Fathers and Masters of Families and an essential part of Religion next to serving God in our own Persons to be very careful that all that belong to us do the same For every man must not only give an account of himself to God but of those likewise that are committed to his Charge that they do do not miscarry through his neglect In speaking of this great and necessary Duty I shall do these four things First I shall shew wherein it doth consist Secondly I shall consider our Obligation to it both in point of Duty and of Interest Thirdly I shall enquire into the Causes of the so common and shameful neglect of this Duty to the exceeding great Decay of Piety amongst us Fourthly As a Motive and Argument to us to endeavour to â—etrieve the practice of this Duty I shall represent to you the peâ—nicious Consâ—quences of the neglect of it both with regard to our Selves and to the Publick In all which I shall be very brief because things that are plain need not to be long I. I shall shew wherein the Practice of this Duty doth consist And in this I am sure there is no need to be long because this Duty is much better known than practised The principal Parts of it are these following First By setting up the constant Worship of God in our Families By daily Prayâ—rs to God every Morning and Evening and by reading some Portion of the H. Scriptures at those Times especially out of the Psalms of David and the New Testament And this is so necessary to keep alive and to maintain a sense of God and Religion in the minds of men that where it is neglected I do not see how any Family can in reason be esteemed a Family of Christians or indeed to have any Religion at all And there are not wanting excellent Helps to this purpose for those that stand in need of them as I think most Families do for the due and decent discharge of this solemn Duty of Prayer I say there are excellent Helps to this purpose in the several Books of Devâ—tion calculated for the private use of Families as well as for Secret Prayer in our Closets So that besides the reading of the H. Scriptures which are the great Fountains of Divine Truth we may do well likewise to add to these other pious and profitable Books which by their plainness are fitted for the instruction of all Capacities in the most necessary Points of Belief and Practice Of which sort God be thanked there is an abundant store but none that I think is more fitted for general and constant use than that excellent Book so well known by the Title of The whole Duty of Man Because it is conveniently divided into Parts or Sections one of which may be read in the Family at any time when there is leisure for it but more especially on the Lord's Day when the whole Family may the more easily be brought and kept together and have the Opportunity to attend upon these things without distraction And which I must by no means omit because it is in many Families already gone and in others going out of Fashion I mean a solemn acknowledgment of the Providence of God by begging his Blessing at our Meals upon his good Creatures provided for our use and by returning Thanks to him for the benefit and refreshment of them This being a piece of Natural Religion owned and practised in all Ages and in most Places of the World but never so shamefully and scandalously neglected and I fear by many slighted and despised as it is amongst us at this Day And most neglected where there is greatest Reason for the doing of it I mean at the most plentiful Tables and among those of highest Quality As if Great Persons were ashamed or thought scorn to own from whence these Blessings come like the Nation of the Jews of whom God complains in the Prophet Hos 2. 8. She knew not that I gave Her Corn and Wine and Oyl and multiplied her Silver and Gold She knew not that is She would not acknowledge from whose Bounty all these Blessings came Or as if the poor were obliged to thank God for a little but those who are fed to the full and whose Cups overflow so that they are almost every day surfeited of plenty were not at least equally bound to make returns of thankful acknowledgment to the Great Giver of all good things and to implore His Bounty and Blessing upon whom the eyes of all do wait that He may give them their meat in due season O crooked and perverse Generation Do you thus reason Do ye thus requite the Lord foolish and unwise This is a very sad and broad Sign of the prevalency of Atheism and Infidelity among us when
when he employed him in that great Affair of the Marriage of his Son Isaac what pains did he take what prudence did he use what fidelity did he shew in the discharge of that great Trust giving himself no rest till he had accomplish'd the Business he was sent about God seems purposely to have left these two Instances upon Record in Scripture to encourage Fathers and Masters of Families to a Religious care of their Children and Servants And to shew the power of Religion to oblige men to their Duty I will add but one Instance more How did the Fear of God secure Joseph's fidelity to his Master in the Case of a very great and violent Temptation When there was nothing else to restrain him from so lewd and wicked an act and to which he was so powerfully tempted the consideration of the great trust his Master reposed in him and the sense of his Duty to him but above all the Fear of God preserved him from consenting to so vile and wicked an action How can I says he do this great wickedness and sin against God So that in prudence and from a wise consideration of the great benefit and advantage which will thereby redound to us we ought with the greatest care to instill the Principles of Religion into those that belong to us For if the Seeds of true Piety be sown in them we shall reap the fruits of it And if this be neglected we shall certainly find the mischief and inconvenience of it If out Children and Servants be not taught to fear and reverence God how can we expect that they should reverence and regard us at least we can have no sure hold of them For nothing but Religion lays an obligation upon Conscience nor is there any other certain bond of Duty and Obedience and Fidelity Men will break loose from all other Ties when a fit Occasion and a fair Opportunity doth strongly tempt them And as Religion is necessary to procure the favour of God and all the comfort and happiness which that brings along with it so it is necessary likewise to secure the mutual Duties and Offices of men to one another I proceed to the Third thing which I proposed namely III. To enquire into the Causes of the so common and shameful Neglect of this Duty to the exceeding great decay of Piety among us And this may in part be ascribed to our Civil Confusions and Distractions but chiefly to our Dissentions and Differences in Religion which have not only divided and scattered our Parochial Churches and Congregations but have entred likewise into our Families and made great disturbances and disorders there First This may in good part be ascribed to our Civil Confusions and Distractions which for the time do lay all Laws asleep and do not only occasion a general Licentiousness and dissoluteness of Manners but have usually a proportionable bad inâ—luence upon the order and Government of Families by weakning the Authority of those that Govern and by giving the opportunity of greater License to those that should be governed For when publick Laws lose their Authority it is hard to maintain and keep up the strict Rules and Order of Families which after great and long Disorder are very hard to be retriev'd and recover'd Secondly This great Neglect and Decay of Religious Order in Families is chiefly owing to our Dissentions and Differences in Religion upon occasion whereof many under the pretence of Conscience have broke loose into a boundless Liberty So that among the manifold ill Consequences of our Divisions in Religion this is none of the least that the Religious Order of Families hath been in a great measure broken and dissolved Some will not meet at the same Prayers in the Family nor go to the same Church and Place of publick Worship and upon that pretence take the liberty to do what they please and under colour of serving God in a different way according to their Consciences do either wholly or in great measure neglect the Worship of God nay it is well if they do not at that Time haunt and frequent Places of Debauchery and Lewdness which they may safely do being from under the eye of their Parents and Masters However by this means it becomes impossible for the most careful Masters of Families to take an account of those under their Charge how they â—pend their time on the Lord's Day and to train them up in any certain and orderly way of Religion And this methinks is so great and sensible an inconvenience and hath had such dismal effects in many Families as ought effectually to convince us of the necessity of endeavouring a greater Union in matters of Religion and to put us in mind of those happy Days when God was served in one way and whole Families went to the House of God in Companies and Fathers and Masters had their Children and Servants continually under their eye and they were all united in their Worship and Devotion both in their own Houses and in the House of God and by this means the Work of Religious Education and Instruction was effectually carried on and a steddy Authority and decent Order was maintained in Families men were edified and built up in Religion and God in all things was glorified And we may assure our selves that till we are better agreed in matters of Religion and our unhappy and childish Differences are laid aside and till the Publick and unanimous Worship of God do in some measure recover its reputation the good Order and Government of Families as to the great ends of Religion is never likely to obtain and to have any considerable effect Which I hope will make all men who heartily love God and Religion to consider seriously how necessary it is to put an end to these Differences that in our private Families as well as in the publick Assemblies of the Church we may with one mind and with one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ I beseech you therefore Brethren as St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1. 10. by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment that is so far as is necessary to the keeping of the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and to prevent Divisions and Separations among Christians I proceed to the Fourth and last thing I proposed and which remains to be very briefly spoken to namely IV. The very mischievous and fatal Consequences of the neglect of this Duty both to the Publick and to our Selves First To the Publick Families are the first Seminaries of Religion and if care be not there taken to prepare persons especially in their tender years for publick teaching and instruction it is like to have but very little effect The neglect of a due preparation of our Children and
your God promised you so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things until he have destroyed you from off this good Land which the Lord your God hath given you Chap. 23. 15. After this he calls them together a second time and gives them a brief historical account and deduction of the great Mercies of God to them and their Fathers from the days of Abraham whom he had called out from among his Idolatrous Kindred and Countreymen unto that Day From the consideration of all which he earnestly exhorts them to renew their Covenant with God and for his particular satisfaction before he left the World solemnly to promise that they would for ever serve God and forsake the service of Idols Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth And put away the Gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. And then in the Text by a very elegant Scheme of Speech he does as it were once more set them at liberty and as if they had never engaged themselves to God by Covenant before he leaves them to their free choice And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom ye will serve whether the Gods whom your Fathers served on the other side of the Flood or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell Not that they were at liberty whether they would serve the true God or not but to insinuate to them that Religion ought to be their free choice And likewise that the true Religion hath those real advantages on its Side that it may safely be referr'd to any considerate Man's choice If it seem evil unto you as if he had said If after all the demonstrations which God hath given of his Miraculous Presence among you and the mighty obligations which he hath laid upon you by bringing you out of the Land of Egypt and the House of Bondage by so outâ—tretched an Arm and by driving out the Nations before you and giving you their Land to possess If after all this you can think it â—it to quit the service of this God and to worship the Idols of the Nations whom you have subdued those vanquished and baffled Deities If you can think it reasonable so to do but surely you cannot then take your choice If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom ye will serve And to direct and encourage them to make a right choice he declares to them his own Resolution which he hopes will also be theirs and as he had heretofore been their Captain so now he offers himself to be their Example But whether they will follow him or not he for his part is fix'd and immovable in this Resolution But as for ME and my house we will serve the Lord. In effect he tells them I have proposed the best Religion to your choice and I cannot but think nay I cannot but hope that you will all stedfastly adhere to it It is so reasonable and wise so much your Interest and your Happiness to do it But if you should do otherwise if you should be so weak as not to discern the Truth so wilful and so wicked as not to embrace it Though you should all make another choice and run away from the true God to the worship of Idols I for my part am stedfastly resolved what to do In a case so manifest in a matter so reasonable no Number no Example shall prevail with me to the contrary I will if need be stand alone in that which is so evidently and unquestionably Right And though this whole Nation should revolt all at once from the Worship of the true God and join with the rest of the World in a false Religion and in the Worship of Idols and mine were the only Family left in all Israel nay in the whole World that continued to worship the God of Israel I would still be of the same mind I would still persist in this Resolution and act according to it As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. A Resolution truly worthy of so great a Prince and so good a Man In which he is a double Pattern to us First Of the brave Resolution of a good Man namely That if there were occasion and things were brought to that extremity he would stand alone in the Profession and Practice of the true Religion As for ME I will serve the Lord. Secondly Of the pious Care of a good Father and Master of a Family to train up those under his Charge in the true Religion and Worship of God As for me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. I shall at this time by God's assistance treat of the First of these namely I. Of the brave Resolution of a good Man that if there were occasion and things were brought to that extremity he would stand alone in the Profession and Practice of God's true Religion Chuse you this day says Joshua whom ye will serve but as for ME I will serve the Lord. Joshua here puts the Case at the utmost extremity That not only the great Nations of the World the Egyptians and Chaldeans and all the lesser Nations round about them and in whose Land they dwelt were all long since revolted to Idolatry and pretended great Antiquity and long Prescription for the Worship of their false Gods But he supposeth yet further That the only true and visible Church of God then known in the World the People of Israel should likewise generally revolt and forsake the Worship of the true God and cleave to the Service of Idols Yet in this Case if we could suppose it to happen he declares his firm and stedfast Resolution to adhere to the Worship of the true God And though all others should fall off from it that he would stand alone in the Profession and Practice of the true Religion But as for ME I will serve the Lord. In the handling of this Argument I shall do these two things First I shall consider the matter of this Resolution and the due bounds and limits of it Secondly I shall endeavour to vindicate the reasonableness of this Resolution from the Objections to which this singular and peremptory kind of Resolution may seem liable First I shall consider the matter of this Resolution and the due bounds and limits of it 1st The matter of this Resolution Joshua here resolves that if need were and things were brought to that pass he would stand alone or with very few adhering to him in the Profession and Practice of the true Religion And this is not a mere Supposition of an impossible Case which can never happen For it may and hath really and in fact happen'd in several Ages and Places of the World There hath been a general Apostacy of some great part of God's Church from the Belief and Profession of the true Religion to Idolatry
part of good Education is the bringing of Children to be publickly Catechised by the Minister to prepare them for solemn Confirmation It was with a particular respect to this work of publick Catechising and by way of introduction to it that I at first proposed to treat thus largely of the good Education of Children hoping it might be of good use to handle this Subject more fully than it hath usually been done at least to my knowledge from the Pulpit And therefore I shall say something and that very briefly concerning the nature and concerning the necessity and great usefulness of Catechising Children First For the nature of it it is a particular way of teaching by Question and Answer accommodated and fitted for the instruction of Children in the Principles of Religion I do not indeed find that this particular method is any where enjoined in Scripture but Instruction in general is And I doubt not but that upon this general warrant Parents and Ministers may use that way of Instruction of Children which is most fit and proper to instill into them the Principles of Religion It is true that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence our word Catechism doth come is used in Scripture to signify teaching in general But it hath since by Ecclesiastical Writers been appropriated to that particular way of Instruction which hath been long in use in the Christian Church and is commonly called Catechising Secondly As to the necessity and great usefulness of it Catechising hath a particular advantage as to Children Because they are subject to forgetfulness and want of attention Now Catechising is a good Remedy against both these because by Questions put to them Children are forced to take notice of what is taught and must give some Answer to the Question that is ask'd And a Catechism being short and containing in a little compass the most necessary Principles of Religion it is the more easily remembred The great usefulness and indeed the necessity of it plainly appears by experience For it very seldom happens that Children which have not been catechised have any clear and competent knowledge of the Principles of Religion and for want of this are incapable of receiving any great benefit by Sermons which suppose persons to be in some measure instructed before-hand in the main Principles of Religion Besides that if they have no Principles of Religion fix'd in them they become an easy Prey to Seducers And we have had sad experience of this in our Age and among many other dismal effects of our late Civil Confusions this is none of the least that publick Catechising was almost wholly disused and private too in most Families For had Catechising of Children been continued it is very probable that this Age would have been infested with fewer Errors and with fewer Schisms and that there would not have been so much Apostasy from the Fundamentals of Religion For it is I think a true Observation that Catechising and the History of the Martyrs have been the two great Pillars of the Protestant Religion There being then so great a necessity and usefulness of this Way of Instruction I would earnestly recommend the practise of it to Parents and Masters of Families with respect to their Children and Servants For I do not think that this Work should lie wholly upon Ministers You must do your part at home who by your constant residence in your Families have better and more easy opportunities of inculcating the Principles of Religion upon your Children and Servants There you must prepare them for publick Catechising that the Work of the Minister may not be too heavy upon him As to the part which concerns Ministers I intend by God's assistance so soon as the business can be put into a good method to begin this Exercise And I do earnestly intreat all that have young Children and Servants to bring such of them as are fit to be publickly Catechised and instructed in the Principles of Religion And I shall as often as shall be thought expedient spend some time in this Work between afternoon Prayers and Sermon The Catechism to be used shall be that appointed in our Liturgy which is short and contains in it the chief Principles of the Christian Religion And I shall make a short and plain explication of the Heads of it suitable to the capacity of Children And because this may not probably be of so great advantage to those who are of riper Years and Understandings yet because Children are to be instructed as well as men I must intreat those who are like to carry away the least profit to bring with them the more patience Especially since I shall for their sakes in the constant course of my Afternoon Sâ—rmons more largely and fully explain the chief Principles of the Christian Belief A Work which you know I have some time ago entred upon VIII The last thing I shall mention and with which the State of Childhood ends is the bringing of Children to the Bishop to be solemnly Confirm'd by their taking upon themselves the Vow which by their Sureties they entred into at their Baptism This is acknowledged by almost all Sects and Parties of Christians to be of Primitive Antiquity and of very great use when it is performed with that due preparation of persons for it by the Ministers to whose charge they belong and with that seriousness and Solemnity which the nature of the thing doth require And to that end it were very desirable that Confirmations should be more frequent and in smaller Numbers at a time that so the Bishop may apply himself more particularly to every Person that is to be Confirmed that by this means the thing may make the deeper impression and lay the stronger obligation upon them One thing more I could wish both to prevent confusion and for the ease also of the Bishop that his work may not be endless that Ministers would take care that none may present themselves to the Bishop or be presented by the Ministers to be Confirmed a second time Because a great many are wont to offer themselves every time there is a Confirmation which is both very disorderly and unreasonable there being every whit as little reason for a second Confirmation as there is for a second Baptism And if any persons need so often to be Confirmed it is a sign that Confirmation hath very little effect upon them II. I proceed to the Second general Head which was to give some more particular Directions for the management of this Work of the good Education of Children in such a way as may be most effectual to its End First Endeavour as well as you can to discover the particular temper and disposition of Children that you may suit and apply your selves to it and by striking in with Nature may steer and govern them in the sweetest and easiest way This is like knowledge of the nature of the ground to be planted which Husbandmen are wont very carefully
by the severity of Parents do break forth strangely assoon as ever they get loose and from under their Discipline Secondly Another Miscarriage in this matter is when Reproof and Correction are accompanied and managed with Passion This is to betray one Fault and perhaps a greater in the punishment of another Besides that this makes Reproof and Correction to look like Revenge and Hatred which usually does not persuade and reform but provoke and exasperate And this probably may be one reason of the Apostle's admonition Parents provoke not your Children unto wrath because that is never likely to have any good effect Correction is a kind of Physick which ought never to be administred in Passion but upon counsel and good advice And that Passion is incident to Parents upon this occasion the Apostle tells us when he says that the Parents of our flesh chasten us for their pleasure Heb. 10. 12. that is they do it many times to gratify their Passion but God chastens us for our profit not in Anger but with a design to do us good And can we have a better Patern than our heavenly Father to imitate A Father is as it were a Prince and a Judge in his Family There he gives Laws and inflicts Censures and Punishments upon Offenders But how misbecoming a thing would it be to see a Judge pass Sentence upon a man in Choler It is the same thing to see a Father in the heat and fury of his Passion correct his Child If a Father could but see himsâ—lf in this Mood and how ill his Passion becomes him instead of being Angry with his Child he would be out of Patience with himself I proceed to the next thing I proposed namely IV. To make out the truth of the Proposition contained in the Text by shewing how the good Education of Children comes to be of so great advantage and to have so good and lasting an influence upon their whole Lives I confess there are some wild and savage Natures monstrous and prodigious Tempers hard as the Rocks and barren as the Sand upon the Sea-shore which discover strong and early propensions to vice and a violent antipathy to Goodness Such Tempers are next to desperate but yet they are not utterly intractable to the Grace of God and the Religious Care of Parents I hope such Tempers as these are very rare though God is pleased they should sometimes appear in the World as instances of the great corruption and degeneracy of Human Nature and of the great need of Dâ—vine Grace But surely there is no Temper that is absolutely and irrecoverably prejudiced against that which is good This would be so terrible an Objection against the Providence of God as would be very hard to be answered God be thanked most Tempers are tractable to good Education and there is very great pâ—obability of the good succeâ—s of it if it be carefully and wisely managed And for the Confirmation of this Truth I shall instance in two very great Advantages of a Religious and virâ—uous Education of Children 1 st It gives Religion and Virtue the advantage of the first Possession 2 dly The Advantage of Habit and Custom First Good Education gives Religion and Virtue the Advantage of the first Possession The Mind of Man is an active Principle and will be employed about something or other It cannot stand idle and will therefore take up with that which first offers it self So soon as Reason puts forth it self and the Understanding begins to be exercised the Mind of man discovers a natural thirst after knowledge and greedily drinks in that which comes first If it have not the Waters of Life and the pure streams of Goodness to allay that thirst it will seek to quench it in the filthy Puddles and impure Pleasures of this World Now since Children will be busying their Minds about something it is good that they should be entertained with the best things and with the best Notions and Principles of which their Understanding and Age are capable It is a happy thing to be Principled and as I may say Prejudiced the better way and that Religion should get the first possession of their Hearts For it is certainly a great Advantage to Religion to be planted in a tender and fresh Soil And if Parents be careless and neglect this advantage the Enemy will be sure to sow his Tares whilst the Husbandman is asleep Therefore we should prevent the Devil by giving God and Goodness an early possession of our Children and by letting Him into their Hearts betimes Possession is a great Point and it is of mighty consequence to have Nature planted with good Seeds before vicious inclinations spring up and grow into strength and Habit. I know that there is a spiteful Proverb currant in the World and the Devil hath taken care to spread it to the discouragement of an early Piety A young Saint and an old Devil but notwithstanding this a young Saint is most likely to prove an old one Solâ—mon to be sure was of this mind and I make no doubt but he made as wise and true Proverbs as any body hath done since Him only excepted who was a much greater and wiser Man than Solomon Secondly Good Education gives likewise the Advantage of Habit and Custom and Custom is of mighty force It is as Pliny in one of his Epistles says of it efficacissimus omnium rerum Magister the most powerful and effectual Master in every kind It is an acquired and a sort of Second Nature and next to Nature it self a principle of greatest power Custom bears a huge sway in all Human actions Men love those things and do them with ease to which they have been long inured and accustomed And on the contrary men go against Custom with great regret and uneasiness And among all others that Custom is most strong which is begun in Childhood And we see in Experience the strange power of Education in forming persons to Religion and Virtue Now Education is nothing but certain Customs planted in Childhood and which have taken deep Root whilst Nature was tender We see likewise in common experience how dangerous an evil Habit and Custom is and how hard to be alter'd Therefore the Cretians when they would curse a man to purpose wishâ—d that the Gods would engage him in some bad Custom looking upon a man after that to be irrecoverably lost So on the other Side to be engaged in a good Custom is an unspeakable advantage especially for Children to be habituated to a holy and virtuous course before the Habits of Sin and Vice have taken root and are confirm'd in them We are too natuâ—ally inclined to that which is evil But yet this ought not to discourage us because it is certain in Experience that a contrary Cuâ—â—om hath done much in many Cases even where Nature hath been strongly inclined the other way Demosthenes did by great Resolution and almost infinite Pains and after a long