of us have the face to rob him of that day by spending it any otherwise than to his honour and glory Satan I doubt not will be ready to tempt you sometimes in this case as he tempted our first parents in reference to the forbidden Fruit and as he then upbraided God with niggardliness in that he had not given them freedom to eat of all the Trees in the Garden insinuating as if the Lord had restrainted them from the use of that one out of some self-end for said the Serpent the Lord doth know that in the day you eat thereof you shall be as God knowing good and evil I doubt not I say but as Satan dealt with our first parents in reference to the forbidden fruit so may he deal with you in reference to the Lords Day insinuating as if it were very hard that you may not take your liberty and recreate your self on that day being tir'd with the toyl and labour of all the week beside But my Son have a care of Satans subtilty and let the consideration of Gods bounty to us in the concern answer all the sly suggestions of the wicked one For if God had been pleased to allow us but one day for our use and reserve six wholly for his own we should have had no reason to have complained he being our Creator and we the work of his hands but since he has been so liberal as to grant us six days for our Worldly business and reserved one only wholly to himself we are the most unreasonable creatures in the World if we are not content with so liberal a proportion and strive to the utmost of our power to glorify him on that day according to his own appointment Whensoever therefore you are tempted to absent your selves from the publick Worship of God give no entertainment to any such temptation but reject it with an indignation like that of Joseph to his wanton mistress and say how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Have a care of being so unjust and ungrateful to God upon whom you have your whole dependance as to be seduced by the ill example of those profane people in this licentious age who are so insensible of the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus that altho without that they are liable to perish every moment but through the Divine patience and forbearance are suffered to live year after year yet cannot find in their hearts to spend that one day in the Lords service which he has purposely set apart for his own more solemn worship Our blessed Saviour as St. Luke tells in the parable of the wise Steward Luke 12. 43. has pronounced the Servant blessed whom the Lord when he cometh shall find faithful and conscientiously discharging his duty but what shall become then of those profane People whom the Lord if he should come to judgement according to the ancient tradition of the Church upon the Lords day shall find either sleeping upon their Beds or busying themselves about the World making provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof or any way gratifying their sensual appetites instead of doing the work of the Lord. Do you think that if that terrible day of the Lord shall come at such a time it will not be infinitely more comfortable to be found upon your Knees lifting up your Heart in prayer to God and praising him with a chearful voice in giving attention to the ministry of his holy Word or finally in exercising your self some way or other to the glory of God Thus having given you my advice in reference to your constant attendance upon the publick worship of God I shall in the 2d place shew you in what manner you ought to behave your self in the Congregation of Gods people that so your going thither may be for the better and not for the worse First therefore you must consider this that when you go to serve the Lord in those places which are set apart for Divine Worship you then go into Gods more especial presence For so David testifies Ps 100. 1 2. Where he exhorts the Jews to praise God the more chearfully in the Temple as being the special place of his gracious presence O come says he let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our Salvation Lâ—t us come before his presence with thanksgiving and shew our selves glad in him with Psalms And because we should not think that he is less present now in the religious Assemblies of Christians than he was in the Jewish Temple our Saviour has expresly declared Mat. 18. 20. that when two or three are gathered together in his name he is there in the midst of them And you may be sure that if he will vouchsafe to honour so small a number with his presence as two or three so assembled to do him worship and service he will not deny his gracious presence to the greatest Congregation And upon the account of such places being dedicated to the service of God and of his being more especially present in them upon these accounts I suppose it was that St Paul reproved the Corinthians so severely for their rude behaviour in the Church 1 Cor. 11. 22. what says he have you not houses to eat and to drink in or despise ye the Church of God Your heart therefore being thus preposessest with an awful dread and reverence of the Divine presence in the house of prayer I would advise you in the 2d place to make a sutable preparation before you enter into the house of God See that you order your necessary business therefore every Lords Day in the morning so as that you may go to Church before the beginning of Divine Service But before you go among other preparations I advise you to read over the Psalms the first and second Lessons as also the Epistle and Gospel appointed for that day and as you read observe and meditate upon the most material passages contained therein and if there be any thing more remarkable than ordinary which you do not understand be not ashamed to desire information of any in the Family that may be able to give it By this means you will be better able to read those portions of Scripture with the Minister in time of divine service more attentively and in all probability the Holy Spirit may then dart more pious thoughts into your mind and more enlighten your understanding than it did upon your first reading them over in private Having thus exercised your self till it is time for you to go to Church so soon as you are got thither see that you do not loyter in the Church yard neither make it your business to discourse with others about any worldly matters unless it be a word or two of very great necessity for you will be in great danger of having those things run in your mind and distract your thoughts in time of divine service which you have
the Lord would not do it for he saw that notwithstanding all those afflictions which were befallen him he still held fast his Integrity And what shall we say of David unto whom as we read Acts 13. 22. the Lord himself gave testimony and said I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after my own heart 'T is true he grievously offended God more than once but then it is to be considered that the sincerity of his repentance made amends for all And we have no reason to doubt but that God was pleased to accept of his hearty sorrow instead of innocency Now if these and many other holy men under the Law were able through the Divine assistance so to walk before God as to be approved of him how little reason have we to doubt of the possibility of the same things being done by Christians now under the more glorious light and gracious dispensation of the Gospel Why may not we now as St Paul tells us he did exercise our selves in keeping a good Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man It must be confess'd that we are far from being able of our selves to do these things but as St Paul declared of himself Phil. 4. 13. So we may assure our selves that we may be able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us and we need not in the least doubt of his assistance upon our humble request at the Throne of Grace for the same So that now my Son you see how reasonably those people argue against our Baptismal Vow which contains nothing in it but what God has commanded and good men have practic'd Let no man therefore deceive you and say that we have promis'd more in your name than it 's possible for you to perform for if you will but in good earnest oppose these enemies of your Soul the World the Flesh and the Devil you 'll find the blessing of God concurring with your holy resolutions he that hath planted these things in your heart will also water and make them abundantly fruitful to the confusion of Satan the glory of God and the eternal Salvation of your immortal Soul And now having prov'd unto you the possibility of keeping your Baptismal Vow I shall in the 3d place shew you how great an obligation you lye under to observe it And to this purpose I might produce many arguments and sundry Texts of Scripture but because I rather desire to inform your judgment than burthen your memory I shall comprehend what I have to say upon this head in as few words as I can You must therefore know and be convinc'd of this that your eternal happiness depends upon your conscientious observation of this vow 'T is impossible for you to be made partakers of the mercies of God in Christ Jesus our Lord without repentance faith and new obedience For as our Saviour has told us Mat. 19. 17. that if we will enter into life we must keep the Commandments so St Paul has told us Heb. 11. 6. that without Faith it is impossible to please God And the same Apostle has also declar'd Rom. 8. 13. That if we live after the flesh we shall dye but if through the spirit we do mortifie the deeds of the body we shall live For these are the terms of the Covenant of grace between God and us that he will be graciously pleas'd to bestow upon us the pardon of our sins and everlasting life but it is upon this condition that we perform our part of the Covenant which iâ— to believe and to do those things that we have promiâ—'d in our Baptism And this is so plain that I do not think there is any need of insisting upon the proof of it because in all Covenants the party promising any benefits or priviledges is no farther oblig'd to make them good than the other party performs the duties promis'd and required on his part So that as you love your own Soul and desire to be for ever happy in the life to come it highly concerns you to be very mindful of your Baptismal Vow and careful to observe it But withal I would entreat you seriously to consider this one thing that Jesus Christ came into the World and suffered the cursed death of the Cross on purpose to purifie us and therefore shall we still continue in our filthiness and impurities he gave himself for us at it 's said Titus 2. 14. that he might redâ—em us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works and how then can we haâ—e the face to delight in sin why then should we thus prejudiee our own Souls why should we destroy our selves after all the care and pains that our Blessed Lord has been at to save us Have we more love for Satan than we have for God that we should make a scruple of renouncing the Devil both in our words and works have we more affection for sin that will ruin us than for holiness that will be a means to save us through Christ we are made the Children of God by Adoption and heirs through Grace of his Everlasting Kingdom and shall we be such fools as to sell our Birth-right like Esau for one sinful morsel and to destroy both Souls and Bodies for evermore Let me entreat you my Son to lay these things seriously to heart and be perswaded so to lead your life here that you may be for ever happy in the life to come for as you may learn from the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. last if you â—e stedfast and immoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord you may be assured that your labour shall nâ—â— be in vain in the Lord. So that altho it be certain thâ—â—â— is no other Sacrifice now under the Gospel bâ—â— that of Christ upon the Cross which can be â—ufâ—icient to satisfy Gods justice expiate our sin and obtain Eternal Redemption for us yet St. Paul teaches us Rom. 12. 1. that the preâ—enâ—â—ng our Bâ—diâ—s a â—iving Sacrâ—fice holy acceptable unto God is our râ—â—sonable â—â— vice So that altho the sacrifice of our selves whâ—ch we ought to offer up to God in keeping our Baptismal Vow cannot procure Salvation yet it is absolutely necessary for our reception of it And therefore instead of listning to those persons who are wont to argue against the possibility of their duty and like the faint-hearted Israelites when they return'd from taking a view of the promised Land cry out who shall be able to stand before these mighty Gyants how is it possible for any man to keep this Vow instead of giving an ear to such people I say if you will give up your self in earnest to the practice of holiness and heartily pray to the Lord for the gracious assistance of his holy Spirit tho you may probably find some difficulty in your first onset yet it 's certain that when once you are got into the way of it you 'll find
take delight in bearing a part with your brethren in making the Responses singing Psalms and in all other parts of Divine service And this you will certainly do when once you have got your heart sincerely affected with a sense of Gods infinite love and mercy toward you For so we find King David speaking of himself and telling us that the great experience which he had of Gods love to him influenced him so much that he could not refrain from singing praises to him Ps 63. because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee again v. 5. my Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips Nor did that pious King desire to be singular in this matter for in Ps 95. v. 1. he encourages all others to the like practice saying O come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoyce in the strength of our Salvation In the next place as you are to reverence God by opening your lips that your mouth may shew forth his praise so you are to reverence him by your actions and gestures as by lifting up your hands and eyes in prayer to God standing up at the recital of the Creed Hymns and Gospel by kneeling or at least standing up in time of Prayer and keeping your head uncovered all the time of divine service and while the Minister is preaching I say that you are to kneel or at least to stand up in time of prayer because both are allowed to be agreeable to the word of God and the practice of good men but I must needs say that kneeling is much more commendable and a better way of expressing your humility than standing up is when you pray to God In some cases it 's true standing up in time of prayer is not to be blamed as in the case of some natural infirmity when a man cannot kneel without very great pain and uneasiness or when a Congregation is so much crowded that it would be very inconvenient or impossible to do it or when the rules of the Church require it as it does of the Minister for very good reasons in some parts of divine service even when the people are required to kneel In these I say and perhaps there may be some other the like cases to pray standing is not reproveable But then in such cases you should take care to give some other demonstrations of your humility faith and reverence as by lifting up your hands and eyes to Heaven by smitting your breast and the like For to stand up all the time of prayer when you are required to kneel down and may do it without any inconvenience to your self to others and never so much as open your lips or move your hands and eyes in honour to God is a shrewd sign that there 's but very little true devotion in your heart But for sitting still all the time of Prayer as too many do this my Son I must needs tell you is not only the greatest irreverence but a most rude and unmannerly behaviour in the more especial presence of God and his holy Angels And how much soever those people who won't be disswaded from it may pretend to honour God in their hearts yet 't is certain they dishonour him before men which I am sure is a very great provocation for the Lord hath said them that honour me I will honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed I will not pretend to judge the secrets of such mens hearts but let them ask their own consciences what the reason is that they kneel down to prayer in their own houses and yet fit down all the time of Prayer in the House of God and then tell me whether the true reason of their irreverence in the Church dos not proceed from their want of a true love and respect for the publick service and if so where 's their sincerity For as it may reasonably be suspected that that pretended invisible piety which is not attended with visible purity is a false or rather no piety at all and that those persons who make no conscience of serving God publickly take little or no care to serve him privately so it may without breach of charity be supposed that those persons who refuse to give unto God the outward reverence of their Bodies in the publick congregation where he is more especially to be honoured have but very little reverence toward him in the heart For if they kneel down to prayer in their own Houses out of a hearty reverence to God they are certainly much more obliged to do it in the house of prayer because in so doing they give a more publick Testimony of that honour and reverence which is due to the Almighty It is very observable that in the Prophet Malachy's days as we read Ch. 1. 7. the People were come to that degree of Profaneness that they thought any thing was good enough to be offered up in sacrifice to the Lord and yet still they would be thought to have a mighty reverence for him and his worship but see how God resented their irreverent behaviour toward him a Son says he honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If I then be a Father where is my honour and if I be a Master where is my fear And yet notwithstanding the contempt of the Lord and his Ordinances they would be still ready to vindicate themselves and say wherein have we despised thy name and wherein have we polluted thee And therefore the Lord tells them plainly that they had dishonoured him in thinking that it was no great matter what it was that they offer'd in Sacrifice any thing as they thought was good enough to be killed So that the Lord would have them consider whether an earthly Prince would be pleased with a Subject that should behave himself toward him in such a manner if ye offer the blind for Sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and the sick is it not evil offer it now unto thy Governor will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Here you see that however some people may pretend to an inward reverence of God while they give no outward Testimony of it in their words and actions yet the Lord is not satisfied with it he does not think himself to be honoured by those ways which our superiours take to be a dishonour to them For should these persons behave themselves in the presence of an earthly King or of an inferiour Magistrate as they do in the presence of the King of Heaven and Earth they would be lookt upon to be very rude and unmannerly and it cannot reasonably be supposed but that the Almighty God will in like manner resent the behaviour of those who act directly contrary to that rule prescribed in his holy words of doing all things in his worship decently and in order most certain it is that all the holy men
Lord for mercy and for grace in that pious Ejaculation which the Church has directed saying Lord have mercy c. But now after all tho it highly concern you as I have shewed so to behave your self in the publick worship of God that you may offer up to him such a reasonable service as he will be pleased to accept of through the merits and meditation of his beloved Son yet I must withal tell you that you must have a care of limiting your devotion to the Temple you must not think it enough to seem very serious there if at other times you be vain and wicked If you desire that both your person and your performances should be accepted of God you must be truly religious at all times and the zeal which you pretend to have for Gods glory must be visible through the whole course of your life and conversation Be perswaded therefore to remember your Creator in the days of your youth have a care of thinking as too many do that you have still time enough to prepare your self for another world for there 's no man knows how soon the great Judge of Heaven and Earth may call him hence It is certainly the greatest piece of ill husbandry that you can be guilty of to think that you can easily redeem that time when you please which you shall mortgage for a few vain and insatisfactory delights There are too many I doubt in the world that flatter themselves and think that they go upon good grounds while they defer to give up themselves to Gods service in the vigour of their youth hoping that they may repent when they see their own time But my Son I beseech you to consider that altho God has promised pardon to all the true penitents yet he has not particularly promised to wâ—it on any mans leisure He does indeed bear with some a long time waiting for their conversion and such is his infinite goodness that he does sometime grant repentance and pardon after men have for many years put off that necessary duty but he never does this upon any precontract with them nor does any thing more provoke him to deny his favours than mens presuming thus to dispose of them To this purpose I shall offer unto your consideratition a remarkable passage 2 Chr. 33. where we find that the Lord forbore King Manasses forty years and at length upon his repentance pardon'd him After his death Amon his Son reigned in his stead and having observed it 's like how merciful God had dealt with his Father he presumed upon the like forbearance and mercy thinking that as his Father had done before so he might redeem the offences of his youth by a late repentance in old age but we find that God was not pleased to accept of Amon's assignment and therefore tho he had spared Manasses the Father forty years yet he cut off his Son at the end of the second year of his wicked Reign Know therefore and consider this that it is good for you to bear the yoke of Religion in your youth if you habituate your self to the practice of holiness in the prime of your years you will afterwards find all even the severest Duties of Christianity to sit wonderful easie upon your mind if you should live to be old You 'll then have nothing of that regret and anxiety to discompose your thoughts which others will feel who have neglected the service of God in their youth and enslaved themselves to the World the Flesh and the Devil It is observable that John the Evangelist is called the disciple whom Jesus loved it is not said indeed for what reason this Title was given him above all the rest of the Twelve Apostles but it being supposed that he was â—he youngest of them all for that reason possibly Jesus might have the greater love for him because even then in the days of his youth he had learned to despise all the bewitching vanities of the world to deny himself and heartily to embrace the Doctrine of the Gospel If therefore my Son this advice which I have here given you may through the Grace of God prove beneficial to you and answer the end for which it is designed in furthering the Salvation of your Soul I shall be heartily glad and hope that both you and I shall ascribe the whole Praise and Glory to God An Appendix touching Baptismal Sureties BEing very sensible that there is seldom any thing which occasions greater disputes and differences between many Ministers and their Parishioners than the business of Baptismal Sureties and that nothing is more commonly pretended by some for the reason of their departing from our Church than their being dissatisfied about this matter I have here thought fit to add something in reference hereunto hoping thereby to remove the scruples at least of those who are unprejudic'd and well meaning persons In order to this end I shall show you 1st What is meant by God-fathers and God-mothers 2d What reason our Church has to justifie the use of them 3d. How advantageous the due execution of this Office may be both to Sureties and Children First as to the meaning of God-fathers and God-mothers our Church hereby understands those persons who are engaged as Sureties to the Church by solemn promise at the Baptism of Children to see them virtuously brought up to lead a Godly and a Christian Life So that altho the Christian Church for thâ—t reason has thought fit to call them Sureties yet to let them know how they ought to be affected toward their Children in whose names they covenant with God viz. that they ought to be as Fathers and Mothers in God i e. spiritual parents And affectionately concerned in the furtherance of their Childrens Salvation therefore they are called God-fathers c. And this way of expressing themselves in this matter we may suppose the ancient Christians at first received from some expressions in Scripture of the like nature as when all true believers are said to be brethren in Christ and therefore are called Christians as also from St. Paul's way of speaking concerning those persons in whose education and in the furtherance of whose Salvation he had been concerned For as he signifies to the Corinthians 1 Ep. 4. 15. that he was their spiritual Father having begotten them in Christ Jesus through the Gospel so 1 Tim. 1. 2. he calls Timothy his own Son in the Faith In this sense also he calls Onesimus his Son Ep to Philem. v. 10. I beseech thee for my Son Onesimus whom I have begotten in my bounds Now as St Paul was father to the Corinthians and as Timothy and Onesimus were his Sons in a Spiritual sense so why may not those persons who undertake the office of Sureties for Children when they bring them to Baptism which is their new and spiritual Birth be called spiritual Parents or God-fathers and God-mothers especially when they are as they ought to be and as they may