of a Prophet coming to the Captains of the Host and he said I have an errand to thee O Captain And Jehu said unto which of all us And he said to thee O Captain I a poor Minister bring a message from the Lord to sinners namely that God would have them to enter into Covenant with him Now will these ask me To which of them I bring this message I answer To thee O sinner whoever thou art that hast not yet engaged thy self to God This is every mans duty and let men think what they please till they have done this they have done just nothing in religion The Scripture speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles sets it forth by this Psal 68.31 Princes shall come out of Egypt Aethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God h. e. they shall enter into Covenant with God Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord. Zech. 2.11 Many Nations shall be joyned to the Lord in that day and shall be my people O that in these days we might see more of the accomplishment of these Prophesies that the poor Heathens might be brought to joyn themselves to the Lord and that Christians living under the Gospel they also might subscribe with hand and heart to God and enter into the obligation of the Covenant 'T was prophesied of the Jews upon their coming out of Babylon they should be so affected with this great mercy that they would renew and heighten their Covenant obligations Jer. 50.5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten Sinners will you speak this as to your selves and make it good will you joyn your selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant God incline your hearts thus to dedicate your selves to him I will press this upon you by a few Arguments 1. 'T is an unspeakable mercy that God will deal with the Creature in the way of a Covenant As he is our Soveraign he might have imposed a Law upon us and dealt with us only in that way But such is his mercy and condescension he will deal with us also by a covenant A Law obliges the creature whether he consent to it or not but now a covenant presupposes consent Man being a free and rational agent God deals accordingly with him and sets a covenant before him which if he will consent to he shall be happy for ever Doth not this hold forth infinite goodness in the great God that he will thus treat with us And after all this shall not we be willing to enter into covenant with him Besides this consider the Nature of a Covenant 'T is as the * Pactum est duorum pluriumve consensus in idem placitum Civilians define it the consent of two or more to something that is agreed upon but this is a very imperfect description More fully therefore A * Vide Zanch. in Hos 2.21 Cloppenb in Syntag. Disput Selec de Foedere Coccei de Foedere Camer de Tripl Foedere Wendelin Theolog Christ l. 1. c. 19. Tilenum p. 2. Disput 54. Ames Med. l. 1. câ— 38. 39. quamplures alios de Foedere inter Deum Creaturain tâ— actantes Covenant is a mutual stipulation or compact between two parties as to something wherein they do agree upon which they are mutually obliged each to the other Such a Covenant there is betwixt God and the Creature these two do interchangeably indent and stipulate each to the other the one for mercy the other for duty and so there a mutual obligation passes upon both Says God here is pardon reconciliation eternal life which I offer upon such and such terms and I am willing upon those terms to engage to give out these mercies Says the Creature I accept of those terms and I solemnly bind my self to make them good according to the utmost of my strength Then says God 't is a Covenant betwixt us I bind my self to thee and thou bindest thy self to me be thou faithful to me I will be faithful to thee What an Ocean or Treasury of love and goodness doth God manifest in this federal transacting of things that he should be willing to stipulate with us and to enter into an obligation to us O the heights bredths depths lengths of this love Here 's another difference betwixt a Law and a Covenant a Law binds the subject but it doth not bind the Lawgiver quatenus Lawgiver the obligation there is but to one party but now a Covenant binds both there the * Mutua foederatarum partium obligatio est forma foederis so all express it Foedus propriâ— obligationem duarum partium certis utrinque conditionibus complecti certum est Gomar Haec est mutua reciproca conventio foederis ut homo intuitu promissae mercedis alacrius operetur Deus intuitu operis det mercedem Cloppenb Disp 1. Th. 7. obligation is reciprocal It hath pleased God to deal with man this way and so he binds himself As to his Law we only are bound but as to the Covenant he out of the riches of his grace is willing to be bound as well as we How should the consideration of this immense love of God engage the Creature to Covenant with him 2. The matter of the Covenant on Gods part is very high the terms or conditions on our part are very just and equitable If this be so surely then men will be willing to enter into Covenant with God one would think this should carry it against all opposition and frivolous objections In every Covenant there is something promised and something demanded in order to the making good of what is promised In this Covenant that which is promised is on Gods part and this is the matter of it what is that No less than that God will be your God O admirable transcendent mercy what can be higher than this I will open it under the next particular The terms or conditions are on the Creatures part what are they That the sinner will break off all his leagues covenants with sin and Satan and the world and that he will enter into a league of friendship with and subjection to the blessed God Surely these are very fair and reasonable terms the sinner cannot well object against them God offers very high he goes no lower than the making over of himself whatever I am saith God it shall be all yours but the terms spoil all God stands upon too high conditions and that keeps us of doth he so that would be something indeed for he that promises something upon impossible and unreasonable conditions promises nothing But can you make good what you say Take heed of belying God what doth he require of you Is it to burn in Hell a
the spirit Galat. 3.3 will you end in the flesh Will you draw back from God to the perdition of your precious souls Hebr. 10.39 I trust you will not 'T is observed both by Papists and Turks also for the latter have their religious Orders as well as the former that persons who have once entred themselves into such Orders and so dedicated themselves to God if they leave these they never prosper O Christians have you dedicated your selves in a regular scriptural way If you relinquish your dedication do you think to prosper Farewel peace joy Heaven farewel all when you forsake God and Apostatize from him That you may be thus faithful and constant and in every thing make good your dedication be much in begging of God the special assistance of his grace Praevenient grace made you true in your dedication Subsequent grace must make you true to your dedication O let none relye upon their own strength we may give resolve covenant but if we be left to our selves we shall soon leave God and undo as much as in us lies all that we have done The heart is deceitful grace is weak corruption strong Voluntate suâ cadit qui cadit voluntate Dei stat qui stat Angust temptations impetuous you need assisting and stablishing grace very much David joyned prayer with his resolution I will keep thy statutes O forsake me not utterly Psal 119.8 You have given the hands to God in stipulation lift up the hands to God in supplication for fidelity for perseverance The God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glory by Jesus Christ after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you 1 Pet. 5.10 Self-dependance doth much endanger self-dedication 3. Thirdly Often renew your dedication though the first sufficiently obliges you yet all obligations are little enough to bind these treacherous hearts of ours the oftner this is renewed the greater awe it leaves upon conscience And though the command of God and the nature of duty are highly obligatory yet fresh and renewed dedications lay a farther superadded obligation upon the person O tye the knot as fast as may be many knots are not so easily loosened After repeated reiterated dedications you 'l be ashamed to be false to God There are some special cases and seasons wherein 't is good for you to renew your dedication Do you fall into some great sin Recover your selves by speedy repentance and renew your dedication These make great wounds and gashes in the soul get them healed presently These endanger the very vitals and strike at the foundation there 's no dallying in this case Great breaches must immediately be made up great sins make a great breach upon conscience upon your dedication and therefore make it up speedily Doubtless David that would renew the dedication of his house after Absaloms sins would also renew the dedication of his person after his own gross and scandalous sins Are you afflicted reduced into great straits Renew your dedication give all again to God at such a time for then you need him most to give to you When Jacob was in great straits and knew not what to do then he said If God will be with me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my Fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God Gen. 28.20 21. O be so wise as to renew your gift and your bond in a day of trouble and so ingenious as to make all good in a day of comfort Do you receive some eminent mercy from God Renew your dedication Say Lord thou hast renewed thy mercy and therefore I here renew my duty thou hast given me a very choice and seasonable mercy here I give thee my self for it Do you attend upon the Sacrament before and at and after that ordinance solemnly renew your dedication that 's a duty very proper at this time Indeed in every prayer we virtually do this but in sacramental work we must do it in a more solemn and explicit manner Are you cast upon times wherein there is much Apostacy professors fall off from God like leaves from the trees in Autumn Now renew your dedication that you may bind your selves the faster to God now take up new and stronger resolutions for God saying Though all forsake God you will never forsake him Other cases and seasons might be mentioned but I pass them by 4. Fourthly Adore and admire the infinite goodness of God In your giving your selves to God you do not oblige him but he obliges you when you give most you receive most first grace is given to you and then you are given to God you could not give if first you did not receive O have you devoted your selves to the Lord 'T was he that framed your hearts to this and wrought you up to it Time was when you were just as others are but God who is rich in mercy Eph. 2.4 7. for his great love wherewith he loved you even when you wholly gave up your selves to sin effectually drew you to himself That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards you through Christ Jesus O admire that distinguishing love of God which hath so freely taken hold of you And let this heighten your admiration that the great God is so willing to accept of that poor pitiful self which you tender to him 't is but the paying of a debt and yet God accepts of it as a gift Were you Angels it would be a condescension in God to accept of you but Lord What is man Psal 144.3 that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou so regardest him And that which is highest of all and which may put the soul into extatick admiration that for such a poor self given such a glorious self should be received you give your self to God and in lieu of this God gives his self to you O Saints what have you to do but to lose your selves in the admiring of God 5. Fifthly Further Personal Dedication in others You have done it your selves do what in you lies that others may do so too Do not you rejoyce in your own act Would you have it to do again for millions of worlds Where then is your zeal to further it in others who have not yet dedicated themselves to God Do you not pity such in their state and will you not endeavour to bring them out of it Can you be content to go to Heaven alone Shall the Devils factors be more diligent for him to the ruin of souls than you for God to the salvation of souls O do not let sinners alone till you have been instrumental for conversion and Personal Dedication to them So live that you may win them to God So instruct exhort perswade convince that they may
resolve we also will give up our selves to God as you have done Bernard hath an expression Major est in amore Dei qui plures traxerit ad amorem Dei He is highest in the love of God you may understand it both of active and also of passive or objective love who hath drawn most to the love of God You cannot in an higher way manifest your love to God or procure Gods love to you than by promoting this blessed self-dedication in others O lay out your selves in order to this and let your endeavours extend to all but especially to your near and dear relations do not suffer a child a servant to continue in a state of alienation from God But this I shall have occasion more to dwell upon under the next Head of Domestick dedication Let me conclude this with the words of that Divine Poet Mr. Herbert Pag 96 97. which are very apposite to my purpose My God if writings may Convey a Lordship any way Whither the buyer and the seller please Let it not thee displease If this poor paper do as much as they On it my Heart doth bleed As many Lines as there doth need To pass it self and all it hath to thee To which I do agree And here present it as my special deed If that hereafter Pleasure Cavil and claim her part and measure As if this passed with a reservation Or some such words in fashion I here exclude the wrangler from thy treasure Wherefore I all forego To one word only I say No. Where in the deed there was an intimation Of a gift or donation Lord let it now by way of purchase go He that will pass his land As I have mine may set his hand And heart unto this deed when he hath read And make the purchase spread To both our goods if he to it will stand How happy were my part If some kind man would thrust his heart Into these lines till in Heavens Court of rolls They were by winged souls Entred for both far above their desert 6. Sixthly I have but this farther to say Let Saints take the comfort of their Dedication O what a rich mine of heavenly consolation am I fallen upon if I could but go to the bottom of it but that I cannot do Have you entirely dedicated your selves to God Can you go over all the branches of it and say you find them all in your selves What shall I say what may I not say for the comforting of you You have Grace and Grace indeed for as hath been said what is grace but Personal Dedication You are sometimes much in the dark about your spiritual state you know not what to think of your selves because of the many discouragements which you meet with in the power and prevalency of corruption c. Can you say this of your selves You have entirely unreservedly fixedly heartily devoted and dedicated your selves to God if so you may take the comfort of a saving work in you when other evidences are blotted and blurr'd if this be legible 't is enough this is an abiding discovery of sincerity and the truth of grace How dear and precious are you in the sight of God! The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 His as by his own Election so by their own dedication The Lord knoweth such not with a bare simple intuitive knowledge but with a knowledge of delight and special approbation God hath your heart and you have his You say to God we are thine there 's the sum of duty and God says to you I am yours there 's the sum of mercy God hath your drop and you have his Ocean You think nothing enough for him he thinks nothing too much for you his Self his Son his Spirit his Heaven his own glory he gives it all to you Surely God intends you nothing but good because he hath so graciously accepted of your offering which is your selves I allude to that of Manoah to his wife Judg. 13.23 You may take this and plead it with God upon all occasions Psal 119.94 I am thine save me Are you in dangers plead from this for protection Are you in wants plead from this for provision Lord I have given my self to thee wilt thou not give me food and raiment I desire no more Lord here 's the Covenant on my part I desire to make it good here 's the Covenant on thy part shall not that be made good then give me bread Psal 111.5 And so for higher mercies O it 's a blessed thing ingerere Deo suam syngrapham as Aug. says his mother Monica used to do to in-mind God and to argue with him from his Covenant Are you in straits you may plead from this for direction But alas I cannot speak out half of that blessedness which belongs to you upon this act Let me conclude with that which is the Zenith of all Personal Dedication shall most certainly end in Eternal Salvation That self which is here dedicated shall be hereafter saved and that which is a poor self here shall be a glorious self hereafter If this be not enough for comfort I know not what is And so let me end this first part of my Discourse with that which shall never end The End of the First Part. Domestick Dedication The Second Part. CHAP. I. Of Domestick Dedication in general Some things premised about it I Have at last got over the Dedication of the Person now the Dedication of the House comes next to be spoken to which I must be the shorter upon because I have been so long in coming to it This is that which was chiefly nay only in my eye when I first engaged my thoughts in this work The Text directed me to this for it speaks of House-Dedication only and the present posture business concern of you the Citizens of London directed me to the Text. You are very busie in re-building your Houses which for some considerable time have lay'n in ashes and I pray God to prosper and encourage you therein But my heart's desire is also that you may dedicate as well as build that as your Houses shall be finished for your use and service they may also be devoted to the use and service of God I could not when I have walked in the Streets indeed since the dismal Fire they may rather be called Roads than Streets and saw here and there a few Houses going up but wish and pray Oh that these Houses whenever they are built whosoevers they are might be dedicated to God! My thoughts and desires working much this way I resolved by God's assistance to do something that might further a thing so excellent and so desirable and thereupon I entred upon this Work though with much discouragement partly from the sense of my inward unfitness for such an undertaking and partly from those bodily Infirmities which a late have been upon me and have very much indisposed and disabled me for study To come then to that
Dedication This concerns your Children in their Infant-state Doth God bless you with such dedicate them to Him in Baptism As soon as He hath given them to you do you Hannah-like 1 Sam. 1.28 give them back again to him and let them be consecrated to the Lord in this solemn way As to Infant-Baptism I would advise you neither to scruple it nor to neglect it Do not scruple it to me 't is a truth written as with the beams of the Sun yet I know that that may be clear to me which is dark to another and so vice versa and God forbid that I should be uncharitable to those who differ from me herein let them be as harsh and severe as they please to their Children I would be tender towards themselves many of them I verily believe dissenting upon conscientious grounds and motives But let persons go I come to the Thing Should I enter upon the Controversie of Infant-Baptism I should either wrong the Cause by saying too little or the Reader by saying too much The Arguments are commonly known several Books are written about it that one of Mr. * Baxters Plain Scripture Proof of Infants Church-membership and Baptism I should think was enough to give every man satisfaction and therefore if you be dissatisfi'd I remit you to them For my own part so long as I have those Scriptures Gen. 17.7 compared with the 10. ver Act. 2.39 1 Cor. 7.14 Act. 16.15 33. with many others and these two Reasons that the first Covenant-Grant is unrepealed that the priviledges of Believers under the Gospel are rather heightened and amplified then any way curtail'd or diminished I say so long as I have Scriptures and these Reasons I hope I shall never scruple Infant-Baptism But I suppose you to be satisfi'd as to this then I say Do not neglect it or omit it Godly Parents have always made Conscience of this I mean of bringing their Children under the seal of the Covenant when Circumcision was this seal then they would have their Children circumcis'd You may read it in Abraham Gen. 21.4 In Zechary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.59 In Joseph and Mary Luk. 2.21 22. Since Baptism was the seal for there hath been a change as to the external seal though there be none as to the matter of the Covenant it self to which this seal is annexed as persons were brought in to the owning of Christ and of the Christian Faith all along they would have their children baptiz'd Look but into the New testament and you will find plenty of Instances Will you then neglect it Is it not an act of singular Grace that God hath not only provided Ordinances for your selves who are adult but also one for your Children in their Infant-state and will you make nothing of it Is it not admirable mercy that the Lord hath taken your seed into the Covenant too and so will have them to pass under the seal of it Hath God entailed Covenant-blessings upon them this way and will you cut off the entail Is this the first visible Act of God's grace whereby he receives poor creatures into his favour and friendship and the first visible means by which he applys Christ in the merits of his death and blood for sanctification and the remission of sin Doth it please God effectually to work in and by this Sacrament so as to exhibit grace by it as he doth in the pursuance of his own Purpose from everlasting and will you withhold it from your Children Have you been the instruments of conveying the stain and filth and pollution of sin to your Children and will you not bring them to this Heavenly Laver in order to the washing and cleasing of them Is Church-membership a little thing in your eye that you will omit that Ordinance in which your Children are enrolled and admitted as members of the Church will you keep them so far as in you lies in an estate little better than Heathenish and make them only Candidates of Christianity Once more are not delays neglects here very dangerous Gen. 17.14 The uncircumcised manchild c. that soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my Covenant Here the punishment is denounced against the child else where against the Parent upon whom indeed the sin lies Moses had almost lost his life upon his omitting to circumcise his Child for the most lay it upon this Exod. 4.24 And it came to pass by the way in the Inn that the Lord met him and sought to kill him O upon this and all the foregoing considerations do not make light of this Ordinance or neglect the administration of it What if your Child should die unbaptised Far be it from me to conclude that therefore 't is damned which was once Austin's opinion whence he was called Durus Infantum Pater yet this I must say this is a very * Nisi forte existimas Christianorum filios si Baptisma non receperint ipsos tantum reos esse peccati non etiam scelu referri ad eos qui dare noluerint maxime eo tempore quo contradicere non poterant qui accepturi erant Hieron ad Laetam sinful omission and you have been very unfaithful to your child and this will lie heavy upon Conscience under such an affliction though I hope the child it self shall not suffer as to its eternal state upon your omission This lying in my way I durst not bawk it though 't is not convenient to make any long stay upon it That which I have most in my eye is Religions Education when your Children are grown up to the use of Reason and this I will first stir you up unto and then direct you about it Surely there 's great need of the first that men should be quickned to the religious educating of those who are under their charge How * Verù Bone Deus quam paucos hodie reperias qui tam soluciti sunt quomodo post se recte honeste vivant filii quamcurant ut illis amplam haereditatem relinquant quâ post obitum ipsorum splendidè otiosè delicientur Muscul in Gen. 18.19 few look after this Look into the most of Houses where will you find Parents or Masters solicitous about good education of Children and Servants Let me come neerer to you in this City Are you so careful in the Religious Education of Children and Apprentices as you ought to be O the sad neglect of this even amongst you What is it that many I fear the most of you do mind to feed and cloth those that belong to you to learn them something of civility and good manners 't is well if you go so far to provide estates and portions for them to breed them up to some calling and therein eying more a subsistance for your Children than the Glory of God this is all that too many of you trouble your selves about and what Tears are sufficient to bewail this O the rudeness
where you promise your selves much comfort I heartily wish that all things may answer your expectation but pray enter upon them with this frame of dedicating or resigning up all to God to be improved for his service to be referred to his dispose What if God should bring another dismal Fire upon your Habitations or what if God some other way should see it necessary to call in his blessings are you willing to give up all to him to have all ordered by him Can you lay your Comforts Conveniencies Enjoyments at his feet let me tell you they are better placed when they are laid at God's feet then when they are laid too near your own hearts this is to carry it aright under Domestick mercies and to dedicate them to God O be not wanting in this Dedication As you must commit your Houses to God's Protection so you must submit your Houses and all blessings belonging to them to his holy will and wise dispose and then you act like Christians indeed CHAP. XI The Conclusion of the whole Discourse I Have brought you now just to the shore where I will land you immediately I have thorough God's gracious assistance gone thorough what I propounded to open and apply viz. Holy Dedication both Personal and Domestick The nature of both hath been explained and the Practise of both hath been enforced by those Arguments and Considerations which were proper to the matter in hand And so I have done though with much weakness what was to be done on my part that which remains further to be done is on your part Shall this twofold Dedication be acted by you will you fall down before the light and evidence of that Truth which hath been here set forth and live in a blessed Conformity and subjection to it will you come up to what hath been press'd upon you in your Personal and Relative Capacity I say will you do this or will you not Shall these poor Labours of mine have some fruit or shall they be altogether in vain shall it fare with this inconsiderable piece as it doth with many excellent Treatises whose price is asked may be they are bought nay may be they are perused but in a little time they are thrown aside never minded more nothing comes of them and the Reader is but just where he was before O that this was not the entertainment which the worthy Labours of some did find from too many If mine which are not worthy to be named with Theirs do meet with the same entertainment it will much afflict me upon a double account first that God will not use me as an instrument for the doing of that good which I earnestly desire to do Secondly that means used prove ineffective and successless as to the promoting of the Salvation of your precious Souls I say these two things will give me much trouble but as for other things wherein credit esteem reputation are concerned I hope I shall value them no more than the dirt under my Feet You may think of me and say of me and of this poor Birth of mine what you please but know that the matter spoken to is of great weight and importance and that which calls for your highest respect and most serious Consideration Let but that be duly entertained by you and then for personal respects or disrespects you have to do with one who is very indifferent and much unconcern'd Dearly beloved Citizens I renew my Advice to yon and I beseech you in the bowels of Christ for God's sake for your own souls sake 1. That you will dedicate your persons to God as this Personal-Dedication hath been described Hezekiah speaking to this very Argument he presses it upon the people of Israel by these Considerations 2 Chron. 30.6 c. Turn again unto the Lord God c. and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the Kings of Assyria And be not like your Fathers and like your Brethren which trespassed against the Lord God of their Fathers who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see Now therefore be not stiff-necked as your Fathers were but yield your selves unto the Lord c. and serve the Lord your God that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you Are not these Considerations applicable to you in this City you are a remnant escaped out of terrible judgments though Plague and Fire have raged amongst you yet you live God hath wrought dreadful desolations in your City as you see what wrath yet remains you cannot tell how shall it be prevented O yield your selves to the Lord dedicate your selves to him that 's the way to turn away the fierceness of Gods wrath Providential dispensations that are past some in the way of mercy others in the way of judgment the present state and posture of things wherein further judgmensts seem to be impendent over us all call upon you for this Doth God use to begin in this manner and doth he not go on till he hath atttained his end one way or another How shall we put a stop to him in these judicial proceedings but by the yielding of our selves to him Self-dedication and House-dedication will prevent City-desolation O therefore let Self-love if nothing else will prevail and love to this poor City put you upon Self-dedication And besides this pray consider what costly and glorious dedications the great God hath brought about in Christ for you Heb. 9.18 Whereupon neither was the first Testament dedicated without blood Heb. 10.20 By a new and living way which he hath consecrated or dedicated for us thorough the vail that is to say his flesh I meddle not with what is Controversial from this place for the Romanists find here their Limbus Patrum I only aim at this here 's costly dedication and consecration for us shall not we now dedicate and consecrate our selves to God in a way of thankfulness I touch upon these Motives here because I said nothing to them in the former Discourse when I was urging the duty upon you O that I might prevail with some with many if it be the Lord 's good pleasure to dedicate themselves to God so as to give up themselves to Him to surrender their wills to his Will to resolve for God to separate from a carnal course and a common conversation to enter into Covenant with God and to devote themselves to his glory What can lie nearer to the heart of Christianity than these things do 2ly When this is done than I further intreat you to dedicate your Houses to God Personal Dedication should not go without this as this cannot be without that What a City should we have if it might be made up of dedicated Houses Religion would put a greater beauty and glory upon it than all our new models in building O will you seriously weigh what hath been presented to you will you make your Entrance into your Houses with Prayer and Praise
stercore sedentem in coelo regnantem Aug. of Job de Temp. Serm. 105. Cesset voluntas propria non erit infernum Bernard Rom. 15 5. Colos 1.11 excellent persons should we be what happy lives should we live could we but come up to and make good this dedication when the wind and tide go the same way the waters are smooth what peace and serenity should we enjoy if Gods will and our wills might concur Bernard says Take away self will and Hell would not be Hell The God of patience strengthen us with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness 2. Surrender up your selves to the will of God as to what is to come my meaning is this refer all to Gods dispose your persons conditions relations all your concerns refer them to God This is both the Christians duty and priviledge he need not trouble himself with anxious thoughts about what is future but he may leave all with God and cast all his care upon God 1 Pet. 5.7 and rest there We must neither prescribe to God that 's pride nor distrust God that 's unbelief 't is the former that I drive at O Christians do not prescribe to God or impose upon God as to future mercies or your future conditions but put your selves into his hands and lie at his feet and let him do what he sees best Thus the child carries it to his Father and we have a better Father in Heaven to leave our selves and our all with We love to be directing providence as Joseph would tell his Father what he had to do Gen. 48.17 18. or imposing upon Providence such and such things we foresee or have them in our thoughts and then we are selfish and hasty and must order God both as to things and times Is it not much better to refer all to God He 's a God of wisdom and a God of mercy and therefore we have the greatest ingagements and encouragements too that are imaginable to sit still and to let God alone God knows what is best such is his wisdom he will do nothing but what is for the best such is his mercy Had we a friend upon earth of whom we could have this assurance we should refer all to him God is willing to take our affairs into his * Psal 31.15 hands to engage all his wisdom and goodness in ordering of them for the best and yet we will not resign up our selves to him 'T is a great speech of Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God acts in all things like a Geometrician he doth all things by measure exactly he orders all his providences concerning every particular person in the world Providentia ita curat omnia ut unum aliquid ita singula ut si illud curaret unicum Aug. Adjice ad utilissimam dulcissimae Providentiae praesumptionem de singulis sic curare Deum quasi singuli soli essemus in mundo quemadmodum Adam in Paradiso Non distrabitur non confunditur multitudine divina procuratio Nieremb Theopolitic p. 55. according to the exact measures of wisdom and love If so have we not reason then to submit to his dispose O says the Son in Plutarch I 'll refer my self to my Father for my Father will do nothing but what is best to be done shall not we speak thus to God O man O believer especially refer thy self to thy God say He shall chuse our inheritance for us as 't is Psal 47.4 Let God chuse for you let it be life or death liberty or restraint service or no service what it pleases God to chuse for us we must submit to and approve of what sad work should we make of it might we be our own chusers or at our own dispose What a strange creature would man be if God should let him alone and leave him to himself He would need nothing more to undo him than to be left to his own wisdom and will The self-chuser is the self-destroyer If the Pilot should let the unskilful passenger steer the Ship he would split it immediately If the Physician should let the patient eat drink what he hath a mind to he would soon bring his life to a period This is our case It doth not become us as we are Creatures to order our selves it would destroy us as we are Christians Blessed be God he will order us as he sees cause Well then upon the consideration of Gods wisdom and your own folly refer your selves to him As you that are Citizens in the building of your Houses you have no skill in Architecture and therefore you refer all to your workmen whom you judge to be skilful and faithful Indeed we are very ignorant we know not what is best we may pitch upon this or that as a great mercy which would be in truth a judgment O we have a wise and faithful God let us be willing to be disposed of by him This is a frame of spirit highly pleasing to God and much to our own advantage we are never so much in the way of a mercy as when we can refer our selves to God for that mercy So much for the enforcing of submission to Gods Providential will O that we could come up to this so as that in all things we could quietly refer our selves to the will of God and get our wills perfectly melted into that Good Lord how far did the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epictetus Enchirid. c. 77. c. 79. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Senec. de tranq Animi Stoicks go in this to their supposed Deities without the light of the Gospel meerly upon the improvement of rational principles and how short do we come in our actings towards the true God under those higher advantages that we enjoy and those higher principles that we pretend to But let this suffice for the second branch 3. In the third place self-dedication consists in the firmness and fixedness of resolution for God and his ways this is next to be spoken to the nature of it hath been opened already I am only now to stir you up to the practice of it If you would dedicate your selves to God you must do these two things you must resolve for him and you must be resolute for him these are different things and I aim at the prosecuting of different things from them To resolve for God 't is to have the will fully determined or fully determining to come to a positive peremptory decision or purpose for God and duty To be resolute for God 't is to adhere to this determination and purpose so as by nothing to be moved or drawn from it To resolve for God is the act of the will ad intra and it is opposed to all doubting hesitating fluctuating irresolvedness within To be resolute for God 't is a mans carriage ad extra 't is to be steddy constant couragious in that which is good in opposition to
a little time be remembred no more A Pyramid will not be enough to perpetuate the memorials of this if we be left to our selves I therefore entreat and beseech you the Citizens of London to keep fresh in your memories the late terrible outgoings of Providence both against your selves in particular and against the City in general and in the day of your Praises and in the midst of all your rejoycings for present mercies O remember what is past How that should be remembred and how the remembrance of it is to be improved I cannot here insist upon I desire to shun prolixity and yet I am guilty of it 3dly In your initial Thanksgivings do this also Where God hath blessed you with considerable Estates see that you set something apart for charitable uses Let your Thanksgiving be Thanks-doing Do something towards the relief of them that are in want of them that were great Sufferers by the late Fire and towards others too who are great objects of Charity Hath God yet spared you an Estate O devote it to his glory and the good of his poor necessitous servants Liberality to such is an excellent concomitant to the duty of Praise and a very high Testimony of the reality of your Gratitude I leave this with you and for some reasons I will not further enlarge upon it So much for the enforcing of the First Branch of House-Dedication Secondly In the Dedication of your Houses to God I advise Fiducially commit them to God This implies 1. A casting-off of all Creature-props and dependancies for safety and Preservation 2. A flying to God for his Protection 3. A resting or relying upon God for this mercy Commit your Houses thus to God and if you would do it in a solemn explicit way when you enter into them and then keep the impression of this upon your Spirits all along it would be of great use to you The poor Heathens had their Tutelar Gods upon whom they rely'd for the keeping of their Houses These were the Lares Penates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domestick Gods of whom the Philologers write much The True God must be by you owned and rested upon for the preservation of your Houses Alas where can we be safe or our Houses be safe but under the shadow of the Almighty Psal 91.1 What can secure us but that providence that is always waking and watchful Psal 121.4 look to your persons what a world of accidents are you liable to each of which is enough to make a speedy dispatch of you When you are at home 't is but the breaking of a beam and you are gone when you walk in the Streets 't is but the falling of a Brick or a Tile or a wall or the breaking of a wheel when you are just by a loaden Cart or an hundred such Casualties and contingencies and there is an end put to your Life How many in this City every week are taken away by sad and sudden Accidents and indeed I wonder 't is not more We live inviron'd and surrounded by Deaths that may come upon us in ways that we never dreamt of Little did the Poet Aeschylus when he was sitting in his Yard think that there he should receive his mortal wound but so it was for as the story goes he sitting there with his Hat off an Engle hovering over his bald head and mistaking it for a stone let fall an Oyster hoping by the fall to break the shell which falling upon this poor man's head pierced his skull and so he dy'd And thus it happens in a thousand cases What need have we therefore to live in a constant dependance upon God for his Protection And so as to our Houses how many unseen dangers do hang over them if God do not keep them All your care preventions signifie nothing without this Set your Watches build in Brick look to your Fires and Lights this will not do your work without God's keeping Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain Psal 127.1 I would not take you off from the use of means for your safety but do not trust here 'T is God only that makes you to dwell in safety Psal 4.8 And therefore dedicate your Houses to God that is commit them to his vigilant and Holy Protection and then fear not I know upon what is past thousands in this City rise up in in the morning lie down at night full of Fears O that we could quiet our hearts by holy Trust what we put into the hands of God is above the reach of man He that hath the Protection of Heaven needs not fear the malice of Hell Saints may encourage themselves in the midst of all dangers and enemies whatsoever from the consideration of that tender and gracious Providence which is over them for the preserving of their Persons Estates Habitations and all that belongs to them Ps 121.3 4. He that keepeth thee will not slumber Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep The Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand The Sun shall not smite thee by day nor the Moon by night The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil he shall preserve thy Soul The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore Psal 145.20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him Isa 4.5 Vpon all the glory shall be a defence Job 1.10 Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his House and about all that he hath on every side Prov. 12.7 The House of the Righteous shall stand Read Psalm 91. 'T is an excellent Psalm for the support of Faith as to Personal and House-preservation Now upon such encouragements as these be perswaded to commit your Selves and your All to God Put all into his Hands fiducially rest upon him and you engage him to take care of you and to secure you from all evil Prov. 29.25 Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Psal 17.7 Shew thy marvellous loving kindness O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them If the Promises of Protection and preservation be not literally accomplished as to the keeping off some particular evils they shall be made good some other way which will be better for you O therefore trust God and do not give way to Fear when you first enter upon your dwellings commit all to God and every morning every night renew this act of trust and it will be well You may be called the House-keepers but in truth God is the House-keeper both as to Provision and also as to Protection and they must needs be well kept if the Almighty God be the keeper of them Men and Devils can neither touch an bair of your Heads nor a tile of your Houses but
Family-worship is a duty incumbent upon every Master or Governour he is to take care of it to see that the blessed God in his House have that Religious respect and homage which is due unto him Indeed this is the main the first thing that he is to look after The Jews besides their Temple-worship had also their Family-worship which the Master of the House was to perform The Paschal-Lamb was to be eaten in every Family there was to be a Lamb for an House Exod. 12.3 this was Family-worship in part You read of David 2 Sam. 6.20 He returned to bless his Houshold Upon the bringing of the Ark into the Tabernacle O his heart was full of joy and this he had made great discoveries of before the people now he 'l go to his own Family and bless them and spiritually rejoyce with them in Prayer and Praise in the sense of this great mercy O that every day your Housholds might be blessed by you by the administration and performance of Worship and Duty in them I will not any longer insist upon Generals but presently come to those particular Family-duties which I would press upon you The first is Prayer Family-Prayer for I intend not to meddle with the other kinds of Prayer but only to limit my self to this Set up Prayer in your Houses let your Families be praying Families O if it was the Lords will that we might not have in all this City one Non-praying Family God will have his House to be an House of Prayer Mat. 21.13 My House shall be called the House of Prayer Isa 56.7 Even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyful in my House of Prayer u. Let it be so with you let your Houses be Houses of Prayer then they will resemble the House of God You must enter upon them by Prayer that I have spoke to but besides this there must be a constant course of Prayer maintained and carried on in them 'T is true we have not any positive or express Command in the Word in which this duty of Family-Prayer is in so many Letters and Syllables enjoined but we have enough in it to ground solid Inferences upon which are sufficient to evince and prove the duty Eph. 6.18 we are commanded to pray with all Prayer and Supplication i. e. with all kinds of Prayer Family-Prayer is one kind of Prayer and therefore we are bound to the performance of it The Prophet imprecates wrath upon the Families that do not call upon God Jer. 10.25 Therefore 't is a duty lying upon Families so to do for it can only be the omission of an unquestionable duty that exposes a person to wrath Many such things might be insisted upon but I shall wave them my business being rather to exhort than to argue That I may prevail with you to set up Prayer in your Houses consider the following Motives 1. This is that which the people of God have always done Where Grace hath been in the heart prayer hath been in the House as Personal Prayer so Family Prayer hath always accompany'd the work of regeneration The Scripture sets many examples before us for the proof of this Mention is often made of Abraham's calling upon God as Gen. 12.8 Gen. 13.4 Gen. 21.33 26.25 We may well suppose that this was done sometimes in conjunction with his family they being with him in his intinerant posture Esther the Queen fasted and pray'd with her Maidens Esth 4.16 Job that offered Sacrifice continually for his Children as 't is Job 1.5 doubtless he did not omit the offering of Sacrifices with his Children What was David's blessing of his Houshold mentioned but now but his praying and praising with his family 'T is said of Cornelius He feared God with all his House and he prayed to God alway Act. 10.2 The connexion seems chiefly to refer to family-prayer If these places of Scripture and examples be not so convincing and cogent as to the duty in hand and its inseparable conjunction with the truth of Grace then you may add what your observation and experience doth readily offer to you Look abroad a little into the world observe how it is with men upon Conversion As soon as ever God hath wrought a saving work in them Behold they pray Acts 9.11 and that in their Families too Before this work alas they pray'd not in their Houses from week to week from year to year but no sooner did God seise upon them in a saving manner but immediately they set up Prayer in their Houses Vniversal experience offers it self for the proof of this Well then let this quicken you to this practise Pray in your Families for if you be gracious renewed sanctified you will do thus this is to carry it as regenerate persons this will be a good evidence that you are really God's people whereas the neglect of this will be a sad evidence that you are none of them I will trust a godly man for Family-prayer He may indeed for sometime being under the power of some Temptation or having taken in some erronious principle omit this duty but if he be a truly godly man he will come to it again 2. Family-prayer hath much excellency in it Prayer in all the kinds of it is very excellent There 's Secret-prayer that 's excellent O for the Soul to be with God alone treating with him in private about its everlasting concernments spreading its more special and particular wants corruptions temptations burdens before him Gen. 32.24 Jacob-like wrestling with him for this and that blessing surely this is excellent There 's publick Prayer when the Saints go together in a * Coimus ad Deum quasi manu factâ precationibus ambiamus Haec vis Deo grata est Tertul. Apolog c. 39. body and offer an holy violence to the Kingdom of Heaven join all their force and strength together for the obtaining of mercy this is excellent Family-prayer comes betwixt these 't is private and yet in part 't is publick 't is publick and yet in part 't is private this is excellent too In respect of its general Nature 't is excellent for 't is Prayer and all Prayer hath excellency stampt upon it in respect of its usefulness benefits precious effects 't is excellent it procures mercies keeps off judgments sanctifies all enjoyments preserves an holy awe of God in the Soul puts a savour and rellish upon all comforts furthers Grace here Glory hereafter All this is done by Family-prayer duely performed is it not excellent will you live in your Houses without it will you lose so great a part of Religion and that too which is so much to your own advantage and to the advantage also of all that co-habit with you Fire is good you 'l have it Food is good you 'l have it Air is good you 'l have it Prayer is good too nay better than all these will you not have that also 3. There are proper
will men say What need we to trouble our selves about Prayer in our Houses when such a neighbour or such a neighbour who go for Professors omit it as well as we And will not the sad effects of this reach to thyself too will not the fervor of thy affections towards God very much abate will not grace insensibly decline will not the power of Godliness languish wilt thou not be at a stand nay wilt thou not go backwards in Heavens way canst thou do any thing more to gratifie Satan Do but observe how it is with persons who cast off Family-prayer or perform it very seldom and in a careless negligent manner and tell me then whether I speak truth or not We read of one Baldwyn Archbishop of Canterbury Pope Vrban writing to him he stiles him Girald Itiner Camb. L. 2. C. 14. Monachum ferventissimum Abbatem calidum Episcopum tepidum Archiepiscopum remissum He was whilst a Monk very fervent when an Abbot then but hot when a Bishop then but lukewarm when an Archbishop then he was key-cold That effect which preferment had upon this person the neglect of secret and Family-prayer hath upon Christians it makes them by little and little to cool in their spiritual heat and in time to come to just nothing you that profess God do not you live what ever others do without this Heavenly duty This in General to urge Family-Prayer It will be asked How often are men to pray in their Families I answer Every day morning and evening The Jews they offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord according to the custom as the duty of every day required Ezra 3.4 that is they offered burnt-offerings morning and evening See v. 3. They had their morning and their evening Sacrifice every day that 's clear from 2 Chron. 31.3 and from several other Scriptures So here you that are Masters of Families * See Whole Duty of Man p. 110. morning and evening in your Houses there must be Prayer oftner if you please but to be sure not seldomer This must be the Alpha and the Omega of every day you must begin and end all with God Hinc omne Principium huc refer exitum Horat. Prayer as one expresses it must be the key to open all in the morning and the Bar to shut up all at night Sit oratio Clavis Diei Sera Noctis 'T is not enough now and then to give God a prayer under some sudden pang of devotion but there must be a daily constant performance of it As to * Morning Prayer I cannot ope mine eyes But thou art ready there to catch My morning soul and sacrifice Then we must needs for that day make a match Herb. Poem p. 54. is it not sweet Is it not good when the body hath been refreshed by sleep in the night to get by prayer in the morning some refreshment for the Soul to begin so as to get an heavenly tincture and savour upon the heart all the day after Have not mercies been received in the night must they not be acknowledged Do not renewed mercies call for renewed praises Do not you need God in the day in sundry respects and will you not therefore go to him and plead with him * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V Ch rond in Pythag. Fragm p. 205. Is it not reason that God should have the precedency will you serve the world before you serve God what a preposterous thing is that Is not this the way to prosper in your enterprizes to be blessed in your undertakings all the day Is not this true that work on earth is done best when work with Heaven is done first as one says Psal 5.3 O in the morning let God hear your voice in the morning do you direct your prayer to Him both alone and also with your Family 'T is the custome of some in this City they pray in their Houses at Night but not at the morning Surely this is an omission God appointed the morning as well as the Evening sacrifice Is there not reason for the one as well as the other Shall we say of Prayer what bloody Gardiner once said of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith that it was good Supper-doctrine but not so good to break fast on I say shall we say this of Prayer And then as to Prayer at Night O do not dare to lie down at night before you have sued out the pardon of the sins of the day past acknowledged mercies received and solemnly put you and yours under God's Almighty Protection Who knows what a Night may bring forth O how many amazing Accidents may fall out before the morning and therefore first commit your selves to God by fervent prayer and then lie down to take your rest I put in Fervent prayer for this indeed is the only prayer God will not be put off with dull dead sleepy devotions he will have you pray in prayer you do nothing if you do not pray with holy fervour Jam. 5.17 As neglects of Prayer are very evil so negligences in prayer are very evil also When you are about God's work take heed of doing it negligently lest you meet with a curse instead of a blessing Jerem. 48.10 I cannot dismiss this Exhortation to Family-prayer though I have been long upon it before I answer a few Objections that many are too ready to make against it 1. Object Say some We pray in secret for our selves and for our Families must we pray with them too Ans Yes Secret prayer is very good a great evidence of sincerity you do very well in making conscience of it but withal you must make conscience too of Family-prayer both are of divine Institution and the one must not thrust out the other Indeed I can hardly believe that you pray in secret See Guâ—n Christ. Arm. 3d. part ch 40. pag. 421. unless you pray in your Houses also He that is sincere in one duty will be sincere in every duty You may do your Relations much good when you are alone in praying for them but probably you will do them more good when 't is not only praying for them but praying for them and with them too for now they too are in God's way and so more capable of Divine impressions and Divine blessings 2. Obj. Others say We go to Church on the Lord's day with our Families and there we pray is not this enough Ans No That-God who requires publick prayer requires Family-prayer also and the whole will of God must be observed O how soon are men cloy'd with duty They never think they have enough of the world but they soon think they have enough of duty You do not give God all of his Sacred Time will you give him no part of your Common Time Will you be Christians on the Lords day and Heathens all the week after And wherein are you better than Heathens in your Families if no religious exercises be there performed
and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Parallel to which is that Col. 3.16 Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Here are three words Psalms Hymns and Songs concerning the * vid. Gatak Adver Sacra l. 1 c. 10 p 124. difference or distinct notions of which Divines do somewhat differ Hierome goes one way Beza another Grotius a third Zanchy a fourth He that pleases may look into them or peruse Bodius Davenant and other Interpreters upon the Places cited for 't is not my intention to stay upon this Clearly the Apostle alludes to the Hebrew Titles or Divisions of David's Psalms They were divided into Mizmorim Tehillim and Shirim which Titles the Septuagint render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are the words used here by the Apostle and therefore the inference is good that David's Psalms were in his eye and that he directs Christians under the Gospel to the singing of David's Psalms when he enjoines them to speak to themselves in Psalms and Hymns and Songs these being the Titles commonly applied to those Psalmes and by which they were usually understood You have another Precept for the Duty Jam. 5.13 Is any afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalms So that you see we have an Institution to ground our practise upon upon which the singing of Psalms becomes not only a thing lawful but also matter of duty And what the * Affirmabaâ—â— hane fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quafi Deo dicere secum invicem Pliny in that most remarkable Epist Lib. 10. Epist Ep. 97. Tertul. speaks of Hymni antelucani Apol. c. 2. c. 39. Vt quisque de Scripturis sanctis vel de propriâ— ingenio potest provocatur in medium Deo canere This as to the manner was something extraordinary vid. Just. Mart. in Quaest. Resp ad Orthod Quaest. 107. p 462. practise of the Primitive Christians was in their Assemblies as to this is very well known out of Pliny Tertullian Justine Martyr and others I should very much swell up this Discourse should I fall upon the drawing out of the full strength of the Scriptures alledged upon the vindicating of them from all those cavils by which some would evade them upon the answering of all objections made against the duty and the explication of all difficulties about it for brevity sake I will pass by all this and only refer you for fuller satisfaction in all these things to those who have to very good purpose written upon this Argument as Mr. Cotton Ford Sydenham Dr. Manton upon James 5.13 with several others That this Singing of David's Psalms was used in the Temple-worship cannot be deny'd for 't is said 2 Chron. 29.30 Hezekiah commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the Seer That 't is now to be used in publick Worship as a part of it cannot be denied neither David in Psal 95. reckoning up the parts of publick Worship he instances in Prayer v. 6. in Hearing v. 7. in Singing v. 1. c. That it ought to be used in Family-Worship also cannot be deny'd neither Surely they that grant the duty must grant also that 't is very necessary proper useful in private as well as in publick O therefore let me desire you to setup this holy exercise in your Houses Pray there read the Scriptures there and sing Psalms too there The general omission of this is much to be lamented what through profaneness in some and groundless scruples in others how few Families are there in this City in which 't is practis'd How many Houses may a man pass by upon a Lord's day before he come to one where he hears this Heavenly Musick You that are Masters of Families be perswaded to make Conscience of this duty let the praises of the most High God be sung in your Families O what a blessed duty is this how is Heaven delighted with it how is the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And much he adds touching the excellent effects of this Ordinance Just Martyr ut suprà heart raised the affections excited and warmed by it how doth it please God to come in upon the soul in this as well as in other ordinances O the sweetness delight that the sincere Christian finds in it and the profit advantage that he reaps by it To my thinking saith one there is not a more lively resemblance of Heaven upon Earth than a company of godly Christians singing a Psalm together You rejoice in God you rejoice in those many mercies you receive from God Singing is the best expression of your rejoycing Are you merry let not your mirth run out in vain frothy things but in the singing of Psalms Paul and Silas were full of joy and they fall upon singing The Church upon the receipt of eminent Mercy vented her joy this way Psal 126.2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing Let it be thus with you The holy Spirit of God puts men upon this rejoicing That of the Apostle in the connexion is very observable He had dehorted from drunkenness with Wine Eph. 5.18 by way of opposition he exhorts to be filled with the spirit what will follow upon this He tells you ver 19. Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns c. Where any are full of the Holy Ghost this will certainly put them upon holy expressions of their joy in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Look as men that are full of Wine or Drink they 'l be singing and venting their mirth in their carnal and sinful way so they that are full of God they 'l be singing too but 't is Psalms and spiritual Songs 't is not chanting to the viol Amos 3.5 't is not Songs that God will turn into lamentation as he threatens Amos 8.10 but 't is that which is spiritual in which their holy joy doth run out It would grieve a man as he walks in your streets by your Taverns and Alehouses Lord what tearing ranting cursing singing in a scurrilous and filthy manner may he there hear from day to day 'Pray let something else be heard in your Houses you that profess God and have any sense of Religion O let men hear you singing of Psalms and therein celebrating the memorials of God's mercies to you If you be filled with the spirit you will as certainly do this as men that have drunk to excess do the other And especially upon the Lord's day let this duty be performed in your Houses this is work very proper to to the Sabbath See Psal 92. The title of it is A Psalm for the Sabbath day And how doth it begin thus It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and
to sing praises unto thy name O most High c. Psal 100.2 Serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing O the admirable mercies that you are to commemorate upon this day That ever to be adored Work of your redemption by Christ is to be fresh upon your thoughts this day should not this put you upon singing of Psalms That you enjoy the Gospel are admitted into God's presence sit under his Ordinances meet with God in them these are signal mercies do you rejoice in them and will you not by Singing manifest your thankeful resentment of them I press you upon nothing but what hath been the custome of the people of God from age to age they would not let a Sabbath pass without singing of Psalms in their Families Set up this duty I intreat you it may possibly expose you to some derision and scorn from your carnal Neighbours but who will value the scoffs of Michals in the discharge of Duty O that as persons walk in the streets they might hear in many Houses in this City praying reading the Word repetition of Sermons singing of Psalms what a comfortable hearing would that be how doth it rejoice my heart when I hear this at any time When God hath inclined you to the duty then be careful that you perform it in a right manner I do not know any part of Worship wherein men do more generally miscarry than in this which I am upon O let it be so manag'd that you may please God profit your selves and edifie one another David's Psalms must be sung with David's Spirit as 't is usually expressed See that the heart be in the duty Ephes 5.19 Making melody in your heart to the Lord. There must be the external voice but the main thing is the Heart David would have both imployed in this service Psal 57.7 My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise v. 8. Awake up my glory c. He means his Tongue and he calls it his glory because that was the member by which he praised and so glorified God So Psal 108.1 O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my glory And Psal 71.23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee and my soul which thou hast redeemed I say look to the Heart that that be in the duty without this the voice is but bodily exercise and that profits not 1 Tim. 4.8 'T is the Heart that God minds the suavity tune ableness modulation of the voice is nothing to him 't is the melody of the Heart which pleases him Let the Heart and the whole Heart be engaged in this work See Psal 103.1 Luk. 1.46 Mind what you are about attend to the matter that you sing so Chrysost opens that of the Apostle of making melody in the heart by attending with understanding Many sing but they do not mind what they sing take heed of this Cum in conspectu Dei cantas Psalmos hoc tract a in mente quod cantas in voce 〈◊〉 modo bene vivendi Serm. 52. saith Bernard And let the Heart be affected and wrought upon by this every duty should have some influence and impression upon the heart and this too as well as any other should have this effect Doth the Psalm present me with the glorious excellencies of God the glorious works of God the precious mercies of God all this should affect my heart Is it a Psalm of Prayer of Praise whatever the matter be the Heart must be duly affected with it Vnderstand what you sing I will sing with understanding saith Paul 1 Cor. 14.15 though I conceive he speaks there of understanding rather in a Passive than in an Active sense Surely we cannot be affected with that which we do not understand And in an especial manner take heed that the carnal part being taken with the external melody do not steal away the Heart from God in the duty O how apt are we to be overcome by this the flesh is pleased and gratified by melodious and musical suavities and then the heart is lost and the spiritual part of the duty is lost How fully and Pathetically doth * Ita fluctuo inter periculum voluptatis salubritatis experimentum c. Quum tamen mihi accidit ut meam ampliùs cantus quam res quae canitur moveat poenaliter me peccare consiteor tum mallem non audire cantantem Ecce ubi sum Elete me cum pro me flete c. Aug. Confess lib. 10. cap. 33. Augustine bewail this as to himself But that I may shut up this See that you sing with grace in your Hearts as the Apostle commands Col. 3.16 Though you have not the faculty or skill of ordering your voices in so tuneable a manner yet be sure you sing with Grace in your Hearts This some do open by Thanksgiving or Thankfulness so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken 1 Cor. 15.57 2 Cor. 2.14 but the most by the exercise the actual stirrings up and excitations of Grace in the Heart or by gracious and holy dispositions of Heart O when you are singing let Grace be up as well as the voice let the one be stirred up as the other is lifted up let gracious affections desire love joy godly sorrow accompany you in the work such as are proper and suitable to the matter of the Psalm which is sung These things I could not but thus briefly hint to you And so I have done with the enforcing of the Second Branch of the Exhortation If you would advance Religion in your Houses and so dedicate them to God then set up the Worship of God the performance of Holy duties in your Families viz. Prayer Reading the Scriptures Singing of Psalmes I hope none will be offended because I have stay'd so long upon so common a subject and gone over that which Hundreds wrote of before 'T is true the subject is common but withal 't is of such importance that we cannot speak too much of it And as common as 't is I think 't is very rare I mean in men's practises Let the thing be done you shall hear no more of it from me but if not I hope some other person will re-assume this work and go over it again much more effectually and convincingly than I have done We must never let you alone till we have brought you to the doing of your duty And this both fidelity to our Master and also love to your Souls calls upon us for CHAP. VIII The Third Branch of the Exhortation urged viz. Religious Education I Go on to the Third Branch of the Exhortation As you desire to advance and set up Religion in your Houses let your Education of Children and others who are under your charge be religious That House cannot be look'd upon as dedicated to God where Religious Education is neglected Now the first step in this is Baptismal
brought me hitherto c. Shew your selves therefore to be gracious persons by this let a mercy be no sooner received but let God be acknowledged and admired in it whilst others look no further than the meer Branch do you look to the root of all We lose our mercies when we do not duly own God as the giver of them Hos 2.8 9. She did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oyle and multiplied her silver and her gold which they prepared for Baal Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness God would have the First Fruits from the people of Israel that in the giving of these Munus Deo offerebaent Honorarium de frugihus terrae ut Auctorem eorum Deum esse testificarentur aliquam gratitudinis significationem exhiherent Gualtper in Marc. 12.33 they might acknowledg God's right to the whole crop and that it was of his bounty that they had all the rest And 't is observable when this people had made this acknowledgment then it was lawful for them to take the comfort of the residue These First Fruits were either the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First growth and fruits of things of which you read Levit. 19.23 24. or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first fruits of every years increase of which Levit. 23.10 Now I say after the people of Israel had in the payment of these acknowledged God to be the bestower of all than it was lawful for them to take the comfort of the residue See Deut. 26.10 11. and Levit. 19.23 24 25. That which I infer from hence is this first acknowledg God in your mercies that he is the Donor of them and then you may take the sweetness of them This is the order in which God will have mercies enjoyed O that we could keep up a constant sense of God in the soul as the Father and Fountain of all our Good That we could say of every mercy this is that which comes from above the gracious hand of God is in it 2ly Whatever mercies you enjoy return them back again to God improve them for him and devote them to his glory This was the carriage of Hannah no sooner had God given her a child but she gives it back again to him 1 Sam. 1.28 And this we must do as to all our Mercies there must be returning where there is receiving Psal 116.12 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me 'T is a sad thing only to be upon the receiving hand an ingenuous spirit will not be guilty of this it will return as well as receive and it will return what it receives The Rivers come from the Sea and they all run into it again the Vapours are exhal'd from the earth and they fall upon it again let that which bears Analogie and resemblance to this be done by you Many mercies are received from God O let all of them be returned to God Where can they be better than in the hands of him who is the Father of them This is with Pharaohs daughter to put the Child to be nursed by its own mother Exod. 2.8 And doth any man lose by giving to God doth not this procure him more of mercy He that returns upon receiving receives upon returning 1 Sam. 2.20 Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife and said The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And so it fell out for v. 21. The Lord visited Hannah so that she conceived and bare three Sons and two Daughters O how doth mercy grow upon us when we freely and faithfully give back what we do receive But how may we return our mercies to God I answer Improve them for him and devote them to him Are your Domestick-mercies and other mercies improved for God and devoted to God he doth much for you what do you do for him what service or glory hath God for health daily bread rest in the night preservation in the midst of so many dangers Relative comforts a plentiful estate good furniture many accommodations which others want Is so much done for you and is nothing done by you in a way of real Gratitude Are mercies dedicated and devoted to God Are they yielded up set apart for his use and service As 't is prophesi'd Isaiah 23.18 And her merchandize and her hire shall be Holiness to the Lord it shall not be treasured nor laid up for her Merchandize shall be for them that dwell before the Lord to eat sufficiently and for durable clothing This is but reasonable that as they are derived from him they should be devoted to him 't is but that which he expects for upon mercy he looks for Duty 't is but that which you stand engaged to for every Comfort is a Talent which you are entrusted with in order to service and 't is the best thankefulness a verbal wordy thanksgiving is a poor thing if it be not attended with something that is real in the life and will mercies be long continued where they are not traded and improved for God What Landlord will let that Tenant hold his land that pays him no rent nor does him any service The way to hold what you have is to improve what you have for God and his glory Serve him with your mercies and he 'l secure them to you How kindly doth he take it when the sense of his goodness quickens a person to be doing for him So it was with David God had done great things for him and his O he would build God an House for it he would some way or other testisie his resentment of God's favours to him Thus let mercies work upon you you know they are very many and very precious O dedicate them devote them to God where you have comfort let God have glory Take heed lest you again lose your Domestick mercies for want of this Dedication 3ly And then thirdly Be willing to resign up all to the will and good pleasure of God So as if he sees it good to continne them to you you 'l be thankeful if he sees it good to remove them from you you 'l submit and say Let him do what seems him good 2 Sam. 15.26 Yet you have an House and a comfortable Habitation but if God will withdraw this mercy and turn you out of doors you will quietly and patiently acquiesce in his will And so too with respect to Relations Estate Liberty all your comforts you resign them all to God so enjoying them as always to be willing to part with them if it pleases him to call for them This is a blessed frame of spirit and that which gives support and comfort under all the issues and events of Providence Many of you in this City are shortly to settle in your new Houses
before you Enter into covenant with God and then you may look upon all your mercies as covenant mercies How sweet is it when they are not only common mercies but they are covenant mercies the bread is covenant-bread the apparel is covenant-apparel and so in the rest what a relish doth this give to a mercy when it flows upon us through the Covenant Enter into covenant with God your seed will reap the benefit of this upon your covenanting with God God makes over himself to you and to your seed also Gen. 17.7 In doing this you do that which may be a blessing to your posterity when you are dead and gone Enter into covenant with God till this be done what have you to do with the Lords Supper How dare uncovenanting persons come to that ordinance the end of which is the sealing ratification confirmation of the covenant of grace They that have not come into this covenant surely the seal of it doth not belong to them O 't is an awakening consideration till thou hast struck up a covenant with God every time thou comest to the Sacrament thou makest thy self guilty of the body and blood of Christ and thou eatest and drinkest damnation to thy self 1 Cor. 11.27 29. I intreat you to consider these things and let them prevail with you to yield up your selves by covenant to the Lord. Have you done this already This indeed you professed to do in your Baptism but have you done it in good earnest Are ye agreed with God upon the terms In covenants the parties must be agreed upon the terms or else they will not proceed to covenant Are God and you agreed upon the terms They are these that you should put away your sins break your league with Hell Isa 28.15 submit your selves to God to be ruled by him be holy conform to his laws Do you like these terms It cannot be expected that ever you should enter into covenant with God till you approve of and assent to his terms and conditions Pray like them they are very good there 's nothing to be said against them who should rule you but God Who will rule you so well as God Are not his laws so excellent that you may well be subject to them Is not sin such an evil thing that you may well part with it Have you any reason to be in league with it which will be the ruin of your souls for ever Princes will make their leagues with them that may help them in a strait O can sin the world help you in a time of affliction under troubles of conscience at the hour of death at the day of judgment God will be a good confederate to help in all these Fall upon your sins and so enter into Covenant with God Anciently they used to offer sacrifices when they made their Covenants Psal 50.5 Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by sacrifice What 's the sacrifice that you are now to offer up in your covenanting with God Let it be first your selves and then your sins your selves as a living sacrifice your sins as a sacrifice slain The Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.1 a living sacrifice give your persons to God as a living sacrifice but now your sins like the sacrifices in the law they must be slain O crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Gal. 5.24 Destroy the body of sin Rom. 6.6 let out the very heart-blood of your bosome corruptions This is the way to enter aright into covenant with God As he confirmed his Covenant in the blood of his son so we must begin our covenant in the blood of our sins But I will add no more upon this wherein I have been so large because of the great importance of the matter Dr. Preston of the New Cov. Ball Bulkely Ruther ford Sedgw. c. and yet I must again refer you to our worthy Divines who have pressed this duty upon men much more convincingly than I can do I promised to speak something touching the explicitness of our covenanting with God but I have in part prevented my self as to that in what I have laid down concerning the explicitness of our dedication And if any desire to be further informed about this they may look into that excellent Treatise cited in the Margent Vindic. of Godliness par 1. p. 201. c. where they will find both motives and also directions about express explicit covenanting with God 6. In the sixth and last place I have but one thing more to stir you up to and then I shall close this Use and that is this Devote your selves to the glory of God David here pens this Psalm in order to the dedicating of his House and he begins it thus verse 1. I will extol thee O Lord c. and he would thus extol God not only by praise but in the course of his life this should be his great design and business To be set for the glorifying of God this is a great thing in our Dedication He that truly dedicates himself to God devotes himself to the glory of God I cannot deny but that this is included in what hath gone before yet because 't is not so plain and express there as I would have it it being a point of so great consequence and so inseparable from personal Dedication therefore I will speak to it here distinctly and by it self And I conceive there is not such a coincidence and coalition betwixt this and the foregoing Heads but that there is some difference As for example take subjection to the will of God he that acts in obedience to this and fully resigns up himself to it he may be said to devote himself to the glory of God this being the true way of glorifying God But here I bring in this upon another account which will somewhat diversifie it from the other There you have that which doth materially tend to the glory of God from the nature of the action but here I am considering the aim and the intention of the person He that obeys God doth that which brings glory to him he that devotes himself to the glory of God doth not only do that but this is that which he aims at and intends There 't is finis operis here 't is finis operantis As a worthy person speaks concerning holiness and godliness Dr. Manton upon Jude p. 200. This saith he is the difference between them holiness more properly implieth a conformity to the Law and godliness an aim of the soul to exalt God so here I may distinguish as to that which I am upon but why do I trouble the Reader with niceties To the business in hand In general let me desire you very much to eye Gods glory let it be precious to you and let your hearts burn with an ardent zeal to promote and advance it in the world Doth he deserve the
name of a Christian whose soul is not set upon this O friends doth God set himself to further your good and will not you set your selves to further his glory Shall so much mercy be received from him and shall no glory be returned to him When Ahasuerus read in the Books how instrumental Mordecai had been to preserve his life he asks what honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this Esth 6.3 Pray do you call for the Book of mercies 't is a vast volume in every page and line 't is filled up with mercy read it a little there you 'l find creating mercy preserving mercy redeeming mercy and the many great things which God hath done for you Now ask what glory hath God had for all this I fear but very little how should this fill us with shame and grief O shall we not pay God his Quit-rent or his Rent-charge Doth he protect our persons estates houses c. shall we withhold his Tribute and Customs You know what I mean by this What a condescension is it that the great God will receive any honour from such poor worms as we are How should this raise and heighten our zeal Do any lose by promoting his glory In advancing God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhetor. we advance our selves by this we gain honour to our selves this is a thing that we are very ambitious of 't is a sweet morsel that we are very greedy of Now the best the surest way to attain this is for us to endeavour by all means to honour God for he tells us He will honour them that honour him 1 Sam. 2.30 The Romans so placed the Temple of honour that there was no coming at it but through the Temple of vertue Would you arrive at honour indeed never think to come to it but by your endeavours to exalt God To conclude this Do you expect to be glorifi'd with God in Heaven and shall not he be glorified by you on earth Doth not that deserve all you are or can do in order to the glorifying of God O set your selves therefore to further this glory of God If you may do it any way whether by doing or suffering Philip. 1.20 whether by life or death if Christ may be but magnified 't is no matter what it costs you and though you decrease and go down in the world if Christ may increase Joh. 3.30 and God may be honoured do you rejoyce How should we carry it like Persons indeed dedicated to God if we were thus zealous for Gods glory 't is not enough to talk of this or to do something in a slighty careless perfunctory manner in order to it but we must study plot contrive act to our utmost devote our selves to the glory of God More particularly I will leave two things with you 1. Let your deportment and conversation be such that God may be glorified Let your light so shine before men Matth. 5.16 that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven so Christ exhorts you The matter of our lives should be such or our lives materially considered should be such as that glory to God might result from them This glory of God lies in the displaying and manifesting of his glorious Attributes and excellencies to and before the world I speak of Gods manifestative glory Joh. 17.4 compar with verse 6. Numb 14.21 Levit. 10.3 Psal 72.19 You that profess your selves a dedicated people do you so live that you may display and manifest Gods infinite perfections that you may make them visible and conspicuous to the world live out the holiness wisdom mercy goodness of God that those that see your conversations may see much of God in them The Apostle speaks of holding forth the word of life Phil. 2.16 There is an holding forth of the God of life as well as of the word of life And the Saints are said to be a chosen generation a royal Priesthood a peculiar people that they should shew forth the vertues of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Dedicated persons must shew forth the excellencies of the blessed God in their deportment 't is not enough for them in their own thoughts to acknowledge and admire them but they must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew them forth to others O let us often put this enquiry to our selves Do we so live as that the Attributes of God are made visible and conspicuous in our conversations 2. Let the glory of God be your supream and main end both in the whole life and also in particular actions 1. As to the whole life take it in the lump and mass this should be every mans end in life to exalt God O Lord thou art my God I will exalt thee Isa 25.1 We live but what is the end which we propound to our selves in living Many carry it as though they propounded no end at all to themselves they come into the world and know not wherefore and then go out of the world they know not whither O that any should be so brutish what a sad thing is it when there shall be an end to terminate life that there is no end to raise and elevate life The most have an end but 't is not this end That which they aim at is to get wealth to be great in the world to please the flesh to pamper the sensual part to make provision for posterity c. But as to the glorifying of their Creator and Maker that they never intend This is sad are these ends fit for a man Much more are they fit for a Christian O that mens profession should be so high and their ends so low Let it be otherwise with you let the end of your life be Gods glory An end makes the man this end makes the Saint Here lies the excellency of a man above a beast he propounds an end to himself and acts accordingly Here lies the excellency of the Saint above a man his end is the glorifying of God this is a blessed end indeed let it be yours If you live live to God Rom 14.7 if you dye dye to God in both eye God as your principal end The person and the life are to be judged by the end when the glory of God is the end then person and life are truly excellent God judges not of men by particular acts but by their fixed and ultimate end O as life is derived from God let it be devoted to God As his mercy is the spring of life let his glory be the end of life What unspeakable comfort and holy confidence will this give you when you come to die if you be sincere in this At the ending of life 't is the end of life that is sweet 'T was so to Christ I have glorified thee on the earth c. And now O Father glorifie thou me c. Joh. 17.4 5. To