your God promised you so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things until he have destroyed you from off this good Land which the Lord your God hath given you Chap. 23. 15. After this he calls them together a second time and gives them a brief historical account and deduction of the great Mercies of God to them and their Fathers from the days of Abraham whom he had called out from among his Idolatrous Kindred and Countreymen unto that Day From the consideration of all which he earnestly exhorts them to renew their Covenant with God and for his particular satisfaction before he left the World solemnly to promise that they would for ever serve God and forsake the service of Idols Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth And put away the Gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. And then in the Text by a very elegant Scheme of Speech he does as it were once more set them at liberty and as if they had never engaged themselves to God by Covenant before he leaves them to their free choice And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom ye will serve whether the Gods whom your Fathers served on the other side of the Flood or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell Not that they were at liberty whether they would serve the true God or not but to insinuate to them that Religion ought to be their free choice And likewise that the true Religion hath those real advantages on its Side that it may safely be referr'd to any considerate Man's choice If it seem evil unto you as if he had said If after all the demonstrations which God hath given of his Miraculous Presence among you and the mighty obligations which he hath laid upon you by bringing you out of the Land of Egypt and the House of Bondage by so outâ—tretched an Arm and by driving out the Nations before you and giving you their Land to possess If after all this you can think it â—it to quit the service of this God and to worship the Idols of the Nations whom you have subdued those vanquished and baffled Deities If you can think it reasonable so to do but surely you cannot then take your choice If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom ye will serve And to direct and encourage them to make a right choice he declares to them his own Resolution which he hopes will also be theirs and as he had heretofore been their Captain so now he offers himself to be their Example But whether they will follow him or not he for his part is fix'd and immovable in this Resolution But as for ME and my house we will serve the Lord. In effect he tells them I have proposed the best Religion to your choice and I cannot but think nay I cannot but hope that you will all stedfastly adhere to it It is so reasonable and wise so much your Interest and your Happiness to do it But if you should do otherwise if you should be so weak as not to discern the Truth so wilful and so wicked as not to embrace it Though you should all make another choice and run away from the true God to the worship of Idols I for my part am stedfastly resolved what to do In a case so manifest in a matter so reasonable no Number no Example shall prevail with me to the contrary I will if need be stand alone in that which is so evidently and unquestionably Right And though this whole Nation should revolt all at once from the Worship of the true God and join with the rest of the World in a false Religion and in the Worship of Idols and mine were the only Family left in all Israel nay in the whole World that continued to worship the God of Israel I would still be of the same mind I would still persist in this Resolution and act according to it As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. A Resolution truly worthy of so great a Prince and so good a Man In which he is a double Pattern to us First Of the brave Resolution of a good Man namely That if there were occasion and things were brought to that extremity he would stand alone in the Profession and Practice of the true Religion As for ME I will serve the Lord. Secondly Of the pious Care of a good Father and Master of a Family to train up those under his Charge in the true Religion and Worship of God As for me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. I shall at this time by God's assistance treat of the First of these namely I. Of the brave Resolution of a good Man that if there were occasion and things were brought to that extremity he would stand alone in the Profession and Practice of God's true Religion Chuse you this day says Joshua whom ye will serve but as for ME I will serve the Lord. Joshua here puts the Case at the utmost extremity That not only the great Nations of the World the Egyptians and Chaldeans and all the lesser Nations round about them and in whose Land they dwelt were all long since revolted to Idolatry and pretended great Antiquity and long Prescription for the Worship of their false Gods But he supposeth yet further That the only true and visible Church of God then known in the World the People of Israel should likewise generally revolt and forsake the Worship of the true God and cleave to the Service of Idols Yet in this Case if we could suppose it to happen he declares his firm and stedfast Resolution to adhere to the Worship of the true God And though all others should fall off from it that he would stand alone in the Profession and Practice of the true Religion But as for ME I will serve the Lord. In the handling of this Argument I shall do these two things First I shall consider the matter of this Resolution and the due bounds and limits of it Secondly I shall endeavour to vindicate the reasonableness of this Resolution from the Objections to which this singular and peremptory kind of Resolution may seem liable First I shall consider the matter of this Resolution and the due bounds and limits of it 1st The matter of this Resolution Joshua here resolves that if need were and things were brought to that pass he would stand alone or with very few adhering to him in the Profession and Practice of the true Religion And this is not a mere Supposition of an impossible Case which can never happen For it may and hath really and in fact happen'd in several Ages and Places of the World There hath been a general Apostacy of some great part of God's Church from the Belief and Profession of the true Religion to Idolatry
His Grace John Ld. Arch-Bpp of Canterbury AEtat 64 AnÌ„o 1694 SIX SERMONS I. Of Stedfastness in Religion II. Of Family-Religion III. IV. V. Of Education of Children VI. Of The Advantages of an early Piety Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jury in London By His Grace JOHN Lord Archbishop of Canterbury The Second Edition LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhill and W. Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet M DC XC IV. THE PREFACE TO THE READER BEING I hope for the remainder of my Life released from that irksome and unpleasant work of Controversy and Wrangling about Religion I shall now turn my thoughts to something more agreeable to my temper and of a more direct and immediate tendency to the promoting of true Religion to the happiness of Human Society and the Reformation of the World I have no intention to reflect upon any that stand up in defence of the Truth and contend earnestly for it endeavouring in the spirit of meekness to reclaim those that are in Error For I doubt not but a very good man may upon several occasions be almost unavoidably engaged in Controversies of Religion and if he have a head clear and cool enough so as to be master of his own Notions and temper in that hot kind of Service he may therein do considerable advantage to the Truth Though a man that hath once drawn blood in Controverâ—y as Mr. Mede expresseth it is seldom known ever perfectly to recover his own good temper afterwards For this reason a good Man should not be very willing when his Lord comes to be found so doing and as it were beating his fellow-servants And all Controverâ—y as it is usually managed is little better A good man would be loth to be taken out of the World reeking hot from a sharp contention with a perverse Adversary and not a little out of countenance to find himself in this temper translated into the calm and peaceable Regions of the Blessed where nothing but perfect charity and good will reign for ever I know not whether St. Paul who had been taken up into the third Heavens did by that Question of his Where is the Disputer of THIS WORLD intend to insinuate that this wrangling work hath place only in this World and upon this Earth where only there is a Dust to be raised but will have no place in the Other But whether St. Paul intended this or not the thing it sâ—lf I think is true that in the other World all things will be clear and past dispute To be sure among the Blessed and probably also among the Miserable unless fierce and furious Contentions with great Heat without Light about things of no moment and concernment to them should be design'd for a part of their Torment As to the following Sermons I am sensible that the Style of them is more loose and full of words than is agreeable to just and exact Discourses But so I think the Style of Popular Sermons ought to be And therefore I have not been very careful to mend this matter chusing rather that they should appear in that native simplicity in which so many years ago they were first fram'd than dress'd up with too much care and Art As they are I hope the candid and ingenuous Readers will take them in good part And I do heartily wish that all that are concern'd in the respective Duties treated on in the following Sermons would be persuaded so to lay them to heart as to put them effectually in practice That how much soever the Reformation of this corrupt and degenerate Age in which we live is almost utterly to be despair'd of we may yet have a more comfortable prospect of future Times by seeing the foundation of a better World begun to be laid in the careful and conscientious discharge of the Duties here mention'd That by this means the Generations to come may know God and the Children yet unborn may fear the Lord. I have great reason to be sensible how fast the infirmities of Age are coming upon me and therefore must work the Works of Him whose Providence hath placed me in the Station wherein I am whilst it is Day because the Night cometh when no man can work I knew very well before I enter'd upon this great and weighty Charge my own manifold defects and how unequal my best abilities were for the due discharge of it but I did not feel this so sensibly as I now do every day more and more And therefore that I might make some small amends for greater failings I knew not how better to place the broken hours I had to spare from almost perpetual business of one kind or other than in preparing something for the Publick that might be of use to recover the decayed Piety and Virtue of the present Age in which iniquity doth so much abound and the Love of God and Religion is grown so cold To this end I have chosen to publish these plain Sermons and to recommend them to the serious perusal and faithful practice both of the Pastors and People committed to my Charge earnestly beseeching Almighty God that by his Blessing they may prove effectual to that good end for which they are sincerely design'd Concerning Resolution and Stedfastness in Religion A SERMON Preached at St. LAWRENCE JURY JUNE the 3 d. 1684. JOSH. XXIV 15. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. AFTER Joshua had brought the People of Israel into the promised Land and setled them in the quiet possession of it his great desire was to establish them in the true Religion namely in the Worship of the One true God who had brought them out of the Land of Egypt and given them the possession of that good Land the Land of Canaan And now finding himself weak and declining being an hundred and ten years old and fearing leâ—t after his death the People should fall off from the true Religion to the worship of Idols he like a wise and good Governour considers with himself what course he had best to take to keep them firm and stedfast in their Religion and to prevent their defection to the Idolatry of the Nations round about them And to this end he calls a general Assembly of all Israel Chap. 23. V. 1. that is of the Elders and Heads and Judges and Officers of the several Tribes and in a very wise and eloquent Speech represents to them in what a miraculous manner God had driven out the Naâ—ions before them much greater and strongâ—r Nations than they and had given them their Land to possess it And in a word had performed punctually all that he had promised to them And therefore they ought to take great heed to themselves to love God and to serve Him and if they did not he tells them that it should come to pass that as all good things are come upon you which the Lord
single Argument as any one thing in all his Epistles These things are plain and undeniable and being so are a full justification not only of the Church of England in the Reformation which She thought fit to make within her self from the gross Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome but likewise of particular Persons who have at any time for the same Reasons withdrawn themselves from Her Communion in any of the Popish Countries Yea though that single Person should happen to be in those Circumstances that he could not have the Opportunity of holding Communion with any other Church that was free from those Errors and Corruptions and which did not impose them as necessary Conditions of Communion For if any Church fall off to Idolatry every good Christian not only may but ought to forsake Her Communion and ought rather to stand single and alone in the Professâ—on of the pure and true Religion than to continue in the Communion of a corrupt and Idolatrous Church I know that some Men are so fond of the Name of a Church that they can very hardly believe that any thing which â—ears that glorious Title can miscarry or do any thing so much amiss as to give just occasion to any of her Members to break off from Hâ—r Communion What the Church err That is such an Absurdity as is by many thought sufficient to put any Objection out of countenance That the whole Church that is that all the Christians in the World should at any time fall off to Idolatry and into Errors and Practices directly contrary to the Christian Doctrine revealed in the H. Scriptures is on all hands I think denied But that any Particular Church may fall into such Errors and Practices is I think as universally granted Only in this Case they demand to have the Roman Catholick Church excepted And why I pray Because though the Roman Church is a Particular Church it is also the Universal Church If this can be and good sense can be made of a Particular-Universal Church then the Roman Church may demand this high Privilege of being exempted from the Fate of all other Churches but if the Roman-Catholick that is a Particular-Universal Church be a gross and palpable Contradiction then it is plain that the Church of Rome hath no more pretence to this Privilege than any other Particular Church whatsoever And which is yet more some men talk of these matters at that rate as if a man who thought himself obliged to quit the Communion of the Church of Rome should happen to be in those Circumstances that he had no Opportunity of joining himself to any other Communion he ought in that Case to give over all thoughts of Religion and not be so conceited and presumptuous as to think of going to Heaven alone by himself It is without doubt a very great Sin to despise the Communion of the Church or to break off from it so long as we can continue in it without Sin But if things should once come to that Pass that we must either disobey God for company or stand alone in our obedience to Him we ought most certainly to obey God whatever comes of it and to profess his Truth whether any body else will join with us in that Profession or not And they who speak otherwise condemn the whole Reformation and do in effect say that Martin Luther had done a very ill thing in breaking off from the Church of Rome if no body else would have joined with him in that honest Design And yet if it had been so I hope God would have given him the Grace and Courage to have stood alone in so good and glorious a Cause and to have laid down his Life for it And for any man to be of another Opinion is just as if a man upon great deliberation should chuse rather to be drowned than to be saved either by a Plank or a small Boat or to be carried into the Harbour any other way than in a Great Ship of so many hundred Tuns In short a good man must resolve to obey God and to profess his Truth though all the World should happen to do otherwise Christ hath promised to preserve his Church to the end of the World that is he hath engaged his Word that he will take care that there shall always be in some part of the World or other some persons that shall make a sincere Profession of his true Religion But He hath no where promised to preserve any one Part of his Church from such Errors and Corruptions as may oblige all good men to quit the Communion of that Part yea though when they have done so they may not know whither to resort for actual Communion with any other sound Part of the Christian Church As it happened to some particular Persons during the Reign and Rage of Popery in these Western Parts of the Christian Church The Result from all this Discourse is to confirm and establish us all in this Hour of Temptation and of the Powers of Darkness in the well-grounded Belief of the necessity and justice of our Reformation from the Errors and Corruptions of the Roman Church And to engage us to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering And not only to profess and promise as Peter did to our Lord though all men forsake thee yet will not I But if there should be Occasion to perform and make good this Promise with the hazard of all that is dear to us and even of Life it self And whatever Trials God may permit any of us to fall into to take up the pious Resolution of Joshua here in the Text that whatever others do WE will serve the Lord. I will conclude my Discourse upon this First Particular in the Text with the Exhortation of St. Paul to the Philippians chap. 1. v. 27. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ Stand fast in one Spirit be of one Mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel In nothing terrified by your Adversaries which to them is an evident token of Perdition but to you of Salvation and that of God And thus much may suffice to have spoken to the First thing in the Text namely the pious Resolution of Joshua that if there were Occasion and things were brought to that extremity he would stand alone in the Profession and Practice of God's true Religion Chuse you this Day whom ye will serve but as for ME I will serve the Lord. I should now have proceeded to the Second thing and which indeed I chiefly intended to speak to from this Text namely the pious Câ—re of a good Father and Mâ—ster of a Fâ—mily to train up those under his Charge in the Râ—ligion and Worship of the true God As for Me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. But this I shall not now enter upon but defer it to some other Opportunity Consider what ye have heard and the Lord give
when he employed him in that great Affair of the Marriage of his Son Isaac what pains did he take what prudence did he use what fidelity did he shew in the discharge of that great Trust giving himself no rest till he had accomplish'd the Business he was sent about God seems purposely to have left these two Instances upon Record in Scripture to encourage Fathers and Masters of Families to a Religious care of their Children and Servants And to shew the power of Religion to oblige men to their Duty I will add but one Instance more How did the Fear of God secure Joseph's fidelity to his Master in the Case of a very great and violent Temptation When there was nothing else to restrain him from so lewd and wicked an act and to which he was so powerfully tempted the consideration of the great trust his Master reposed in him and the sense of his Duty to him but above all the Fear of God preserved him from consenting to so vile and wicked an action How can I says he do this great wickedness and sin against God So that in prudence and from a wise consideration of the great benefit and advantage which will thereby redound to us we ought with the greatest care to instill the Principles of Religion into those that belong to us For if the Seeds of true Piety be sown in them we shall reap the fruits of it And if this be neglected we shall certainly find the mischief and inconvenience of it If out Children and Servants be not taught to fear and reverence God how can we expect that they should reverence and regard us at least we can have no sure hold of them For nothing but Religion lays an obligation upon Conscience nor is there any other certain bond of Duty and Obedience and Fidelity Men will break loose from all other Ties when a fit Occasion and a fair Opportunity doth strongly tempt them And as Religion is necessary to procure the favour of God and all the comfort and happiness which that brings along with it so it is necessary likewise to secure the mutual Duties and Offices of men to one another I proceed to the Third thing which I proposed namely III. To enquire into the Causes of the so common and shameful Neglect of this Duty to the exceeding great decay of Piety among us And this may in part be ascribed to our Civil Confusions and Distractions but chiefly to our Dissentions and Differences in Religion which have not only divided and scattered our Parochial Churches and Congregations but have entred likewise into our Families and made great disturbances and disorders there First This may in good part be ascribed to our Civil Confusions and Distractions which for the time do lay all Laws asleep and do not only occasion a general Licentiousness and dissoluteness of Manners but have usually a proportionable bad inâ—luence upon the order and Government of Families by weakning the Authority of those that Govern and by giving the opportunity of greater License to those that should be governed For when publick Laws lose their Authority it is hard to maintain and keep up the strict Rules and Order of Families which after great and long Disorder are very hard to be retriev'd and recover'd Secondly This great Neglect and Decay of Religious Order in Families is chiefly owing to our Dissentions and Differences in Religion upon occasion whereof many under the pretence of Conscience have broke loose into a boundless Liberty So that among the manifold ill Consequences of our Divisions in Religion this is none of the least that the Religious Order of Families hath been in a great measure broken and dissolved Some will not meet at the same Prayers in the Family nor go to the same Church and Place of publick Worship and upon that pretence take the liberty to do what they please and under colour of serving God in a different way according to their Consciences do either wholly or in great measure neglect the Worship of God nay it is well if they do not at that Time haunt and frequent Places of Debauchery and Lewdness which they may safely do being from under the eye of their Parents and Masters However by this means it becomes impossible for the most careful Masters of Families to take an account of those under their Charge how they â—pend their time on the Lord's Day and to train them up in any certain and orderly way of Religion And this methinks is so great and sensible an inconvenience and hath had such dismal effects in many Families as ought effectually to convince us of the necessity of endeavouring a greater Union in matters of Religion and to put us in mind of those happy Days when God was served in one way and whole Families went to the House of God in Companies and Fathers and Masters had their Children and Servants continually under their eye and they were all united in their Worship and Devotion both in their own Houses and in the House of God and by this means the Work of Religious Education and Instruction was effectually carried on and a steddy Authority and decent Order was maintained in Families men were edified and built up in Religion and God in all things was glorified And we may assure our selves that till we are better agreed in matters of Religion and our unhappy and childish Differences are laid aside and till the Publick and unanimous Worship of God do in some measure recover its reputation the good Order and Government of Families as to the great ends of Religion is never likely to obtain and to have any considerable effect Which I hope will make all men who heartily love God and Religion to consider seriously how necessary it is to put an end to these Differences that in our private Families as well as in the publick Assemblies of the Church we may with one mind and with one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ I beseech you therefore Brethren as St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1. 10. by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment that is so far as is necessary to the keeping of the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and to prevent Divisions and Separations among Christians I proceed to the Fourth and last thing I proposed and which remains to be very briefly spoken to namely IV. The very mischievous and fatal Consequences of the neglect of this Duty both to the Publick and to our Selves First To the Publick Families are the first Seminaries of Religion and if care be not there taken to prepare persons especially in their tender years for publick teaching and instruction it is like to have but very little effect The neglect of a due preparation of our Children and
I mean in not teaching them to govern their Passions is the true cause why many that have proved sincere Christians when they came to be Men have yet been very imperfect in their conversation and their Lives have been full of inequalities and breaches which have not only been matter of great trouble and disquiet to themselves but of great scandal to Religion when their light which should shine before men is so often darken'd and obscured by these frequent and visible infirmities 2 dly To the government of their Tongues To this end teach Children Silence especially in the presence of their Betters And assoon as they are capable of such a Lesson let them be taught not to speak but upon consâ—deration both of what they say and before whom And above all inculcate upon them that most necessary Duty and Vertue of speaking truth as one of the best and strongest bands of Human Society and Commerce And possess them with the baseness and vileness of telling a Lye for if it be so great a provocation to give a man the Lye then surely to be guilty of that Fault must be a mighty Reproach They who write of Japan tell us that those People though mere Heathens take such an effectual course in the Education of their Children as to render a Lye and breach of Faith above all things odious to them Insomuch that it is a very rare thing for any Person among them to be taken in a Lye or found guilty of breach of Faith And cannot the Rules of Christianity be render'd as effectual to restrain men from these Faults which are scandalous even to Nature and much more so to the Christian Religion To the Government of the Tongue does likewise belong the restraining of Children from lewd and obscene words from vain and profane talk and especially from horrid Oaths and Imprecations From all which they are easily kept at first but if they are once accustomed to them it will be found no such easy matter for them to get quit of these evil Habits It will require great attention and watchfulness over themselves to keep Oaths out of their common discourse but if they be heated and in passion they throw out Oaths and Curses as naturally as men that are highly provoked fling stones or any thing that comes next to hand at one another So dangerous a thing is it to let any thing that is bad in Children to grow up into a Habit. Thirdly As the principal and essential Parts of Religion and Virtue let Children be carefully bred up 1 st To Sobriety and Temperance in regard to themselves under which I comprehend likewise Purity and Chastity The government of the sensual Appetite as to all kind of Bodily pleasures is not only a great part of Religion but an excellent instrument of it and a necessary foundation of Piety and Justice For he that cannot govern himself is not like to discharge his Duty either to God or Men. And therefore St. Paul puts Sobriety first as a primary and principal Virtue in which men are instructed by the Christian Religion and which must be laid as the foundation both of Piety towards God and of Righteousness to Men. The Grace of God for so he calls the Gospel that brings Salvation unto all men hath appeared teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world It first teacheth us to live soberly and unless we train up Children to this Vertue we must never expect that they will either live righteously or godly in this present World Especially Children must be bred up to great Sobriety and Temperance in their Diet which will retrench the fewel of other inordinate Appetites It is a good Saying I have met with somewhere Magna pars virtutis est bene moratus venter a well manner'd and well govern'd Appetite in matter of meats and drinks is a great part of Virtue I do not mean that Children should be brought up according to the Rules of a Lessian Diet which sets an equal stint to all Stomachs and is as senseless a thing as a Law would be which should enjoin that Shooes for all Mankind should be made upon one and the same Last 2 dly To a serious and unaffected Piety and Devotion towards God still and quiet real and substantial without much shew and noise and as free as may be from all tricks of Superstition or freaks of Enthusiasm which if Parents and Teachers be not very prudent will almost unavoidably insinuate themselves into the Religion of Children and when they are grown up will make them appear to wise and sober Persons phantastical and conceited and render them very apt to impose their own foolish Superstitions and wild Conceits upon others who understand Religion much better than themselves Let them be taught to honour and love God above all things to serve him in private and to attend constantly upon his publick Worship and to keep their minds intent upon the several parts of it without wandring and distraction To Pray to God as the Fountain of all Grace and the giver of every good and perfectâ— gift And to acknowledge Him and to â—render Thanks to Him as our most gracious and constant Benefactor and the great Patron and Preserver of our Lives To be careful to do what He commands and to avoid what He hath forbidden To be always under a lively sense and apprehâ—nsion of his pure and all-seeing Eye which beholds us in secret And to do every thing in obedience to the Authority of that Great Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy and with an awful regard to the strict and impartial Judgment of the Great Day 3 dly To Justice and honesty To defraud and oppress no man to be as good as their word and to perform all their Promises and Contracts and endeavour to imprint upon their minds the Equity of that Great Rule which is so natural and so easy that even Children are capable of it I mean that Rule which our B. Saviour tells us is the Law and the Prophets namely that we should do to others as we would have others do to us if we were in their Case and Circumstances and they in ours You that are Parents and have to do in the World ought to be just and equal in all your dealings In the first place for the sake of your own Souls and next for the sake of your Children Not only that you may entail no Curse upon the Estate you leave them but likewise that you may teach them no Injustice by the Example you set before them which in this particular they will be as apt to imitate as in any one thing because of the present worldly advantage which it seems to bring and because Justice is in truth a manly Virtue and least understood by Children and therefore Injustice is a Vice which they will soonest practise and with the least reluctancy because
considerable time before they appear above ground it is long before they shoot and grow up to any heighth and yet they may afterwards be very considerable Which as an ingenious Author observes should excite the care and prevent the despair of Parents For if their Children be not such speedy Spreaders and Branchers as the vine they may perhaps prove proles tardè crescentis Olivae It is a work of great pains and difficulty to rectify a perverse Disposition It is more easy to palliate the corruption of Nature but the cure of it requires time and careful looking to An evil temper and inclination may be covered and conceal'd but it is a great work to conquer and subdue it It must first be check'd and stopp'd in its course and then weaken'd and the force of it be broken by degrees and at last if it be possible deâ—troyed and rooted out Seventhly and Lastly To all these means we must add our constant and earnest Prayers to God for our Children that his Grace may take an early possession of them that he would give them virtuous inclinations and towardly dispositions for goodness And that he would be pleased to accompany all our endeavours to that end with his powerful Assistance and Blessing without which all that we can do will prove ineffectual Parents may plant and Ministers may water but it is God that must give the increase Be often then upon your knees for your Children Do not only teach them to pray for themselves but do you likewise with great fervour and earnestness commend them to God and to the power of his Grace which alone is able to sanctify them Apply your selves to the Father of lights from whom comes every good and perfect gift Beg his H. Spirit and ask Divine knowledge and wisdom for them of Him who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth no man Beseech Him to season their tender years with his Fear which is the beginning of Wisdom Pray for them as Abraham did for Ishmael Oh that Ishmael may live in thy sight Many Parents having â—ound all their endeavours for a long time together ineffectual have at length betook themselves to Prayer earnest and importunate Prayer to God as their last Refuge Monica the Mother of St. Austin by the constancy and importunity of her Prayers obtained of God the conversion of her Son who proved afterwards so great and glorious an Instrument of good to the Church of God According to what St. Ambrose Bishop of Milain to encourage her to persevere in her fervent Prayers for her Son had said to her Fieri non potest ut filius tot lachrymarum pereat It cannot be says he that a Son of so many Prayers and Tears should miscarry God's Grace is free but it is not likely but that God will at last give in this Blessing to our earnest Prayers and faithful Endeavours Therefore pray for them without ceasing pray and faint not Great importunity in Prayer seldom fails of a gracious answer Our B. Saviour spake two Parables on purpose to encourage us herein Not because God is moved much less because he is tired out with our Importunity but because it is an Argument of our firm belief and confidence in his great Goodness And to them that believe all things are possible says our B. Lord To whom c. SERMON III. OF THE Education of Children PROV XXII 6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it I Proceed to the next general Head which I proposed namely III. To discover some of the more remarkable and common Miscarâ—iâ—ges in the management of this Wâ—â—k I do not hereby mean gross neglects for want of care but mistakes and miscarriages for want of prudence and skill even when there is no want of care and diligence in Parents and Instructers And I shall for Method's sake reduce the more considerable and common Miscarriages to these three Heads First In matter of Instruction Secondly In matter of Example Thirdly In matter of Reproof and Correction I. In matter of Instruction Parents do very often mainly miscarry in not teaching their Children the true difference between Good and Evil and the degrees of them As when we teach them any thing is a Sin that really is not or that any thing is not a Sin which in truth is so Or when we teach them to lay more stress and weight upon things than they will bear making that which perhaps is only covenient to be in the highest degree necessary or that which it may be is only inconvenient or may be an occasion of Scandal to some weak Christians to be a Sin in its own nature damnable Parents do likewise lay too great a weight upon things when they are as diligent to instruct them in lesser things and as strict in enjoining them and as severe in punishing the commission or neglect of them according as they esteem them good or evil as if they were the weightier things of the Law and matters of the greatest moment in Religion Thus I have known very careful and well-meaning Parents that have with great severity restrained their Children in the wearing of their hair Nay I can remember since the wearing of it below their Ears was looked upon as a Sin of the first magnitude and when Ministers generally whatever their Text was did in every Sermon either find or make an occasion with great severity to reprove the great Sin of long hair and if they saw any one in the Congregation guilty in that kind they would point him out particularly and let fly at him with great zeal I have likewise known some Parents that have strictly forbidden their Children the use of some sorts of Recreations and Games under the notion of heinous Sins upon a mistake that because there was in them a mixture of Fortune and Skill they were therefore unlawful a Reason which I think hath no weight and force in it tho I do not deny but human Laws may for very prudent reasons either restrain or forbid the use of these Games because of the boundless expence both of Money and Time which is many times occasioned by them I have known others nay perhaps the same Persons that would not only allow but even encourage their Children to despise the very Service of God under some Forms which according to their several apprehensions they esteemed to be Superstitious or Factious But this I have ever thought to be a thing of most dangerous consequence and have often observed it to end either in the neglect or contempt of all Religion And how many Parents teach their Children douâ—tful Opinions and lay great stress upon them as if they were saving or damning Points and hereby set such an edge and keenness upon them for or against some indifferent modes and circumstances of God's Worship as if the very Being of a Church and the Essence of Religion were concerned in them These