so Natural and so Reasonable a piece of Religion so meet and equal an acknomledgment of the constant and daily Care and Providence of Almighty God towards us begins to grow out of Date and use in a Nation professing Religion and the Belief of the Being and Providence of God Is it not a righteous thing with God to take away his Blessings from us when we deny Him this just and easy Tribute of Praise and Thanksgiving Shall not God visit for this horrible Ingratitude And shall not his Soul be avenged on such a Nation aâ— this Hear O Heavens and be ye horribly astonished at this I hope it cannot be thought misbecoming the meanest of God's Ministers in a matter wherein the Honour of God is so nearly concerned to reprove even in the Highest and Greatest of the Sons of Men so shameful and heinous a Fault with a proportionable Vehemence and Severity Secondly Another and that also a very considerable Part of this Duty consists in instructing those committed to our Charge in the Fundamental Principles and in the careful Practice of the necessary Duties of Religion instilling these into Children in their tender years as they are capable of them line upon line and precept upon precept here a little and there a little and into those that are more grown up by proper and suitable means of instruction and by furnishing them with such Books as are most proper to teach them those things in Religion which are most necessary by all to be believ'd and practis'd And in order hereunto we should take care that those under our Charge our Children and Servants should be taught to read because this will make the business of Instruction much easier so that if they are diligent and well-dispos'd they may after having been taught the first Principles of Religion by reading the H. Scriptures and other good Books greatly improve themselves so as to be prepared to receive much greater benefit and advantage by the publick teaching of their Ministers And in this work of Instruction our great care should be to plant those Principles of Religion in our Children and Servants which are most fundamental and necessary and are like to have the greatest and most lasting influence upon their whole Lives As right and worthy Apprehensions of God especially of his infinite Goodness and that He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity And a lively sense also of the great evil and danger of Sin A firm belief of the Immortality of our Souls and of the unspeakable and endless Rewards and Punishments of another World If these Principles once take root they will spread strangely and probably stick by them and continue with them all their Days Whereas if we plant in them doubtful Doctrines and Opinions and inculcate upon them the Notions of a Sect and the Jargon of a Party this will turn to a very pitiful account and we must expect that our Harvest will be answerable to our Husbandry We have sown the Wind and shall reap the Whirlwind But of this I shall have occasion to speak more particularly and fully in the ensuing Sermons concerning the good Education of Children And this work of Instruction of those that are under our Charge as it ought not to be neglected at other Times so is it more peculiarly seasonable on the Lord's Day which ought to be employed by us to Religious purposes and in the Exercises of Piety and Devotion Chiefly in the Publick Worship and Service of God upon which we should take care that our Children and Servants should diligently and devoutly attend Because there God affords the Means which he hath appointed for the begetting and increasing of Piety and Goodness and to which he hath promised a more especial Blessing There they will have the opportunity of joining in the publick Prayers of God's Church and of sharing in the unspeakable beneâ—â—t and advantage of them And there they will also have the advantage of being instructed by the Ministers of God in the Doctrine of Salvation and the way to Eternal Life and of being powerfully incited to the practice of Piety and Virtue There likewise they will be invited to the Lord's Table to participate of the H. Sacrament of Christ's most blessed Body and Blood which being the most Solemn Institution of the Christian Religion the frequent participation whereof is by our B. Lord in remembrance of his Dying Love enjoined upon all Christians we ought to take a very particular care that those who are under our Charge so soon as they are capable of it be duly instructed and prepared for it that so as often as Opportunity is offer'd for it they may be present at this Holy Action and partakâ— of the inestimable Benefits and Comforts of it And when the Publick Worship of that Day is over our Families should be instructed at Home by having the Scriptures and other good Books read to them and care likewise should be taken that they do this themselves this being the chief Opportunity that most of them especially those that are Servants have of minding the business of Religion and thinking seriously of another World And therefore I cannot but think it of very great consequence to the maintaining and keeping alive of Religion in the World that this Day be Religiously observed and spent as much as may be in the exercises of Piety and in the care of our Souls For surely every one that hath a true sense of Religion will grant that it is necessary that some Time should be solemnly set apart for this purpose which is of all other our greatest Concernment And they who neglect this so proper Season and Opportunity will hardly find any other Time for it Especially those who are under the Government and Command of others as Children and Servants who are seldom upon any other Day allowed to be so much Masters of their Time as upon this Day Thirdly I add further as a considerable Part of the Duty of Parents and Masters of Families if they be desirous to have their Children and Servants Religious in good earnest and would set them forward in the way to Heaven that they do not only allow them Time and Opportunity but that they do also strictly and earnestly charge them to retire themselves every Day but more especially on the Lord's Day Morning and Evening to pray to God for the Forgiveness of their Sins and for his mercy and Blessing upon them and likewise to Praise Him for all his Favours and Benefits conferred upon them from Day to Day And in order to this they ought to take care that their Children and Servants be furnish'd with such short Forms of Prayer and Praise as are proper and suitable to their capacities and conditions respectively because there are but very few that know how to set about and perform these Duties especially at first without some Helps of this kind Fourthly and lastly another principal Part of this Duty consists in giving good
you understanding in all things Concerning FAMILY-RELIGION A SERMON Preached at St. LAWRENCE JURY JULY the 13 th 1684. JOSH. XXIV 15. But as for me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. I Shall now proceed to the Second Point contained in the Text namely II. The pious Care of a good Master and Father of a Family to train up those under his Charge in the Worship and Service of the true God As for me and MY HOUSE we will serve the Lord. And this is the more necessary to be spoken to because it is a great and very essential part of Religion but strangely overlook'd and neglected in this loose and degenerate Age in which we live It is a great part of Religion for next to our personal Homage and Service to Almighty God and the Care of our own Souls it is incumbent upon us to make those who are under our Charge and subject to our Authority God's subjects and his Children and Servants which is a much more honourable and happy Relation than that which they bear to us Our Children are a natural part of our selves and the rest of our Family are a Civil and Political part And not only we our selves but all that we have and that belongs to us is God's and ought to be devoted to his service And they that have the true Fear of God themselves will be careful to teach it to others to those especially who are under their more immediate Care and Instruction And therefore God had so great a confidence concâ—rning â—braham as to this particular as to undertake for him that being so very good a man himself he would not fail in so great and necessary a part of his Duty For I know him says God of him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment God passeth his Word for him that he would not only take care to instruct his Children and the rest of his numerous Family in the true Religion but that he would likewise lay a strict Charge upon them to propagate and transmit it to their Posterity And this certainly is the Duty of all Fathers and Masters of Families and an essential part of Religion next to serving God in our own Persons to be very careful that all that belong to us do the same For every man must not only give an account of himself to God but of those likewise that are committed to his Charge that they do do not miscarry through his neglect In speaking of this great and necessary Duty I shall do these four things First I shall shew wherein it doth consist Secondly I shall consider our Obligation to it both in point of Duty and of Interest Thirdly I shall enquire into the Causes of the so common and shameful neglect of this Duty to the exceeding great Decay of Piety amongst us Fourthly As a Motive and Argument to us to endeavour to â—etrieve the practice of this Duty I shall represent to you the peâ—nicious Consâ—quences of the neglect of it both with regard to our Selves and to the Publick In all which I shall be very brief because things that are plain need not to be long I. I shall shew wherein the Practice of this Duty doth consist And in this I am sure there is no need to be long because this Duty is much better known than practised The principal Parts of it are these following First By setting up the constant Worship of God in our Families By daily Prayâ—rs to God every Morning and Evening and by reading some Portion of the H. Scriptures at those Times especially out of the Psalms of David and the New Testament And this is so necessary to keep alive and to maintain a sense of God and Religion in the minds of men that where it is neglected I do not see how any Family can in reason be esteemed a Family of Christians or indeed to have any Religion at all And there are not wanting excellent Helps to this purpose for those that stand in need of them as I think most Families do for the due and decent discharge of this solemn Duty of Prayer I say there are excellent Helps to this purpose in the several Books of Devâ—tion calculated for the private use of Families as well as for Secret Prayer in our Closets So that besides the reading of the H. Scriptures which are the great Fountains of Divine Truth we may do well likewise to add to these other pious and profitable Books which by their plainness are fitted for the instruction of all Capacities in the most necessary Points of Belief and Practice Of which sort God be thanked there is an abundant store but none that I think is more fitted for general and constant use than that excellent Book so well known by the Title of The whole Duty of Man Because it is conveniently divided into Parts or Sections one of which may be read in the Family at any time when there is leisure for it but more especially on the Lord's Day when the whole Family may the more easily be brought and kept together and have the Opportunity to attend upon these things without distraction And which I must by no means omit because it is in many Families already gone and in others going out of Fashion I mean a solemn acknowledgment of the Providence of God by begging his Blessing at our Meals upon his good Creatures provided for our use and by returning Thanks to him for the benefit and refreshment of them This being a piece of Natural Religion owned and practised in all Ages and in most Places of the World but never so shamefully and scandalously neglected and I fear by many slighted and despised as it is amongst us at this Day And most neglected where there is greatest Reason for the doing of it I mean at the most plentiful Tables and among those of highest Quality As if Great Persons were ashamed or thought scorn to own from whence these Blessings come like the Nation of the Jews of whom God complains in the Prophet Hos 2. 8. She knew not that I gave Her Corn and Wine and Oyl and multiplied her Silver and Gold She knew not that is She would not acknowledge from whose Bounty all these Blessings came Or as if the poor were obliged to thank God for a little but those who are fed to the full and whose Cups overflow so that they are almost every day surfeited of plenty were not at least equally bound to make returns of thankful acknowledgment to the Great Giver of all good things and to implore His Bounty and Blessing upon whom the eyes of all do wait that He may give them their meat in due season O crooked and perverse Generation Do you thus reason Do ye thus requite the Lord foolish and unwise This is a very sad and broad Sign of the prevalency of Atheism and Infidelity among us when
when he employed him in that great Affair of the Marriage of his Son Isaac what pains did he take what prudence did he use what fidelity did he shew in the discharge of that great Trust giving himself no rest till he had accomplish'd the Business he was sent about God seems purposely to have left these two Instances upon Record in Scripture to encourage Fathers and Masters of Families to a Religious care of their Children and Servants And to shew the power of Religion to oblige men to their Duty I will add but one Instance more How did the Fear of God secure Joseph's fidelity to his Master in the Case of a very great and violent Temptation When there was nothing else to restrain him from so lewd and wicked an act and to which he was so powerfully tempted the consideration of the great trust his Master reposed in him and the sense of his Duty to him but above all the Fear of God preserved him from consenting to so vile and wicked an action How can I says he do this great wickedness and sin against God So that in prudence and from a wise consideration of the great benefit and advantage which will thereby redound to us we ought with the greatest care to instill the Principles of Religion into those that belong to us For if the Seeds of true Piety be sown in them we shall reap the fruits of it And if this be neglected we shall certainly find the mischief and inconvenience of it If out Children and Servants be not taught to fear and reverence God how can we expect that they should reverence and regard us at least we can have no sure hold of them For nothing but Religion lays an obligation upon Conscience nor is there any other certain bond of Duty and Obedience and Fidelity Men will break loose from all other Ties when a fit Occasion and a fair Opportunity doth strongly tempt them And as Religion is necessary to procure the favour of God and all the comfort and happiness which that brings along with it so it is necessary likewise to secure the mutual Duties and Offices of men to one another I proceed to the Third thing which I proposed namely III. To enquire into the Causes of the so common and shameful Neglect of this Duty to the exceeding great decay of Piety among us And this may in part be ascribed to our Civil Confusions and Distractions but chiefly to our Dissentions and Differences in Religion which have not only divided and scattered our Parochial Churches and Congregations but have entred likewise into our Families and made great disturbances and disorders there First This may in good part be ascribed to our Civil Confusions and Distractions which for the time do lay all Laws asleep and do not only occasion a general Licentiousness and dissoluteness of Manners but have usually a proportionable bad inâ—luence upon the order and Government of Families by weakning the Authority of those that Govern and by giving the opportunity of greater License to those that should be governed For when publick Laws lose their Authority it is hard to maintain and keep up the strict Rules and Order of Families which after great and long Disorder are very hard to be retriev'd and recover'd Secondly This great Neglect and Decay of Religious Order in Families is chiefly owing to our Dissentions and Differences in Religion upon occasion whereof many under the pretence of Conscience have broke loose into a boundless Liberty So that among the manifold ill Consequences of our Divisions in Religion this is none of the least that the Religious Order of Families hath been in a great measure broken and dissolved Some will not meet at the same Prayers in the Family nor go to the same Church and Place of publick Worship and upon that pretence take the liberty to do what they please and under colour of serving God in a different way according to their Consciences do either wholly or in great measure neglect the Worship of God nay it is well if they do not at that Time haunt and frequent Places of Debauchery and Lewdness which they may safely do being from under the eye of their Parents and Masters However by this means it becomes impossible for the most careful Masters of Families to take an account of those under their Charge how they â—pend their time on the Lord's Day and to train them up in any certain and orderly way of Religion And this methinks is so great and sensible an inconvenience and hath had such dismal effects in many Families as ought effectually to convince us of the necessity of endeavouring a greater Union in matters of Religion and to put us in mind of those happy Days when God was served in one way and whole Families went to the House of God in Companies and Fathers and Masters had their Children and Servants continually under their eye and they were all united in their Worship and Devotion both in their own Houses and in the House of God and by this means the Work of Religious Education and Instruction was effectually carried on and a steddy Authority and decent Order was maintained in Families men were edified and built up in Religion and God in all things was glorified And we may assure our selves that till we are better agreed in matters of Religion and our unhappy and childish Differences are laid aside and till the Publick and unanimous Worship of God do in some measure recover its reputation the good Order and Government of Families as to the great ends of Religion is never likely to obtain and to have any considerable effect Which I hope will make all men who heartily love God and Religion to consider seriously how necessary it is to put an end to these Differences that in our private Families as well as in the publick Assemblies of the Church we may with one mind and with one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ I beseech you therefore Brethren as St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1. 10. by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment that is so far as is necessary to the keeping of the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and to prevent Divisions and Separations among Christians I proceed to the Fourth and last thing I proposed and which remains to be very briefly spoken to namely IV. The very mischievous and fatal Consequences of the neglect of this Duty both to the Publick and to our Selves First To the Publick Families are the first Seminaries of Religion and if care be not there taken to prepare persons especially in their tender years for publick teaching and instruction it is like to have but very little effect The neglect of a due preparation of our Children and
part of good Education is the bringing of Children to be publickly Catechised by the Minister to prepare them for solemn Confirmation It was with a particular respect to this work of publick Catechising and by way of introduction to it that I at first proposed to treat thus largely of the good Education of Children hoping it might be of good use to handle this Subject more fully than it hath usually been done at least to my knowledge from the Pulpit And therefore I shall say something and that very briefly concerning the nature and concerning the necessity and great usefulness of Catechising Children First For the nature of it it is a particular way of teaching by Question and Answer accommodated and fitted for the instruction of Children in the Principles of Religion I do not indeed find that this particular method is any where enjoined in Scripture but Instruction in general is And I doubt not but that upon this general warrant Parents and Ministers may use that way of Instruction of Children which is most fit and proper to instill into them the Principles of Religion It is true that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence our word Catechism doth come is used in Scripture to signify teaching in general But it hath since by Ecclesiastical Writers been appropriated to that particular way of Instruction which hath been long in use in the Christian Church and is commonly called Catechising Secondly As to the necessity and great usefulness of it Catechising hath a particular advantage as to Children Because they are subject to forgetfulness and want of attention Now Catechising is a good Remedy against both these because by Questions put to them Children are forced to take notice of what is taught and must give some Answer to the Question that is ask'd And a Catechism being short and containing in a little compass the most necessary Principles of Religion it is the more easily remembred The great usefulness and indeed the necessity of it plainly appears by experience For it very seldom happens that Children which have not been catechised have any clear and competent knowledge of the Principles of Religion and for want of this are incapable of receiving any great benefit by Sermons which suppose persons to be in some measure instructed before-hand in the main Principles of Religion Besides that if they have no Principles of Religion fix'd in them they become an easy Prey to Seducers And we have had sad experience of this in our Age and among many other dismal effects of our late Civil Confusions this is none of the least that publick Catechising was almost wholly disused and private too in most Families For had Catechising of Children been continued it is very probable that this Age would have been infested with fewer Errors and with fewer Schisms and that there would not have been so much Apostasy from the Fundamentals of Religion For it is I think a true Observation that Catechising and the History of the Martyrs have been the two great Pillars of the Protestant Religion There being then so great a necessity and usefulness of this Way of Instruction I would earnestly recommend the practise of it to Parents and Masters of Families with respect to their Children and Servants For I do not think that this Work should lie wholly upon Ministers You must do your part at home who by your constant residence in your Families have better and more easy opportunities of inculcating the Principles of Religion upon your Children and Servants There you must prepare them for publick Catechising that the Work of the Minister may not be too heavy upon him As to the part which concerns Ministers I intend by God's assistance so soon as the business can be put into a good method to begin this Exercise And I do earnestly intreat all that have young Children and Servants to bring such of them as are fit to be publickly Catechised and instructed in the Principles of Religion And I shall as often as shall be thought expedient spend some time in this Work between afternoon Prayers and Sermon The Catechism to be used shall be that appointed in our Liturgy which is short and contains in it the chief Principles of the Christian Religion And I shall make a short and plain explication of the Heads of it suitable to the capacity of Children And because this may not probably be of so great advantage to those who are of riper Years and Understandings yet because Children are to be instructed as well as men I must intreat those who are like to carry away the least profit to bring with them the more patience Especially since I shall for their sakes in the constant course of my Afternoon Sâ—rmons more largely and fully explain the chief Principles of the Christian Belief A Work which you know I have some time ago entred upon VIII The last thing I shall mention and with which the State of Childhood ends is the bringing of Children to the Bishop to be solemnly Confirm'd by their taking upon themselves the Vow which by their Sureties they entred into at their Baptism This is acknowledged by almost all Sects and Parties of Christians to be of Primitive Antiquity and of very great use when it is performed with that due preparation of persons for it by the Ministers to whose charge they belong and with that seriousness and Solemnity which the nature of the thing doth require And to that end it were very desirable that Confirmations should be more frequent and in smaller Numbers at a time that so the Bishop may apply himself more particularly to every Person that is to be Confirmed that by this means the thing may make the deeper impression and lay the stronger obligation upon them One thing more I could wish both to prevent confusion and for the ease also of the Bishop that his work may not be endless that Ministers would take care that none may present themselves to the Bishop or be presented by the Ministers to be Confirmed a second time Because a great many are wont to offer themselves every time there is a Confirmation which is both very disorderly and unreasonable there being every whit as little reason for a second Confirmation as there is for a second Baptism And if any persons need so often to be Confirmed it is a sign that Confirmation hath very little effect upon them II. I proceed to the Second general Head which was to give some more particular Directions for the management of this Work of the good Education of Children in such a way as may be most effectual to its End First Endeavour as well as you can to discover the particular temper and disposition of Children that you may suit and apply your selves to it and by striking in with Nature may steer and govern them in the sweetest and easiest way This is like knowledge of the nature of the ground to be planted which Husbandmen are wont very carefully
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
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
does not oppose his own single and private Judgment to the Judgment of Many but the common Reason of Mankind and the Judgment of God plainly declared in his Word If the generality of men should turn Atheists and Infidels and should deny the Being of God or his Providence the Immortality of mens Souls and the Rewards and Punishments of another World Or should deny the Truth of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion it would not certainly be any breach of modesty for a man to appear single if no body else would stand by him in the resolute defence of these great Truths In like manner when a whole Church though never so large and numerous shall conspire together to corrupt the Christian Religion so far as to impose upon Mankind under the name of Christian Doctrines and Articles of Faith things plainly contrary to the Sense and Reason of Mankind and to the clear and express Word of God why must a Man needs be thought immodest if he oppose such gross Errors and Corruptions of the Christian Doctrine And what reason have the Church of Rome to talk of modesty in this Case when they themselves have the face to impose upon Mankind the belief of things contrary to what they and every man else sees As they do in their Doctrine of Transubstantiation And to require of them to do what God hath expresly forbidden as in the Worship of Images besides a great many other Idolatrous Practices of that Church To deny the People the free use of the H. Scriptures and the publick Service of God in a known Tongueâ— contrary to the very end and design of all Religion and in affront to the common Reason and Liberty of Mankind Obj. 2. Secondly It is pretended that it is more prudent for private Persons to err with the Church than to be so pertinacious in their own Opinions To which I answer that it may indeed be pardonable in some Cases to be led into mistake by the Authority of those to whose Judgment and Instruction we ought to pay a great deference and submission Provided always it be in things which are not plain and necessary but surely it can never be prudent to err with any number how great soever in matters of Religion which are of moment merely for Numbers sake But to comply with the known Errors and Corruptions of any Church whatsoever is certainly damnable Obj. 3. Thirdly It is pretended yet further that men shall sooner be excused in following the Church than any particular Man or Sect. To this I answer that it is very true if the matter be doubtful and especially if the Probabilities be equal or near equal on both Sides But if the Error be gross and palpable it will be no excuse to have followed any number of Men or any Church whatsoever For here the competition is not between Men and Men but between God and Men And in this Case we must forsake all Men to follow God and his Truth Thou shalt in no wise follow a Multitude in a known Error is a Rule which in Reason is of equal obligation with that Divine Law Thou shalt in no wise follow a Multitude to do evil or rather is comprehended in it because to comply with a known Error is certainly to do Evil. And this very Objection the Jews made against our B. Saviour and the Doctrine which He taught that the Guides and Governours of the Jewish Church did utterly differ from Him and were of a contrary mind Have any of the Rulers say they believed on him What will you be wiser than your Rulers and Governors What follow the Doctrine of one single Man against the unanimous Judgment and Sentence of the Great Sanhedrim to whom the Trial of Doctrines and pretended Prophets doth of right belong But as plausible as this Objection may seem to be it is to be considered that in a corrupt and degenerate Church the Guides and Rulers of it are commonly the worst and the most deeply engaged in the Errors and Corruptions of it They brought them in at first and their Successors who have been bred up in the belief and practice of them are concern'd to uphold and maintain them And so long a Prescription gives a kind of Sacred Stamp even to Error and an Authority not to be opposed and resisted And thus it was in the corrupt State of the Jewish Church in our Saviour's Time And so likewise in that great Degeneracy of the Christian Church in thâ— Times of Popery their Rulers made them to err Insomuch that when Martin Luther appeared in opposition to the Errors and Superstitions of that Church and was hard prest with this very Objection which the Pharisees urg'd against our Saviour he was forc'd to bolt out a kind of unmannerly Truth Religio nunquam magis periclitatur quà m inter Reverendissimos Religion says he is never in greater hazard and worse treated than amongst the most Reverend meaning the Pope and his Cardinals and all the Romish Hierarchy who had their dependance upon them Obj. 4. Fourthly it is Objected That as on the one hand there may be danger of Error in following blindly the Belief of the Church so on the other hand there is as great a danger of Schism in forsaking the communion of the Church upon pretence of Errors and Corruptions Very true but where great Errors and Corruptions are not only pretended but are real and evident and where our Compliance with those Errors and Corruptions is made a necessary Condition of our Communion with that Church In that Case the guilt of Schism how great a Crime soever it be doth notâ— fall upon those who forsake the Communion of that Church but upon those who drive them out of it by the sinful Conditions which they impose upon them And this is truly the Case between Us and the Church of Rome as we are ready to make good and have fully done it upon all Occasions and they have never yet been able to vindicate and clear themselves of those gross Errors and Corruptions which have been charged upon them and which they require of all their Members as necessary Conditions of Communion with them here and of eternal Salvation hereafter For we do not object to them doubtful matters but things as plain as any are contained in the Bible as every body would see if they durst but let every body read it The Worship of Images is there as plainly forbidden in the Decalogue as Murther and Adultery are The Communion in both Kinds is as express an Institution of our Saviour as any in all the New Testament and even as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper it self only that Church pretends to a Dispensing Power as a Priviledge inherent in theâ—â— Church and inseparable from it And to add but one Instance more Publick Prayers and the Service of God in an unknown Tongue are as plainly and fully declared against by St. Paul in a long Chapter upon this
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
Exâ—mple to our Families This was David's Resolution Psal 101. 2. I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way I will walk within my House with a perfect heart Take great care to be exemplary to thy Family in the best things in a constant and devout serving of God and in a sober and prudent and unblameable Conversation One of the best and most effectual ways to make those who are under our Care and Authority good is to be good our Selves and by our good Example to shew them the way to be so Without this our best Instructions will signify but very little and the main force and efficacy of them will be lost We undermine the best Instructions we can give when they are not seconded and confirmed by our own Example and Practice The want of this will weaken the Authority of all our good Counsel and very little Reverence and Obedience will be paid to it The Precepts and Admonitions of a very good Man have in them a great power of Persuasion and are apt strongly to move and to inflame others to go and do likewise But the good Instructions of a bad Man are languid and faint and of very little force because they give no heart and encouragement to follow that Counsel which they see he that gives it does not think fit to take himself But of this likewise I shall have Occasion to speak more fully in the following Discourses concerning the good Education of Children And thus much may suffice to have spoken of the First thing which I proposed namely wherein the Practice of this Duty doth consist I proceed to the Second namely II. To consider our Obligation to it both in point of Duty and of Interest First In Point of Duty All Authority over others is a Talent intrusted with us by God for the benefit and good of others and for which we are accountable if we do not improve it and make use of it to that end We are obliged by all lawful means to provide for the temporal welfare of our Family to feed and cloath their Bodies and to give them a comfortable Subsistence here in the World And surely much more are we obliged to take care of their Souls and to consult their eternal Happiness in another Life in comparison of which all temporal Concernments and Considerations are as nothing It would be accounted a very barbarous thing in a Father or Master to suffer a Child to starve for want of the necessaries of Life food and raiment and all the World would cry shame upon them for it But how much greater Cruelty must it in reason be thought to let an immortal Soul and one for whom Christ died perish for want of knowledge and necessary Instruction for the attaining of eternal Salvation The Apostle St. Paul thinks no words bad enough for those who neglect the temporal welfare of their Families He that provideth not saith he for his own especially for those of his own House hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel that is he does not deserve the Name of a Christian who neglects a Duty to which from the plain Dictates of Nature a Heathen thinks himself obliged What then shall be said for them who take no care to provide for the everlasting Happiness and to prevent the eternal Misery and Ruin of those who are so immediately under their Charge and so very nearly related to them We are obliged to procure the Happiness of our Children not only by the Laws of Christianity but likewise by all the Natural bonds of Duty and Affection For our Children are a part of our Selves and if they perish by our fault and neglect it will be a perpetual Wound and Sting to us their Blood will be upon our heads and the guilt of it will for ever lye at our doors Nay we are obliged likewise in Justice and by way of Reparation to take all possible care of their Happiness for we have conveyed a sad Inheritance to them in those corrupt and evil inclinations which they have derived from us And therefore we should with the greatest care and diligence endeavour to rectify their perverse Natures and to cure those cursed dispositions to evil which we have transmitted to them And since God hath been pleased in so much mercy to provide by the abundant Grace of the Gospel so powerful a Remedy for this hereditary Disease of our corrupt and degenerate Nature we should do what in us lies that they may partake of the Blessing and Benefit of it And as to other Members of our Family whether they be Servants or other Relations of whom we have taken the Charge common Humanity will oblige us to be concerned for their Happiness as they are Men and of the same Nature with our Selves and Charity likewise as they are Christians and Baptized into the same Faith and capable of the same common Salvation does yet more strictly oblige us by all means to endeavour that they may be made partakers of it especially since they are committed to our Care and for that reason we must expect to be accountable to God for them So that our Obligation in point of Duty is very clear and strong and if we be remiss and negligent in the discharge of it we can never answer it either to God or to our own Consciences Which I hope will awaken us all who are concerned in it to the serious consideration of it and effectually engage us for the future to the faithful and conscientious performance of it Secondly We are hereto likewise obliged in point of Interest because it is really for our service and advantage that those that belong to us should serve and fear God Religion being the best and surest Foundation of the Duties of all Relations and the best Caution and Security for the true discharge and performance of them Would we have dutiful and obedient Children diligent and faithful Servants Nothing will so effectually oblige them to be so as the Fear of God and the Principles of Religion firmly settled and rooted in them Abraham who by the Testimony of God himself was so eminent an Example in this kind both of a good Father and a good Master of his Family found the good success of his Religious care in the happy effects of it both upon his Son Isaac and his chief Servant and Steward of his House Eliezer of Damascus What an unexampled Instance of the most profound respect and obedience to the Commands of his Father did Isaac give when without the least murmuring or reluctancy he submitted to be bound and laid upon the Altar and to have been slain for a Sacrifice if God had not by an Angel sent on purpose interposed to prevent it What an admirable Servant to Abraham was the Steward of his House Eliezer of Damascus How diligent and faithful was he in his Master's service So that he trusted him in his greatest Concernments and with all that he had And
they have the least knowledge of it in many particular Cases And because they have so little sense of this great Virtue they should not be allowed to cheat no not in play and sport even when they play for little or nothing For if they practice it in that Case and be unjust in a little they will be much more tempted to be so when they can gain a great deal by it I remember that Xenophon in his Institution of Cyrus which he designed for the Idea of a well educated Prince tells us this little but very instructive Story concerning young Cyrus That his Governor the better to make him to understand the nature of Justice puts this Case to him You see there says he to Cyrus two Boys playing of different stature the lesser of them hath a very long Coat and the bigger a very short one Now says he if you were a Judge how would you dispose of these two Garments Cyrus immediately and with very good reason as he thought passeth this sudden Sentence That the taller Boy should have the longer Garment and he that was of lower stature the shorter because this certainly was fittest for them both Upon which his Governor sharply rebukes him to this purpose telling him that if he were to make two Coats for them he said well but he did not put this Case to him as a Tailor but as a Judge and as such he had given a very wrong Sentence For a Judge says he ought not to consider what is most fit but what is just not who could make the best use of a thing but who hath the most right to it This I bring partly to shew in what familiar ways the Principles of Virtue may be instill'd into Children but chiefly to prove that Justice is a manly Virtue and that there is nothing wherein Children may be more easily misled than in matter of Right and Wrong Therefore Children should be taught the general Principles and Rules of Justice and Righteousness because if we would teach them to do Justice we must teach them to know what Justice is For many are unjust merely out of Ignorance and for want of knowing better and cannot help it 4 thly To Charity I mean chiefly to the poor and destitute because this as it is an essential so is it a most substantial Part of Religion Now to encourage this Disposition in Children we must not only give them the Example of it but must frequently inculcate upon them such Passages of Scripture as these That pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction That as we sow in this kind so we shall reap That he shall have judgment without mercy who hath shewed no mercy That at the Judgment of the Great Day we shall in a very particular manner be call'd to an account for the practice or omission of this Duty and shall then be absolved or condemned according as we have exercised or neglected this great Virtue of the Christian Religion SERMON II. 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 V. THE good Education of Children consists in giving them good Example This course David took in his Family as appears by that solemn Resolution of his Psal 101. 2. I will behave my self wisely in a perfect wayâ— I will walk within my house with a perfect heart Let Parents and Masters of Faâ—ilies give good Example to their Children and Servants in a constant serving of God in their Families which will nourish Religion in those that are under their care And let them also be Exemplary in a sober and holy Conversâ—tâ—on before those that belong to them And let not your Children as far as is possible have any bad Examples to converse with either among your Servants or their own Companions lest by walking with them they learn their way and get a blot to their Souls There is a contagion in Example and nothing doth more slily insinuate it self and gain upon us than a living and familiar Pattern therefore as much as in you lies let Children always have good Examples before them Especially let Parents themselves be exemplary to them in the best things because their Example is of all other the most powerful and carries greatest Authority with it And without this Instruction will signify very little and the great force and efficaâ—y of it will be lost We shall find it very hard to persuade our Children to do that which they see we do not practise our selves For even Children have so much sense and sagacity as to understand that actions are more real â—han words and a more certain indication of what a man doth truly and inwardly believe Example is the most lively way of teaching and because Children are much given to imitation it is likewise a very delightful way of instruction and that of which Children are most capable both because it is best understood and is apt to make the deepest impression upon them So that Parents above all others have one Argument to be Religious and good themselves for the sake of their Children If you desire to have them good the best way to make them so is to give them the Example of it in being good your selves For this reason Parents should take great care to do nothing but what is worthy of imitation Your Children will follow you in what you do therefore do not go before them in any thing that is evil The evil Example of Parents is both a temptation and encouragement to Children to Sin because it is a kind of Authority for what they do and looks like a justification of their wickedness With what reason canst thou expect that thy Children should follow thy good Instructions when thou thy self givest them an ill Example Thou dost but as it were beâ—kon to them with thy head and shew them the way to Heaven by thy good Couâ—sel but thou takest them by the â—and and leadest them in the way to Hell by thy contrary Exâ—mple When ever you swear or tell a lye or are passionate and furious or come drâ—nk into your Family you weaken the Authority of your Commands and lose all reverence and obedience to them by contradicting your own Precepts The Precepts of a good man are apt to raise and inflame others to the imitation of them but when they come from one who is faulty and vicious in that kind himself they are languid and faint and give us no heart and encouragement to the exercise of those Virtues which we plainly see they do not practise themselves It is the Apostle's Argument Thou therefore that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thou that teachest thy Children to speak truth dost thou tell a lye Thou that sayest they must not swear dost thou profane the Name of God by customary Oaths and Curses Thou
to enquire into that they may apply the Seed to the Soil and plant in it that which is most proper for it Quid quaeque ferat regio quid quaeque recuset Hic segetes illic veniunt foâ—liciùs uvae Every Soil is not proper for all sorts of Grain or Fruit one ground is fit for Corn another for Vinâ—s And so is it in the tempers and dispositions of Children Some are more capable of one Excellency and Virtue than another and some more strongly inclined to one Vice than another Which is a great Seâ—ret of Nature and Providence and it is very hard to give a just and satisfactory account of it It is good therefore to know the particular Tempers of Children that we may accordingly apply our care to them and manage them to the best advantage That where we discern in them any forward inclinations to good we may cast in such Seeds and Principles as by their suitableness to their particular Tempers we judge most likely to take soonest and deepest root And when these are grown up and have taken possession of the Soil they will prepare it for the Seeds of other Virtues And so likewise when we discover in their Nature a more particular disposition and leaning towards any thing which is bad we must with great diligence and care apply such Instructions and plant such Principles in them as may be most effectual to alter this evil disposition of their Minds that whilst Nature is tender and flexible we may gently bend it the other way And it is almost incredible what strange things by Prudence and Patience may be done towards the rectifying of a very perverse and crooked Disposition So that it is of very great use to observe and discover the particular Tempers of Children that in all our instruction and management of them we may apply our selves to their Nature and hit their peculiar Disposition By this means we may lead and draw them to their Duty in human ways and such as are much more agreeable to their Temper than constraint and necessity which are harsh and churlish and against the grain Whatever is done with delight goes on cheerfully but when Nature is compell'd and forc'd things proceed heavily Therefore when we are forming and fashioning Children to Religion and Virtue we should make all the advantage we can of their particular Tempers This will be a good direction and help to us to conduct Nature in the way it will most easily go Every Temper gives some particular advantage and handle whereby we may take hold of them and steer them more easily But if we take a contrary course we must expect to meet with great difficulty and reluctancy Such ways of Education as are prudently fitted to the particular dispositions of Children are like Wind and Tide together which will make the Work go on amain But those ways and methods which are applied cross to Nature are like Wind against Tide which make a great stir and conflict but a very slow progress Not that I do or can expect that all Parents should be Philosophers but that they should use the best wisdom they have in a matter of so great concernment Secondly In your instruction of Children endeavour to plant in them those Principles of Religion and Virtue which are most substantial and are like to have the best influence upon the future government of their Lives and to be of continual and lasting use to them Look to the Seed you sow that it be sound and good and for the benefit and use of mankind This is to be regarded as well as the Gâ—ound into which the Seed is cast Labour to beget in Children a right apprehension of those things which are most fundamental and necessary to the knowledge of God and our Duty and to make them sensible of the great evil and danger of Sin and to work in â—hem a firm belief of the next Life and of the eternal Rewards and Recompences of it And if these Principles once take root they will spread far and wide and have a vast influence upon all their actions and unless some â—owerful Lust or temptation to Vice â—urry them away they will probably accompany them and stick by them as â—ong as they live Many Parents according to their â—est knowledge and apprehensions of Religion in which they themselves â—ave been educated and too often according to their Zeal without knowledge do take great care to plant little and ill-grounded Opinions in the minds of their Children and to fashion them to a Party by infusing into them the particular Notions and Phrases of a Sect which when they come to be examin'd have no substance nor perhaps sense in them And by this means instead of bringing them up in the true and solid Principles of Christianity they take a great deal of pains to instruct them in some doubtful Doctrines of no great moment in Religion and perhaps false at the bottom whereby instead of teaching them to hate Sin they fix them in Schism and teach them to hate and damn all those who differ from them and are opposite to them who yet are perhaps much more in the right and far better Christians than themselves And indeed nothing is more common and more to be pitied than to see with what a confident contempt and scornful pity some ill-instructed and ignorant people will lament the blindness and ignorance of those who have a thousand times more true knowledge and skill than themselves not only in all other things but even in the practise as well as knowledge of the Christian Religion believing those who do not relish their affected Phrases and uncouth Forms of speech to be ignorant of the Mystery of the Gospel and utter strangers to the Life and Power of Godliness But now what is the effect of this mistaken way of Education The Harvest is just answerable to the Husbandry Infoelix lolium steriles dominantur avenae As they have sown so they must expect to reap and instead of good Grain to have Cockle and Tares They have sown the Wind and they shall reap the Whirlwind as the expression is in the Prophet instead of true Religion and of a sober and peaceable Conversation there will come up new and wild Opinions a factious and uncharitable spirit a furious and boisterous zeal which will neither suffer themselves to be quiet nor any body that is about them But if you desire to reap the effects of true Piety and Religion you must take care to plant in Children the main and substantial Principles of Christianity which may give them a general byass to holiness and goodness and not to little particular Opinions which being once fix'd in them by the strong prejudice of Education will hardly ever be rooted out Thirdly Do all that in you lies to check and discourage in them the first beginnings of Sin and Vice So soon as ever they appear pluck them up by the Roots This is like
the Paps that gave me suck 'T is to You that I must in a great measure owe my everlasting undoing Would it not strike any of us with horror to be thus challenged and reproached by our Children in that great and terrible Day of the Lord I am not able to make so dreadful a representation of this matter as it deserves But I would by all this if it be possible awaken Parents to a sense of their Duty and terrify them out of this gross and shameful neglect which so many are guilty of For when I seriously consider how supinely remiss and unconcerned many Parents are as to the Religious Education of their Children I cannot but think of that Saying of Augustus concerning Herod Better be his Dog than his Child I think it was spoken to another purpose but is true likewise to the purpose I am speaking of Better to be some Mens Dogs or Hawks or Horses than their Children For they take a greater care to breed and train up these to their several ends and uses than to breed up their Children for eternal Happiness Upon all these accounts Train up a Child in the way he should go that when â—e is old he may not depart from it That neither your Children may be miserable by your Fault nor you by the neglect of so natural and necessary a Duâ—y towards them God grant that all â—hat are concerned may lay these things seriously to heart For his mercies sake in Jesus Christ To Whom with Thâ—e O Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory both now and ever Amen OF THE Advantages of an early Piety A SERMON Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jâ—ry In the Year 1662. ECCLES XII 1. Remember now thy Creator in the dâ—ys of thy Youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw â—igh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them IN the former Discourses concerning the Education of Children I have carried the Argument through the state of Childhood to the beginning of the next step of their Age which we call Youth when they come to exercise their Reason and to be â—it to take upon themselves the performance of that Solemn Vow which was made for them by their Sureties in Baptism To encourage them to set seriously and in good earnest about this Work I shall now add another Discourse concerning the Advantages of an Early Piâ—ty And to this purpose I have chosen for the foundation of it these Words of Sâ—lomon in his Book called Ecclesiastes or the Preacher Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the â—vil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them It will not be necessary to give an account of the Context any further than to tell you that this Book of the Royâ—l Preacher is a lively description of the Vanity of the World in general and particularly of the Life of Man This is the main Body of his Sermon in which there are here and there scattered many serious Reflections upon our selves and very weighty Considerations to quicken our preparations for our latter End and to put us in mind of the days of darkness which will be many as the Preacher tells us in the Chapter before the Text. Among these is the Admonition and advice in the words of the Text Which do indeed concern those that are young but yet will afford useful matter of Meditation to persons of all Ages and Conditions whatsoever Of great thankfulness to Almighty God from those who by the Grace of God and his Blessing upon a pious Education have entred upon a Religious course betimes And of a deep sorrow and Repentance to those who have neglected and let slip this best Opportunity of their Lives and of taking up a firm Resolution of redeeming that loss as much as is possible by their future care and diligence And to them more especially who are grown old and have not yet begun this great and necessary Work it will minister occasion to resolve upon a speedy retreat and without any further delay to return to God and their Duty leâ—t the Opportunity of doing it which is now almost quite spent be lost for ever The Text contains a Duty which is to remember our Creator and a Limitâ—tion of it more especially to one particular Age and Time of our Life in the days of our Youth Not to exclude any other Age but to lay a particular Emphasis and weight upon this Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth that is more especially in this Age of thy Life To intimate to us both that this is the fittest Season and that we cannot begin this Work too soon And this is further illustrated by the opposition of it to Old Age When the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh of which thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them This is a Description of Old Age the evils whereof are continually growing and which in respect of the cares and griefs the distempers and infirmities which usually attend it is rather a burthen than a pleasure In the handling of these Words I shall do these three things First I shall consider the nature of the Act or Duty here enjoin'd and that is to remember God Secondly I shall consider what there is in the Notion of God as Creator which is more particularly apt to awaken and oblige us to the remembrance of Him Thirdly I shall consider the Limitation of this Duty more especially to this particular Age of our Lives the days of our youth Why we should begin this Work then and not put it off to the Time of Old Age. I. I shall consider the nature of the Act or Duty here enjoin'd which is to remember our Creator For the understanding of which Expression and others of the like nature in Scripture it is to be consider'd that it is very usual in Scripture to express Religion and the whole Duty of Man by some eminent Act or Principle or Part of Religion Sometimes by the Knowledge of God and by Faith in Him and very frequently by the Fear and by the Love of God because these are the great Principles and Parts of Religion And so likewise though not so frequently Religion is express'd by the Remembrance of God Now Remembrance is the actual thought of what we do habitually know To remember God is to have him actually in our minds and upon all proper occasions to revive the thoughts of Him and as David expresseth it to set him always before us I set the Lord says he always before me that is God was continually present to his mind and thoughts And in opposition to this we find wicked men in Scripture described by the contrary quality forgetfulness of Godâ— So they are described in Job Job 8. 13. Such are the paths of them that forget God that is of the wicked And the same description David gives
and to damnable Errors and Heresies And some good Men have upon the matter stood alone in the open Profession of the true Religion in the midst of this general Defection from it Elijah in that general Revolt of the People of Israel when they had forsaken the Covenant of the Lord and broken down his Altars and slain his Prophets and he only as he thought was left to stand alone I say in this Case when as he verily believed he had no body to stand by him he was very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts 1 Kings 18. 18. and with an undaunted courage stood up for the Worship of the true God and reproved Ahab to his face for his defection to the Worship of Idols And those three brave Youths in the Prophecy of Daniel chap. 3. did in the like resolute and undaunted manner refuse to obey the Command of the great King Nebuchadnezzar to worship the Image which he had set up when all others Submitted and paid Honour to it Telling him plainly If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery Furnance and He will deliver us out of thy hand If not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy Gods nor worship the golden Image which thou hast set up v. 17 18. In like manner and with the same Spirit and courage Daniel withstood the Decree of Darius which forbad men to ask a Petition of any God or man for thirty days save of the King only Dan. 6. 7. and this under the pain of being cast into the Den of Lions and when all others gave obedience to it he set open the windows of his chamber towards Jerusalem and kneeled down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks as he did afore time v. 10. In the prevalency of the Arian Heresy Athanasius almost stood alone in the profession and maintenance of the Truth And in the Reign of Antichrist the true Church of God is represented by a Woman flying into the Wilderness and living there in obscurity for a long time insomuch that the Professors of the Truth should hardly be found And yet during that Degeneracy of so great a Part of the Christian Church and the prevalency of Antichrist for so many Ages some few in every Age did appear who did resolutely own the Truth and bear Witness to it with their Blood But these did almost stand alone and by themselves like a few scattered Sheep wandring up and down in a wide Wilderness Thus in the heighth of Popery Wickliffe appear'd here in England and Hierome of Prague and John Huss in Germany and Bohemia And in the beginning of the Reformation when Popery had quite over-run these Western Parts of the World and subdued her Enemies on every side and Antichrist sate securely in the quiet possession of his Kingdom Luther arose a bold and rough Man but a fit Wedge to cleave in sunder so hard and knotty a Block and appeared stoutly against the gross Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome and for a long time stood alone and with a most invincible spirit and courage maintained his ground and resisted the united malice and force of Antichrist and his Adherents and gave him so terrible a Wound that he is not yet perfectly healed and recovered of it So that for a Man to stand alone or with a very few adhering to him and standing by him is not a mere imaginary Supposition but a Case that hath really and in fact happen'd in several Ages and Places of the World Let us then proceed to consider in the 2d place The due limits and bounds of this peremptory Resolution In all matters of Faith and Practice which are plain and evident either from Natural Reason or from Divine Revelation this Resolution seems to be very reasonable But in things doubtful a modest man and every man hath reason to be so would be very apt to be stagger'd by the judgment of a very Wise man and much more of many such and especially by the unanimous Judgment of the generality of Men the general Voice and Opinion of Mankind being next to the Voice of God himself For in matters of an indifferent nature which God hath neither commanded nor forbidden such as are many of the Circumstances and Ceremonies of God's Worship a man would not be singular much less stiff and immovable in his singularity but would be apt to yield and surrender himself to the general Vote and Opinion and to comply with the common Custom and Practice and much more with the Rules and Constitutions of Authority whether Civil or Ecclesiastical Because in things lawful and indifferent we are bound by the Rules of Decency and Civility not to thwart the general Practice and by the Commands of God we are certainly obliged to obey the lawful Commands of lawful Authority But in things plainly contrary to the evidence of Sense or Reason or to the Word of God a man would complement no Man or Number of Men nor would he pin his Faith upon any Church in the World much less upon any single Man no not the Pope no though there were never so many probable Arguments brought for the proof of his Infallibility In this Case a Man would be singular and stand alone against the whole World against the wrath and rage of a King and all the terrors of his fiery Furnace as in other matters a Man would not believe all the Learned Men in the World against the clear evidence of Sense and Reason If all the great Mathematicians of all Ages Archimedes and Euclide and Apollonius and Diophantus c. could be supposed to meet together in a General Council and should there declare in the most solemn manner and give it under their Hands and Seals that twice two did not make four but five this would not move me in the least to be of their mind nay I who am no Mathematician would maintain the contrary and would persist in it without being in the least startled by the positive Opinion of these great and learned men and should most certainly conclude that they were either all of them out of their Wits or that they were byassed by some Interest or other and swayed against the clear evidence of Truth and the full conviction of their own Reason to make such a determination as this They might indeed over-rule the Point by their Authority but in my inward judgment I should still be where I was before Just so in matters of Religion if any Church though with never so glorious and confident a pretence to Infallibility should declare for Transubstantiation that is that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament by vertue of the Consecration of the Priest are substantially changed into the natural Body and Blood of Christ this is so notoriously contrary both to the Sense and Reason of Mankind that a Man should chuse to stand single in