their hands and there are too many that will be one day found with their hands full of blood there are some Men among us that do corrupt and taint the Judgments of their Children and Servants and Poyson their Minds with their Cursed Doctrines and Damnable Heresies I ask no pardon for that expression as too harsh and severe for it is Scripture Language and by their sinful practices and vile debaucheries which are as bad as Rats-bane and they shall be sure to answer for it Others there are that do starve their Souls by not teaching them the way and fear of the Lord not instilling good Principles into them by not setting holy Examples before them which they should imitate not taking them by the hand and leading them in the ways of Righteousness the midst of those Paths of Judgments in which they ought to go by living themselves like so many Heathens and Brutes and teaching others to do the same bringing them up for Hell and fitting them for destruction as if they had taken up a resolution that they would not serve the Lord nor go to Heaven no nor any that belong to them if they can prevent it and these Men likewise shall answer it to God Such shall be dealt with in the same manner as God threatned he would do with the Prophet in case of his being false to his trust and unfaithful to those unto whom he was sent You may see it in Ezek. 3.17 18 Son of Man I have made thee a Watchman to the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me People are in eminent danger of being seduced by False Teachers of being prevailed against by Temptations of Satan and his instruments Ministers must watch over them they must go themselves to God for light teaching instruction and be faithful in teaching when taught and in giving out what they have received Now mark when I say unto the Wicked thou shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his evil way to save his life the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thy hands which saith Erasmus is fulmen non verbum not a word but a Thunder-bolt Duty is safe as long as that is done by Ministers they are out of danger out of harms way they shall be accepted and rewarded by God whatever the issue be as to the people among whom they labour Isa. 49.5 Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorius in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength but neglect and carelesness is damnable it brings upon Ministers the guilt of other mens blood and the loss of their own Lives and Souls and believe it so it will upon you who are Parents and Masters of Families Oh consider it my dear Friends Beloved and longed for seriously consider it you are as I formerly said and without doubt you your selves know Prophets in your own Houses there you are to Teach and Rule God hath made you Watchmen to your own Houses and it is your business to study their peace and safety and to seek their good it is your business to acquaint them with their Duty that they may do it and to warn them of their danger that they may avoid it you are to cause your light to shine before them that so in your light they may see light you are to instruct them that they may not be naught for lack of knowledge you are to shew them and go before them in the way that they should go that they may not wander and go directly to Hell because they had none to direct them in a word you are to make use of all means possible that both you and yours may prove and approve what is the good acceptable and perfect will of God and so be and at last found to be wise unto Salvation But if you if any of you have been and will continue to be slothful careless negligent and wanting to your duty herein your Children and Servants may die in their ignorance and iniquity but verily you shall not escape unpunished for their blood shall be required at your hands the holy and righteous God will require it who is the great avenger of blood And here are two things that I lay before you First Your wretched neglect of Family-Duties may bring upon you the Curse of your Children and Servants I have known some when they have for their flagitious Lives been Condemned to the Gallows and not far from Execution laid their ill life at the Parents door crying out of the fondness of their Mothers for winking at and concealing of their faults and of the neglect of their Fathers giving them no better Education and setting before them such wicked and abominable examples and what do you think they and others in the same case with them are and will be doing for ever in the other World in the anguish of their Souls and the midst of intolerable Torments when such poor Creatures come to be cast upon a bed of flames and in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone when they come to feel the sinking weight and scorching heat of the wrath and indignation of a provoked God they will certainly curse themselves for their former follies and wicked courses and they will curse their Old Companions whom now they take so much pleasure in and will wish they had never seen their faces yea and they will curse you too and we may rationally conclude their passionate breaking out into such expressions as these I might have done better had I been Educated and brought up better I might have done my duty to God had my Parents or my Master done their duty to me I might have been kept from the path of the Destroyer and cleansed my way and come to a Blessed Eternity had I been taught to take heed unto my self and to my way according to the word Had my Father and my Master instructed me I might have known as much and done as well as those that are now saved and in Heaven But instead of taking pains to make me good their great desire and design was to make me Rich and Great in the World and so they have made me miserable I have all my days taken wicked Courses because they never took any care to instill into me right and holy Principles Had I but seen or heard them reading the Holy Scriptures and other good books themselves or to their Families I might have taken them up and read them too and got the knowledge of God and my self and my duty but they were for Romances and Plays and Cards the Devils Books and so we spent and lost our time and our selves too Had I heard them Praying in their Families seeking the face and favour of God begging his Spirit and Grace I might have prayed too and sought God too and beg'd the
was to be admitted so here young ones think the day is their own when they can say I heard my Father or my Master speak such a word or I saw him do such a thing and from thence they strongly conclude that without all peradventure they may speak and do the same where as poor Creatures they are greatly mistaken that is a very sorry Plea a weak pitiful Argument that cannot justifie them nor will it satisfie God if the thing done be amiss your doing it will not bear them out when the matter comes to be tryed before the Judgment-Seat of Christ nay your Example alone is so far from being sufficient to justifie them that your command will not do it I do indeed know it hath been said If Superiors command what is unlawful Inferiors are bound to obey them and in such a case Though the Superiors shall be damned for their command yet the Inferiors shall be saved for their Obedience but it is a Cursed Opinion we are bound to obey God rather than all the Men in the World their Examples are not for us to follow nor doth their commands oblige us to active Obedience when they run cross to the Law of God and the Wrath of God hath broken out and will still break out against Persons and People for such their Obedience Hos. 5.11 12. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the Commandment therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a Moth and to the House of Judah as Rottenness Wherefore I advise and beseech you that ye would be holy that so ye may be exemplary be you sure to keep the way of God that they may safely tread in your steps do you follow Christ that ye may with boldness call upon them to be followers of you I cannot but again mention that resolution of David and desire you to remember it and make it your fixed resolve too Psal. 101.2 I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart do you the same Behave your selves graciously that is behaving your selves wisely walk in the Scripture-way for that is the perfect way then you may humbly invite God to come unto you and comfortably hope that he will Do this I say in your House in your Families and before your Domesticks where and with whom you do most frequently and intimately converse and in order to the more firm fastening of this Resolution and your better putting it in practice I advise you often to call to mind that excellent Question propounded by the Apostle Peter in his second Epistle Chap. 3. ver 11. Seeing all these things shall be dissolved all what things All those things that he had spoken of in the former part of that Chapter all these things that are within your sight your Families shall be dissolved your nearest and dearest Relations Civil Conjugal Natural shall be dissolved the Union between your Souls and Bodies shall be dissolved those two old dear Friends must part the whole Frame and Fabrick of Nature must be dissolved The Heavens i. e. these visible Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat for the Lord Jesus will be revealed from Heaven in flaming Fire the Earth also and the works therein shall be burnt up what Works Gods Works and Mens Works well what then One Question I would ask you and have you to ask your selves that is this What are you Are you fire proof Are you Gold Can you endure the Burning Can you dwell with devouring Fire and not be devoured by it Another Question is What should you be Take it in the same Apostles words What manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness not of the ordinary make and common size of Professors See that you be Saints of the first rate let your godliness be of the highest pitch and most lovely complexion See that you be excellent and eminent for your Holiness that every step of your way be no other than a walking with God that every one of your actions be right and regular and that your whole Conversation all the windings and turnings of your Lives be plain and evident demonstrations of your holiness and godliness Fourthly Be humble and meek in your Deportments As you are commanded to put on Christ that lie may be visible in your Tempers and Lives and others may love Christum habitantem in vobis Christ dwelling in you so you are commanded to be cloathed with Humility This should be the upper Garment and through this your Graces and Gifts all your Excellencies and Accomplishments will shine with the greater and more taking Beauty I must and do most readily grant there is a distance between the Rulers and the Ruled between Parents and Children Masters and Servants Mistresses and Maids Nature it self teacheth it and God himself hath order'd it and Superiors should know their places and be known in them it is fit it becomes them yea it is their duty and they ought not to part with any of that honour and power and authority with which God hath invested them so to do would be sin And on the other side Inferiours are to understand themselves and to know their places and to keep their distance There is an honour owing from Children to Parents and they ought most chearfully to pay it There is a fear a reverence an awe due from Servants to their Masters and Mistresses and they are bound with all readiness to give it they sin if they do it not they must not think to be as the Proverb hath it hail Fellows well met the Sacred Scripture knoweth no such thing the Great and Holy God doth not allow it see how his Will in this matter is revealed in his Word Eph. 6.1 2. Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right honour thy Father and Mother that it may be well with thee and thou maist live long upon the earth ver 5. Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. The like you may read in Col. 3.20 21 22. And again 1 Tim. 6.1 Let as many Servants as are under the yoke count their own Masters worthy of all honour that the Name of God and his Doctrine be not blasphemed God is not the God of Confusion but of Order and it is his Will that Order should be maintained and kept up in Churches and Nations and Families Yet notwithstanding all this it is the duty and very becoming of Superiours as to be low in their own Eyes so to be humble in their Behaviour toward those below them and to condescend to those who are of low degree Christ Iesus was Master though he took upon him the form of a Servant he was Lord of all yea the Lord of Glory yet he was meek and lowly and it
Religious Life and live without all acts of Divine Worship but also they do as much as in them is take away the Object of it in whom they live and move and have their Being and by this one thing open a wide and effectual door to Villanies of all sorts But from the Scripture last named it is evident to all those that do believe the Scripture that it is your duty to provide things honest such things as are good and lovely See that all in your Families be honest that they be honest to you and to one another and to the Great God that they give unto every one their due unto God his due that they do not rob God nor with-hold from him that which is meet and that is Worship Honour is not so due to Parents nor Service to Masters as Worship is to God Ier. 10.5 Who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee it doth appertain The fear of God is there put not only for the Holy Affection of fear which we should keep up all the day and carry with us into every place but likewise for all Divine Worship which upon all accounts he may challenge at our hands It appertains to him he hath an undoubted right to it For God to crown Man at first with Glory and Honour and make him have Dominion over the works of his hands was an Act of Goodness For God to spare fallen sinful Man to keep him out of Hell and afford him any comforts of Life is an Act of Mercy Lam. 3. It is of the Lords Mercies we are not consumed But for Man to Own and Honour God to Fear Seek Serve and Worship God is an Act of Iustice. And let men provide what they will for their Families for their Wives Children and Servants let them see to it that they have all things richly to enjoy Yet if in this one particular they be negligent and careless if they do not see to it that those who Live with them do Serve and Worship God they do not provide that which is Honest. Observe the Resolution of Holy David and imitate his Example Psal. 101.6 Mine Eyes shall be upon the Faithful of the Land i. e. Good Men that will be every way faithful to me and to my God as well as to me Men that do not only profess him but will be true to that Profession Men that call him Master and will serve him as such that they may dwell with me he would delight in their company and count them the Ornaments of his House He that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me The perfect way is the way of God's Commandments the Scripture way the way of Holiness and Duty the way Everlasting He that walketh in such a way is a Man for me such an one I like and such an one I will chuse such an one shall serve me as will serve my God as well as me And he had said before verse 4. that He would not know a wicked person You must not understand it of a common ordinary knowledge a nuda scientia bare naked knowledge for in that sense he did and could not but know many too too many but he would not know a wicked person so as to countenance him not so know him as to make him his choice and have fellowship with him He that doth not fear God that will not mind serve and worship God that is without God in the World may well be branded for a wicked Man in all companies let him go for such an one And saith David I will have nothing to do with that sort of men such a person shall be none of my Familiars none of my intimate Acquaintance he shall be none of my Family none of my Court. And it would be well for the World if all Princes would say the same and be as good as their word if they would not know wicked persons fewer wicked persons would be known Were there no wicked men in Favour at Courts there would be fewer in the Cities and fewer in the Countreys But when they swarm at a Court they flie about and like Locusts overspread and cover the face of a Land Secondly It is the duty of those who are Governours of Families to take care and so to order things that they and their Families together do serve and worship God I say that they do it together that it be their joynt act and that all concur to the making up of an holy Harmony It is not enough that there is some Worshipping of God in the Family but besides over and above that there ought to be an holy Family-Worship David saith Psal. 133.1 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to walk together in Vnity It is a very commendable and lovely thing to see the same among Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants Mistresses and Maids it is sweet dwelling together in Vnity but it is far more pleasant and delightful to God and all good Men to see them dwelling and walking together in Piety As to live together and love together and eat and drink together without any quarrels or contentions so to read the Sacred Scriptures and other good Books together and pray together and sing Psalms together and put forth other Acts of Religion In short how good and how pleasant is it to see them living together not only a natural and civil Life in Love and mutual Kindness but likewise a gracious and holy Life in all goodness So much may suffice for the opening to you what I mean by setting up the Worship of God in Family Now a person would think that such as live in London where there is so much Light and plenty of Gospel-means specially such as own a God and call themselves Christians should not need many Arguments either to convince them that this is a Duty or to persuade them to the performance of it but they would of themselves at the very mentioning of the thing assent to the goodness and reasonableness of it that all those who do profess their believing that there is a God and their own standing in Relation to him and having an Interest him as their God should at their hearing of Family-Worship cheerfully acknowledge it to be his due But alas alas whatever the Light doth plainly discover and whatever their well-informed and awakened Consciences do suggest to them how many are there among us that imprison the Truth and hold it in unrighteousness and by consequence how great is the number of them who live in the great if not total neglect of this excellent work And I do not now speak of Atheists nor of those who are scandalously wicked and prophane for it is not to be wondred at in them since they have no fear of God before their Eyes But I and others of my Brethren are greatly mis-inform'd if the guilt hereof doth not cleave to some yea to many of those who
profess Religion and have joyned themselves in Communion with those who do really desire and aim at the greatest strictness and most exact holiness so that there is apparent necessity of doing what we can towards the reviving of this excellent practice which hath been by so many so unkindly so sinfully shut out of doors And to this end I shall do these two things First I shall prove that the setting up of the Worship of God and Religious Exercises in Families is a Duty Secondly Lay down some Arguments by which this may appear your reasonable Service We begin with the former That Family-worship is a Duty and that I prove by these three things The Practice of the Heathen The Precepts of the Scripture And the Practice of Saints I. This was the Practice amongst the Heathens though they had no more than the dim Light of Nature yet by that they did see this to be their Duty These not having the Law written were a Law to themselves and have done by Nature many of the things contained in the Law Rom. 2.14 And among others this We find they had their Lares their Penates such as they counted and called their Houshold-Gods and unto them they did offer up Sacrifices in their Families and unto them they did together perform acts of Religious Worship And therefore Prayer to God in Families is a part of Natural Worship because discovered by Natural Light and for the shameful neglect thereof the poor blind Heathen will rise up against multitudes of the Men and Women of this untoward Generation Shall they be more liberal to their Gods of Dung than we are to the Lord of Glory Shall they do more for the Honouring of their false Gods than some of us do for the living and true God who made Heaven and Earth and who is the Author of your Being the God of your Comforts and the Father of all your Mercies by the Hand of whose Power ye were made and upon whose Cost ye spend How sore and dreadful punishment will you deserve if the very Heathen shall condemn you If they were more observant of their Idols than you are of God it will be unspeakably more tollerable for them in the Day of Judgment than for you Think upon and apply to your selves what the Apostle Paul said to the wicked Jew Rom. 2.27 Shall not Vncircumcision which is by Nature if it fulfil the Law Iudge thee who by the Letter and Circumcision dost transgress the Law The clearer that Light is which men do enjoy if they rebel against it the greater is the Sin which they commit the greater is the guilt which they contract and therefore the fiercer that wrath which they deserve II. Family-Worshiping of God is the matter of the Precept It is a burden if any will be so vile as to think or call it so which the great God whose we are hath bound upon us Let me particularly instance in Family-Prayer which sweet and precious Incense I would gladly have all your houses perfumed daily with It must be granted that it is not expresly commanded in Scripture not totidem verbis in so many words but it is included in express commands and from those commands by necessary consequence it will appear to any one that doth not shut his own Eyes to be the Mind and Will of God concerning us For observe First We are expresly commanded to make use of all Prayer Take notice of that word All all Prayer i. e. all kinds of holy Prayer Ephes. 6.18 The Apostle had before told them they must wrestle with Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickednesses in high places and having thereupon counsell'd them to make sure of a sufficient strength being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and Armour of Proof the whole Armour of God he doth here in this Verse advise them to a wrestling with God and indeed it is excellent advice for he that can like a Prince wrestle with God in a way of Supplication will come off a Conqueror when he is called out to wrestle with Devils in a way of Opposition Observe the words Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Mark that with all prayer Now there are many sorts of Prayer namely Ejaculatory Prayer in which the holy Soul shoots out a Dart to Heaven and on a sudden lifts a Request up to God which may be done at any time and in any place in Company at Dinner in the Street as you are walking in the Shop as you are working or trading and in this way you may sweeten and sanctifie your worldly Affairs by mingling spiritual and gracious thoughts with them Thus while good old Iacob had his Sons before him and was telling them what should befal them in the last days in the midst of it his Soul got on the wing and mounted up to Heaven in that short but sweet expression Gen. 49.18 I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord and there is stated fixed prayer when a person doth at appointed times and in a solemn manner set it self to pour forth its Requests before God and make its desires known to him There is Publick Prayer in the Congregations and Assemblies of the Saints when not only two or three but scores hundreds thousands are met together in the Name of Christ and the Minister as the Mouth speaks to God and the hearts of the People go along with him by a real consent and to his Confessions Petitions and Thanksgivings add their Amen And there is Secret Prayer performed in the greatest retirement when a person hath withdrawn himself from all company and no body seeth nor hears but God alone and so it can be more free and open not hiding its groans from him but spreading all its desires before him and acquainting him with that which it would not have any one in the World besides to know And then there is Family-Prayer wherein the Governour gets the Children and Servants and all the Members thereof together and goeth with them to the Throne of Grace in order to the paying of their Homage unto God and the obtaining from God a blessing upon himself and upon them Now this kind of Prayer is in that Scripture required as well as any other God doth here by the Apostle require our praying with all prayer and if with all prayer then with Family-prayer Secondly We are commanded to pray every where 1 Tim. 5.8 I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every place not only in the Temple and in the Synagogue but every where in any place where it is convenient and you may be safe As God is no respecter of Persons so not of Places as Beggars go up down scattering their Vermin in all places and at every door so you should every where be scattering your Treasure
no gap to be found in it which an Enemy could enter in at till God afterward for wise and holy ends gave leave This must of necessity be a good Hedge because it was of God's own making thou hast set it and it also was a large Hedge fetching a great compass for it took in all it was about him his person thou hast set it about him about his Soul and his Body about his Graces and his inward Comforts his Life and Health and Strength and about his House the Habitation it self and all within Doors Wife and Children and Servants and all his Goods yea and about all that he had though at never so great a distance from home his Fields and his Cattel his Grass and Hay and Corn his great things and his little things too his Camels and Oxen yea and his Asses and Sheep and Lambs all that he had and the Scripture adds it was on every side He could look no way but he might see Salvation so that neither Devil could come at him nor any other Enemy without Divine permission Indeed afterward as that Chapter tells us when the Devil that inveterate and implacable Enemy falsly accus'd and charg'd that good Man telling God that he had all along been no better than a Mercenary and that a change of Providence would make a change in him if Providence did but frown upon him he would quickly fall a Cursing of God a very touch would turn him God did for the glory of his own Grace and the vindication of his Servants honour give the Devil leave to try what he could do by himself and his Instruments at the same instant resolving to allay the bitterness of the Cup to support him under the burden and at last to bring him off with honour and without loss or any cause of complaint which was at last done for Iob 42.12 God blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning yet he then had a Blessing and that a great one there was not only protection but likewise a benediction for Satan could not but acknowledge that God had blessed the work of Job 's hands and that he experienced the power of that blessing and reap'd the fruit of it for his substance was increased in the Land by all which you may plainly see that the Father of Lies though his design was to bespatter Iob did yet speak truth when he said Job did not serve God for nought and as he did not so no body else ever did nor ever shall God is too good and gracious to suffer that such a reproach shall never cleave to his glorious Majesty The other Instance which I told you I would bring for the proving of this that Family-worshipping of God may be a singular means to keep off present Judgments is a tremendous and very remarkable Providence which while I was studying upon this Subject I happily met with in Polanus his Syntagma liber 5. cap. 22. de terrae motu And it is this In the Year of our Lord 1584. there was an Earthquake in Switzerland in the Territory of Bern in which one Hill being removed out of its place and violently carried and dasht against another did overwhelm and bury an whole Village that consisted of fourscore and ten Houses not any of them being spared and escaping save only the part of one House in which the Master of the Family with his Wife and Children were together at that very time upon their bended Knees praying and seeking of God IV. Setting up the Worship of God in Families is the way to promote your own Interest in them for God hath made a most sweet and gracious connexion of his own glory and Mens good so that in seeking the former they find the latter in keeping God's Commandments there is great reward upon seeking first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness other things shall be added cast in as an overplus Folly Sin makes Men and Women cheap and contemptible Godliness puts a Beauty upon them makes their Faces shine and renders them amiable considerable truly great in the Eyes of those that know them But it may be some of you do think your selves not at all concerned here and that you need not take any care nor bestow any thoughts upon this for your Interest is great and safe enough and you can well enough secure and maintain it with the greatest ease are not you the Master and the Mistress and have not you the Purse and the whole power in your hands And are not all under your Roof under you so that if any of them will not know their places nor keep their distance If they will not be observant of your orders obedient to your commands nor carry towards you with a due respect you can make them smart for it by pinching them in their comforts making them feel the weight of your hand and if that will not do by turning them out of Doors Let them affront or slight you if they dare Very well my Friends this is great and you are somebody at least in your own Eyes and it must be granted that all this you may do and being done it may turn to account but all this doth not will not make things so sure nor strengthen your interest so much as you may imagine no no be assured of this that when all is done your having the Power and the Purse in your hands will not befriend you at so great a rate nor so effectually secure to you the love and fear and awe of those with whom you have to do as exemplary Piety a Religious Life and putting the Duties of Godliness in practice I well know some Spirits are very rugged and boisterous not easily drawn and bowed to their Duty all means must be used and all little enough but this is certain it is no prudence when others are applied to omit the best The Smith would shew much folly in spending his time and tiring himself in beating and knocking of cold Iron when by putting it into the Fire till it be red hot he may form and fashion it as he pleaseth It is a gross Errour in Men proceeding much from Pride and Brutish Passion and plainly discovers their Ignorance to conceive that their huffing and hectoring their ranting and raging at their Children and Servants will procure them such a respect and esteem among them as Holiness will do and Prayer and living in a consciencious discharge of the Duties of their Places and that upon a Threefold Account First It is the way to engage God on your side who hath said He will honour those that honour him Do Men study to exalt God they themselves shall be exalted if his Name be precious to them theirs shall be so to him I will honour them saith God he will do it himself and that by taking them up at last to Heaven and cloathing them there with everlasting glory yea and he will make others honour them too
I do earnestly desire you to spend now and then a little time in thinking seriously with your selves what sad wretched miserable Families those are in which there is a great many Creature-comforts Epicurean Provisions for the Table and the Belly there is eating and drinking to excess if not to drunkenness there is Cards and Dice Chambering and Wantonness a great deal of Mirth and Jollity Vanity and Folly but there is no Praying there no Reading of the Scriptures there is great dressing of Meat and decking of the Body but in the midst of all this there is no duty done to God no Honour brought him no care taken for precious and immortal Souls I do pity them and oh that my Soul might weep in secret for their sinful neglect And I do earnestly desire them to remember and lay to heart that which God hath spoken and will certainly stand to He will make that word of his good to the comfort of his People and confusion of his Enemies 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed From whence it is plain that God takes special notice of Persons their Spirits and Actions and as they carry toward him so will he to them That Tree may expect to fall under a blasting withering Curse from which the Lord Iesus doth gather no Fruit. III. My third and last Reason shall be drawn from the equity of the thing Family-worship is God's due as you heard before the Prophet said Who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee it doth appertain it doth of right belong to him Man cannot lay claim to any Comfort or Blessing as due to him from God for any thing that he hath done for all is Mercy than the least of which Man is less yea the best of Men but God may lay claim to fear and honour and service as due to him from Man and I may say the same in the present case what Family is there that should not serve and worship thee O thou King of Nations O thou King of Saints for to thee it doth appertain It is too true and a sad truth it is that too many Families in England yea and in London do not do it and I am afraid when all is said that can be said will not worship God they are setled upon their Lees but what Family is there that should not do it There is none not the greatest not the poorest not those that have most leisure not those that have most business not those that live in the greatest fulness and splendor nor those that are forced to earn their Bread with their hard labour and in the sweat of their Brows The more any have the more abundant they should be in praises and the more any want the more frequent and fervent they should be in prayers whatever their case and condition is still they do owe this to God I may very well call it and House-â—ent which they are bound to be continually paying to their great Landlord and for a neglect or default therein he may justly turn them out of Doors cast them into the open Street yea bring them to a Dunghil and Morsel of Bread I am not censorious nor do I charge any one but this is apparent many that have been topping Men yea and made a great Profession have come to nothing to a Goal the Mint the White-friers they have broken scandalously and by that means have made Religion to stink in the Nostrils of those who are no Friends to it and I would advise them to reflect upon time past and consider whether they were not wanting to or remiss in Family-duties and if they were let them humble themselves and justifie God and say Righteous art thou O Lord why should they think that God would bless and prosper them to the enabling them to pay their Debts to Men if they do not make any Conscience of paying that Tribute which they owe to him but that is only a serious and seasonable hint by the way I am to shew you that Family-worship is due to God and it is so upon these accounts First Vpon the account of their Being I before proved that they are of God he made you and them too Now the Prophet saith Psal. 145.10 All thy works shall praise thee O Lord our Families are his work and therefore they should praise him Secondly Family worship ought to be conscienciously and constantly performed to God upon the account of those Mercies which they do receive from God We have personal Mercies preservation and supply health and strength food and raiment and these do engage us to personal services Iacob thought so when Gen. 28.20 21 22. He vowed a vow saying If God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my fathers house in peace the Lord shall be my God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and he accordingly did afterward there Build an Altar which was for the Service and Worship of God Now by a parity of Reason Family-mercies do oblige unto Family-worship Alas what miserable Houses would ours be if God should not look after them and befriend them how would they be exposed should he withdraw his protection and not cover them with his Wing How would they be straitned and pinched did not he reach out to them his Hand of Bounty they soon would turn into Houses of Mourning and Places of Confusion it is God that by his shining upon our Tabernacles makes them comfortable and pleasant to us and doth commend and sweeten our Communion together so that we lye down and rise up and live in peace therefore it is fit and highly becoming that we should serve and worship him together Those that are drawn with the same Cords of Kindness should draw in the same Yoke of Obedience Methinks the Father should of his own accord without a Monitor say to his Family as in Psal. 34.3 O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together Thirdly Family-worship is due to God upon the account of his continuing and repeating his Mercies to our Families How much doth he do for them And how unwearied is he in doing We deserve nothing we have forfeited all yet his compassion doth not fail nor is the Stream of Mercy cut off Must you not say have ye not reason to say he daily loads you with his Benefits and he causeth Mercy and Goodness to follow you It is his Mercy that maketh us dwell in safety and sets an Hedge about us and our Houses and about all that we have on every side else we should become a prey to the Sons of Violence or fuel to the greedy devouring Flames It is he that continueth the peace of our Families else a perverse froward Spirit would be conjur'd up
in one or other and give a disturbance to the whole How great a matter may a little Fire kindle It is he that gives you the Comforts of your Families spreads your Tables and fills your Cups and giveth you all things to enjoy 1 Tim. 6.17 Your Cisterns would quickly be empty had they not recruits from the Eternal Fountain It is he that prevents breaches in your Families sinful breaches through anger and discontent jarrs and fallings out so that you would be Wolves and Tygers one to another afflictive breaches that would be Heart-breakings and cloath you in Sables and fetch Rivers of Tears from your Eyes and such a Groan as was utter'd by Naomi Ruth 1.21 22. Call me Marah for the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me I was full and the Lord hath made me empty How easily else might Death come with his Dart and stab one and with his Sythe mow down another so that the Parents shall sit down lamenting and refuse to be comforted and a numerous Family moulder away into nothing It hath been thus in other Houses why is it not so in yours But because of God's sparing Mercy he hath not given Death a Commission To instance in all that God doth for us to give in the total Sum of his favours is beyond our power we have reason to say with holy David Psal. 139.17 18. How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them if I should count them they are more in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee Under thy careful watchful Eye thy securing comforting Wing and surely all this doth greatly oblige Families to own serve and honour God the Bonds of God are upon us there is the Bond of his Law the Bond of his Covenant and the Bond of Kindness let us not break these Bonds lest he bind us in the Bonds of Affliction and Fetters of Wrath As it would be a burning shame so an high provocation if they who receive so much from God should return little or nothing to him Fourthly Family-worship is due to God because of that necessary and absolute dependance which they have upon him for the future He that gave particular Persons their Being doth continue them in being else they would drop into the Grave Thou holdest our soul in life and sufferest not our feet to be moved Psal. 66.9 God by his Word created the World and the like Word of his Power is required for its preservation else it would return to its ancient Chaos Heb. 1.3 He upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power so he that made our Families must maintain them he that raised them up must keep them up how soon would they sink if his Everlasting Arm were not underneath In the Church he that planteth is nothing and he that watereth is nothing but God that giveth the increase so in the House he that ordereth and commandeth is nothing and they that assist and labour are nothing but God that giveth the blessing and the success I desire you to bestow some thoughts upon that one Scripture Iob 8.6 He shall make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous where I desire you to take notice of these few things First That it is God's work to make Habitations prosperous yea it is his alone all endeavours are vain and fruitless without his concurrence The diligent Hand indeed is said to make rich but another place tells us the Blessing of the Lord makes rich Man's diligence and God's blessing do excellently together then much good will come of it but when Man works alone he doth but beat the Air and loseth his labour nothing will prosper that God doth not command so to do in Spirituals the Spices will not flow forth unless the North and South Wind blow upon the Garden In Temporals the Ship must lye still and not reach its desired Haven except the Divine Blessing fill the Sails God's Curse at the Root will blast Families and make the greatest and most flourishing of them fade and dwindle into nothing Secondly Our Reason will tell us and so doth that Scripture That righteous Families stand fairest for God's Blessing I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way said David I will walk within my house with a perfect heart O when wilt thou come to me Psal. 101. A person of such an Heart and Way may desire and wish for God humbly invite him and believingly expect him with smiles and sweet manifestations of himself and gracious favourable Providences It is most probable and most rational to conclude that God will prosper Habitations of Righteousness this looks most consonant to his Nature most agreeable to his Justice and for this there is the greatest assurance in his Promises It is a righteous thing with God that Habitations of Wickedness should be Instances of Divine Vengeance that Habitations of Uncleanness should be Habitations for Owls and Satyrs that where the Tables are full of Vomit the Houses should spew them out but righteous Persons and Habitations of Righteousness are under the Blessing of Heaven and so most like to flourish Psal. 5.12 Thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield But then Thirdly The great Question will be What it is that doth make or denominate any House an Habitation of Righteousness and to that I answer the giving of every one his due the performing all righteous acts toward Men and of all holy acts toward God that is an Habitation of Righteousness in which there is the true fear and worship of God There may be a righteous Person in a Family that is wicked there was a righteous Noah in a wicked World a just Lot in a wicked Sodom a Diamond in a sink a good Ahijah in the House of Iereboam who made Israel to sin Saints in the House of Nero who was at that day the Monster of Men though there have been as bad since and worse too but this did not make those Houses Habitations of Righteousness notwithstanding that they were Habitations of Devils there must be the Families fearing serving and worshipping of God else it is not it cannot truly be called an Habitation of Righteousness So much may well suffice to be spoken to the first sett of Arguments for the proving to you that the setting up of the Worship of God in our Families is no more than our reasonable service I proceed now according to the method before propounded to a second order or company of Arguments for the setting up of Family-worship and Duty and they shall be drawn from the Heads and Governours of Families and there will be several of them which I advise and earnestly desire every one of you seriously to consider for what will Arguments signifie if they be not duly weighed Prov. 24.32 Solomon tells us that passing by the Field and Vineyard of the slothful Man void of understanding the Wall whereof was broken down
of Families that both you your selves and all those that are yours may be perfect and compleat in all the Will of God that the Divine Will may be known by you and likewise conform'd and liv'd up to for He that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes when God takes his Rod in Hand Luke 12.47 Now Family-instruction is one part of the Will of God concerning you who are Parents and Masters yea and Mistresses too You are Priests in your own Houses and as such ought not to be without your Sacrifices Prayer is your Duty You are Prophets also there and though it would be folly in you to turn Enthusiasts and Predict Things to come yet you ought not to be without your Teachings and wholesom Counsels and in one respect you will not You that are Parents will as soon as may be teach your Children to speak and go and when through Age and Discretion they are capable you will bring them up to some Imployment and Trade or other that they may afterwards arrive at some considerable Quality and Estate in the World at least that they may be able to earn their Bread and get their Living without being chargeable to your selves or others and shall this be the utmost Extent of your Care Will you not teach them the fear of God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Will you not labour to bring them to a good understanding in the matters of Religion which are of highest importance and shew them the way they should take in order to their coming unto Glory at the last If you are guilty of neglect herein what satisfactory Reason can you give of being so Here I cannot forbear telling you that it hath often and often been to me great matter of grief to see Persons grown up to Man's and Woman's Estate yea to grey Hairs that could not read a Word nor tell a Letter whereupon I could not without just indignation reflect upon their unnatural Parents who were so brutishly wanting to that love kindness and pity which they ought to have had for them and now I make it my Request to you yea the poorest among you that you would take greater and better care of your Children see that they be taught to Read and then that they Read the Bible do this though you pinch for it in other things yea though you spare it out of your own and their Bellies and if you cannot possibly do it out of your sorry pittance beg the Charity of those you know who may help in that without prejudice to themselves a little matter will do and this will turn to a greater account than relieving common Vagrants And so for you that are Masters and Mistresses and have Apprentices bound to you I own it that they are bound to give you reverence and to serve you with all diligence and faithfulness and so let them in the fear of the Lord but withal do you know and consider that you are obliged to take care of them and teach them what Your Trades And the Mysteries of them Yes without peradventure your Indentures tell you so and if you do it not you deal falsly but you are also to instruct them in the greatest and best Trade that of Godliness that with Heaven in order to their being wise Merchants and getting the Pearl of Price That Family-instruction ought to be carefully attended to I shall briefly prove 1. By Scripture Precedents 2. By Scripture Precept First By Scripture Precedent or Example This hath been the practice of good Men recorded there of a great Character Eminent for their Faith and Holiness You have in these Discourses already heard of that great confidence which God had in Abraham who was called the Friend of God and Father of the Faithful God said He knew him that he would command or order his Children and his Houshold after him that they should keep the way of the Lord. And we must conclude Divine Wisdom which is Infinite is not cannot be liable to a mistake neither as to things nor Persons Now we read in Gen. 14. that when his Kinsman or Nephew Lot was taken Captive and carried away Abraham arm'd his trained Servants and pursued them unto Dan your Bibles in the Margin have it his instructed Servants some render it his Catechized Servants those say some Learned Expositors whom he had well taught and instructed not only in Domestick Business which concern'd the House nor only in Military Affairs which related to War but likewise and principally in Religion and the Law of God So again Solomon the wisest of meer Men at least in his time was called Iedediah the Beloved of the Lord and that he was so appear'd by God's appointing him to succeed in the Throne as King of Israel and chusing him to Build the Temple both which were demonstrations of that particular kindness God had for him And he was dearly beloved of his Father and Mother now the Love which they did bear him was evidenced by his gracious Education and in their Parental Care for the right bringing of him up Prov. 4.3 4. I was my Fathers Son tender and only beloved in the sight of my Mother he taught me also and said unto me let thy heart retain my Words keep my Commandments and live get wisdom get understanding c. One saith Doubtless his Father David being a King had Nathan the Prophet and the best and most accomplished Persons the Kingdom could afford for the bringing up of his Son for whom he design'd the Crown yet he did not leave it wholly to them but would himself have an hand in the work yea a main one Neither did his Mother think her self excused but as she had brought him forth so she would bring him up as you may see in Prov. 31.1 The words of King Lemuel the Prophecy which his Mother taught him But passing from that we will consider Secondly Scripture Precept And as I desire you to imitate and follow those good Examples so to remember and conform to holy commands given out from God by his Servants who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost I shall only mention that one which we have Eph. 6.4 Parents provoke not your Children unto wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is a Scripture that deserves to be written in Letters of Gold and to be deeply imprest upon the Minds and Hearts of Parents I cannot lightly pass over it two things are remarkable in it First A Prohibition Secondly An Injunction First Here is a Prohibition something forbidden and carefully to be avoided Parents provoke not your Children unto wrath It may be this will sound harsh in the Ears of some who have better thoughts of themselves than they do deserve or any body else have they may be apt to conclude that Paul did forget himself here and should rather have said Children provoke not your Parents unto
your being upon whom you have your dependance and unto whom you must be accountable for your time and talents and all that you have done in the Body make God your choice this is your chusing time oh chuse well chuse God for your sweetest Companion walk with him as Noah did and Enoch and all the Saints in their several Generations When you awake be still with him be continually with him let your fellowship be with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Eye God as the most perfect pattern and study imitation be ye followers of him as dear Children holy as he is holy and live to God as your noblest end do all to his glory if you make his glory your end he will make use of your Salvation as a means thereto so that both means and end shall be secur'd count his fear your treasure Hezekiah valued it more than his Royal Exchequer or his Peoples Purses be you in it all the day fear him now as a Father that you may not at last tremble before him as a Judge nor be glad to have Rocks and Mountains fall upon you and hide you from his face and wrath Oh! let Jesus Christ be precious to you as he is to all them that believe sell all for that Pearl of Price part with your sins and your own Righteousness all confidence in the Flesh yea and whatsoever you have in the World rather than go without him take him in all his Offices learn of him as your Prophet trust in him as your Priest and submit to him as your King follow him in all his ways and be expressive of him in your own shew forth the vertues the humility meekness patience holiness heavenly mindedness of him who hath called you unto his Kingdom and Glory Ask of God that Holy Spirit which is a Spirit of Love and Power and a sound mind that he may convince you of Sin and Righteousness and Judgment lead you into all truth help your infirmities strengthen you with all might in the inner-Man quicken and inlarge you revive and comfort you sealing you up to the day of Redemption and beware of resisting quenching or grieving him Acquaint your selves well with the Scriptures read them every day study them meditate in them pray for the opening of your eyes that you may see the wondrous things of the Law and the precious things of the Gospel make them your delight and your Counsellors receiveing no Doctrine as true but what they own nor any practice as good which they do not allow eye them as the rule of Faith and Manners hide them in your heads and hearts that you may not sin against God know the truth love and live in it Get Consciences rightly inform'd and consult them and be ready to hear them do not cross them but make it your daily exercise to keep them void of offence both toward God and toward Man remembring that Conscience is Gods Deputy which curiously observes and carefully records thoughts words and actions is more than a thousand Witnesses will be a sweet Comforter or dreadful Tormentor In short set God always before you live by faith upon him in obedience to him and communion with him frequently and seriously think of Death Judgment Heaven and Hell So carry that you may not be a curse to the World nor a grief to your Friends while you live nor a terrour to your selves when you come to die My hearts desire and Prayer for you is that God would doth bless you and make you blessings FINIS
Righteousness do decay and wear off Now if the Nurseries be not minded if the young Plants there be not carefully and duely tended what will become of the Orchard and Vineyard in a little while From hence we may not without good reason conclude that private Family-care is necessary for the promoting of publick and common good Therefore I beseech you to look to your Nurseries take care of your Families Seventhly I would ask not only those that are truly gracious but likewise them that are sober and serious are you not ashamed of and troubled at those crying Abominations that are among us Can Forreigners that come hither and understand what is pure Religion and undefiled before God even the Father and do observe the Miscarriages of Men I say can they look upon this as Immanuel's Land when they see it so over-run with Weeds Briars and Thorns can they think it to be the Garden of the Lord or rather some of the Wilderness of the World some of the Devils waste might not Heathens and Pagans say they are become like some of us yea and worse than many of us The good Lord look upon us in mercy and doth it not affect and afflict you that it is thus after all the Gospel-Light that hath shined among us and after all the means that God hath used for our Resormation in a mixt way of Mercy and Judgement of Kindness and Severity I do very well know there are almost every where great complaints of Prophaneness and Debauchery and truly those complaints are not without great cause for Sin gross Wickedness doth abound in all places both in City and Country if the Court be free I shall rejoyce there are bad reports of Camp and Fleet Wickedness hoth broken in like a flood as if it would deluge us and prevail against all Piety yea and against all Morality too filling all places with Atheism and Brutishness and without doubt Men in High Places did draw up the Flood-gates for the furthering an Antichristian design Popery and Prophaneness are near a kin let men have a liberty to do what they will i. e. to commit all uncleanness with greediness and an hundred to one they will be content that those who are uppermost should chuse their Religion for them yea and also inferiour Magistrates and under Officers have pav'd its way Blessed be they of the Lord who have offered themselves willingly to give a check and stop to it and blessed be those Magistrates who encourage and assist them therein and Oh! that the work may prosper in their hands but in the mean time have not you private Men had an hand in it You do cry out against Publick Houses Taverns and Alehouses and as I hear so I believe not without much cause though some of them are in good hands and care is taken that good Orders be observed in them yet certainly the wickedness of others yea of many others is exceeding great they are the Devil's ground in which he sets his Nets and lays his Snares for the catching of his unwary Prey they are the Devils School in which Men follow his Trade and by both together young ones are taught it there it is that modesty is put off and sober Principles pluck'd up by the Roots and they learn the Mysteries of iniquity and commence Masters of that Black Art But you who do complain of these Publick-Houses look home lay your hands upon your hearts and ask your own Consciences what you have done and what you have left undone Is there not the neglect of God and the duties of Godliness in your houses there is no Drunkenness nor Whoredom no Cursing and Swearing that you do allow that is well but withall there is no Praying nor Reading the Scripture nothing of the Service and Worship of God there and by that means you do not as you ought Principle your young ones against the Vices of the Times and so you leave them too naked and open to the assaults of Temptation This I would have imprest upon your thoughts that the making of good Families is the way to make a good City and a good Kingdom Let every one make it his business to set up Religion at home and then we shall all be sure to find it when we go abroad If all our Families were good we should have good Princes and good Parliaments good Magistrates and good Ministers and good People good Husbands Wives and Children good Friends and Neighbours it would indeed be Aurea Aetas a Golden Age. Eighthly and lastly The consciencious performance of Religious duties in Families is an excellent means for the rendering of Publick Ordinances more successful I am persuaded there would much more good come of that precious Seed which the faithful Ministers of Christ scatter in their several Congregations were Masters and Mistresses of Families careful before they come to prepare the Soil for the Seed and after it is sown careful to cover it with Prayer and to water it with suitable discourses and exhortations Thorough the Divine Goodness and Bounty there is in this City and near it a great deal of excellent Preaching Confident I am no Place in the World can shew such plenty Heavenly Manna doth abundantly fall about our Tents Whatsoever there is of a scarcity as to Bread for the Body there is no Famine here oh that in every poor Countrey there were none neither of hearing the Word of the Lord. We have it upon the Lord's day and the week days too every day in the week one where or other within your reach blessed be God for it the joyful sound is continually in our Ears It would be a thousand pities that such admirable plenty of a thing so precious as the Everlasting Gospel should do any hurt and that any should wax wanton and instead of the Bread of Life be hankering after Mushrooms and Kickshaws or that they should grow nice and curious not relishing plain Truths and the Simplicity of the Gospel unless it be dress'd and sauc'd to their humour and serv'd up to them in words which Man's Wisdom teacheth Though I fear we have among us too many of that mind mark how they live and what becomes of them but be that how it will it must be granted that this place where God hath cast our Lines is a Goshen a Valley of Vision and a great many People are much very much for hearing of Sermons they run up and down to Lectures and some of them will hear four Sermons and much good may they do them It is a great encouragement to the Servants of God and a ground of hope that they shall catch some of them for their Master He hath made them Fishers of Men and the Fisher-men love to cast their Net where there is a great Shoal But I would say to these who do so much frequent Sermons two things First By way of Advice Look to your whole Duty and labour to stand compleat in all the
Will of God Hearing is not the whole work of a Christian The Scripture indeed saith Hear and your Souls shall live but if you would live you must do something more than hear Your much hearing is a sign of a good Appetite but there are some Bodies that have a caninum Appetitum a greedy ravenous Appetite and yet are meer Skelletons nothing but Skin and Bone You that have so great an Appetite will do well to look to it that you also have a good Concoction Under the Law those Beasts were by God declared clean that did chew the Cud. Hear and then ruminate do not only let Truths come crouding into your Ears for then one may thrust out another but ponder them in your hearts as Mary the Mother of our Lord did and hide them there as David did You should spend some considerable time in meditation that so what Truths you have heard you may chafe in and work upon your hearts Secondly I would speak unto you by way of Question thus When you spend all your time in hearing abroad what is done at home Where are Family-duties who is it that prays there who teaches and catechizes the young ones there Know O Soul no good thing is thy duty out of season nor art thou to prog for thy self by robbing thy house And know this also we that are Preachers of the Gospel have but little hope of doing much good upon your Children and Servants by our Labours in the Church if you who are Governours over them and have the power will be careless and negligent and do nothing at home How can we think that they will follow our counsels when you will not second them Alas their weak leaking Memories let them slip and their corrupt Natures reject them There had need be Precept upon Precept Precept upon Precept Line upon Line Line upon Line here a little and there a little and all little enough yea and all too little unless accompanied and set home by the All-conquering Power of the Eternal Spirit God indeed can do his work alone needs neither you nor us but as he did by his own Word without Means and Instruments call the World out of nothing and raise Lazarus out of his Grave so he can by the same Power in the same Way convert most obstinate Sinners and turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the Just or if he please to make use of Ministers for that end he can make them prosperous He honours us by imploying us and if he will doubly honour us by making us successful no difficulty shall be insuperable no opposition an impediment great Mountains in our way shall sink into Plains and Iron-Gates shall be opened His concurrence is enough alone through God the Weapons of our Warfare will become mighty so that strong holds shall be demolished and imaginations cast down carnal reasonings silenced and subdued together with those high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 And therefore though some though many of you stand idle with your hands in your bosoms we will into the Vineyard and follow our business as long as we have any being sure our Labour shall not be in vain something will come of it Though Israel be not gathered yet shall we be glorious But as Paul said in another case Phil. 4.17 We desire fruit that may abound to your account and to the account of yours even the Salvation of you all the Conversion of the Youths and from thence Comfort to the Parents And as we love our work so we would do it with delight and we shall do so when you set your hands to it because when all hands are at work we may the more hope that God will work together with us and that his Spirit and Blessing shall accompany our joynt-endeavours and while we prophesie upon dry Bones he will cause breath to enter into them so that they shall live Up therefore I beseech you up and be doing come ye forth to the help of the Lord and of his Servants against that gross Darkness those corrupt Principles that are in the Minds of Young ones and those potent Lusts that are in their Hearts Do you teach as well as we that they may know the Lord do you back our wholesom and holy Counsels that they may follow them And while the Masters of the Assemblies come with their Nails of Truth which were given by one Shepherd even Jesus Christ who is the great Shepherd of the Sheep and take much pains for the driving of them home in order to the uniting them to God by Faith and to one another by Love do you who are Parents and Governours come with your Hammers and do what you can toward the fastening of them I am now at length come to the end of this discourse wherein I undertook to prove That setting up the Worship and Service of God in our Families is no other than our reasonable service Whether I have performed what I undertook you will judge and what evidence there is in the proof if I do not mistake you will find it clear and full And now my dear Friends may I hope I am indeed very willing to hope and I shall be exceeding glad to hear that by all these pains that I have taken and all these Arguments which I have used some of you who have been altogether strangers to this work hitherto and liv'd in the total neglect thereof have been persuaded the doing thereof is without question your duty and that therefore it is your present yea your fixed Resolution through the Grace and Assistance of God to set upon the doing of it And that since you are convinced and satisfied about it in your Judgments and your own Consciences do vote and plead for it you will take it into your practice The good Lord grant it may be so And I bless his Name I do hear something to that purpose and that these Labours have not been in vain oh that I might hear more and more that so my Joy both in the Lord and in you might be increased Will you begin this Evening I say this Evening for delays in Soul-matters are by no means to be allowed Whatsoever is Duty ought to be done and if it ought to be done why not presently Possibly you think afterward will be soon enough but God is not of your mind He saith in Psal. 95. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts and when God saith to day what art thou that thou shouldst say to morrow Come my Friends that sooner the better Hath not the great Majesty of Heaven waited long enough upon you for his Service and Honour oh do not make him wait any longer It is a dangerous thing to abuse Mercy and tire out Divine Patience Wo be to that Man concerning whom God saith My Spirit shall no more strive with