in it Academia an University for the Learning in it as well as Curia a Court for the grandure and state of it And if you your selves are of God and have in you any real goodness it will be your comfort to have such Families also The Apostle Iohn that beloved Disciple who lay in the bosom of our Lord and there contracted an holy heat in his Epistle to the Elect Lady tells her He rejoyced greatly when he found of her Children walking in the Truth It must needs then be as great if not a greater joy to you to see your own Children walking in the Truth For you Fathers to see the Children that you begat and you Mothers to see the Children that you brought forth and that both of you brought up with so much care and tenderness and cost walking with God and going on Heaven-ward The same blessed Apostle in his third Epistle which he sent to Gaius his Host saith I have no greater joy than to hear that my Children walk in Truth By them he meant those that were his Spiritual Children that he had begotten unto God by the Gospel And it is indeed a very great comfort and joy to all the Faithful Ministers of Christ to see that they have not run in vain nor laboured in vain that the precious Seed which they have sown hath taken root in some of their Hearers hearts so that they are turned to the Wisdom of the Just and to the Faith of the Gospel and brought over unto God and then that there is not only an embracing of the Truth but a walking in the Truth a coming under the power of the Gospel and a living up to the Rules of he Gospel a sound Conversion at the first and ever after a suitable Conversation for in this Ministers have their great end in this they have the Seal of their Ministry these persons are now their hope and they will be their Ioy and Crown of rejoycing in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his coming yea for the present they are their Glory and Ioy 1 Thes. 2.19 20. Now I say if this doth afford so much joy to godly Ministers to see their Spiritual Children walking in the Truth that they have no Joy in the World comparable to it surely we may conclude that the Joy of gracious and holy Parents must needs equal if not exceed it when they see their Families their Servants especially their own natural Children walking in the Truth of God and in the Waies of God and chearfully engaging together with them in the Service of God counting none of his Commands grievous but his Yoke easie and his Burden light VII The setting up of the Worship of God in your Families and a faithful performance of Religious Duties there is the way to prepare you for a dying well the way to die in peace and with comfort and with an holy confidence to resign up and commit your Souls unto God as to a faithful Creator He that hath walked with God in his integrity in this World need not fear any evil when the time is come for his walking in the Valley of the shadow of Death for there God will be with him and there his Rod and his Staff shall comfort him Psal. 23.4 First You must die I need not tell you that for your information though you have need to hear of it often for the promoting of your preparation Too many put far away the evil day though it be at the very door and live as if they were to live always but the Scripture hath told us It is appointed unto all men once to die Heb. 9.27 This is God's Appointment his Order and Decree which shall not be reversed what God hath appointed man cannot avoid We must all die once and it is our great concern and wisdom to make sure that we shall not die twice that over us the second death shall have no power that the first will experience plainly proves We see persons die though at several Ages and in various manners yet one after another they drop into the Grave which is the House for all the Living and when our turn comes we also must among the rest take up our abode there until the Morning of the Resurrection Now since we all must of necessity die our business is to make as sure as we can of dying well Many are for an easie death but I would have you be for an happy death It is indeed difficult and troublesom to croud thorow a strait and narrow Gate but it is no great matter though you be pinched and pained and greatly put to it for a while so that you find it an entrance into the glorious Kingdom of your God and Saviour But then know Secondly Those that neglect duty cannot rationally expect to die comfortably How can they think to be admitted into the Joy of their Lord who have been unfaithful in their little and hid their Talents in a Napkin They that have lived without God in the World and in the neglect of him it will be very hard and unpleasant to them to think of departure hence and going into the othe World where if they have not God welcoming delighting and satisfying them they shall meet with nothing but misery and torments if they are not admitted into the bosom of his Love they shall be thrown into the flames of his Wrath. How was it possible that the unprofitable Servant could look his Master in the face with any comfort he had all along hard thoughts of him and in the end no hope of any good from him He had been indeed intrusted with a Talent but though he had not embezzeld and squandred it away yet he buried it it lay dead upon his hand there was no improvement of it for his Masters Interest and by that means he undid himself for ever The losing of his time was no less than the losing of his Soul Every one of you my Friends that is the Master or the Mistress of a Family have a Talent committed to you by the great God and for it you must be accountable there is a day coming wherein your Lord will reckon with his Servants what other Talents you have of Knowledge Gifts Interest Estate and the like you know best but for certain you have a Talent of Power and Authority put into your hands you had need be very careful how you manage it let me ask you what do you do with your Talent What do you do Ask your selves the question if you do not serve your Generation according to the Will of God If you do not Trade with your Talent for the honour and glory of God you will be cast into outer darkness where you shall have torment and sorrow enough here you had business enough which you would not do there you shall have misery enough from which you shall not escape here you will not give glory to God in an holy activity for him
Petitions water the Seed you sow and bless both you and yours and make you Blessings to one another and all of you Blessings to the City and the Nation I do heartily pray for you I need your Prayers too and earnestly beg them do not deny me do not forget me in praying for me you pray for your selves The gracious Good-will of him that dwelt in the Bush be upon you let God compass you about with his Favour as with a Shield and make you Rich in Blessings of the Right Hand and of the Left And Oh! that you and I may at last meet in Heaven and there together with the Saints and Angels Sing Eternal Allelujahs to God and the Lamb so prays Your Souls Friend and Servant in our Dearest Lord Samuel Slater From my Study Mar. 23. 1694. Family Worship Joshua 24 15. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. THese are the words of Ioshua once the Servant afterward the Successor of Moses a great Man and good too and this is an excellent pair how sweet and amiable in a conjunction like pure White and Red they make a curious complexion and render a person indeed Noble and Illustrious Goodness with Greatness is like a rich and sparkling Diamond sett in a Ring of Gold This good and great Man had followed the Lord not halting nor by halves but fully and it pleased God who takes special notice of his faithful Servants to reward him by exalting him Moses having as an Instrument in the Divine hand brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt and carried them through a wast and howling Wilderness to the very Borders of the promised Land God called him off having no more for him to do commanded him to go up to Mount Nebo and die there in order to his happy Transportation to a better Countrey the Celestial Canaan the Inheritance of the Saints in Light and chose Ioshua for the Man that must compleat that great and glorious work and put that beloved People into the actual possession of that good Land This being done and Ioshua now grown old and finding himself after so many tedious Journeys and hard Labours sit and ready to go to his Long home to his Everlasting Rest He gathered all the Tribes of Israel and the Chief Men among them unto Sechem if any ask why thither I answer it is by some conceived and not without an appearance of reason because after that Abraham had in obedience to the Divine Command gone out of his own Countrey and from his Fathers house God did there first appear to him and gave him the Promise of the Land of Canaan and upon that he did there first build an Altar unto the Lord as you may read in Gen. 12.6 7. And also because not long after their entrance into the Promised Land Ioshua himself had in Mount Ebal which was near unto Shechem built an Altar unto the Lord God of Israel and wrote upon the Stones a Copy of the Law of Moses and so renewed the Covenant between God and them as we find Iosh. 8.30 31 32. But that may suffice to be spoken as to the reasons of his gathering them unto Shechem Having there assembled them He began with giving them in the Name of the Lord a very short but pithy Narrative of those great and wonderful things which had been by God done for them all along from the mercy that had been shewn unto Abraham their Father to his giving them the Land of Canaan according as he had promised And then in his own Name He followed that Relation with a very serious and warm Exhortation grounded thereupon verse 14. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and 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. He knew what an uncertain and fickle People they were and so did endeavour to fix them and if they had any ingenuity any sense of kindness to bind them to God with these Silken Cords of Love and Goodness In this 15th verse He bids them chuse in case they did not like what he had propounded then think of one under whose Government and Protection they might promise themselves a secure and comfortable Being If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom ye will serve whether the Gods which your Fathers served that were on the other side of the Flood or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell which you must not look upon as a permission or allowance or leaving them to themselves as in a matter indifferent whether they would worship the true God or turn Idolaters For in the preceding Chapter he had earnestly persuaded and charged them vers 6. to be very couragious to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses not turning aside therefrom neither to the right hand nor to the left And vers 7. That they come not among the Nations that remain among them neither make mention of the Name of their Gods nor cause to swear by them neither serve them nor bow themselves to them But vers 8. cleave unto the Lord Jehovah their God And v. 11. to take good heed unto themselves that they liv'd the Lord their God And again in this Chapter v. 14. Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth But in this way he endeavours sweetly to insinuate and to get within them and by an holy Art prevail with them to oblige and bind themselves to God very well knowing that People care not for doing what they are forc'd to do but without a blush depart from that which they were brought to by meer constraint whereas they are pleas'd with their own choice and are most likely to stand firm to that unto which they have in Judgment and upon due deliberation engag'd themselves In order therefore to a wise Election which they may never have cause with sorrow and shame to reflect upon he doth on the one hand set before them the greatness excellency and glory of God together with those many and singular advantages that will accrue to them who are his faithful Servants and on the other hand he sets before them the vanity and baseness of Idols the folly of those that own and serve them and the mischiefs which do pursue them and will for certain overtake them and hereupon after a due weighing and comparing of things he would have them make their choice of one or the other being guided therein by right reason and their true Interest He knew that God would have his People serve him out of choice as he chuseth them so he would be chosen by them And for a motive and inducement he acquaints them with his own fixed and unalterable resolution whom they had by long experience found to be a gracious and holy Man a prudent and loving Governour a valiant and successful
with you and in you and keeping a Book of Accounts in which is inserted and recorded what it observes Now then ought you not to repair this damage to your utmost and since you have done and go on to do them so much hurt should you not do them all the good you can and be heartily glad when it is in your power to do it have you shewn them many things by which they have offended God and will you not shew them by counsel and practice those things that will please him I beseech you to bestir and lay out your selves and your all for the making of them amends and the recovering them out of that Snare of the Devil into which you have helpt to bring them In what I now say I do not put you upon impossibilities nor the doing of that which is without the reach of your power I do not bid you sanctifie them by forming Christ and planting Grace in their hearts I do not bid you raise them out of the Grave of Corruption and breath into their Souls the Breath of Spiritual Life that must be effected by the Arm of Omnipotency none else can do it none hath a Regenerating Power but he that hath a Creating Power but you may pray for them in your private Retirements and you may pray with them that God would be pleased to give them his Spirit and to work his Grace in them You may take your Children and your Servants with you and carry them to God and beg of him that he would pity and help them As you read when our Lord Iesus was here upon Earth Tabernacling among Men they came to him from all parts of the Land begging of him a Cure for themselves and their Children and their Servants as the matter did require Now Christ is in Heaven he hath the same power that you must needs believe and grant for here he was in his State of lowest Humiliation there he is in his State of highest Preferment and Exaltation After his Resurrection he told his Disciples all Power was given him both in Heaven and Earth and distance of place doth not hinder He can help afar off as well as at hand his Arm being long as well as strong There is no need of this great Physician leaving his Fathers Right Hand and coming down in Person to cure Diseased Souls by sending his Word he can heal them as he did formerly Psal. 107. v. 20. And his Glory hath not in the least detracted from his Mercy His Heart is now what it was as loving and tender his Bowels are not shrunk up nor do his Compassions fail Iesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 As his Hand of Power is not shortened so his gracious Ear is not grown heavy therefore go to him taking Faith along with you and say Lord my Children were born blind O! do thou anoint them with thine Eye-salve that they may receive their sight Open their Eyes that they may see wonderful things out of thy Law and the precious things of thy Gospel that they may see the sinfulness of Sin and the beauty of Holiness that they may see their own undone condition and the absolute need they have of Christ together with the all-sufficiency of his Righteousness and the riches of his Grace the sweetness of his Government and the easiness of his Yoke Go to him and say Lord my Children are grievously troubled with a Devil a proud Devil a lying Devil a disobedient stubborn obstinate Devil O that thou wouldest make thy Power known in the casting of him out Once more go to him and say Lord My Children have got the Leprosie of Sin it hath spread it self all over them O do thou say I will be ye clean My Children are Enemies in their Minds by wicked works Enemies to Thee and all that is spiritually good O do thou reconcile them that of Enemies to Thee they may become Enemies to Sin and for the time to come they may love thy Father thy Self and Spirit thy Truth and Ways Lord My Children are the Slaves of Satan and they delight in their Chain they serve divers Lusts and are pleased with their Bondage and count their Drudgery a Recreation O! let these Lawful Captives of the Mighty be delivered break their Chains asunder and bring them into the Liberty of thy Children and as they have yielded their members Servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now and for the time to come they may yield their members Servants to righteousness unto holiness Rom. 6.20 And what you do to this purpose for your Children do also for your Servants take them up in the Arms of your Love and Prayer and lay them at the foot of God and beg him that he would sanctifie and save them And as you can thus pray and plead with God for them so you can add hereunto if you will There are other things which you can do You cannot infuse into them a Principle of Grace but you may teach them the Principles of Religion you may shew the way in which they should walk though you cannot put that way in their hearts as we have that expression Psal. 84.5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee in whose heart are the ways of them You cannot bow their Wills to God's nor raise and spiritualize their Affections nor set them upon their proper Objects those things which are above but you may inform their Judgments You cannot write the Law of God in their hearts nor put his Fear into their inward parts but you may acquaint them with the Law of God and read the Bible to them and hear them read both it and other Othodox good Books but the Bible most and rather than the best Books in the World So again you cannot make them good but you may set a good Example before them and write a very fair Copy for them to imitate and invite them to tread in your steps saying to them as Paul did Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ and walk so as ye have us for an example It is certain all this is in your power you may do it and oh that you would Oh that you would abound in the doing of it considering how much you have done against them how greatly you have prejudiced them how much they have suffered through your means how much they have been tainted by you Really you are obliged to this this is no more than what you owe to these poor Creatures and if you are careless negligent and wanting herein you are unjust you with hold that which is meet and it tends to your own poverty and sorrow at the last it is in the power of your hand to do it therefore do not withhold it from them to whom it is due it is a Debt and that both of Charity and of Equity up then in your several Families and apply to this excellent
Man make that Covenant his plea or argument or rationally expect Life and Happiness from it who himself hath violated and broken it that Person whose own sin hath cast him out of Covenant hath no more interest in nor right to the Blessings thereof than he that was never in it Nay Fourthly The condition of such an one is far the worse and more dismal of the two as his sins are more accented more black more provoking and crying than the sins of another being breaches of Covenant sins against greater Obligations so there is less hope of him his case is more dangerous and desperate the Wound that he hath made looks as if it were altogether incurable and the Wrath that such an one is like to suffer may well be more fiery and fierce the Judgments more severe not Rods but Scorpions are proper in such a case what will God do when he comes to avenge the quarrel of his Covenant I have thus largely shewn you that are Parents and Governours of Families what Obligations you are under for the setting up and continuing of the Service and Worship of God in your Families upon the consideration of the young ones the Children and Servants which are in your Houses and under your Care and I am not a little confident that if you will be so just to the Cause and your selves as to weigh the arguments your Consciences will tell you the Obligation is very strong and oh that the truth deliver'd may be so upon you and upon many more that you may not be found rebelling against the light nor holding the truth in Righteousness but falling before it and to your work There remains but one Obligation more to this great and necessary Work of Family-Worship and Duty which I shall take notice of in this Discourse and speak unto and that doth arise from the consideration of the Publick the City the Nation the Church of God unto which you are so nearly related as being Parts and Members of them and in which you are so highly concerned your Relation is not so near but that your interest is as great ponder on these following Particulars Let this I beseech you return often upon your thoughts and lay it near your hearts you are Citizens of London Famous London which Enemies have done much against and God hath done great things for what will you do for it In London you have many Mercies many Priviledges many Comforts you are the Natives of England the Free-born People of England a sweet and pleasant name be dear over it both name and thing It was in this Countrey that you first drew your breath here that you were planted by the gracious hand of Divine Providence and grown and flourished and you would be exceeding unnatural and inhumanely cruel to this poor City and to this pleasant Land the Land of your Nativity if you do not heartily desire its welfare and to the utmost seek its good The Iews were to pray for the peace of Ierusalem which was their Metropolis their Capital City where there were the Thrones of Judgment the Thrones of the House of David and whether the Tribes went up the Tribes of the Lord to the testimony of Israel See how David excited others and resolved himself to contribute what might be to its happiness Psal. 122.6 7 8 9. Pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall prosper that love thee peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy Palaces for my Brethren and Companions sake I will now say peace be within thee because of the House of the Lord our God I will seek thy good We are as much bound to Pray for London which is our English Ierusalem was that the literal Ierusalem the City of their Solemnities so it is called Isa. 33.20 London through the goodness of a gracious God hath been and in spite of Hell and Rome yet is the City of our Solemnities and I beseech you read and think upon that which the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel said unto them who were carried away Captive from Ierusalem to Babylon Ier. 29.7 Seek the peace of the City whither I have caused you to be carried away Captives and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace Now if they were to pray for the peace of Babylon which was the place of their Captivity we are in reason much more bound to pray for and by all means seek the peace and welfare of London and England which is the place of our Nativity Secondly Cast your eye upon the present State of London and of England have not our iniquities brought us low the hand of God hath been for many years and in many ways heavy upon the Land and it is stretched out still the truth is our preservation is wonderful and the Lord hath done great things for us of which we have reason to be glad and to give him glory but for all that we are brought low the Crown is fallen from our head our honour is under an Eclipse In some respects England is scarce to be found in England there is a withering blast upon us and a sad dismal face of things How many Judgements doth this Nation lie under both Spiritual and Temporal O! the sad Divisions that are among us which grow wider instead of an healing Spirit behold a perverse Spirit is gone forth in the midst of us how do errours and all manner of false Doctrines abound and swarm there the Serpent hath cast out of his mouth like a flood that he might drown and swallow up the Church of God among us Now that she is in her wilderness State What a Spirit of Atheism hath possess'd Men We have a company of wretches that rather than they will own God will hold they themselves shall die like Beasts these are none of the old Fools who said in their hearts there is no God these have far out done them in speaking it with their mouths I have indeed been told that some of these are very sensible Men and indeed I do conclude that not only some Atheists are so but that they all are so yea and that they are altogether so men immerst and quite sunk into sense they have shaken hands with reason quite blinded and put out the eye of reason for otherwise in the very things before them they would see the invisible things of God even his Eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 To which I might add that general and monstrous prophaneness which hath broken all banks and overflow'd us which hath risen up to that highth of impudence that it can out-face the Sun and walk unveil'd at noon and what do you feel hath not God think you risen out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of London and of England for their iniquities Hath he not revealed his wrath from Heaven against the ungodliness of Men doth not his Providence frown dreadfully hath he not in legible Characters written
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
as in all other things so particularly in this I do advise and earnestly beseech you to be as tender and careful of the Interest of the great God as you are of your own and more too Fourthly When you have been waiting upon God in the ways of his Publick Worship and have had the Counsels of his holy Will made known to you and the great Mysteries of Religion opened at your return to your own houses do you retire your selves and be alone with God lest by being in company with others and falling into discourses of another nature you lose the things you had heard and those impressions wear out that were made upon you and also allow convenient time to all in your Families for their Private Devotions remembring they have precious immortal Souls the Salvation of which they are as much concern'd to work out as your selves are of your own I have somewhere read of a King I wish there were more like him who while he was teaching a poor Boy that belonged to his Kitchen being askt the reason why he did so answered The poorest hath a Soul as precious as mine and cost the same price no less than the Blood of Christ. And when you see a fit season call them all together and bless God for the Truths you have heard and pray that he would bless them to you and bring them back to your own and their minds by the repetition of them and demand of them an account which to do is a very probable way to keep them from sleeping in the Congregation and from a supine carelesness and vain foolish absurd gazing about and also of imprinting something upon their minds and thoughts which may have a powerful influence upon their hearts and lives and do them good afterward yea as long as they live and when this is done praise the Name of the Lord by singing of a Psalm and pray to him for acceptance of and a blessing upon what you have done and so commit your selves and yours to his Fatherly Protection in the Night and his gracious Conduct the following Week in the course whereof let there be nothing contradictory to your Lord's-days profession or inconsistent with it I beseech you draw an eaven Thred in Religion These four things which I have spoken to you are good for you and necessary to be done but they are generals Therefore now I shall proceed to some more particular Directions for the Instructing of your Families which I would have you carefully to observe and the great God shine upon your endeavours that so they may prove very successful to your comfort and joy First Begin with instructing them about the Being of a God Though this Truth be ingraven in their hearts though the things that are made do plainly Preach to them his Eternal Power and Godhead yet be not you silent but speak the same thing to them over again and again and so betimes even as soon as ever you can principle them against that brutish yet growing Atheism which is an Enemy to all Religion and opens a wide and effectual Door unto all Villany and Profaneness That Person who denies the Being of a God is a sit Tool for the Devil to make use of yea to imploy about his worst Services and basest Drudgery And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Fathers said good David 1 Chron. 28.9 Know there is a God and in particular know him that hath been and is thy Fathers God and let him be thy God too Love him chuse him cleave to him Shew them the Heaven and the Earth and the things that are in them and that these could not make themselves but must of necessity be made by another how many second Causes soever may be enumerated we cannot take up our rest in any of them but must pass thorough them all and ascend to the first Cause and that first Cause that ens entium that Source and Original of all Being is God and besides him there is none else Ier. 10.11 The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens Tell them that upon this God all things that are have an absolute and necessary dependence The Beam doth not more depend upon the Sun than the Sun and all do upon God for them to subsist without him is a thing utterly impossible if he should withdraw his hand Man would crumble Earth would sink the Heavens would shrink and the Angels themselves drop from their present height into that first nothing out of which they were fetch'd by the Divine Power Let them from you know that they themselves are his Off-spring and indebted to him for their Being being by him formed in the Womb and brought out of it and that he hath looked after them and taken care of them ever since when they hung upon the Breasts he carried them in his Arms and taught them to go and held their Souls in Life and provided for them ever since and therefore they are not their own but his he hath the Sovereign Right to them and to Reign over them and that upon this account they are bound to love this God and to fear this God and to serve and honour him as long as they have any Being Acquaint them with his being an holy God in his Nature in his Will in all his Ways and Works glorious in Holiness and of purer Eyes than that he can behold Iniquity and that he hath given out a Law that is holy just and good which they and all are bound to obey the Commandments of it not being grievous And that he is every where present observing how his Will is observed and his Law obeyed and his Creatures order and demean themselves he takes notice both of the Evil and the Good of them that fear him and them that fear him not and doth so strictly observe that he sets down in his Book of Remembrance those that fear him and think upon his Name and can set the sins of the wicked in order before them yea the same order in which they were committed with all the circumstances that cloathe them And that he hath appointed a day wherein he will Judge the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained and bring to light the hidden things of dishonesty and render unto every one according as their Works have been whether good or evil Rom. 2.7 8 9. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness indignation and wrath Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Iew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Iew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God That he hath
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