THE HE Preface, by fundry English Divines. IV. The Sum of Saving Knowledge. VI. The Solemn League and Covenant. VII. The Acknowledgment of Sins, &c. TO } TO THE READER, (RECAP) CHRISTIAN A ESPECIALLY HEADS of FAMILIE S. S we cannot but with grief of foul lament those multitudes of errors, blafphemies, and all kinds of profaneness, which have in this last age like a mighty deluge overflown this nation; so, among several other fins which have helped to open the flood gates of all these im pieties, we cannot but esteem the disuse of family-instruction one of the greatest. The two great pillars upon which the kingdom of Satan is erected, and by which it is upheld, are ignorance and error: the first step of our manumission from this spiritual thraldom consists, in having our eyes opened, and being turned from darkness to Acts. 26. 18. light; how much the serious endeavours of godly parents and masters might contribute to an early seasoning the tender years of fuch as are under their inspection, is abundantly evident, not only from their special influence upon them, in respect of their authority over them, interest in them, continual prefence with them, and frequent opportunities of being helpful to them; but also from the sad effects which by woful experience we find to be the fruit of the omission of this duty. 'Twere easy to fet before you a cloud of witnesses, the language of whose practice hath been not only an eminent commendation of this duty, but also a seri ous exhortation to it. As Abel though dead, yet Heb. 11. 1. Speaks by his example to us for imitation of his faith, &c. So do the examples of Abraham, of Joshua, of the parents of Solomon, of the grandmother and mother of Timothy, the mother of Auguftine, whose care was as well to nurse up the fouls as the bodies of their little ones; and 5666 254 A 2 78391 as their pains herein was great, so was their success no way unanswerable. We should scarce imagine it any better than an impertinency, in this noon-day of the gospel, either to inform or perswade in a duty so exprefly commanded, so frequently urged, fo highly encouraged, and so eminently owned by the Lord in all ages with his blessing, but that our fad experience tells us this duty is not more needful than 'tis of late neglected. For the reftoring of this duty to its due observance, gives us leave to suggest this double advice. 'The first concerns heads of famílies in respect of themselves, That as the Lord hath set them it place above the rest of their family, they would labour in all wisdom and spiritual understanding to be above them alfo. 'Tis an uncomely fight to behold men in years babes in knowledge; and how unmeet are they to instruct others, who need themselves to be taught which be the first principles of the oracles Heb 5.12. of God? Knowledge is an accomplishment fo defirable, that the devils themselves new not a more taking bait by which to tempt our first parents, than by the fruit of the Tree of knowledge: So shall ye be as gods knowing good and evil. When Solomon had 1 Kings. 3. 5, 9. that favour shewed him of the Lord, that he was made his own chuser what to afk, he knew no greater mercy to beg than Wisdom. The understanding is the guide and pilot of the whole man, that faculty which fits at the stern of the foul: But as the most expert guide may mistake in the dark, so may the understanding when it wants the light of knowledge; Without knowProv. 19.2. ledge the mind cannot be good, nor the life good Eph. 4. 18. nor the eternal condition safe. My people are Hofea 4. 6. destroyed for lack of knowledge. 'Tis ordinary in Scriptureto set profanene's and all kind of miscarriages upon the score of ignorance. Diseases in the body have many times their rise from distempers in the head, and exorbitancies in practice from errors in judgment: And indeed in every fin there is something both of ignorance and error at the bottom; for, did sinners truly know what they do in sinning, we might say of every fin, what the apostle speaks concerning that great fin. Had they known bim, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; did they truly 1 1 1 i truly know that every sin is a provoking the Lord to jealousy, a proclaiming war against heaven, a crucifying the Lord Jesusafresh, a treasuring up wrathunto themselves against the day of wrath, and that, if ever they be pardoned, it must be at no lower a rate than the price of his blood, it were scarce pofsible but fin, instead of alluring, should affright, and, instead of tempting, scare. 'Tis one of the arch devices and principal methods of Satan, to deceive men into fin; thus he prevailed against our first parents, not as a lion, but as a serpent, acting his enmity under a pretence of friendship, and tempting them to evil under an appearance of good; and thus hath he all along carried on his designs of darkness, by transforming hiniself into an angel of light, making poor deceived men in love with their miseries, and hug their own destruction. A most sovereign antidote against all kind of errors, is to be grounded and fettled in the faith: persons, unfixed in the true religion, are very receptive of a false; and they who are nothing in spiritual knowledge, are easily made any thing. Clouds without water are driven to and fro with every wind, and ships without ballast liable to the violence of every tempest. But yet the knowledge we especially com-. mend, is not a brain-knowledge, a mere speculation; this may be in the worst of men, nay, in the worst of creatures, the devils themselves, and that in such an eminency, as the best of faints cannot attain to in this life of imperfection : but an inward, a favory, an heart-knowledge, such as was in that Martyr, who, tho' the could not dispute for Chrift, could die for him, This is that spiritual sense and feeling of divine truths, the apostle speaks of, Heb. v. 14. Having your fenfes exercised, &c. But, alas, we may say of most men's religion, what learn. ed Rivet speaks concerning the errors of the Fathers, they were not so much their own errors, Rivet. Crit. as the errors of the times wherein they lived, Sacr. Thus do most men take up their religion u : pon no better account than Turks and Papists take up theirs, because 'tis the religion of the times and places wherein they live; and what they take up thus flightly, they lay down as easily: whereas an inward taste and relish of the things of God, is an excellent preservative to keep us settled in the most unfettled times. Corrupt and unfavory principles have great A 3 ad. advantage upon us, above those that are spiritual and found; the former being suitable to corrupt nature, the latter contrary; the former springing up of themselves, the latter brought forth not without a painful industry. The ground needs no other midwifery in bringing forth weeds, than only the neglect of the husbandman's hand to pluck them up; the air needs no other cause of darkness, than the absence of the fun; nor water of coldness, than its distance from the fire, because these are the genuine products of nature: Were it so with the foul (as some of the philosophers have vainly imagined) to come into the world as an ab rafa tabula, a mere blank or piece of white paper, on which neither any thing writ -ten, nor any blots; it would then be equally receptive of good and evil, and no more averse to the one than to the other; But how much worse its condition indeed is, were Scripture filent, every man's experience does evidently manifest, For who is there that knows any thing of his own heart, and knows not thus much, that the suggestions of Satan have so easy and free admittance into our hearts, that our utmost watchfulness is too little to guard us from them? whereas the motions of God's spirit are so unacceptable to us, that our utmost diligence is too little to get, our hearts open to entertain them. Let therefore the excellency, Necessity, difficulty of true wif dom, stir up endeavours in you, fomewhat proportionable to such an accomplishment; Above all getting get understanding, and fearch for wif. dom as for hidden treasures. It much concerns Prov. 4. 7. you in respect of yourselves. Our fecond advice concerns heads of families, in respect of their families. Whatever hath been faid already, tho' it concerns every private Christian that hath a foul to look after; yet upon a double account, it concerns parents and maf ters, as, having themselves and others to look after, some there are, who, because of their ignornance cannot; others, because of their fluggishness, will not mind this duty. To the former we propounded the method of Joshua, who first began with himself, and then is careful of his family. To the latter we shall only hint, what a dreadful meeting those parents and maf ters must have at that great day, with their children and ser vants, when all that were under their inspection shall not on ly accuse them but charge their eternal miscarrying upon their score |