May not God call out to such prayerless Families, as to them, Jer. 2. ⟨p. 313⟩31. O generation, see ye the word of the Lord: Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? Wherefore say my people we are Lords, we will come no more unto thee: Hath God been forgetful of you? Speak,1 ye ungodly, prayerless Families: Hath God been forgetful of you? No? every morsel of bread you eat, tells you God doth not forget you, every time you see your Table spread, and food set on, you see God doth not forget you: Why then, saith God, Will not this Family come at ME? when you have food to put into your Children's mouths that they do not cry for bread, and you constrained to say, I would my poor hungry child, I would, but I have it not. Why then, will you not come at me? live together and eat together at my cost and care and charge, and yet be whole months and never come at Me! and that your children have reason, raiment, limbs, not born blind, nor of a monstrous birth, (which things Heathens have been affected with) and a thousand ways besides have I done you good, may God say, Why then, will you live whole years together, and never together come at me? Have you found one more able, or more willing to do you good? that you never can. Why then are you so unthankful as not to come at me? After the like manner the Lord expostulates with his People to whom he had been a bountiful Benefactor, and yet they answered not his bounty, nor served him their Benefactor, for which he calls to the Heavens to be astonished, and the Earth to be horribly afraid, Jer. 2.5. Thus saith the Lord, 2what iniquity have your Fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me — 6. Neither said they, where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt. — Should such a people forsake such a God, and go far from him that did them so much good? yet they did: ver. 13. Be astonished at this, oh ye heavens — You see when God is a Benefactor to a People (and there is the same reason for Families) and they do not serve him, what monstrous wickedness it is! God hath kept you all safe in the night, and yet in the morning you do not say, Where is the Lord that did preserve us, come, ô come, Let us give joint praises to him! God hath done you and your Families good so many years, and yet you do not say where is the Lord that hath done such great things for us, come let us acknowledge his mercy together.
May not God call out to such prayerless Families, as to them, Jer. 2. ⟨p. 313⟩31. O generation, see ye the word of the Lord: Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? Wherefore say my people we are Lords, we will come no more unto thee: Hath God been forgetful of you? Speak,1 ye ungodly, prayerless Families: Hath God been forgetful of you? No? every morsel of bread you eat, tells you God doth not forget you, every time you see your Table spread, and food set on, you see God doth not forget you: Why then, saith God, Will not this Family come at ME? when you have food to put into your Childrens mouths that they do not cry for bread, and you constrained to say, I would my poor hungry child, I would, but I have it not. Why then, will you not come at me? live together and eat together at my cost and care and charge, and yet be whole months and never come at Me! and that your children have reason, raiment, limbs, not born blind, nor of a monstrous birth, (which things Heathens have been affected with) and a thousand ways besides have I done you good, may God say, Why then, will you live whole years together, and never together come at me? Have you found one more able, or more willing to do you good? that you never can. Why then are you so unthankful as not to come at me? After the like manner the Lord expostulates with his People to whom he had been a bountiful Benefactor, and yet they answered not his bounty, nor served him their Benefactor, for which he calls to the Heavens to be astonished, and the Earth to be horribly afraid, Jer. 2.5. Thus saith the Lord, 2what iniquity have your Fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me — 6. Neither said they, where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt. — Should such a people forsake such a God, and go far from him that did them so much good? yet they did: ver. 13. Be astonished at this, oh ye heavens — You see when God is a Benefactor to a People (and there is the same reason for Families) and they do not serve him, what monstrous wickedness it is! God hath kept you all safe in the night, and yet in the morning you do not say, Where is the Lord that did preserve us, come, ô come, Let us give joint praises to him! God hath done you and your Families good so many years, and yet you do not say where is the Lord that hath done such great things for us, come let us acknowledg his mercy together.
- 1[Greek or Hebrew]. Idem ibid.〈non-Latin alphabet〉. Idem ibid.
- 2Mercies do engage to duties. We should have him for our God for ever, and serve him that always doth us good. So the Poet. O Melibaec, Devo. nobis haec otia fecit Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus, illius aram Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. Virg. Eclog. 1. Officia etiam saerae sentiunt, nec ullum tam immansuetum animal est, quod non cura mitiget, & in amorem sui. vertat. Leonum ora à magistris impunè tractantur. Eliphantorum feritatem usque in servile obsequium demeretur cibus; adeo etiam quae extra intellectum atque aestimationem bemeficii sunt posita, assiduitas tamen meriti pertinacis evincit. Ingratus est adversus unum beneficium? adversus alterum non erit. Duorum obliru est? tertium etiam corum quae excideru•t, memoriam reducet — Qui instat & onerat priora sequentibus, etiam ex duto & Immemori pectore gratiam extundat. N•o audebit adversus multa ocu•c• allollere, Senec. de benef. c. 3.Mercies do engage to duties. We should have him for our God for ever, and serve him that always doth us good. So the Poet. O Melibaec, Deuo. nobis haec otia fecit Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus, illius aram Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. Virg. Eclog. 1. Officia etiam saerae sentiunt, nec ullum tam immansuetum animal est, quod non cura mitiget, & in amorem sui. vertat. Leonum ora à magistris impunè tractantur. Eliphantorum feritatem usque in servile obsequium demeretur cibus; adeo etiam quae extra intellectum atque aestimationem bemeficii sunt posita, assiduitas tamen meriti pertinacis evincit. Ingratus est adversus unum beneficium? adversus alterum non erit. Duorum obliru est? tertium etiam corum quae excideru•t, memoriam reducet — Qui instat & onerat priora sequentibus, etiam ex duto & Immemori pectore gratiam extundat. N•o audebit adversus multa ocu•c• allollere, Senec. de benef. c. 3.
