In the close then of all that hath been said, Let me in the Name of God exhort you all to the practice of Family Prayer. You have heard it proved to be your duty, you have been directed how you might manage it for the good of all in your houses, you have had motives to press you to the performance of it, your pretences and excuses brought against it have been manifested to be frivolous and vain; What say you Sirs? Will you resolve upon it here in the presence of the Lord? or will you still neglect it? Shall I lose all my labour? or shall it be in vain that I have preached, and you have heard this Doctrine? I tell you to your faces, it shall not be in vain; the word of the blessed God shall convince you and reform you, or condemn you. What come we hither for, but faithfully to show you your duty, and earnestly to persuade you to obey? Do Ministers study for you, when you are sleeping in your beds, and declare the mind and will of God in the Congregation, and will you cast all our counsel behind your back? I hope you will be wiser for your own everlasting happiness. Say then, Are you convinced in this point, that it is your duty? If not, view over again what hath been said, and seriously consider it, and let me beg this at your hands, that you would think of all Now, as you would do, if you were with an awakened Conscience upon your dying bed, or if you were standing at God's Judgment bar, and when this question is put to you (whether you ought to pray in your Families?) Let Conscience say, Yes or No, according as its verdict and dictate shall be at Death and Judgment, and then I am persuaded you will say, you are convinced you ought to do it. And are you indeed? What! and yet go on in the omission of it? Will you so sin against your Consciences? will you dare so to do? You Parents, for God's sake consider in what a condition you have brought your Children into the world; are they not by nature enemies to God? dead in sin, children of wrath, unfit ⟨p. 360⟩for Heaven, 1and in danger of damnation? and will you not so much as pray daily with them, that they may be delivered out of this condition, and be saved from damnation? is it nothing to you whether your Children are damned or saved? is it nothing to you whether they live with the blessed glorious God, or with cursed Devils and damned Souls? have you no pity nor compassion for them, that are flesh of your flesh?
In the close then of all that hath been said, Let me in the Name of God exhort you all to the practice of Family Prayer. You have heard it proved to be your duty, you have been directed how you might manage it for the good of all in your houses, you have had motives to press you to the performance of it, your pretences and excuses brought against it have been manifested to be frivolous and vain; What say you Sirs? Will you resolve upon it here in the presence of the Lord? or will you still neglect it? Shall I lose all my labour? or shall it be in vain that I have preached, and you have heard this Doctrine? I tell you to your faces, it shall not be in vain; the word of the blessed God shall convince you and reform you, or condemn you. What come we hither for, but faithfully to shew you your duty, and earnestly to perswade you to obey? Do Ministers study for you, when you are sleeping in your beds, and declare the mind and will of God in the Congregation, and will you cast all our counsel behind your back? I hope you will be wiser for your own everlasting happiness. Say then, Are you convinced in this point, that it is your duty? If not, view over again what hath been said, and seriously consider it, and let me beg this at your hands, that you would think of all Now, as you would do, if you were with an awakened Conscience upon your dying bed, or if you were standing at God's Judgment barr, and when this question is put to you (whether you ought to pray in your Families?) Let Conscience say, Yes or No, according as its verdict and dictate shall be at Death and Judgment, and then I am perswaded you will say, you are convinced you ought to do it. And are you indeed? What! and yet go on in the omission of it? Will you so sin against your Consciences? will you dare so to do? You Parents, for God's sake consider in what a condition you have brought your Children into the world; are they not by nature enemies to God? dead in sin, children of wrath, unfit ⟨p. 360⟩for Heaven, 1and in danger of damnation? and will you not so much as pray daily with them, that they may be delivered out of this condition, and be saved from damnation? is it nothing to you whether your Children are damned or saved? is it nothing to you whether they live with the blessed glorious God, or with cursed Devils and damned Souls? have you no pity nor compassion for them, that are flesh of your flesh?
- 1Such Parents are like the Ostrich. You, negligent Parents, read Job. 39.13. to 19. and Lam 4.3. Look your faces in that Glass: Do you not blush, Look, that you are so like to such a foolish bird? Struthio-camelus der•linquit ova sua in terra — crudelis in prolem: nihil praestupiditate, oblivione & crudelitate filiis suis timet. Vales. Phil. Sac. Sicut haec avis non curat sua ova, ita insipientes non curant instrui liberos in pietate. Franzius. The Ostrich, if it thrust her neck or head into any shrub or bush, and get that hidden, thinks her self safe, and that no man seeth her. Plin. Nat. Hist. Such fools are these ungodly Parents, that, if they get their heads under their roofs, remember not that God seeth their great neglect there.
