Besides these he made Conscience, and made a Business of Family-Worship in all the parts of it; and in it he was uniform, steady and constant, from the time that he ⟨p. 77⟩was first called to the Charge of a Family, to his dying Day; and according to his own Practice, be too• all occasions to press it upon others. His Doctrine once from Josh. 24. 15. was, That Family-Worship i• Family-Duty. He would say sometimes, if the Worship of God be not in the House, write, Lord have Mercy on us, upon the Door; for there is a Plague, a Curse in it. It is the Judgment of Arch-Bishop Tillotson, in that excellent Book which he Published a little before his Death upon this Subject; That constant Family Worship is so necessary to keep alive a sense of God and Religion in the Minds of Men, that he sees not ho• any Family that neglects it, can in reason be esteemed a Family of Christians, or indeed to have any Religion a• all. How earnestly would Mr. Henry reason with People sometimes about this Matter, and tell them what a Blessing it would bring upon them and their Houses, and all that they had. He that makes his House a little Church, shall find, that God will make it a little Sanctuary. It may be of use to give a particular Account of his Practise in this Matter, because it was very Exemplary. As to the Time of it, his Rule was, commonly the earlier the better both Morning and Evening; in the Morning before Worldly Business crowned in, early will I seek thee: He that is the first should have the first; nor is it fit that the Worship of God should stand by and wait while the Worlds turn is served. And early in the Evening, before the Children and Servants began to be sleepy; and therefore if it might be he would have Prayer at Night before Supper, that the Body might be the more fit to serve the Soul in that Service of God. And indeed he did industriously contrive all the Circumstances of his Family-Worship, so as to make it most solemn and most likely to answer the end. He always made it the Business ⟨p. 78⟩of every day, and not (as too many make it) […] By-business. This being his fixed Principle, all other affairs must be sure to give way to this. And he would tell those who objected against Family-Worship, that they could not get time for it; that if they would but put on Christian Resolution at first, they would not find the Difficulty so great as they imagined;
Besides these he made Conscience, and made a Business of Family-Worship in all the parts of it; and in it he was uniform, steddy and constant, from the time that he ⟨p. 77⟩was first called to the Charge of a Family, to his dying Day; and according to his own Practice, be too• all occasions to press it upon others. His Doctrine once from Iosh. 24. 15. was, That Family-Worship i• Family-Duty. He would say sometimes, if the Worship of God be not in the House, write, Lord have Mercy on us, upon the Door; for there is a Plague, a Curse in it. It is the Judgment of Arch-Bishop Tillotson, in that excellent Book which he Published a little before his Death upon this Subjecct; That constant Family Worship is so necessary to keep alive a sense of God and Religion in the Minds of Men, that he sees not ho• any Family that neglects it, can in reason be esteemed a Family of Christians, or indeed to have any Religion a• all. How earnestly would Mr. Henry reason with People sometimes about this Matter, and tell them what a Blessing it would bring upon them and their Houses, and all that they had. He that makes his House a little Church, shall find, that God will make it a little Sanctuary. It may be of use to give a particular Account of his Practise in this Matter, because it was very Exemplary. As to the Time of it, his Rule was, commonly the earlier the better both Morning and Evening; in the Morning before Worldly Business crowned in, early will I seek thee: He that is the first should have the first; nor is it fit that the Worship of God should stand by and wait while the Worlds turn is served. And early in the Evening, before the Children and Servants began to be sleepy; and therefore if it might be he would have Prayer at Night before Supper, that the Body might be the more fit to serve the Soul in that Service of God. And indeed he did industriously contrive all the Circumstances of his Family-Worship, so as to make it most solemn and most likely to answer the end. He always made it the Business ⟨p. 78⟩of every day, and not (as too many make it) 〈…〉 By-business. This being his fixed Principle, all other affairs must be sure to give way to this. And he would tell those who objected against Family-Worship, that they could not get time for it; that if they would but put on Christian Resolution at first, they would not find the Difficulty so great as they imagined;
