The Reason of it is,1 Because if there be any in a Family that Entertains the Gospel, there the Lord hath the Glory of His Name, that He doth most rejoice in. It cannot but please the Lord to have the Glory of His Name to be owned in a Family, and held forth: And if there be but any one in a Family that shall Entertain the Gospel, who knows what good such a one may do. If there be one in a Family to hold forth Christ, here is a Way and Means to draw others, to the Love of Christ. If God Convert the Husband, he may draw the Wife; or if God Convert the Wife, she may draw the Husband, 1 Cor. 7. 16. For what knowest thou, O Wife, whether thou shalt save thy Husband? Or how knowest thou, O Man, whether thou shalt save thy Wife? It is spoken in the Case of Unbelievers, where one was an Unbeliever, and the other God had Converted: And in that Case, the Question was, Whether they were to stay one with another, one being an Infidel, and the other a Believer? Yea, saith the Apostle, For what knowest thou, O Wife, ⟨p. 205⟩whether thou shalt save thy Husband? Or thou, O Husband, whether thou shalt save thy Wife? And so, I say, What knowest thou, O Child, whether thou mayest save thy Brother, or Sister? Or thou, O Servant, whether thou mayest save thy Fellow-Servant? And if thou be so, then how vile are they that shall Malign and Oppose, Scorn and Contemn, any in a Family, when God doth begin to work any good upon them? We know it is ordinary, That if the Lord begins to strike one Soul in a Family, the Child, or the Servant, with some Work of His Spirit, that they begin to Inquire after the things of God, and to Entertain the things of the Gospel, his Brother will scorn him, or Sister, or Fellow-Servant will deride him: Perhaps his Master that Loved him before, will now Hate him, and be ready upon all occasions to show Displeasure against him. Yea, perhaps the very Father, out of whose Loins the poor Child comes, will deride him: What shall we have of you now? O, you are grown so Precise, that now you will be Spoiled, and good for nothing: And so perhaps the Mother, out of whose Womb it came, will now Hate it. But, O thou wretched Parent, thou shouldest rather Bless God, that God begins to work in thy Family, that He begins to work upon one that came out of thy Loins; for thou dost not know, but that this Child may do thy Soul good.
The Reason of it is,1 Because if there be any in a Family that Entertains the Gospel, there the Lord hath the Glory of His Name, that He doth most rejoyce in. It cannot but please the Lord to have the Glory of His Name to be owned in a Family, and held forth: And if there be but any one in a Family that shall Entertain the Gospel, who knows what good such a one may do. If there be one in a Family to hold forth Christ, here is a Way and Means to draw others, to the Love of Christ. If God Convert the Husband, he may draw the Wife; or if God Convert the Wife, she may draw the Husband, 1 Cor. 7. 16. For what knowest thou, O Wife, whether thou shalt save thy Husband? Or how knowest thou, O Man, whether thou shalt save thy Wife? It is spoken in the Case of Unbelievers, where one was an Unbeliever, and the other God had Converted: And in that Case, the Question was, Whether they were to stay one with another, one being an Infidel, and the other a Believer? Yea, saith the Apostle, For what knowest thou, O Wife, ⟨p. 205⟩whether thou shalt save thy Husband? Or thou, O Husband, whether thou shalt save thy Wife? And so, I say, What knowest thou, O Child, whether thou mayest save thy Brother, or Sister? Or thou, O Servant, whether thou mayest save thy Fellow-Servant? And if thou be so, then how vile are they that shall Malign and Oppose, Scorn and Contemn, any in a Family, when God doth begin to work any good upon them? We know it is ordinary, That if the Lord begins to strike one Soul in a Family, the Child, or the Servant, with some Work of His Spirit, that they begin to Inquire after the things of God, and to Entertain the things of the Gospel, his Brother will scorn him, or Sister, or Fellow-Servant will deride him: Perhaps his Master that Lov'd him before, will now Hate him, and be ready upon all occasions to shew Displeasure against him. Yea, perhaps the very Father, out of whose Loyns the poor Child comes, will deride him: What shall we have of you now? O, you are grown so Precise, that now you will be Spoil'd, and good for nothing: And so perhaps the Mother, out of whose Womb it came, will now Hate it. But, O thou wretched Parent, thou shouldest rather Bless God, that God begins to work in thy Family, that He begins to work upon one that came out of thy Loyns; for thou do'st not know, but that this Child may do thy Soul goood.
- 1Reas.
