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<NAME>Louis Goldberg</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P> THE God-father's Advice TO HIS SON.</P>
<P>Shewing the Nece&s;&s;ity of performing the BAPTISMAL VOW, AND The Danger of Neglecting it.</P>
<P>WITH General In&s;tructions to young per&s;ons to lead a Religious life, and prepare them for their Confirmation, and worthy Re|ceiving of the Ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament.</P>
<P>Very nece&s;&s;ary for Parents, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to give their Children, or others committed to their care.</P>
<P>By <HI>John Birket,</HI> Vicar of <HI>Milford</HI> and <HI>Hordle</HI> in <HI>Hamp&s;hire.</HI></P>
<P>The Second Edition, with a Preface.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>James Knapton,</HI> at the <HI>Crown</HI> in St <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-yard. 1700.</P>
<P>Price Three-pence. One 100 for 1 <HI>l.</HI></P>
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</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD><HI>To my Loving Friends and Pari&s;hioner<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> THE INHABITANTS OF</HI> Milford <HI>and</HI> Hordle, <HI>In the County of</HI> Southampton.</HEAD>
<P>ALtho I chiefly compo&s;ed this &s;mall Treati&s;e for the in&s;tru|ction of tho&s;e, in who&s;e names (upon the reque&s;t of their Parents) I covenanted with God at their Bapti&s;m; yet being &s;en&s;ible how nece&s;&s;ary the practice of the &s;ame Advice, may be for all others committed to my charge; I have therefore taken care that the youth of other Families in both my Pa|ri&s;het, may have the &s;ame to peru&s;e at their lei&s;ure.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e I am &s;en&s;ible how backward mo&s;t per&s;ons are in their younger years, to read, under&s;tand, and practice a|ny thing that may be for the Souls health, without a great deal of care and diligence in tho&s;e with whom they live; therefore it is my earne&s;t reque&s;t to all of you, who are ei|ther Parents, Ma&s;ters, or any otherwi&s;e concerned in the e|ducation of youth, to be often putting them in mind of tho&s;e things which are contained herein. And whereas your own good examples through the Ble&s;&s;ing of God will be mo&s;t a|vailable to beget in them a due &s;en&s;e of their Duty, and render this advice the more effectual, let me therefore in|treat you al&s;o to take care that the practice of your own lives be conformable unto it.</P>
<P>For it is not ea&s;ie to &s;uppo&s;e that this &s;mall treati&s;e wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l have its due influence upon the minds of the younger &s;ort, while you that are the Elders &s;hall behave your &s;elves di|rectly contrary thereunto.</P>
<PB REF="3">
<P> But con&s;ider, I be&s;eech you, what a joyful and plea&s;ant thing it will be when once we can be &s;o happy as to be perfectly united in the &s;ame mind, and in the &s;ame judgment, in reference to the&s;e things; making it our Bu&s;ine&s;s to glorify God by a chearful ob&s;ervance of our Bapti&s;mal vow, by duly &s;anctifying the Lords Day, and by behaving our &s;elves with all Decency and Reverence, with all Fervency and Zeal, when we draw nigh unto God in tho&s;e places which are &s;et a part for his publick Wor&s;hip.</P>
<P>Do you think it would not be a more lovely &s;ight, and more plea&s;ing to God as well as Man, to behold a whole Congregation offering up their Supplications and Prayers to God, with an humility both of Soul and Body, and pro&s;trating them&s;elves before the Throne of Grace, with a pure heart and humble voice, accompanying the Mini&s;ter in the &s;everal parts of Divine Service as the Church directs, and to have every one with a audiable voice, heartily &s;aying <HI>Amen</HI> at the end of ever Prayer, to te&s;tify his con&s;ent and Faith. Would not this be a more lovely &s;ight, I &s;ay, than to have the greate&s;t part of a Congregation in different po&s;tures, &s;ome standing, others &s;itting, a few kneeling, and many never &s;o much as once opening their Lips, that their mouths may &s;hew forth Gods prai&s;e.</P>
<P>You cannot be ignorant with what frequency and earne&s;t|ne&s;s, I have both privately and publickly recommended the&s;e things to your con&s;ideration, and thanks be to God there is &s;omething more of Decency and Reverence to be &s;een, than there was formerly; but yet there is a great deal &s;till to be amended; and in order to this end, I have put this little Book into your hands, which if you will be &s;o kind as to per|u&s;e and practice, I doubt not but you will thereby come to glorify God, and edify one another more than many of you have hitherto done; which, that you may do, is the hearty prayer of</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>Your a&s;&s;ured Friend, and Loving Pa&s;tor,</HI> Jo. Birket.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<HEAD>The God father's Advice to his Son.</HEAD>
<P>WHereas I have, together with &s;ome others, up|on the reque&s;t of your Parents, undertaken the office of a Surety for you at your Bapti&s;m; at which time it was given us in charge to &s;ee that you &s;hould be taught, &s;o &s;oon as you &s;hould be able to learn, what a &s;olemn vow, promi&s;e and profe&s;&s;ion you then made by us: I have endeavoured accord|ingly to di&s;charge my duty thus far, and have al&s;o advis'd you with all due reverence to frequent the publick wor&s;hip of God, giving diligent attention to the mini&s;try of his holy word and to prayer.</P>
<P>Whereas it was then al&s;o given us in charge to take care that you &s;hould be brought to the Bi&s;hop to be confirmed by him, &s;o &s;oon as you &s;hould be duly qualify'd for the &s;ame, I have advis'd you ac|cordingly to take the fir&s;t opportunity of ob&s;erving that holy ordinance.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e it is very probable that you may not &s;o well remember what you have &s;ome time heard, as what you &s;hall often read, therefore I have thought fit to compo&s;e this &s;mall Treati&s;e for your u&s;e, where|in I have taken in hand,</P>
<P N="1">1. To explain your Bapti&s;mal Vow, which in Con|firmation you are requir'd to take upon your&s;elf, &s;hewing you withal the po&s;&s;ibility of keeping it, and the obligation which you are under to ob&s;erve it.</P>
<P N="2">2. To &s;hew you in what manner you ought to be|have your&s;elf in the publick wor&s;hip of God, that &s;o your whole &s;ervice and your &s;elf al&s;o may be accept|ed, through the merits of his beloved Son.</P>
<P>And this I am the rather inclin'd to do at pre&s;ent, le&s;t you &s;hould be led away with the error of tho&s;e people, who boldly now adays exclaim again&s;t the&s;e things, to the very great decay of Chri&s;tian piety, and the &s;candal of tho&s;e who are truly religious.</P>
<P>For, &s;ay they, what man living is able to keep this vow; and from hence they conclude, that it's a vain
<PB N="2" REF="4"> and &s;inful thing for any one to make it in another's name.</P>
<P>Again, &s;ay they, what need is there of &s;o much exactne&s;s in our bodily ge&s;tures in Gods publick wor&s;hip, &s;ince he expects to be wor&s;hipp'd by us in &s;pirit and in truth.</P>
<P>The&s;e are &s;o plau&s;ible objections, that the genera|lity of Chri&s;tians are prejudic'd again&s;t the&s;e things; and hence it comes to pa&s;s, that as in mo&s;t Congre|gations there is &s;o much irreverence to be &s;een in time of divine &s;ervice, &s;o in mo&s;t places there are &s;o few that are willing to undertake the office of Sure|ties for Children at their Bapti&s;m, fewer that make tho&s;e an&s;wers in the Childs name which they &s;hould do with an audible voice, and fewer yet who make any con&s;cience of di&s;charging their duty afterwards, but come to the Font as if they had nothing el&s;e to do but to &s;tand &s;ilent there, tho afterwards they can loudly contribute to all the fooli&s;h mirth among their neighbours.</P>
<P>And therefore I &s;hall now proceed&punc;</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. of all to explain the Bapti&s;mal Vow.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. To prove unto you the po&s;&s;ibility of keeping it.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. To &s;hew you how great an Obligation you lye under to ob&s;erve it.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Therefore whereas you promi&s;ed by us to re|nounce the Devil, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> you mu&s;t know, that by re|nouncing any thing is meant a declaring again&s;t it, or a for&s;aking it, and re&s;olving to have no more to do with it, a refu&s;ing to comply with it, or to be go|vern'd by it.</P>
<P>And thus our Church has explain'd the word in the fir&s;t interrogatory to the Sureties. For, &s;ays the Mini&s;ter unto them, <HI>Do&s;t thou in the name of this Child renounce the Divil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous de&s;ires of the &s;ame, and the carnal de&s;ires of the fle&s;h, &s;o that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them?</HI> To which they are required to make an&s;wer and &s;ay, I renounce them all. By which is meant, that who&s;oever Covenants with God to be his faithful Servant, does thereby oblige
<PB REF="4"> him&s;elf not to be at Satans beck, nor led by the vain cu&s;toms of the world, or the lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h.</P>
<P>And in this &s;en&s;e we find the word <HI>renounce</HI> us'd by St. <HI>Paul,</HI> 2 <HI>Ep. to Cor.</HI> 4. <HI>ch.</HI> 2. where &s;peaking in vindication of him&s;elf, he declares that he had not been &s;lothful in the work of the Mini&s;try, but had <HI>renounced</HI> the hidden things of di&s;hone&s;ty, <HI>i. e.</HI> he di&s;dained to have any thing to do with tho&s;e ba&s;e Arts and cunning Tricks, which &s;ome others made u&s;e of in handling the word of God.</P>
<P>So that in promi&s;ing <HI>to renounce the Devil, the World, and the Fle&s;h,</HI> you declared by us, that you would op|po&s;e all their temptations, and no way comply with them to the di&s;honour of God, and the de&s;truction of your Soul.</P>
<P N="2">2. Whereas you promi&s;ed al&s;o by us to believe all tho&s;e fundamental Doctrines of Chri&s;tianity, which are briefly comprehended in that form of &s;ound words which is called the Apo&s;tles Creed, I cannot &s;uppo&s;e that there is any nece&s;&s;ity for explaining that part of your Bapti&s;mal Vow in this &s;mall Treati&s;e, becau&s;e as there are no great difficulties in it, &s;o there are no great di&s;putes about it, it being generally re|ceived in the Chri&s;tian Church by men of all per&s;wa|&s;ions, how different &s;oever from one another in ma|ny other points.</P>
<P>However, this one thing I cannot omit letting you know, <HI>viz.</HI> that you are &s;o to believe all the&s;e Articles, as to take care that the practice of your life and conver&s;ation be an&s;werable to all tho&s;e things which you profe&s;s to believe.</P>
<P>That is to &s;ay, you mu&s;t &s;o believe in God as to dread his almighty power and greatne&s;s, and yet adore and love him for his immen&s;e mercy and good|ne&s;s. You mu&s;t &s;o believe in Je&s;us Chri&s;t as to walk according to tho&s;e excellent rules of his holy Go&s;pel which he has given us; and you mu&s;t &s;o believe in the Holy Gho&s;t, as not to grieve him by following any vicious or idle cour&s;es; and thus in reference to all the other Articles of our Chri&s;tian Faith, you mu&s;t &s;o reflect upon them as to be admoni&s;hed thereby of
<PB N="4" REF="5"> your duty, and effectually moved to the performance of it. And now</P>
<P N="3">3. Wheteas you promi&s;ed al&s;o by us <HI>to keep Gods holy will and commandments, and to walk in the &s;ame all the days of your life,</HI> it is requi&s;ite that I give you a more large explication of this part of the Bapti&s;mal vow, becau&s;e there are &s;o many and &s;o great mi&s;takes a|mong Chri&s;tians about it.</P>
<P>You mu&s;t know therefore that you are not hereby to under&s;tand a perfect and un&s;inning obedience, for it is utterly impo&s;&s;ible for any man to live, without being guily of di&s;obedience to God upon many ac|counts; but by keeping the Commandments of God now under the Go&s;pel is meant our u&s;ing the mo&s;t &s;incere endeavours to do tho&s;e things which God has required, being unfeignedly &s;orrowful for all our frailties and imperfections, heartily begging Gods pardon through Chri&s;t for what we have done ami&s;s, and con&s;cientiou&s;ly putting our holy re&s;olutions of new obedience into practice, &s;till exerci&s;ing our faith, and relying upon Gods mercies in Chri&s;t Je&s;us to|wards us.</P>
<P>So that in acknowledging our &s;elves bound to keep Gods holy will and commandments, and to walk in the &s;ame all the days of our life, we do not in the lea&s;t mean that our good works are meritorious, or that we can be &s;av'd purely through any the mo&s;t ex|cellent works of righteou&s;ne&s;s which we can per|form, but our obedience to the Go&s;pel is required, as the be&s;t te&s;timony of the &s;incerity of our faith.</P>
<P>And hence it is that our Saviour is &s;aid <HI>Heb.</HI> 5. 9. <HI>to be the author of eternal Salvation to all that obey him.</HI></P>
<P>Let no man therefore deceive you, by extolling faith to the di&s;paragement of good works; for as St. <HI>John</HI> has told us, 1 <HI>Ep.</HI> 5. 3. that <HI>our keeping the commandments of God is the be&s;t evidence of our love to him,</HI> &s;o St. <HI>Paul</HI> has taught us, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 2. 10. <HI>that we are Gods workman&s;hip, created in Chri&s;t Je&s;us unto good works, that we &s;hould walk in them.</HI></P>
<P>In like manner St <HI>Peter,</HI> 2 <HI>Ep.</HI> 1. 5, 6. tells us we mu&s;t not think it &s;ufficient <HI>that we are made partakers of</HI>
<PB N="5" REF="5"> <HI>the Divine nature, having e&s;caped the corruption that is in the world through lu&s;t; but</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>be&s;ides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith vertue, and to vertue, know|ledge,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>for if the&s;e things be in you and abound they make you that ye &s;hall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> And thus (my Son) having &s;hew'd you the true meaning of your Bap|ti&s;mal Vow, I &s;hall in the &s;econd place prove unto you the po&s;&s;ibility of keeping it.</P>
<P>And for this, I &s;uppo&s;e, there needs no better proof than Gods requiring the&s;e things of us in order to our Salvation, and his &s;etting before us the exam|ples of holy men in Scripture for our encouragement, and imitation of them in this matter.</P>
<P>For &s;o infinitely ju&s;t and merciful is our heavenly father, that he expects no more from us than he knows we are able to perform, through the gracious a&s;&s;i&s;tance of his holy &s;pirit, concurring with our own &s;incere endeavours.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place therefore, as to our renouncing the Devil, has he not commanded us by his Apo&s;tle St <HI>James,</HI> ch. 4. 7. <HI>to re&s;t&s;t</HI> him, promi&s;ing withal, that thereupon he &s;hall <HI>flee from us.</HI> Has he not enjoin'd us al&s;o by his Apo&s;tle St <HI>Paul,</HI> Eph. 4. 27. <HI>not to give place to the Devil.</HI> And in like manner has he not al&s;o told us by St <HI>Peter,</HI> 1 Ep. 5. 9. <HI>that we &s;hould re&s;i&s;t the Devil, being &s;tedfa&s;t in the faith.</HI></P>
<P>Now &s;urely if we are to re&s;i&s;t him, and to give no place unto him, it mu&s;t be po&s;&s;ible for us to renounce him, by making all oppo&s;ition again&s;t him, and all his temptations.</P>
<P>And if it be po&s;&s;ible for us thus to renounce the Devil, it cannot &s;urely be impo&s;&s;ible for us to re|nounce all &s;in, and particularly tho&s;e enormities which may be more peculiarly call'd the works of the Devil, as pride, malice, and envy, revenge, lying and cruelty, with &s;uch like, which are his daily practice.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e truly Chri&s;tian graces, of humility, charity, &s;peaking the truth from the heart, love, meekne&s;s and the like, which are plainly vi&s;ible in the lives of many Chri&s;tians, are evident proofs of this matter, it
<PB N="6" REF="6"> being utterly impo&s;&s;ible that they &s;hould be &s;o zealous as they are in the practices of the&s;e virtues, if they did not renounce and utterly abhor tho&s;e devili&s;h pra|ctices which are contrary thereunto.</P>
<P>From hence al&s;o we may infer the po&s;&s;ibility of <HI>re|nouncing the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and the &s;inful lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h.</HI> For as God has commanded us by St. <HI>Paul,</HI> Rom. 12. 2. <HI>not to be conformed to this world, but to be transform'd by the renewing of our minds, proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.</HI> So St. <HI>John,</HI> 1 Ep. 5. 4. plainly &s;uppo&s;es the po&s;&s;ibili|ty of doing this, for, &s;ays he, <HI>this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.</HI></P>
<P>And then as to our <HI>ronouncing all the &s;inful lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h;</HI> as we find St. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;uppo&s;ing the po&s;&s;ibility of doing this, when he exhorts us, 1 <HI>Ep.</HI> 2. 11. <HI>as &s;trangers and pilgrims to ab&s;tain from fle&s;hly lu&s;ts which war again&s;t the &s;oul,</HI> &s;o we find St. <HI>Paul</HI> making it nece&s;&s;ary in or|der to our attainment of everla&s;ting Salvation, telling us, Rom. 8. 13. <HI>that if we live after the fle&s;h we &s;hall dye, but if we through the &s;pirit do mortify the deeds of the body we &s;hall live.</HI></P>
<P>Finally, 'tis either po&s;&s;ible for us to keep this part of our Bapti&s;mal Vow, or el&s;e Chri&s;t has no true Di|&s;ciples in the world, for St. <HI>Paul</HI> has plainly told us, <HI>Gal.</HI> 5. 24. <HI>they that are Chri&s;ts have crucified the fle&s;h, with their affections and lu&s;ts.</HI> Now it's not to be doubt|ed but there are a great many &s;incere Chri&s;tians in the world, and con&s;equently 'tis po&s;&s;ible for us (if we be of that number) to mortifie our earthly mem|bers, and to crucifie our fle&s;hly lu&s;ts. Whatever therefore &s;ome people may pretend as to the impo&s;&s;i|bility of performing this part of our Bapti&s;mal Vow, 'tis certain they are under a great mi&s;take, &s;ince it is not po&s;&s;ible either for &s;in or Satan to prevail over us, but only &s;o far as we yield unto them; they may in|deed allure and entice, but they cannot hurt us, un|le&s;s we wilfully deliver over our &s;trength into the hands of the&s;e our enemies.</P>
<P>Would we but arm our &s;elves with the mind of Chri&s;t, firmly re&s;olving to &s;erve the will and plea&s;ure
<PB N="7" REF="6"> of the Almighty, we need not fear what &s;in and all the powers of Hell can do again&s;t us.</P>
<P>'Tis true, in our &s;elves we are weak, but that which gives us the &s;ure&s;t grounds for our hopes of Victory over the&s;e our Enemies, is the powerful a&s;|&s;i&s;tance of God him&s;elf, for if he be for us, who can be again&s;t us? and we may be &s;ure that he will not be wanting to us, if we earne&s;tly &s;eek after him, for he never fails to help tho&s;e that are engag'd again&s;t his Enemies, but will certainly derive that &s;trength and power into his People, which will at length make them more than Conquerors through his beloved Son.</P>
<P>Let me therefore advi&s;e you (my Son) to be &s;trong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, do but u&s;e your be&s;t endeavours to mortifie the old man, and to crucifie the Fle&s;h with its affections and lu&s;ts, to &s;ubdue all tho&s;e outward vices of Luxury and Wan|tonne&s;s, Revenge, Inju&s;tice, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and to ab&s;tain from all appearance of evil, withdrawing the fuel of any vice, which you are in danger of, and con&s;tantly applying your &s;elf unto God by prayer; and then you need not que&s;tion but you &s;hall break Satans head, however he may be able to brui&s;e your heel, tho' you may &s;uffer a little by him, yet at la&s;t you &s;hall be victorious over him.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd place, whereas we al&s;o promis'd in your name, that you &s;hould believe all the Articles of the Chri&s;tian Faith, I &s;hall not need to in&s;i&s;t upon proving the po&s;&s;ibility of your believing them, there being nothing that I know of contained in that Creed, but what all Chri&s;tians of what per&s;wa&s;ion &s;oever do con&s;ent unto.</P>
<P>I &s;hall therefore now pa&s;s to the third and la&s;t part of your Bapti&s;mal Vow, <HI>which is to keep Gods holy Will and Commandments, and to walk in the &s;ame all the days of your Life.</HI></P>
<P>Now that there is no more impo&s;&s;ibility in the performance of this, than the other parts of this &s;o|lemn vow, we have the plain Te&s;timony of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, who for our greater encouragement has told us, <HI>Mat.</HI> 11. 28, 29. <HI>that his commands are &s;o</HI>
<PB N="8" REF="7"> <HI>far from being intolerable, that they are ea&s;y and full of Comfort, for,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>take my yoke upon you and learn of me, and ye &s;hall find re&s;t unto your Souls, for my yoke is ea&s;y and my burthen is light.</HI></P>
<P>And St. <HI>John</HI> the beloved di&s;ciple in like manner a&s;&s;ures us that as our keeping the Commandments of God is the be&s;t evidence of our love to him, &s;o they are all rea&s;onable and every way &s;uitable to the na|ture of mankind, as 1 <HI>Ep.</HI> 5. 3. <HI>this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments, and his Commandments are not grievous.</HI></P>
<P>And now altho the&s;e Texts of Scripture might be &s;ufficient, one would think, to put the matter beyond all di&s;pute, yet becau&s;e it is po&s;&s;ible you may meet with &s;ome unrea&s;onable men, who will be ready to ask you as they have done me, whether there was e|ver any man in the World that was able to do the&s;e things; I &s;hall now give &s;ome few examples of good and pious men, who (as we may conclude from what is &s;aid of them) found it po&s;&s;ible through the grace of God to renounce the Devil, the World and the Fle&s;h, and to walk before God in purity and holine&s;s of Life, yielding &s;uch an uniform obedience to all his Commands as he was plea&s;ed to accept of.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place therefore, may we not rea&s;onably &s;uppo&s;e that <HI>Noah</HI> did this, it being &s;aid of him, <HI>Gen.</HI> 6. 9. <HI>that he was a ju&s;t man, and perfect in his generation, and that he walked with God.</HI></P>
<P>And what rea&s;on have we to doubt of <HI>Abraham</HI>'s doing the &s;ame thing, who as he was the father of the faithful, &s;o he manife&s;ted the &s;incerity of his faith by the uniformity of his obedience; for as St. <HI>James</HI> tells us, <HI>ch.</HI> 2. <HI>v.</HI> 22. <HI>Faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect.</HI></P>
<P>In like manner, may we not conclude the &s;ame thing of <HI>Job,</HI> of whom the Lord him&s;elf was plea&s;ed to give this character, <HI>ch.</HI> 1. 8. <HI>that there was none like him in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and e&s;chewed evil.</HI></P>
<P>And tho Satan moved God again&s;t him, as it is &s;aid <HI>ch.</HI> 2. 3. <HI>to de&s;troy him without a cau&s;e,</HI> yet the Lord
<PB N="9" REF="7"> would not do it, for he &s;aw that notwith&s;tanding all tho&s;e afflictions which were befallen him, he &s;till held fa&s;t his Integrity.</P>
<P>And what &s;hall we &s;ay of <HI>David,</HI> unto whom as we read, <HI>Acts</HI> 13. 22. the Lord him&s;elf gave te&s;ti|mony, <HI>and &s;aid I have found</HI> David <HI>the Son of</HI> Je&s;&s;e, <HI>a man after my own heart.</HI></P>
<P>'Tis true, he grievou&s;ly offended God more than once, but then it is to be con&s;idered, that the &s;ince|rity of his repentance made amends for all. And we have no rea&s;on to doubt, but that God was plea&s;ed to accept of his hearty &s;orrow, in&s;tead of inno|cency.</P>
<P>Now if the&s;e and many other holy men under the Law, were able through the Divine a&s;&s;i&s;tance, &s;o to walk before God as to be approved of him, how little rea&s;on have we to doubt of the po&s;&s;ibility of the &s;ame things being done by Chri&s;tians, now under the more glorious light and gracious di&s;pen&s;ation of the Go&s;pel? Why may not we now (as St <HI>Paul</HI> tells us he did) <HI>exerci&s;e our &s;elves in keeping a good Con&s;cience void of offence towards God and towards man?</HI> It mu&s;t be confe&s;s'd, that we are far from being able of our &s;elves to do the&s;e things, but as St <HI>Paul</HI> declared of him&s;elf, <HI>Phil.</HI> 4. 13. <HI>So we may a&s;&s;ure our &s;elves that we may be able to do all things through Chri&s;t that &s;trengthens us;</HI> and we need not in the lea&s;t doubt of his a&s;&s;i&s;tance, upon our humble reque&s;t at the Throne of Grace for the &s;ame.</P>
<P>So that now (my Son) you &s;ee how rea&s;onably tho&s;e people argue again&s;t our Bapti&s;mal Vow, which contains nothing in it but what God has commanded, and good men have practic'd. Let no man therefore deceive you, and &s;ay that we have promis'd more in your name than it's po&s;&s;ible for you to perform, for if you will but in good earne&s;t oppo&s;e the&s;e enemies of your Soul, the World, the Fle&s;h and the Devil, you'll find the ble&s;&s;ing of God concurring with your holy re&s;olutions; he that hath planted the&s;e things in your heart, will al&s;o water, and make them abun|dantly fruitful, to the confu&s;ion of Satan, the glory of God, and the eternal Salvation of your immortal Soul.</P>
<PB N="10" REF="8">
<P> And now having prov'd unto you, the po&s;&s;ibility of keeping your Bapti&s;mal Vow, I &s;hall in the</P>
<P>3d place &s;hew you how great an obligation you lye under to ob&s;erve it.</P>
<P>And to this purpo&s;e I might produce many argu|ments, and &s;undry Texts of Scripture, but becau&s;e I rather de&s;ire to inform your judgment than burthen your memory, I &s;hall comprehend what I have to &s;ay upon this head in as few words as I can. You mu&s;t therefore know, and be convinc'd of this, that your eternal happine&s;s depends upon your con&s;cien|tious ob&s;ervation of this vow. 'Tis impo&s;&s;ible for you to be made partakers of the mercies of God in Chri&s;t Je&s;us our Lord, without repentance, faith, and new obedience.</P>
<P>For, as our Saviour has told us, <HI>Mat.</HI> 19. 17. that <HI>if we will enter into life we mu&s;t keep the Commandments;</HI> &s;o St <HI>Paul</HI> has told us, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11. 6. <HI>that without Faith it is impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e God,</HI> And the &s;ame Apo&s;tle has al&s;o declar'd, Rom. 8. 13. <HI>That if we live after the fle&s;h we &s;hall dye, but if through the &s;pirit we do mortifie the deeds of the body, we &s;hall live.</HI> For the&s;e are the terms of the Covenant of grace between God and us, that he will be graciou&s;ly pleas'd to be&s;tow upon us the par|don of our &s;ins, and everla&s;ting life; but it is upon this condition, that we perform our part of the Co|venant, which i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> to believe, and to do tho&s;e things that we have promi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">'d in our Bapti&s;m.</P>
<P>And this is &s;o plain, that I do not think there is any need of in&s;i&s;ting upon the proof of it, becau&s;e in all Covenants the party promi&s;ing any benefits or priviledges, is no farther oblig'd to make them good, than the other party performs the duties promis'd and required on his part.</P>
<P>So that as you love your own Soul, and de&s;ire to be for ever happy in the life to come, it highly con|cerns you to be very mindful of your Bapti&s;mal Vow, and careful to ob&s;erve it.</P>
<P>But withal I would entreat you &s;eriou&s;ly to con&s;i|der this one thing, that Je&s;us Chri&s;t came into the World, and &s;uffered the cur&s;ed death of the
<PB N="11" REF="8"> Cro&s;s, on purpo&s;e to purifie us; and therefore &s;hall we &s;till continue in our filthine&s;s and impurities? he gave him&s;elf for us, at it's &s;aid, Titus 2. 14. <HI>that he might red<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">em us from all iniquity, and purify unto him&s;elf a peculiar people zealous of good works;</HI> and how then can we ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e the face to delight in &s;in? why then &s;hould we thus prejudiee our own Souls? why &s;hould we de&s;troy our &s;elves, after all the care and pains that our Ble&s;&s;ed Lord has been at to &s;ave us?</P>
<P>Have we more love for Satan than we have for God, that we &s;hould make a &s;cruple of renouncing the Devil both in our words and works? have we more affection for &s;in that will ruin us, than for ho|line&s;s, that will be a means to &s;ave us? through Chri&s;t we are made the Children of God by Adoption, and heirs through Grace of his Everla&s;ting Kingdom, and &s;hall we be &s;uch fools as to &s;ell our Birth-right, like <HI>E&s;au,</HI> for one &s;inful mor&s;el, and to de&s;troy both Souls and Bodies for evermore.</P>
<P>Let me entreat you (my Son) to lay the&s;e things &s;eriou&s;ly to heart, and be per&s;waded &s;o to lead your life here, that you may be for ever happy in the life to come; for as you may learn from the words of the Apo&s;tle, 1 Cor. 15. la&s;t, <HI>if you <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e &s;tedfa&s;t and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, you may be a&s;&s;ured that your labour &s;hall n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> be in vain in the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>So that altho it be certain th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> is no other Sacri|fice now under the Go&s;pel, b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> that of Chri&s;t up|on the Cro&s;s, which can be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uf<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">icient to &s;atisfy Gods ju&s;tice, expiate our &s;in and obtain Eternal Redemption for us, yet St. <HI>Paul</HI> teaches us, Rom. 12. 1. <HI>that the pre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ng our B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">iving Sacr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">fice holy acceptable unto God is our r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">&s;onable <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> vice:</HI> So that al|tho the &s;acrifice of our &s;elves wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch we ought to of|fer up to God in keeping our Bapti&s;mal Vow cannot procure Salvation, yet it is ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary for our reception of it. And therefore in&s;tead of li&s;tning to tho&s;e per&s;ons who are wont to argue a|gain&s;t the po&s;&s;ibility of their duty, and like the faint|hearted
<PB N="12" REF="9"> <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI> (when they return'd from taking a view of the promi&s;ed Land) cry out, who &s;hall be a|ble to &s;tand before the&s;e mighty Gyants? how is it po&s;&s;ible for any man to keep this Vow? in&s;tead of gi|ving an ear to &s;uch people, I &s;ay, if you will give up your &s;elf in earne&s;t to the practice of holine&s;s, and heartily pray to the Lord for the gracious a&s;&s;i&s;tance of his holy Spirit, tho you may probably find &s;ome dif|ficulty in your fir&s;t on&s;et, yet it's certain that when once you are got into the way of it, you'll find the practice of holine&s;s one of the ea&s;ie&s;t and plea&s;ante&s;t things in the whole world, you'll take no greater plea&s;ure in any thing than in denying your &s;elf, nor find any greater comfort in the world, than in get|ting the victory over it.</P>
<P>And now I &s;hall conclude this head with tho&s;e ex|cellent words of our Church, at the latter end of the office for Bapti&s;m, where we are told that <HI>Bapti&s;m doth <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">pre&s;ent unto us our profe&s;&s;ion, which is to follow the example of our Saviour Chri&s;t, and to be made like unto him, that as he died and ro&s;e again for us, &s;o &s;hould we who are baptiz'd dye for &s;in, and ri&s;e again unto righteou&s;ne&s;s, continually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily pro|ceeding in all virtue, and godline&s;s of living.</HI></P>
<P>And now I hope you will &s;ee no rea&s;on for neg|lecting to be confirm'd, but (as our Church has ex|plain'd the meaning of this word) that <HI>being now come to the years of di&s;cretion and under&s;tanding, what your God-fa|thers and God-mothers promi&s;ed for you in Bapti&s;m, you your &s;elf with your own mouth and con&s;ent openly, before the Church, will ratify and confirm the &s;ame, and al&s;o promi&s;e that by the Grace of God, you will evermore endeavour your &s;elf, faithfully to ob&s;erve &s;uch things as you by your own confe&s;&s;ion have a&s;&s;ented unto.</HI></P>
<P>Here's nothing impo&s;&s;ible (as I have &s;hew'd) re|quired of you, nothing that's truly difficult to a wil|ling mind, a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the Grace of Gods holy Spirit, which is never wanting to tho&s;e that heartily &s;eek af|ter it: nothing finally but what is attended with the greate&s;t comfort and &s;atisfaction of mind in this life, and which will render us capable through Je&s;us Chri&s;t of eternal glory in the life to come.</P>
<PB N="13" REF="9">
<P> When&s;oever therefore you &s;hall be inform'd of the Bi&s;hops intention to confirm the youth of this Dioce&s;s, I de&s;ire you not to neglect the fir&s;t opportunity, but take the be&s;t care you can to prepare your &s;elf for it, by fa&s;ting and prayer &s;ome time before, &s;eriou&s;ly me|ditating upon that &s;olemn vow, which you are to re|new in the pre&s;ence of Almighty God.</P>
<P>And when the time comes (if no unavoidable acci|dent &s;hall hinder you) repair to the place appointed with all po&s;&s;ible &s;eriou&s;ne&s;s, and compo&s;edne&s;s of mind, there &s;tanding before the Bi&s;hop give diligent attention to him, while he asks you, together with the re&s;t, <HI>whether you do in the pre&s;ence of God, and that Congregation, renew the &s;olemn promi&s;e and vow that was made in your name at your Bapti&s;m, ratifying and confirming the &s;ame in your own per&s;on, and acknowledging your &s;elf to be|lieve, and to do all tho&s;e things which your Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for you;</HI> and then make an|&s;wer with an audible, but yet humble voice, and tru|ly Chri&s;tian courage, &s;aying <HI>I do.</HI></P>
<P>After this, be &s;ure that you heartily join with the Bp in his prayers to God for you, and all that are then confirm'd, and when he &s;hall lay his hand upon your head, praying over you while you kneel before him, let your devout affections go along with your words, &s;aying <HI>Amen</HI> heartily to that, as to all the other Pray|ers of the Church.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, when the Bp has pronounc'd the ble&s;|&s;ing, &s;ee that you depart with a joyful and glad heart, and yet humbly prai&s;ing God in your mind, that he has &s;par'd your life till that time, and given you an opportunity of engaging your &s;elf per&s;onally in his Service, from which you mu&s;t re&s;olve to let no temp|tation of the world, the Devil, or the fle&s;h, ever draw you, but that you will continue Chri&s;ts faithful Sol|dier and Servant to your lives end.</P>
<P>And now, my Son, having thus explain'd your Bap|ti&s;mal vow, &s;hew'd you the po&s;&s;ibility of keeping it, and the ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity there is for you &s;o to do, in order to your Everla&s;ting Salvation; I have &s;everal o|ther things to recommend to your pious con&s;iderati|on,
<PB N="14" REF="10"> and which (as I have opportunity) I &s;hall either do by word or writing, but at pre&s;ent, I &s;hall only give you my advice in reference to your con&s;tant attendance upon the publick wor&s;hip of God, and the manner of your behaviour therein.</P>
<P>For having ob&s;erv'd (not without great trouble of &s;pirit) that as &s;ome are &s;o luke-warm in Religion, that they do not care how &s;eldom they go to Church, &s;o they do not matter how irreverently they behave them&s;elves in the Hou&s;e of God, and con&s;equently re|ceive little or no benefit by their being there; I have thought it convenient to give you &s;ome few in&s;tructi|ons in the&s;e matters al&s;o, which if you will be care|ful to ob&s;erve and practi&s;e, you may then through the Grace of God be edify'd by frequenting the Re|ligious A&s;&s;emblies of his People, and by leading the re&s;t of your life accordingly, may at la&s;t obtain the eternal Salvation of your precious Soul.</P>
<P N="1">1. Therefore as to your giving con&s;tant attendance upon the publick wor&s;hip of God, I cannot but think it highly nece&s;&s;ary in this loo&s;e and degenerate age, to give you my advice in this matter, it being com|monly ob&s;erv'd, that many young people following the ill example of tho&s;e, who are old enough to have more knowledge than they &s;eem to have by their way of living, are very negligent herein, either loytering at home, rambling about the Fields, or gadding from hou&s;e to hou&s;e, when they &s;hould be waiting upon God in the Hou&s;e of Prayer.</P>
<P>You mu&s;t know therefore, that whereas God has allow'd us &s;ix days in the week to labour in, and to do all that we have to do, in reference to our world|ly concerns, commanding us to re&s;t the &s;eventh day, he never intended hereby, that we &s;hould give up our &s;elves to idlene&s;s and vanity on that day, or to &s;pend it in drow&s;ine&s;s and &s;leep, much le&s;s in &s;ports and drunkenne&s;s, but the will and command of the Lord is, that we &s;hould remember to keep it Holy, <HI>i. e.</HI> to &s;pend that day in religious exerci&s;e, giving up our &s;elves to the &s;ervice of God, both publickly and privately, but each in its proper &s;ea&s;on.</P>
<PB N="15" REF="10">
<P> Thus we find that as the &s;eventh day from the beginning was religiou&s;ly ob&s;erved, in memory of the Creator of all things, &s;o the fir&s;t day of the week, ever &s;ince the Apo&s;tles times, hath been piou&s;ly ob|&s;erved in the Chri&s;tian Church in memory of our Saviours re&s;urrection, as being the con&s;ummation of the great work of our Redemption.</P>
<P>Let me therefore advi&s;e you be very careful in &s;pending the Lords Day, in &s;uch a manner as that God may be thereby mo&s;t glorified, and this certainly you cannot do better than employing your &s;elf in the publick prayers, and other religious exerci&s;es toge|ther with the congregation.</P>
<P>For however private devotions, when duly per|formed in their proper &s;ea&s;on, may be accepted of God, yet we do edify one another, as well as Glori|fy God, mo&s;t by the mutual examples and union of our publick devotions.</P>
<P>So that the Lord having been &s;o liberal as to allow us &s;ix days for our &s;elves, re&s;erving but one in the week for his more &s;olemn wor&s;hip and &s;ervice, how can any of us have the face to rob him of that day by &s;pending it any otherwi&s;e, than to his honour and glory.</P>
<P>Satan, I doubt not, will be ready to tempt you &s;ometimes in this ca&s;e, as he tempted our fir&s;t pa|rents in reference to the forbidden Fruit, and as he then upbraided God with niggardline&s;s, in that he had not given them freedom to eat of all the Trees in the Garden, in&s;inuating as if the Lord had re|&s;trainted them from the u&s;e of that one, out of &s;ome &s;elf-end; for, &s;aid the Serpent, the Lord doth know, that in the day you eat thereof, you &s;hall be as God, knowing good and evil. I doubt not, I &s;ay, but as Satan dealt with our fir&s;t parents in reference to the forbidden fruit, &s;o may he deal with you, in reference to the Lords Day, in&s;inuating as if it were very hard, that you may not take your liberty, and recre|ate your &s;elf on that day, being tir'd with the toyl and labour of all the week be&s;ide.</P>
<PB N="16" REF="11">
<P> But, my Son, have a care of Satans &s;ubtilty, and let the con&s;ideration of Gods bounty to us in the con|cern, an&s;wer all the &s;ly &s;ugge&s;tions of the wicked one.</P>
<P>For if God had been plea&s;ed to allow us but one day for our u&s;e, and re&s;erve &s;ix wholly for his own, we &s;hould have had no rea&s;on to have complained, he being our Creator, and we the work of his hands, but &s;ince he has been &s;o liberal as to grant us &s;ix days for our Worldly bu&s;ine&s;s, and re&s;erved one only wholly to him&s;elf, we are the mo&s;t unrea&s;onable creatures in the World, if we are not content with &s;o liberal a proportion&punc; and &s;trive to the utmo&s;t of our power to glorify him on that day, according to his own appointment.</P>
<P>When&s;oever therefore you are tempted to ab&s;ent your &s;elves from the publick Wor&s;hip of God, give no entertainment to any &s;uch temptation, but reject it with an indignation. like that of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> to his wan|ton mi&s;tre&s;s, and &s;ay, how can I do this great wick|edne&s;s and &s;in again&s;t God.</P>
<P>Have a care of being &s;o unju&s;t and ungrateful to God, upon whom you have your whole dependance, as to be &s;educed by the ill example of tho&s;e profane people in this licentious age, who are &s;o in&s;en&s;ible of the grace and mercy of God in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, that altho without that they are liable to peri&s;h every mo|ment, but through the Divine patience and forbear|ance are &s;uffered to live year after year, yet cannot find in their hearts to &s;pend that one day in the Lords &s;ervice, which he has purpo&s;ely &s;et apart for his own more &s;olemn wor&s;hip. Our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, as St. <HI>Luke</HI> tells in the parable of the wi&s;e Steward, <HI>Luke</HI> 12. 43. <HI>has pronounced the Servant ble&s;&s;ed, whom the Lord when he cometh &s;hall find faithful,</HI> and con&s;cienti|ou&s;ly di&s;charging his duty; but what &s;hall become then of tho&s;e profane People, whom the Lord if he &s;hould come to judgement, according to the ancient tradition of the Church upon the Lords day, &s;hall find either &s;leeping upon their Beds, or bu&s;ying them&s;elves about the World, making provi&s;ion for the Fle&s;h
<PB N="17" REF="11"> to fulfil the lu&s;ts thereof, or any way gratifying their &s;en&s;ual appetites, in&s;tead of doing the work of the Lord. Do you think that if that terrible day of the Lord &s;hall come at &s;uch a time, it will not be infinitely more comfortable to be found upon your Knees, lift|ing up your Heart in prayer to God, and prai&s;ing him with a chearful voice, in giving attention to the mi|ni&s;try of his holy Word, or finally in exerci&s;ing your &s;elf &s;ome way or other to the glory of God.</P>
<P>Thus having given you my advice in reference to your con&s;tant attendance upon the publick wor&s;hip of God, I &s;hall in the 2d place, &s;hew you in what manner you ought to behave your &s;elf in the Congregation of Gods people, that &s;o your going thither may be for the better and not for the wor&s;e.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, therefore you mu&s;t con&s;ider this, that when you go to &s;erve the Lord in tho&s;e places, which are &s;et apart for Divine Wor&s;hip, you then go into Gods more e&s;pecial pre&s;ence. For &s;o <HI>David</HI> te&s;tifies, <HI>P&s;.</HI> 100. 1, 2. <HI>Where he exhorts the Jews to prai&s;e God the more chearfully in the Temple, as being the &s;pecial place of his gra|cious pre&s;ence. O come,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>let us &s;ing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoice in the &s;trength of our Salvation. L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t us come before his pre&s;ence with thank&s;giving, and &s;hew our &s;elves glad in him with P&s;alms.</HI> And becau&s;e we &s;hould not think that he is le&s;s pre&s;ent now in the religious A&s;&s;emblies of Chri&s;tians than he was in the Jewi&s;h Temple, our Saviour has expre&s;ly declared, <HI>Mat.</HI> 18. 20. <HI>that when two or three are gathered together in his name, he is there in the mid&s;t of them.</HI> And you may be &s;ure, that if he will vouch&s;afe to honour &s;o &s;mall a number with his pre&s;ence, as two or three &s;o a&s;&s;em|bled to do him wor&s;hip and &s;ervice, he will not deny his gracious pre&s;ence to the greate&s;t Congre|gation.</P>
<P>And upon the account of &s;uch places being dedicated to the &s;ervice of God, and of his being more e&s;pecially pre&s;ent in them, upon the&s;e accounts I &s;uppo&s;e it was that St <HI>Paul</HI> reproved the <HI>Corinthians</HI> &s;o &s;everely for their rude behaviour in the Church, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11. 22. <HI>what,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>have you not hou&s;es to eat and to drink in, or de&s;pi&s;e ye the Church of God?</HI></P>
<PB N="18" REF="12">
<P> Your heart therefore being thus prepo&s;e&s;&s;e&s;t with an awful dread and reverence of the Divine pre&s;ence in the hou&s;e of prayer, I would advi&s;e you in the 2d place to make a &s;utable preparation before you enter into the hou&s;e of God.</P>
<P>See that you order your nece&s;&s;ary bu&s;ine&s;s therefore every Lords Day in the morning, &s;o as that you may go to Church before the beginning of Divine Ser|vice.</P>
<P>But before you go, among other preparations, I ad|vi&s;e you to read over the P&s;alms, the fir&s;t and &s;econd Le&s;&s;ons, as al&s;o the Epi&s;tle and Go&s;pel appointed for that day, and as you read, ob&s;erve and meditate upon the mo&s;t material pa&s;&s;ages contained therein, and if there be any thing more remarkable than or|dinary, which you do not under&s;tand, be not a&s;ha|med to de&s;ire information of any in the Family that may be able to give it.</P>
<P>By this means you will be better able to read tho&s;e portions of Scripture with the Mini&s;ter in time of di|vine &s;ervice more attentively, and in all probability the Holy Spirit may then dart more pious thoughts into your mind, and more enlighten your under&s;tanding than it did upon your fir&s;t reading them over in private.</P>
<P>Having thus exerci&s;ed your &s;elf till it is time for you to go to Church, &s;o &s;oon as you are got thither, &s;ee that you do not loyter in the Church yard, neither make it your bu&s;ine&s;s to di&s;cour&s;e with others about any worldly matters (unle&s;s it be a word or two of very great nece&s;&s;ity) for you will be in great danger of having tho&s;e things run in your mind, and di&s;tract your thoughts in time of divine &s;ervice, which you have much di&s;cour&s;ed of ju&s;t before.</P>
<P>Repair therefore to your Seat or u&s;ual place in the Church, and falling upon your Knees offer up to God this or the like prayer, with the mo&s;t devout affection, <HI>Holine&s;s O Lord becomes thine Hou&s;e for ever, and therefore I be&s;eech thee &s;o to a&s;&s;i&s;t me with thy holy Spirit, that I may offer unto thy divine Maje&s;ty &s;uch a lively &s;acrifice of prayer and prai&s;es as may be accepted through thy beloved Son; and grant al&s;o, that I may &s;o hear thy holy word, and attend to the</HI>
<PB N="19" REF="12"> <HI>Doctrine of the preacher, that I may daily grow in grace and godline&s;s and &s;piritual &s;trength, thro our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, Amen.</HI> When you have thus privately begg'd the Divine a&s;&s;i&s;tance, you may then do well to exerci&s;e your &s;elf in pious meditations, or in read|ing &s;ome portion of Gods word, till the publick &s;er|vice of the Church begins, which that you may be the better able to join in with all your Heart and Soul, together with all tho&s;e devour Chri&s;tians, who make con&s;cience of waiting upon God in his holy Temple, I advi&s;e you in the</P>
<P>3d place, to be throughly acquainted with every part of the Common Prayer, which you may do it to your &s;atisfaction, by a frequent and &s;eri|ous peru&s;al, together with an impartial con&s;ideration thereof, for I am fully per&s;waded, that none are &s;o ready to de&s;pi&s;e it as tho&s;e who are lea&s;t acquainted with it.</P>
<P>I &s;hall not therefore now give you a particular account of its method, or of that admirable connexi|on, which is ob&s;ervable between the &s;everal parts of it, (for the&s;e things are already done by &s;ome pious and learned Divines of our Church,) but &s;hall only &s;how you the nece&s;&s;ity of that reverence, which is due to the Maje&s;ty of that great and glorious God, whom we are to wor&s;hip when we a&s;&s;emble our &s;elves together in tho&s;e places which are dedicated to his &s;ervice.</P>
<P>You mu&s;t know therefore that the Reverence which we owe to Almighty God is twofold.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Inward, which is that of our Souls.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Outward, which is that of our Bodies.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>In the fir&s;t place, when you come to wor&s;hip the Lord, you mu&s;t be &s;ure to &s;anctifie him in your Heart, yielding unto him that inward and &s;piritual wor&s;hip which is due to his infinite Maje&s;ty, and this you mu&s;t do by believing in him, fearing him, and loving him, with all your heart, and with all your mind, with all your &s;oul, and with all your &s;trength. For when our hearts are deeply affected with the love of God, our &s;ervice will be abundant|ly the more chearful.</P>
<PB N="20" REF="13">
<P> But yet we mu&s;t not &s;o love him as to neglect the getting our hearts al&s;o po&s;&s;e&s;t with an awful dread and reverence of his glorious Maje&s;ty, for <HI>David</HI> tells us in <HI>P&s;.</HI> 89. 7. <HI>that God is greatly to be feared in the Congregation of Saints, and to be had in reverence of all tho&s;e that are about him.</HI></P>
<P>When our hearts therefore are thus po&s;&s;e&s;t both with a reverential fear and love of God, we &s;hall then al&s;o be more careful to clean&s;e them from all impure and worldly thoughts, and fix them with due attention upon tho&s;e acts of Religion, wherein we are exercis'd.</P>
<P>Thus, as the more inward parts of <HI>Solomon</HI>'s Temple were &s;till more and more beautiful and glorious, &s;o we who profe&s;s Chri&s;tianity, and are &s;aid to be the Temple of the living God, &s;hould be very careful that all the thoughts and intentions of our hearts be holy and &s;piritual, every way &s;o prepared and beau|tify'd, that the Lord may be pleas'd to take up his re&s;idence in our hearts, when we draw nigh to &s;erve him. But then</P>
<P N="2">2. You mu&s;t have a care, that under a pretence of inward &s;anctity, you do not de&s;troy all out|ward decency; for as in the fir&s;t Commandment the Lord requires the inward and &s;piritual wor&s;hip of your heart, and therein doth more e&s;pecially de|light, &s;o in the &s;econd Commandment we are forbid to give any religious outward wor&s;hip to any o|ther.</P>
<P>Now by this we are to under&s;tand, that the Lord expects that homage from us; and challenges it as peculiarly due to him&s;elf becau&s;e his honour and au|thority are hereby upheld greatly in the world.</P>
<P>So that we mu&s;t not think it enough at all times to glorify God in our Spirits only, but upon &s;ome occa&s;ions, and e&s;pecially when God is publickly wor&s;hipped by us, we ought to glorify him in our Bodies al&s;o.</P>
<P>And the rea&s;on hereof, as St <HI>Paul</HI> has plainly told us, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6. 20. is becau&s;e he has not only created but redeemed both Soul and Body. <HI>Ye are bought with</HI>
<PB N="21" REF="13"> <HI>a price,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit, which are Gods.</HI></P>
<P>So that you &s;ee both Soul and Body &s;hould joyn to|gether in all tho&s;e acts of devotion whereby God is glorified.</P>
<P>For as to pretend that we can wor&s;hip God &s;uffici|ently with our Souls only, &s;hows too much irreverence and rudene&s;s in his pre&s;ence, &s;o to imagine that we have no more to do, than to be exact in all our out|ward ge&s;tures, is the greate&s;t Hypocri&s;y.</P>
<P>We have no rea&s;on, it's true, to doubt, but in &s;ome ca&s;es the Lord may accept the inward devotion of our hearts, when we are not in a Capacity, or have not an opportunity of giving any outward te&s;timonies of it; but we have no rea&s;on at all to hope for his acceptance of a few bare bodily actions, while our hearts are wholly unconcern'd in his &s;ervice.</P>
<P>Thus having &s;hewed you the nece&s;&s;ity both of that inward and outward reverence, which we owe to God in his publick wor&s;hip, I &s;hall in the next place take notice of tho&s;e particular expre&s;&s;ions of reverence to which we are obliged by the word of God, the rules of our Church agreeable thereunto, and to all which the practice of good and pious men in all ages have been conformable.</P>
<P>Now this outward reverence you mu&s;t know may either be expre&s;&s;ed by words or actions.</P>
<P>In words we reverence God (provided always that our Hearts go along with our Tongues) when we confe&s;s our &s;ins unto him, and offer up our prayers and prai&s;es with an audible Voice.</P>
<P>And this is undoubtedly a very great priviledge, that the whole Congregation in &s;ome parts of Divine &s;er|vice are admitted to joyn with the Mini&s;ter in of|fering up their devotions unto God, and we &s;hould rejoyce in this Liberty, e&s;pecially &s;ince by this means we te&s;tifie to one another, how ready we are with one Heart and one Mouth to glorify God.</P>
<P>And it is al&s;o to be con&s;ider'd, that the people bear|ing a part with the Mini&s;ter in the publick devotion may very much tend to the more inflaming one ano|thers
<PB N="22" REF="14"> devout affections, and to the better fixing our mind in a diligent attendance upon our duty, and &s;o to the rendring our devotions the more accept|able.</P>
<P>Under the Law, the people indeed were to bring their &s;acrifices and oblations to the Temple, but the Prie&s;ts only were to offer them up.</P>
<P>Whereas now under the gracious di&s;pen&s;ation of the Go&s;pel, the people are &s;o far become Prie&s;ts unto God, as to be admitted the honour of bearing a part together with the Prie&s;t in his publick wor&s;hip.</P>
<P>And to this great priviledge the works of St. <HI>Peter</HI> (as I &s;uppo&s;e) may have relation, 1 Ep. 2. 5. <HI>Where &s;peaking of the whole Congregation of Chri&s;tians,</HI> he tells us, <HI>that we are built up a &s;piritual hou&s;e, an holy Prie&s;thood, to offer up Spiritual &s;acrifices, acceptable to God by Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore you &s;hould be &s;ure to accompany the Mini&s;ter with a pure heart and humble voice unto the Throne of the Heavenly Grace, as in repeating the Confe&s;&s;ion and the Lord's Prayer after him, &s;o in making all &s;uch an&s;wers as you are directed by the Ru|brick throughout the whole &s;ervice, never omitting to &s;ay <HI>Amen,</HI> but thus in a fervent zeal &s;hutting up all your Prayers.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e I find that the generality of Chri&s;tians are negligent in this, to the end that you may not follow the ill examples of others, and be &s;o too, I &s;hall now take occa&s;ion to inform you rightly in this matter, by &s;hewing you,</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Of all, the meaning of the word <HI>Amen.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That the people of God in all ages of the Church have made u&s;e of this word in their publick devotion.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. How great a nece&s;&s;ity there is that this practice &s;hould be&s;till continued among us.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>In the fir&s;t place, as to this word <HI>Amen.</HI> It is the &s;ame in all Languages, and the people of all Nations upon Earth, make u&s;e of it at the conclu&s;ion of their Prayers.</P>
<P>And as to the meaning of it, it's cheifly twofold; oft it &s;ignifies either <HI>&s;o be it</HI> or <HI>&s;o it is.</HI> Sometime we <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Amen,</HI> and thereby expre&s;s our hearty de&s;ire that the
<PB N="23" REF="14"> thing which we have prayed for may be granted, and in this &s;en&s;e we u&s;e it at the end of all our prayers; &s;ometime al&s;o we u&s;e this word to te&s;tifie our confi|dence, and the declaration of our faith, a&s;&s;uring our &s;elves thereby that the things which we profe&s;s to believe are certainly true, and in this &s;en&s;e we u&s;e it after the Doxology, or <HI>Glory be to the Father, &amp;c.</HI> and the Creed. And in both the&s;e &s;en&s;es we find it us'd in Scripture, as I &s;hall &s;hew you, by ob&s;erving in the</P>
<P>2d place, that the people of God in all ages of the Church have made u&s;e of it in their publick devo|tion.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t of all, as to the Church of God under the legal di&s;pen&s;ation, we read <HI>Nehemiah</HI> 8. 6. that <HI>when Ezra ble&s;&s;ed the Lord the great God, all the people an&s;wer|ed Amen, lifting up their hands;</HI> and no doubt but their hearts were al&s;o lifted up with the greate&s;t fervency, as appeared by their doubling the expre&s;&s;ion, &s;aying <HI>Amen, Amen.</HI></P>
<P>Yea, we find <HI>Deut.</HI> 27. 14. that even when the Le|vites did u&s;e to perform divine &s;ervice, and declare the cur&s;e of God to be due to &s;uch and &s;uch &s;inners, the whole Congregation were to an&s;wer <HI>and &s;ay A|men, i. e.</HI> be it &s;o, or cur&s;ed be the man who does tho&s;e things. Thus they were to declare their abhorrence of tho&s;e things which were &s;o eminently liable to the cur&s;e of God.</P>
<P>And here by the way I cannot but ob&s;erve, that if all of us were duly &s;en&s;ible of the great indignation of God again&s;t tho&s;e &s;ins, again&s;t which the cur&s;e of God is denounc'd in his holy word, we &s;hould have a care of falling into, or however of per&s;evering im|penitently in any of tho&s;e &s;ins mention'd in the Commination, which is appointed to be read on <HI>A&s;h-Wedne&s;day,</HI> and then we &s;hould not &s;cruple to &s;ay <HI>Amen</HI> at the end of every &s;entence, as many do, fearing thereby to call for a cur&s;e upon them&s;elves. For tho in &s;aying <HI>Amen,</HI> we affirm with our own mouths the cur&s;e of God to be due to &s;uch &s;ins, which is no more than what <HI>David</HI> has declared <HI>P.</HI> 119.
<PB N="24" REF="15"> 21. &s;aying <HI>cur&s;ed are all they, that do err from thy Com|mandments,</HI> yet 'tis certain we &s;hall not be found liable to the cur&s;e, if we be not guilty of the &s;in; and if we be guilty, and per&s;evere therein impeni|tently, whether we &s;ay <HI>Amen</HI> or no, we &s;hall certain|ly be accur&s;ed at the la&s;t day, for as we read <HI>Mat.</HI> 25. 41. <HI>then &s;hall the Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth &s;ay unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cur&s;ed into everla&s;ting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his An|gels.</HI></P>
<P>But to return to the practice of the Jewi&s;h Church in &s;aying <HI>Amen,</HI> we find that they did not only u&s;e this word at the end of their Prayers, but in the con|clu&s;ion al&s;o of their P&s;alms and Hymns, as we read 1 <HI>Chr.</HI> 16. 36. for at the end of that P&s;alm, which <HI>Da|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">id</HI> had compos'd for the u&s;e of the Temple, all the people were required to &s;ay, <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
<P>Nor was it u&s;ed by the Jews only under the Law, but from the beginning of the Go&s;pel di&s;pen&s;ation it has been practis'd al&s;o by he Chri&s;tian Church.</P>
<P>That it was us'd in the Apo&s;tles times is evident 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14. 16. For there St <HI>Paul</HI> reproving tho&s;e who prayed at any time in a Language which the people did not under&s;tand, he u&s;es this as an argument to p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ove the unrea&s;onablene&s;s of that practice, becau&s;e t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e People, who under&s;tood not the Language, could not &s;ay <HI>Amen</HI> to &s;uch prayers, they could tnot give their con&s;ent to what they did not under&s;tand.</P>
<P>Nor did the Apo&s;tles only think &s;it to conclude all prayers with this word, but our Saviour was plea&s;ed al&s;o to teach us &s;o to do, for <HI>Mat.</HI> 6. 13. <HI>we find the Lords Prayer concluding with it.</HI></P>
<P>And as this was the practice of Gods people both under the Law, and in the beginning of the Go&s;pel di&s;pen&s;ation, &s;o it has been continued in the Church of Chri&s;t ever &s;ince, tho of late years through the great want of Zeal and true Devotion, it has been much neg|lected by us in this nation.</P>
<P>But how great a nece&s;&s;ity there is, that this anci|ent practice of all the peoples &s;aying <HI>Amen</HI> to the pray|yers of the Church, ought to be continued among us, I &s;hall now proceed in the</P>
<PB N="25" REF="15">
<P> 3d place to &s;how you. For whereas there are two things among &s;everal others nece&s;&s;arily required in prayer to make it acceptable unto God, <HI>viz.</HI> a fervent de&s;ire and lively Faith, we give a te&s;timony of both the&s;e in &s;aying <HI>Amen,</HI> but in neglecting this, we &s;eem to be as by-&s;tanders, and no way concerned in the things that are prayed for, nor in the &s;ervice which is performed.</P>
<P>And in truth how good &s;oever the prayers be, you have no rea&s;on to expect the benefit of them, unle&s;s you heartily joyn in them.</P>
<P>If another man writes a Letter in your name, you ought to &s;et your hand to it, ot make your mark to te&s;tify your con&s;ent unto that which is written; and thus if the Mini&s;ter prays for you, you ought to &s;et your Hand and Seal to his prayer (&s;uppo&s;ing the matter of it to be good) by &s;aying <HI>Amen</HI> to it, nor &s;hould you think it enough to &s;ay <HI>Amen</HI> to all the prayers of the Church, but you &s;hould al&s;o take delight in bearing a part with your brethren in making the Re&s;pon|&s;es, &s;inging P&s;alms, and in all other parts of Divine &s;ervice.</P>
<P>And this you will certainly do, when once you have got your heart &s;incerely affected with a &s;en&s;e of Gods infinite love and mercy toward you. For &s;o we find King <HI>David</HI> &s;peaking of him&s;elf, and telling us that the great experience which he had of Gods love to him, influenced him &s;o much, that he could not refrain from &s;inging prai&s;es to him. <HI>P&s;.</HI> 63. <HI>becau&s;e thy loving kindne&s;s is better than life, my lips &s;hall prai&s;e thee,</HI> again <HI>v.</HI> 5. <HI>my Soul &s;hall be &s;atisfied as with marrow and fatne&s;s when my mouth prai&s;eth thee with joyful lips.</HI></P>
<P>Nor did that pious King de&s;ire to be &s;ingular in this matter, for in <HI>P&s;.</HI> 95. <HI>v.</HI> 1. <HI>he encourages all o|thers to the like practice, &s;aying, O come let us &s;ing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoyce in the &s;trength of our Salvation.</HI></P>
<P>In the next place, as you are to reverence God by opening your lips, that your mouth may &s;hew forth his prai&s;e, &s;o you are to reverence him by your acti|ons and ge&s;tures, as by lifting up your hands and
<PB N="26" REF="16"> eyes in prayer to God, &s;tanding up at the recital of the Creed, Hymns and Go&s;pel; by kneeling, or at lea&s;t &s;tanding up in time of Prayer, and keeping your head uncovered all the time of divine &s;ervice; and while the Mini&s;ter is preaching, I &s;ay that you are to kneel, or at lea&s;t to &s;tand up in time of prayer, becau&s;e both are allowed to be agreeable to the word of God and the practice of good men: but I mu&s;t needs &s;ay that kneeling is much more commendable, and a better way of expre&s;&s;ing your humility, than &s;tanding up is when you pray to God.</P>
<P>In &s;ome ca&s;es, it's true &s;tanding up in time of prayer is not to be blamed, as in the ca&s;e of &s;ome natural infirmity, when a man cannot kneel with|out very great pain and unea&s;ine&s;s, or when a Congregation is &s;o much crowded, that it would be very inconvenient or impo&s;&s;ible to do it, or when the rules of the Church require it, as it does of the Mini&s;ter for very good rea&s;ons in &s;ome parts of divine &s;ervice, even when the people are required to kneel. In the&s;e I &s;ay (and perhaps there may be &s;ome other the like) ca&s;es, to pray &s;tanding is not re|proveable.</P>
<P>But then in &s;uch ca&s;es, you &s;hould take care to give &s;ome other demon&s;trations of your humility, faith and reverence, as by lifting up your hands and eyes to Heaven, by &s;mitting your brea&s;t, and the like.</P>
<P>For to &s;tand up all the time of prayer, when you are required to kneel down, and may do it without any inconvenience to your &s;elf to others. and never &s;o much as open your lips, or move your hands and eyes in honour to God, is a &s;hrewd &s;ign, that there's but very little true devotion in your heart.</P>
<P>But for &s;itting &s;till all the time of Prayer, as too ma|ny do; this (my Son) I mu&s;t needs tell you is not only the greate&s;t irreverence, but a mo&s;t rude and un|mannerly behaviour in the more e&s;pecial pre&s;ence of God and his holy Angels.</P>
<P>And how much &s;oever tho&s;e people who won't be di&s;&s;waded from it, may pretend to honour God in their hearts, yet 'tis certain they di&s;honour him before
<PB N="27" REF="16"> men, which I am &s;ure is a very great provocation, for the Lord hath &s;aid, them that honour me I will honour, but they that de&s;pi&s;e me, &s;hall be lightly e&s;teemed. I will not pretend to judge the &s;ecrets of &s;uch mens hearts, but let them ask their own con|&s;ciences what the rea&s;on is that they kneel down to prayer in their own hou&s;es, and yet fit down all the time of Prayer in the Hou&s;e of God, and then tell me whether the true rea&s;on of their irreverence in the Church dos not proceed from their want of a true love and re&s;pect for the publick &s;ervice, and if &s;o, where's their &s;incerity.</P>
<P>For as it may rea&s;onably be &s;u&s;pected, that that pretended invi&s;ible piety, which is not attended with vi&s;ible purity, is a fal&s;e, or rather no piety at all, and that tho&s;e per&s;ons who make no con&s;cience of &s;er|ving God publickly, take little or no care to &s;erve him privately, &s;o it may without breach of charity be &s;up|po&s;ed that tho&s;e per&s;ons, who refu&s;e to give unto God the outward reverence of their Bodies in the publick congregation, where he is more e&s;pecially to be honoured, have but very little reverence toward him in the heart.</P>
<P>For if they kneel down to prayer in their own Hou&s;es, out of a hearty reverence to God they are certainly much more obliged to do it in the hou&s;e of prayer, becau&s;e in &s;o doing they give a more publick Te&s;timony of that honour and reverence which is due to the Almighty.</P>
<P>It is very ob&s;ervable, that in the Prophet <HI>Malachy</HI>'s days, as we read <HI>Ch.</HI> 1. 7. the People were come to that degree of Profanene&s;s, that they thought any thing was good enough to be offered up in &s;acrifice to the Lord, and yet &s;till they would be thought to have a mighty reverence for him and his wor&s;hip: but &s;ee how God re&s;ented their irreverent behaviour toward him, a Son, &s;ays he, honoureth his Father, and a Servant his Ma&s;ter, If I then be a Father, where is my honour, and if I be a Ma&s;ter where is my fear. And yet notwith&s;tanding the contempt of the Lord and his Ordinances, they would be &s;till ready to vindi|cate
<PB N="28" REF="17"> them&s;elves, and &s;ay <HI>wherein have we de&s;pi&s;ed thy name, and wherein have we polluted thee?</HI></P>
<P>And therefore the Lord tells them plainly, that they had di&s;honoured him, in thinking that it was no great matter, what it was that they offer'd in Sacri|fice, any thing as they thought was good enough to be killed.</P>
<P>So that the Lord would have them con&s;ider, whe|ther an earthly Prince would be plea&s;ed with a Sub|ject, that &s;hould behave him&s;elf toward him in &s;uch a manner, <HI>if ye offer the blind for Sacrifice is it not evil, and if ye offer the lame and the &s;ick is it not evil, offer it now unto thy Governor, will he be plea&s;ed with thee, or accept thy per&s;on.</HI></P>
<P>Here you &s;ee, that however &s;ome people may pre|tend to an inward reverence of God, while they give no outward Te&s;timony of it in their words and actions, yet the Lord is not &s;atisfied with it, he does not think him&s;elf to be honoured by tho&s;e ways which our &s;uperiours take to be a di&s;honour to them.</P>
<P>For &s;hould the&s;e per&s;ons behave them&s;elves in the pre&s;ence of an earthly King, or of an inferiour Magi|&s;trate, as they do in the pre&s;ence of the King of Hea|ven and Earth, they would be lookt upon to be very rude and unmannerly; and it cannot rea&s;onably be &s;uppo&s;ed, but that the Almighty God will in like manner re&s;ent the behaviour of tho&s;e, who act direct|ly contrary to that rule pre&s;cribed in his holy words, <HI>of doing all things in his wor&s;hip decently and in order;</HI> mo&s;t certain it is that all the holy men of old, I mean the religious Kings and Prie&s;ts and Prophets before Chri&s;t were of this opinion: and therefore we read often of their kneeling down, and &s;ometime of their &s;tanding up, but never of their &s;itting down, when they went to Prayer.</P>
<P>Thus we read, 2 Chr. 6. 13. <HI>Of King</HI> Solomon's <HI>kneel|ing down upon his knees.</HI> D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n. 6. 10. <HI>of</HI> Daniel<HI>'s kneeling down</HI> 3 <HI>times a day and praying.</HI> Ez. 9. 5. <HI>of</HI> Ezrah<HI>'s falling upon his knees and &s;preading out his hands to the Lord.</HI></P>
<PB N="29" REF="17">
<P> Nor was this outward reverence peculiar to the Church of God before Chri&s;t, for under the New Te&s;tament we find it al&s;o practis'd as well by our Sa|viour him&s;elf as his Di&s;ciples. For Luke 22. 41. <HI>It's &s;aid Je&s;us kneeled down and prayed.</HI> Acts 7. 60. Stephen <HI>kneeled down and pray'd for his murtherers,</HI> Peter <HI>in like manner,</HI> Act 9. 40. <HI>kneeled down and pray'd for</HI> Dorcas, Paul <HI>al&s;o,</HI> as it's &s;aid, Acts 20. 36. <HI>kneeled down and pray|ed for the Di&s;ciples at</HI> Miletus: and not only <HI>Paul</HI> him|&s;elf but the Congregation of the Di&s;ciples, that were with him at <HI>Tyre,</HI> upon the taking leave of one ano|ther, <HI>kneeled down on the &s;hore and pray'd.</HI> Act 21. 5.</P>
<P>Now can it be &s;uppo&s;ed that our Saviour and his di&s;ciples did not under&s;tand the will of the Lord in this matter, as well as any of us do now adays, or &s;hall we pretend to a more pure and &s;piritual way of wor&s;hipping God, than they did; &s;ince therefore they thought fit to practice outward reverence in prayer, let us walk by the &s;ame rule and follow their example, And then as to keeping off your Hat all the time that the Mini&s;ter is preaching and expounding unto you the word of God, this al&s;o you mu&s;t be careful to ob&s;erve and do.</P>
<P>For &s;till you &s;hould &s;uppo&s;e your &s;elf to be in God's more e&s;pecial pre&s;ence, as well while his Am|ba&s;&s;ador is expounding unto you the Scripture, as while he is offering up his prayers to God in your behalf. If therefore you are not able, through &s;ome natural infirmity, to be bare-headed all the time of Divine Service and Sermon, you may then make u&s;e of a decent Cap; for tho the Head be partly cover'd with that, yet it being not &s;uch a common covering as your Hat, but &s;uch a one as is accounted to be con&s;i&s;tent with reverence among men, therefore it is no di&s;honour to God, for he expects to be reverenc'd by us in tho&s;e ways, by which we reverence one ano|ther.</P>
<P>As therefore we would not pre&s;ume to go and &s;it down in the pre&s;ence of an earthly King, when we petition his Maje&s;ty for &s;ome favour to be granted us, nor confidently put on our Hats while he &s;peaks un|to
<PB N="30" REF="18"> us, but would behave our &s;elves with that humi|lity and reverence which is u&s;ual in tho&s;e ca&s;es, &s;o neither &s;hould we pre&s;ume to behave our &s;elves irreve|rently and proudly in Gods pre&s;ence.</P>
<P>But be&s;ides, &s;uch irreverence is to be avoided, be|cau&s;e of the great &s;candal which is thereby given to tho&s;e of the Congregation, who are truly devout, for &s;o St. <HI>Paul</HI> teaches us, 1 Cor. 10. 32. <HI>that we &s;hould give no offence, neither to the Jew nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God.</HI></P>
<P>And la&s;tly, it is to be con&s;ider'd that &s;uch irreve|rence is a very great piece of inju&s;tice, a robbing God of that honour which is due unto him, for as he made, and doth pre&s;erve, not only the Heart but the outward members, as the Hands, Eyes, Tongue and the whole man, &s;o all of them &s;hould concur in, rendring their tribute of reverence and &s;ervice to him.</P>
<P>And thus having &s;hewed you the nece&s;&s;ity of reve|rencing God, both outwardly in your Body, and in|wardly in your Soul, you may from hence learn to avoid the two dangerous extreams, of profanene&s;s and &s;uper&s;tition, and neither be di&s;couraged from the practice of outward reverence, by tho&s;e who &s;hall cen&s;ure you for being formal, nor incouraged to the neglect of inward reverence by tho&s;e who place the whole of their religion in an outward &s;hew.</P>
<P>And therefore, as I &s;aid at fir&s;t, be per&s;waded at all times when you go to the Hou&s;e of God to con&s;ider with your &s;elf before hand what you are going about, and compo&s;e your thoughts in &s;uch a manner, as that you may behave your &s;elf all the time of prayer, and other parts of Religious Wor&s;hip with all &s;eri|ou&s;ne&s;s and gravity, as in the pre&s;ence of an All-&s;ee|ing infinitely pure and glorious God.</P>
<P>And now becau&s;e I am &s;en&s;ible that there are ma|ny who are guilty of &s;ome mi&s;takes in expre&s;&s;ing their reverence in publick Wor&s;hip according to the rules of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> through want of a right information in the matter, to prevent your being al&s;o guilty of the like, I &s;hall here take occa&s;ion to let
<PB N="31" REF="18"> you know wherein one or two of their mi&s;takes do lye.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place therefore, it is very u&s;ual with many who kneel at the <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion,</HI> to &s;tand up or &s;it down at the <HI>Ab&s;olution.</HI> And perhaps the rea&s;on of their &s;tanding up is, becau&s;e they ob&s;erve the Mini&s;ter does &s;o.</P>
<P>Whereas you mu&s;t know, that there is not the &s;ame rea&s;on for the one, which there is for the other; for as to the Mini&s;ters &s;tanding up at the <HI>Ab&s;olution,</HI> this is done to &s;ignify that Authority, by which he pronounces to tho&s;e who are truly penitent, the par|don and remi&s;&s;ion of their &s;ins, it being more pro|per that all Mini&s;terial acts of Authority &s;hould be done &s;tanding; but at the &s;ame time it is fit that the whole Congregation &s;hould continue kneeling as at their <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion,</HI> and behave them&s;elves in the humble po&s;ture of Penitents, while with the mo&s;t &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive attention, they hear Gods Gracious Declaration of pardon, pronounc'd unto them by the mouth of his Mini&s;ter.</P>
<P>In the next place it is al&s;o u&s;ual with many to &s;tand up at the <HI>Communion Service,</HI> or at lea&s;t &s;o &s;oon as the Mini&s;ter begins to read the ten Commandments; and this it's probable they u&s;e to do, becau&s;e they ob&s;erve the Mini&s;ter then &s;tanding up; but as I &s;aid before, &s;o here again it is to be con&s;ider'd, that there is not the &s;ame rea&s;on for both; the Mini&s;ter &s;tands up becau&s;e it is the mo&s;t proper ge&s;ture for him, while he declare the Law of God unto the people; but at the &s;ame time it is mo&s;t proper for the Congregation to kneel, becau&s;e at the conclu&s;ion of every Com|mandment, they are to pray to God for the pardon of their former tran&s;gre&s;&s;inos, and for Grace not to tran&s;|gre&s;s again, &s;aying <HI>Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.</HI></P>
<P>That you may not therefore follow the example of others, who are either ignorant or carele&s;s in this mat|ter, you may do well to ask your own con&s;ci|ence, whether there be any of the ten Command|ments, which you have not broken either in thought,
<PB N="32" REF="19"> word or deed, and whether you are not &s;till in dan|ger of tran&s;gre&s;&s;ing the &s;ame, and then &s;ay whether you have not need with all humility both of Soul and Body, to pray unto the Lord for mercy and for grace in that pious Ejaculation, which the Church has directed, &s;aying <HI>Lord have mercy, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>But now after all, tho it highly concern you (as I have &s;hewed) &s;o to behave your &s;elf in the publick wor&s;hip of God, that you may offer up to him &s;uch a rea&s;onable &s;ervice, as he will be plea&s;ed to accept of through the merits and meditation of his beloved Son, yet I mu&s;t withal tell you that you mu&s;t have a care of limiting your devotion to the Temple, you mu&s;t not think it enough to &s;eem very &s;erious there, if at other times you be vain and wicked.</P>
<P>If you de&s;ire that both your per&s;on and your perfor|mances &s;hould be accepted of God, you mu&s;t be truly religious at all times, and the zeal which you pretend to have for Gods glory mu&s;t be vi&s;ible through the whole cour&s;e of your life and conver&s;ation.</P>
<P>Be per&s;waded therefore to remember your Crea|tor in the days of your youth, have a care of thinking (as too many do) that you have &s;till time enough to prepare your &s;elf for another world, for there's no man knows how &s;oon the great Judge of Heaven and Earth may call him hence.</P>
<P>It is certainly the greate&s;t piece of ill husbandry that you can be guilty of, to think that you can ea&s;ily redeem that time when you plea&s;e, which you &s;hall mortgage for a few vain and in&s;atisfactory de|lights.</P>
<P>There are too many I doubt in the world that flat|ter them&s;elves, and think that they go upon good grounds, while they defer to give up them&s;elves to Gods &s;ervice in the vigour of their youth, hoping that they may repent when they &s;ee their own time.</P>
<P>But (my Son) I be&s;eech you to con&s;ider, that altho God has promi&s;ed pardon to all the true penitents, yet he has not particularly promi&s;ed to w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">it on any mans lei&s;ure.</P>
<PB N="33" REF="19">
<P> He does indeed bear with &s;ome a long time, wait|ing for their conver&s;ion, and &s;uch is his infinite good|ne&s;s, that he does &s;ometime grant repentance and pardon after men have for many years put off that nece&s;&s;ary duty, but he never does this upon any pre|contract with them, nor does any thing more pro|voke him to deny his favours, than mens pre&s;uming thus to di&s;po&s;e of them.</P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e I &s;hall offer unto your con&s;iderati|tion a remarkable pa&s;&s;age, 2 <HI>Chr.</HI> 33. where we find that the Lord forbore King <HI>Mana&s;&s;es</HI> forty years, and at length upon his repentance pardon'd him: After his death <HI>Amon</HI> his Son reigned in his &s;tead, and hav|ing ob&s;erved, it's like, how merciful God had dealt with his Father, he pre&s;umed upon the like forbearance and mercy, thinking that as his Father had done be|fore, &s;o he might redeem the offences of his youth by a late repentance in old age; but we find that God was not plea&s;ed to accept of <HI>Amon</HI>'s a&s;&s;ignment, and therefore tho he had &s;pared <HI>Mana&s;&s;es</HI> the Father forty years, yet he cut off his Son at the end of the &s;econd year of his wicked Reign.</P>
<P>Know therefore and con&s;ider this, that it is good for you to bear the yoke of Religion in your youth; if you habituate your &s;elf to the practice of holine&s;s in the prime of your years, you will afterwards find all, even the &s;evere&s;t Duties of Chri&s;tianity, to &s;it wonderful ea&s;ie upon your mind, if you &s;hould live to be old.</P>
<P>You'll then have nothing of that regret and anxie|ty to di&s;compo&s;e your thoughts, which others will feel who have neglected the &s;ervice of God in their youth, and en&s;laved them&s;elves to the World, the Fle&s;h, and the Devil.</P>
<P>It is ob&s;ervable that <HI>John</HI> the Evangeli&s;t is called the di&s;ciple whom Je&s;us loved; it is not &s;aid indeed for what rea&s;on this Title was given him above all the re&s;t of the Twelve Apo&s;tles, but it being &s;uppo&s;ed that he was <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he younge&s;t of them all, for that rea&s;on po&s;&s;ibly Je&s;us might have the greater love for him, becau&s;e even then in the days of his youth, he had
<PB N="34" REF="20"> learned to de&s;pi&s;e all the bewitching vanities of the world, to deny him&s;elf, and heartily to embrace the Doctrine of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>If therefore (my Son) this advice which I have here given you, may through the Grace of God prove beneficial to you, and an&s;wer the end for which it is de&s;igned, in furthering the Salvation of your Soul, I &s;hall be heartily glad, and hope, that both you and I &s;hall a&s;cribe the whole Prai&s;e and Glory to God.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="appendix">
<HEAD>An Appendix, touching Bapti&s;mal Sureties.</HEAD>
<P>BEing very &s;en&s;ible, that there is &s;eldom any thing which occa&s;ions greater di&s;putes and differences between many Mini&s;ters and their Pari&s;hioners, than the bu&s;ine&s;s of Bapti&s;mal Sureties, and that nothing is more commonly pretended by &s;ome for the rea|&s;on of their departing from our Church, than their being di&s;&s;atisfied about this matter, I have here thought fit to add &s;omething in reference hereunto, hoping thereby to remove the &s;cruples, at lea&s;t, of tho&s;e who are unprejudic'd and well meaning per|&s;ons.</P>
<P>In order to this end I &s;hall &s;how you,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1&s;t. What is meant by God-fathers and God-mo|thers.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2d. What rea&s;on our Church has to ju&s;tifie the u&s;e of them.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3d. How advantageous the due execution of this Office may be both to Sureties and Children.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, as to the meaning of God-fathers and God-mothers, our Church hereby under&s;tands tho&s;e per|&s;ons who are engaged as Sureties to the Church by &s;olemn promi&s;e at the Bapti&s;m of Children, to &s;ee them virtuou&s;ly brought up, to lead a Godly and a Chri&s;tian Life.</P>
<P>So that altho the Chri&s;tian Church for th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t rea&s;on has thought fit to call them Sureties, yet to let them know, how they ought to be affected toward their
<PB N="35" REF="20"> Children, in who&s;e names they covenant with God, <HI>viz.</HI> that they ought to be as Fathers and Mothers in God, <HI>i e.</HI> &s;piritual parents. And affectionately concerned in the furtherance of their Childrens Sal|vation, therefore they are called God-fathers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>And this way of expre&s;&s;ing them&s;elves in this mat|ter we may &s;uppo&s;e the ancient Chri&s;tians at fir&s;t received from &s;ome expre&s;&s;ions in Scripture of the like nature, as when all true believers are &s;aid to be brethren in Chri&s;t, and therefore are called Chri&s;tians, as al&s;o from St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s way of &s;peaking concerning tho&s;e per&s;ons, in who&s;e education, and in the furtherance of who&s;e Salvation he had been con|cerned.</P>
<P>For as he &s;ignifies to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> 1 <HI>Ep.</HI> 4. 15. that he was their &s;piritual Father, <HI>having begotten them in Chri&s;t Je&s;us through the Go&s;pel;</HI> &s;o 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1. 2. <HI>he calls Ti|mothy his own Son in the Faith.</HI> In this &s;en&s;e al&s;o he calls <HI>One&s;imus</HI> his Son, <HI>Ep to Philem. v.</HI> 10. <HI>I be&s;eech thee for my Son One&s;imus, whom I have begotten in my bounds.</HI></P>
<P>Now as St <HI>Paul</HI> was father to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> and as <HI>Timothy</HI> and <HI>One&s;imus</HI> were his Sons, in a Spiritual &s;en&s;e, &s;o why may not tho&s;e per&s;ons who undertake the office of Sureties for Children, when they bring them to Bapti&s;m, which is their new and &s;piritual Birth, be called &s;piritual Parents, or God-fathers and God-mothers, e&s;pecially when they are as they ought to be, and as they may be, &s;piritually affected toward their Children.</P>
<P>And how far &s;oever many are now a days from be|ing &s;o, it's not to be doubted but that they were much more tenderly affected toward them in antient times.</P>
<P>For names are u&s;ually given at fir&s;t according to the nature of things, and therefore it is not rea&s;ona|ble that any of us &s;hould be &s;o aver&s;e both to the name and the office, becau&s;e &s;ome are &s;o very care|le&s;s in the performance of what they do under|take.</P>
<P>It is our duty rather con&s;cientiou&s;ly to undertake and di&s;charge this office (which we may do if we
<PB N="36" REF="21"> will) to the glory of God, the &s;piritual advantage of one anothers Children, and the comfort of our own Souls.</P>
<P>Let no one therefore deceive you, and make you believe, that there is any thing of Popi&s;h &s;uper&s;tition in the u&s;e of Sureties, for it is certain from the anti|ent Hi&s;tories of the Church, that there were God-fa|thers in the Chri&s;tian Church, many years before there was any &s;uch thing as Popery known in the world.</P>
<P>And &s;uch Sureties are at this day retained not only here in <HI>England,</HI> but in tho&s;e Churches beyond the Seas, who never did embrace the Popi&s;h Religion.</P>
<P>Thus having &s;hew'd you what is meant by God-fa|thers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> I &s;hall in the</P>
<P>2d place &s;how you what rea&s;on our Church has to ju&s;tifie the u&s;e of them; for it being matter only of Eccle&s;ia&s;tical di&s;cipline, I do not &s;uppo&s;e that there is any nece&s;&s;ity of an expre&s;s command, or example in Scripture for it.</P>
<P>It may &s;uffice us therefore, that it be go runded upon good rea&s;on, and &s;o I &s;uppo&s;e it is.</P>
<P>For if we will allow, that Children &s;hould be bap|tiz'd, (as we very well may, and not doubt but that God will al&s;o allow the &s;ame) we mu&s;t by con&s;e|quence allow them the benefit of having others to Covenant with God for them, and who may be ob|liged afterward to &s;ee them in&s;tructed in the principles of the Chri&s;tian Religion.</P>
<P>And that it's no new or impo&s;&s;ible thing for Chil|dren to covenant with God by others, we may learn from <HI>Deut.</HI> 29. 10, 11, 12. for there we find that not only the elder Per&s;ons, who could under&s;tand and &s;peak for them&s;elves, but even their little ones were brought to covenant with God, which they could not do but by others, and yet tho&s;e Children were as much obliged to &s;tand to that Covenant, as the elder per&s;ons who were of age and under&s;tanding to Covenant for them&s;elves; as appears by tho&s;e and the following ver&s;es in the fore-mentioned Ch. of <HI>Deut.</HI> Be&s;ides, this is no more than what is daily
<PB N="37" REF="21"> practic'd in behalf of Children in worldly matters, for when Parents dye, and leave E&s;tates and Portions for their young Children, they leave &s;ome Friends in tru&s;t with them; and the&s;e per&s;ons contract and make bargains in their names, and if tho&s;e be fair and advantageous, the Children, in who&s;e names they are made, are obliged to &s;tand to them, and make them good when they come of age.</P>
<P>And that we have no rea&s;on to doubt of God's ac|cepting the Faith of Sureties in behalf of Children, may appear not only from Gods acceptance of <HI>Abra|ham</HI>'s Faith for circumci&s;ing his Son, but from Chri&s;ts ready acceptance of the <HI>woman of Canaans faith for the cure of her Daughter,</HI> Mat. 15. 22. as al&s;o <HI>from his accepting the charitable intention of tho&s;e that brought the man &s;ick of the Pal&s;ey to be cured by him,</HI> Mark 2. 5. Thus having &s;hew'd you that the Churches u&s;e of Bapti&s;mal Sureties is grounded upon good rea&s;on, and there|fore has been &s;o long approved of through all parts of the world where the Go&s;pel has been preacht, from the Apo&s;tles times, or very near them, to this day, one would think there &s;hould not be &s;o much di&s;pute among Chri&s;tians about this matter; but becau&s;e there are many Objections made again&s;t this order of our Church, therefore I &s;hall now proceed to give as &s;atisfactory an&s;wers as I can to tho&s;e Objections which I have met with.</P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> 1. Therefore, &s;ay &s;ome, we find no &s;uch thing commanded in Scripture, as God-fathers and God-mo|thers, nor example of any &s;uch matter, nor &s;o much as any &s;uch words therein mentioned, and therefore we cannot think fit to make u&s;e of them.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> In an&s;wer whereunto it is to be con&s;idered that God has no where in his holy word ty'd us up &s;o &s;trictly in matters of Church di&s;cipline, that we mu&s;t do nothing but ju&s;t what is expre&s;ly command|ed, or what we have an example for; for what Sect of Chri&s;tians is there who do not for love and orders &s;ake, ob&s;erve &s;ome things for which they have neither a particular precept no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> example.</P>
<PB N="38" REF="22">
<P> It may be &s;ufficient that &s;uch things are agreeable to the general rule of the Apo&s;tle, 1. Cor. 14. 40. <HI>that all things be done decently and in order, and tending to edi|fication,</HI> v. 26. This rule &s;uppo&s;es that the particular matters of Church Di&s;cipline &s;hould be left to Church Governours, and to the cu&s;tom of the Church, not contrary to the rule of Scripture, and no way deroga|ting from the Glory of God.</P>
<P>So that this having been the con&s;tant cu&s;tom of the Church, in the pure&s;t times of the Go&s;pel after the Apo&s;tles days, to require Sureties for Children at their Bapti&s;m, why may not the Churches cu&s;tom ju&s;tifie our practice? e&s;pecially in this ca&s;e, wherein there is nothing of indecency but what may very much tend to edification and the Glory of God, if it be rightly ob&s;erv'd.</P>
<P>As to your finding no mention made of the words in Scripture, that's no argument again&s;t the things; for neither do we find the word <HI>Trinity,</HI> nor the word <HI>Sacrament</HI> in Scripture, and yet we think fit to make u&s;e of tho&s;e words, the one being mo&s;t proper to ex|pre&s;s the three per&s;ons in the Godhead, and the other to &s;ignify the two great ordinances of the Go&s;pel, <HI>viz.</HI> Bapti&s;m and the Lords Supper. But,</P>
<P N="2">2. It is not good (&s;ay &s;ome) to undertake this of|fice, nor to de&s;ire others to do it, becau&s;e there are none that di&s;charge their duty in this matter.</P>
<P>To this I an&s;wer, that &s;ome have di&s;charged their duty is mo&s;t certain, and I could give you &s;ome in|&s;tances to prove, that to the pious care of Bapti&s;mal Sureties in in&s;tructing &s;ome of your Royal Princes in the Principles of &s;ound Religion, we owe in a great mea&s;ure the enjoyment of the Prote&s;tant Religion in this Nation. And that all others do not di&s;charge <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">heir duty, is not becau&s;e there is any impo&s;&s;ibility in the nature of the thing; for cannot any of us u&s;e our be&s;t endeavours to &s;ee that a Child be taught &s;o <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oon as he &s;hall be able to learn what a &s;olemn Vow, Promi&s;e and Profe&s;&s;ion he has made by his Sureties? cannot they take care that he may learn the Church Catechi&s;m, which contains in it all the fundamental
<PB N="39" REF="22"> truths which a Chri&s;tian ought to know and believe to his Souls health? cannot they call upon him to hear Sermons, unle&s;s they happen to be removed at too great a di&s;tance from each other? and finally, cannot they do what in them lies to have him con|firmed, and &s;o to di&s;charge them by taking the obli|gation upon him&s;elf?</P>
<P>Surely there is nothing of impo&s;&s;ibility in any of the&s;e things, and yet the&s;e are the chief things that are given in charge to the Sureties. But</P>
<P N="3">3. Say &s;ome, why &s;hould not the Parents rather than others be obliged to undertake the&s;e things?</P>
<P>To this I an&s;wer, that Parents are already obliged both by the Law of God and Nature, to take care of their Children's Souls and Bodies, and there can be no greater obligation laid upon them, by requiring a &s;olemn promi&s;e from them.</P>
<P>And therefore, as a Reverend and Learned Bi&s;hop of our Church ob&s;erves, <Q>The Churches intention in having Sureties, is not to &s;upercede the obliga|tion of Parents, but to &s;uperinduce a farther obliga|tion upon others for greater &s;ecurity of performance. Or, as another has expre&s;s'd it, the Church thinks fit to lay the charge upon others, not to exclude or excu&s;e the Parents care, but to be joyned with them in the more certain and ea&s;ie accompli&s;hment of &s;o pious a work.</Q> But,</P>
<P N="4">4. Say &s;ome, how can Sureties declare in the Childs name, that he does renounce the Devil and all his works, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and that he does believe in God, or how can they promi&s;e that the Child &s;hall &s;erve him, &s;ince we find it &s;o hard a matter to do the&s;e things our &s;elves.</P>
<P>To this I an&s;wer in the fir&s;t place, that the&s;e words of the Bapti&s;mal Vow are not directly words of promi&s;e, obliging the Sureties to performance, but expre&s;&s;ions of contract relating to the Infant, and declaring to what Duties he is obliged by his Bap|ti&s;m, which are no other than what every one of us ought to do (as I have already &s;hew'd) who expects to be &s;av'd.</P>
<PB N="40" REF="23">
<P> In the &s;econd place, it is indeed more than we know, whether the child when he comes to years of di&s;cretion, will perform tho&s;e things which at his Bapti&s;m were promi&s;ed in his name.</P>
<P>But then, does not the &s;ame objection lye again&s;t tho&s;e who oppo&s;e us in this matter; for is it not al|together as uncertain, whether tho&s;e Parents, who (as they are enjoyned by the Presbyterian Directory) &s;hall &s;olemnly promi&s;e to bring up their Children in the grounds of the Chri&s;tian Religion, and in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, &s;hall be able to do it, who knows whether the incapacity or per|ver&s;ene&s;s and ob&s;tinacy of the Child, (admitting that the Parents were careful in the matter) may not hinder the performance of their promi&s;e?</P>
<P>Yea, is it not altogether as uncertain whether tho&s;e per&s;ons who are not dipt till they come to ripene&s;s of years, will con&s;cientiou&s;ly ob&s;erve and keep the Covenant which they make then with God after their way? And yet notwith&s;tanding this un|certainty on all hands, 'tis fit all parties &s;hould pro|mi&s;e tho&s;e things which it is their duty to perform.</P>
<P>However, we have the greater encouragement to hope for the Child's well-doing, becau&s;e as the pray|ers of the Church are put up unto God in his be|half, that he may have power and &s;trength to have victory, and to triumph again&s;t the Devil, the World and the Fle&s;h, &s;o we have Gods promi&s;e, that he will grant tho&s;e things which we ask faithfully at his hands.</P>
<P>And therefore, by the way, this con&s;ideration &s;hould oblige all people who were pre&s;ent at the mi|ni&s;tration of Bapti&s;m, to put up their hearty prayers to God in behalf of tho&s;e who are baptized, and not to &s;it down or &s;tand gazing about, as if they were no way concern'd therein.</P>
<P>The Prayers of the Church therefore being put up to God in the Childs behalf, and God having pro|mi&s;ed to hear our prayers, if afterward the Sureties take care (as they may do if they will) when the Child is come to years of di&s;cretion, to let him
<PB N="41" REF="23"> know what they had promi&s;ed for him, and per|&s;wade him the be&s;t they can to be mindful thereof, they have done their duty, and they may rea&s;ona|bly expect the ble&s;&s;ing of God upon their endeavours. But,</P>
<P N="5">5. Say &s;ome, why &s;hould any per&s;ons be de&s;ired to take this charge upon them, &s;ince it very often falls out, that either the Sureties are removed at a great di&s;tance from the Children, or the Children from them, before they are capable of being in&s;tructed as they &s;hould be, &s;o that the duty cannot po&s;&s;ibly be di&s;charged according to promi&s;e.</P>
<P>To which I an&s;wer, that it is very certain the&s;e things may, and do happen very often, and there|fore all Parents would do well, to make choice of &s;uch Sureties as are Inhabitants, and not Strangers or Servants, and &s;uch as have no &s;ettled place of abode, unle&s;s they are known to be per&s;ons religiou&s;ly in|clined, who may take care, tho they live at &s;ome di|&s;tance, to di&s;charge their duty.</P>
<P>But &s;uppo&s;ing that the circum&s;tances of either party &s;hould be &s;uch, that there is an unavoidable ne|ce&s;&s;ity of removing from one another, and that the thing cannot be done &s;o well as if they continued &s;till in the &s;ame neighbourhood, the Sureties are in &s;uch a ca&s;e di&s;charged from &s;o much of their duty, as they cannot po&s;&s;ibly perform. But then they &s;hould be mindful of &s;uch Children in their private devotions, be&s;eeching God to direct them by his holy Spirit, in the ways of truth and righteou&s;ne&s;s, and to grant unto them minds capable of receiving &s;uch good in|&s;truction as may be tender'd unto them; that if he would &s;ea&s;on their hearts with grace, and that he &s;hall plea&s;ed to prolong their days here upon earth, they may live to him, and be in&s;truments of his glo|ry, by &s;erving him faithfully, and doing good in their generation.</P>
<P>This &s;uppo&s;ition therefore of a removal on either &s;ide, is of no more force again&s;t Sureties, than that of their death, which may happen in a little time af|ter the Child is baptized, for in all &s;uch ca&s;es of un|certainty
<PB N="42" REF="24"> we ought to do our duty, and leave the I&s;|&s;ue to the all-wi&s;e di&s;po&s;er of all things.</P>
<P>Thus we act in leaving our Children to Guardians, who are to take care of their wordly concerns, and why &s;hall not we tru&s;t providence in the other ca&s;es as well as this.</P>
<P>And now having &s;how'd you the rea&s;onablene&s;s of our Churches practice in requiring Bapti&s;mal Sure|ties, and having an&s;wered tho&s;e objections, which I have heard made again&s;t it, I &s;hall add but one argu|ment more, which yet ought to be of great weight with us in &s;uch like ca&s;es, and that's the nece&s;&s;ity of every Chri&s;tians &s;ubmitting to all the Lawful orders of that Church, whereof he is a member. For &s;o S. <HI>Peter</HI> teaches 1. <HI>Ep.</HI> 2. 13. <HI>&s;ubmitting your &s;elves to every ordinance of man for the Lords &s;ake.</HI></P>
<P>Here you &s;ee we are in con&s;cience obliged to be obedient to our Governours in all tho&s;e things which they may lawfully require us to do, and not only to the civil Magi&s;trate, but al&s;o to the Church Gover|nours, for &s;o St <HI>Paul</HI> has taught us, <HI>Heb.</HI> 13. 17. <HI>Obey them that have the rule over you, and &s;ubmit your &s;elves, for they watch for your Souls, as they, that mu&s;t give ac|count, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you.</HI></P>
<P>Now that there is no unlawfulne&s;s in the u&s;e of Sureties, I have &s;how'd already, and con&s;equently the&s;e general rules of the Apo&s;tle &s;hould oblige us to yield obedience in this ca&s;e.</P>
<P>It being therefore expre&s;ly required in the 29th Canon of our Church, that no Parent &s;hould be urg'd to be pre&s;ent, nor admitted to an&s;wer as God-father to his own Child, and that there &s;hould be for every male Child two God-fathers and one God-mother, and for every female two God-mothers and one God-father.</P>
<P>And that no per&s;on &s;hould be admitted God-father or God-mother, before the &s;aid per&s;on hath received the Holy Communion; it is to be wi&s;hed, that all who profe&s;s them&s;elves Members of our Church, would behave them&s;elves more regularly in this mat|ter,
<PB N="43" REF="24"> than generally they do, and not contradict the general rule of the Go&s;pel, by acting contrary to this particular order of the Church; which if duly ob|&s;erved, would be of very great advantage both to Sureties and Children upon &s;everal accounts, as I &s;hall now in the third place proce<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d to &s;how you.</P>
<P N="3">3. For to be Surety for a Child is a very Chri&s;tian and charitable work; if it be an act of great charity to take pity upon a poor forlorn infant, who is almo&s;t naked and ready to be &s;tarved for want of food, how much better is it to be in&s;trumental in deliver|ing a Soul from death, as Sureties may be through the ble&s;&s;ing of God, upon their &s;incere endeavour thro the merits of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, a Surety by furthering the Childs Salvati|on, may bring com<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ort unto his own Soul: for you know if a man do but plant a young Tree, and by taking great care of it, finds it thrive and pro&s;per, he &s;eems to take &s;ome delight and plea&s;ure in it; but how much greater is a Chri&s;tians comfort, when by Gods ble&s;&s;ing upon tho&s;e good in&s;tructions and exhortations, which according to his promi&s;e he be|&s;tows upon a Child, he finds the Child grow in Grace, and Godline&s;s, and Spiritual Strength, and bringing forth the Fruits of Holine&s;s and Vir|tue.</P>
<P>Finally, by this means every one of us may con|&s;iderably advance the Intere&s;t of Religion, and give a check to the prevailing wickedne&s;s, and great de|baucheries of the Age we live in.</P>
<P>If it &s;hall plea&s;e God therefore (my Son) to give you the great ble&s;&s;ing of Children, let not their Bap|ti&s;m be neglected, but &s;ee they be dedicated unto the Lord by <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">&punc; ac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">rding to the Directions of the C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="5 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span">, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> the fir&s;t or &s;econd <HI>Sunday</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> upon &s;ome Holiday fa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ling <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ublick prayer in the Church.</P>
<P>And be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u take the be&s;t care you can to provide &s;uch <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> may make con&s;ci|ence
<PB N="44" REF="25"> of di&s;charging their duty; and if when you are capable of undertaking that office your &s;elf, any one &s;hall de&s;ire the like kindne&s;s of you, &s;ee that you readily comply with their reque&s;t, re&s;olving with your &s;elf to contribute all you can toward promoting the Glory of God, and the peace of Chri&s;t's Holy Church; and in carrying on that great work of Re|formation, which is now adays &s;o very needful in the world.</P>
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