The Best Entail, Discourse · Chapter 5
CHAP. V. More grounds of incouragement to Parents from the Promiſes.
7 ANother incourageing word to Parents for their Children is, that principles of grace and profeſſion of godlineſs ſhall continue to future generations, Iſa? 59.21. As for me, this is my Covenant with them, ſaith the Lord, my Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth ſhall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy ſ…ednor out of the mouth of thy Seeds Seed, ſaith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. This is a large and long-laſting charter: God Spirits within his children, and the owning of his name in their lips, and this for ever! What can godly Parents deſire more? Whether this Spirit import a Spirit of Prophecy or a Spirit of Sanctification, ſurely it's a rich kindneſs, that it ſhall run in this ſtraight line, and channel to many generations, that the name of God, as well as your name may be kept up in your Family perpetually when you are dead and gone: Oh happy Parents that have ſuch Children! Happy Children that had ſuch Parents! and bleſſed be God that embraceth both in the boſom of the Covenant! That's a Soul-ſupporting word in Hag. 2.5. According to the word that I covenanted with [your Fathers, yea with] you, when you came out of Egypt, ſo my Spirit remaineth among you: Fear ye not, be not daunted, there were as many and great obſtructions in the way of mercy then as now, yet grace overcame them, and I have not taken away my Spirit from you notwithſtanding your multiplied provocations this 2000. years, but ſtill it is among you and ſhall continue to many generations: May not faith triumph in this promiſe?
8. That great obſervations ſhall be made of and remarks upon the Children of godly Parents, Iſa 61.8, 9. I will make an everlaſting Covenant with them, and their ſeed ſhall be among the gentiles (i. e. Gentile Churches) and their off-ſpring among the People, all that ſee them ſhall acknowledg them, that they are the ſeed which the Lord hath bleſſed. Men ſhall ſpeak to each other, Do not you ſee the faithful child of ſuch a believing Father? Oh how many a precious day have we had, with ſuch an ones Father, Mother, or Grandfather! this is the Pious Child of a Zealous father, you ſee it's not in vain to ſeek and ſerve God, I remember the prayers and tears poured out for his Child, and I ſee the bleſſed fruit thereof: God is a prayer-hearing God: of ſome Children we may ſay, as Paul to Timothy, 2 Tim. 1.5. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt firſt in thy Grand-mother Lois, and thy Mother Eunice, and I am perſuaded that in thee alſo: His Grandmothers name was Lois, which ſignifies better, his Mothers name Eunice ſignifying victor, and Timothy is the fear of God: If Parents chuſe the better part, God will give them victory over the World, Sin, and Satan, yea they ſhall have power with God, and obtain God-fearing Children, which others will obſerve and admire the grace of God in.
9. Childrens Children to many generations are remembered with Covenant-kindneſs: So in the ſecond Commandment, Exod. 20.6. Shewing mercy unto thouſands [i. e. of generations,] of them that love me and keeep my Commandments: Deut. 7.9.This is tranſcendent mercy, puniſhment extending but to three or four of them, ver. 5. you'll ſay, mercy and juſtice are Gods two Arms, is the one longer than the other? Anſwer no, they are equally infinite, but he maketh his Church to feel more of his mercy, then of his juſtice, with the Lord there is mercy, why ſo? Becauſe with him is plenteous Redemption, Pſal. 130.7. It is a Covenant of Grace, and Chriſt interpoſeth as Mediator of it: Oh! the overflowings of Free-grace to many generations, Pſal. 103.17, 18. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlaſting to everlaſting upon them that fear him, and his righteouſneſs unto Childrens Children. Mark it, it's called righteouſneſs, to ſhew, it is a diſcharge of his obligation, by which he hath in ſome ſort bound himſelf to Parents to do good to their Poſterity,Mic. 7.20. for it was mercy to Abraham to make a Covenant, but it is truth and faithfulneſs to perform it to Jacob. and his riſing ſeed many years after: for 'tis founded in his Eternal purpoſe, and continues to Eternity: and this is the reaſon of our hopes of the calling the Jews, becauſe they are beloved for their Fathers ſake, or rather becauſe of God's Covenant with their Anceſtors, Rom. 11.27, 28. Oh what incouragement is this to Parents that God will not utterly caſt off their ſeed: but will reſume thoughts of love to them at laſt?
10. That God will reduce the wandring Children of his People by ſeaſonable and ſanctified correction, Pſal. 89.29.—35.2 Sam. 7.14, 15. If his Children for ſake my Law and walk not in my judgments (i. e. if they forfeit the Priviledges promiſed by non-performance of the conditions) then will I viſit their tranſgreſſion with a Rod, and their iniquity with Stripes, nevertheleſs my loving kindneſs will I not utterly take from him nor ſuffer my faithfulneſs to fail: God hath adopted Affliction to be a branch of Covenant affection,Pſa;l. 119.75. 'Its a promiſe [I will viſit] not ſo much a threatning, for in faithfulneſs he afflicts his Children: he will not take ſo much pains with a ſlave as with a Son: he will make his Children thank God for a whipping, Lord; ſaith a godly Parent, bring home my Child though it be by weeping croſs: ſtarve my prodigal ſon, or feed him with husks, that he may reflect on his Fathers plenteous Table: oh break his Leg or Arm rather than damn his Soul: caſt him on a ſick bed, rather than caſt him into Hell: let his Purgatory be here and his Heaven hereafter: now our gracious God anſwers his Childrens Prayers: good Hezekiah's Prayers for his extravagant Son Manaſſeh were anſwered by Gods taking him among the Thorns, binding him with Fetters, carrying him to Babylon, till he had humbled him to purpoſe, and made him know that Jehovah was God, 2 Chron. 33.11, 12, 13. doubtleſs the natural as well as the ſpiritual Father of the Prodigal will welcome home the Child, tho' broken on the Wheel.
11. The Covenant ingageth for a bleſſing on Parents inſtruction and correction of their erring Children: this is of great uſe, 1. For inſtruction, Prov. 22.6. Train up a Child in the way he ſhould go: [There's the Parents Duty, do thy duty to ſet him right in the beginning of his way, ſo ſome read it,] and when he is old he will not depart from it, i. e. not eaſily, ordinarily, q. d. if thou that art the Father wilt do thy duty faithfully, I will undertake to do my part: ſet thou their faces in the right road, and I will keep them in it; ordinarily I will bleſs thy inſtructions admonitions, counſels, examples, ſee Gen. 18.19. God ſaith of Abraham, I know him that he will command his Children, and his houſhold after him, you'll ſay what is he better for that? they'll chuſe whether they'll obey or no: nay ſaith God, but I will undertake for them, [And they ſhall keep the way of the Lord, to do Juſtice and Judgment.] His labour ſhall not be in vain; I live, ſaith God, to make his words take impreſſion on his ſurviving Children when he is dead? For correction you have a notable promiſe in Prov. 23.13, 14. With-hold not correction from the Child, for if thou beateſt him with the rod, he ſhall not dye [I will take care of him;] thou ſhalt beat him with the Rod, and ſhall deliver his Soul from Hell: O bleſſed whipping! ſurely ſuch a ſcourge as fetcheth blood is eaſier than hell-torments: but my benediction ſhall be upon that correction: that's a cruel Parent, that will rather ſee his Child a flaming Faggot in the ſcorching fire, than try to whip folly out of him, that's cruel pity, better he ſhould cry here, then roar hereafter, yea and curſe thee for ever, that wouldſt not ſpeak a word or give him a tap, to prevent theſe intolerable torments: Oh the good that ſeaſonable correction may do! if thou prevail not to make thy Child good, yet thou wilt have comfort in the diſcharge of thy duty, there's good hopes of both by the bleſſing of God, Prov. 29.17. Correct thy Son, and he ſhall give thee reſt, yea he ſhall give delight unto thy Soul: yet take this caution, that theſe promiſes muſt not be underſtood abſolutely, neceſſarily, and univerſally producing this effect, but ordinarily ſo it is, and this is ſufficient motive to Parents to do their duty, and incouragement therein.
12. The laſt incouragement to Parents from the Covenant of God, for their ſurviving Children, is, that God will take care of their outward concerns in the World, Prov. 20.7. the juſt man walketh in his integrity, his Children are bleſſed after him, if their Father hath not heaped up riches by cunning and covetous devices, and ſo leaves them but little in the World, yet he hath left them in the hands of a good Father, who will take care of them, when their earthly Parents are gone: for this bleſſed Covenant is not confined to the perſons of the Godly but entailed on their Poſterity, Pſal 112.1, 2. Bleſſed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments, his ſeed ſhall be mighty upon earth, the generation of the upright ſhall be bleſſed: anſwerable to this, I call to mind a paſſage, told me by a Reverend Miniſter in London, who knew a poor and pious Preacher in Wiltſhire, who had many Children, and little to maintain them, one askt him, how he thought they could ſhift when he was gone, he anſwered, I am not at all afraid of that, I am more afraid of them when they ſhall ride up and down London ſtreets in their Coaches: which came to paſs, for ſome of them came to be Aldermen of that Famous City: our frequent experience confirms this truth, what care God takes of his upright-hearted Servants Seed when they are laid in the duſt: let us take holy David's Experiment, Pſal. 37.25. I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not ſeen the righteous forſaken, nor his ſeed begging bread. If there have been ſome few exceptions, theſe yet do not deſtroy the truth of a general propoſition: howbeit temporal promiſes were more expreſs and poſitive to the Jews of old, than to chriſtians in Goſpel-times, which conſiſts more in ſpirituals: But this will remain a truth that Children of Godly Parents are uſually provided for comfortably even in things that concern this life, if it tends to Gods glory, and their good, and if God ſee it good in his Infinite Wiſdom, which limitations muſt always be annexed to temporal promiſes: but if they be poor, defamed, ſick, in priſons, baniſhed, yet all theſe work together for their good. Rom. 8.28.