The Best Entail, Discourse · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. An Ʋſe of Conviction and Humiliation.
ALL the improvement I ſhall make of this point, ſhall be 1. Of Conviction. 2. Exhortation.
1. Of Conviction, if this be true, that notwithſtanding the ſins and ſufferings in a godly mans family, which occaſion much grief to his Spirit, yet he is comforted and ſatisfied in Gods gracious Goſpel-covenant.
Then it follows by the rule of contraries, that thoſe Families that have no right to this Goſpel-covenant are in a woful ſtate, have no grounds of comfort, ſatisfaction, no hopes of Salvation, ſo remaining, they are not under a bleſſing, but under a curſe, Prov. 3.33. The curſe of the Lord is in the houſe of the wicked: the Plague is in that houſe: ſet a croſs on that door, and ſay Lord have mercy upon it: wicked families, read your doom, and train of curſes in Deut. 28.15, 16, 17, 18, 19. you make great reckoning of your eſtates, alas there's no Covenant bleſſing in any thing you have, they are in themſelves great bleſſings of God, but to you they are curſed, Mat. 2.2. If you will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, ſaith the Lord of Hoſts, I will even ſend a curſe upon you, and will curſe your bleſſings, yea I have curſed them already, becauſe ye do not lay it to heart: it's a dreadful flaming text againſt impenitent, inconſiderate ſinners: not only their perſons, but all their domeſtick concerns are under a curſe; your meat, money, houſes, wives, children, garments, imployments, injoyments, all that you do, all that you have ſhall be accurſed; this is an heavy caſe: a grounded curſe by man lyes long, and lights ſadly upon Succeſſors; Noah pronounced a curſe on Cham's off-ſpring,Gen. 9.25. which never left them till it rooted out the Canaanites, by Shem's Poſterity.
The ſubject is large and aſtoniſhing, I ſhall ſay ſomething,
1. To Irreligious Parents.
2. To Irreligious Children.
1. There are ſome Parents within the bounds of the viſible Church, that, 1. Underſtand not this Covenant, never ſet themſelves to conſider it: they bring their Infants to be baptized in a cuſtom, becauſe others do ſo, and it would be a ſhame not to have them Chriſtened, Neighbours would cry out againſt them; but they neither know the meaning of Baptiſm, nor Covenant, nor have they any mind to know them. 2. Take no pains to get their own Souls intereſted in this Covenant,Eph. 2.12. but are ſtrangers from the Covenants of Promiſe, and ſo have no hope for themſelves or ſeed: we find great fault with prodigal Parents that imbezel, and alienate their Anceſtors Inheritance, that ſhould have deſcended to their Children, but it's a thouſand times worſe for Parents, to cut off this bleſſed entail of the Goſpel-covenant. 3. Moſt are negligent in doing their duty to Children, alas how few will take pains to inſtruct them in the principles of Religion, the nature, uſe, ends of the Seals of the Covenant, in praying for them, as if there were no ſuch text in the Bible, or they had never made ſuch a promiſe,Eph. 6.4. to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! Ah! wretched Father, Mother, out of your own mouth are you condemned, that promiſe what you never intend to perform: how notoriouſly do you falſifie your promiſe, betray your truſt. 4. There are too too many Parents that are ſcandalous, prophane, atheiſtical, and teach their young ones to lye, ſwear, be drunk, unclean, by the evil example they ſet before them. A Child brought up with Plato, coming home, hearing his father in a furious paſſion, could ſay, I never ſaw or heard the like in Plato. Alas, ſirs you leſſen your eſteem with your Children by ſinful courſes; you bring guilt upon your family: yea you do your endeavour to root out your family: The ſeed of the wicked ſhall be cut off, Pſal. 37.28. The whole Pſalm, and daily experience teſtifies the ſame:Hab. 2.10. Ah ſinner, thou haſt conſulted ſhame to thy houſe, and ſome generations hence may reap the fruits of thy folly. The text ſaith he will viſit the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him. Exod. 20.5.There are ſome hereditary ſins, and ſome hereditary puniſhments bequeathed as an heritage to their Children; Divines vindicate Gods Juſtice in proving that God may righteouſly puniſh ſins of Relations in their correlates,Filij ſunt res Parentum. for Children (ſay ſome) are portions of Parents, as people are the riches and good of Princes: yea they have in them [aliquid parentis] ſomething of the Parent, they are pieces of them. So David was puniſhed in his Childs death: But I ſhall not ſpend more time in this point; becauſe ſomuch is ſaid by many others.
How can you ſee your Children damned in Hell through your default? How can you hear their cries, and ſee their torments in that Infernal Lake, gnaſhing their Teeth, and roaring with Flames about their Ears, ſaying, oh curſed Parents, that by your Soul-damning negligence, have brought your ſelves and me into this lamentable ſtate! that would not ſpeak a word to me, nor plead the Covenant for me, to prevent theſe Eternal Torments: that ſaw me go on in ſin, and would not ſtop my courſe betimes, by faithful admonition and ſound correction; nay that ſet me a bad Example, and were content that I ſhould periſh with you, curſed be the day that ever I ſhould know ſuch wretched Parents, well had it been for me, that I had never been born, or had been brought forth a Beaſt without a rational Soul, that I might have died like a Beaſt, yea I had been comparatively happy if you my Parents had put me to death, or as the Heathen Thracians, lamenting my Birth, buried me betimes, and rejoyced at my death, becauſe of the miſeries of humane life, but Oh I am brought forth, and fed up for the murderer, the murderer of Souls; I had but gone (as a condemned perſon) out of a dark priſon to the place of Execution, but now, having lived thus long in the World, I have fought againſt God, and ſunk my Soul deeper in Hell: Oh wo is me, that I lived under ſuch cruel Tyrants, and as the dying perſon ſaid, I am going to Hell and my wicked Mother muſt follow after.
And Oh, the woful reſentment of fellow damned Parents upon the hideous outcries of the fruit of their own bodies and bowels! here neighbours fare is not good fare, but the rich mans torments are aggravated by his fine brethrens coming into the ſame condemnation: Every Screek of the Child will tear the heart of the ſelf-condemning Father: how eaſily might I have prevented theſe deſpairing groans by a faithful diſcharge of duty! What if I had followed my wandring Child with ſighs and tears to God and him while there was hope, but now all too late, all too late, the guilt of my Childs blood is now required at my hands, Had I whipt him ſo as to fetch blood at every laſh, it had not been ſo dreadful as the laſhes of divine vengeance; had I diſinherited him for his faults, it had not been ſo confounding, as my own being baniſht with him from the preſence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, Oh! what is temporary puniſhment to Eternal torments! Oh that God would ſtrike the hearts of poor carnal Parents with bowels of pity towards their poor periſhing off-ſpring.
2. Graceleſs irreligious Children, grown up, 'tis no excuſe for you to be bad, becauſe your Parents are bad, are you ſo wildly ſociable as to go to. Hell for company? This is like the miſerable Indians that leap into their Parents graves to be buried with them: Or like that Italian viſiting his Fathers Sepulcher, waſhing all the parts of the Monument with lamentable tears,Progenies viperarum nominat potius quam viperas ut toti ordini exprobret virulentam malitiam totum corpus damnare voluit. Calv. in Harm. Evan. in Mat. 3.7. 1 Pet. 1.18. Jer. 6.16. fell down dead: God may ſay who requires this at your hands: But ſtill it's worſe to follow their pernicious examples, as too many Children do: You may reverence your Anceſtors, yet examine their dictates by the word of truth, and not be as the young Novice entring into a Monaſtery was adviſed [tu et Aſinus unum eſtote] to be like an Aſs, ſwallow down all that comes. No, no, you are redeemed from your vain Converſation, received by tradition from your Fathers, and therefore muſt enquire not ſimply for the old way, but which is the good way: It's too much what Cicero (the Heathen Orator) thinks a commendable piece of Religion, to live and die in the Religion of our Anceſtors: It rather becomes Children to take warning by their Fathers falls and faults to avoid them, and the bad Conſequences thereof:Ezek. 18.14-18. So God ſaith, If the Father beget a Son, who ſeeth all his Fathers ſins, conſidereth, turneth, he ſhall not die for his Fathers Iniquity: But if you follow their ſinful courſes, you juſtifie them, condemn Gods ways, and damn your own Souls: Yea you bring upon your ſelves the guilt of your Fathers ſins beſides your own; wicked Parents are ſet before you as Sea-marks to avoid, not as Land-marks to guide you: The Heathen Orator ſaid, Parents are [foreign] as houſehold Gods, their words ſhould be as Oracles, but alas they are but men, and may miſtake and miſcarry, but God in his word is an unerring guide: Follow the Lord and you cannot miſs or miſcarry, but you may miſcarry by following the beſt men, you will certainly miſcarry, if you follow bad men: The Woman of Samaria erroneouſly pleads the place of her Anceſtors worſhip:John 4.20. And Jeremiah confutes the fooliſh Jews fond plea from their Fathers practiſes, Jer. 44.17, 21.
But I ſhall rather hint a few words of conviction to the irreligious Children of godly Parents: Who degenerate from their Anceſtors, that it may be ſaid as in Iſa. 63.16. Abraham is ignorant of us, and Iſrael acknowledgeth us not, i. e. (as ſome take it) if our godly Anceſtors Abraham and Jacob were now alive, or raiſed up from the dead, they would not own us for their legitimate off-ſpring, we are ſo unlike them. I fear this is too true of the Children of godly Predeceſſors got to reſt, that tread not in their Fathers ſteps, but take a contrary courſe: their Fathers prayed in their families, but Children have left off that trade, Fathers frequent Religious Societies, Children frequent Alehouſes and naughty company, Fathers walked cloſely with God, Childern run away from God and his Inſtitutions: Wo, Wo be to ſuch Children.
1. They are perjured faedifragous, and forſworn wretches, who in their Baptiſm ingaged to be the Lords Servants, Subjects, Souldiers, and to fight under Chriſt's Banner againſt the World, Fleſh and the Devil, and took Preſs-money, but now have turned their backs on Chriſt, and fight the Devils battles againſt Chriſt. Wo be to ſuch perfidious wretches, what's the doom of ſuch as outrun their Colours but to be ſhot to Death? Covenant breakers are ranked amonſt the worſt of Sinners; Heathens, Rom. 1.31. And ſuch as make hard times in the later days, 2 Tim. 3.3. If it were but a mans Covenant it's a grand crime to diſannul it, much more this,Gal. 3.15. Prov. 2.17. the Covenant of Marriage is in ſome ſenſe the Covenant of God, this more immediately and he will avenge the quarrel of his Covenant, Lev. 26.25. Oh Sirs! how dare you look God in the face whoſe Covenant ye have broken? What have you to do to take his Covenant in your mouths, Pſal. 50.16.when Conſcience flies in your face?
2. You have loſt the benefit of your Infant-Priviledges: Your Infant memberſhip was but calculated for your Infant-State, now you are grown up Adult-perſons, you muſt ſtand upon your own bottoms, no longer on your Parents, now you muſt live by your own faith; Rom. 1.17,you muſt enter perſonally into Covenant with God, repent, obey the Goſpel your ſelves, or elſe if thou be a breaker of this Goſpel-Law,Rom. 2.25. thy Circumciſion becomes Ʋncircumciſion, i. e. thy Priviledges are made void, inſignificant: So God reckons uncircumciſed in Heart with uncircumciſed in fleſh, Jer. 9.26. And ſaith they are as the Children of the Aethiopians unto him, Amo. 9.7.and in the Goſpel it is repeated again and again,1 Cor. 7.19. Circumciſion is nothing and Uncircumciſion is nothing, but the keeping the commandments of God; Gal. 5.6.6.15.but faith which worketh by love; but a new Creature: You boaſt of your pious Parents, as the Jews once did, and bear up big with being Abrahams ſeed, alas you may be a generation of vipers, Mat. 3.7, 8, 9.as John Baptiſt tells them, and of your Father the Devil; as our Lord ſaith,Joh. 8.33, 44. except you have the Faith and do the works of Abraham. A famous Family will avail nothing without perſonal piety: Without holineſs in your hearts and lives you cannot be ſaved: think not that God is bound, and you looſe, the Covenant is mutual, reciprocal, you cannot expect the Priviledges without performing the Conditions.
3. It's an awful obſervation (and often proves too true) that if the Children of God's People turn Apoſtates they become the worſt of men, and run deeper into ſin, and further from God then many, yea any others: The Sons of good old Eli run into unparalleled wickedneſs, 1 Sam. 2. 13, 22. We have many ſad inſtances of Cain, Cham, Iſhmael, Eſau, Ammon, Abſolom, yea, Solomon, Rehoboam, Manaſſeh, and few recovered and with great difficulty; The Tribe of Dan (Jacobs Son) turned Idolaters, and ſcarce ever returned to God, therefore are not reckoned amongſt the Sealed ones, Rom. 7. 5, 8. Becauſe they ſet up Micahs graven Image: and it's obſervable, that Jonathan the Son of Gerſhom (Moſes Grandſon) was Prieſt to the Tribe of Dan, and his Sons after him, until the day of the captivity of the land, Judg. 18.30, 31. But the Heathens obſerve that though this Jonathan was Moſes Natural Grandſon by generation, yet he is called Grandchild of Manaſſeh whom he imitated in forgetting God, not of Moſes as appears by lifing up a letter in the Hebrew to make it no Moſes but Manaſſeh: foreignHe had ſo far degenerated that his Godly Grandfather muſt not be named with him.Jer. 5.28. Thus Iſraelites are ſaid to overpaſs the deeds of the wicked, i. e. of Heathens,Ezek. 16.47. Ezek. 5.6. yea, they go beyond Sodom and her Daughters, and change Gods judgments more than the Heathen: The reaſon is clear, becauſe theſe ſin againſt more Light, Love, Helps, Means, Convictions, Godly Examples, Good Education, and therefore are juſtly forſaken of God, and left to greater abominations: Oh tremble leſt this be your caſe.
4. The Children of Godly Parents may be caſt into Eternal Torments. Abraham the Father of the Faithful may have an houling Son in Hell Torment.Luk. 16.24, 25. Mat. 8.12. The Children of the Kingdom ſhall be caſt out into utter darkneſs, there ſhall be weeping and gnaſhing of teeth, they that would not weep penitently here muſt weep deſpairingly hereafter: they that ſcorned rebukes from Parents, muſt have dreadful rebukes from God and Conſcience, their Education was with Saints, their concluſion with Devils. There's many gone to Hell with Baptiſmal Water on their Face: Baptized Magus, Act. 8.13, 20, 23.is like to periſh with his money; he was in the gall of bitterneſs, and bonds of iniquity, that dragg'd him to Hell: Yea the damnation of ſuch Caitiffs will be endorſt with more vengeance than others: the Worm of Conſcience will bite harder, being fed with more materials to ſtrengthen her: the Flame will be hotter, having more fewel: the higher men are exalted towards Heaven,Mat. 11.23. and reach it not, the lower do they fall to Hell, and in Hell; if they plead their birth-right, as he that pleaded he was a Gentleman, the Judge told him, he ſhould therefore have an higher Gallows; or as Lord Sturton that was hanged for Murder in a ſilken Halter: ſo muſt theſe well-bred perſons be dealt with,Luk. 12.47. the more they know of their Maſters Will, the more ſtripes are laid on them: the more they glory in their priviledges, the more miſery in their loſs, and the higher their hopes, the greater their diſappointment: theſe are both hypocrites and apoſtates, whoſe ſin and ſhame is more aggravated and augmented than others.Mat. 24.51. Oh what flaming Faggots, and ſcorching Oil, will Parents Prayers, Tears, Councils, Admonitions, Exhortations be to diſſolute young men! when they ſhall ſee Parents glorified, themſelves condemned: read Prov. 5.11, 12, 13.