The Best Entail, Discourse · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. An Ʋſe of Exhortation or Inſtruction.
THere are four ſorts of perſons concerned in this Text and Doctrine, that may be inſtructed in their reſpective duties from it.
Viz.
1. Children of Uncovenanted Parents.
2. Children of Covenanted Parents.
3. Perſons married without Children.
4 Perſons that have a Poſterity.
An hint, and but an hint to all theſe.
1. There are ſome Children attending on God in Ordinances whoſe immediate Parents were not in Covenant, knew not God, you may lay it to heart and lament it as your infelicity, but this is no bar to your entertainment with God: for how can you tell but ſome of your remote Anceſtours might be godly? and if not, Grace is free, thoſe that come unto him, he will in no wiſe caſt off: Joh. 6.37.you may and muſt venture: ſinners of the Gentiles are grafted into the true Olive,Rom. 11.24. Jud. 11.1, 2, 27, 28. even contrary to nature, that were Wild by nature, ſo may'ſt thou be. J…phthah was a Baſtard, thruſt out by his Brethren, but received by God. Be not diſcouraged, though thou be bad,Col. 3.11. Gal. 3.28. and Parents bad, yet God is no reſpecter of Perſons; Barbarian, Scythian, all's one in Chriſt Jeſus; Grace makes, but regards no difference. And if the Grace of God hath leapt over others heads to touch your hearts. 1. Adore the Soveraign actings of Free-grace, give God glory, diſcriminating Grace ſhall have the Crown ſet upon its head: I was doubly polluted in my Birth, from firſt, and immediate Parents. Oh that God ſhould diſpenſe with his ancient law,Deut. 23.2. that a Baſtard ſhould not enter into the Congregation of the Lord, yet God hath entertained me amongſt his Saints on Earth, and gives me hopes of Heaven, oh wonder of Grace! 2. Be humble all your days, and caſt down in your own eyes. Young profeſſors are apt to be proud, but it ill becomes you of all perſons to be proud, whom God hath lifted from the Dunghill, to ſit with Princes the Kings Children, read and apply, 2 Sam. 7.18, 19, 20. 3. Make up your Parents defect with your own diligence, what time was loſt in your child-hood and youth, now redeem it, the more ignorant your Parents were, the more knowledge do you lay in. The further they were from God, the nearer do you get to him. The more diſadvantages you have had, the more pains muſt you take for your Souls, ſeeing it's of abſolute neceſſity. 4. If God have laid hold on your Hearts, be more laborious for the good of your families: you have had ſad experience of the want of careful education, let not your Children have the like, but inſtruct them, pray for them, do what you can to bring them into Covenant with God, give not them occaſion to complain of your neglect alſo.
2. Children of Covenanted Parents: God forbid you ſhould act contrary to your Baptiſmal Covenant-relation, or contradict your obligations, that Thorns ſhould grow inſtead of Lillies; or ſtinking Weeds, where ſweet ſmelling Flowers have been: it's dreadful, that curſing ſhould be heard where Prayers have been put up, or idle wanton Songs where Hoſanna's have been uſed to the King of Heaven. 1. Review and Renew your Baptiſmal-covenant: you were timely devoted to God in minority, confirm it now at age; you took preſs-money to be the Lords Souldiers, to fight againſt Satan, World, Fleſh. Beg the Graces and priviledges exhibited and ſealed in that ordinance, Regeneration, Adoption, Mortification, Union to Chriſt, Tit. 3.5. Rom. 6.1, 2. Gal. 3.26. Act. 22.16.Remiſſion of Sin: ſay, Lord didſt thou promiſe before I could ask them, and now wilt thou not beſtow them, when I am become an humble ſuitor for them? I here produce thy Charter, the deed of gift under thine own hand: thou didſt in thy infancy confer a right, give me now poſſeſſion of it, let me know the Seed was ſown by the crop growing up, that I may at laſt reap the bleſſed Harveſt. 2. Repent for your breach of Covenant, alas I have not walkt up to my vow in Baptiſm: I have failed by omiſſion, trangreſſed by commiſſion, my Conſcience condemns me, God may juſtly cenſure me for tranſgreſſing his Laws,Iſa. 24.5. changing his Ordinances, breaking the everlaſting Covenants I have abuſed his kindneſs, rejected his gracious offers, neglected his Worſhip, and God may juſtly draw up a black bill of indictment againſt me, paſs the Sentence upon me, and execute it as againſt an Apoſtate, but Lord heal my back ſlidings, Hoſ. 14.4.love me freely, turn away thine anger from me: and deal with me according to the tenour of this New Covenant. 3. Plead your Fathers Covenant, Prayers, Practice: The Lord our God be with us as he was with our Fathers, 1 Kin. 8.57.let him not leave us nor forſake us. Pſal. 22.4, 5. our Fathers truſted in thee, they truſted, and thou didſt deliver them, they cried unto thee, &c. bleſſed be God, the God of my Fathers, that gave them a believing, praying heart; and ſigſig experiences of anſwers of Prayer: I will build on that Foundation, and ſurely my Lord will not be worſe to me than he was to them; How ſtrong a plea this hath been accounted, ſee in David, 1 Chron. 12.17. Jehoſhaphat, 2 Chron. 20.6. thus may you plead, Lord, my Godly Father was in many ſtraits, and ſtill he made thee his only refuge and thou didſt not leave him, Oh cut not off this bleſſed entail from me his Child, be as good to me as thou waſt to him. 4. Walk in the ſteps of your godly Anceſtors, plead and practiſe as they did, ſay as Moſes, Exod. 15.2. He is my God, 1 Kin. 21.3, 4. Pro. 27.10.and I will prepare him an habitation; my Fathers God, and I will exalt him: God forbid that I ſhould ſell the Inheritance of my Fathers: My Fathers Friend I will not forſake, by ſinning or apoſtatiſing, he never gave me occaſion to withdraw from him,Jer. 2.5. What iniquity have my Fathers found in God? Shall I diſoblige an old Friend, to gratifie an inveterate Enemy? No God forbid,Act. 24.14. I will own, love, and ſerve the God of my Fathers for ever: the God of my Fathers help me to ſtick cloſe to my dear Lord in duty.
3. This Doctrine concerns perſons that are married, that yet have no Children to Pray and Care for, or incourage themſelves about for ſurviving Poſterity, and under this head I ſhall alſo rank unmarried perſons: both theſe may learn theſe four practical leſſons.
1. Be ſure you lay hold of this Covenant for your own Souls: Be concerned for your ſelves; if you have none elſe to care for, yet you have a great charge upon your hands: You are either Gods or Devils to your ſelves; (aut Deus aut Demon) either God or Satan is with us, even when alone: Yea every man is the worſt Devil to himſelf (quiſque ſibi Satan) every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own luſt and enticed: Jam. 1.14.Your buſineſs is therefore to ſecure your beſt intereſt, whether you ſhall have Children or no: and the only courſe is to lay hold on this Goſpel-Covenant, Iſa. 56.4, 5. For thus ſaith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and chuſe the thing that pleaſe me, and take hold of my Covenant: Even unto them will I give in my Houſe, and within my Walls a place and a name better than of Sons and of Daughters—Mark it, you both ſecure your own Souls and your name: How much is this better than Abſoloms Pillar, which became an Eternal ſhame? You conſult honour to your ſelves by embracing Covenant terms, practiſing Covenant-duties, improving Covenant-promiſes; and Spirituallizing Covenant-ſeals, believing in Chriſt the Mediator of the Covenant, being ſprinkled with the blood of the Covenant that you may enjoy Covenant-priviledges; then ſhall your names be inrolled in the ſacred Calendar,Iſa. 4.3. and written among the living in Jeruſalem: God and good men will eſteem and honour you, yea, your name ſhall be had in everlaſting remembrance: Your memory ſhall be bleſſed on Earth,Prov. 10.7. and your Souls happy in Heaven: Oh how much is this better than Sons to bear up your name? That's but a Temporal this a Spiritual mercy, that Common to all, this peculiar to Saints, that uncertain, this fixed, that Temporary this Eternal: Be ſure of this and you are happy.
2. Be humble and mortified: You want Children, they are an Earthly bleſſing, Pſal. 127.Pſal. 128.3, 4. 3, 4, 5. For Children are the heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the Womb is his reward, as arrows are in the hands of a mighty man, ſo are the children of Youth, happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: Theſe are not contemptible (though temporal) mercies, you muſt not throw up the head, and ſay tuſh, I care not; I have more eaſe and draw a light harrow, I may take my pleaſure, and make even with my Eſtate; for I have none to leave it to when I dye: This is naughtily ſpoken, God would have you humbled under the want of Children, tho' but a temporal mercy: Gods Servants have lookt on it as an Affliction: You may hereby take occaſion to exerciſe Repentance, and enquire what ſin he is now puniſhing you for; thus you may make a virtue of neceſſity: Your defect of Children may prove an increaſe of your graces: But take heed of deſpiſing the bleſſing, or taking occaſion of revelling away your Eſtates; that's an extream one way, as penuriouſneſs is unreaſonable in you on the other hand, both are ſins to be avoided, and mortified, ſtudy, Col. 3.5. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the Earth, Fornication, Ʋncleanneſs, Inordinate Affection, Evil Concupiſence, and Covetouſneſs which is Idolatry. Away with all licentious practiſes; live Chaſtly, modeſtly, moderately, humbly, diligently in both callings.
3. Adopt ſome to be a Child or Children to you, if you be perſons of any Eſtates: this is Mr. Paul Bains advice: they muſt, ſaith he, not revel with their Subſtance, nor muſt they live like idle perſons and buſy-bodies for want of this imployment, but they muſt ſave the matter of their Eſtate, and depute ſome as Adopted Children, and be helpful in Educating others. Thus he: Adoption hath been uſed in all civilized nations, and it is In alienam familiam tranſitus, A paſſing legally out of one Family into another: And amongſt the Romans it was [Aut per praetorium, aut per populum:] That which was done by the Proetors was called Adoption; That which was done by the People was called Arrogation. They had many formalities about it, needleſs here to be recounted. But by this means you may have children whom you may account as your own: you rich men, that God hath denied the fruit of your bodies to, have you no near kinſmen, or poor neighbours, to whom God hath granted a lovely off-ſpring? ſurely it would be acceptable both to God, them, and your ſelves, to pick out an ingenuous child, help him to learning; train him up for God; bequeath your Eſtates to make an Experiment of him while you live; So may you have comfort of him, and he may bear up your name: Do good with your Eſtate, and be ſerviceable in Church and Commonwealth. I know ſome rich men grudg and envy any that are likely to enter into their labours: but as their glory will not deſcend after them, ſo uſually thoſe Eſtates do no good when they are gone;Pſal. 49.17. Eccl. 2.19. For who knoweth whether he ſhall be a wiſe man or a fool, that ſhall have rule over his labour.
4. Take more time and pains for the good of your own Souls, and lay out your ſelves for the good of others: if you be unmarried ſtudy that Text: 1 Cor. 7.33, 35. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may pleaſe the Lord. Not that married perſons have a Superſedeas, or Quietus eſt, from Soul-concerns. But the un-married have a more leiſure and fairer opportunity for immediate acts of Devotion. Married perſons have ſome divertiſements (in themſelves lawful) which un-married are free from. The Married may have numerous Children, and ſo have many diſtractions, which Childleſs perſons are not intangled in; and ſo may [Vacare Deo] be more at leiſure for God; or as the word is, attend on the Lord without diſtraction. [foreign,] ſit cloſe to the Lord without Disjunction; [Indiviſâ cum domino conjunctione vivatur] like the faithful ſervants who depart not from their Maſters ſide: O happy ſouls who have an heart and leiſure to keep ſo cloſe to God! You have more time than others, ſee your feet and hands and heart run parallel: Your opportunities are double to others. Let your improvement be doubled. You have no children to lay up for: Lay out the more for God. He expects more from you than from others. You have no children to maintain; Honour the Lord with your ſubſtance. Prov. 3.9.Buy Bibles and Catechiſms for poor Children. Maintain them at School. Relieve the poor. Incourage a Goſpel Miniſtry. Give the tenth part at leaſt of your yearly incomes to charitable Uſes. Let your own hands be your Executors. Truſt not others when you are dead; For as it is no thanks to you to bequeath Legacies when you are forced to leave all, ſo you know not how they will be imbezelled or disburſed. Beſides, you loſe the opportunity of ſhewing your charitable Diſpoſition. Living Springs ſend forth ſtreams liberally. Dead Pits afford nothing but what is drawn out with Buckets. Watch and catch at Objects and occaſions of doing good. Spare upon your ſelves, but be liberal in good uſes, Let your Superfluities give way to your Brothers Conveniencies: Your Conveniencies to his Neceſſities: Yea, your Neceſſities muſt go to ſupply his Extremities. Fear not wanting your ſelves: You put all into a good Bank. Dare you not truſt God upon his Bills of Return, Promiſes? If you lend to the Lord, doubtleſs he will repay: Do you fear the Alſufficient God will turn Bankrupt? Conſult the Experiences of Gods ſervants, and ſee if the Jewiſh Proverb have not proved true, [Decima ut dives fias] Pay Tythes that thou mayeſt be rich. Remember what our Lord ſaith, Luke 6.38. Give, and it ſhall be given you, good meaſure, preſſed down, ſhaken together, and running over, ſhall men give into your boſomes.