A Treatise of Family Instruction, Chapter 3 · Section 17
SECT. 17. Seven Arguments to perſwade us to teach and watch over every Member of our-Family.
Direct. 17 LEt your care and diligence in teaching and watching over your Families be extended to every perſon in the Family, the meaneſt and moſt ſimple, as well as the more knowing perſons. As Miniſters, ſo alſo Maſters of Families, muſt take heed to all their Flock, and not only to the principal Members thereof: Acts 20.28. Take heed therefore unto your ſelves, and to all the Flock over which the holy Ghoſt hath made you Overſeers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchaſed with his own Blood.
To provoke you to be careful of every Member of your Family, even of the meaneſt Servant and Apprentice, as well as of your Children, and to ſeek after the Converſion, Edification, and Salvation of every one that the Lord hath committed to your Charge and Care: Conſider,
1. The Example of Chriſt; He was careful not to loſe one of thoſe Souls that were committed to him by his Father: John 17.12. While I was with them in the World, I kept them in thy Name: Thoſe that thou gaveſt me, I have kept; and none of them is loſt but the Son of Perdition. It is true, Judas the Son of Perdition was loſt, but not through the want of Chriſts care, for Judas was inſtructed as well as the reſt, but through his own wicked and perverſe ſpirit.
2. The neglecting of any one perſon in the Family, may trouble and pollute the whole Family, and prove a very great hindrance to the good of the Family, Eccleſ. 9.18. One ſinner deſtroyeth much good. Heb. 12.15. Looking diligently leſt any man fail of the Grace of God, leſt any Root of bitterneſs ſpringing up, trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.
3. The Soul of the meaneſt Servant is of more value than the whole world: Mar. 8, 36. and therefore ought to be minded and regarded above all worldly things.
4. God is ſo careful of that which we commit to his keeping, that he will loſe or neglect nothing that we commit to him. After we have committed our ſelves to God, he doth not only look after our perſons, but after every hair of our heads: Matth. 10.30. The very hairs of your head are all numbred: Luc. 21.17, 18. Ye ſhall be hated of all men for my Names ſake, but there ſhall not a hair of your head periſh. And ſhall we neglect any of thoſe immortal Souls which the Lord hath committed to our keeping, when God is ſo careful of us, as to look after every hair of our heads?
5. The pooreſt and meaneſt perſons in the Family, that have the loweſt employment and weakeſt parts, may belong to the Election of Grace as well as thoſe that are of a higher degree; 1 Co. 1.27, 28. God hath choſen the fooliſh things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and baſe things of the world, and things which are deſpiſed hath God choſen, yea and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are. And ſhall we think much to ſpend a little time and care for the ſaving of their Souls whom the great God hath made Objects of his Love and Care from all Eternity? We find that God looks after ſimple as well as wiſe men; Pſal. 116.6. The Lord preſerveth the ſimple—And ſhall we think much to look after thoſe of whom the Lord himſelf taketh care?
6. It is the will of God that means ſhould be uſed for the ſaving of every mans Soul; that the leaſt as well as the greateſt, the young as well as the old, ſhould be brought to repentance, that ſo they may obtain ſalvation by Jeſus Chriſt: Matth. 18.14. It is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of theſe little ones ſhould periſh: 2 Pet. 3.9. The Lord is not ſlack concerning his promiſe, (as ſome men count ſlackneſs) but is long-ſuffering to us-ward, not willing that any ſhould periſh, but that all ſhould come to repentance.
7. If any man have an hundred ſheep, and but one of them go aſtray, he doth not ſay, I have ninety and nine remaining with me, I will not trouble my ſelf to ſeek up that one ſheep that is gone from me; but he looks up his loſt ſheep, though it be but one, till he find it: Luk. 15.4. What man of you having an hundred ſheep, if he loſe one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the Wilderneſs, and go after that which is loſt until he find it. One man is of more value than all the ſheep in the World, Matth. 12.12. How much then is a man better than a ſheep? Suppoſe a man hath in his Family an hundred perſons, and ninety and nine of them ſhould be godly, and but one ſhould go aſtray, he ſhould not reſt ſatisfied that he hath ninety and nine in his Family truly gracious, ſo as to neglect that perſon that goeth aſtray, but ſhould uſe all diligence for the converting and ſaving of that one Soul that as yet remains in a ſinful periſhing Condition. And what I have ſaid of extending your Care and Diligence unto every Member of your Families, is to be underſtood as well of thoſe that ſojourn with you for a ſhorter Time, as of thoſe that do dwell conſtantly with you, For as Moſes ſaid, in another caſe, Numbers 15.16. One Law and one Manner ſhall be for you, and for the Stranger that ſojourneth with you. The like may I ſay here, You ſhould take one and the ſame care as well for them that ſojourn with you, whilſt they are with you, as for thoſe that are conſtantly with you. It may be the Lord ſent them under your Roof for a ſeaſon, that you might inſtil thoſe things into them that may do them good for ever.