ilrpjy 1. You may pick something out of your child's undutifulness ; the child's sin is sometimes the ])arent's sermon ; the un- dutifulness of children to us, may be a me- mento to put us in mind of our undutiful- ness once to God. Time was when we were rebellious children ; how long did our heart standout as garrisons against God ? How long did he parley with us and beseech us, ere we would yield ? He walked in the ten- derness of his heart towards us, but we walked in the frowardness of our hearts to- wards him; and since grace hath been planted in our souls, how njuch of the wild olive is still in us? How many motions of the Spirit do we daily resist? How many unkindnesses and affronts have we put upon Christ ? Let this open a spring of repen- tance; look upon your cliild's rebellions and mourn for your own rebellion.
Reply 2. Though to see him undutiful is your grief, yet not always your sin. Hath a parent given the child, not only the milk of the breast, but " the sincere milk of the word ?" 1 Pet. ii. 2. Hast thou seasoned his tender years with religious education? Thou canst do no more ; parents can only work knowledge, God must work grace; they can only lay the wood together, it is God must make it burn ; a parent can only be a guide to shew his child the way to hea- ven, the Spirit of God must be a loadstone to draw his heart into that way. " Am I in God's stead — saith Jacob — who hath withheld the fruit of the womb?" Gen. XXX. 2. Can I give children ? So, is a pa- rent in God's stead to give grace ? Who can helj) it, if a child having the light of conscience, scri|)ture, education, these three torches in his hand, vet runs wilfiillv into the deep ponds of sin ? ^Wcp for thy child, jiray for hiui ; but do not sin for him by dis- content.
Re])ly 3. Say not, yon have brought forth a child for the devil; God can reduce him; he hath ])roinise(l to " turn the heart of the cliiKlren to tlieir fathers," Mai. iv. 6, And " to open springs of grace in the desert," Isa. XXXV. 6. When thy child is going full sail to the devil, (iod can blow with a con- trary wind of his Spirit, and alter his course. When Paul was breathing out persecution against the saints, and was sailing hell-ward,
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ART OF DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
God turns liim anotlier way ; before he was going to Damascus, God sends liim to Ana- nias ; before a persecutor, now a preacher. Though our cliiklren are for the present fallen into the devil's pond, God can turn them from the power of Satan, Acts xxiv. 16, and bring them in the twelfth hour. Monica was weeping for her son Augus- tine: at last God gave him in upon prayer, and he became a famous instrument in the church of God.
2. The second branch of the objection is, but my husband takes ill courses ; where I looked for honey, behold a sting.
Ans. It is sad to have the living and the dead tied together; yet, let not your heart fret with discontent ; mourn for his sins, but do not murmur. For,
Reply 1. God hath placed you in your relation, and you cannot be discontented but you quarrel with God. What ! For every cross that befals us, shall we call the infinite wisdom of God in question ? O the blasphemy of our hearts !
Reply 2. God can make you a gainer by your husband's sin ; perhaps you had never been so good, if he had not been so bad. The fire burns hottest in the coldest climate. God often by a divine anti peri stasis turns the sins of* others to our good, and makes our maladies our medicines. The aiore profane the husband is, oft the more holy the wife grows ; the more earthly he is, the more lieavenly she grows ; God makes sometimes the htjsband's sin a spur to the wife's grace. His exorbitances are as a pair of bellows to blow up the flame of her zeal and devotion the more. Is it not thus ? Doth not thy husband's wickedness send thee to prayer ? Thou perhaps hadst never prayed so much, if he had not sinned so much. His deadness quickens thee the more, the stone of his heart is an hammer to break thy heart. The apostle saith, " the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believ- ing husband," 1 Cor. vii. 14. But in this sense, the believing wife is sanctified by the unbelieving husband, — she grows bet- ter,— his sin is a whetstone to her grace, and a medicine for her security.
The next apology that discontent makes is, but my friends have dealt very unkindly ti^ith me, and proved false.
A71S. It is sad, when a friend proves like a brook in summer. Job. vi. 15. The tra- veller being parched with heat, comes to the brook, hoping to refresh himself, — but the brook is dried up, — yet be content.