Secondly, Be the more in thy secret communion witli God. If thou hadst to live with a niggard, who pinched thy belly, wouldst thou not, though thou hadfit but a penny in thy purse, lay it out for broad rather than starve? Thou liadst need have a bit the more in a corner, because thou art cut short of thy daily bread in the family : thy soul cannot live without communion with God. Take that thyself which others will not be so kind to allow thee, and that thou mayest husband all thy ends of time the better, thou shall th^is, by God's blessings, — First, Keep thy spiritual life and vigour : Secondly, Be anti- doted against the infection of that contaminated air thou inhalest ; and, — Thirdly, Have a \ent to ease thy incumbered spirit of those griefs, reproaches, and trials thou canst not but meet with from such relations. Gracious Han- nah had an adversary in the same family, who provoked her sorely, even to make her fret; but this sent her to God in prayer, and there she eased her soul of her burden.
Thirdly, Adorn thy piety to God by the faithful performance of thy duty to thy relations, though they be not so good. Art thou a servant, and thy master profane? Be thou submissive and humble, diligent and faithful ; let him see tliat thou darest not rob him of thy time by sloth, or wrong him in his estate by falseness, (though he be a thief to thy soul by not providing for it,) but dost, with thy utmost skill and strength, endeavour to discharge thy trust to him. We see too often, that the imfaithfulnessand negligence of some professing servants, set their carnal masters l\utlier off from the worship of God than before, yea, make ihem loathe the duties bf religion, which otherwise they might have been won unto, till at last they come to think all profession in the duties of piety toward God an hypocritical cloak to cover some unfaithfulness to men, and to say of their servants, when they beg leave to go to wait on God in his ordinances, as Pharaoh of the Israelites, ' Ye are idle, ye are idle : therefore say ye. Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord,' Exod. v. 17. Thus the name of God, and his doctrine, are blasphemed through the ill-behaviour of professing servants, 1 Tim. vi. I. Again, art thou a wife, and thy husband carnal, who lives without any care of his own soul, or those muler his roof? Pray the more for him, because he prays not with thee ; pray thou for thy family in thy closet, though he neglects it in the house : but with this, be sure to commend thy piety to thy husband's conscience, and make it as legible as possible to his eye, by thy meekness of wisdom in thy caniage to him and thy family. A fair print invites to read the book; religion fairly printed in thy meek and dutiful behaviour to him, and discretion in all thy affairs, may in time win him to the consideration of the excellency of religion. He is an unwise angler that scares the fish he desires to take ; and she is an unwise Christian, that, by her peevish and undutiful carriage, offends her husband, whose convei-sion she desires and prays for.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
A WORD OF COUNSEL TO THOSE THAT LIVE IN PRAYING FAMILIES.
First, Bless God for casting thy lot in so pleasant and fruitful a soil for thy soul, where thou mayest suck in the sweet air of God's Spirit, that breathes from thy godly parents or other governors, at the throne of grace, from day to day : that thou art not placed in some blind, atheistical fannly, among whom thou mightest have passed thy days without any knowledge of thy Maker, and, with them, have been involved in that curse of God, which is in the house of the wicked, and hangs like a black cloud in the threatening, ready to jiour down upon the families that coll not upon his name. Look round thy neighbourhood, and see how many families there are who live like brutes, as in so many dark dens, where none of that heavenly light is seen from one end of the year to the other, which shines on thy face every day ! What nurture and breeding could thy soul have had under the tutoring of such parents and masters, who themselves live without God in the world? The queen of Sheba counted them happy that stood before Solomon, not so nuich that they might see his pomp, but hear his wisdom. O, ha])py thou that ministercst unto a godly master, art under gracious parents, or yoked to a holy husband ; from whose devout prayers, pious counsels, and christian examples, thou mayest gain more, than ii'they had the wealth, delicacies, and preferments of Solomon's court to confer upon thee.
2 Y
nqf) WITH ALL I'RAYER AND SUPPLICATION.