j7-g\ 1. From the relation itself, which is betwixt you and them; look but into your own bowels, and you shall find arguments enough to provoke your utmost care and industry for their good : what is a child but a piece of yourself (as one f saith) wrapt up in another skin ? What an inestimable value doth nature itself teach you to set upon them ? The life of Jacob is said to be bound up in Benjamin's, Gen. xliv. 30. This dear and ardent affection to them, we use to express by our earnest desires of them, till we have them. Gen. xv. 2. " What wilt thou give me, seeing I go child- " less,'' said Abraham, Gen. xxx. 1. " Give me children, or
* Buxtorf in synag. Judaic, cap. 3.
t See exhortation to catech. by the ministers of the isle of Wight
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*' else I die,'' said Rachel. 1 Sam. i. 10, 11. How earnestly did Hannah pray, in the bitterness of her soul, for a child. Also by the singular contentment we take in them, when we have them, John xvi. 21. and the wonderful tenderness of our affections to them, and earnest desires to keep them, no value can be set upon a child, Gen. xlii. 36, 38. Luke viii. 41, 42. John vii. 47, 49. Also by our sympathizing with them in all conditions ; their com- fort is ours, Gen. xlv. 27, 28. and their misery is ours, Mark ix. 21. And lastly, by our extreme grief when we lose them, Gen. xxxvii. 33, 34, 35. Mat. ii. 18.
Now are they such near and dear things to you ? O then how many motives doth this dear and tender relation wrap up in it, to, endeavour the eternal salvation of their poor souls ! It is the soul of the child that is the child ; and if that perish for want of know- ledge, where is the mercy of having children ? Surely an untimely birth is better than they : all ! when you shall see them enemies to God, those that came out of your bowels to be in rebellion against him ; will it not make you take up Job's wish. Job iii. 1, 5. and apply it to them. Let the day perish wherein they were born, and the night in which it was said they are conceived ; let the darkness and shadow of death stain it : let a cloud dwell upon it ; let the blackness of the day terrify it ; why died they not from the womb ? why did they not give up the ghost when they came out of the belly ? why did the knees not prevent them ? or why the breasts that they should suck ? — Ah ! if you have the hearts of parents in you, think how sad a consideration this will be to you, that those who are so dear to you, should be the objects of God's wrath : those you have been so tender over, and have so often put into your be- soms, must lie under eternal torments, and their bed be made in hell ? If you have any good thing yourselves, you cannot with- hold it from them ; if you be feasted abroad, and they pining at home, the greatest dainties do you no good. Why now unless they be taught the knowledge of Christ, and a saving change pass upon them, when you shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house, and drinking of the rivers of his pleasure, they shall be shut out : nature teacheth you to feel the pains of their bodies, and cannot grace teach you to sympathize with the misery of their poor wretched souls ? Well the day is coming, if they die Christ- less, that they will wish they had been the generation of tygers, or off-spring of dragons, rather than your children : and when you can have them no more, you know who must and will.
Arg: 2. From that exceeding joy, it must needs be to a godly parent to see his children and relations gracious. May not every godly parent say as John did of the children of the elect lady,
540 AXTiniARMACU.M SALUBERRIMUM.
*' I have no greater joy, than to see them walk in the truth," 2 John i. 4. Is it pleasing to you to see your own image in them? And ^v^ll it not much more delight you to see the image of Christ in them ? Grace doubles the relation, aud so must needs exceed- ingly increase your joy in them. This is the true way to build up the felicity of our issue. How many anxious thoughts and solicit- ous cares will this discharge thy heart of ! O if thou leave them in the covenant of grace, thy heart may be at rest concerning them ; if thou leave them not a groat, they shall not want a father to care for them, when thou art in the dust. Besides, grace will effectually teach them the duties of their relation to you, Avhile you live ; hereby you will provide, not only for their eternal good, but your own joy also.
Aj'g\ 3. The work now lies upon your hand more than ever, as I hinted before ; and truly you have many singular advantages above all others to do the work. (1.) You are continually with them, and so may take the fittest seasons to drop your admonitions upon them, Deut. vi. 6, 7- (2.) You best know their tempers and dispositions, and so can apply yourselves with more advantage to them. (3.) You have the deepest interest in their hearts and af- fections, which is a great matter ; this will make your words (es- pecially if dropt upon them with much affection) sink deep. Oh what child can chose but relent, while a parent is speaking Avith a melting heart to him about his eternal concernments. I remem- ber Austin MTites of his mother jMonica, that she planted the pre- cepts of life in his mind by her words, watered them with her tears, and nourished them with her example. A precious pattern for all mothers.
Methinks these arguments should excite you to your duty ; O if you have in you the bowels of parents, let them impel you to it ; you cannot plead danger here as in other duties ; against such there is Ij/ct] no law.
2. As to your neighbourhood. You should study to be useful in your generation ; are there any poor carnal neighbovirs about you .'' O visit them, and be ever dropping some serious words of counsel upon them : how do you know but there may be some sleep- ing conviction left upon them by the ministry they once sat under, v.hich you may be instrumental to awaken ? And are there any that fear the Lord near you ? O be often together, strengthen the hands that hang down. The Jews have a proverb, that one d?-?/. stidi will set tico green ones on fire. A. lively Christian may be of singular u.se in such a day as this. In Mai. iii. 16. we find what the practice of Christians was in an evil day, as it appears that was by the loth verse, " They that work wickedness are set up, yea^ ** tliey that tempt God are even delivered." And yet> " Then
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" they that feared tlie Lord, spake often one to another, and tlie " Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remem])rance was '' written before him for them that feared tlie Lord, and that
'* thought upon his name. And they shall be mine,"' &c. Oh