f.1.tive 2. Motive 3· M•tive 4• Motiws f or Ho~ Education of [hildm1. more: tht: flames of Hell, would you noc rh ink that man or woman more fit robe cal!cd a Devil than a Parent, that could find in their hearts to call their Child into it, er w pur him into the hands of one that would do it? What Monll:crs then of inhumanity arc you, that read in Scl"ipcurc which is the way to Hell, and who they be that God will deliver up w Satan, to be tonn~.;nrcd by him ; and yet will bring up your children in that very way, and will not take pains to Cave them from it? What a fiir do you make to provide them food and raymenr, and a competellt m~intcnancc in the world when you are dead? And how little pains take you to prepare their {(Juls for the heavenly inheri· tance? If you fcriouflybelieve that there are f~1c? Joyuor Tomwu1, fOr your children { and your felves) as foon as death removeth you hence, lS H poffible that you lhoukl cake thisfor the Jealt of their concernmeQts, or make it t~e leatl and lafi of your cares, to affi1rc 'rhem of an cndlefs happi– nefs ? If you Love them, Chew it in thofe things on which their evcrlafting welfJrccloth de-pend. Do 110t fay you Love them, and yet lead them unto Hell. If you love thrm nut, y~:t be not JO unmerci– ful to them as to damn them : It is not your faying, God f orbid, and we hope baur, that w ill make it better, or be any excu(e to you: What can you do more to damn them, if you ftud itd to do ·it as malici~:mfly as the Devil himfelf? You cannot poffibiy do more, than to bring them up in ignorance, carelefsne[s, worldlincfs, fenfuality and ungodlinefs: The Devil can do nothing elfc ro damn either them or you, but by tempting to fin, and drawing you from Godlinc:fs. There i1 no otbrr way ro Hell. No man is damned for any thing but this. And yet will you bring them up in fuch a life, and fay, [Godforbid, wt donot defire to damn them? J But it is no wonder; when you do by yom cbildrm but as you do byyn•r[elver: Who can look that a man lhould be reafon•ble for his child, chlt is fo unrePfonable for him[clf? Or that thof~ Parents ihould have any mercy on their childrcns fouls, that have no mercy on their owe:~ You defire not to damnyour felvtJ, but yet you tlo it, if you live ungodly lives: And fo you will doby your children ifyou train them up in ignorance of God,and in rhe fervice of the flelh and world. You do like one that lhould fet fire on his houfe, and fay, [God f"bid, [ intendnot to burn it: J or like one tQat cafieth his child into the Sea, and faith, he intenderh not to drown him: or traineth him up in robbing and thievery, and faith, he intendcth not to have him hanged : But if you intend to make a Thiefofhim, it is all one in effect, as if you intended his hang– ing : for the Law dctcrmineth it, and the Judge will intend it. So if you intend to train up your children in ungodlinefs, as if they had no GOd, nor fo.uls to mind, you may as well fay, you imend to have them damned. And were not an enemy, yea, is not the Devil more excufable, fOr dealing thus cruelly by your children, than you that are their Parents, that are bound by Natu're to love them, and prevent their mifery? It is odious in Miniflers that take the 'barge of fouls, to betray them by negligence, and be guilty of their everlatling mifery; but inParents it is more unnatural, and therefore more unexcufable. y .2. Motive 2. Confider that G,d i1 the Lord and Owner ofyour childre",both by the title of Creation and Redemption : Therefore in jujlice you muff refign them to him, and educate them for hi'!~. Otherwife you rob God of his own Creatum, and robChrijl of thofefor whom he dyed, and thiS to give them to the Devil, the enemy ofGod and them. It was not theworld, or the flejh, or the Dwit that ere~ atcd them, er redeemed them, but God: And it is not polfible for any Right to be built upon a fuller "litle, than to ma~e them of nothi~tg, and redum thern from a ftate far worfe than nothing. And after all this, £hall the very Parents of luch children, ileal them from their abfolute Lord and Father, and fell them to flavery and torment ' 9· 3• Motive 3· Remember that in their Baptifm you did dedicate them toGo-l: you tntred them into a folemn Vow and Covinant,to be wholly hi1,and to Jive to him. The:rein thr.:y renounced the fie{h,the world and the Devil : Therein you promifed to bring them up vertuoufly ta leatl agorily and Chrijtian life, that they might obediently i(!ep Gods holy WiU and Commanaments, and >valk,.in 1he fame aU the dayn of thtir livel. And after all this, will you break fo folemp a promil~:, and caufe them eo break fuch a Vow and Covenant, by bringing them up in ignoranGe and ungodlinefs? Did you underfiand and and confider what you then did' How folemnly you your felves engaged them in a Vow to GQd, to live a mortified and a holy life? And will you fo folemnly do that in an hour, which all their life after with you, you will endeavour w defiroy? 9· +· Motive 4· Confider h•w great power the education of children bath upon aU their foUowing livu : Except Nature and Grace, there is nothing that ufually doth prevail fo. much with them. Indeed the ribfiinacy ofNatttral Vitioufnefs doth often frufirate a good education: But if auy means be like to do good, it is this : But ill educatim is more contlantly fuccefsful, to make them evil. This che– rilheth thofe feeds of wickedncfs which fpring up when they come to age: This maketh fo many to be proud, and idle, and flefh·pleaferJ, and licmtiouJ, and luftful, and covttouJ, and all that is naught. And he hath a hard task that cometh after to IOOt out thefe vices, which an ungodly educition hath fo deeply radicated. Ungodly Parents do ferve the Devil fo effectually, in the firfi imprelfi· ons on their childrens minds, that it is more than Magifiratcs and Minifiers and all reforming mea~s can afterwards do to recover them from that fin to God. Whereas if you would firll engage theJr hearts toGorl, by a religious education, Piety would then have all thofe advantages, that {in harh now. Prov. 22. 6. Train up a cbild iu the way he jhozdd go, and whe11 he is old he wiU 11ct depar! fr~m it· The la•tguage which you teach them tofpeak when they are children, they will ufe :n thCir ltfc after, if they live with thofe that ufe ir. And fo the OpinionJ which they firfi recetve, and the cuft"mJ which they;are ufed to at tirfi, arc very hardly changed af[erward. I doubt not to affirm, that agodlyEducation is God1 firfl and ordinary appointedmea111, for the begetting of aCtual faith, and •ther gr.cts in the child~en of bclirvm : Many may havefiminal gra<e before : but they cannot fooner have
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=