52 AN HUMBLE Owner, &c. prosperous or afflicting.changes of life to God and providence, or only to good luck and misfortune ? Is our communication such as may administer grace o the hearers, andmaintain a savour of godliness upon all proper occasions ? powe banish entirely from our visits all loose and profane discourse, and the more notorious crime of scandal, and introduce in the room of it the language of the children of God? They that feared the Lord, in thu days of Malachi the prophet, spoke often one toanother, for their mu- tttal support anil assistance in the things of religion ; and they shall be mine, saith the Lord, when I make up nqtjewels. The apostle Paul bids the Thessalonians converse freely with each other upon the future happiness of saints, thé appearance of Christ in his glory, his descending to raise the dead, to judge the world, and to oarryup his friends to everlasting joy ; 1 Thes.. iv. 18. and v. 11. This practice would the apostle fain introduce as a'custom or fashion among his converts to christianity, who should distinguish themselves from the world, Let us enquire what is our custom in this case, and what do we more than others ? Or have we duly maintained thepious custom, the prac- tice and honour of our ancestors. IV. Another thing wherein our ancestors distinguished themselves, from many of their neighbours in the towns and vil- lages where they lived, was in keeping more regular hours for ' the various duties to God and man, in abstaining from vain com- pany, and much wine, in preserving better order in families, and in a more religious concern in governing their households, in maintaining the daily worship of God there, by reading the word and prayer with an uninterrupted constancy, and in training up- their children and their servants to the knowledge and fear of God, and in the faith of Jesus Christ, with the utmost solicitude and holy watchfulness. It is true these pious practices were more common in the whole nation three or fourscore years ago,. than they are now ; but if there be any degeneracy in that respect. among our neighbours, is there not as great or greater degene- racy in proportion reigning and visible amongst us ? Shall.I address- myself with freedom-to the parents and go- vernors of families ? Are you as solicitous to keep up-the seasons of worship in your households as your fathers were ? Do you not suffer every little pretence now-a-days- to break in upon the ap- pointed times of family-religion, and oftentimes to prevent -it entirely? Nay, are there not too many among you, who scarce ever call upon God in their ,families at all, unless it be perhaps on ,a Lord's-day evening ? Are you so careful to keep regular hours for the various parts of the business of the ,day, or have you learned to change the course of nature, to turn night into day, and day into night, and to confound the order of things? Can the seasons of family-worship be well maintained, or can
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