RESOLUTION III.

I am resolved, by the grace of God, to do my endeavour to give to God whatsoever children he shall be pleased to give me; that as they are mine by nature, they may be his by grace.

I HAVE Sometimes wondered at the providence of God, in bringing so many millions of people out of the loins of one man; and cannot but make this use of it, even to stir up myself to a double diligence, in bringing up my children " in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." For who knows, but the salvation of ten thousand souls may depend upon the education of one single child?

If I train up my son in the ways of religion, and teach him what it is to "keep a conscience void of offence towards God, and towards man;" he will then not only have an inward sense of his own duty, but take all possible care to instil it into others, whether children or servants, that are committed to his charge; and these, again, will do the same to theirs, by teaching them to walk in the same path; till, by degrees, the piety and holiness of one man has diffused itself to all succeeding generations. But now, on the other hand, If I neglect the care of my son's education, and suffer the leprosy of sin and wickedness to taint and corrupt him, it is great odds, without an extraordinary interposition of divine grace, but the infection may spread itself over all my posterity; and so draw down upon me the curses

and accusations of ten thousand souls in hell, which might otherwise have been praising and blessing God for me, to all eternity, in heaven.

Hence it is, that I am resolved to endeavour to be a spiritual, as well as natural father to my children; yea, to take more care to get a portion for their souls in heaven, than to make provision for their bodies upon earth. For, if he be accounted worse than an infidel that provides not for his family" the sustenance of their bodies, what is he that suffers his family to neglect the salvation of their souls!

That nothing of this, therefore, may be laid to my charge, if ever Providence sees fit to bless me with children of my own, I will take effectual care, so soon as conveniently I can, to devote them unto God by baptism; and then to be constantly soliciting at the throne of grace, that he who hath given them to me, would be pleased likewise to give himself to them.

The next thing to be done, as soon as they come to be capable of instruction, is to take all occasions and make use of all means, to work the knowledge of God into their heads, and the grace of Christ into their hearts; by teaching them to "remember their Creator in the days of their youth;" by acquainting them with the duties that He that made them expects from them; with the rewards they shall have, if dutiful, and the punishments they shall feel, if disobedient children: still accommodating my expressions to the shallow capacity of their tender. years. And, according to their doing, or not doing, of what they have been told, I shall reward them.

with what is most pleasing, or punish them with what is most displeasing to their years. To speak to them of heaven and eternal glory, will not encourage them so much, as to give them their childish pleasures and desires: and the denouncing of a future hell, will not affright them so much as the inflicting a present smart. Hence it is, that Solomon so often inculcates this upon parents, as their duty to their children, that they should not " spare the rod, lest they spoil the child."

But I must still take care to let them understand, that what I do is from a principle of love and affection to them, not of fury and indignation against them: for, by this means, God may correct me for correcting them: I may set before my children such an example of indiscreet and sinful passion, as they will be apt enough to learn, without my teaching them. On the other hand, it behoves me, if possible, so to order my family, that my children may not see or hear, and so not learn, any thing but goodness in it: for commonly, according to what we learn when we are young, we practise when we are old. And, therefore, as I shall take great care, that my children learn nothing that is evil or sinful at home; so likewise that they do not come into such company abroad, where their innocence may be assaulted with swearing, cursing, or any kind of profane or obscene discourse, which the generality of our youth are so exposed to.

Or, at least, if this is not wholly to be avoided, to prevent those poisonous weeds from taking root in the heart, it behoves me to take all opportunities of discoursing to them of God and Christ, of the

immortality of their souls, and the future state they are to be doomed to in another world, when they have lived a little while in this; that according as they grow in years, they may "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." And when they come to years of discretion, capable of doing farther honour and service to God and their country, by some calling or profession, I must be sure to place them in such a one as may be no hinderance to that high and heavenly calling, which they have in Christ Jesus, but rather contribute to further and promote it; that, being like tender plants engrafted into the true vine, they may bring forth much fruit, to God's glory, to my comfort, and their own salvation.

RESOLUTION IV.

I am resolved, by the grace of God, to do my duty to my servants as well as expect they should do theirs to me.

It was Joshua's, and, by God's grace, it shall be my resolution, that "I and my house fear the Lord." I, in the first place, and then my house; for if I myself do not, I cannot expect that they should. So that, for the ordering of my family in general, I must not only press their duty upon them, but likewise practise my own duty, in suppressing all vicious and lewd conversation, and composing all strife and contention amongst them; in praying every day, at least twice with them; in catechising and expounding the principles of religion to them, and in calling for

an account of every sermon and godly discourse they hear, either in private or in public; in seeing that they constantly frequent the divine ordinances, and that they behave themselves so conscientiously therein, that they may be, some way or other, the better by them. And to these ends, I think it my duty to allow my servants some time, every day, wherein to serve God, as well as to see they spend their other hours in serving me; and to make them sensible that they do not serve me only for myself, but ultimately and principally in reference to God: their serving me making way for my better serving

God.

And, for this reason, I cannot believe, but it is as great a sin to cumber my servants, as myself, with too much worldly business. For how can they spend any time in the service of God, when I require all their time in my own? And how justly should I be condemned, if by this means I should bring them into a sort of necessity in sinning, either in not obeying God or not obeying me! Not that I think it is a servant's duty to neglect his Creator to serve his master: on the contrary, he is obliged, in all cases, where their commands interfere, to "obey God, rather than man." But where they do not, there is a strict injunction upon all servants, that they should be "obedient to their masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ." But how with fear and trembling? Why, fearing lest they should offend God, in offending them, and trembling at the thoughts of being disobedient to the divine command, which enjoins them to "be obedient to their mas