parable of the importunate woman, and the unjust judge, by the promises, the merits, and intercessions of Christ. The command, 'to pray always,' adds duty to his hopes, and makes his prayer an act of obedience, as well as a means of preservation. That his family may learn to trust in God, and to call upon him; that their prayers may have the greater force; that God may be present among them, and his fatherly providence watch over them; he gathers them together, and, uniting all their devotions in one request, and one voice, gives them all the weight and power that prayer can have. He feels the good effects of his piety, in the agreeable reflections he makes on the discharge of his duty, in the peace and security with which he fortifies himself and his affairs, in the daily blessings which descend upon his family, in return for their daily services, in the patience and firmness in bearing the unavoidable afflictions of life, which his continual devotions, and his entire dependance on God, have given him. It is a grievous reflection, that instances of this kind are so rare. The generality of families have fallen away from God, and his service, have given up their dependence upon him, and sought for protection and support from riches, from policy, from worldly power; not one of which, nor all united, can avail any thing, without God; who wields them as so many instruments of his will, who 'putteth down one, and setteth up another,' who, with a resistless hand, controls and governs all things. The infidelity of the times has banished religion out of most families. It has set up some to scoff at this, as well as other Christian duties; while it enters into others, under the mask of moderation, and renders their zeal too cold and feeble to resist ridicule. We may discover the depth of Satan in this libertine spirit, by the behaviour of those who maintain, that we have no need to support a priesthood, when every man has a right, and ought to be a priest in his own family. These very persons, who, for certain self-interested ends, contend for this right, are so far from living, in any respect, like priests, that they discover not the least signs of religion in their lives and conversations, or in their families. That priestly function, which they may, and ought to exercise in their families, I mean reading prayers to them, and instructing them in the principles and duties of religion, they shew no sort of inclination to. They not only despise the very thoughts of having prayers in their houses, and even grace at their tables; but they laugh them out of the families of other weak men, who are guided by little else, in matrers of the last importance, than the mode; whose narrow understandings afford them but one rule for their clothes, and their religion. As this contempt for family prayer is the effect of infidelity in people of fashion, so it is the cause of that ignorance among the vulgar, which, next to libertinism itself, is the scandal of this age and country; and, in all probability, will prove the ruin of the latter. Were the lower people, who have the fewest means of instruction, accustomed to hear a form of prayer pronounced once or twice a day, in their houses, they would, in a little time, and insensibly, learn that form by rote; so that, whatsoever principles or duties it contained, they would soon commit them to memory, and could afterward teach and explain them to their children. But, while they hear little or nothing of God and religion in their families, it is no great wonder if they at last almost lose sight of both. Were the principles of religion wrought into the forms of their devotion, and their devotions mixed with their daily business, as the chief, and that on which the success of all the rest, in a good measure, depends, it would scarce fail of having excellent effects on their piety, their knowledge, and the honesty and regularity of their lives. By this means, at the same time that the master of a family discharged the duty of domestic prayer, he might also at once go near to execute the other, of instructing his children and servants. But it is not only the ignorance of religion, and that in the poorer families, that is, in so great a measure, to be charged on the neglect of family worship the miseries and distresses that afflict families of all kinds, do, in all probability, spring chiefly from this troubled fountain. The uncommon disasters and judgments, that fall so remarkably on ungodly families, sufficiently shew the danger of living without God. The furious grief, the racking impatience, the sullen murmurs, the wild and impious distraction, that in such families are observed to attend the common and or dinary afflictions of life, shew but too plainly, that as they have forsaken God, so God has forsaken them, and given them over to their own miserable infirmities, when they most need his assistance. The way of the Lord have they not known,' and, like true backsliders in heart, they are filled with their own ways.' Is it any wonder, that God should pour out his fury on these heathens, who know him not, and, upon those families, who call not on his name?' The poor, who do not worship God in their families, instead of learning by their poverty to humble themselves before God, to pray to him, who alone is merciful enough to hear, and able to deliver; instead of learning to hate a world in which they have so small a portion, and so little pleasure, and to turn their hearts, and place their confidence in God; have forgot their dependence on him, have set their affections on things below, and put their confidence in unsanctified labours, and unjust arts. Surely they are poor, they are foolish; for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.' As for the rich, who, though they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God, have nevertheless neglected this duty, their ingratitude is as great as their folly. No favours can oblige them, no bounties tie them to God. They have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.' They have discharged themselves and their families from the service of God. They are grown proud, and deny him, and say, who is the Lord? If they live and become old, yea, and are mighty in power; if their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes; if their houses are safe from fear, and God lays not his rod on them; if their bull gendereth and faileth not, and their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf; if they send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance; if they take the timbrel and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ; if they spend their days in wealth, and, by an easy death, go down in a moment to the grave;' do 'they therefore say unto God, depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways?' Do they therefore say, 'What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit should we have, should we and our families pray unto him?' Might not one rather expect, that they should say to their wives, their children, and their servants, 'Behold what great things the Lord hath done for us! He feedeth us with good things; he poureth his benefits upon us! O come therefore let us worship, and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker;' let us confess our sins together with sorrow and shame; let us, with one voice, pray for the continuance of all his mercies; let us come before his presence with a song; let us be thankful unto him, and speak good of his name, for it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto his name; to tell of his loving kindness early in the morning, and of his truth in the night season?' Upon the whole of this matter, let every master thus question with himself. Is it not for great ends and reasons that God has placed me at the head of a family? Am I not accountable to him for the discharge of this important office? Do not the future welfare of my children and my servants depend very much upon the education they receive from me? If I do not instruct them in the principles of religion, and breed them up to virtue, where shall they get instruction? Is there any thing dearer to me, than those who work for me, and depend on me? Can there be a greater crime than to neglect and defraud their very souls? Does not the providence of God govern the world? Is not God the founder and preserver of societies, and of families in particular? Can they subsist without religion? Shall I then suffer my family to want religion? Shall I not rather take particular care that my house serve God by daily prayer? Can any thing I do be so useful to us, as to worship him on whom we intirely depend? Can any thing be more agreeable than to serve and praise him, to whom we are so infinitely indebted? Shall my own idleness, or the scoffs of libertines, deprive us of so great a benefit and pleasure, and force me, like an atheist, ungratefully and impiously to shut out God from my family, to entail ignorance and contempt of God's worship on all my posterity and dependents? Shall I put my trust in my own endeavours? Shall I build my hopes upon the sand of this world, and forsake the rock of my salvation,' when I so plainly perceive the duty, the neces sity, and the power of prayer? No, like the righteous Job, I will continually sanctify my family, that God may,' as he did him, ́ make a hedge about me and my house, and about all that I have on either side. We will seek his strength' in the time of trouble; in all our trials will we rely on it, and in our prosperity praise him with pure lips, and joyfuł hearts. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will we pray, and cry aloud, and he shall hear our voice.' DISCOURSE XXXIX. THE HONOUR DUE TO GOD'S NAME. LEVITICUS XIX. 20. Ye shall not swear by my name falsely; neither shalt thou profane the Name of thy God: I am the Lord. We know and speak of God as we do in relation to other beings; that is, we know him by his attributes, and speak of him by his name. When we make a vow to him, we consider him as omnipresent and omniscient, as a Being that searches the heart, and knows our thoughts. When we swear by him, or call on him to witness the truth of what we say, we are obliged to name him, as we do other witnesses; and the rather, as he is not visible, and therefore cannot be pointed to by the eyes or hands, as men, whom we appeal to, may, provided they are present with us. This is the reason why, in my text, in the third commandment, and in many other places of Scripture, swearing by the name of God signifies the same thing as appealing to God for the truth of what we affirm or deny. As, on all occasions, whether of appealing to, or discoursing of God, his name represents him to our apprehension, we are always to pay the same awful respect to his name, that we do to himself; that is, we are never to use it, but on important and necessary occasions, and then with the deepest veneration. It is reported of the famous Mr. Boyle, whose piety kept pace with his knowledge, that he never pronounced the name of God without bowing, or making an observable pause in his |