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 one; 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 192spread 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; that what guilt they have contracted, by coming through my loins, may be washed away by the laver of regeneration; 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 193their 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 Alight 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 obnoxious 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 194of 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 further 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.