THE Words are spoken by holy Job of Death and the Grave, which he tho't just before him, and where he wish'd to have been, by the Will of GOD. "I go (says he) whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, WITHOUT ANY ORDER, and where the light is as darkness.

WHAT a dark & melancholly, not to say dismal Description is here of the visible state of the Dead? and how are the gloomy words doubled and trebled to represent the thick Darkness; a darkness to be felt and seen; not by the dead that neither see nor feel, but by the living who lay it to their heart.

[Page 2] BUT it is not the darkness of the Grave that I am now to insist on, only as one part of the darkness lies in the words of my Text, Without any Order. Indeed Order is not to be expected in darkness. Dark­ness implies disorder, and the place of Order is where Light dwelleth. Were the light of the Sun put out, what disorder would presently follow upon Earth? Such a Connexion is there between Order and Light in the nature of things, and between Darkness & Dis­order.

BUT to drop the connexion of the words;

JOB seems to speak here, 1. of the time & man­ner of Deaths coming on one and another, that we can observe no Order in the thing: 2. of the visible State of the dead, the Grave, where we find no Order at all; natural, civil or religious. It is a land of dark­ness without any order.

DOCT. DEATH seems not to us to observe and keep any Rule & Order in it's taking away one and another; and the visible State of the dead is without any Order.

PROP. I. DEATH seems not to us to observe and keep any Rule & Order, in its taking away one and another. I say not, that it does not observe the best and most exact Order, but that this Order does not appear to us.

IT certainly has its Order from GOD as to every one it takes away, when and in what manner they shall die. It certainly proceeds in a wise and good Or­der by his Will and Direction. Yet we are not sensible of any fixed Rule that it goes by. — To be sure every one dies in his own Order; in his appointed time and hour, which is order'd exactly and performed by GOD as it shou'd be: whether in Judgment, or in Mercy.

DEATH has it's Order from the LORD OF LIFE, the just Rewarder and the righteous Judge. There is an appointed time to Man upon Earth, the number of his months and days are with GOD; his bounds [Page 3]are determined to an hour and a minute, which he cannot pass. Not a Sparrow, and much less any Child of Man, falls to the ground without the will of our FATHER in Heaven ^‖.

AND be sure the Maker and GOD of our Spirits does all things well, in perfect Wisdom and Order. Death is kept in GOD'S own hand, or (which is the same thing) it is put into the hand of CHRIST, the Only-begotten of the FATHER: It is in the best Hand: Never the less we cannot observe the Order that it keeps; either,

• 1. As to the Time, or
• 2. As to the Manner of ones dying and anothers.

1. As to the Time of Death's coming to one and another, it seems without any Order. We cannot ob­serve any natural Order, nor moral, nor political in the approach of Death, here or there.

1. No natural Order. By which I mean, according to the course of Nature; as to us it would seem order­ly for the Elder to go before the Younger, and Pa­rents before their Children. But Death observes no such Order of Nature and Age. Younger Persons do often die before their Elders, and Children before their Parents. At the next door again, the Elder dies before the Younger; the Parents before the Children.

SIN that bro't in Death broke in upon this seem­ing natural Order, and the natural Desires both of Pa­rents and Children. For Parents naturally and strongly desire, if it may please GOD, that their Children may out-live them; and Children naturally hope and expect to out-live their Parents, by the Will of GOD. But the first Death we read of broke this Order, namely Abel's; and how many more of their Children Adam & Eve liv'd to bury we know not. But this we know that the best among their fallen Offspring share in this Grief after them.

[Page 4] SOMETIMES the youngest Children of the Family die first, the Youth dies before the Adult, the Adult before the Aged, and the Hoary Head follows many an Infant to the Grave. But neither is this Order kept to by Death, for sometimes an Isaac and a Jacob die in a good old Age, with their Sons about them.

2. DEATH seems not to regard or keep any Moral Order in its approch to one and another. The Good die before the bad, and the bad again before the Good; here the Righteous before the Wicked, and there the wicked before the Godly. Here the wicked is driven away in his wickedness, and there he lives old and is mighty in power. Here the Godly die young desired and lamented, and in the midst of their usefulness; and there their hoary head is a Crown of glory in the ways of Righteousness. The least worthy and fit to live, as we are ready to think, do often out-live their betters; and those of whom the World is not worthy, a Josiah, the Baptist, a Stephen, are taken away young; lament­ed and bewailed. Good Men are ready to call this without any Order, while they mourn the early Deaths of the wise and prudent, the pious and godly, the use­ful and profitable; and while they groan under the useless and hurtful prolonged Life of the wicked.

3. DEATH seems not to regard any Political or Civil Order among Men, in its approaches to one & another. It regards no Distinction, Rank, or Degree of Men, in State or Church. The Noble and Ignoble, the Lord or the Slave, the Master and the Servant, are treated just alike by Death. There is no Precedency kept to. The Prince does not go first here, and his Nobles next; nor do they affect or desire it.

If the first in Quality and Rank were first to die, 'twould spoil all the Order and State and Glory of the World that now is; and turn it upside down. Crowns would grow cheap, and Men would shun the Honours they now court and pride in. The Order that Courts and Parliaments wou'd be ready to make, [Page 5]if they had power to Enact about the Time of Death, would be for the poor & low to go to the Grave before their Superiours. But Riches profit not, nor Dignity and Power, in the day of Death. None of 'em can by any means deliver Himself, nor redeem his Brother. Princes die young, in the midst of all their Bloom and Hopes, or of their Fame and Glory; and Peasants live old in their low and homely Cottages. This is with­out any Order, in the account and eye of this World.

BUT this for the Time of Death's coming to one and another, without any Order.

2. As to the Manner and Circumstances of one and anothers dying, Death keeps to no Order. The rich and the poor, the high and the low, the Parent and the Child, the young & the old, the Friend & the Enemy, they die alike; or quite differing one from the other: some a natural Death, some a violent, or by evil Accidents. The moral Characters of Persons are no security here, All things come alike to all, there is one Event to the righteous & to the wicked, to the clean & to the unclean; as is the good so is the sinner, Eccl. 9.2. The Sons of Job, and those of Aaron were struck dead, as well as Onan and Ananias in their Sin. The same Fevers or Dropsies, the same Consumptions, or the same Stu­pors and Lethargies, seise and carry off one and another. The same Pains & Torments rend and tear Persons of the most different Characters; whether on worldly Accounts, or on moral and religious. And the same noisome Diseases corrupt the Bodies, and destroy the Lives of Saints and Sinners; of Lazarus and of Herod. The hard and the easie Death, is common to good and bad, young and old, rich or poor, Parent and Offspring. Queens in their Palaces and fine linnen, and Beggars on the dunghil and in their rags, die of the same Sores and Ulcers. Kings die by evil Accidents, and by the hand of Violence, as well as others; and one as well as another prolong their dayes and die in their nest.

[Page 6] ONLY let us except here the last and utmost Disorder in Death, the dying as a fool dieth, wickedly and wilfully by his own hands, or impiously in brutal DUELS; which is but another way of SELF-MUR­DER. These unnatural and detested wayes of dying are not to be named or supposed, when we speak of the Manner and Circumstances of one and anothers Death. Let these be proper for the impious and un­godly, and to them alone if you will, and out of the present Argument, as they ought not to be once named in the World; how common soever they have been in it.

BUT this for the first Proposition: Death seems not to observe and keep any Rule or Order in its taking away one and another, whether we consider the Time or Manner of its coming.

PROP. II. THE visible State of the dead, that is, the Grave, is without any Order.

AND this seems to be the meaning of the Text, A land of darkness as darkness it self, without any Order. But here we speak only of the visible State of the dead, not of the invisible.

FOR if we look by Faith into the invisible World and State, there we behold the most perfect and glo­rious Order. The good and the bad, the godly and the wicked are in their proper place; Judas in his, and the repenting Thief (thro' Grace) in his; namely the Paradise of CHRIST prepared for Penitents from the foundation of the World. The Servants of Sin and of Satan deceased, are gone accursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels, but the Dead in CHRIST are in the Mansions in the FATHER'S House. This is most exact Order, without respect of Persons, every Man according to his Works; the degrees of Reward and Punishment bearing a just Proportion to the degree, of Grace and labours of Love, and to the measures and degrees of Sin and Wickedness done in the Body. This is the bright and shining Order in the unseen and eternal State: Matth. 25. ult. These shall go away into everlasting Punishment, but the Righteous [Page 7]into Life eternal. Dan. 12.2, 3. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake, some to everlasting Life, and some to Shame & everlasting Con­tempt: And they that be Wise shall shine as the bright­ness of the Firmament, and as the Stars for ever & ever.

BUT if we look, with these mortal Eyes, into the visible State of the dead, both the godly & ungodly, it it is altogether without any Order. All go to one place, and all ly mixt and confused there. All turn to dust again, and ones dust has no Preheminence to sight and sense above anothers, no Distinction from the others: Alike do they sleep in the dust, and are covered in dark­ness.

INDEED a Grave-stone may here and there inform you whose Body was laid in this place, and whose in that; that this was once Noble or Royal, and that vul­gar and common, but take away the Monument and no appearance remains of Family and Blood, nor of Order civil or sacred among the dead. There Kings and Counsellors of the Earthly in their desolate Places, and there lies the hidden and untimely Birth, that never faw the light: There lies the Tyrant and Oppressor, and there his Prisoners are at rest together by him: The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master, Job 3.18, 19. There ly the Ashes of the wise, the learned, the virtuous and reli­gious, and there the fool and brutish Person, that had neither Head nor Heart for any thing great and good, Like Sheep they are laid in the Grave, Death feeds on them, and the Worm is the only Relative that remains to them.

YET again, The Order of the Universe ceases in the Grave. There is neither Light nor Darkness, Heat or Cold, Day or Night, Summer or Winter known there. There is no Knowledge, Work or Device the [...], no Good or Evil, Joy or Sorrow done or felt there: Nei­ther is there Friendship or Enmity, Love or Hatred there. Eccl. 9.5, 6. The dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a Reward, also their Love and their Hatred and their Envy is perished; neither [Page 8]have they any more a Portion for ever in any thing that is done under the Sun.

Finally, THERE is no religious Order in the Grave; no not in the Tomb of Abraham, and among the bodies of the Just. There is no Worship, no Praise or Prayer, in that place of silence no Sabbath there, tho' a con­tinual Rest & quiet. This was the Darkness & Dis­order of the Grave to the pious King, Isa. 38. I said in the cutting off my days, I shall no more see the LORD even the LORD, in the land of the living; I shall be­hold Man no more with the Inhabitants of the Earth:— For the Grave cannot praise thee, Death cannot cele­brate thee, they that go down to the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth: The Living, the living he shall praise thee, as I do this day; the Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth.

WORSHIP is the holy Order & Beauty both of this World and of that to come: This therefore is the Darkness of the Grave, that there is nothing of this holy Order in it, the Beauty of Holiness: Psalm 30.9. When I go down to the Pit, shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy Truth? Psal. 115. ust. The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence; but we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

WE have look'd thus into the visible State of the dead, and we find it without any Order; without Sun or Stars, Sense or Motion, Relation or Condition, Wor­ship or Sabbath.

I come now to make some USE and IMPROVEMENT of this Meditation. And if this be one point in the Darkness of Death, that it is without any Order?

First then, We see something very valuable in the Land of the living, and that is Order; and we learn, on the contrary, that next to Death is Disorder and Confusion.

[Page 9] THE Beauty of the Universe, of the natural and moral World, the Usefulness of things in it and the Fe­licity of the Creatures, depend upon the excellent Order that GOD has constituted. The LORD is a GOD of Order. His Works declare it, his Word and Law prescribe and require it. Decency and Order go together, and so do Order & Right. Every thing is beautiful and right in its time and order.

WHAT was the Work of Creation? but GOD'S bring­ing the Heavens & Earth into that beauteous & use­ful Order which we behold, out of a Chaos and State of Confusion? Gen. 1.2. And the Earth was with­out form and void, and Darkness was upon the face of it: And the SPIRIT of GOD moved upon the face of the Waters: And GOD said, Let there be Light, and there was Light: — And GOD divi­ded the Light from the Darkness, and GOD called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night: And GOD said, Let there be a Firmament, & Lights therein, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for Dayes and for Years. Thus ORDER was the glo­rious Work of GOD in the beginning, and by it all things consist: the Sun & Moon & Stars, in their various Dist­ances, Magnitude, Motions, Influences and Benefits, are bright and shining Instances of glorious Order. Their Line is gone thro' all the Earth, and their Words to the End of the World.

AMONG Men on Earth, GOD has appointed Rule and Order, and made them necessary to our comfort and safety, in private & in public Society. Family Order is the foundation of our Peace and Welfare, of good Nei'bourhood, of Justice and Righteousness, of Bro­therly-kindness and Charity; of civil Government and of joint publick Worship.

THE whole Law of GOD to us is comprehended in this one word Order; prescribing first our orderly Sub­jection and Behaviour towards GOD, and then to one another in our several places and Relations; as Supe­riors, Inseriors and Equals.

[Page 10] IT is ORDER that requires Children to honour their Father and Mother, which is the first Command­ment with Promise. Order teaches them to rise up before the hoary Head, and to honour the Face of the Old Man. Order teaches Servants to obey their Masters according to the flesh, and Masters to give unto their Servants that which is just and equal. Order teaches Men to do Justice, to love Mercy, and to live Soberly, & Righteously; and whatsoever we would that Men should do unto us, to do the same unto them. Or­der teaches every Soul to be subject to the higher Pow­ers, to obey Magistrates, and to be ready unto every good Work. And Order teaches Rulers to be just Men, ruling in the Fear of the LORD. Order teaches all Christians to know them that have the Rule over them in Things sacred, and to submit themselves as unto them that watch for their Souls: The younger like­wise that they submit themselves unto the Elder; yea all of us to be subject one to another, and to be clothed with Humility. For GOD is not the Author of Confusion, but of Peace, in all the Churches of the Saints ^*. Thus Order is of GOD, and is the fulfilling of his Law, the Rule of a religious and godly Life.

BUT next to Death, or worse than Death is Disor­der and Confusion. All the Misery of Man, both in this Life and in that which is to come, comes of it. If subverts Families, Schools, civil Government, and all Religion. This was the State of the old World be­fore the Flood, and it was high time for the end of all Flesh to come. Order required their Destruction, and the bringing on a new World. This was Sodom's wretched State; they were past all Order, Decency and Right; and it was time they were burnt up. And Jerusalem was come to the like Crisis, as Josephus reports, before their last Ruin. The Seditions and [Page 11]Strifes within were worse upon them, than the Arms of the Romans from without. I may add, That even Hell it self is forc'd to submit to some Order; For if Satan cast out Satan, and be divided against himself, how should his Kingdom stand? So Pirates & Rob­bers, that band together by Sea or Land, declaring against all Order and Law of GOD or Man, yet are forc'd to make & observe Orders of their own, for their Preservation and Strength.

DISORDER is as much the Misery & Ruin as it is the Deformity of Societies, private or publick, civil or religious. It is as a broken Bone, or a Limb out of joint, which renders the Body useless, as well as fills it with Pain and Dolour. Or suppose a Body without a Head, or without Eyes, Hands or Feet, or these inverted and out of place; such is Disorder in Society.

WE should be very thankful therefore for the Order that there is in the World, as being the wise and good Establishment of GOD for our present & future Well-being: And we should be very careful to preserve it in our places, and to do what we can to promote it every where. Psal. 34.14. Depart from Evil and do Good, seek Peace and pursue it.

LET us reverence and prize the good GOVERNMENT over us, and all the good Orders and Laws enacted for the Defence and Security of our common Peace, Rights & Properties. Let us be very thankful to GOD for the heavenly Rules and Benefits of Church-Order, establish'd by GOD for our spiritual & everlasting Good. See Eph. 4.I,—16. And let all the blessed Precepts respecting Family and School Order, and a good Con­versation in CHRIST, be regarded by us with like re­ligious Esteem. Let us study to be quiet, and to do our own Business. Let us render to all their Dues; Honour to whom honour is due, Fear to whom fear, Tribute to whom tribute. And owe no Man any thing, but to love one another ^‖.

[Page 12] I might go on and observe to you the dreadful Punishment of Sin, in all the Disorders & Confusions which it has bro't upon Mankind in this wretched and mortal State; on Persons, on Families, on Provinces and Kingdoms; as by Deaths common and uncommon, so by the great Transgressions that do often bring on strange and tragical Ends.

I had tho't also to call on sober and thinking Persons, as well as on the vain and inconsiderate and irre­ligious, to expect, fear and prepare for unknown and innumerable Disorders and Disasters in such a World as this is; and sometimes for things worse than Death, which come upon one Family and other without any Order observable to Man; and how often in the most surprizing and amazing manner.

O that old and young, high and low, rich and poor together, would consider seriously of the Truth before us and prepare to die, (without any Order, shall I say?) not knowing the Time or Manner of their End! We may well be dumb with silence this day, and hold our peace, even from good, and our sorrow be stirred. Well may our Heart wax hot within us, and while we are musing the Fire burn; and we speak with our Tongue, "Lord, make me to know my End, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am!

AND O that mortal Men would not value them­selves, and much less vainly build on any worldly Or­der, which Death forbids them to do, and Satan beguiles them into! For what outward Circumstance is there in this World, or indeed what state of Grace it self, that can give any Security against the sudden-Arrests of Death? or against Sorrows & Calamities more bitter than that? Let the Godly look on them­selves as liable every Day, to every kind and manner of Bereavement; or for living Sorrows more killing and lasting than those which meer Death has in his power to inflict.

[Page 13] BUT at the same time let the Godly remember for their Comfort, that the Resurrection-Day will bring all things into Order again. That Day of the Resti­tution of all things, will put an End to all the Disor­ders that Sin and Death have bro't into the World.— Indeed the Confusion of the wicked will be great in that glorious Day, their Fear & Shame & Anguish of heart; and they would rather still have been in all the disorder of the Grave: But this will not at all hinder the shining Order of the illustrious Day. For the SON OF MAN will come in his Glory, with all his holy Angels; then shall He sit upon the Throne of his Glory! And before Him shall be gather'd all Nations; and He will separate them as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats; and then shall the KING say unto them on his right Hand, Come ye blessed of my FATHER, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World.

O in what solemn glorious Order will the Godly and ungodly then appear before the Judgment-Seat of CHRIST, and about his Throne! See the Glory and read the Order: St. Jude v. 14, 15. Behold the LORD cometh with ten thousand of his Saints, to exe­cute Judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly of their Deeds and hard Speeches. Dan. 7. 9, 10. I beheld till the Thrones were cast down, and the ANCIENT OF DAYS did sit, whose Garment was white as Snow, and the Hair of his Head like the pure Wool: His Throne was like the fiery Flame, and his Wheels as burning Fire: A fiery stream issued and came forth before Him: Thousand thousands ministred unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the Judgment was set and the Books were opened. Once more read the ORDER and the GLORY: Rev. 20.11, — 15. I saw a great white Throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose Face the Earth and the Heaven fled away: And I saw the Dead small and great stand before GOD, and the Books were opened, and the Dead were judged, accor­ding to their Works: And Death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire: This is the second Death.

[Page 14] AFTER this manner I might probably have ended my Discourse; leading the Godly into the New Hea­vens wherein shall dwell Righteousness, Peace, Purity and perfect Order, and leaving the wicked in their place of everlasting-Misery, disorder and Confusion; Where there is weeping and wailing, and gnashing of Teeth.

BUT the sad and dismal DISORDER, which the righteous GOD permitted to fall out among us the last Week, horrible to mention, and to be bewailed with Tears of blood, leads me into a more particular Address unto our Young People, and to their Elders with them; that the like abominable and detestable Disorder may never again be heard of among us, by the Will of GOD.

SEE, see my beloved Hearers, a criminal Disorder big with the most hainous Guilt, and tragical Death! See the hasty and cursed Fruit of criminal Disorders, in the double Murder of a late hopeful and promising Youth, who was heretofore of Us, a Child of great Expectation; but he went out from us, and ran him­self into the Paths of the Destroyer and an untimely Death. See what a disorderly Conduct may presently bring the most sober, discreet and well tempered of our Children to; if as they grow up they abandon the good Rules and orderly Ways of Virtue and Piety, wherein they have been educated and instituted by their good Parents and Guardians, and run themselves into the Corruptions that are in the World thro' lust.

LET me therefore take this sad Occasion with a heavy Heart, to warn our Young People in the Name and Fear of GOD, against bloody & unnatural DUELS and all the train of vicious Courses that lead to it; to a miserable End here, and to a fiery Hell for ever.

DUELS are the Devil all over, who was the Murderer from the beginning; and as they come of him, so they represent him to the life, in all his Dis­obedience and Enmity to GOD, and in all his Pride, Rage, and bloody Hatred of the life of Man. Duels are both kinds of Murder united: There's the Murder of a Mans Self in it, and the Murder of his Nei'bour al­so: And alas! as there is the Murder of the Body in [Page 15]it, so of the Soul also. In every Duel Men fly in the face of GOD, the Lord of Life, the GOD of the Spi­rits of all Flesh, the GOD in whose hand our Breath is; and who has given no Man power over his own Life, no more than leave to Kill his Nei'bour; but has forbid both on pain of the greatest Damnation.

BUT I hope I need not use many words to give our Young People horror at the Tho't of this Crime; the Tragedy of the last week will of it self do this, I trust. Let me therefore rather warn them, of those ungodly Lusts and brutal devilish Vices, which lead Men into furious DUELS: And as you would shun the Effect, dread the fatal Causes.

AND first, Drinking. Few of our People are like to fall into any such Crime, as DUELS, till they have debauch'd themselves with drinking Companions. Wine is a Mocker, strong Drink is raging; as Solomon admonishes us: And in the wisdom of GOD he cau­tions and exhorts the young Man; Prov. 23.19, 20, 29. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine Heart in the way: Be not among Wine-bibbers, among riotous Eaters of Flesh: For who hath wo? who hath sor­row? who hath Contentions? who hath Bablings? who Wounds without cause? they that tarry long at the Wine, they that go to seek mixt Drink.

CHILDREN, Beware of forming your selves into nightly or daily Tavern-clubs; or even into such weekly or monthly Societies, for meeting & spending your Evenings in drinking together and gaming; whether at home or abroad. It is not for you, our Sons, no it is not for you, to drink wine and strong drink; lest you drink and forget the Law & Covenant of the LORD your GOD, and run into every excess and riot. Give the strong Drink to him that is ready to perish, and the wine to them that be of heavy Hearts.

GAMING and Wine incite and inflame to Duels. So it was in the late lamented Calamity. What a hideous Story is it? for Children that are beginning the World, it may be before they have fifty or sixty Pounds to show of their own getting, by the favour of GOD in a lawful and industrious way; to raffle away [Page 16]such a Sum in a loose and careless Night! No account can be given for such a piece of Distraction, if the Bottle did not stand by and first take away the Sense & Rea­son. And then the Passion rises at the Loss, before or after the Wine is out, and the inward Vexation pro­duces fierce Words, foul Names, Cursing & Bitter­ness, Hatred & Revenge, and the Heat ends in one another's Blood.

WILL you not say, my Son! Come not into their Company O my Soul, for in their Rage they slew a Man. It is the play of Abner, (only they were Enemies in open War) when he said to Joab, Let the young Men arise to play before us, twelve against twelve, and they caught every one his Fellow by the head, and thrust his Sword into his Fellows side, and fell down together. Such Murderous Fellows and Companions are Game­sters like to prove, if GOD restrain not the Devil from a full Possession of them.

SAY not, foolish Child, There is no such danger from us and our Gaming together: Why not as much as there is found to have been in the late bloody Game that has put the Town in Mourning? Leave off Strife, and so Drinking and Gaming, before it be medled with; which is Solomon's advice; meaning that we never begin or venture on in such Courses, whereof we know not the End, and think not the Tendency of them.

LEWDNESS often accompanies the Glass and the Game. The harlot's House may be the place of the Game; and her House takes hold of Hell, and leads down to the Chambers of Death. Duels have often been fought in the cause of a Strumpet, and Blood has been often shed and Lives sacrificed to the fury of Lust. Prov. 2.28. Her House inclineth unto Death, and her Paths unto the dead. 5.4. Her End is bitter as Worm­wood, sharp as a two edged SWORD; her feet go down to Death, her steps take hold of Hell. 7.25. She hath cast down many wounded, and strong Men have been SLAIN by her.

IN a word, As you wou'd avoid Duels and Blood­shed, shun Drinking, shun Gaming, beware of Drunk­enness and Whordom, beware of Pride & Haughtiness, [Page 17]beware of Passion, beware of Swearing & Cursing and profane speaking, and beware of Sabbath-breaking, which insensibly betrays Men into one violent Way and End and another, as many have confessed at the Gallows: Beware also of the Contempt of Superiors, and of breaking loose from the Admonitions & Restraints of your wise and loving Parents: For the Eye that mocketh at his Father and refuseth to obey his Mo­ther, the Ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young Eagles shall eat it.

IN an especial manner, Let the Sons of this Country, and of these Churches beware of these Sins of Sabbath-breaking, and of Disobedience to Parents, and of for­saking the good Ways & Principles wherein they have been educated & institured, either in point of Doctrine, Worship or Manners. Let them beware of forsaking the Guide of their Youth, and of fogetting the Covenant of their GOD, lest Strangers devour them, and they give their Years to the cruel. It is a dreadful word of GOD to the Children of his People, 1 Chron. 28.9. If thou seek him he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him He will cast thee off for ever.

YOU see Children this day, what comes of leaving these Chruches after an Education in them: Even Duel­ling & Bloodshed & Flight from Country & Friends, may come of bursting the Bonds of GOD asunder, and going after Strangers, and into the Manners, Cus­toms and impious Maxims of the World.

RETURN, distracted and besotted Children! return and save your selves from this untoward Generation. Forsake the foolish & live, and walk in the way of Under­standing. The ways of Sin are nothing but Disorder and Misery, the way of Godliness, Righteousness and Sobriety is the Way of Order, Safety and Felicity. Let Wisdom enter into thy Heart, & Knowledge be plea­sant to thy Soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, Under­standing shall keep thee: To deliver thee frow the way of the evil Man, from the Man that speaketh froward things, who leave the paths of Uprightness, to walk in the ways of Darkness; whose ways are crooked, and they are froward in their Paths.

[Page 18] LET Solomon tell you the Tendency of wicked Com­pany unto Bloodshed: Prov. 1.10,—19. My Son, if Sinners entice thee, consent thou not: — Their seet run to Evil, & make haste to shed Blood: — They lay wait for their own Blood, they lurk privily for their own Lives: so are the wayes of every one that is greedy of Gain, which taketh away the Life of the Owners thereof.

I turn me now to the Elders of my People, to Pa­rents and Masters, and the worshipful Justices of the Peace; and also to the Keepers of Public Houses; in a few words.

LET Parents carefully educate & instruct & charge their Children, restrain and govern them, rebuke and correct what is Evil in them, and encourage them in what is virtuous & pious and praise worthy. Make'em to know that they depend upon you, and ought to sub­mit unto you in the LORD; and must do so if they will have your Favour, Countenance & open Hand. While the Mother adjures them from evil Companions, What, my Son! and what the Son of my Womb! and what, the Son of my Vows! Let the Father command & forbid them on pain of his highest Displeasure, and on pain of GOD'S, which is infinitely greater.

INDULGE not their Vanity & Corruption in seeking to feed as Lambs in a large Place, which is the first step to their running wild into the Woods, to be devour'd there by the Beasts of Prey. Have no hand, no not by criminal Easiness & Gentleness, like Eli, in their ma­king themselves vile; lest GOD be provoked to judge both You and them. Have no hand (shall I say) in their Blood; that of their Bodies, nor that of their Souls: But if they will come unto dreadful Ends, let their Blood be upon their own heads.

TWO things let me beseech of Parents & Heads of Families: One is that they frequent not Taverns them­selves, which will certainly encourage your Sons to do the like, while they want your Years & Prudence whereby to govern themselves in such a Liberty. The other thing I would entreat is, Not to suffer Cards or Dice in your Houses, nor take the liberty to play those insnaring and [Page 19]Inchanting Games before your Children. You will herein consult the good Order, Virtue & Religion of your Housholds, your Happiness in your Children, their Preservation from & thro' an evil World, and your own Peace living & dying.

BUT from private Houses let me step into those that are public, and drop a Word of Counsel & Warning to the Inn & Tavern Keepers. We beseech You not to suffer Persons or Companies to sit idling, tipling and much less gaming and carousing in your Houses. You know the Laws of GOD, and good Orders of Men in this Case; but if you escape the Cognizance of the Magistrate and Officers of our Peace, you cannot escape the Notice & Judgment of GOD. May the Blood of dissolute Youths never come upon any of your Houses, by your indulging them in evil & forbidden Prac­tices, and at forbidden Hours. It calls for a great deal more Virtue, Courage and Prudence, to keep a Tavern well, then we are ready to think of.

BUT the Care of public Houses belongs also to the MAGISTRATES, Justices & Officers in the Town, to whose Wisdom and Prudence, Integrity and Fidelity, I commend it in the Fear of GOD. The Earth and all the Inhabitants of it would dissolve, if good Rulers did not in their Legislative and Executive Power, hold up the Pillars thereof. Let it strengthen your Hands to know, that you are ministring to the Honour of GOD and the good Order of the World; the common Happiness and Peace of Mankind.

LET the Wicked be afraid of the POWER; for He beareth not the Sword in vain; but is the Minister of GOD, a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doeth Evil. But let the lovers of Peace and Right and Order reverence and love the POWERS which GOD has ordained; For Rulers are not a Terror to good Works, but to the evil: Do that which is Good and thou shalt have praise of the same. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for Wrath, but also for Conscience sake.