A SERMON Preached at the Anniversary Meeting Of the SONS of CLERGYMEN, In the Church of St Mary-le-Bow, DECEMBER 4, 1684.  
By FRANCIS Lord Bishop of ELY, and PRECEDENT of the Society.  
LONDON, Printed by John Playford, for Henry Bonwick at the Red Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1685.   

To the Right Worshipful the STEWARDS Of the late ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF Clergy-Men's Sons, And the rest of the Governors of the Charity for Relief of the poor Widows and Children of Clergymen.  
My most Honoured Friends,  
THough I could hearty wish you had been pleased to reserve for some better occasion the just power you have with me, and that you had demanded some other proofs of the due regard I must have to all your motions, instead of obliging me to publish this very plain discourse, yet I should not make you a suitable return for all the Honour you have done me, should I obstinately refuse whatever you earnestly request; but whatever credit I may lose (if I have any to lose) I shall not think I have lost my labour, if I can persuade my Brethren of the House of Levi, to take special care that this Charity begin at home, this great Charity of Religious Education. The best portion that any Parents can leave their Children, the only considerable Portion that many of the best Clergymen can leave theirs; and one of the best Legacies they can leave this Corporation will be such well bred Children, as will deserve that Character St. Paul bestows on Timothy, Who will naturally care for your state. For to make our Children as perfectly good Christians as they ought to be, will be the most effectual means to tie them fast to the Interests of this Body; the stiff abetters of the good Old Cause in Scotland, have ignorance and impudence enough to christian their Children into the solemn League and Covenant (as if that were the Covenant of Grace, and so do some of them call it.) Let us show as much zeal and more according to knowledge, by bringing our Youth to keep their Baptismal Vow, and then they will never fail to Honour and Love the Church in which they were Born and Baptised. But especially, Let all the Sons of Churchmen be so well Tutored and Taught, that they may be secured and settled in this resolution, to live and die true Sons of the Church of England.  
As I am one of the meanest of those Sons, so I am My most Honoured Friends, Your most faithful and most humble Servant, Fran. Ely.   

A SERMON Preached before the SONS OF THE CLERGY.  GENESIS XVIII. v. 19 For I know him, that he will Command his Children and his Household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 
THese words are part of a great and worthy Character which God was pleased to give of Abraham, the Father of the Faithful; who at his Hospitable Gate had newly entertained three Sacred Guests, whom though the Patriarch at first apprehended to be but Men, yet we may justly suppose they were more than Angels, for since one of them is all along styled the Lord, and since Abraham makes Addresses of Adoration and Prayer directly to him: Unless we could allow the Socinian Doctrine, That it were Lawful to Worship a (reature, and the Roman Doctrine of Praying to Angels: It seems at least piously credible that those who put on humane shapes to visit Abraham, had Divinity about them, and represented no less than the Three Adorable Persons of the Blessed Trinity (and therefore our Church reads this for the First Lesson upon Trinity Sunday.)  
In memory of this Glorious Apparition to Abraham, one of the Church-Historians gives 
Bozomen. l. 2. c 4.  this account: That once every Year there was kept a Festival Day, where under the Doctor's Oak as they called it, where they supposed Abraham sat in the plains of Mamre, all Three Religions, Jews, Gentiles, and Christians, had a Customary meeting, where they offered Sacrifices to their God according to the different Rites and Ceremonies in use among them; until the great Emperor Constantine prohibited any more of the Jewish or Heathenish Conventicles to be kept there, Commanded the Place to be purged, and ordered a Christian Temple to be erected, wherein only the followers of Jesus, as the true Children of Abraham, should be convened to Celebrate an Holy Anniversary: Such a Solemnity as this which our Gracious King hath Licenced us to observe in memory of our Fathers; who Commanded us their Children as Abraham did his, to keep the way of the Lord: And, in Charity to their Widows and Orphans, to do good and distribute unto them, for with such Sacrifices God is pleased.  
In the words may be easily observed these Four Parts.  
1. First here is established the Duty and Authority of Parents to propagate true Religion to their Children, and the obligation of their Children to receive it from them: For the due exercise of that Paternal Power, and of this Filial obedience, is required by Almighty God Respectively of both Parties, required in the Persons of Abraham and his Descendants, that he should Command his Children and his Household after him to keep the way of the Lord.  
2. Secondly, here is a just and strong presumption, that especially such Fathers of Children as be also Fathers of the Church, will most effectually perform this important charge; and that the Children of such Ecclesiastical Men, will also most conscientiously do their part, to observe the Directions of their Parents and to follow their holy examples: This was a thing that God took for granted of Father Abraham, that he would take upon him to Teach as one having Authority, and that his Godly Dictates would be admitted by all whom he owns for his Sons. I know that he will Command his Children, etc.  
3. Thirdly, here is the full extent of that duty which lies upon Parents and this upon Children, those to give and these to receive good Precepts, that they should keep the way of the Lord: And then that way is made plain before them, it opens itself into these two ways to do Justice and Judgement.  
4. Fourthly, here is the ample recompense of doing these duties with extraordinary application; it shall derive a Temporal and Eternal Blessing upon the heads of such well-governing Parents, and such welldisciplined Children; for these rewards are employed sufficiently by that promise that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.  
1. Here is established the Duty and Authority of Parents to propagate true Religion to their Children; and the Obligation of their Children to receive it from them: For the due exercise of that Paternal Power, and this Filial Obedience is required by Almighty God respectively of both Parties, required in the Persons of Abraham and his Descendants, that he should Command his Children and his Household after him to keep the way of the Lord.  
That all Parents have a Commanding Power over their Children is so certain, that the first and surest Foundation of Government was laid on Paternal Right. From God the great King of all the Earth, or from the Son of God, by whom he made the World, and by whom he governs it. From this Almighty King-maker, the first and greatest Monarch was the first Man, whom the Apostle styles the Son of God, and he was also the Father of all his Subjects. Whoever the second was (and probably it was Methuselah, who lived some Centuries in Adam's Life-time, and died immediately before the Flood) the Third was Noah, he that began again the Government of a New World. Then Nimrod the first Tyrant lift up himself; and then we hear of Melchizedeck a King and Priest to whom Abraham paid his Tithes: And so we come to Abraham himself: He was the chief and Head of the Holy Line, as I may call it; and what his Character was, appears from that Address the Children of Heth made to Abraham, Hear us my Lord, thou art a Prince of God, or a mighty Prince among us. Now though I grant, that Universal Monarchy was gone long before this; though I do not deny, that before this time, the Dispersion of Men, the Confusion of Languages, and the necessity of other Accidents had introduced some other forms of Government, as Elective Monarchies, Aristocracies and perhaps Democracies (which Governments where they are Lawfully settled and Established must for Conscience-sake be obeyed) yet if we believe this Book of Genesis concerning the Original of humane Society, we cannot disbelieve this account that the Original of such a Government as was necessary to support that Society, was grounded upon Paternity; and that Abraham, as the Father of his Family, exercised this Dominion to Command his Children, not only those Begotten of his own Body but those also Born in his House or within his Territories.  
But then since the World itself was made by God with this great end and design that he might have a Church upon Earth; as St. Paul tells the Heathen Athenians, Acts 17. God hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men, to dwell on all the face of the Earth; and hath determined the times before appointed, and the Bounds of their Habitation, that they should seek the Lord, That is seek how to Worship and serve him: What more effectual means could be used, or what more natural method than that the same persons who brought us into the World should be obliged to bring us into the Church? and to qualify them for this great work of Evangelists, these two necessary things were provided for. First God declared his Will how he would be Worshipped and served to our first Parents, and after them to the Patriarches, to the intent (as the Patriarch David states it) that when they came up they might show their Children the same. And as he gave our Forefathers such a Supernatural Revelation, as, if they would keep it safe, that would abundantly secure them from being Deceived; so he gave all Parents such a Natural intense affection towards their Children, as made it hard for Parents to be the Deceivers of their own Children, in the most important of all concerns, That, upon which depended no less than Eternity. Upon this account the Commonwealth of Plato (whose notions some would fain be reviving) could be no Soil for Religion to grow in: For his Community of Wives destroys the Principles of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Natural Love to the Children of their own Bowels; a Principle upon which is founded the greatest security (next to that of God's promise to his Church) that Men will be faithful and careful in delivering to posterity any thing of true Religion. But to come home to my Text, when God renewed his Covenant with Abraham, 'tis plain he trusted him as chief of a Chosen Family, with a Prophetic or Preaching, as well as Ruling Power: And the Priestly Office as well as that of Governor, together with the double Portion, was to be continued and settled upon his First Born; though upon the Transgression of Reuben, the Governing part was transferred to Judah, the Priesthood to Levi, and the Double Portion to Joseph. And, which is very remarkable, the Sign of this Covenant with Abraham, being Circumcision, a painful and Bloody Ceremony (as the Wife of Moses calls it;) yet from Abraham to Moses, so many Hundred years, all the Numerous and almost innumerable Multitudes of the Children of Israel, were upon pain of Death, obliged to submit to the Knife, and to embrace the Religion of their Forefathers, without any Written Rule of Faith afforded them, that we know of; yet they were bound by virtue of Tradition from their Fathers, concerning the Doctrine and Miracles which God vouchsafed to Abraham. This Parents Transmitted to Children and the Chiefs or Elders of Israel (for such we find there were when Moses was first sent to them) delivered to the lower or younger sort of God's people.  
Yet I am far from asserting this Delivering of Religion from hand to hand downward from Parents to Children to be always the only means, or at any time the Infallible means, to keep the Faith whole and undefiled. I am well ware that from one sinful Generation to another, Parents and Children have so failed, they in delivering, and these in receiving that which God revealed of himself and his Divine Will, that Idolatry was all the Religion most Men had left them. I only allege this to be ever indispensably the Duty, but I do not pretend it was constantly the Practice of Persons so nearly Related to one another. And the stiffest defenders of the Oral-Tradition way in the Church of Rome may be as easily refuted as were those Sceptic Philosophers that denied Motion, but had nothing to say when the Cynic risen up and walked: so they who maintain it to be impossible, that ever their Faith should have changed, need only be showed how much they themselves have altered it; how they have sought out many Inventions, and this for one; as if their Fathers and Mothers (adding to them, if they please, their Nurses too) were the only Guardians even of the Christian Religion, and trusties for the Depositum of the Faith; as if neither the Scriptures were able to make us wise unto Salvation, nor the Church Representative, or the Priest's Lips could preserve Knowledge, saving Knowledge, nor propagate it so infallibly, as the familiar Colloquies of those who have so often turned it into Old Wives Fables.  
But if the Fathers of our Flesh (as the Apostle calls them) are not to be altogether relied upon; yet to go on to my Second part, 'tis to be hoped such Fathers as be also Spiritual Fathers, will never fail in this duty of Commanding their Children to keep the way of the Lord. And that such Instructors and Directors of the Tribe of Levi shall never fail in the Church, that Gracious Promise or Prophecy is our abundant Security, Thus saith the Lord, the Priests and Levites shall not want a Man before me. Jer. 33. 18. parallel to that in Isaiah cap. 30. ver. 20. Thy Teachers shall not be removed into Corners any more, but thine eye shall see thy Teachers, and farther explained by that Glorious Assurance to the Christian Church, Isaiah c. 59 v. ult. This is my Covenant with them saith the Lord, my Spirit that is upon thee and my words that I have put in thy Mouth, shall not departed out of thy Mouth, nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed, nor out of the Mouth of thy Seeds Seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. The Sum of all which promises amounts to this, that the Church shall never be left without true and good Pastors, the supposition of that is contrary to the very Definition of a formed Church, Grex Pastori adunatus; the Sheep shall never be deprived of a visible sufficient number of Faithful Shepherds, who shall make appear their Love to the great Shepherd of the Sheep, the Bishop of our Souls, by feeding his whole Flock; the small as well as the great, the younger and weaker as well as the older and stronger; for in the charge that Christ gave to St. Peter, a particular tender care is taken of the Lambs; especially for the use of these the little Children, as the Apostles call them, or the Men of little Faith, as Christ was pleased to call the Apostles themselves in their Novitiate or State of Pupillage; for such as these, I say, was designed the form of sound words, as one Scripture calls it, or the form of Doctrine as in another place. If it be demanded what such a Form was; I answer, it was either the very same that we call the Apostles Creed, or at least some Apostolic Creed, some Compendious account of the Catholic Faith. And Isaac, the their of Promise, so long ago, was a kind of Catechumen, and the first of those meant in my Text. He was to be taught the sum of the Law delivered to Abraham in these few words, Walk before me and be thou perfect; and he was to learn the sum of the Gospel, from him that was also Taught it of God in this short Creed, and in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed. Men, Women, and Children are included in that Universal Grace; and if very Children of all Nations have any share in this Promise, then are they also within that Precept given by Christ to his Apostles, go Teach and Baptise all Nations: Not that of necessity they are to be instructed first and Christened afterwards; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, make Disciples of them, apply and enter them forthwith into the School of Christ; as Philip of Macedon upon the Birth of his Son Alexander presently said to Aristotle, There's your Scholar; as if he had said, I Constitute you his Tutor, from henceforth see him well ordered and instructed as he grows more and more capable of Institution. And if Levit. 25. Children are styled by Almighty God, my Servants; then why not as well my Disciples? by parity of reason this Religious Care of Instruction extends itself to those that are Children in understanding, as St. Paul styles them. For as there is a Child, says the Prophet Isaiah, of a Hundred years old, that is, for the ripeness of his knowledge; so it follows there, the Sinner of a Hundred years old shall be accursed. And to deliver such from the Curse upon those that do err from God's Commandments, as David speaks, to make them capable of the Blessing upon the true Genuine Children of Abraham, faithful good Christians; as this is the peculiar business of the Tribe of Levi, to do good unto all Men, so especially to those who may be styled more peculiarly the household of Faith, for being of the house of Levi. For if St. Paul has stated it to his own Son, and Scholar Timothy, that if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, (where it means providing maintenance for their Bodily sustenance) he hath denied the Faith, and is worse than an Infidel; Then a Clergyman is worst of all, that provides not well for the Souls of those descended from his own Loins: And if every Master of a Family be in some sense a Bishop in his own House; then the Elders or Governors in the Church, if they would be counted worthy of the double Honour for Ruling well, must own a double obligation to Build up such in the most Holy Faith, to breed them up in the Nurture and admonition of the Lord.  
The Duties of Teaching and Learning, being thus secured, next I proceed to settle the subject matter of such Divine Lectures; and so I am fallen upon my Third Part, the full extent of these Institutions, that they should keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement.  
And what is it first, to keep the way of the Lord? I answer in the words of the Apostle, to hold the Mystery of the Faith in a pure Conscience.  
To some tender ears it sounds but harshly in the Creed we call the Athanasian, and it seems a hard saying, which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly; and then again, This is the Catholic Faith which except a Man believe faithfully be cannot be saved. But this keeping the Faith supposes it first committed to any one's Custody; or, in the words of my Text, this keeping the way of the Lord supposes the sufficient knowledge of it to be first imparted; and so Believing faithfully presupposes a Discovery and Delivery; and therefore the Faith for which we are bound to contend earnestly, the Essential or necessary Faith, is justly called the Faith once delivered to the Saints. Wherever the Gospel is Preached, there of necessity must this Faith be delivered: So that in this sense we call it Necessary Faith, meaning that Doctrine which all Christian Pastors are obliged to Preach, and woe unto them if they Preach not that Gospel, or if they do Preach any other; That Doctrine which all the people that hear it Preached by these Pastors are obliged to admit; That way of the Lord which all Men are constantly to keep, when once they are showed it; and Commanded to walk in it. But this is none of their case of whom it may be truly said, How should they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how should they hear without a Preacher? What parts of Divine Revelation are so absolutely necessary, as none shall be saved without both Hearing of them and Believing them; what is so fundamental, is among the Arcana Imperii, the secrets of God's Kingdom; levius est nescîsse quam Errâsse; 'tis a less guilt (says St. Augustine) to be ignorant of the Truth, than to maintain a false Doctrine. Suppose that any of those Disciples that St. Paul found at Ephesus, those Disciples (for so they are styled for all their ignorance) that had not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost: Suppose I say, that any of them had died in that State of Ignorance, and that Ignorance had been Invincible, or though a little Culpable, yet not Criminal, to whom little of knowledge was given, of them would little have been required. The Church is far enough off from Damning such for not keeping that Faith of which no means was afforded to possess them. And since Life and Immortality are said to be brought to Light in the Gospel; which must suppose, that before, and under the Law, the Fathers were much in the dark concerning the World to come. Since 'tis the Character of the Christian Faith to consist of Revealed Mysteries that were hid from the beginning of the World; 'tis needless for us to set the bounds and limits of that necessary Faith which Abraham was obliged to Preach and his Children to hear. How explicit a belief of the Holy Trinity; How clear a Notion of the Resurrection of the Body; What kind of Messiah was expected by the Commonwealth of Israel in those early days; is neither necessary, nor perhaps very possible for us at this distance to determine. 'Tis enough that God had showed them a way to Heaven by embracing such a Faith as well as by doing such works: And the Spiritual Guides in all Ages had the Office of crying after God's Faithful people, This is the way, walk in it.  
But for the Practical parts of Piety which Abraham was to Command his Children, to do Justice and Judgement; (where Justice signifies Beneficence or Mercy being joined with Judgement, and Judgement denotes Integrity without any fraud or deceit) these were Innate Principles, or parts of Natural Religion (as we call it) now it is truly said, Naturalia Supponuntur in esse; whatever is Natural to Mankind is supposed to be in all Men: But yet these qualities will prove but half Virtues in the best Natures without some Gracious Education and Exercise; 'tis certain they will rise higher, and be more Heroic in those who stand in the clearer Lights; to see the brighter Ideas of these Graces, and to view them in all their Glories. There is difference too in the obligations and just expectations upon several orders and degrees of Men in the Church. But the Sons of Churchmen, as better taught than others, ought to be Leaders of others, if not Teachers, nay Teachers in the best way of Instructing, by the  Authority of Exemplary Living. But since to do Justice and Judgement, does, in few words, include the whole Duty of Man, which stretches out its Branches so far; I shall extend my discourse but to these Two particulars, which ought to be the proper virtues, the special Characters, and as it were the Badges of all in this Corporation. Those two Particulars are.  
1. First, Principles of Loyalty to the King and of Love to our Country.  
2. Secondly, of Love to the Church, and of Charity to this Ecclesiastical Corporation. If other Virtues be with long practice acquired; these two should be as it were born and bred with us.  
And first we are in a special manner obliged to be eminently Loyal to our Prince, and to be truest Lovers of our Country. Of the former of these virtues Abraham could be no example, because he was no subject. His province was to Command and not to obey. For as the Children of Heth entitle him a Prince; so the Son of Syrach goes yet farther, Abraham was a Great Father of many Nations, in Glory was there none like unto him. Yet he left the Doctrine of Obedience, not only that obedience due to God, but that also due to himself, being a Prince as well as a Parent, established by one of the noblest instances that ever was since the World began, except that great Exemplar of which the story of his offering up Isaac was a figure: He taught his Son, being then young and vigorous, able to bear the wood of the  Offering, to submit his neck to the Burden: Then, to suffer his Aged Father who had power of Life and Death over him, to bind him, and lay him on the Altar upon the wood, to take the coming blow with open eyes, and all this without making any resistance. And then for Love to his Country, that which God had settled upon his Posterity, see how his care and concern extended as far as even to Sodom and Gomorrah, which being Adjacent parts of that promised Inheritance, God Condescends, as it were, to ask his consent and permission, before he would execute vengeance upon them: And the Lord said, shall I hid from Abraham that thing which I do? But on the other side, how does Abraham Wrestle with God to pluck them as Brands out of the Fire? With what humble submission, and yet with what magnanimity does he gain his ground by steps, to bring his wicked and wretched neighbours within the reach of Omnipotent mercy? had there been only Ten Righteous among them, It might have been said of this great and good Patriot Abraham, as God himself was pleased to say of the Grandson Jacob, as a Prince hast thou Power with God and Men, and hast prevailed. And these should be our Hereditary Qualities, Loyalty, and Love of our Country. Sedition and Faction are ungodly in any of the Sons of Men, but unnatural in a Clergyman's-Son. He should start at the very thought of being an Incendiary, while he has the Character of his Father in any Reverence: As Cicero when he produced in the Senate an Intercepted Letter from Lentulus to the Arch-traitor Catiline, upon reviewing the Seal, and perceiving upon it the venerable Image of the Grandfather to Lentulus, an excellent good Old Patriot, the Consul seems to wonder the very sight of that face should not have recalled and reclaimed him from his base and cruel purposes, to principles of Honour and Kindness to his Native City. But to be Abhorrers of such Associations as our late Catilines made, is too little for Men so Born and so bred up, so well Instructed and Catechised as we are supposed to have been; 'Tis not enough for us to yield only Passive Obedience in such times of Exigence; We should be as forward as the foremost to pay a vigorous Active Obedience especially to such a Prince as has done us the great Grace to make himself our Founder. For as it must be confessed that never any Royal Family has better deserved the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benefactors to the Church, which none of them ever diminished in the least Privilege, but have all of them nobly confirmed and greatly enlarged her Charters; so it must be thankfully acknowledged that towards us his Majesty has exceeded the Bounty of all his Glorious Progenitors. He has taken away our reproach, for the Church of Rome had made us a Proverb, as if the Son of a Priest were no better than Filius Populi, a Son of the People: But the King does sufficiently own us to have been Legitimate; and has in a manner undertaken to be himself our Guardian And with great sense of Gratitude, you did but this time Twelvemonth at our solemn meeting, Vote an Address worthy of yourselves, wherein you have plighted your Faith to Assert the Rights of this Hereditary Imperial Crown, and this you did with the loudest and joyfullest Acclamations.  
And as we are most particularly and indispensibly obliged to be zealously true and faithful to our Prince and Country; so in the second place, we of all Mankind are most strictly engaged to be most unfeignedly and concernedly Friends to the Church. This was a Temper of mind which Abraham effectually Commanded and Taught his Children, when he discarded and exposed one of them, that was Ishmael, for but making a mock of Isaac, whom the Apostle makes a Type of the Church; and represents that whole Transaction for a figure of such as are Born after the flesh, how they Persecute such as are Born after the spirit. For a Man's foes to be those of his own household is hard indeed: But that any of the Church's enemies should be some of those who came out of her own Bowels, is a great deal harder. If there be any such, they are most properly called a Generation of Vipers.  
But whatever he be in his Name, he is in his Nature an Ishmael, a kind of Wild Man, who can put off the most Natural affection that the Son of a Clergyman owes to the Church; which is something more than his spiritual Mother, and to whose tender care he belonged, as soon as ever he came into the world. To call such a one a Janisary may be thought too much; and yet, considering some aggravating Circumstances, 'tis indeed too little; for those Children of Christian Parents are snatched from the breasts of their Mothers soon after they are Dedicated to God in the Blessed Laver of Regeneration, the wretched Infants, are worse than offered to Moloch who killed them presently; they are Consecrated to Mahomet, they are Educated in all the prejudices of Mahumetanism; which makes their Aversion to Christianity much their misfortune, though very much also their fault. But what excuse can be made to alleviate the guilt of one, brought up, not at the feet of Gamaliel as Saul was, but like Timothy bred up as it were by St. Paul himself, or by such as were followers of him as he was of Christ.  
But on the other side, what a vast advantage may the Church derive from the kindness of so many Worthy and Excellent persons as make up this Solemn Assembly, who though very considerable in themselves, yet are few in number compared with the rest of our Brethren (as I take leave to style them) dispersed over these Three Kingdoms: Many whom God has blessed, and who may prove a Blessing to very many. For though Jacob cursed the wrath of Simeon and Levi; yet it was also part of his Blessing upon them, and through them upon all the rest of Abraham's Children, that he would divide the Tribe of Levi in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel; that so they might carry along with them his Benedictions, that they might dispense them far and near, that they might be themselves a common Blessing. So at this time are the Sons of the Sons of Levi in their several stations: So many wealthy Citizens, such as the Book of Wisdom describes in that Chapter where we find the praises of Abraham and his Children, Men renowned for their power, giving Counsel by their understanding, that is Men of business, excellent managers to make up your Court of Assistants, So many honourable Gentlemen and Noble Knights raised by their merits and services at Sea and Land, bound by their Order as well as by their Extraction, to protect your Widows and Orphans: So many Clergymen of the Church of England to do their parts, and to make good that Plea for the Married Clergy, that a great part of the Clergy of England, and among them some of the best of the Clergy are the Sons of the Married Clergy. Such a Corporation as this will bear up the Character given by the Apostle to the Church itself, as that is a Corporation, depending, as do all Christian Societies, and this for one, upon Christ the Head, from whom the whole Body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the Body. But this falls in with my fourth and last head of discourse (of which very briefly) the Blessings upon well-governing Parents, and welldisciplined Children, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham, that which he hath spoken of him.  
And what is that? all Earthly and Heavenly, all bodily and spiritual, all temporal and eternal good things upon Him and His; especially His by Adoption, His by Faith, any that follow His, and their Footsteps; His in Teaching Devotion, theirs in Learning it: All these shall be thus Blessed with Faithful Abraham.  
But if thus shall his Seed be Blessed with both hands, with the Blessing of the Left as well as the Right hand; how comes it to pass that so many of their miserable Orphans call for our help and Relief? How are Times changed since David made it his Observation, I have been young and now am old, yet saw I never the Righteous forsaken, nor his Seed begging their Bread?  
But I answer, neither does David here suppose that it can never happen thus, but that it falls out rarely, He never saw it. He never saw the Righteous forsaken, nor his Seed begging their Bread, that is, he never saw them begging and quite forsaken, which must be repeated: That the Children of the Righteous should never beg their Bread, was not where promised the Jews themselves: They were not exempted from this as a Temporary evil, either for Trial or for Punishment. They were not privileged from being besieged in their Cities, not yet from being driven out of their Native Country; and David himself in the time of his Flight and Banishment was reduced to that extremity, as to ask and receive the Shewbread to keep himself and his followers from starving: But that there should be none to pity or have Compassion upon the Fatherless Children or Widow; that was the Curse on Judas; and David had never seen that heavy Curse fall on any Children of Abraham. 'Tis only upon such Apostates from the Faith, such as Sin Treacherously, the Psalmist lays such load, Let the Runegates continue in scarceness. I answer secondly, those promises of plenty and eating the Fat of the Land, must either be abated to us, or else spiritulized to an Evangelical sense; they were more literaly fullfiled to that Carnal people the Jews, than must be expected by us Christians; our part is to be always disposed for Martyrdom; and God has never engaged to Command that these Stones shall be made Bread, rather than any Son or Daughter of Abraham shall be starved into Heaven; no more than he has obliged himself, out of these Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham.  
But for the better promises, Those exceeding great and precious Promises, as the Apostle calls them, In thy Seed shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed; the multiplying of Abraham's Children like the Sand of the Sea, or the Stars of Heaven. These Benedictions are in a manner appropriated to us Christians. St. Augustine presses the Donatists hard with these Glorious Prophecies, concerning the vast number of those that should flock into the Church, that its Sons should be innumerable; whereas they of that Sect, or indeed of any other, were a handful of Men in comparison, how vainly soever they pretended to be the Catholic Church, upon which those unspeakable Blessings are entailed and settled to the end of the World.  
Enough, I hope, has been said of the great rewards in this World, and in that to come; for the Righteous, and those that Teach their Children Righteousness, to reinforce this obligation upon us, especially upon us the Children of such Fathers as were also our Ghostly Fathers. To call to mind the wise dictates, to revolve the memorable say, and to recollect the worthy Acts of such venerable Guides, is one of the best Systems of Practical Divinity for our use. For if St. Augustin himself, the Night after his Mother's Funeral, could not help falling into most tender Passions, upon the remembrance of Monica his devout Mother, how many wearisome steps she had taken to follow his idle Progresses in his vicious youth, that she might recover her lost sheep, and bring him home to Christ's Flock; then what mighty powerful effects will it work upon any one of us that had a pious Churchman to his Father, to reflect on his admonitions, such as for their Gravity and Piety might have become the mouth of St. Austin himself? Such a Reverend Spiritual Father, such a Saint has this whole Society lost in our late most worthy Precedent. For how can I treat of this subject of teaching others to keep the way of the Lord, and treat of it before this Audience, without one word in Commemoration of that incomparable person, who with almost an incredible concurrence of Abilities both of mind and body, and with a most indefatigable industry; yet with all this was not more fitted to acquire all parts of Divine Learning, than he was apt to Teach: And being Dead he yet speaks, and Teaches us by his example; he persuades as powerfully as if Abraham himself had Commanded us as his Children; he Preaches more efficaciously, than if Abraham should send us a Lazarus from the Dead, to press Repentance and Holy Living. He exhorts us not to be weary (as he never was) of well doing, he charges us to be (as he was) Steadfast, Unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labour is not in vain in the Lord, To whom, etc.  
FINIS.