ADVICE OF A PARENT TO HIS CHILDREN, CONCERNING THE ERRORS of the DAY. By a TRADESMAN. MATH. vi. 15. Beware of falfe Prophets, &c. 2 COR. xi. 3. But I fear leaft by ary Means, as the COL. ii. 4. And this I fay, leaft any Man fhould be- NOTTINGHAM: Printed by Tho. Collyer, near the Hen-Crofs. 141. j. 31. Serious ADVICE, &c. TO MY SONS and and DAUGHTERS. Dear CHILDREN, T Feb. 1730. HIS is a Day of great Temptation, wherein evil Examples, evil Practices, and dangerous Errors abound; & wherein there is a great deal of Lukewarmness, and Indifferency, as to the Things of GoD and Religion. As for evil Examples and Practices, I hope you will avoid them, as leading directly in the broad Way to Deftruction: And that you will be heartily concern'd about the great Things of GoD and Religion; it being the fafeft, moft honourable & comfortable Way of Living. Let others fay, and do what they will; your Father has found it fo, and your Bibles direct and incourage you in the Way of Religion, and ferious Godliness, and therefore hope you will keep this good old Way; for thefe that honour God he will honour, but thfe that difpife him shall be lightly esteemed. And as for thofe dangerous Errors that abound, some of them tend to overthrow the Chriftian Religion, and others tend to the great Prejudice of the Life & Power thereof. And methinks I fee the Clouds gathering, which A 2 I fear will be much thicker and darker than they are at prefent, & who knows but that you may be left in aTime of thicker Darkrefs than we have seen, and so may be in danger to be led afide, and mifs your Way to Heaven: Therefore I hope you will ferioufly perufe thefe Sheets as a Token of my parental Care, & tender Love for your eternal Welfare: I hope thefe may be as a Caution and Warning to you; and by the Bleffing of Gon give iome Light and Direction, in a dark Day. I thought it adviteable to put fomething into your Hands for tho'e Ends. Errors at this Day are called by foft Names, as Difference in Judgment, and are talked of as indifferent Matters; as if there were no great Harm in them: They will endeavour to make you believe that Error is not 10 bad as is talk'd of, and that there's but little Difference betwixt your Judgment and theirs, to palliate the Matter: You may hear People talking that you ought to have Charity for thofe that differ from you, and asking you why they may not have Liberty of putting their Senfe & Interpretation on Scripture as well as you your's; and fo infinuate as if there were no Error or Herely, but that every thing is pretty much as a Perfon believes, or that Error is no fuch dangerous Matter as is reprefented by fome; & this makes the Error flip down the eafier, and prepares People to receive it; for when they think it an indifferent Matter, they will not be afraid of it, nor careful to avoid it. But it ought to be confidered, that Difference in Judgment about leffer Matters in Religion, in which there is no great Weight, no evil Tendency, Things that may or rñay not be done, these ought to be borne with, and çovered with Love & Charity; and this the Apostle pleads for, Coll. ii. 16. Let no Man judge you in Meats, or Drinks, or an holy Day, &c. and farther in the 1 Cor. viii. Chap. and I Cor. x. from the 24th Verfe to the End of the Chapter, it was about eating this Meat or the other, which might or might not be done; and thofe that are weak in the Faith we ought to receive with Love & Tendernefs: Nor ought we to hurt the Perfons or Estates of those that err in other Matters. But ད But for all this, there are dangerous deftructive Errors, which we ought carefully to avoid and stand against : For we find the Apostle Paul very zealous and tevere against Errors that affect the Vitals of Religion; and we are commanded earnestly to contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints, Jude 3. We ought not to be indifferent about Truth and Error, but earnest about it. Errors that affect the Foundation or Vitals of Religion, are very dangerous to the Soul, & fo ought carefully to be avoided: They are very difpleafing to God. We find Herefies amongst the Works of the Flesh, and fure the Works of the Flesh are dangerous! Gall. v. 19, 20. And I think this will plainly appear from fuch Scriptures as thefe, 2 Peter ii. 1. there we read of damnable Herefies that bring fwift Destruction; fure that's dangerous that's damnable and brings swift Destruction; and Gall. i. 8, 9. If an Angel bring any other Gefpel to you than what we have preached, let bim be Accurfed; and he repeats it over again in the ninth Verte, to fhew his Zeal against it, and the Importance of the Matter; there must be fomething very evil in that which the Apoftle thus curfes: 2 Theff. ii. 11, 12. That they all might be damned who believe not the Truth, but had Pleasure in Unrighteousness; what a terrible Expreffion is here concerning Error: 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18. Their Words do eat as a Canker; as a Canker eats and destroys the Fle!h, fo do Errors mifchieve the Vitals of Religion: 1 Cor. iii. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, Tho' a Man hold the Foundation, (the Doctrine of CHRIST) yet if he build upon this Foundation corrupt Doctrine and Practices, he shall fuffer Lefs and be faved as by Fire; that is, with Difficulty: Kom. xvi. 17. N I Befrech you Bretberen, mark thofe that cafe Divisions and Offences, contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned, and avoid them; they that made Divifions by teaching Doctrines contrary to what the Apoftles taught, were to be mark'd & avoide 1; why? becaufe they were dangerous 1 John iv. 1. Believe ret every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they be of Gon; and why? be : A 3 |
