Section 12

SECT. XII.

You have not so much as a shadow of reason to render, why you should not pray with your families; let me now a little repre[illegible] why you should; for I am

III. To propound some incentives to family-prayer.

And there are chiefly two considerations which I have to set before you.

Consider, first, the direful and grievous curses which prayerless families are exposed to. Such families, they are the very suburbs of H[illegible] itself. A prison, a dungeon, is to be chosen before a living in them. There is a word, an awful word, which a prophet of God has written in a certain place; methinks, that word falls like a thunderbolt of death upon the families, in which God is not prayed to. It is written in Jeremiah 10:25: O Lord — pour out your fury on the heathen, which know you not; on the families which call not on your name. Does it not strike cold to the heart of the reader? These are the terrible and the direful words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself: he counts your prayerless family no better than a pagan family. And now, he speaks not as an advocate for your poor family; he says not, Lord, vouchsafe your pity and your pardon to that family; but he says, Lord, pour out your fury upon that family, because it calls not on your name. Alas, have you no more kindness for your families, than to lay them open to the fury of a great and a terrible God? Cruel people, that you are. We read in Zechariah 5 (beginning) about a flying roll, twenty cubits long, ten cubits broad, entering into these and those houses, to consume them. I am to tell you, that prayerless houses are to feel the force of this flying roll. An huge roll of curses belongs to that house in which prayer is not upheld. The curse of God is the sauce in every dish, the curse of God is the cover to every bed, in that lamentable family. Houses molested with devils are not more miserable than houses destitute of prayers. I have seen it in a house, where the devils have had possession of a child, that when family-prayer began, the devils would make hideous roarings and noises in the room, as being under a vexation thereat, which was intolerable to them. Truly, the devils have no disturbance in houses where family-prayer is not maintained; prayerless houses are haunted houses, and the fiends of darkness reign, and ramp, there without control. Indeed, prayerless families are not only the cages, but also the causes of all impiety. They bring an irresistible deluge of disorder upon all the town and land; and cause all the country to swarm with the workers of iniquity who call not upon the Lord. And as the prayerless householder is now cursed by God, so he will one day be cursed by all his house; he brings curses on them, and they will spend curses on him, in the day of vengeance. In the ever-burning lake, they will curse the day that ever they saw your prayerless house, and, 'That house brought me to this hell!' — this, this will be their cry world without end.

Consider, next, the marvellous blessings which belong to all praying families. It was noted about the family of Obed-Edom, in (1 Samuel 6:11): The Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his household, while the ark of the Lord was there. So shall it be noted about the family of a praying householder; the Lord will bless that man and his household, while that prayer to the Lord is there. Family-prayers are conjoined prayers, and united prayers; thus they become very successful prayers. What encouragement is there given to them, in that promise (Matthew 18:19): If two of you shall agree on earth, touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them. O let your families agree in the asking of grace, in the asking of glory, in the asking of every good thing; prayer in concert will obtain it all. When Cornelius was at his family-prayer, what a signal favor did the Almighty God show to him? Some while since, a whole town in Switzerland was very suddenly destroyed by an earthquake, all except one piece of a house, in which a good man happened then to be at prayer with his family. It is impossible to tell, O how great is the goodness which God has laid up for houses that seek to him! But besides all the other comforts of a praying householder, he has this peculiar to him: he teaches all his family to pray. A praying parent will have praying children. David prayed in his family, and his son Solomon proved a praying young man. A praying master will have praying servants. Abraham prayed in his family, and his man Eliezer became a very praying person. Thus, O man, all your young people will be filling every corner of your house with prayers for your felicity.

O consider of these things; and such let the impression of them upon you be, that you may by prayers with your families engage your houses to serve the Lord.