PREFACE. Ir in the title of this volume the Author has used the word "Minister," in rather an unusual latitude, its adjective will serve to explain and restrict it. The "Domestic" minister intends not the pastor or preacher, not the servant of the Most High God, who officially shows unto men the way of salvation-but he who adopts the resolution of Joshua-As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The preservation and spread of religion should not depend exclusively on a particular order of men, however important their function may be. All Christians, in their respective stations, ought to co-operate with those who are by designation workers together with God. It ought to be a matter of thankfulness that the number of ministers properly so called, who enter into the spirit of their office, and preach the truth as it is in Jesus, is exceedingly increased. But compared with the field and the vastness of the work, the labourers are yet few. And few they would be found if multiplied a thousand-fold; and we should still need the property, the talents, the influence, the example, the exertions, the prayers of all the subjects of divine grace. And can their services be dispensed with now? God is not the God of confusion, but of peace: and He has said, Let every thing be done decently and in order. It is his providence that determines the bounds of our habitation, and furnishes the several stations we occupy; and into these we are to look for our duties and opportunities. Men are often led out of their own proper sphere of action in order to be useful; but it is ignorance, if not discontent and pride that tempts them astray. As the stream of a river is most lovely and beneficial when it patiently steals along its own channel, though it makes not so much noise, and excites not so much notice as when it breaks over its banks, and roars and rolls as a flood-so good men are most acceptable and useful in their appointed course. Wisdom will estimate every man by what he is, not out of his place and calling, but in them. There we naturally look after him; there we unavoidably compare him with his obligations; there we see him habitually; and there he gains a character, or goes without one. It is to be feared that some even of the stricter professors of religion have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. It blazes at a distance; but it burns dim at home. In a day like the present, there will be many occasional calls of public duty; but it will be a sad exclamation to make at a dying hour, "My own vineyard have I not kept." In the spiritual still more than in the temporal neglect, "He that provideth not for his own, especially those of his own house, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 3 "You wish to serve your generation." It is well that it is in your heart; but let it be according to the will of God. And how does this require you to proceed? From public relation into private, or from private into public? Does it order you to waste time and strength, to go to a distance, and begin labouring, where difficulties will be too great, and means too few to allow of your improving the waste back to your own door? Or to begin near, to cultivate onward, to clear and fertilize the ground as you advance, so as to feel every acquisition already made, converted into a resource to encourage, support, and assist you in your future toil? "You long to be useful." And why are you not? Can you want either opportunity or materials? You who are placed at the head of families? You who are required to rule well your own households, to dwell with your wives according to knowledge, to train up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to behave towards your servants as remembering that you also have a master in heaven?-Behold O man of God, a congre. gration endeared and attentive, committed to thy trust. Behold a flock whom you may feed with knowledge and understanding; and before whom you may walk as an example in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Behold a church in thy house. Behold an altar on which to offer the morning and evening sacrifice of prayer and of praise. Here observe these things, without preferring one before another; here teach and exhort, and reprove with all longsuffering and patience; here officiate and "Ye shall be named the PRIESTS of the Lord; men shall call you the MINISTERS of our God." The remark of BAXTER is worthy our regard:" If family religion was duly attended to and properly discharged, I think the preaching of the word would not be the common instrument of conversion." And GURNAL says, "The family is the nursery of the church. If the nursery be neglected, what in time will become of the gardens and the orchards?" The Author will not endeavour to establish the duty of domestic worship. Many excellent things have been written upon this subject; and what he himself could offer in support of the practice is already before the public.* It is futile to allege as some have done, that there is no positive and express command for it in the Scripture;, when nothing could be more easy than to prove the will of God-from the simplest deductions, from the fairest reasonings, and from the most generally acknowledged principles. The examples of the faithful; the commendations which God has bestowed upon them in his word; his promises and threatenings; the obvious and numberless advantages resulting from domestic devotion, as to personal religion and relative government, with regard to those that preside in the family and as to instruction, restraints, and motives, with regard to relations, children, and servants :-All this must surely be enough to induce any man capable of conviction, to terminate with a broken heart the mischiefs of neglect; and to swear unto the Lord, and vow unto the mighty God of Jacob Surely, I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed, I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." As to the objections arising from-shame, a want of time, the unfashionableness of the usage, or its interfering with visits or dissipations: all this * See the Introduction to the Author's four volumes of Short Discourses for the Use of Families. in a being who yet owns himself to be a moral and accountable creature, is unworthy of argument, and would be too much honoured by the attempt of refutation. There is one thing however which deserves notice. It is the apprehension of inability to perform this duty. With respect to some, if not many, it is no breach of charity to conclude that this is an excuse rather than a reason. It is disinclination, or at least the want of a more powerful conviction that hinders them from adopting this salutary usage, rather than incapacity. There are few cases in which the old adage is not to be verified. "Where there is a will, there is a way." You feel little difficulty in making known your distresses or your wishes to a fellow-creature: and the Lord looketh, not to the excellency of the language, but to the heart. The facility would be increased by practice and the divine blessing. And I cannot but earnestly recommend the use of free and extemporaneous prayer, where it is practicable. There is in it a freshness, a particularity, an appropriateness, an immediate adoption and use of circumstances and events, which cannot be found in the best composed forms. Yet there are those who have only a slender degree of religious knowledge, or discover a natural slowness and hesitancy of utterance, or feel a bashfulness of temper, so that they cannot gain confidence enough even to make a proper trial. And this diffidence is often found, even with persons of education and understanding-Indeed such are more likely to feel difficulty than the vulgar and illiterate, whose ignorance is friendly to fluency, and whose confidence is not perplexed by modes of expression, or embarrassed by the influence of reputation. Now in cases of inability, or extreme difficulty, surely the greatest zealot for extemporary prayer would recommend forms in preference to neglect. Besides, there are others—many in the Establishment, and no few out of it-who deem a form more eligible; and it is needless to remark that they have a right to their opinion-and as their practice will of course be regulated by it, it is desirable to aid them in their own way. And surely in this case, as well as in many others, where we see so much talent, and religion, and even devotional taste, in the opposing advocates, candour requires and compels the concession, that all the arguments, all the advantages, cannot be on one side of the question. Bigotry delights in exclusion; but the meekness of wisdom is satisfied with preference, and freely says, Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind. The amiable Dr. WATTS observes, “ Many a holy soul has found his inward powers awakened and excited to lively religion, in the use of a form, where the wants and wishes of the heart have been happily expressed and considering the various infirmities that surround human nature, even the wisest and best of men may be glad of such assistance at some seasons." Several books of prayers have issued from the press; and it is not necessary to undervalue or conceal them, in order to excuse or even justify another effort in the same cause. The great excellency of some of these composures is well known. Yet it must be confessed that such works, compared with other religious publications, are still very few; and that the far greater part of what we possess is more for personal and private use than domestic. Even in the deservedly popular volume of JENKS, there are only family prayers for one week; the rest are all for individual service. 1* |