DOCT. I. THAT young people as they grow up in their parents houser, or as they leave the same, and go forth into the world, should be able seriously to covenant with God, and solemnly to make their vows to him, That the Lord shall be their God. The seed of Jacob will learn this of him.

I SHALL speak to this Doctrine under the follow­ing Heads.

• 1. That we are under the vow and bond of God from our Infancy.
• 2. That the vow we are then brought under is this. That the Lord shall be our God.
• 3. That children should be early taught this, and often seriously admonished of it; and as our young people grow up in their fathers houses, they should se­riously [Page 6]prepare to take this vow upon themselves, and make it to the Lord with holy solemnity.
• 4. That when they are leaving their parents houses, and going forth into the world, may be a very proper season for such a solemn transaction with the Holy God.

1. WE are under the vow and bond of God from our Infancy. So was Jacob from his birth: At eight days old he received the token of God's Covenant in his Circumcision, which was the seal of the same righteous­ness of faith that Baptism now is to us, in the admi­nistration of it in the Christian Church: The same Co­venant and blessing being come upon us Gentiles by faith, which God gave to Abraham; namely this, I will be a God to thee and to thy seed. Our Children therefore from their Infancy are as much in the Covenant state, and the initiating seal of the Covenant does as much belong to them, as the Covenant of Circumcision did to the Infants under the Law. Else were your children unclean, but now they are holy, 1 Cor. 7.14. We there­fore are under the vow and bond of God from our In­fancy: And no doubt but so were the first children that were born into the world accounted and dedicated to God; which it may be Eve meant when she said upon the birth of Cain, I have gotten a man from the Lord; a child for him.

2. THE Vow that we are brought under by the Co­venant of God from our Infancy, and by our Baptism then, is this in the Text, That the Lord shall be our God. This 'tis, and neither more nor less; as God gave it to Abraham, and as it is come on us, Gen. 17.7. And I will establish my covenant betwen me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee. We and our seed therefore have significantly said of and to the Lord, He shall be my God. Jacob now said for himself, no more than what his Father Isaac had said for him, and bound upon him, in the day when he circumcised him. The Covenant is now given to us in the same Words, Heb. 8.20. I will be to you a God, and ye shall be to me a people. This is the compendium, the summary and [Page 7]substance of the Covenant of Grace; comprehending all the mercy, grace, favour and blessing promised [...] God's part in the Gospel of Christ; and all the duty and obedience required and engaged on ours. So ex­ceeding broad are these few words, The Lord shall be my God. The Covenant Engagement which our Infants are brought under in their Baptism, is this in the Text, The Lord shall be my God.

OUR Children should be early taught this, and often admonished of it by their parents; and as they grow up should be put on a serious preparation to take this Vow upon themselves, and make it their own Act.

IT should be the care of parents early to instruct their Children in the Covenant Bonds to God which they are under, and to charge them with the serious remembrance of them, and to prepare as they grow up to recognize the same. The mother of Solomon did so by him; she taught him that he was the son of her vows, and under a holy dedication to God.

AND as Children arrive at Years of understanding, the first thing that should be prepared for, and seriously done by them is this, the taking their Baptismal Cove­nant on themselves, and giving themselves up to God.

IT was your Parents Act in your Baptism, and they did well to bring you to God in his appointed Way, and under his holy Bonds: they had right, power and authority to do as they did; they did but their Duty to God and to you: they can oblige you in other things, and can't they in this, that the Lord shall be your God? they can Act for you in your name to Men, and bind you for your good; and why not to God? The Mother of Samuel vow'd him to God before he was conceived within her; and he religiously stood to her Act.

OUR Children owe it to God and to their Parents, and to the Church of Christ, to abide by their Baptism, and join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting Co­venant, by their own Act and Deed. In this, if in any thing they obey their parents in the Lord; and wherein can they more profanely and impiously despise and re­fuse [Page 8]to obey them, than if they abide not by the Cove­nant Dedication that they made of them to God from their Birth-Could your Parents do better for you than they did? or can you do better for your selves than to stand to their pious Act in your behalf, and in obedience to God who gave you to them? If they did ill by thee you shall not be obliged by it; but if well, why should you depart from it?

CAN there be a more direct Way to the great End of thy Being, (the Glory of God from thee, in thy own everlasting Happiness) than thy kaprismal Decicati­on from the Womb, and thy early Recogaition thereof, in uprightness and with solemnity? Thy Saviour was so circumcised and preseated in the Temple according to the Law, and at twelve Years old he went up with his parents to the Passover: And wist you not that you too should be betimes about your heavenly Father's Business, and careful for your own Souls Salvation? remembering your Creator in the Days of your youth, and secking him early?

OUR baptized Children are obliged actually, formal­ly and explicitly, to assent and consent to the Covenant of Grace when they come to years; to chuse the Lord to serve him, and let them refuse at their peril! it were Atheism, blasphemy and rebellion in them to reject their Fathers God and despise his Covenant; and it were Damnation to them to do it. Yet it is fit­ting to put it [...] them, as Joshua did to Israel; Josh. 24.14, 15. Now therefore fear ye the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and if it seem evil to you, chuse you this day whom you will serve. So Moses when he was come to [...]. ( [...] and seriously [...] in the Knowledge of God and of his Covenant) [...] to be called the Son of [...] Daughter, casting his lot among the People of God. He renounced the Gods of the Egyptians and their Idolatries, and the Treasures of Egypt also, and its Dignities; and as became a Son of Jacob made his Vows to the Lord God of Israel.

HERE I will chuse to propose, and make some An­swer to these three Enquiries.

• 1. What is the mean­ing [Page 9]of this sacred Word and Act, the Lord shall be my God's
• 2. How should our Children come into it?
• 3. Why should they do so?

1. WHAT is the meaning of this sacred Word and Act; the Lord shall be my God? I answer, briefly and in general; (for my time will not allow me to branch our into particulars and enlarge on them)

TO say unto God that He shall be our God implies,

• 1. A Confession of his rightful propriety in us, and Dominon over us, and our indispensable obligation to be his, only and wholly, for ever to worship, obey and glorify him.
• 2. It supposes to be sure a rejection and abjuration of all things besides God; our selves and the flesh, the world and the devil, the service of Sin and Satan, and all false Gods especially, and false Wor­ship.
• 3. It implies the dedication and consecration of our selves unto the service glory and enjoyment of the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son and Blessed Spirit; as our Creator, Saviour Sanctifier; our Owner, Ruler, Law­giver. Benefactor, Judge, supream End, and Portion.
• 4. It implies a free, and full, and deliberate consent and submission to the whole will, and law and Covenant of God revealed and proposed to us in his written Word; and that with full purpose of heart we will walk in his ways, trust in his grace and hope in his mercy.

IN a Word, For us to say, The Lord shall be my God, is

• 1. To take him to be to us all that which he is in himself unto his reasonable Creatures, and all that which in his word and Covenant, thro' Jesus Christ, he tenders himself to be unto perishing penitent Sin­ners: And
• 2. It is to hind our own Souls that we will be to God, his grace helping us, all that which his Word requires of us; and this from henceforth, constantly and for evermore.

WELL then. Have we ever said thus to the Lord, Thou art and shalt be my God! Can we, do we, will we say it? Or rather, have we not said it in our Baptism, and some of us at the Table of Christ? Do we not say it in our solema worshiping of God from time to time, in publick and in private? Have we on any singular [Page 10]Occasions said thus to God, under the impressions of mercies shown us, or in the pursuit of them? or in our griefs and sorrows, fears and dangers? Or should we not say to God as they, Josh. 24.24. We are witnesses that we have chosen the Lord our God to serve him: The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey? Psal. 48.14. This God is our God for ever and ever; be shall be our guide even to death? Psal. 119.57. Thou art my portion, O Lord, I said that I will keep thy word. And let our children now say, Psal. 122.20. Thou art my God from my mother's belly: And Exod. 15.2. He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation, my fa­ther's God, and I will exalt him.

2. BUT secondly. How should our young people come into this sacred word and act; to say, The Lord shall be my God?

I ANSWER,

• 1. To be sure not reshly, suddenly, light­ly, and without serious consideration of the thing, and preparation for it; and some good grounds to hope that God has given us a heart to say it in a right manner. Our danger is rashness, and youth is prone to be sudden and confident. Let Solomor's Caution therefore be ever kept in mind, and ly with weight upon us, Eccl. 5.
• 2. Be not rash with thy mouth to utter any thing before God, and in vowing to him. Be sensible and fearful of thy wicked and deceitful heart, and jealous over thy self with a godly jealousy.

THEREFORE, 2. Be very serious, deliberate, solemn in a transaction of this nature; consider of it, and pray over it, and continue in prayer: Implore the Divine Grace to make thee upright and keep thee so; commit thy self to it, and make trial of thy self if thy heart a­bide with God, if his Spirit in his blessed Influences be with thee; and after some happy experience hereof, in a growing humility for sin, watch against it, desires af­ter holiness, delight in prayer, meditation, and reading God's word, and a fixed purpose of heart (trusting in God) to govern your self by it all your dayes, you may humbly renew your Vows to God, and your Covenant with him. And 1. Do it very seriously in secret before [Page 11]the Lord; and 2. Openly and solemnly before the peo­ple of God.

1. VERY seriously in secret; after much prayer, and some good time of experience, and reason to hope that thy heart is sincere with God; as I said before. Enter then into thy closet, and fall on thy knees before thy Father which sees in secret: Beg of him to accept of thee in Christ, to possess thee by his Spirit, to sanctify thee to his service and glory, to seal to thee the par­don of sin, to shed abroad of his love in thy soul, to make thee fear always; to search thee and know thy heart, to try thee and know thy thoughts, and see if there be any wicked thing in thee, and to lead thee in the way everlasting. And having done this seriously in secret, then

2. PROCEED to do it openly, in publick, in the face of the World: Go to thy Pastor, who is required by Christ to feed his lambs, lay open thy reader and ho­nest heart before him, receive with reverence his in­structions, counsel and advice in the matter, his ad­monitions and charges from God; let him receive thy professions and lay them before the Church of Christ; and join (yea give) thy self to the people of God, chu­sing them for thy people, and their God for thy God.

THIS was the primitive way, 2 Cor. 8.5. They first gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God.

AFTER this manner our Fathers, in these Churches of our Lord Jesus, from the beginning of this land, first took the Lord to be their God, and then gave their Posterity to him; taking the Scripture for their rule and directory in this matter; and we arise and declare it to our children, that they might set their hope in God, and do his Commands. We would call upon them and change them as David did his Solomon, 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son, know thou the God of thy fa­ther, and serve him, &c. And we take comfort in those of our children, who in the manner before described have given, or do give themselves to the Lord, as their God. And now I suppose I need not spend many more [Page 12]words upon the third thing propos'd, which is,

3. TO give some reasons why our young people should betimes prepare for this very serious transaction with God? For surely nothing can be more just, nothing more necessary. Had your parents never gone before you, to lead you and oblige you in this thing, yet in point of duty and interest it had been incumbent on you. There must needs be an eternal and unchangeable Obligation on the reasonable Creature, to say unto the GOD that made him, to rule and govern him, The Lord shall homy God. It is a law written on every heart of man, and graven in our rational natures; thy Conscience bears witness to this, and thy thoughts approve it, and render thee a law to thy self in this matter. Thy Obligation to it is in­stant and perpetual, and nothing can release thee from it. Turn thy thoughts any way thou wilt, you can sind nothing against what has been propos'd, but every thing is for it.

CAN any thing be more reasonable, righteous, grate­ful from thee, than to say of and unto the Lord, thy Maker, Preserver, Father, Benefactor, The Lord shall be my God? can any thing be more honourable to thee, than to be allowed this? Can any thing be more beneficial to thee than this wise and good Act? whereby you put your self betimes in the way of God's favour, care, grace and blessing? Can you act better for Soul or Body? for your temporal, spiritual, or eternal selicity? Or can any thing be more injurious and detrimental to thee, than the neglect of God thy Maker and Judge? which he justly interprets a renouncing of him, and will re venge accordingly, by an utter rejection of them that take him not for their God! Why should you, a Son of Adam who was the Son of God, go out like Cain from the presence of the Lord, and run into the everlasting destruction from the presence of his glory. Finally, consider the dishonour and injury done to Christ, by thee a baptised Child of his house, if you do not early lay hold of the better Covenant, and promises in him, pur­chased by his blood, published in his Gospel, and sealed to thee in the Sacraments of Christianity: Thro' him it [Page 13]is that God is now ready to be thy God, and to receive thee graciously and love thee freely. You despise the riches of grace in Christ, and trample under foot the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, if your Soul does not consent to and close with the God of Abraham, the Father of our Lord Jesus, saying to him, The Lord shall be my God. We are under the last dispensation of the Covenant, a dispensation of the clearest light and grace; whereof the Holy Ghost spake by the Prophet, In those days I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel. The blessings of this sure and well order'd Covenant are importunately tender'd to you and urg'd upon you from your infancy, and the terms thereof explained, the way of holiness laid plain before you; the word is nigh thee before thy eyes and in thy ears dayly, and what canst thou say, or how wilt thou escape, if you neglect and contemn so great Salvation.

THUS I have shown that we are under the Covenant and vow of God from our Infancy, and that it is this in short, that the Lord shall be our God: I have hinted the Import of this Covenant Engagement, & the reasons why, as well as the manner wherein our Children as they grow up with us, should renew their baptismal Cove­nant: It remains yet in the 4th Place, to add,

4. THAT it may be a very proper season and time, for our Children (seriously disposed and rightly prepared (to do this, when the Providence of God calls them to leave their father's house and go forth into the World. This was Jacob's case in the text, and as it be­comes yours, God give you his heart and spirit. Eve­ry thing is beautiful in its season, and this Act of devo­tion is truly so at such a season. For the World you are going into is an Enemy to God and to religion; but this frame and Act of Jacob shall help to guard you against and save you from its temptations and snares; as it did Joseph (the beloved Son of Jacob, the heir of his grace and good Spirit) who remembred his father's God when he was sold and carried away, and kept his Covenant, and the God of his Father was with him and bless'd him, and made all that he did to prosper. So [Page 14]do thou stand to the Covenant of God, and commend thy self to his special providential care, and Covenant kindness; and tho' you may not see with your eyes the Angels of God, and his hosts when you need them, yet you may be sure they will be near thee, to bear thee up in their arms; to minister to thee in troubles, and to defend thee in danger, of to gather thee in their arms for Abraham's bosome.

IN a word,

• 1. Nothing will so much propare you for worldly prosperity if God give it, as thy stodfast abiding by the Covenant of God. The favours of Providence shall come in mercy to thee, they will be us'd unto the service of God and to his glory, God will be enjoy'd in 'em, and a little thus sanctisied is better than all riches. Yea,
• 2. This shall propare you also for all the crosses, troubles, and afflictions that may abide you in your way; as Jacob and Joseph well [...]: You will submit to the Government of a Grout God and a Graci­ous Saviour in them; you will find the good of them, and a good end of them, and God will be glorified by you. You will keep your heart and eye up to God, and his will be on you; you will ever be looking thro' time into Eremity, and your present afflictions will seem to you light, and but for a moment, working out for you the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

AND so I have run thro' the first Doctrine, which was, That young people as they grow up under the roof of their parents, and under the admonitions of the word of God, and before or as they leave their fathers house and go forth into the world, should be able and prepa­red seriously to renew their Covenant with God, and avouch the Lord Jehovah to be their God.

I SHALL be shorter in the other Dectrines, which are as it were the Application of this, and may be re­ceived by you as Directions upon it.

DOCT. II. THAT in making this Vow to God (if he in­cline and enable you to do it) as you grow up in your parents houses, or are leaving the same, you must ear­nestly implore and humbly confide in the special presence, [Page 15]favour and grace of God to be with you, and keep you in the way that you go. If God will be with me, said Jacob, and keep me in this way that I go.

IN which words he implores the special providential presence of God with him; and not only so, but his spiritual presence also, and the keeping of God's grace; and indeed commits himself thereunto, puts his trust therein, casts himself upon it, for guidance, protection and blessing, and for influence, sanctification, and perse­verance in duty & obedience: And God said not to him, seek to me, trust in me, in vain.

NO more will he to any of the believing, praying seed of Israel, who set him always before them, and whose spirits are stedfast with him: Who ever eye him in his governing Providence, ordering and disposing eve­ry thing that befals them; and in every thing by pray­er and supplication with thanksgiving make their requests known unto him; who rely on him for con­duct, safety and success in their affairs, and ascribe all they receive to him; who thus daily are giving glory to him, and staying themselves on him; who thus keep up a constant communion with God under every pro­vidence, prosperous or adverse; walking humbly with him, and with a perfect heart before him, as the al­mighty & alsufficient God. For as he once said to Abra­ham, so does he to every son of Abraham by faith, Gen. 17.1. I am God Almighty, walk before me and be thou perfect, and I will make my covenant between me and the: And again, Gen. 15.1. Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.

WHEREFORE, commit thy self to his Providence and Grace, as thou enterest on, and passest thro' an evil world of sin and trouble; beg his divine presence with thee; trust in his grace, hope in his mercy, and keep his way, that he may keep thee thro' the world, keep thee from the evil. So Isaac called Jacob in my Context, and blessed him, committing him to the Providence and Grace of a Covenant God; and happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that [Page 16]therein is, which keepeth truth for ever, and reigns God over all, to all generations, Psal. 146.

THE God of Jacob will be the God of every praying Jabez, and give him his request: 1 Chron. 4.10. And Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thy hand may be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil. Thus implore and confide in the presence of a gra­cious God, depend on it, ascribe to it, for thou art not at all sufficient for thy self.

BUT I come to the third and last Doctrine.

DOCT. III. THAT as you are outring upon the Stage of this world, the gracious God permits and allows you to bring into your Vows before him, those temporal fa­vours and blessings which you are in the lawful pursuit of; provided it be done with a moderation of desire to­wards them, submission to the will of God respeding them, and with a resolution (thro' his grace) to adhere unto his covenant, worship and service, in the acquisition, and in the enjoyment of them.

THIS is the life and spirit of my Text, If God will be with me, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace How good is God to his Children, that he gives them leave as it were to indent with him! Our heaven­ly father knows that we have need of these things. But then how devoted should we be, and that wholly, to his will and glory! how abstracted from the things of this life, and intent upon the spiritual and eternal bles­sings of that to come; knowing that in heaven we have a better and enduring substance. The rule to us is, to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness; and the promise is then, that God will add other things so as shall be best for us. And to him we trust leave it, to chuse and order for us our lot; believing that we shall be fed, and being content in what God sees fit to give us.

HERE then, I. You may bring the tempoval mercies, which you are in the honest and lawful pursuit of, into your vows to God upon particular Occasions. The pre­sent [Page 17]Circumstance of good Jacob, led him at this time to insert in the Indenture he now sign'd, food and cloathing, guidance and protection in this journey, his father's life, and his own return in peace, in which was inoladed too safety and delive:ance from his brother's anger and vow'd revenge: And God indulg'd him in this liberty. It was as when a son asks bread of his father; and shall he not give it? So Jephtha vow'd to God, if he would give him Victory over his Enemies. And when Arad the Canaanite came out against Israel, Israel vowed to the Lord and said, If thou wilt deliver this people into my band, I will utterly destroy their cities. And to name no more, Hannah being in carnest prayer for a Son, vow­ed to the Lord, and said, O Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt indeed look upon my affliction. These are great liberties and freedoms indulg'd us by a gracious God, which we must use with great caution and wisdom; for it is easie to err in them. Wherefore,

2. IT must be with a moderation of desire after the tem­poral blessings, and a submission of our wills to God with respect to them, that we may bring them into our vows to God, when we are in the pursuit of them. Indeed Han­nah's desire after a Son seems not to have been with all that moderation which one would chuse and praise; yet her zeal for God's honour and service in the midst of her tears for a child is obvious to observe, and her entire submission of the thing to God, O Lord of Hosts if thou wilt indeed. But the moderation of Jacob's wishes after a worldly Estate is more illustrious in my Text. Let him be our pattern; let us be modest, and humble, and plain like him; he neither crav'd nor expected great matters on earth; he willingly left the worldly Inheritance and Lordship to Esau: If he may be but pre­served abroad and brought home in peace, if he may have the necessaries and conveniences of life added to the spiritual blessing, [...] should satisfy him. Or if God should deny even this we must think we have enough, that we have all and are full, if the Lord himself will but be our God. Indeed we are then fittest to have temporal blessings, and in the most likely way to have [Page 18]them, when our hearts are not set upon them, but are intently fix'd upon spiritual and eternal things, an un­seen God and heaven: And if we could so enter and be­gin the World, we should find it to be so, I doubt not. But how more a thing is it, now in these ages of the world, tho' the ages of more light and of better promises, to begin the world with faith, and spiritual affections and desires. We have no rule to expect from God in tem­poral things, if we can't submit 'em to his will and sub­ordinate them all to his glory. Say, if the Lord will, and if it may be for his glory from me, and my spiritual Good and everlasting happiness in him: If not, behold here I am, let him do what seemeth him good.

3. YOU must add upon all, a holy and devout reso­lution, by the grace of God, to adhere unto the Covenant, the worship, and service of God, in the acquisition, in the use and enjoyment, or in the want of worldly things. And here you have the whole Soul of Jacob and of my text, to form yours by it. He adds therefore upon it, This stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth to thee.

HERE, first he resolves to adhere to the worship of God; God should have an Altar furnished with Sacrifices, where ever he should pitch his Tent: As for him and his they should serve the Lord. And therefore 2. He makes the consecration of his Estate and worldly goods with him­self; the Tenth of all that God should give him he de­dicates to God, in services of piety and charity: And that this is for ever a due and meet proportion out of our Estates, to God's Church and to his poor together, seems much the more Evident to me from the Example of Abraham and of Jacob, so long before the giving of the Law of Moses.

IN this at least let us approve our selves the seed of Jacob, by fixing this as a law and rule to our selves thro' our whole life; That whatever God does with us as to this world, whether he gives us more or less of it, He himself shall be our God; whom we will porti­on our selves in, and live devoted unto; to obey him [Page 19]and worship him according to his word all our days, and to honour him with a [...] and worthy part of out estate.

AND now, what remains but in a particular man­ner to apply my self, and all that I have said, to the SON of this Family, who gave me these words of the Patriarch Jacob to speak from, for his own present In­struction and Admonition. I have done the part you desired of me as God has helped me: You must now do your part, by the help of God, in receiving and im­proving what has been said. You are sensible that you were brought under the Vow and bond of God in your Infancy, and it is this which you have given me to speak of, That the Lord shall be your God. You were early taught this, and have been earnestly admonishest of it, as well at home (I suppose) as from the Pulpit. You have something more than two years past solemn­ly taken this Vow upon your self and made it to the Lord before his people; And now that you are leaving your Parents house, and going abroad into the world you have ask'd our prayers to God with you, and that this Word of God might be preached unto you; by which it appears to me that you think the holy God calls you on this Occasion to remember seriously and re­vow the Dedication and Surrender of your self to Him, Imploring his divine presence with you in the way be­fore you, to guide and keep you. And now, my Son, the Lord be with thee & prosper thee. The God before whom Jacob walked be with you, as one of his Spiritual Seed. Ask Grace of God to do as be did. Be diligent in your lawful Business, and faithful to those that imploy you: Jacob was so. Moderate your desires after worldly wealth; as Jacob here did. Remember your Country and the religion of it, the Doctrine, precepts, and wor­ship of God you have been educated in, and have found (I hope) the presence of Christ in. Desire to return to it, by the will of God and in his time, to serve and en­joy God in it; and be a Blessing to it. Let a tender filial piety toward your good Mother, (under whose care­ful wing you have grown up, and to [...] you are ve­ry [Page 20]dear) have its proper rule in you, both now & when you are abroad. We join her and your Prayers this day to God, that you may come again to this house in peace, and that if God please she may live to see it. She is making her Vows with you this day to God for this mer­cy. You may find God prospering you in your Affairs, as Jacob did, but let not that keep you from returning to the land of thy Eathers and of thy kindred. Or you may meet with hardships, injuries and wrongs, as Ja­cob did; let these hasten you home, as they did him. If any Laban reproach thy longing after thy father's house and the House of God here, regard it not. But if it please God to be with you in your way and bring you again in peace, according to your present prayer be­fore him, take heed that you no not seem to forget, or at all delay the paying of thy Vow, as Jacob did. God keep it in thy mind, and put thee in remembrance of it, as He did him; and upon his doing so, be thou obedient to the Heavenly motion as he was, Gen. 35. [...], 3. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make there an Altar to God that ap­peared unto thee. Then Jacob said unto his houshold, and to all that were with him, Let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an Altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with [...] in the way which I want.