We are to look upon this duty as one of the prime Ordinances of divine institution: there was Family teaching before there was any other teaching. 'Tis the opinion of an eminent Divine, that more Children are seasoned with grace by i•ste•ction of Pa•ents than by preaching. Towns are made up of Families, and where they are wicked in Towns, Kingdoms cannot •e righteous. Our misery begins in bad Families. This duty of Catechizing therefore is of as great weight, as any which is commanded in the word of God. Thus far he whose name I shall conceal, because I have published it without his privity and consent, though I hope not against his liking and approbation. If any of you shall please diligently and impartially to examine Concordances, and most Catechisms; you will soon find that the former do furnish us rather with sounds than sense; and that in the latter, upon comparing the truths and the alleged Texts together, there is so wide a distance, that you will the better perceive the difficulty of our present undertaking (notwithstanding all the forementioned helps) than at first, possibly, you ⟨image 8⟩have imagined. If you find any pertinency of the Scriptures produced for confirmation of the truths they refer unto in this Explication, I know it will be acceptable to you, and it is no less than what I have endeavoured after. If you espy many proofs under any Principle of Religion, it is either because that the truths there are more weighty, or that the cavils against them are more than ordinary. If you expected the Scriptures at large, the numerosity of them gives you the reason against that.
We are to look upon this duty as one of the prime Ordinances of divine institution: there was Family teaching before there was any other teaching. 'Tis the opinion of an eminent Divine, that more Children are seasoned with grace by i•ste•ction of Pa•ents than by preaching. Towns are made up of Families, and where they are wicked in Towns, Kingdoms cannot •e righteous. Our misery begins in bad Families. This duty of Catechizing therefore is of as great weight, as any which is commanded in the word of God. Thus far he whose name I shall conceal, because I have published it without his privity and consent, though I hope not against his liking and approbation. If any of you shall please dili•ently and impartially to examine Concord•nces, and most Catechisms; you will soon find that the former do furnish us rather with sounds than sense; and that in the latter, upon comparing the truths and the alledged Texts together, there is so wide a distance, that you will the better perceive the d•fficulty of our present undertaking (notwithstanding all the forementioned helps) than at first, possibly, you ⟨image 8⟩have imagined. If you find any pertinency of the Scriptures produced for confirmation of the truths they refer unto in this Explication, I know it will be acceptable to you, and it is no less than what I have endeavoured after. If you espie many proofs under any Principle of Religion, it is either because that the truths there are more weighty, or that the cavils against them are more than ordinary. If you expected the Scriptures at large, the numerosity of them gives you the reason against that.
