N00727:29
A family well-ordered. Or An essay to render parents and children happy in one…
A family well-ordered. Or An essay to render parents and children happy in one another. Handling two very important cases. I. What are the duties to be done by pious parents, for the promoting of piety in their children. II. What are the duties that must be paid by children to their parents, that they may obtain the blessings of the dutiful. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Three lines from Malachi]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Michael Perry, 1699
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Shall God the Spirit, be thy Sanctifier; And art thou willing to be the Servant of that one God, who is, Father, Son, and Spirit? Leave them not, until their little Hearts are conquered unto That for which they have been Baptised. It has been the Judgment of some Judicious men; That if Infant Baptism were more Improved, it would be less Disputed, O that it were thus improved.
III. Instruct your Children in the Great Matters of Salvation; O Parents, don't let them Die without Instruction.
III. Instruct your Children in the Great Matters of Salvation; O Parents, don't let them Dy without Instruction.
There is indeed, an Instruction in Civil Matters, which we owe unto our Children ▪ 'Tis very pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ, that our Children should be well formed with, and well-informed in the Rules of Civility; and not be left a Clownish, and Sottish, and Ill bred sort of Creatures. An Unmannerly Brood is a Dishonour to Religion. And there are many points of a Good ⟨p. 18⟩Education, that we should bestow upon our Children; They should Read, and Write, and Cipher, and be put unto some Agreeable Callings; and not only our Sons, but our Daughters also should be taught such Things, as will afterwards make them Useful in their places. There is a little Foundation of Religion laid in such an Education. But besides, and beyond all this, there is an Instruction in Divine Matters, which our Children are to be made partakers of. Parents, Instruct your Children, in the Articles of Religion; and acquaint them, with God, and Christ, and the Mysteries of the Gospel, and the Doctrines and Methods of the Great Salvation. It was Required, in Psal 78.5. He commanded our Fathers, to make known to their Children, that the Generation to come might know, who should arise and declare them to their Children, that they might set their Hope in God, and keep His Commandments. It was Required in