N00727:91
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.
V. They that have at at any Time Set Light by their Parents, must Go to God in Christ for His Pardons, that so His Curses may not overtake them. Who is there that can say with the Son in the Gospel; who said unto his Father, Lo, these many years do I Serve thee, neither Transgressed I at any Time ⟨p. 72⟩thy Commandment? The Dutifullest Child among us all, hath been so Defective in his Dutifulness, that he dare not plead it before God, in his Justification; He must say, as in Psal. 143 •2. Lord, Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant; for in thy sight shall no man Living be Justified. What then shall we do? Why, we read concerning Mount Ebal, where the Curses of God were Fulminated; in Deut. 27.5, 6, 7. It was commanded, In Mount Ebal, thou shalt Build an Altar unto the Lord thy God, and thou shalt offer Burnt Offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God, and thou shalt Offer Peace-Offerings, and Rejoice before the Lord thy God. And we find that Joshua, afterwards did accordingly. It is an Ingenious Note of one upon it; This was no more than Needed, for the Maledictions had no sooner been uttered, but Condemnation and Execution had instantly Ensued, if these Sacrifices with the Merit of Christ therein Typified had not seasonably Interceded. Children, you hear the Convex of Heaven resounding from Ebal with the Comminations of God, Cursed is he that Sets Light by his Father or his Mother. Our Consciences tell us, That we ⟨p. 73⟩have done it many a time. Away then, Away to the Antitype of the Altar on Ebal. Oh, plead with God, the Burnt Offering of Christ, and the Peace-Offering of Christ, that the Curse of Go• may not seize upon us, that we may no• be Burnt in the Flames of His Indignation, that He may be at Peace with us for ever. When it was denounced▪ Cursed is he that Sets Light by his Father or his Mother, it followed, that all the people said, Amen. AMEN, is the very Name of Christ. May all the people now fly to that, AMEN, that they may, be sheltered from the Curses of God. And, Oh, call it to mind the Example of the Lord Jesus Christ. There never was in the world, so Dutiful a Son as He! We read in