(This is from the 1728 edition, - Lumisden/Robertson, Edinburgh - of which the spelling has been retained)
CHRISTIAN READER,
I Cannot suppose thee to be such a Stranger in England as to be ignorant of the
general Complaint concerning the Decay of the Power of Godliness, and more
especially of the great Corruption of Youth ; wherever thou goest, thou wilt
hear Men crying out of bad Children and bad Servants ; whereas indeed the
Source of the Mischief must be sought a little higher ; 'tis bad Parents and
bad Masters, that make bad Children, and bad Servants ; and we cannot blame so
much their Untowardness, as our own Negligence in their Education.
The Devil hath a great Spight at the Kingdom of Christ, and he knoweth no such
compendious Way to crush it in the Egg, as by the Perversion of Youth, and
supplanting Family-Duties : He striketh at all Duties, those which are Publick
in the Assemblies of the Saints, but these are too well guarded by the Solemn
Injunctions, and dying Charge of Jesus Christ, as that he should ever hope
totally to subvert and undermine them : But at Family-Duties he striketh with
the more Success, because the Institution is not so solemn, and the Practice
not so seriously and conscientiously regarded as it should be, and the Omission
is not so liable to Notice and Publick Censure. Religion was first hatched in
Families, and there the Devil seeketh to crush it ; the Families of the
Patriarchs were all the Churches God had in the World for the Time, and
therefore, (I suppose) when Cain went out from Adam's Family, he is said to go
out from the Face of the Lord, Gen. iv.16. Now, the Devil knoweth that this is
a Blow at the Root, and a ready Way to prevent the Succession of Churches ; if
he can subvert Families, other Societies and Communities will not long flourish
and subsist with any Power and Vigour ; for there is the Stock from whence they
are supplied both for the Present and the Future.
For the Present, a Family is the Seminary of Church and State ; and if Children be not well Principled, there all miscarrieth : A Fault in the First Concoction is not mended in the Second ; if Youth be bred ill in the Family, they prove ill in Church and Common-wealth ; there is the first Making or Marring, and the Presage of their future Lives to be thence taken, Prov. xx.11. By Family-Discipline, Officers are trained up for the Church, 1 Tim. iii.4. One that ruleth well his own House, etc.; and there are Men bred up in Subjection and Obedience. 'Tis noted, Acts xxi.5. that the Disciples brought Paul on his Way with their Wives and Children ; their Children probably are mentioned, to intimate, that their Parents would, by their own Example and affectionate Farewel to Paul, breed them up in a Way of Reverence and Respect to the Pastors of the Church.
For the Future, 'tis comfortable certainly to see a thriving Nursery of young Plants, and to have Hopes that God shall have a People to serve Him when we are dead and gone : the People of God comforted themselves in that, Psal. cii.28. The Children of thy Servants shall continue, etc.
Upon all these Considerations, how careful should Ministers and Parents be to train up young Ones, whilst they are yet pliable, and, like Wax, capable of any Form and Impression, in the knowledge and fear of God ; and betimes to instil the Principles of our most Holy Faith, as they are drawn into a short Sum in Catechisms ; and so altogether laid in the View of Conscience ? Surely these Seeds of Truth planted in the Field of Memory, if they work nothing else, will at least be a great Check and Bridle to them, and, as the casting in of cold Water doth stay the Boiling of the Pot, somewhat allay the Fervours of Youthful Lusts and Passions.
I had upon Intreaty resolved to recommend to thee with the greatest Earnestness the Work of Catechising, and, as a meet Help, the Usefulness of this Book as thus Printed with the Scriptures at large : But meeting with a private Letter of a very Learned and Godly Divine, wherein that Work is excellently done to my Hand, I shall make bold to transcribe a Part of it, and offer it to Publick View.
The Author having bewailed the great Distractions, Corruptions, and
Divisions that are in the Church, he thus represents the Cause and Cure : Among
others, a principal Cause of these Mischiefs is the great and common Neglect of
the Governors of Families, in the Discharge of that Duty which they owe to God
for the Souls that are under their Charge, especially in Teaching them the
Doctrine of Christianity. Families are societies that must be sanctified to
God, as well as Churches ; And the Governors of them have as truly a Charge of
the Souls that are therein, as Pastors have of the Churches. But, alas, how
little is this considered or regarded ! But while negligent Ministers are
(deservedly) cast out of their Places, the negligent Masters of Families take
themselves to be almost blameless. They offer their Children to God in Baptism,
and there they promise to teach them the Doctrine of the Gospel, and bring them
up in the Nurture of the Lord ; but they easily promise, and easily break it ;
and educate their Children for the World and the Flesh, altho' they have
renounced these, and dedicated them to God. This Covenant-breaking with God,
and Betraying the Souls of their Children to the Devil, must ly heavy on them
here or hereafter. They beget Children, and keep Families, merely for the World
and the Flesh ; but little consider what a Charge is committed to them, and
what it is to bring up a Child for God, and govern a Family as a sanctified
Society. O how sweetly and successfully would the Work of God go on, if we
would but all join together in our several Places to promote it ! Men need not
then run without sending to be Preachers : But they might find that Part of the
Work that belongeth to them to be enough for them, and to be the best that they
can be imployed in. Especially Women should be careful of this Duty; because as
they are most about their Children, and have early and frequent Opportunities
to instruct them, so this is the principal Service they can do to God in this
World, being restrained from more publick Work. And doubtless many an excellent
Magistrate hath been sent into the Common-wealth, and many an excellent Pastor
into the Church, and many a precious Saint to Heaven, through the happy
Preparations of a Holy Education, perhaps by a Woman that thought her self
useless and unserviceable to the Church. Would Parents but begin betimes, and
labour to affect the Hearts of their Children with the great Matters of
everlasting Life, and to acquaint them with the Substance of the Doctrine of
Christ, and when they find in them the Knowledge and Love of Christ, would
bring them then to the Pastors of the Church to be tried, confirmed and
admitted to the further Privileges of the Church, what happy well-ordered
Churches might we have ? Then one Pastor need not be put to do the Work of Two
or Three hundred or thousand Governors of Families ; even to teach their
Children those Principles which they should have taught them long before : Nor
should we be put to preach to so many miserable ignorant Souls, that be not
prepared by Education to understand us : Nor should we have need to shut out so
many from Holy Communion upon the Account of Ignorance, that yet have not the
Grace to feel it and lament it, nor the Wit and Patience to wait in a Learning
State, till they are ready to be Fellow-Citizens with the Saints, and of the
Household of God. But now they come to us with aged Self-conceitedness, being
past Children, and yet worse than Children still ; having the Ignorance of
Children, but being overgrown the Teachableness of Children ; and think
themselves wise, yea wise enough to quarrel with the wisest of their Teachers,
because they have lived long enough to have been wise, and the Evidence of
their Knowledge is their aged Ignorance : And they are readier to flee in our
Faces for Church-privileges, than to learn of us, and obey our Instructions
till they are prepared for them that they may do them good ; like snappish
Currs, that will snap us by the Fingers for their Meat, and snatch it out of
our Hands ; and not like Children, that stay till we give it them. Parents have
so used them to be unruly, that Ministers have to deal but with too few
but the Unruly. And it is for want of this laying the Foundation well at
first, that Professors themselves are so ignorant as most are, and that so
many, especially of the younger Sort, do swallow down almost any Error that is
offered them, and follow any Sect of Dividers that will entice them, so it be
but done with Earnestness and Plausibility. For alas, though, by the Grace of
God, their Hearts may be changed in an Hour, (whenever they understand but the
Essentials of the Faith,) yet their Understandings must have Time and Diligence
to furnish them with such Knowledge as must stablish them, and fortify them
against Deceits. Upon these, and many the like Considerations, we should
entreat all Christian Families, to take more Pains in this necessary Work ; and
to get better acquainted with the Substance of Christianity. And, to that End
(taking along some moving Treatises to awake the Heart) I know not what Work
should be fitter for their Use, than that compiled by the Assembly at
Westminster ; a Synod of as Godly, Judicious Divines, (notwithstanding all the
bitter Words which they have received from discontented and self-conceited Men)
I verily think, as ever England saw. Though they had the Unhappiness to be
employed in calamitous Times, when the Noise of Wars did stop Mens Ears, and
the Licentiousness of Wars did set every wanton Tongue and Pen at Liberty to
reproach them ; and the Prosecution and Event of those Wars, did exasperate
partial discontented Men, to dishonour themselves by seeking to dishonour them
: I dare say, if in the Days of Old, when Councils were in Power and Account,
they had had but such a Council of Bishops, as this of Presbyters was, the Fame
of it for Learning and Holiness, and all Ministerial Abilities, would with very
great Honour have been transmitted to Posterity.
I do therefore desire, that all Masters of Families would first study well this
Work themselves ; and then teach it their Children and Servants, according to
their several Capacities. And if they once understand these Grounds of
Religion, they will be able to read other Books more understandingly, and hear
Sermons more profitably, and confer more judiciously, and hold fast the
Doctrine of Christ more firmly, than ever you are like to do, by any other
Course. First, let them read and learn the Shorter Catechism, and next the
Larger, and lastly read the Confession of Faith.
Thus far he, whose Name I shall conceal, (though the Excellency of the Matter, and present Stile, will easily discover him) because I have published it without his Privity and Consent, though, I hope, not against his Liking and Approbation. I shall add no more, but that I am,
Thy Servant,
In the Lord's Work,
THOMAS MANTON