Quotes-Family
Polemos Ministries
www.polemos.net

“We must have a special eye upon families, to see that they are well ordered, and the duties of each relation performed. The life of religion, and the welfare and glory of both the Church and the State, depend much on family government and duty. If we suffer the neglect of this, we shall undo all."

The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter

"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 Commonwealth; there is the first making or marring, and the presage of their future lives to be thence taken"

-Introduction to The Westminster Confession of Faith by Thomas Manton 

"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 vigor; for there is the stock from whence they are supplied both for the present and future."

-Introduction to The Westminster Confession of Faith by Thomas Manton 

“The relation of the Christian family to the Christian Church is of the closest and most solemn nature. It is both the type and the nursery of the Church. The Church rises out of the family, to which it is strikingly and beautifully analogous. Thus Christian parents are the nursing-fathers and the nursing-mothers of the Church.

Nor must we entirely overlook the moral relation of the Christian family to the State: it is close and vital. As families compose the fabric of the State, so the State derives its character and stability from the moral and religious character of those families. The Commonwealth will be what its domestic institution makes it. When society cease to be molded into families, and families cease to be sanctified by religion, "Ichabod " may be written upon the State- for its glory and its stability will have departed!”

-THE MINISTRY OF HOME by Octavius Winslow

“The way to make godly parishes, and godly countries, and godly kingdoms, is to make godly families.   When sin as a plague spreadeth abroad, it begin-neth in families:  one atheistical family defileth and destroyeth many; it sendeth a son into one house, a daughter into another, a servant into a third, and every of them, like infectious persons, poison those with whom they converse: like a nest of foxes, they destroy and devour all the country over.   As one house on fire often burneth down many; so one profane family injureth many: one godly family, on the contrary, doth good to many.    As one stock of bees sendeth forth swarms and honey into many parts of the country; so one religious family, sending religious children and servants abroad, (they come in time to have families of their own,) may bring much honour to God, and be helpful to the eternal welfare of many souls”
-George Swinnck  Works Vol.1

“God is thus the principle of definition, of law, and of all things. He is the premise of all thinking, and the necessary presupposition for every sphere of thought. It is blasphemy therefore to attempt to "prove" God; God is the necessary presupposition of all proof. To ground any sphere of thought, life, or action, or any sphere of being, on anything other than the triune God is thus blasphemy. Education without God as its premise, law which does not presuppose God and rest on His law, a civil order which does not derive all authority from God, or a family whose foundation is not God's word, is blasphemous.”
-R.J. Rushdoony from The Institutes of Biblical Law

“Sadly, many parents today shun their parental responsibilities just as Eli did. This is evidenced by the thriving day care industry and overcrowded public schools. Evangelicals bemoan this breakup of the "traditional family" and call for a return to "family values." It is ironic that many vocal proponents of "family values" advance programs that are either political or ecclesiastical. These do not face the heart of the problem. The breakup of the family isn't due to a deterioration in our legislators' values, but rather to a deterioration in fathers' values”.
 -A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry by Christopher Schlect

“Effective youth ministry is the father's task; he has the responsibility to establish a godly atmosphere in the home. Fathers must be leaders in worship, prayer, reading and studying the Bible, and in fellowship with other saints. Moses demanded that fathers in Israel rear their children in such an environment that the majesty of God was plainly manifest to them everywhere they turned (Deut. 6:6-9). This standard remains, and fathers today must meet it. If children do not come face to face with Almighty God in every aspect of their lives, their fathers, through abdication, are bringing them up in practical atheism.”
 -A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry by Christopher Schlect

“Children must associate instruction with parental authority.”
 -A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry by Christopher Schlect

“Ministering to children of unbelievers need not be as difficult as it seems. These children should be drawn to associate with Christian families rather than Christian youth ministries. Invite them over to dinner when they can participate as a guest in the family's regular worship. Bring them to Sunday worship after obtaining their parents' permission, and pray for more opportunities to minister to the guest's entire family. Encourage the child to seek the counsel of his unbelieving parents even in spiritual matters. He should write his parents letters of respect. He should seek ways to honor them publicly. I have known entire households to come to Christ in this manner when faithful children begin to honor and submit to their ungodly fathers and mothers as God has called them to (cf. Eph. 6:1-3).”
 -A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry by Christopher Schlect

"...so it is evident that families are the nurseries of all societies. And the first combinations of mankind, well-ordered families, naturally produce a good order in other societies. When families are under an ill disci­pline, all other societies, being ill-disciplined as a re­sult, will feel that error in the first concoction. To serve the families of our neighborhood will be a service to all our interests."

Cotton Mather from A Family Well Ordered

"....Christian families constitute the nursery of the Christian Church, and the Christian Church constitutes the conservator of the State. A nation in which the Domestic Economy is lightly estimated, or whose families are destitute of religion- in which no domestic altar is reared, where God's Word is discarded, and household instruction is neglected, and family government is prostrated- will, in spite of fervent preaching, and popular education, and costly philanthropy, naturally and inevitably lead to bad government, a dissolute people, the prevalence of social wrong, religious paralysis, and moral death.

On the other hand, let society be built up into families; let those families be organized upon, and be regulated by, the principles of God's Word; let the head be a king, a priest, and a prophet in its midst; let parental authority be maintained, and filial obedience be observed; in a word, let them be homes in which God is feared; Christ is confessed, the Sabbath is hallowed, and piety is nurtured, and we shall behold the reverse of the sad picture I have sketched- a sound Commonwealth, a healthy Government; a peaceful community, advancing religion, a prosperous Church, and a happy country."

Octavius Winslow
THE MINISTRY OF HOME

"Our children are not falling away because the church is doing a poor job—although that is undoubtedly a factor. Our children are falling away because we are asking the church to do what God designed the family to accomplish. Discipleship and multi-generational faithfulness begins and ends at home. At best, the church is to play a supporting role as it "equips the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:12, esv)."

- From Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham

"O parents, in the name of God, look after your own miserable souls. How should those wretched people do anything for the souls of their children who never did anything for their own?"

-Cotton Mather from A Family Well Ordered

"...watch all opportunities to instill your instructions into the souls of your little folks. They are narrow-mouthed vessels, and things must be instilled into them drop af­ter drop."

-Cotton Mather from A Family Well Ordered

"In Exodus 21:19, the law of equity was that if one man wounds another, he shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. Your children are born with deadly wounds upon their souls, and they may thank you for those wounds. Unjust men, will you now do nothing for their healing? Man, your children are dying of a horrid poison, and it was you who poisoned them. What, will you do nothing for their succour! Your children are thrown into a devouring fire, and it is from you that the fiery vengeance of God has taken hold of them. What, will you do nothing to help them out!"

-Cotton Mather from A Family Well Ordered

"The souls of your children must survive their bodies, and are transcen-dently better, higher, and nobler things than their bodies. Are you solicitous that their bodies be fed? You should be more solicitous that their souls may not be starved, or go without the Bread of Life. Are you solici­tous that their bodies may be clothed? You should be more solicitous that their souls may not be naked, or go without the garments of righteousness. Are you loath to have their bodies laboring under infirmities or deformities? You should be much more loath to have their souls pining away in their iniquities."

-Cotton Mather from A Family Well Ordered

"Oh, begin early to tell your children who their Maker is and who their Savior is, what they are themselves, and what is likely to become of them. By no means let them lack that advantage found in 2 Timothy 3:15: "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation."

-Cotton Mather from A Family Well Ordered

"Our authority should be so tempered with kindness, meekness, and loving tenderness that our children may fear us with delight, and see that we love them with as much delight."

-Cotton Mather from A Family Well Ordered

“We must have a special eye upon families, to see that they are well ordered, and the duties of each relation performed. The life of religion, and the welfare and glory of both the Church and the State, depend much on family government and duty. If we suffer the neglect of this, we shall undo all."

The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter

"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 Commonwealth; there is the first making or marring, and the presage of their future lives to be thence taken"

-Introduction to The Westminster Confession of Faith by Thomas Manton 

"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 vigor; for there is the stock from whence they are supplied both for the present and future."

-Introduction to The Westminster Confession of Faith by Thomas Manton 

“The relation of the Christian family to the Christian Church is of the closest and most solemn nature. It is both the type and the nursery of the Church. The Church rises out of the family, to which it is strikingly and beautifully analogous. Thus Christian parents are the nursing-fathers and the nursing-mothers of the Church.

Nor must we entirely overlook the moral relation of the Christian family to the State: it is close and vital. As families compose the fabric of the State, so the State derives its character and stability from the moral and religious character of those families. The Commonwealth will be what its domestic institution makes it. When society cease to be molded into families, and families cease to be sanctified by religion, "Ichabod " may be written upon the State- for its glory and its stability will have departed!”

-THE MINISTRY OF HOME by Octavius Winslow

“The way to make godly parishes, and godly countries, and godly kingdoms, is to make godly families.   When sin as a plague spreadeth abroad, it begin-neth in families:  one atheistical family defileth and destroyeth many; it sendeth a son into one house, a daughter into another, a servant into a third, and every of them, like infectious persons, poison those with whom they converse: like a nest of foxes, they destroy and devour all the country over.   As one house on fire often burneth down many; so one profane family injureth many: one godly family, on the contrary, doth good to many.    As one stock of bees sendeth forth swarms and honey into many parts of the country; so one religious family, sending religious children and servants abroad, (they come in time to have families of their own,) may bring much honour to God, and be helpful to the eternal welfare of many souls”
-George Swinnck  Works Vol.1

“God is thus the principle of definition, of law, and of all things. He is the premise of all thinking, and the necessary presupposition for every sphere of thought. It is blasphemy therefore to attempt to "prove" God; God is the necessary presupposition of all proof. To ground any sphere of thought, life, or action, or any sphere of being, on anything other than the triune God is thus blasphemy. Education without God as its premise, law which does not presuppose God and rest on His law, a civil order which does not derive all authority from God, or a family whose foundation is not God's word, is blasphemous.”
-R.J. Rushdoony from The Institutes of Biblical Law

“Sadly, many parents today shun their parental responsibilities just as Eli did. This is evidenced by the thriving day care industry and overcrowded public schools. Evangelicals bemoan this breakup of the "traditional family" and call for a return to "family values." It is ironic that many vocal proponents of "family values" advance programs that are either political or ecclesiastical. These do not face the heart of the problem. The breakup of the family isn't due to a deterioration in our legislators' values, but rather to a deterioration in fathers' values”.
 -A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry by Christopher Schlect

“Effective youth ministry is the father's task; he has the responsibility to establish a godly atmosphere in the home. Fathers must be leaders in worship, prayer, reading and studying the Bible, and in fellowship with other saints. Moses demanded that fathers in Israel rear their children in such an environment that the majesty of God was plainly manifest to them everywhere they turned (Deut. 6:6-9). This standard remains, and fathers today must meet it. If children do not come face to face with Almighty God in every aspect of their lives, their fathers, through abdication, are bringing them up in practical atheism.”
 -A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry by Christopher Schlect

“Children must associate instruction with parental authority.”
 -A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry by Christopher Schlect

“Ministering to children of unbelievers need not be as difficult as it seems. These children should be drawn to associate with Christian families rather than Christian youth ministries. Invite them over to dinner when they can participate as a guest in the family's regular worship. Bring them to Sunday worship after obtaining their parents' permission, and pray for more opportunities to minister to the guest's entire family. Encourage the child to seek the counsel of his unbelieving parents even in spiritual matters. He should write his parents letters of respect. He should seek ways to honor them publicly. I have known entire households to come to Christ in this manner when faithful children begin to honor and submit to their ungodly fathers and mothers as God has called them to (cf. Eph. 6:1-3).”
 -A Critique of Modern Youth Ministry by Christopher Schlect

"...so it is evident that families are the nurseries of all societies. And the first combinations of mankind, well-ordered families, naturally produce a good order in other societies. When families are under an ill disci­pline, all other societies, being ill-disciplined as a re­sult, will feel that error in the first concoction. To serve the families of our neighborhood will be a service to all our interests."

Cotton Mather from A Family Well Ordered

"....Christian families constitute the nursery of the Christian Church, and the Christian Church constitutes the conservator of the State. A nation in which the Domestic Economy is lightly estimated, or whose families are destitute of religion- in which no domestic altar is reared, where God's Word is discarded, and household instruction is neglected, and family government is prostrated- will, in spite of fervent preaching, and popular education, and costly philanthropy, naturally and inevitably lead to bad government, a dissolute people, the prevalence of social wrong, religious paralysis, and moral death.

On the other hand, let society be built up into families; let those families be organized upon, and be regulated by, the principles of God's Word; let the head be a king, a priest, and a prophet in its midst; let parental authority be maintained, and filial obedience be observed; in a word, let them be homes in which God is feared; Christ is confessed, the Sabbath is hallowed, and piety is nurtured, and we shall behold the reverse of the sad picture I have sketched- a sound Commonwealth, a healthy Government; a peaceful community, advancing religion, a prosperous Church, and a happy country."

Octavius Winslow
THE MINISTRY OF HOME

"Our children are not falling away because the church is doing a poor job—although that is undoubtedly a factor. Our children are falling away because we are asking the church to do what God designed the family to accomplish. Discipleship and multi-generational faithfulness begins and ends at home. At best, the church is to play a supporting role as it "equips the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:12, esv)."

- From Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham