Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:… True family government is instituted for the sole benefit of the governed. "The true end of government is to make the pathway to virtue and morality easy, and the pathway of crime difficult and full of peril." I. THE VAST IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY GOVERNMENT. Of Abraham it was said, "He will command his children." Neglect of commanding is seen in the failure of Eli. By "turning the hearts of the fathers to the children," the text means that the chief duty of every father is to bring his children to God. In every ease where family government has been enforced the pious parents have fully realised the truth of the glorious promise, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." We may learn the importance of family government from the teachings of all the greatest philosophers and statesmen, of all ages and climes. The Greeks and the Romans, the rulers of the world, and our grander Old English and Puritan fathers, all taught and practised family government. Every pastor knows that young converts who have had no family government make as a general thing worthless Church members. The last argument on the importance family government, is the happiness of the child. An ungoverned child is a bundle of bad passions, a seething volcano of untamed and ungovernable passions, hating everybody, and hateful to everybody. II. HOW SHALL I GOVERN MY CHILD? Lay down seven golden rules. 1. Begin, continue, and end in prayer. 2. Begin early. 3. Be tender. 4. Be firm. 5. Have no partiality among your children. 6. Let father and mother be united. 7. Imbue the soul of your child with reverence for God and right.A strong wall, and safe quarantine, may be made of four great laws. No bad company; no idle time; no fine clothes; and make home happy. (Rufus C. Beveleson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:WEB: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. |
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