Ten Motives for Fathers from a Faithful Pastor

A few weeks ago, my fellow Gender Blogger John Starke gave two delightful posts on godly husbands and wives from Puritan pastor Richard Baxter’s phenomenal work A Christian Directory. While researching the Puritans recently, I ran across another pertinent section in Baxter’s Directory in which he provides men with 10 motives for providing spiritual leadership for their wives and children. As they are principles derived from Scripture, they certainly remain pertinent for fathers today. Baxter (1615-1691) is best-known for his pastorate at Kidderminster in England during the tumultuous 17^th century, during which time he produced many great written works that remain in print including the Directory, The Saints Everlasting Rest and The Reformed Pastor.

The 10 motives (edited slightly to contemporize the language):

1. The holy government of families (by fathers) is a considerable part of God’s own government of the world, and the contrary is a great part of the devil’s government.
2. An ungoverned, ungodly family is a powerful means to the damnation of all the members of it.
3. A holy, well-governed family tends  not only to the safety of the members, but also to the ease and pleasure of their lives.
4. A holy and well-governed family doth tend to make a holy posterity, and so to propagate the fear of God from generation to generation.
5. A holy, well-governed family is the preparative to a holy and well-governed church.
6. Well-governed families tend to make a happy state and commonwealth. A good education is the first and greatest work to make good magistrates and good subjects, because it tends to make good men.
7. If the governors of families did faithfully perform their duties, it would be a great supply as to any defects in the pastor’s part, and a singular means to propagate and preserve religion in times of public negligence or persecution.
8. The duties of your families are such as you may perform with greatest peace, and lease exception or opposition from others.
9. Well-governed families are honorable and exemplary to others.
10. Holy, well-governed families are blessed with the special presence and favor of God.

Fathers, hear and heed the wise pastor Baxter.