A Treatise of Family Instruction, Chapter 4 · Section 7
SECT. 7. The Plea of ſuch as neglect Family-Inſtruction becauſe their Families are endued with knowledge, anſwered.
Object. 7 My Family are all knowing perſons, and are well acquainted with the Scriptures already, ſo that it is needleſs for me to inſtruct them.
Anſw. Firſt, If the caſe be ſo indeed, that all the Members of your Family be knowing perſons, you have great cauſe to bleſs God, and to be thankful every day on their behalf, 1 Cor. 1.4, 5. I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jeſus Chriſt, that in every thing ye are inriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge.
2. It may be if you examine the ſeveral members of your Family, you ſhall not find all of them ſo eminent and abounding in knowledge as you think them to be, before you have made trial. Who would have thought that Nicodemus who was a Maſter in Iſrael, ſhould have been ſo ignorant in the Myſtery of Regeneration, that when Chriſt ſpake of a mans being born again, or elſe he could not ſee the Kingdom of God, he ſhould reply, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the ſecond time into his mothers womb, and be born? Joh. 3.4. And when Chriſt had explained his meaning, that he ſpoke of being born of the Spirit; he replied afterward, How can theſe things be? Verſ. 9. Inſomuch that our Lord Jeſus wonder'd that ſuch a man as he ſhould ſhew ſo much ignorance in ſuch things as theſe were, verſ. 10. Jeſus ſaid unto him, Art thou a Maſter of Iſrael, and knoweſt not theſe things? The Diſciples of Chriſt, after they had been a long time with their Maſter, and had been often inſtructed by him both publickly and privately, were ſo ignorant in the Doctrine of Chriſts Reſurrection, that they did not know what his riſing from the dead ſhould mean, Mark 9.10. They kept that ſaying with themſelves, queſtioning one with another what the riſing from the dead ſhould mean. And as they did not underſtand the Reſurrection of Chriſt, ſo neither did they underſtand of a long time that he was to die for our ſins, Luke 9.44, 45. Let theſe ſayings ſink down into your ears, for the Son of man ſhall be delivered into the hands of men; but they underſtood not this ſaying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not. And they were not only his ordinary followers, but his twelve Apoſtles, whom he choſe to be with him continually, that underſtood not what he taught them, when he ſpake of his Death and Reſurrection, as we may ſee Luc. 18.31, 32, 33, 34. Now if Nicodemus a Maſter in Iſrael, was ignorant of the nature of Regeneration, which is a work that muſt paſs upon every one that ſhall be ſaved; if the Diſciples of Chriſt, yea his Apoſtles, after they had been a long time with him, were ignorant of thoſe plain and fundamental Truths of the Death and Reſurrection of Chriſt; had not thoſe Maſters of Families that think all in their Families are endued with ſuch a great meaſure of knowledge that they want no inſtruction, need make enquiry into their Children and Servants knowledge, whether they are indeed ſo knowing as they think them to be?
Thirdly, Suppoſe all the Members of your Families be wiſe underſtanding perſons, endued with a great meaſure of knowledge, yet it is your duty to inſtruct them, that they may get more wiſdom, and it will be a benefit and advantage unto them to be inſtructed, Prov. 9.9. Give inſtruction to a wiſe man, and he will be yet wiſer; teach a juſt man, and he will increaſe in learning: For,
1. Though you ſhould teach them nothing but what they knew before, yet thereby you may edifie them, whilſt you ſtir up their Faith, Hope, Love, Joy, Thankfulneſs, and Obedience, &c. by putting them in remembrance of known Truths. They to whom the Apoſtle Peter wrote, knew and were eſtabliſhed in the Truth; yet he reſolved as long as he lived to ſtir them up by putting them in remembrance of what he had taught them before, 2 Pet. 1.12, 13. I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of thoſe things though ye know them, and be eſtabliſhed in the preſent truth; yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to ſtir you up by putting you in remembrance: But,
2. There is no man knows ſo much, but he may and ought to labour to grow in knowledge. David knew more than the Antients, and more than all his Teachers, and yet how often do we find him praying after this manner, Give me underſtanding, Teach me thy Statutes, &c. In the 119 Pſalm, where he ſpeaks of the great meaſure of knowledge whereby he excelled his Enemies, his Teachers, and the Antients, he prays 24 or 25 times to God, to give him knowledge. You ſhould not reſt ſatisfied that your Families do know the will of God, but you ſhould deſire and endeavour as the Apoſtle did in the behalf of the Coloſſians, that they may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wiſdom and ſpiritual underſtanding, Col. 1.9, 10. You ſhould not only labour to bring them acquainted with the word of God, but endeavour that it may dwell richly in them, and that it may dwell in them in all wiſdom, Col. 3.16. Let the word of Chriſt dwell in you richly, in all wiſdom.—