A brother in the Lord sometime ago remarked to me, how little, in writings and oral ministry, the subject of Christian family relationships was touched upon, although, as to practical truth, there could be scarcely a more important subject than this, seeing the alarming progress of rationalism and infidelity in England as well as on the Continent, and its baneful effect upon family life, in blighting natural affect ions and undermining, especially in the rising generation the sense of reverence for all divinely instituted authorities.
Being impressed with the truth of his remarks, I have since in some places, given a course of Lectures on the Christian’s family relationships. But in doing so, the immense importance of the subject has grown so much upon me, that I resolved to commit them to print, only in an entirely new form and very much enlarged.
The reason of the reticence on this subject seems to lie partly in the delicate nature of family relationships, and the shrinking from even the appearance of an intrusion upon their privacy, and partly in our natural inclination to think more of our claims upon the fellow members of our family, than of our duties towards them, and thus to emphasize portions of truth which appear to support the former, whilst less heeding those which refer to the latter.
As to the first reason, I can but repeat what I have said in these pages, that nothing is farther from my intention than to trespass upon the sacred confines of family relationships, which none respects more than the writer.
And as to the second reason, we must not be wiser than God and His Word. Divine truth is always simple, absolute, and general. It applies with equal force and authority to sinners and saints of all nationalities. For “there is no difference.” Both the old and the new nature are the same in every country. On the other hand, divine truth is intensely individual, and has not been given us to read and apply it to others, but to ourselves.
I need not fear, therefore, that the honest Christian reader will turn the truths sought to be expounded, to a different use to what they are intended, and commit these pages, however imperfect their contents, to Him, Who is “The God of love and peace,” for His own blessing; that we may “be perfect, of good comfort, of one mind, and live in peace; “adorning by our walk at home, in the world, and in the Church, the doctrine of God our Savior in all things, for the glory of His Name. Amen.