For the Puritans the husband was the family pastor, responsible for channeling the family into religion, taking them to church, catechizing the children, teaching them the faith, examining the family after the sermon to check retention and understanding, filling any gaps along the way, leading family worship and setting a godly example in all manners of living.
Family Practice, P&R Publishing, 2001, p. 34, Used by Permission.
The light of Christ in His children is made more manifest to the world through the dark colors of suffering, borne through patient endurance.
Tabletalk, p. 55, v. 28, n. 9, Ligonier Ministries, Used by Permission.
Affliction and suffering have been appointed by God as instruments He uses to make us more holy, to make us more like Jesus. They remind us that we are weak and we must rely not on ourselves, but on Jesus. They remind us that this world is not our home but that we are only passing through toward our real home in heaven with our Father, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our Comforter, the Holy Spirit.
Tabletalk, p. 55, v. 28, n. 9, Ligonier Ministries, Used by Permission.
Amid hectic schedules and frazzled lifestyles, daily worship allows the father to keep short accounts in the family. Arguments or disagreements cannot long remain unresolved when the family joins daily to hear the Scriptures read and commented on.
Family Practice, P&R Publishing, 2001, p. 35, Used by Permission.